#but I had already planned for how to deal with justified paranoia

[cinnamonest]

Kaeya Alberich - Yandere Profile

YES I love my eyepatch boy!! I really like him as a yandere, because he's definitely got several traits and behaviors that would make him a very unconventional/different yet absolutely terrifying one to have. Him or Diluc as your yandere is basically like playing a game on maximum difficulty. He's so arrogant dammit why does he have to make it hot

More importantly, someone take the ability to write n/sfw away from me I s2g... I go from trying to make serious content to nasty weird kinks and completely feral in .002 seconds the moment I add that readmore

tws: gaslighting, manipulation, yandere, mentions of mutilation

tws (below cut): noncon, a good deal of sadism, mentions of an*l

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What are they generally like? Lucid, aware? Obsessive? How do they behave?

He's actually one of the worst yanderes you could have in almost every regard, for two very simple reasons: his crippling psychological issues, and his intense selfishness. The first manifests as severe abandonment issues. It's the origin of his unhealthy feelings, most likely. Kaeya doesn't like the instability of people - based on his backstory, people always leave, or die, and even if they don't intend to, somehow it feels like abandonment, and he resents it. People leave him all alone and afraid and uncertain. That's generally all he knows, and despite the smug exterior, he's actually pushed people away quite a bit, keeps everyone at arm's length to ensure they can't become someone too important for him to accept their sudden absence. He can't care about someone, because that someone is fated to inevitably leave him, no matter who it may be.

That's why, once you manage to worm your way into his feelings and heart despite his best efforts, once he finally caves to acknowledging the feeling, he's aware. Painfully aware, because be can't stop worrying every waking moment about you, your well-being, your location. It reaches a point where he can't go about his job because he's simply too consumed with his worry.

The solution that kept him safest in the past was to avoid developing emotional attachments, but when he does, he's terrified of both your safety AND you intentionally abandoning him. Really, the latter would hurt worse, since he can't fault you for dying, but to abandon him? It would break him.

And, to some extent, he's developed a lot of  prideful anger about it, deep, deep down. He feels that he doesn't deserve to be abandoned, doesn't deserve to just be left behind under the guise of some greater purpose, and he'll be damned if he just lets you toss him aside like he feels others did. Even if you reject him, he won't accept it. You don't get to reject him. He won't allow that. What has he ever done to deserve everything that's happened to him? Nothing. You're the one person who has stayed with him, and you're going to continue to be with him. Forever.

That being said, he's still somewhat confident because he's got that arrogance about him. He doesn't perceive rejection, because he's always gotten a lot of attention for his looks, even if he's never actually followed through on anyone else's attention out of those same fears. He'll write off any perceived rejection as being for some other reason, something besides an actual rejection, and he'll seek to eliminate whatever he feels is keeping you from just accepting him.

Honestly, one of the most likely to have a full blown, classic-yandere-style psychotic breakdown. He can be driven to a snapping point, if there's enough stress or obstacles, and in case of that, he'll be a lot more willing to kill, and a lot more willing to hurt you, but it's a point that would still take a lot to reach.

But what's really terrifying about Kaeya is his delusions, primarily his ability to mentally justify everything he does without hesitation. Even most delusional yanderes struggle - they feel like it's wrong, they know it is deep down, and they take time to convince themselves of their delusions, tell themselves it's ok over and over, beg for reassurance, and get defensive when called out because they know they're in the wrong. The same isn't true for Kaeya. He automatically justifies his actions by default, and has absolutely zero doubt or hesitation to do so. He doesn't even need a complex reason for justification - it's a simple one. He deserves what he wants. Anything necessary to achieve that is fair.

How likely are they to kidnap their darling? How quickly will they do so?

Highly likely and very quickly, right up there with Diluc and Razor. And he's absolutely remorseless about it. It ties back into his delusional state and ability to justify anything he does - this is what's best for you. If you don't get that, that's your problem, not his.

He's another one to not want to pull some barbaric move like knocking you out, rather, he'd rather just trick you into walking right into your new home. He gets that you'll be upset about it, but to him, that's just part of the process. Not that he'll tolerate it for too long. 12, maybe 24 hours is enough time for you to reasonably be upset, but if you're still trying to fight him on this after that, he's going to get snappy about it, thinking you should already be over that by now.

How difficult is it to escape from them? How do they keep you restrained? How do they deal with attempted escape? 

You're not leaving.

It's not worth trying, really. How he manages to do it is a mystery to you, but he'll manage to keep you locked in right there at the headquarters with him. How Jean and Lisa haven't found out about you being there, how he convinced all of his guards to be on his side of things, you have no idea. Realistically, if you get out, he's likely to make you out to be some kind of criminal that needs to be found -- just not to hurt you in any way, so goes the order, and the knights know better than to question why.

He has eyes and ears everywhere, it won't take them anytime at all to find you. He's so confident in that, and combined with his pride, he doesn't feel the need to go get you himself. No, it's a lot more satisfying to sit back and watch as they drag you through the doors of the headquarters, slowly pull you to the end of the room and drop you down at his feet, where he can look down on you with that closed-eyed, artificially wide smile that tells you that you have seriously fucked up.

Escape attempts aren't going to be met with a single shred of mercy, really. The thing about Kaeya is he's ultimately a selfish, selfish bastard with a lot of deep-seeded, highly repressed emotional issues, and he has absolutely no problem with keeping you bound hand and foot, or maybe even make some permanent modifications to your body if that's what it takes to keep you. It's not a wise idea to even try unless you're absolutely certain to succeed, otherwise you may find yourself never getting the opportunity again. You don't really need those Achilles tendons intact, you know. And your ankle bones are just so fragile, they'll snap with just a little twist. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad, giving you more reasons to be grateful when he's doing everything for you.

He's not one to just let it go, either. No, escape attempts are the one unforgivable thing for him, the one thing that will make him totally and completely snap. You don't get to do that. You're the one thing that doesn't get to just disappear out of his life in a flash. Half the reason he sends the knights to get you rather than going himself is to give him some time to let the rage settle down, otherwise he knows he might not be able to control himself and might end up hurting you even worse than he intends to. He's not going to buy any excuses and won't go any lighter on you if you beg and grovel or anything. But you will apologize -- you get to choose how hard it is. You can apologize the easy way, or, if you don't want to, there are many ways to force it out. But by the end, he'll get an apology, and a promise to never try again, out of you, no matter what that takes. It's by far the worst state you'll ever see him in, and really, once is enough to dissuade you from trying again.

How easy are they to trick, deceive, or manipulate?

You'd have to try pretty hard. He doesn't have the sheer amount of years of life experience like Venti or Zhongli, but he's not the captain for no reason - he's perceptive, and highly intelligent.

Rather than simply mastering reading human voice and facial expressions for telltale signs of deceit, he's good at learning individuals in particular - memorizing the patterns of thought and action of a particular individual, and predicting how they will act. He can do it with everyone else with ease, how much more, then, with the object of an obsession? If you're trying to formulate some plan to trick him, he'll already predict what you'll do, if you lie, he already knows. It's creepier than the others, really, because it's not just that he can tell when you're lying, but rather he already knows you're going to lie or try some scheme before you do it. It feels so tailored and personalized to your thought patterns, it almost feels like an invasion of the privacy of your mind, which, really, is the one privacy you thought you had left.

He's great at gaslighting himself, too. He's a very good liar, and can make you believe anything he wants. He'll target your fears and paranoias, make you believe you're going crazy, and he'll do it all so perfectly you'll never suspect a thing. You'll end up coming to him for protection and guidance, exactly as planned.

How lenient are they? What privileges can you have, and what will you be denied?

Pretty strict. He doesn't let you have any outside contact, and you're limited on what you can do when he's gone. He'll bring you some books, maybe something to draw on -- no sharp writing utensils, though. In his mind, that should be enough to occupy you.

You won't get outside walks or visits. It's just too risky for him, and he really doesn't like seeing other people look at you. If you really, really beg, and you've been on amazing behavior, and you're well into your relationship, maybe a few months or so, there's a chance he'll take you out at nighttime, or sunrise, but at the slightest sign of intentions he doesn't like, you'll be dragged back, and you won't see the sun for a long time.

You'll have a very limited wardrobe, he doesn't see why you even need to wear anything, but if you're going to be stubborn, he can get you something simple, like an old shirt and some underwear, but that's about all you can have. Any requests for actual clothing are going to be denied. It's ridiculous for him to spend money on something you don't need, and besides, he prefers it this way, y'know?

What kind of rules do they have? What kind of punishment would they use?

Generally, it's a simple one: obey. You do what he tells you to do, and you don't do something if he tells you not to. This stems to similar rules that develop: be submissive, don't be argumentative, don't be defiant. Follow those, and you can both be happy, and that's what you want, isn't it? It had better be - he's not very lenient, and will harshly punish even small offenses. As for that punishment... most of it isn't going to be sfw. That's just how he is.

What he will do is emotionally manipulate you, and he's rather good at it. You wanted to escape? Ok. He'll let you have your way, let you be alone. All alone. All by yourself, in a little room, with no one at all, which is exactly how you would have left him, had you succeeded. He knows very well how that kind of loneliness bites. He's not totally cruel, though, and he won't withhold affection from you by the time he returns -- he doesn't need to, you'll already be crying and apologizing, which is exactly what he hoped for. Not that he won't briefly mock you for it.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're crying like that because you actually missed me. Oh, you did? Being all alone isn't particularly fun, now is it? I'm sure you understand that now."

How do they deal with rivals, or perceived rivals? Will they get rid of them? Will they kill them themselves, or find another way?

Kaeya's an insanely jealous person. It doesn't show on his face, but it eats at him internally. It doesn't matter if it's a love interest, a platonic friend, even a family member. It's all the same -- people who want to take your attention away from him, people who you smile at that aren't him, people you love that aren't him. He's not one to delude himself into thinking everyone secretly loves you romantically, rather, it doesn't matter. Romantic interests are the worst threat, sure, but friends and family aren't much better.

He sees himself as above killing, though. He has people to do that for him, and he likes knowing that he has that much power. He's not going to dirty his hands with it, and frankly, they're not even worthy of his time and effort to kill them. Knights and other connections can take care of it just as well.

How easy is it to make them mad? What does their anger look like?

As somewhat previously discussed, the primary form of making him mad is attempting an escape. That's on a whole new level of anger because it strikes at a very deep, wounding insecurity. On a normal day, though, he's more easily exasperated than angry. He gets frustrated somewhat easily, especially if you're trying exceptionally hard to be a brat. He has very clear warning signs. His signature little smirk drops, he gets quiet, he balls his hands into fists and digs his fingernails into his palms. At that stage, he's irritable and might snap at you, but won't get too angry until you ignore those signs and push it.

If you do push him, though, he gets genuinely mad, which is a very quiet anger at first -- he doesn't talk much when he's mad. He acts. You'll know he's snapped when he puts down whatever he's doing, and just silently stomps over to you, face completely empty and flat, looking down at you with a cold expression. It's enough to put fear in you, but at that point, even if you apologize, you're not getting out of whatever he's planned.

So they see you as above them, beneath them, or equal to them?

Strongly in the "below" camp, a rather unusual stance for a yandere. Like many things with him, there's an inexplicable duality going on there.  You would think that if you loved someone so strongly you'd kidnap them, kill for them, and potentially suffer consequences just to have them, that you would really think highly of them. On the flip side, you would think that if you really saw someone as lowly, you wouldn't care for them, you'd see them as disposable.

But neither is true for Kaeya, no, he balances both obsessive love and complete narcissism regarding you. You're not disposable, no, he can't live without you, he needs you. But at the same time, you're not gonna be on any kind of pedestal. No, if anything, he sees himself on one, more like a throne, and you on the floor before him, how things should be.

He has a similar mindset to Zhongli or Albedo - you're fragile, you're dumb, you're incapable, and you need someone to care for you, protect you, guide you, someone who knows what's best for you, since you clearly don't. However, he's lacking in the attitude those other two have -- there's no seeing you as an angel here. There's no viewing himself as being absolutely honored to take care of you, or viewing protecting and caring for you as some kind of privilege that they're blessed to do, the way those two do.

No, as much as he loves those things, he'll never admit it, not even to himself really. Rather, his mentality is that you should be grateful. Here he is, a very highly respected, accomplished, capable person, and you...? You have what to offer, exactly? That's right, nothing, really, only cuteness and obedience, the latter of which you refuse to give him even though you really ought to. He's taking on the burden of making sure you don't get yourself killed, and how do you repay him? By getting mad about it, throwing a fit like some little kid? He puts up with your tantrums, which are really undeserved, by the way. He puts up with your disobedience and repeated rule violations, your sheer determination to defy him when he's going out of his way to do what's best for you.

One day, he thinks, you'll mature a little bit and understand why he does what he does, and when you do, you'll come groveling and sniffling about how sorry you are, how you'll never defy him again, how you'll be good and obedient from now on, and he'll love every second of it. He looks forward to that day quite a bit.

"Sigh... you know, you're pretty lucky I love you so much. You could stand to show me a little thanks, don't you think?"

How determined are they for you to love them? How hard will they try to make it happen? Or are they content just having you?

He's strongly determined, and yet... doesn't do much to try. It goes back to his mindset that really, you're the one who should be grateful for him, and eventually, you will love him. He's not gonna grovel to you or try different ways of making you love him, no, he's far too proud for that. But he's a smart man. He knows the effects that complete and total isolation other than one other person can have on someone. He's just going to sit back and wait for that effect to kick in, and slowly watch your fragile little mind deteriorate until you're desperate for affection. At which point, well, he can use it against you.

"You were so mean to me before, weren't you? You fought me every step of the way, and now you're just going to turn around and act like that didn't happen...? Well, if you're really sorry, I'll forgive you. But how am I supposed to believe you really are...? Maybe you can think of a way to prove it, hm?"

Bonus: Is there anything that makes them unique, in comparison to other yanderes?

Probably the severity of his degradation. As aforementioned, most yanderes, even the more confident or cocky individuals, either worship the ground their beloved walks on and sees themselves as beneath them, OR sees their darling as some sort of fragile, angelic being, and they are simply a protector or caretaker to that being.

It's a bit different with him, ever the narcissist. It's a strange duality born out of a rare mix of neediness, obsession, and pride. You're more like a toy, or a pet - an invaluable pet that he could never part with, but a pet nonetheless. He certainly looks down on you more than the average yandere - he mentally associates you as naive, fragile, even dumb like a lot of the aforementioned protector/caretaker types, but without the reverence to make up for it.

It's a bizarre duality that not even he fully understands - don't think for a moment that that means he'll ever tire of you, or view you as disposable. No, he's actually one of the most obsessive ones, yet very demanding of attention and praise, rather than giving it.

He frequently tests you - things like leaving the door unlocked, waiting outside just to see if you'll try it. Seeing you open that door, watching your face go from ecstatic excitement and drop to wide-eyed terror, it's priceless.

"My, my, you didn't waste any time at all, did you? Why do you look so surprised...? You should know I wouldn't slip up that badly."

Pet names, but in the most infuriatingly condescending way, and uses them more often when he's mad and trying to warn you that you're pushing his limits. Particularly fond of "sweetheart," especially with a low warning tone and clenched teeth.

General perverseness: how sexual of a person are they? What’s their drive like? How touchy do they get? Do they have any reservations about sexuality?

Horny fucker, all the way. The man has a lot of stress and frustration in his life already, that much more if you're... less than compliant with your new lifestyle. Sex, especially rough and hard, is a fantastic stress reliever.

Very little reservation. He's not crude about it, but he tends to make subtle innuendos very frequently, and laughs at your embarrassed reactions. Definitely the type to pull the whole shtick in which he says something with a blatant sexual undertone, then elaborates in a way to make it sound like having meant something else, follows with that smirk and says, "Why? What did you think I meant?" It's something he really enjoys doing, and loves to get embarrassed reactions out of people, particularly yourself.

"Touchy" doesn't begin to describe it. Pretty much from the moment you meet him, he's got his hands somewhere on your person. He grabs your shoulders when he stands behind you, he wraps an arm around you from the side when he walks up to you, he's always pressing his hands on your back and sides whenever you're navigating the streets, walking through doorways, wraps an arm around your waist when sitting next to you. It's highly uncomfortable, but really, he's just got something very subtly, but very strongly intimidating about him. You almost don't want to confront him on it. If you do, he'll laugh it off, and stop -- for maybe 48 hours or so, and then he'll be right back at it.

To the surprise of, well, everyone who's ever met him, he doesn't actually live up to the rumors of having been around the block, so to speak. His experience is actually little to none - that kinda happens when you push everyone around you away. Not that he'd ever let you know that, of course, and will probably lie if asked, but you can gleam a little bit of truth from slightly awkward movements and a bit of noticeable shakiness.

How forceful are they? Do they care about your willingness?

Kind of like Razor, the issue is that he loves you, and what better way is there of expressing love? He's not much for gift-giving or words of affirmation - no, he's a lot better with words of degradation, it comes more naturally to him. And he's certainly not one to enjoy acts of service -- well, not doing them, he'll gladly take them as a sign of your love, though. No, he expresses love through touch. It's like how, when you hug someone you really love, someone you missed, you squeeze them extra tight - the love manifests as a physical urge for some strong expression. Humans are physical about their emotions -- we punch walls when we're mad, we jump up and down when we're happy, and when you love someone, sometimes you just really, really want to pound them into a mattress as hard as physically possible. That's normal. That, and really, he's got his vices. He's actually fairly weak when it comes to resisting temptations, and prone to give in to urges for physical sensations like drunkenness and sex.

Is another one to be convinced that, with time, you'll come around. And is absolutely the top candidate to be one for using your own body against you - if you get wet, if you whimper, if you cum, that's just proof that you really do want this, that you're just being difficult because you enjoy being a brat, and he'll be sure to tell you that.

What sort of kinks or fetishes do they have, or would they fill?

This is nearly indistinguishable from punishment, sadistic bastard

D/S dynamics

Arrogant fucker wants to be served and worshipped, you could see it coming from a mile away. Anything that puts you beneath him is going to make him happy - anything where you're where you're supposed to be. There's a lot of options, but it doesn't really matter, as long as he feels like he's in control and ownership of you in some way, and as long as you act accordingly.

He wants it to be something that’s not just for sex, but rather, he’ll end up carrying it over into normal life, whether you like it or not. If you just went along with it in hopes of getting it over with once he cums, you’re going to be in for a treat when it starts to carry over. He gets a little too used to being worshipped, and decides he likes that submissive attitude on you enough to want to see it all the time.

Petplay/Collaring

It really helps that he sees you as something of a pet already, but really, the collar is the selling point. Even if you never go outside, there's something unbearably hot about the possessiveness of it all - really, it's there to remind you of your status as property. He wants to own you, and for you to be forced to acknowledge that he owns you, and there's really no better way to do that than something with his name on it. It's even better with a leash, one he can pull on when he's fucking you to pull you back onto him over, and over, and over, hearing it choke you the more he shortens it.

But really, having you crawl towards him on all fours and obey little commands so simple they're humiliating is pretty nice, too.

Impact pain/painplay

There's really nothing quite so powerful feeling as watching you cry and squirm from it, y'know? He's another one that just likes the marks his hands, belts, or anything else can leave all over the skin of your ass and the back of your legs. The thing with him, though, is it's not even always a punishment, he just does it for fun, and that makes it unpredictable. Will definitely make you count, it's a sadistic torture for your mind and body.

Throatfucking

May be used as a punishment measure, may just be because he's craving it, either way, even if you have a gag reflex, you won't for very long. He'll train it out of you gradually, grabbing the back of your head and just slamming all the way down into your throat, holding you there, making you choke - it's a beautiful sound, really, listening to you gag, all while your throat spasms around him, it's the best feeling, really, and will definitely be used as a threat if you need incentives to behave.

Choking

Ties into the dynamics, but really, there’s not much to say on this one. He likes the power trip from having his hands wrapped around your throat, seeing you struggle, watching your face go red, hearing those little choking noises. It puts power over you into his hands, and if you get pleasure from it against your own will, that’s even better.

How do they feel about pregnancy or babies? Do they want them?

Absolutely one of the ones to use it as a tool. If you have a baby, you'll be so much more bound to him. You'll need him more, you'll want him around more, you'll be much less likely to leave, and in a way it feels a little bit like a sign of ownership over you.

That being said, he's also acutely aware of his jealous tendencies, and realizes he would also be very likely to become jealous if he felt like you loved a baby more than him, or gave it more attention and affection than you do him. He doesn't like the thought.

So ultimately, the latter side prevents him from willingly trying, but if you really, really have defiance issues even after he's tried everything he can to break you help you adjust, he might consider it.

What kind of (nsfw) punishments would they use?

If it's mild enough, he can just take the route of extremely rough fucking - it gets rid of the frustration, he likes hearing you whimper and squeal, and he can leave lots of little bruises as reminders of what not to do in the future.

But, again, he already gets off to putting you in pain - it'll be that much worse when you've done something to deserve it. Harder hits, no mercy whatsoever, and he just loves all your little cries, wiping away your tears and smiling at you, right before bringing down whatever instrument of pain he's chosen again. If you really, really make him mad, and he really wants to make you cry, he's not above fucking your ass, either, watching you cry and beg, but you'll learn with time that begging doesn't ever get you out of anything.

What body parts of their darling do they like the most?

Definitely an ass man. Likes fucking you in doggy, seeing the ripple every time you bounce back off of him, pulling your hair or arms to add some force. He likes seeing all the little red marks that his hands and belts and anything else will leave on the skin, views it like marks of possession. Grabbing, beating, fucking, it's all good.

[shini--chan]

I read your yan! America, Russia, and China with a bullied Darling to superpower darling. Well Can you do some what of a part two,but this time over time in a hundred years the darling has became stronger and smarter than them,over time the darling knows all their little tricks they're going to pull.Hell,the darling will even go as far as to turn the tables on them,and here is the thing the darling won't even get drunk of the power of being a superpower.They'll just go on about their business

I’m sorry, anon. This probably won’t be what you’re expecting. This is simply because if somebody claims xy character is invinsible and just too strong, I’m already thinking of a hundred ways why that isn’t the case. To me, absolute power is simply a myth that only becomes true if all believe in it.

A sequel of this:  America, China, Russia - Superpower Reader

Yandere Hetalia – Subversion

America

Swallowing all his pride, Alfred would slither his way to your side. Not only in a sense of “if you can’t beat them, join them”, but out of a far more cunning reasoning.

Out of bitter experience he would know that once your stand on the very peak of the mountain, that their isn’t any more space next to you for somebody to be at your side. As such, you would be impeccably, inescapably lonely. Out of all people in the world, America would be one of the only ones to understand you, and in your desperation, you’d take as yours when he would offer himself up.

Of course, all your rawness and clinginess wouldn’t banish your paranoia and sharpness. So Alfred would force down his pride and arrogance even further and make whole ceremonies of prostrating himself. When you would goad and gloat on how your former bully would now have sunken to kissing your feet, he would grind his teeth together and remind himself that the end justifies the mean. And he would smile inwardly, because you wouldn’t fully realise just how foolish you had have been.

Never before would he really understood it when the older nations said that it never really is the king that rules the country, but all those that have the kings ear. Until he would slip into the latter role himself. Because so many of the greatest rules of the world were merely products of their upbringing and thus had the believes and morals of their mother or father or both internalised. As much as you’d want to convince yourself otherwise, you wouldn’t be inert, and the moment you’d actually be so, you’d be lost, and Alfred would usurp as your mistakes would pile up. Sure, you would be pulling all the strings, yet Alfred would always influence your decisions on which direction to jerk them.

You wouldn’t really believe that he’d have power over you either. The loud, boisterous persona he’d still often display would con you into believing that he wouldn’t be capable of subtlety. You’d forget that he largely achieved hegemony due to soft power. Also, you’d be convinced that the man that resigned himself to being your boytoy would be fully under your control, while it would actually be the other way around. Many of your actions would just be in reaction to him. As soon as you believe you are free, there is no escape.

China

Yao would still be very much obsessed with you, yet he would take the long and hard road and simply … wait. Being as old as he is, China has a great deal of patience. A such, he can wait decades for his plan to come to fruition. Furthermore, experience beats smarts in many cases, and intelligence isn’t a failsafe against arrogance. He’ll just go about his business as usual, build his modern day empire and rapidly progress in his corner in the world while wholly ignoring.

In truth, he would keep a very close eye and you, and when meeting you, wouldn’t put as much effort as usual in disguising his apparent suspicion. The cameras in your hotel room would be findable, his side-eyes would linger a fraction too long, his smile would be too plastic. With him being a canting old social chameleon, this would surely just be one of his tricks.

It would be, just not one you’d expect. There would be no coup waiting to be staged, no officials of you about to be poisoned, no slander and objection. Indeed, he would largely give you the cold shoulder and never bother to mention to other outside of what would be absolutely necessary. In this situation, all your smarts would be your detriment – in the need of stimulation, your brain simply wouldn’t except that he would be up to nothing and would go haywire catastrophising and simulating various scenarios.

All of this would lead you to making grave mistakes, since no matter how clever you are, you wouldn’t be immune to failure. If anything, the stronger and more intelligent you would be, the more complicated and grander your mistakes would be. That would be where Yao would sweep in – after you would have torn yourself to ribbons as your own mind would have proved to be your greatest enemy. You ask yourself how he could possibly defeat you while you’d only have yourself to blame

Russia

While Ivan would consider further brow-beating and displays of military might, he would discard that train of thought in favour of something far more effective. He would take the commoners rout against a tyrant, and make fun of you. There is a reason that dictators don’t allow themselves to be depicted in satire or in even the most harmless jokes. That is because people lose power when they are laughed at. Your problem would be that Russia would have a wealth of experience, having lived under dictators and oppressive monarchs almost all his life, he would know exactly how to make such jokes land.

Other than that, he would harass you in form of assassinations that would point to him, only that you would have no concrete proof that it was him or his people. Ivan would also heavily rely on the fact that he is broadly regarded as an enigma and a lose cannon. It wouldn’t really matter if you would already know all his tricks, since you’d not be able to do much against them. If anything, your knowledge of his doing would work in his favour since it would establish a sense of hopelessness in you.

Building up on that fact, he would take a leaf out of Gilbert’s book and deploy the tried and tested Stasi method of Zersetzung. This would be a long winded process where your personality would gradually be turned against you. Every small endeavour would be marked by strife or even failure, you’d suffer under the constant sensation of being watched, you wouldn’t know who to trust, you would be doxed with your most private information being made publicly accessible. All those who have power fear to lose it, and Ivan would rip away your power over your own life at the most fundamental level. Knowing who would be doing this to you would only make everything worse.taunting

[writing-in-april]

Spooks

Raymond Wadsworth X Female Reader

Summary: Raymond starts sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong at the next haunting he’s investigating.

A/N: Hey heyyy- here’s my second fic for my 30 fics in 30 days for April 2021!!! I had this spur of the moment idea in the middle of the night and ended up writing a pretty long fic for it (at least long for me lol) I had a lot of fun writing it and really liked the idea- I hope you all enjoy it too! Drop something in my ask box here if you’d like!! I’m always looking for feedback and my requests are open as well! Thanks for reading!!!

Warnings: 18+, Ghosts & poltergeists, Smut, Sub Raymond, Unprotected sex, Sex in a car, Slight cum play

Main Masterlist Word count: 3.2k

Your job description wasn’t an easy one to describe, you could say Mulder and Scully would be the most accurate equivalent. Though as with all tv shows it was portrayed with a set of rose tinted glasses, giving a filter to any realities you faced on the job.

You and your department preferred to call yourselves spooks, truthfully only because the pun was funny. In reality your 8 person department were called agents just like the rest of the FBI, you guys were just more secretive than the others.

Most of the time you ended up getting handed the short straw when getting new cases as you were still the newest on the team, despite being there for several years already. Unlike most professionals in law enforcement you did not have a partner, it only slowed you down. Every place that you were scheduled to decontaminate was an in and out procedure streamlined for effectiveness, adding another body to be hyper vigilant about was a hassle. You operated alone.

Any type of paranormal phenomena that you could think of was thrown in front of you. In your opinion the cases you had the most fun on were the ones that dealt with aliens, though some ghosts could be fun on occasion. The most recent case I had to deal with was a nasty poltergeist, the worst type of ghost. They always wreaked the most havoc on whatever house or place they occupied.

The family in this house had moved out a while ago, the request to decontaminate the home had been sitting on one of your supervisors for a while. It was an old house, built around the late 1800s. Old enough that it had a bunch of unnecessary rooms, like the parlor room that you found yourself trapped in.

And, you weren’t on your own either. Trapped with you was a man with fluffy brown hair flying in any direction, his eyes a darker shade of brown that were filled with fear- yet also curiosity. He was wearing a blue romper, it looked good on him, from what you had seen while you were frantic. But, you highly doubted that it would be effective clothes for a paranormal investigation, maybe he had just stumbled across this place out of curiosity. Either that or he was the type of an inexperienced investigator who had probably had one encounter with a ghost. It did not change that he was cute though.

“I’m a paranormal investigator- uhh technically a supernatural detective! My name’s Raymond! Who are you?!” He sputtered out, ranting probably to try to push aside his fear. You were standing side by side holding the double doors of the entrance to the parlor room, pushing them down to prevent the poltergeist from ramming it down and attacking us.

“Not important!” You snapped back at him, throwing a glare at him. Even if it wasn’t such a tense situation, you weren’t supposed to give away your identity or your job description to just anyone.

With another gasping breath he asked another question, even though you hadn’t answered his first inquiry, “I came with a girl, her name’s Becca- did you see her?”

This one you would bother to answer as he was quite obviously worried about the well being of his companion, “I may have seen her speed away in a red car after she was thrown out of the house. Was that your car she took?”

Not that you really cared all that much, but if he had been stripped of his transportation by his partner you’d have to take him in your own car. Not that you really wanted to, you still would have to help him even though he was seriously hindering your decontamination. “No, I came in my own car.” He answered which made you breathe a sigh of relief, you wouldn’t have to deal with another issue after you escaped, “I don’t blame her honestly, if I could leave I would.”

You were about to answer when your pressure on the doors wasn’t enough, making you both stumble forward. When you stumbled forward your keys, along with your badge, fell out of your pocket. Your badge flipped open front and center to reveal your name, plus the exact agency you worked for in a bold logo.

“You’re an FBI agent?!” You could not confirm or deny what he had asked, you were firmly focused on scrambling to get your things and avoid the ghost that was now throwing furniture at the two of you.

When Raymond finally took notice of the being that was pelting heavy objects around you, a ghostly shape in the form of a woman with a tortured look on her face, he screamed bloody murder. It was not unlike that of a scooby doo cartoon, him obviously resembling Shaggy almost perfectly. If only he had a dog to jump into his arms before he comically zoomed away while remarking “zoinks!”

His frazzled response to the ghosts giving a rather mediocre jump scare made you wonder whether he had the credentials to back up his job title as a paranormal investigator- or as he called it a supernatural detective. You racked your brain to try and recall anytime you had seen a Raymond or a Becca on the long lists of people that were being monitored for potential involvement, coming up with nothing. Well, maybe they were new, as his reaction seemed to indicate.

Your own reaction was stoic as usual, your nerves no longer jumped and your heart no longer quickened to the visage of a ghost trying to spook you. It was in no doubt for some arcane reason probably linked to revenge towards people that no longer existed. One would normally say don’t assume anything about people, that it might offend them to assume, but dead people in your view also had dead opinions- plus relying on precedent was usually a good option when a ghost might be trying to kill you. Despite the absence of fear from you there would be no call out of “Let’s split up gang!” either. It was you mostly not wanting to explain to your employer how you lost a citizen in the middle of this place and- besides that you couldn’t deny that you didn’t want him to die no matter how much undeniable extra trouble he was causing.

“Let’s go.” Your voice was firm, no discernible room for argument or questions.

Raymond somehow found a way to wriggle in to asking yet another question, “Where are we going?”

You yanked his hand out of the room that you think might’ve been a parlor room back in it’s day. You shouldn’t have bothered to answer as it would breed more questions from him, you already gave away too much about who you are and what you do. Any extra questions you answer from him was just creating a bigger breach in your security. Yet you found yourself justifying an answer, his eyes that were probably pulled into an adorable curious look laced with fear bored into the back of your skull as you dragged him out of the room and to the nearest exit. It was only a harmless question, it didn’t even have a satisfying answer, “Anywhere but here!”

Weaving my way through the house that was better characterized as a maze was hard to navigate through. At every turn some sort of iteration of the poltergeist tried to capture us, to pull us into death with it.

The two of us did eventually find the front door, only to find that we could not pull it open, the handle was stuck.

“Step back!” You shouted at Raymond to get him to move out of the way while you prepared to kick the door down. He skittered over to be right behind you, looking over his shoulder in paranoia. You used your right foot to kick the door, using all the leg strength you could muster. After three kicks, the door burst open, letting you both free.

Scurrying quickly to your government given work vehicle, looking back for a second to make sure that Raymond was following you. You couldn’t let a civilian die here, no matter how much of a nuisance he was, and he was cute of course.

Pulling out the last resort from the trunk of your car, gasoline, you then shoved a container of it to your unexpected companion.

“Cover as much of the house as you can!” He made no argument with your plan, running right behind you back up to the house to cover it all in gasoline. Once you had both covered it as much as possible you made sure Raymond was standing back before you lit your lighter and chucked it into the wood wet with the accelerant.

As soon as you could confirm with your eyes that the house had sparked with fire, you grabbed Raymond’s arm again to drag him to your car, not even caring about the one he had come here in. You basically threw yourself into the driver's seat, starting to drive away immediately after Raymond had sat down, before he had even shut the side door.

Adrenaline was coursing through your veins, causing your heart to pound hard enough that it felt like it could burst out of your chest. It was not unusual in your field of work, to feel death brush right by you.

“My car?!” Raymond screamed, his body turned so he was looking out of your back window.

“Sorry no time to go back! The U.S government will reimburse you for that- maybe…” You said quickly, while trying to step harder down on the gas pedal to speed away.

The house behind you was burning so bright from you could hear the crackling from the house turning to ash. You imagined that the flames and smoke were big enough to be seen for miles, considering how much accelerant you poured on it. So much for being subtle, your boss was definitely going to chew you out for that.

When you had gained a sufficient enough distance away from the flames you pulled off into a parking lot adjacent to a park. Pulling into the parking space fast you then hit the brakes hard, jostling you two a bit.

Taking a deep breath you slumped forward to rest your head on your steering wheel, just for a moment of relaxation.

“You know burning it down won’t necessarily get rid of it.” You only grunted in response to his matter of fact statement. Your lack of response seemed to make him even more anxious, tapping his fingers on any surface that was around him to preoccupy his mind while you took your breather. He tried to fill the silence that was making him uncomfortable, “So what do you actually do?”

You sighed deeply against the steering wheel one last time, then leaning off of it to sit back in the seat. You decided that you might as well give him a small morsel of information that may satiate his curiosity, “That’s highly classified, but you could probably figure it out.”

His insistence to bring up what your job is was making your insides twist with anxiety. You were already dreading what would happen when you got back to the office. It would be a lot of paperwork to explain everything that happened, plus you’d have to submit an application on behalf of Raymond to get his car reimbursed.

The adrenaline that had spiked in your veins born out of fear was still present. It was overwhelming, and you felt the need to use it for something different than wallowing in your fear.

You redirected your gaze to fixate on Raymond, who could surely help you redirect your adrenaline. He was an attractive man, who’s personality did help make him even more desirable. Even though he was a pain in your ass, he was a cute and funny one.

His own eyes were fixated on yours as well, with a different look than what you had seen earlier. His eyes were deepened with lust, not fear, though there was still an ounce of curiosity in them- probably still wondering who exactly I was.

Grabbing the hairs at the back of his neck you then pulled him forward to crush your lips onto his. He reciprocated immediately, though did not try to challenge your dominance over the kiss. He let you slip your tongue into his mouth, exploring him with diligence.

You wanted him closer to you, feeling every inch of him. So you swung your legs over his lap as best you could with the space you had to straddle him. When you did so you barely let his lips come off your own, too greedy to let them separate from yours.

A thought however was nagging you in the back of your head as you continued to melt yourself into the kiss, he had mentioned a companion that he had been worried about earlier. You did not want to step on any toes, nor endorse any type of cheating. You separated your lips from his own, even though you wanted nothing more than to envelop him in another kiss.

“This ok with you?” Your words were said right into his lips, mingling your breath with his, “You’re not with that Becca girl are you?”

“Not anymore- and yes I’m totally ok with this.” He confirmed before surging up to meet his lips with your own again. You wasted no time in starting to grind your hips onto his cock that was swiftly growing underneath his shorts. Just from grinding you could feel how large he was, even through a couple of layers.

He moved his hands to the button of your pants when you moved your lips to start nipping and sucking on his neck and jaw. You tried to kick off the articles of clothing on your lower half, panties included, without removing your lips from him. Unfortunately you had to do so because of the amount of space. You cursed under your breath, wishing that the government had paid to give you a larger vehicle.

You were already slick with arousal, also aided by sticking your fingers into his mouth to get them sufficiently wet. He bobbed his head up and down on them eagerly until you were satisfied. Removing them from his mouth you ran them up and down along your slit, getting you even more wet.

You guided his length to your entrance, not sinking down immediately. You undulated your hips so his length was coated with your arousal as well. When he bucked his hips in impatience you just pushed them down back into the seat. Then you leaned down to whisper into the shell of his ear to be patient- he’d get what he wanted.

“Fuck me.” Was all Raymond could muster up to whimper when you sunk down onto his cock, his head falling back to hit the headrest. You wasted no time in starting a fast pace, bouncing up and down on him with vigor. Raymond grabbed onto your hips when he couldn’t find anything else to hold onto, digging his fingers into your hips hard enough to leave bruises.

His large cock bumped up against your cervix in the most pleasurable way possible as you swivel your hips over him. Your own head tilted back, your mouth opened wide to let out a loud moan when his cock hit a particularly pleasurable spot inside you. You also felt the need to hold onto something as your release began to build inside you, getting ready to snap. So you grabbed onto the best thing you could find, running your hands through his hair and pulling on his strands.

One of his hands then moved to toy with your clit,his movements were a bit fumbled, but it swiftly made your orgasm start to crest. You were almost disappointed about how quickly this was going to be over, you however couldn’t deny that it felt amazing even with the frantic pace. In the back of your mind you couldn’t help but imagine all the other things you could do to Raymond if you were given the chance.

You fell apart above him, your eyes rolling back into your head. The adrenaline still coursed through your veins, and it felt good to have it redirected to a pleasurable experience instead of fear. You kept yourself impaled on his cock for a bit after your orgasm had finished, relishing at the feeling of him inside you.

Slipping out of him was a little bit awkward because of how cramped the space was. Once his cock slipped out of you, both of you groaning at the loss of him inside of you, you wrapped your hand around his length. You started to pump him slowly in your hands, taking your time compared to earlier. Your adrenaline had abated a bit and now you wanted to see how long you could drag this out, in case you never got the chance to again.

However, It still didn’t take much movement from your hands for him to get close, he was already close to the edge from being inside you. His hips bucked up into your hands a bit before he begged, “C-can you put- your hands- around my throat?”

“Should’ve known you’d be into that.” You snarked back a bit in response to his plea. Your tone had no sympathy for him, making him obviously think that you weren’t going to oblige him by the look in his eyes. That look of pure desperation in his eyes, with his kiss swollen lips, and his curls disheveled made you buckle. He groaned loudly when you put your free hand around his neck. You only applied a small amount of pressure, but that was all Raymond needed for him to cum all over your hand.

Once you had helped him ride out his own orgasm you removed your hand from his neck and his cock. You did need to clean up the hand that was covered in his thick ropes of cum, so you brought it up to your mouth to lick it clean.

“Fuck me…” Echoing his previous words, this time with an even bigger whimper. After you had cleaned yourself and him up enough to be decent you flung yourself back to sit in the driver’s seat again.

Raymond was silent for a minute, which seemed odd if you were going off of what little experience you had with him so far. Though maybe he was still going through his post orgasm relaxation just as you were. He then broke the silence, by asking the same question again, even though you had wanted to answer it just about 30 minutes ago. You’d bet money on the reason that he kept asking, being that each time that you answered you gave him a small hint, “Will you tell me now what you actually do?”

“Maybe- if you get to know me better.” You turned the key to start the engine again then asking with another hint as to what your job was, “Consider this your lucky day, you’ve got a spook as your chauffeur. Now, where next Raymond?”

—-

Tag lists (message me if you want to be added):

All works: @shotarosleftpinky @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar @s1utformgg @takeyourleap-of-faith

All MGG characters: @muffin-cup @willowrose99

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Risk”

Welcome back, everyone! I have a lot of mixed, complicated feelings about today's episode and I'm already sure this recap will miss a great deal that should be said. There's a lot to digest, we need some time to do that, so until things have settled I think that the one, entirely confident claim I can make here is that our writers weren't BSing the fandom on twitter. The last few days have seen a number of big claims made regarding "Risk" —

— and whatever else we might have to say about the episode, it certainly delivered in terms of shocking content. From confessions to reveals to a new plan in place, there's a lot to unpack. 

So let's get started.

Our first shot is a problem. 

I don't want it to be! But I've got to work with what I've got. We open on Salem's flying monkeys — or gorillas, if we're being technical — and my immediate thought is where in the world they came from. I mean, obviously I know where. We ended Volume 6 with the post-credit scene of Salem adding wings to an army of Beringels, Hazel commenting that she'll lead the invasion herself. When Salem arrived at the end of Volume 7 and we picked up where we'd left off in Volume 8, the fandom was obviously expecting an attack led primarily by flying, transformed grimm. That didn't happen. For ten episodes the plot forgot that the Beringels existed, focusing instead of the Hound, the grimm soup, then the Whale, then the ground grimm the Whale was producing. Months back I encountered a number of posts asking, "What happened to the resource we know Salem brought to this fight?" and those questions are partly what inspired the "Introducing new grimm that are then quickly abandoned" spot on the bingo board. Now, suddenly, the Beringels have re-appeared and that is a good thing. Though it's too little, too late, as is so often the case with RWBY. Getting something you expect has a sour taste when it arrives months past when it was needed, especially when that something only exists for a second on screen. 

This is doubly true given that we saw Oscar eliminate the grimm last episode.

At least, I thought he had? Pretty much everyone I've spoken to thought he had. This last week's discussions have centered around RWBY nerfing the stakes, taking out a whole army of grimm in one, magical blast. That's far from great. Yet now we see that we were apparently wrong. Atlas remains overrun with grimm, this problem remains a problem... so, yay? But we're once left with a tradeoff. RWBY has no longer eliminated the stakes with a deus ex machina as we had originally thought, but in its place we're left with a badly executed scene last episode and an assumed problem that is "fixed" with an enemy we should have been dealing with since the start of the volume. The road to the Beringels has been messy indeed and all they've done so far is fly across the screen.

Which reminds me: if this army of grimm still exists — and absolutely existed prior to Oscar's blast — how come not a single one is attacking the Schnee manor? This opening is in Atlas, the skies are overrun, we've seen a few grimm show up to help out the Hound, yet miraculously nothing bothers the group while they freak out at the dining table, or freak out as Penny tries to leave. That's a whole lot of grimm and a whole lot of negativity... yet somehow these two things never meet in a way that would inconvenience our characters. While from a writing standpoint I can understand not wanting to interrupt all these conversations and feel good moments, the show can't simply ignore the rules of its world whenever it's convenient. If anything, given that Atlas' population is currently hidden beneath the city, Schnee manor should be even more of a hot-spot than it normally would be. There is one (1) group of people out in the open for them to target. 

Yeah, we're a single shot into this episode. It's a doozy.

Moving right along, those Atlas citizens (and, let's not forget, a large number of Mantle evacuees too) are still huddled in the tunnels, listening to Ironwood's insane broadcast. They're obviously terrified, as are those down in Mantle who are staring execution in the face. Fiona bursts into tears.

It makes me wonder why we didn't get the airship subplot now. As I've mentioned extensively in the past, that decision didn't make much sense and I think the writers knew it didn't make much sense because they chose not to reveal what Ruby and co. planned to do with the citizens once they were on board. The point was never to come up with a feasible plan, something the audience would put to the test, but rather to just make it seem like the group was doing something Smart and Heroic before Ironwood inevitably derailed it. Don't look too closely at the man behind the curtain. Normally, I'd comment that yes, it's damn hard to come up with a brilliant plan to save others in a situation like this — our characters can only be as smart as our authors! — yet that sympathy dissipates when we hit this episode and are given a scenario where airships would have been great. Ironwood has threatened to nuke Mantle. Suddenly, it is imperative that the civilians leave the safety of the crater as soon as possible (whereas before it was not). So Whitley remembers that they have access to these ships and the group hatches a plan to sneak them down while Ironwood is distracted, get everyone up into Atlas so he can't use Mantle as a bargaining chip anymore. Then they're spotted, the plan revealed, and Ironwood shoots their ships down, leaving them devastated that their attempt to help the citizens has literally gone up in flames. We're still left with the problem of why Ironwood wouldn't just allow a continued evacuation now that Salem is briefly out of the mix and the Schnees have provided extra resources — the writing really took a sledgehammer to his characterization — but the group trying to get people to Atlas to avoid death by bomb at least makes more sense than them trying to move the citizens to an undisclosed location, for unestablished reasons, when they were already relatively safe. The bomb is what makes those airships a necessity.

It really makes me wonder how much editing goes on and how much time the writers have before they finalize scripts.

Regardless, we cut from terrified people to Ironwood himself, accompanied by Winter. The animation has some nice parallels going on here, what with the same black, white, and blue color scheme, hands behind their backs, the need for robotic accommodations, and steps perfectly in synch. As we're about to see though, Winter is very good at looking the part of a loyal soldier while actually bending the rules.

However, are we really going to ignore that she betrayed Ironwood last episode? Betrayal from his perspective, that is. Winter was given a direct order, disobeyed that order, pissed off Harriet in the process, and wasn't able to give a good explanation for her actions — she was too busy being creeped out by Ironwood's reaction. For all intents and purposes she should be considered disloyal right now. Or at least under suspicion, yet Ironwood acts as if everything is fine. We've skipped over any meaningful fallout between them, or a reason why Ironwood would dismiss her betrayal. This ties into something I'll bring up later in the episode: namely, that RWBY introduces too much too quickly and doesn't have time to satisfyingly tackle — or tackle at all — the plot points they've introduced, simply because there's always a new one to focus on. We dropped the "Winter went against Ironwood at great personal risk" plotline to make room for the new "Ironwood has randomly threatened Mantle" plotline, which likewise doesn't do Ironwood's characterization any favors. I don't just mean the obvious "Omg he's willing to murder a whole city now" issue. Ironwood used to be smart, yet his unfounded trust in others makes him look foolish now: first trusting Watts, now Winter. Alongside that, the story and fandom have both pushed the idea that Ironwood is paranoid, yet that "paranoia" has only ever been attached to justified threats. If he were actually paranoid then Winter's actions would have caused him to mistrust all of the Ace Ops now, labeling everyone near him a disloyal enemy, despite evidence to the contrary (especially when it comes to Harriet). Yet across two volumes Ironwood has continually been "paranoid" only in regards to things like Cinder and Salem — proven threats — while simultaneously trusting known villains and ignoring when his subordinates straight up say, "She let our enemies go free." There’s little rhyme or reason to any of his decisions here. 

Still! A nice, meaningful shot lol.

As Ironwood and Winter get closer we see the Ace Ops discussing the threat. "Of course he's not going to do it," to which Marrow pushes back with, "So what? He's bluffing with a whole city?" This is a really, really important moment that I don't think the writers realize is important. See, everyone is shocked when Ironwood reveals that he intends to go through with the threat. The Ace Ops, Winter, Robyn, our heroes... everyone grapples with the idea that this is actually happening. Everyone has some moment of, "It's just a bluff, yeah?" and I don't think that's just denial. The characters' shock tells us that Ironwood normally wouldn't be a man who'd do something like this. Ever. That shock has to stem from something, such as an ingrained understanding that Ironwood is a protector, not a murderer. Note the difference between the fandom and the characters' reactions. Whereas a good chunk of the fandom went, "Of course Ironwood means it. We all saw this coming! Remember how he..." and then proceed to list various things — persuasive or otherwise — that prove he was always a bad guy in the making. Yet no one in the RWBY world is inclined to use those moments as evidence. Winter doesn't go, "He's not bluffing. I saw him shoot the councilman just for speaking up" and the Ace Ops don't go, "Oh, he'll do it. This is the man who destroyed his arm to take down Watts. He'll stop at nothing." After everything they've seen — the same things we've seen — there's still some instinctual, nebulous knowledge that goes, "No. Ironwood wouldn't. He's one of the good guys." We can certainly talk about real life people getting swept up in horrible institutions, unwilling to admit how bad things actually are until they hit a specific line they can't cross... but I think this is less a comment on some sort of bystander effect (RWBY isn't that deliberately nuanced lol) and more an unintentional acknowledgement that until the very sudden and entirely unexpected shooting of Oscar, Ironwood actually wouldn't have done this. The Ace Ops are reacting to a man who absolutely existed until the writing erased him and they believe the core of that man still exists. To my mind, he should, but because our show can't actually have Salem as the main villain right now, she's conveniently blown up and Ironwood takes her place.

So we've got some loaded implications there, as well as Vine's comment that he hopes "the kids" see sense now. I am begging RWBY to pick a lane already. Are they kids, or are they adults? Because that answer makes a big difference and we can't continue to have it both ways.

Ironwood and Winter arrive were Ironwood orders that she prep drones with the "payload." That's the moment Winter and the others realize he's serious. Cue that shock all around. The revelation is the last straw for Marrow, prompting him to start yelling some excellent points about how Ironwood is doing Salem's job for her. See, this accusation works. Telling a guy threatening to blow up a city that he's as bad as their villain is accurate. Having Oscar tell that same guy that he's as bad as their villain because he wants to save a city full of people... is ridiculous. Totally different setup here and RWBY got it right this time. The only line that didn't work for me was Marrow asking the Ace Ops if they believe in anything. Uh... yeah. They believe in saving Atlas + all the Mantle evacuees they got. That's pretty well established. I swear,  most RWBY speeches are padded with generic, heroic-sounding lines that don't actually mean anything, or are outright falsehoods we’re meant to ignore. 

We'll see more of that with renora.

Marrow attempts to leave and his eyes go wide as he hears the click of Ironwood's gun. Remember I said that Winter is good at playing the obedient soldier? It's after Ironwood aims that she tackles Marrow. 

On the surface it looks only like she violently disarmed him, but in reality she got him out of the bullet's path and kept Ironwood from firing at all. She saved his life, choosing to play up how she'll “take this traitor to the brig” where he belongs, rather than watching him die. A really nice moment in terms of strategy and one of the few lately where I've actually felt like I'm watching smart characters.

However, I cannot deny the uncomfortable implications in this scene. Smart or not, necessary or not, it hasn't escaped anyone's notice that one of our darkest characters was a) nearly killed by a white man and b) beat up by a white woman. To say nothing of Marrow's status as a faunus. I was cringing during his line about loyalty: “I used to wear this rank with pride. Now I see it for what it really is: a collar." 

Honestly, I don't have the qualifications to unpack all that, so let's just acknowledge that the scene, while good in some respects, was massively insulting in others. I’ll let others in the fandom defend or damn it as they see fit. 

We get a shot of how shocked the Ace Ops are that they nearly watched their team member get executed for speaking up against a bomb threat. It once again highlight's RWBY's strange depiction of violence and when it's deemed appropriate. Harriet has threatened people a couple of times now — here telling Marrow she'll shut him up herself — yet her reaction tells us that she never would have killed him as Ironwood nearly did. Threats, then, mean little... unless Ironwood is making an exaggerated comment about shooting Qrow. Then it's evidence of evil intent that's bound to come to the surface eventually. So does that mean Harriet will be trying to bomb cities herself someday? If so, it once again leaves our heroes in an awkward position, considering that Ruby started the fight Harriet wouldn't, Weiss stuck her weapon in Whitley's face, etc. If it says something awful that Winter would punch a minority — even to save his life — what does it say about Qrow that he would punch a child in anger? Outside of the easy to label actions like Ironwood's bomb threat and shootings, there exists this gray space that asks, “When are you justified to use violence? When is a threat forgivable?” The problem is, the show keeps coming up with contradictory answers. I bring this up not because Winter's punch or Harriet's threat are the most significant examples of this that we've seen, but because the themes of forgiveness and violence take center stage at the episode's end... and RWBY completely drops the ball. Keep these complications in mind. 

Before that though, the group is crowded into the dining room and no matter what else "Risk" might give us, I'm reminded that I really like the design of the Schnee manor. I'm glad the episode found an excuse to show us this room again.

My initial thought upon entering the scene was, "Are we going to talk about Penny's hack? The silver-eyed grimm? Ozpin's return?" and to RWBY's credit it touches on all of these, though I stand by my point about plotlines coming too quickly. Any one of these should have been given the space to grow, not fighting for space against the potential destruction of Mantle. If you don't acknowledge these things in "Risk" you've lost your chance (much like how "Oscar is kidnapped" replaced "Oscar has to deal with Ozpin's return," resulting in a scene where Oscar was just... randomly okay with Ozpin again. We lost the chance to deal with the first conflict introduced because we barreled into the second), yet if you do spend episode time on these issues, it feels like the characters aren't dealing with the immediate threat. Questions of silver eyes, what to do about Penny, and Ozpin's return needed to be given their due before there was an hour time limit resulting in thousands of deaths. Now, you have to wonder why Yang and Ruby are talking about their mother when a city's safety is ticking away. Where were these questions and reassurances years ago?

I think this is why this episode — maybe even this whole volume — simultaneously feels too full and too boring. We're being introduced to lots of Big Things, but then putting them off to focus on other, smaller stuff, and by the time we circle back around it's no longer the right time. We're constantly focusing on the least interesting, least important thing in the room. Why is the group sitting around with their tea when we could have moved the Hound plotline up and started this groundwork earlier? Which means we're doing that work now instead of worrying about Mantle or Penny. All of which is connected to Salem herself being here, yet Ironwood is our villain instead... We're just introducing new idea after new idea, dropping each to focus on something else when the viewer is already emotionally invested in the last conflict. It makes the show feel overly packed with problems we don't have time for while simultaneously having too much time in which the characters do nothing of importance. We're never dealing with these issues at the right time. Talking about a silver-eyed grimm while Salem is here feels like Too Much and having the girls unpack that now, with Mantle’s life on the line, feels like Too Little. Stop sitting around while you've got less than an hour to save half a kingdom! We needed this conversation in a different episode, one not already driven by a problem that’s objectively more important. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We're in the dining room and the group is listing all the stuff that has gone wrong lately. Blake mentions that Qrow and Robyn are still in custody, because we definitely want Blake remembering that Qrow exists, not one of his nieces. Ruby, meanwhile, is having a meltdown. "So then it's impossible!" she yells, head in her hands. 

Emerald sneaks in an insult: “See? If Ms. Hero here with all the answers doesn’t have one..." and the others, of course, jump to Ruby's aid. But Emerald is right! It's entirely Ruby's fault that Atlas didn't get the chance to escape with those they had. Her actions and lack of a plan led to where they are now. I'm not saying she's responsible for Ironwood's insane decisions — that's like saying he's responsible for Qrow's in relation to Clover — but Ruby indeed played the part of the hero who had all the answers... without actually having any answers. Now that things are worse than how they started, her only answer is to say it's all "impossible" and throw up her hands. Ruby is an absolutely terrible leader right now and someone should indeed be calling her out on that, it's just too bad it's Emerald, someone technically still presented as an untrustworthy figure for the next couple of minutes. (More on that later.) Any and every criticism of Ruby is dismissed out of hand. Don't believe Ironwood because he's crazy now. The Ace Ops? His boot lickers. Yang has things to say, but once Ren agrees with her she does a 180. Now Ren is heading towards an extra special apology for daring to doubt Ruby. May calls her out, only to also change her opinion the next episode. Now here's one more person, but she's a bad guy. The show has never once encouraged us to treat these criticisms seriously — never allowed them to stick, let alone lead to change — and at this point I'm done with everyone falling over themselves to absolve and praise Ruby. By making Emerald the criticizer and having Ruby throw herself a pity party, the writing ensures that the conversation goes from, "Yeah. You messed up big time and now have a responsibility to fix things" to "Aww, don't be so hard on yourself! We won't let mean Emerald insult you anymore."

Ruby makes herself the victim here. She gets so upset and acts so defeated that all anyone can do is reassure her. The focus turns towards her, a focus centered around hiding against the table, or cowering on a staircase, so that it feels cruel to call her out on her deadly mistakes when she's so clearly upset. But they still should have, especially since cowering and tears have never protected anyone else from the group's criticism. Ozpin is proof of that.

What I'm getting at is that Ruby runs away. She's faced with the consequences of her actions, is informed she needs to help come up with a solution, and instead of braving that decides it's "impossible" and literally runs from the room. While they're on a time limit. Keep this moment in mind for just a bit longer. These choices become doubly important later.

So Ruby can't handle the responsibility she violently ripped from others and the group goes out of their way to comfort her in this. Especially since the writing again decides to conflate Emerald and Ozpin through a comment of Oscar's, demonstrating that it still has no decent sense of what "responsibility" or "villainous acts" means. These scenes are three years in the making and every step getting here was dogged with problems, so the fact that the end result is a mess isn't exactly surprising.

We (thankfully) leave Ruby for a bit and instead turn to Jaune. He's amplifying Nora's aura, but admits that he can't get the scars to go away. That makes sense. After all, they're scars. His semblance helps people heal, but at this point Nora has already healed. Those scars are the result of that.

She says it was “Just another ditzy move from Nora” and I'm glad we're acknowledging that, even if it is all framed through the lens of Nora being incorrect in that assumption. Once again, the writing continually makes statements about characters, but fails to have their actions reflect that. Nora wanted to do more than just hit things with her hammer without thinking them through... and we showed that by having her hit a door with her hammer without thinking it through. Was it heroic? Absolutely. Did it lead to any growth? No. I'd much rather someone acknowledge that yeah, she did the same thing she always does, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nora's impulsivity is a part of her and, given the talk of teammates here, she could have gotten reassurance that she'll always have people around to help her temper those impulses. Instead, we're (again) told that she shouldn't do A anymore, watch her do A anyway, the writing presents it like it’s B, Nora admits that she did A, and everyone rushes to assure her it was actually B. Just let these characters make mistakes for once, especially mistakes made in an effort to help someone. This should be the easiest and kindest way to criticize the group and RWBY can’t even manage that. 

Which brings us to Ren. Ren, I am so sorry. You deserved better than this. Nora rips into him, saying, “We were supposed to be a team, but that didn’t matter to you! You shove people out so you don’t have to feel things that are hard!" and again we have RWBY making grand statements that are meaningless. Did Ren keep things bottled up in Volume 7? Yes... and no one tried to help him with that. Instead, Nora decided to bypass his problems completely and try to kiss it better. When that (shockingly) didn't work, Ren was finally forced to open up at Yang's insistence and was abandoned for his perspective. That's what that was, literally and metaphorically: they walked away from him and made it clear that so long as he believes these things, he's not welcome. What were those things? We've made mistakes, Ruby made mistakes, we're not ready for this stuff. That's it! "We were supposed to be a team" makes it sound like Ren betrayed them in the worst possible way, when in reality all he did was acknowledge that they're imperfect and that things are a mess right now. But of course, that is the ultimate betrayal for this group: acknowledgement that they’re not perfect. Everyone can call themselves out to generate sympathy — Nora does it, Ruby does it  — but as soon as someone else agrees and implies that they should make changes, they’re dismissed. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the refusal to question Ruby makes me incredibly uncomfortable. Is this as bad as Ironwood shooting someone who questions him? Of course not, but that doesn't make it good. The group has made it clear from Ozpin to Ren that if you put a toe out of line, that's it. You're gone. You are not a part of the group until you are willing to back the group 100%, no matter what horrible things they might be up to. That Nora yells at Ren for questioning and Ren learns to keep his mouth shut, apologizing to both her and Jaune for speaking his mind is... well, it's horrible. That's not friendship. I know the fandom doesn't want to hear that given how much we otherwise love these relationships, but it's not. If you can't question and voice concerns without about serious topics like this without the threat of abandonment — literal or otherwise — then that's not a friend group you should be sticking with. Ren’s "biggest failing as a teammate and a partner" is that he didn't agree with the others and didn’t immediately change his mind when they demanded it. There are awful implications attached to that, especially since Ren’s perspective was a good one. He’s not out here slinging horrific views like, I don’t know, homophobia at the bee’s non-relationship. He just went “We made mistakes” and the group responded “Absolutely not. Absurd. Fuck you.” They didn’t even consider that position, which speaks to both a lack of respect for Ren and a level of arrogance that keeps getting them into trouble. But these issues are easily overlooked given everything else that surrounds them. Outside of Ren's apology, I quite liked the renora moment. We got a detail about Nora's backstory! She called Ren pretty! We got an "I love you"! He booped her nose!! It's all very cute and wholesome... and soured by the knowledge of what Ren had to do to get here.

Outside of these generalized responses, there are three other points I wanted to make about this scene:

Yes, more obligatory humor to ruin an otherwise serious moment. Jaune could have just smiled softly and slipped out. Or have him leave before the conversation started (because Ren shouldn't have been apologizing to him in the first place...) Instead, we got multiple seconds of him being awkward, including a bunch of funny sound effects.

I'm legitimately happy we got that "I love you" — outside of the problems since arriving in Atlas, I've always enjoyed the ship — but coming on the heels of last week's episode, it makes the bee's forehead touch look even worse. Renora has been confirmed multiple times at this point, but we still can't get something overt for our one, queer ship.

On the one hand, I really like that Nora set a boundary here — a surprisingly mature conversation for RWBY — but I'm confused as to what exactly the boundary is. She says she needs to figure out who she is without Ren, but what does that translate to on a practical, day-to-day basis? Normally, when a couple needs to figure out who they are they separate, but renora can't do that. They're still on the same team, stuck in the same war, presumably off to do the same things they've always done together. It sounds great on paper to say that Nora is going to discover who she is without Ren, but unless they separate again I don't see how that can happen. More likely, we'll get a volume or two of them looking and acting exactly as they always have, but when it comes time for relationship drama again, Nora will insist she's a different person who is now ready to be with him. That she's changed. But change requires, you know, making a change, so is renora actually going to look any different moving forward?

While these two confess their love but also decide to be separate (is that what happened?), Qrow and Robyn have knocked out some guards and retrieved their weapons. Robyn watches four security feeds, whispering, "He's... really gonna do it." See? Even Robyn, someone who never liked Ironwood and considered him dangerous from the start, is in shock that he would go this far. Qrow doesn't want to talk moral downfalls though, he's all action: "Not if we stop him first."

You know, at least Qrow is doing something. What he's doing is stupid, particularly given his motivations, but with the volume we've had I give him props for coming up with a plan and sticking to it. That's more than many of the others have done.

Yet then, suddenly, Robyn doesn't want to kill Ironwood. ...Since when? Robyn has been the most trigger happy of the lot while Qrow initially wanted to talk. Now they've switched places for no reason I can see, with Qrow all murder happy and Robyn cautioning restraint. Which admittedly isn't uncommon. Remember how Nora was all about protecting Mantle and then randomly decided to help with Amity instead? Remember how Yang was critical of Ruby and then decided to defend her to Ren? Remember how Hazel was pro-Salem until he saw a blue naked lady and decided to defect? At this point, characters just do things at random.

Robyn says that Qrow isn't trying to kill Ironwood because that's the right thing to do, only because he wants revenge. A true enough assessment. But then she follows it up by claiming that Qrow is a better huntsmen than Clover because he does the right thing. Without rehashing all my arguments regarding how Clover was not the devil incarnate for refusing to let two potential criminals walk free — especially after they attacked him — we're really playing the dead guy card now? Clover was murdered. Robyn and Qrow were participants in that murder. Now Robyn is making sweeping claims about who is the better person when Clover quite obviously isn't here to defend himself? That's all kinds of messed up.

Before they can bash the dead guy anymore though the elevator arrives. We see Qrow and Robyn's shocked expressions at whoever is behind the doors, presumably Winter and Marrow. It seems likely that Winter didn't really intend to take him to the brig. They're defecting and have now found two more allies to help them. Robyn wants a plan other than run upstairs and stab Ironwood? Winter will likely provide one.

We return to Ruby who, as established, is wallowing in the most dramatic position on the staircase. Obviously things are legitimately horrible right now and if Ruby had been given a storyline different from what we've seen since Volume 6, I'd feel sorry for her. As it stands, it's just frustrating to watch her look like the maiden of a Victorian novel while Mantle's time ticks away. 

The conversation between her and Yang is great though. At least, it is for the first few sentences. I love that the show remembered they're sisters and have them talking again. I love that Yang tries to cheer Ruby up by saying she outshines her big sis in regards to the Hound. I love that she nevertheless acknowledges that the Schnees were a part of that defeat, giving them their due rather than putting all the praise on Ruby. We establish that Yang has learned what the Hound really was. This conversation is going strong...

...but then.

"That's what happened to mom."

Really? Really? In eight episodes we went from, "Lol just because the Hound spoke doesn't mean Summer was secretly made into a grimm. That’s a crazy theory" to "Summer was absolutely turned into a grimm. That's canon now!" Except because it was made canon by Ruby just announcing it one day, we can expect for an even bigger "twist" in the future: Summer is still alive. Why wouldn't she be? The Hound was untouchable outside of silver eyes, so we have little reason to think anyone has defeated her in the last 14 odd years.

I'll admit the timeline works out better than expected (I think) with Salem killing SEWs during Maria's time before switching to experimentation, but there's no emotional weight to this. I just don't care and frankly I don't think the fandom cares either. Oh, there's plenty of excitement over the reveal, but that's all for the version of Summer Rose people have built up in their minds for the last eight years, not anything that exists in the show. If you strip away all the headcanons and fics, Summer isn't interesting because she barely exists. We know nothing about her as a person and therefore we have no reason to care that she's likely another Hound. Worse — because maybe this could be smoothed over if we just care since Ruby cares — everything else surrounding this reveal was badly done. Summer, as said, has been a non-character for this whole series. Yang only just remembered two episodes ago that Summer is her mom too. The only evidence of experimentation we've seen is on other grimm, not people. There was more mystery surrounding why Tyrian was interested in Jaune, not why he'd kidnap Ruby (Big Bads always want to kidnap heroes). We have no idea who this silver eyed faunus was. We have no idea why Salem would randomly start experimenting when she doesn't need additional weapons. We don't know why she would keep these weapons to the sidelines when she’s apparently had them for over a decade. I don't even buy that Ruby, someone who we never see thinking about or questioning any of this, suddenly put all these pieces together to hit on the revelation. 

None of this adds up because it wasn't planned. Summer was dead, added to the series purely because having a dead mom is interesting, and she was treated as dead for seven years. Not just by the characters, by the show. Then, suddenly, the narrative raced to remind everyone that she's supposedly a Very Important Character so we could get this twist. It’s awful. Not because the idea itself is horrible, but because it was shoved into a story that wasn't prepared for it and certainly doesn't need it. The group has Salem herself attacking the kingdom, Ironwood threatening destruction, three Relics still to discover, not to mention all the other personal conflicts going on — Emerald walking around the mansion, Ozpin is back, Penny is being controlled, Oscar has finite magic now, Nora is still recovering — but we're going to introduce another subplot to deal with? RWBY acts like it's terrified that if it doesn't add something new and flashy every third episode, its viewers will jump ship. Despite its hiccups, there's a reason why the arcs of Volume 4 worked well overall: characters were given the time to explore specific problems, like Yang's PTSD and the destruction of Ren's village. Now, in episode 11 of 14, RWBY reveals that two of the characters' mom was turned into a literal monster, but there's only time for a tiny bit of comfort because Penny is escaping and they have less than an hour now to save Mantle. There is way too much going on and we're not devoting enough time to any of it.

Hell, even the conversation can't afford to stay on the Summer reveal for more than a few sentences. Ruby segues back to her self-chastisement, saying that she wasted time on Amity. She did, but not because people didn't come. She never should have made that terrifying, nonsensical announcement to begin with. But just like Ruby never thought through the pros and cons of telling the world about Salem, she apparently never thought about the logistics of getting help. She's written the world off now — so you just know help will appear in the finale — yet she never considered how long all this would take. Our timeline is (supposedly) two days, so how long would it take a kingdom to digest the information she gave them, decide on a course of action, get people and resources together, then fly all the way to Atlas? After Ruby used most of the first day just to send the message? As I and others have pointed out, the answer is “way longer than the group has.” It shouldn't be possible, yet neither Ruby nor Yang realizes basic facts like, "What's the flight time between Vacuo and Atlas?" Like Qrow blaming his semblance rather than his decision to team up with Tyrian, Ruby blames the world for abandoning them rather than her terribly thought out plan. Both have reached the right emotion — regret — but not for the right reasons.

Also, Ruby says that Amity fell. Are Pietro and Maria okay??

Yang talks about blind optimism vs. no optimism at all, something I could really get behind if the group hadn't been governed by blind optimism this whole time. Also if what the rest of what Yang said made sense. She fires back with, “And in case you didn’t notice, my plan for Mantle didn’t work either." Uh... what plan? As far as I recall there was no plan. They just went down to do any tasks that needed doing: supply runs and grimm killings. What plan is Yang talking about?

This conversation is a disaster. We circle back around to Summer with Yang saying she also took a risk (the title is very obvious this episode) but "she's still my hero." Is she? Because the only thing you've ever said about Summer is that she baked great cookies. Regardless, Yang lays her head on Ruby's shoulder and they cry some more.

Then Jaune hurries down the steps because Penny has woken up and broken through a window.

Again: how were they planning to deal with this? Did anyone discuss it? Because it looks like Klein said, "Hey, that friend of yours powered up and could have hurt us," Nora said, "Hey, Penny was fighting some sort of control," and Whitely said, "Yeah, she wanted to open the vault and then self destruct" and everyone just left her alone in some room, deciding they'd worry about that later. If Penny had just snuck out a little more quietly the group would have been screwed.

What I do like though is the teamwork to keep Penny from flying off. It feels like we get so little teamwork nowadays, which makes everyone piling on others' range weapons, or Jaune boosting Weiss' glyphs, really enjoyable. Even Emerald gets in on the action because apparently they gave her her weapons back! 

We're going to talk about this nonsense in a second.

For now, Ruby implores Penny to fight it, which is exactly what I said we'd get. Penny insists Ruby kill her though, saying that if she does she'll ensure that the power passes to her. I find this to be a weird priority. Does the group really care about who gets the Maiden powers right now? The threat here is that Penny will successfully open the vault — which shouldn't even be that much of a worry. Just let Ironwood leave instead of trying to destroy Mantle! Keeping him here has made things worse! — and that Penny will self-destruct. That feels like the biggest worry: that Penny will die. So they're going to prevent her death by... killing her themselves? Priorities and motivations really feel shaky this week.

Luckily, Ruby remembers that Penny is A Real Person and tells Jaune to amplify her aura. The fact that she has a soul keeps the virus from overtaking her. Hurray!

That's like saying my sense of self will beat off rabies. Just believe that you're your own person and nothing can touch you. They go so far as to say, “That’s who you are. Our friend, not a machine” and that feels like such an erasure to me. Penny is a machine. She is! And that was great back when this was accepted as a good thing, not something to ignore. Remember this?

You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?

Here, Ruby acknowledges Penny's difference and reaffirms that she still has worth. Now, the group denies Penny's difference in order to prove that she has worth. She has worth because she's supposedly not a machine and supposedly can't be controlled like one... even though she is a machine and is being controlled. It's only Jaune's semblance that keeps her from going under again. The concept of Penny's personhood is now connected to her ability to resist a machine-based virus and she has failed to do that. This doesn't confirm Penny's humanity, it tells Penny (and us) that humanity is distinct from the machine parts of her, rather than a concept that includes it, and the moment she is too influenced by that machinery she ceases to be a person. The group isn't accepting her here, they're encouraging Penny to ignore and deny the parts that make her Penny.

If you want an example of how to do an arc like this far, far better, go watch The Next Generation with Data. He's what Penny could have been.

Regardless, the virus has been held at bay, at least so long as Jaune has aura. Which seems to be endless given that he was exhausting himself in the whale, but is now boosting Nora, Weiss, and Penny without any difficulty.

At least that's a minor concern in the grand scheme of things. What we're about to get? Not so much. Honestly, I'm 7k into this recap and I just don't have the energy that these two scenes deserve. Which scenes? The one where Emerald is welcomed into the fold with laughter and Ozpin has to grovel for forgiveness.

Emerald first. Last week I said:

“However this fight ends, we could really use someone like you, [Emerald.]” That’s it then. Discussion over. We knew as soon as it started that blindly trusting her was being presented as the “right” thing to do and now here we are, deciding that conclusively, despite Jaune and Yang’s complaints. By the time the group reaches the mansion, Oscar is defending Emerald from Ruby. We’re supposed to just accept that she’s a part of the group now, only minimal pushback allowed.

and I was right. Over the course of the last week I spoke with a number of friends, many of them working under the belief that this was just the start of an arc for Emerald. Obviously the show wouldn't instantly have the group trust her after all this. They'll need to warm up to her first. She'll need to prove herself. Well, I was far more pessimistic, arguing instead that I thought this was it. She was already being presented as a perfectly trustworthy figure. I'd briefly thought I'd been mistaken when the group turned on Emerald for her comment to Ruby, but then suddenly she's been given her weapons back. It's not even a matter of "You should be able to defend yourself, but you're still not trustworthy" (which would still have problems, but). No, she makes a comment about "switching sides" and that's it, trust achieved. That's all it took — nothing at all.

Now, some shows do function on a second chance policy. We can name hundred of stories where heroes instantly forgive antagonists and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is that RWBY is very much not that show. In the exact same scene Ozpin apologizes to the group and begs that they try to trust him again:

“I’ve failed all of you. I should have trusted you with the truth and I should never have run the day you discovered it."

This is complete and utter bullshit. Sorry, I'm not mincing words for this one. Two years we waiting for the group to come around, hoping that there would be apologies on both sides, but there wasn't. The group doesn't physically or verbally hurt Ozpin anymore — they do accept his request — but it's done with expressions that say this is what they are owed. You’d better apologize.

I could rehash all the arguments I've already made about how atrociously they treated him, how Ozpin had no reason to trust a bunch of teenagers, how important it was that both sides admit their mistakes, but if you're reading this recap you're likely already familiar with all that. Rather, what I want to emphasize here is that our opinions on Ozpin don't even matter here. Even those who take his apology at face value — fully believing he did fail them, he should have told them everything from the start, and that him leaving was "running away" rather than being driven off — even if we accept for just a moment that Ozpin is as guilty as the show says and heinous as the fandom claims... surely he's not as bad as Emerald? In roughly chronological order she has:

Tried to ally herself with Adam along with Cinder and Mercury

Helped to attack Amber, resulting in injuries that would have killed her if Cinder hadn't gotten to her first

Helped kill Tukson

Pretended to be a transfer student and Ruby's friend for the rest of the semester (that’s a lie that would breed mistrust)

Tricked the world into thinking that Yang had attacked Mercury unprovoked

Uses her semblance on Pyrrha, causing her to unintentionally kill Penny

All of this was in service of the Fall of Beacon, an event that destroyed a school, killed an unknown number of students, killed Pyrrha, and lost Yang her arm

Participated in the attack on Haven which, beyond the intent to further Salem's goals, nearly got Weiss killed

Came to Atlas to assist in the next attack

Went after Penny, Pietro, and Maria — two of whom might still be in trouble depending on if Amity literally fell out of the sky 

Listened to Oscar being tortured, hemming and hawing for a while before realizing that, if the whole world is in danger, she's in danger too

Finally jumped ship

Emerald is one of the bad guys. All the sad looks over the years doesn't change that. Yet somehow an antagonist we've had since Volume 1 is considered more trustworthy than Ozpin, a man who hasn't intentionally helped kill their friends and who has been helping and apologizing for months now.

Yang "Aww"s when Emerald speaks. Just sit with that for a second. The woman who went through all of that horror because of Emerald, who just last episode was correctly saying they can't expect her to forget all that, is going "Aww" after... Emerald helped hold Penny for two seconds? This is ridiculous. These are the faces of the group when talking about Emerald's trust

whereas these are their expressions when talking about Ozpin's

It’s not a matter of who deserves trust or not, here it’s purely a matter of comparison. Emerald should not be more quickly forgiven than Ozpin. 

Now toss in the story Ozpin tells. Unsurprisingly, it's another fairy tale — we've gotten a little heavy-handed lately — about a young girl who flees the consequences of a choice and, having never learned from her initial failure, spreads even more trouble. That's Ruby. That is Ruby to a T in this episode and the last three volumes. She is literally a young girl who has caused staggering consequences, literally ran away from the conversation about those consequences, and is now poised to continue making those mistakes because everyone keeps reinforcing her flaws. That's Ruby, yet somehow the show thinks it's Ozpin. He positions himself as the young girl here, as if he didn't face his consequences generations ago when he left the cabin, didn't learn from his mistakes by keeping Salem's secret, and hadn't been driven away by the very people he's asking for a second chance. This scene has everything backwards and while normally I'd grab hold of the possibility that maybe things will right themselves later on... we're done. This is the ending of that arc. After two years of saying, "Maybe, maybe, maybe," Ozpin has been taken back into the fold after begging his way back in. There's no more time to correct things. RWBY missed its chance. Weiss says that "Trust is a risk" and that's how Ozpin is forgiven. They have taken the risk of trusting him again after months of reflection, life-saving actions, and apologies. Emerald is granted the risk of trust in under an hour. I’ve heard so many people say they’re dropping RWBY this volume and scenes like this are precisely why. 

Ugh. Heavy stuff, folks! I feel like I need to lighten the mood. Here, let's take a moment to acknowledge that the Schnees and Klein only marginally know what's happening.

Someone help them.

That is, to all intents and purposes, the end of our episode. Ruby has some sort of epiphany about actually handing Penny over — "That's actually a risk we haven't considered" — and Ironwood will no doubt fall for whatever plan they've concocted because he's stupid now. He receives a call from Ruby saying they agree to his terms, Watts is attempting to get communication of his own up and running, and Neo arrives to do... whatever she intends to do. Idk, I have assumed she wanted Ruby, but Cinder obviously doesn't have her yet for a trade off. Regardless, Neo is ready for a fight while Cinder just smiles. Team up 2.0?

As for bingo, I'm using my free space for "Worst redemption arc I've ever seen," with an honorary nod to Hazel too, and Ozpin's square gets blacked out in exes because that was just #bad.

This bingo board is a mess. Appropriate lol 

Three more weeks, everyone. Hang in there! 💜

[thetriggeredhappy]

in the latest Dad!Spy fic, it seems like both of them have a degree of separation anxiety. largely *reasonable* separation anxiety because of the whole, y'know, Spy (and eventually Scout) being a mercenary thing, but it's still fascinating to see. i wonder how Spy would deal with easing Jeremy's anxiety and his own all the while knowing that he very well COULD be killed and leave his young son alone any time something goes wrong with work

spy as a dad would i think be extremely concerned about his kid’s safety to the point of paranoia, and the worst part of it all would be all the times when his paranoia is justified.

(warnings for discussion of canon-typical violence, none of it happening onscreen, and assorted mention of spy-type business)

-

Something about this felt so deeply... dishonest. Something he couldn’t quite place. Maybe some sense of irony, or... maybe just the sort of general guilt he’d had as a very young man starting to reverberate within him again. Whatever it was, sitting there and writing down the cipher of a message intended to ensure his son’s safety if he died, while that aforementioned son slept soundly against his shoulder, felt deeply morally wrong.

His eighth birthday was coming up. It was, according to Jeremy, a pretty big deal. And Jacques was aware that most children in more average situations would be having a party together, eating cake and playing games and having fun while he theoretically chatted with the other parents and talked about... school, or, extracurriculars. He wasn’t sure, to be honest, that was just his assumption. But Jeremy’s situation was anything but average, so he’d be making an attempt to do something else, something he’d enjoy enough that perhaps he would be able to put off the conversations of “why can’t I have normal friends?” for one more year. He’d heard about and marked down an annual fair, and found that this year the weekend it was taking place just so happened to also fall on Jeremy’s birthday.

It was a good excuse for why they were leaving town so swiftly. Much more justifiable to himself and more explainable to a very-nearly-eight-year-old than whispers on the wind of a pair of men he thought he’d killed twelve years previously being seen within the state and that alone being enough to make him very very nervous. He did not believe in coincidences, and moreover, he knew that him finding out about these men being alive was not an accident, it was a warning, and the only one he would be receiving before they struck to kill.

Regardless, he was still a bit troubled by it. And he knew it was an adjustment from the plans he’d been hesitantly laying for some time on where he would be and when, his route a closely guarded secret meant to be known to exactly three trustworthy people in entirely seperate areas of the world, and even then it was a risk he would never have taken previously. But him going missing would be several degrees more significant, as he’d realized roughly eight years ago.

A movement to shift, trying to keep his arm from falling asleep, was enough to wake up Jeremy, who blinked a few times down at what Jacques was writing as if waiting for the letters to make sense. “Is that Russian?” he mumbled sleepily after two minutes of silence.

“No,” he said, having to pause in his writing entirely, broken from the rhythm he’d gotten into. “It’s a cipher. Secret symbols and letters.”

“Oh,” Jeremy said simply, and went silent and still for long enough that he convinced himself that he’d surely fallen back asleep, and he was a bit startled when he spoke again. “Who are you writing secret symbols at?”

“A friend of mine,” he answered carefully, if kindly. “You’ve met him. Twice, actually. A very large man, who also wore a suit. I believe you told him you really liked his tie.”

Peter was a good man, or as good as one could be given the circumstances the two of them both worked in. He had made a very genuine effort at, as Jacques had requested, ‘easing up’ on the usual intimidating way that he carried himself when he’d been been told Jeremy would be there at one of the very brief meetings the two of them had. One was when Jeremy was three, and fully preoccupied with a gift he’d received for the holidays, and the other was when Jeremy was six. Apparently, Peter had decided the best way to appear less intimidating to a young child was to wear a tie plastered with a pattern of cartoonish bubbles. Jacques thought it was perhaps the most ridiculous thing he’d ever seen, but was promptly proven wrong when Jeremy pointed it out gleefully within moments of being in a room with the man.

If Jacques died unexpectedly in most of the mainland United States and immediately surrounding territories, Peter would likely be the one taking care of Jeremy. At least until the other two correspondents could stop by and negotiate further on what would happen with him. Peter, at least, could cook and survive alone for multiple people (as he’d proven before on at least one occasion where Jacques was too injured to take care of himself and required assistance), and if he would stoop so low as to wear a bubble-patterned tie because he wanted to avoid intimidating a six-year-old, he was likely capable of stooping low enough to perform other essential activities involved with raising a child.

“I don’t remember that,” Jeremy muttered, shifting slightly.

“That is fair,” he nodded. “You do meet a lot of people, mon lapin, it is not easy keeping names straight.”

He hummed in sleepy agreement. A pause. “That one looks like a dog,” he finally said, pointing at one of the little letters on the page.

He tilted his head, squinting a little. “Hm. I suppose it does,” he acquiesced.

“Does it mean dog?”

“It is not kanji, the characters represent letters, which spell words in German,” Jacques replied.

“Is it that letter that looks like a B but it isn’t and sounds like that one dog?”

“...Are you referring to an eszett?”

“Yeah.”

“...And what dog does it sound like, exactly?” Jacques asked, fully baffled.

“The one that howls really loud.”

“Howls really—mon lapin, are you referring to a basset hound?”

“Yeah!” he agreed, sitting up a little and smiling. “That’s it!”

He wanted to further investigate why the word eszett reminded his son of basset hounds, but Jeremy picked that moment to yawn, reminding him of something.

“Well, dogs or otherwise, I do believe that it’s past your bedtime. You should go to sleep,” he said, no room in his tone for argument.

The whining noises began and were silenced by a swift kiss to the top of his head and the setting aside of the notebook he was working from, moving as if to pick up Jeremy and properly put him to bed. But then more genuine protests began, Jeremy moving to dart beneath the sheets before he could even properly set his pen down.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” he asked earnestly, employing the use of his big blue too-much-like-his-mother’s eyes. A slightly disapproving tilt of the head did nothing to dissuade him, so Jacques sighed inwardly, standing regardless.

“Alright, alright,” he surrendered as he moved to also get ready for sleep, “but I will be awake rather early in the morning, and you do not get to complain at me if you also end up awake as a result.”

Jeremy didn’t look upset by this caveat in the slightest, just burrowing further and smiling like he’d won some sort of contest.

And he looked asleep enough by the time Jacques was back that he was very quiet and careful about getting back into bed, but woke up regardless with the express intent of tucking against his arm again.

And he knew he would miss this one day. His son was already growing up much too fast, and at very-nearly-eight-years-old was closer in many ways to twelve, and surely only had another year or so before he would be much too embarrassed to lean against his father’s shoulder this way, to comment upon how things looked like an animal, to speak so freely. Soon he would be having secrets, a life of his own that he’d know nothing about, and he looked forward to it of course but he would also miss it so very dearly.

He’d hate to miss any more of it by dying unexpectedly.

He wished he didn’t need to prepare for the worst. He wished he didn’t feel guilty for needing to work out details about what would happen if the nightmare scenario occurred. And more than that, he wished he didn’t have to feel all the more guilty about having no plan at all for what he would do if something happened to Jeremy. It was unthinkable. He couldn’t imagine having a world without his son in it, not anymore.

And so he leaned back as well, albiet so much more carefully with the understanding of the fact that children tend to be fragile, and couldn’t imagine.

[diosefm]

FROM THE DESK OF DIOSE VALEY II

when: all of these letters were written during the dawn of day two of the train hijack where: written in her train car, all letters were left on people’s rooms in the morning of day two. for those in train one, letters should be delivered the next time everyone sees each other triggers: mentions of death, threats of violence, paranoia mentions: cabil, mommy pista, @pista-clearmark , @givcnup , @cinnc, @swannscngs  , @blythefm​ , @sinksand & tiberius who is still dead

CABIL,

I know that after your conversation you probably do not wish to hear of me again, and I understand. After everything that has happened and what has been done to you, I don’t think that us Capitol people really deserve people’s pity. I don’t intend to ask you for that, nor do I want to ask for your forgiveness. I just needed to write you this and thank you for not coddling me. 

I deserved it. And not because I want to victimize myself. I’ve never been a victim, more like a victimizer. I am seeing that now. It’s almost astounding what you can realize when those you have hurt have the opportunity to tell you what they really think about you in your face. And you might have not done that outright, but your message was very clear to me.

I won’t bore you with my inner conflicts. I am writing this because Pista mentioned something to me, something about you having someone waiting for you back home. And again, I know that this really isn’t any of my business but this is something I really want to do and would be honored if you say yes.

In the event that you were to marry your girlfriend, I would love to pay for everything and offer my services as a designer. You don’t have to say yes. All I ask is that you keep this letter and if one day you are able to forgive me, my offer will still stand.

Best wishes, Diose Valey.

HELENA,

I apologize for subjecting you to this. I can only imagine how awkward it must be to receive a letter from a complete stranger, especially one that is so deeply personal and filled with apologies.

But, I feel the need to apologize for putting your son in danger. It was easy for me to just involve Pista because I vaguely knew of him and his knowledge of trains and that was the only thing that mattered to me. It wasn’t until I saw the way you looked at him that something stirred inside of me. It made me think of my own mother, made me wonder if she had ever looked at me with such love and devotion. I’m scared of finding the answer. 

I don’t want to talk about you. My intention is to tell you how sorry I am that I involved Pista in my plans. They worked, yes, but we were lucky. No, more than that. Your son refused to leave me when things god bad. I wanted to make him promise that he wouldn’t because I kept thinking of you and I couldn’t let something happen to him and hurt you. But he shot me down. And not only that, but showed me the empathy I never expected to receive given who I am. That’s what made me see what an amazing job you did raising him. I can only hope that if life ever gives me the chance of being a mother, I can be like you.

Once again, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for dumping this on you and for almost taking Pista away from you.

PISTA,

It wasn’t until I was able to lie down in bed that I remembered you. Your face was familiar, of course. I’d catch glances of you every year at the Capitol, but I couldn’t quite place you until I was left alone with my thoughts. At first I only remembered you due to Slate mentioning you during our conversations. It’s what made me come to you for help. My head just told you knew trains, having always being a hard worker who never got into trouble. But of course, Slate never mentioned your games. I remembered those on my own.

I was just a teenager so the memories are fuzzy at best. And of course, I didn’t pay attention. I was self absorbed, just saw a sobbing boy I foolishly thought had a lot of growing up to do. But there is always more than meets the eye. It’s curious, really. I would have never thought that decades later you would be the one actually helping me mature. 

You didn’t have to help me. You could’ve just left me to my own devices and stayed with your people. I keep thinking about your mother, about how I wouldn’t forgive myself if you didn’t come back to her because of my doing. It’s why I begged for you to not wait for me. Slate never taught me anything. I just couldn’t bear the thought of being the one that left a mother without her child. Which is stupid, really. That is something I have been doing for decades, just dressing up children before they’re sent to their deaths. And I know that many of the parents do want their children there, but I refuse to use that to justify my actions. Maybe that worked in the past, but not anymore.

I don’t think I really understood what empathy was until who had some for me despite of who I am. And yes, I am aware of how awful that sounds now. I wasn’t lying to you when I said I was working on dealing with all of this. I’ll keep trying. 

GRIFFIN,

Thank you. 

I could say more. Go on a tangent and talk about how much I dislike you, but that is unnecessary right now. All that you told me did bother me, but it was all because none of the things you mentioned were a lie. I guess that’s what I needed. And I hope you enjoyed it, because it is not happening again. Not because I cannot bear the thought of you having the upper hand, but because I hope that after everything that has happened, we can see eye to eye. 

You might not know this, but I was very close to Nelly once. And despite everything and the years I spent away from her, i still trust her judgement. And if she likes you and has taken care of you for years, it must be because you are worth it. I just pray you don’t ruin anymore of my dresses. Hating you is pointless, especially over something to silly. And now that we are seeing eye to eye now, well, I’ve taken it upon me to ensure you don’t hurt that woman.

You are a good man, Griffin Cripes. I apologize for not seeing it until now.

CINNA,

This is obvious to everyone, but it still has to be said. I need to confront these feelings if I truly want to be be able to seek repentance. 

I tried to sabotage you. I screamed and complained for what seems like hours, angry that someone had dared to overshadow me. I blamed you for whatever minuscule thing that happened to ruin my day when you first started working for the games. I made plans, swore I would find a way to ensure you would not get any more work after what had been done to me. I thought you were personally trying to ruin my reputation, but it was just my paranoia and Tiberius encouragement making it all worse. 

I feel like the past few days my mind has come up with a million excuses that would attempt to paint me as the victim, but I swear that is never my intention. I have a lot to work on, just like I have so many people I need to apologize to. And you’re one of them, hence this letter. 

It is an awful attempt at it, I know. I keep repeating this to myself and others, but I am trying. I promise I will have something better once we see each other face to face again. I just need time to properly deal with my own conflicting emotions, but I am sure you understand.

SWANN,

My behavior in the past was not the best. Not towards you, and especially not towards Virgo. 

I was possessive and overprotective, that I am ready to accept now. Paranoid too. With so many people whispering into my ears, I was led to believe you had ulterior motives and did not truly care about my sibling. But it was far from it, wasn’t it? I certainly could have brought this up during our conversation, give you a better apology but... Maybe I am a coward. Destroying lives and relationships is easy, but building them is what I seem to struggle with. 

Even after our meeting, I  left your train car and still asked myself if I had done enough to apologize. After a few hours, I realized I hadn’t. So you get this stupid, sentimental letter that is still not gonna feel like enough. Virgo would be much better at all of this, but I don’t have them with me right now. But on their behalf, I owe you not only several apologies, but a big thank you. 

They are not like me. It has its pros and its cons. They’re their own person, and many of what they’ve accomplished is also because of you. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you this.

--- 

TIBERIUS,

With your connections, I am sure that by the time you read this you will know what I have done.

I don’t regret anything, Tiberius. If I am writing you one last letter before I put an end to our correspondence for good is because I need you to understand how much I’ve learned to despise you these past few weeks. I almost can’t believe that at one point I dared to think that I ha— No, I’m not doing this.

If I see you lurking around me, my sibling, or Slate I swear that all the things I’ve done to people throughout the years (so many of them for your own benefit) will seem like mere child’s play compared to what will happen if you force me to unleash my rage upon you. The bullshit about everyone that isn’t us being an enemy is over. I know who the real enemy is now.

I’m not scared of you. Never was, and never will. Fuck you.

BLYTHE,

I don’t know the truth. Virgo won’t talk to me, but they’re also absolutely terrible at keeping things hidden. I’ve seen the letters and the paintings, so I can only assume that something is going on between you two. And it did bother me. First because I didn’t think you were enough. I told myself that was the only reason, that I was just looking out for them but now I’ve realized I was tricking myself into not accepting that for the first time in my life, I was jealous of them. 

You probably won’t care about this. In fact, I am sure that before I finish this sentence this letter will already be destroyed. But I need to put this somewhere not only for my own sake, but for Virgo. If there is someone that does not deserve to suffer because of me, it’s them. 

They had a proper childhood, I did not. They are now able to experience something I have only heard about due to those corny TV dramas they love so much. And it hurts. I kept it to myself. Showing vulnerability is something I have never allowed myself to do, but when it involves love and caring, I had to bury my feelings somewhere. Except I buried my worries and let my anger and jealousy affect them. It’s not happening again. Regardless of these feelings still being present, I cannot continue hurting them just because for once, they’re thriving at something I am not.

If you are still reading, this letter is a plea for you to take care of them. And a threat as well. Because if you dare to hurt them in any way, I can promise you that all those feelings I’ve buried will come out and you will learn what dealing with what I am capable of doing when I am upset.

AVEN

I loved Desmond. Friendships don’t come easy to me, but he was talented enough to change that and earn a place in my inner circle. His last name helped, yes, but at the end of the day that was not why we remained closed.

After he was gone, blaming you was easy. Spreading rumors gave me a purpose, made me believe I had the upper hand, that I still knew better. But what I made others whispers behind your back wasn’t the only information we had. Many of us just refused to listen to it. At the end it benefitted no one but Snow. 

I’m sorry you lost your husband. That was what you deserved to hear years ago instead of our complaints and unfounded grievances. I have no way of fixing the damage I caused. I will not attempt to excuse it. It happened and you suffered deeply for it. That is what matters. 

Maybe one day you will allow me to not only explain myself, but apologize. I still have a lot to do in regards to facing all the horrible things I did and what the Capitol’s indoctrination did to my psyche, but I hope that by the time we have a chance to see each other, I will have more to offer you than an I’m sorry.

[thelesbianlegacy-swtor]

10 Tips for dating a force Girl by the Galaxy Guide to loving girls

As everyone on the Galaxy knows, being around Jedi’s and Sith’s can be a challenge. But this only gets worst when you start dating their cute butts!

So here at the A Galaxy Guide to loving girls, we have put together 10 easy tricks to make your silly girlfriends all the more happier when in your arms!

1- Take special care when around their equals. Some jedi’s still feel some of that silly shame for dating and the sith’s are scared for your safety cause their masters are really a bunch of turds. SO! If around any non close friend from your girlfriend faction, always act as if you were just friends or allies. 

2- Make sure to work around your girl’s alliengment. We all know jedis love to meditate and try to surpress thier emotions. Sith’s are out there blowing stuff up instead of going to theraphy. So you should totally ask dumb questions and keep the effect those magical powers have in them. They are a bit more sensitive than other gals so try to keep their alliengment in mind when they are having a bad day

War is a bummer! It is possible your girl will need to get off your arms from time to time to fight some scary battles. Instead of fearing for them, trust that they will always come back, and in the meantime use the time to prepare somehting fun! Picnics in relaxing places are always a nice choice if your girl is a bit tired of excitement

They had weird childhoods! Listen. Even if you are part of some royalty, a daughter of some farmers or a self made business woman, everyone had a childhood with some common things on them. Well. Almost everyone. Jedi’s and Sith’s are often taking from their homes at early ages so they dont have much experience or memories that lots of us have. When talking with your girlfriend, be sure that you dont make them feel bad for having lost their childhood. Instead make an opportunity to share with them

They are BUFF AS HELL. I mean! They are super strong! Even your local metal bending mandalorian would have a run for their money when facing a jedi or sith on just strengh. Theirp owers make them be able to do things you wouldnt expect them to be capable off. That is GOOD! If you ever have problems with opening cans or frasks they are a lifesaver! They can also lift heavy stuff. But they can also crush you if they arent paying attention when they go for a hug. Overall just keep in mind that even with noodle arms, your girlfriend might be quite strong

They have some NASTY memories. Okay. Here is a serious one. Training from childhood can be harsh. Specially with no family or being a slave. Your girlfriend might have plenty of bad memories and even traumas from trainning to be a super soldier that can levitate things with their minds. Cuddle them. Make sure that they always know that you are there for them and not because of some nasty secret plan .Yeah. Their paranoia sounds crazy but trust me is Justified

They have absolutly weird tendencies. Okay this is relevant but not the same for everyone. Our sith’s girls might get jumpy if you try to surprise them. Remember, they grew up trying not to get killed. Jedi’s have problem with owning things. They dont get much stuff on those fancy temples of them. Both might get heated if you use words from the other side Code. Be careful and always remember you LOVE THEM

Some of them feel less for being weak. Yeah girls. Even the might jedis and siths feel weak sometimes. For both sides power is important. It brings status and a feeling of fullfillmeant. Keep it in mind if they ever get pissy about looking weak or silly. It might be a bigger issue for them than you expect

They might have personalitie issues. Ok so this seems obvious to some but many dont realize that beside their training for war, this girls dont have much people to teach them about what is right or wrong or how to deal with certain issues. Some might be sore lossers and others might feel like being happy is wrong. Usual personality traits are ofthen amplified on this girls. They are not crazy they just lack control in some areas

SEX. Okay we all think of it and let me be clear with you. YES they can get naughty and fun with their powers. You think they are fast when fighting? Wait until they are ridding you. Ever seen a sith Lord choke people around? I aint saying anything else. You already know what im talking about. But no matter the girl or side they are i can asure you one thing. This gals have the stamina of a GODDESS. They wont get tired and have spent their entire lives trainning their bodies. So now drop this blog a repost and go get yourself a Girl!

[blitzturtles]

Title: Up Ahead

Rating: Teen and Up

Fandom: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run

Pairing(s): GyJo

Summary: Exhaustion seeps into his bones and spreads across his limbs like a disease. He can feel it in the tips of his fingers and up along the muscles in his forearms, where they’ve gone weak despite his attempts to hold onto Slow Dancer. His eyelids are so heavy that trying to keep them open leaves him cross eyed until he finds himself nodding off again, and then he’s jostling awake for the umpteenth time, several yards behind Gyro, who doesn’t look like he’s faring much better. What with the way he’s slumping almost sideways on his own horse.

-

Exhaustion seeps into his bones and spreads across his limbs like a disease. He can feel it in the tips of his fingers and up along the muscles in his forearms, where they’ve gone weak despite his attempts to hold onto Slow Dancer. His eyelids are so heavy that trying to keep them open leaves him cross eyed until he finds himself nodding off again, and then he’s jostling awake for the umpteenth time, several yards behind Gyro, who doesn’t look like he’s faring much better. What with the way he’s slumping almost sideways on his own horse.

They’ve been at this for the better part of the day. Night is rapidly descending on them, and all they’ve found is the same goddamn thing: a whole lotta nothing. And a whole lotta nothing is all they're going to get for the rest of the night, because Johnny’s at his limit. Before he can say anything, Gyro’s talking. The words nearly go in one ear and out the other, but Johnny forces himself to pay attention.

“--spot up ahead. Should be actual beds, but it’ll be a little longer.”

Gyro’s slowed Valkyrie to match Slow Dancer’s pace, making it so the two can look at one another, rather than Johnny staring at Gyro’s backside. It’s not a bad view, but it’s the only one he’s had for the last hour. His eyes are burning something fierce, and Johnny’s already past the point of being irritable and gone straight for apathy. He’d be fine with keeling over right about now. It’s not like he hasn’t slept in worse conditions (he has to shove those thoughts to the side. He’s prone to spiraling down a road better left forgotten when he’s worn this thin.)

“You can go on ahead. I’m gonna set up camp here,” Johnny answers, accent thick and words slurred. A bed does sound nice, but he doesn’t have the energy. Can’t afford to waste anymore of it unfolding and putting his chair together when he could simply unfurl his bedroll and toss it haphazardly on the ground.

Gyro frowns at him. Sharp, green eyes rake over Johnny’s form. Evaluating. Johnny’s long gotten used to the way that Gyro analyzes him when he’s worried. Working limb by limb and system by system until he’s come to whatever conclusion and decided on how best to proceed. It’s part of his training, and Johnny’s grown to find it endearing. Most of the time.

Johnny’s exasperation only grows when Gyro makes up his mind with a shake of his head. “No, I think we both need a proper night, and we’re not getting it out here.”

Johnny wants to shake him. He’d grab onto Gyro’s collar and-- sigh in defeat, because he doesn’t actually have the physical strength to try to impress upon Gyro how impossible his plan is. Instead, Johnny brings Slow Dancer to a halt and surveys the area. Decides that the best course of action is to ignore Gyro entirely.

It’s not an ideal place to settle. Too open, leaving them exposed to an attack, but Johnny doesn’t think the landscape will improve much. There are miles ahead that look exactly the same with little in the way of foliage and only hard, compact dirt to look forward to.

“Johnny!” Gyro waves a hand in front of his face with a raised brow that makes Johnny aware of the fact that Gyro’s probably been trying to get his attention for several minutes now.

“What?” And maybe that edge of irritation isn’t completely gone. His tone is snappish. Meaner than he intends for it to be, but Gyro’s just not getting it.

“This isn’t a good place to stop. If we keep going for a bit longer, we’ll have some place nice. And safe.”

“Don’t care,” Johnny says, already reaching for his pack. He can set up a fire himself, before it gets too late and too cold. It sounds like tedious work with fingers that are already struggling with leather straps, but he knows it’s necessary for survival. He can force his body to cooperate when he has no choice, and there’s already some kindling packed that might last him the next few hours. That’s all he really needs. Three or four hours of shut eye.

“Johnny,” Gyro repeats, firmer now than before, but his face betrays something else entirely, and his shoulders sag in what looks like defeat.

“‘m not movin’, Gyro.”

“I know, I’m- we rode too hard, sorry,” there’s a guilt to the edge of Gyro’s voice that makes Johnny pause. He looks up with a frown, and he hates the way Gyro’s shoulders are drawn forward. It’s slight, but it’s there. Easy enough for Johnny to read, even if anyone else would miss it.

“Didn’t have much of a choice, and you’re overthinkin’ shit. Probably because you’re just as tired as I am,” it’s not like Johnny hadn’t agreed. Hadn’t refrained from vocalizing his troubles over an hour ago when their options were still poor, but with a bit more energy than either has now. He’s been pushing and pushing, and now he’s backed both of them into a corner with no good choice, which is exactly why he plans to stick it out alone.

Gyro goes quiet. His teeth worry at his lower lip, and his eyes drift off in the distance. It’s another moment before he speaks up again. This time with a renewed sort of certainty, “Trust me?”

“‘course I do. What kinda question is that?”

“Ride with me a little longer?”

“Gyro-” Johnny starts, but Gyro holds up a hand, open palmed and facing toward him.

“I’ll take care of you. When we get into town. If you can just hold onto Slow Dancer and keep moving a little longer, I’ll make sure you get to bed. Deal?”

Johnny rolls the thought around in his head. He doesn’t know what Gyro’s thinking-- never does, really-- but he can’t lie and say that the idea is anything less than appealing.

“Alright,” Johnny concedes. He double checks the straps on his pack and nods toward their chosen path. Gyro grins back at him with those stupid teeth of his on full display. The sudden increase in Johnny’s heart rate will either be the nail in his coffin or the little burst of energy that he needs to keep going. Possibly both. He can’t decide, but he prods Slow Dancer forward and lets Gyro take the lead once more.

The ride remains just as brutal. Johnny’s little burst of adrenaline dies off far too quickly, and he’s back to gripping at the reins with his fingers so tightly that his knuckles are going white. He’d like to think that Slow Dancer would stop if he fell off, but there’s no guarantee, though Gyro keeps glancing back at him with concerned eyes.

When the inn finally comes into view, Johnny feels like crying. Might already be crying, given the misty vision he’s got going, but that’s the fatigue and not the pure relief that floods through him. Right up until he thinks about his chair, and he finds himself contemplating the merits of sleeping in the middle of the makeshift road. It won’t work, he knows. It’ll leave him open to anything and anyone with not so much as the flimsiest barrier between him and potential death. He has no choice but to keep going now.

“Relax,” Gyro says from behind him, already sliding off of Valkyrie. He has her reins in one hand and holds out his hand for Slow Dancer’s. “I told you I’d take care of it.”

Johnny wants to ask what he means, but the words die in his throat. Gyro’s already leading them along to the nearby stable with a clear determination in his stride. Whatever he’s set his mind to, he can’t be stopped now, so Johnny simply allows Gyro to take the lead. Quite literally.

The world passes by in a blur of motion. Gyro ties off Valkyrie first, then Slow Dancer. There’s a moment where Johnny thinks that Gyro disappears that might actually be several minutes rather than seconds. His forehead falls against Slow Dancer’s mane, and he only stays in place because of her effort to counterbalance him.

Gyro shakes him awake gently with that worried frown fixated on his face again. He undoes the straps holding Johnny’s legs against Slow Dancer’s flank with precise hands and turns his back to Johnny. “C’mon. I’ll carry you to our room. It’s already set up, and I paid someone to take care of these two,” he jams his thumb over his shoulder at the two mares.

It says something about Gyro’s concern for him that he’s allowing someone else to take care of Valkyrie. Typically, Gyro wouldn’t trust anyone else with her. Both because of his loyalty toward her, and because of his (justified) paranoia. He does all of her brushing and feedings. Loads and unloads his own supplies. The idea that he would allow someone else to do it for him, unsupervised no less, is almost unthinkable. Johnny would be more touched if he weren’t so focused on transferring from Slow Dancer to Gyro without a catastrophic event.

Gyro’s quick to hook his arms under Johnny the moment he feels the other’s weight against his back. He slides his arms forward and hikes Johnny up enough so that he’s comfortably resting against Gyro’s back with his chin tucked over Gyro’s shoulder. It’s not something that Johnny would typically allow, given how he feels about being coddled, but he’s too exhausted to fight about it now. It’s dark enough outside that he can only hope that no one will see. Anyone that might will hopefully be polite enough to mind their own business.

The trek to their room is relatively short. The inn is just beside the stable, and their room is one of the first to the left of what barely counts as the front desk. Gyro struggles a bit to unlock the door with only one hand. His other arm shifts to support Johnny directly underneath him. It would be an impressive show of strength if it weren’t counterbalanced by the complete lack of hand-eye coordination.

Gyro deposits Johnny on the bed once he finally gets them inside. He crouches down low enough for Johnny to easily slide off of his back and onto the edge of the mattress, where he stays with eyes that are almost entirely shut. Gyro watches him for a minute, caught somewhere between concern and adoration, but there’s a knock at the door a moment later that startles both of them. Johnny snorts a laugh at Gyro, who lightly punches him in the arm. “See if I don’t leave you fully dressed.”

“You promised,” Johnny says immediately, eyes widening slightly.

“You’re in bed, aren’t you?” Gyro grins at him, broad and obnoxious. Johnny sticks his tongue out in retaliation, and Gyro considers pinching it between his fingers just to be annoying. In the end, he decides to be nice and simply fetch their things from outside the door. He piles everything inside and searches through their bags until he finds everything they need for the night.

The first thing he does is pass Johnny his bear. To hold onto so that it doesn’t get lost, and not because Gyro’s sentimental. The next thing he does is debate the best way to go about stripping Johnny down to his undergarments. Easier said than done when Johnny insists on wearing bottoms that serve as both pants and riding boots, but they manage in the end. Johnny’s cooperative, despite his exhaustion. He hooks his arms around Gyro’s neck, so that Gyro can lift him up and slide his pants down to his thighs. Gyro sets him back on the bed and finishes peeling the fabric away, working the boots free as he goes.

Johnny wastes no time getting under the covers then. He curls up on his side, pulling his legs with him as he goes before he curls around the bear and closes his eyes.

“Not going to wait on me, huh?” Gyro asks with mock offense, but Johnny only waves vaguely in his direction. A clear dismissal to Gyro’s supposed distress. “Unbelievable,” he mumbles under his breath, but his smile gives him away.

Fatigue begins to take its toll halfway through undressing himself, and it’s only sheer willpower that sees him through undoing every last strap until he’s left in nothing but his underwear and undershirt. He crawls into bed next to Johnny and drapes an arm lazily across his waist. Johnny doesn’t move in the slightest. In fact, he’s completely unconscious if the small snores are anything to go by, and Gyro doesn’t plan to be long behind him. He closes his own eyes with one hand tucked under the pillow and securely wrapped around one of his steel balls. He’s learned his lesson about being caught off guard in the past. He won’t let it happen again, though he doesn’t have much time to fret over possibilities before the darkness reaches up and hooks its fingers into him.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep12

First things first, I’ve finally gotten around to getting a subscription to AnimeLab so I’m not just pirating everything I watch each season, so that’s cool, lol. I can’t really justify getting multiple streaming service subscriptions, though, so I’ll still probably pirate anything that this site isn’t streaming. But thankfully they’re streaming this series, so I can watch it guilt-free.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

I honestly wasn’t expecting them to continue following Minagoroshi in an almost 1:1 manner since we’re getting so close to the end of this arc, but the fact that there’s only one episode left before the next arc starts makes it pretty obvious that we’re going to get some real curveballs and a sudden ending in the next episode..

I think that in the original anime’s version of Minagoroshi, there were like three episodes left in the arc after what this one covered, so there’s no real way for them to actually cover all of that. But obviously this isn’t trying to faithfully adapt Minagoroshi from start to finish, so it’s just been a matter of time until things change.

Honestly, I feel like this episode is another example of how Gou has been functionally more of a remake than a lot of people probably want it to be. I’ve been seeing lots of people complaining about how the show’s been really boring because like 90% of it has been going over stuff from the VN, and that just really goes to show that they weren’t kidding about this being accessible for newcomers, and probably aimed at them first, and old fans second.

I also think it’s totally fine that they’ve really toned down the horror aspect of the series. I never really liked that the blood and gore became the big defining part of it’s cultural legacy and how people remember it, so I’m glad that Gou is more faithful to the focus on mystery and drama in the VN. There isn’t the same sort of slow-burn dread and paranoia, but that’s just something that a 24-episode anime split into 5-ish arcs fundamentally can’t do properly, so they’re going for a different sort of pacing and atmosphere that works more naturally here.

Anyway, since this episode was almost 1:1 with this part of Minagoroshi, there isn’t a whole lot to say there, but I still spent the whole episode being worried that everyone in the main crew was two seconds away from murdering everyone in the village council, lol. It didn’t help that my memory of Minagoroshi is really fuzzy, so I couldn’t remember if everyone was acting this way originally, but I think it was all pretty faithful to the VN.

There are still a few notable differences from the VN, though, like Ooishi just randomly showing up at the meeting to creepily observe Keiichi, which I think is original to Gou. Considering that he also had that ominous final scene in the last episode, I’m really suspicious of what the hell’s going on with him in this arc. I thought maybe he’d show up here to stop Keiichi’s plans to save Satoko, or to reveal something about what’s going on with her and Teppei, but he didn’t really do anything. He also seemed like he was maybe supportive of Keiichi’s whole plan to rally the village, so I just have no idea what he’s thinking at this point, lol.

I also think the first scene with the damaged shrine might be original, and I don’t really know what to make of it. It might have just been there so we could see some random villagers talk about how everyone secretly thinks that Satoko and Teppei will be the victims of the curse this year, but I feel like there must be more to it. For one thing, I’m skeptical that it was actually Teppei who did it in the first place, but I also think the symbolism of a desecrated shrine is pretty heavy for a story like this.

Part of me’s still convinced that Teppei might already be dead, but honestly I’m less certain about that after how this episode went. We also didn’t even see Satoko at all, which is kinda worrying. Maybe she’ll wind up dead, but I’m not sure.

I guess the bottom line is that there’s only one episode left to this arc, so there’s only so much they could do at this point, and it’ll have to happen pretty quickly. So I at least think that part of the big divergence in this arc will involve the outcome of the village rallying together for Satoko. I thought at first that maybe this time around they’d fail in getting Oryo’s support, and the whole plan would fall apart, but things played out the same as the VN with her, so if something’s going to screw up the plan, it’s probably something else. And since Ooishi seemed kinda supportive of Keiichi here, maybe he’ll sit back and let them continue their protesting like in the VN, instead of breaking it up this time.

But other than that the obvious guess for how this will all fall apart at the last minute would be if we find out that Satoko and/or Teppei are already dead, which would immediately invalidate the entire protest.

Though I’m still also thinking that maybe they actually WILL succeed in saving Satoko, and it’ll lead to a deceptively happy ending where everything just falls apart afterwards due to some other reason, like in Minagoroshi. I doubt it’d be the exact same thing, though. 

I guess a more or less happy ending could still happen with the Satoko situation if Teppei alone winds up dead, and Satoko just gets to go back to living with Rika afterward. Which would probably at least take less time to deal with than having the whole process of getting Satoko to speak out against Teppei and provide evidence of abuse to the CWS.

I still like my theory that all the main characters will survive this arc, and that this will lead to the future where teenage Rika gets murdered, but I’m not entirely confident about that at this point.

One thing that’s still bugging me, and is making it hard to predict exactly what’s going on, is that I can’t tell exactly what’s going through Rika’s head, and what she actually thinks is going on. She’s continuing to apparently remember and quote stuff Keiichi said in Minagoroshi, but even in the VN they established that she can’t remember that arc at all. There’s also the scene early in the episode that seems to imply that she’s suspicious of Takano, but the idea of her knowing about Takano being evil still feels really strange to me.

For one thing, it feels like in every arc thus far she’s done absolutely nothing to try and stop Takano’s plans, but it also feels like Rika is doing the exact same thing she did in Minagoroshi originally, where she assumes that in this type of arc the only thing they need to do to achieve a happy ending is save Satoko. But in Minagoroshi the whole point was that she *didn’t* know about Takano, so she didn’t realize until it was too late that saving Satoko wasn’t enough. But this time around it seems like even though she’s maybe aware that Takano’s evil, she’s still going with the idea that saving Satoko is all they need to do to achieve a happy ending. And she isn’t even saying anything to her friends to make them aware of what’s going on with Takano so they could at least prepare for it in advance instead of being caught off-guard by her.

Maybe this is just bad writing, but I still prefer to think that she doesn’t actually remember or know anything about Takano, and the show’s just been misleading old fans into assuming that she does. Which is why I came up with my theory that Gou’s whole story is an in-universe fictional story written by someone like Featherine that involves a fictional version of Rika who basically branches off from the level of knowledge and development she had around Tsumihoroboshi, before she learned about Takano. And that the happy future she told Hanyuu about isn’t actually Matsuribayashi, but an arc in Gou where we get a seemingly happy ending but Rika dies as a teenager anyway.

Either way, I’m still at least going with the theory that Takano isn’t the big obstacle this time around. If only just from a meta perspective of how it’d be the biggest way to change things up compared to the VN’s story, and how there’s just not really enough time to actually cover all the stuff that happened with her in the VN. There’s still the question of why she still seems to be the exact same person as in the VN, including having the name that she got after being adopted by her grandfather, but I still think a lot of this could be explained by having Gou be a fictionalized version of the Higurashi gameboard where the surface level of Takano’s character is the same, but her backstory has basically been retconned, either intentionally or because the person writing this doesn’t know about what’s going on with her.

And on the note of Takano, I still think this arc should end up providing more clues about what’s going on with her and Tomitake in each arc. They haven’t really done anything in this arc yet, but it’d be weird if we don’t get some more clues about them before the question arcs end and we start getting answers.

But we haven’t even gotten to the festival yet, and there’s only one episode left, so who even knows if we’ll get far enough in the timeline for anything to happen with them in the first place.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking more about all the different theories of what’s going on this time around, and where this is all going to go in the long run, and even though it’s too early for me to really be confident in anything, one idea I’ve been messing with is that, at least in the first two arcs, Keiichi was a lot more involved in the different murders than we’ve been lead to believe. Basically I just thought about the fact that he almost definitely hallucinated most of his fight with Rena, and I tried to see if I could really go wild with that sort of storytelling logic and apply it to anything else that’s happened.

This is mostly just me trying to see how far I can stretch this whole theory, so this is kind of a reach, but to begin with, it’s possible that Keiichi is the one who murdered Rika in the first two arcs. Maybe in Onidamashi he killed Rena and then remembered how Rika convinced him to trust her, and in his L5 state he decided that she must have been trying to get him killed, so he took the kitchen knife and went over and killed Rika [with Satoko being caught in the cross-fire].

My theory for him being potentially responsible for her death in Watadamashi ties into my similar idea that maybe in that arc, if not also in Onidamashi, he killed Takano and Tomitake. And then later in Watadamashi, Rika went full Bernkastel at him and revealed that she knew about Takano and Tomitake being dead, and he ended up snapping and killing her. One thing that’s been nagging at me about that whole sequence is that that episode ended with Satoko inviting him to play dodgeball with her and the other kids, but then at the start of the next episode she’s being suspicious of him and asking about if he was with Rika when she disappeared. Which might have just been Satoko lying, but there were other kids involved who could have vouched for Keiichi if he was with Satoko the whole time, so I think that they just lead us into assuming that he took up her dodgeball invitation, when in actuality he didn’t, and he went off and killed Rika in secret, which is why Satoko acted like she didn’t know what he was up to.

But going back earlier in Watadamashi, I think that after everyone left the Saiguden, what actually happened might have been that Keiichi succumbed to paranoia and attacked Takano and Tomitake off-screen, and then later on Mion called him on the phone pretending to be Shion, and got him to agree to a fake alibi that she made up to cover up what he did.

This might also shine more light on what happened behind the scenes with Mion and Shion after the festival, if what actually happened was that the village elders all more or less figured out that Keiichi killed Takano and Tomitake, and Mion snapped and murdered everyone after they started to suggest that he should get punished for it.

It always seemed a bit weird to me that multiple characters pressed Keiichi for info about if he was with not just Shion but also Takano and Tomitake at the festival, and that Mion/Shion was getting him to confirm that he met everyone on the shrine steps at the festival even though they all should have remembered that. So it might explain a lot of stuff if Keiichi was actually involved in their disappearances, and people started getting suspicious of him, while Mion worked to make up an alibi for him. The whole story of them fleeing the village might have also been made up by Mion as part of the alibi to explain why they disappeared.

I still think Rena killed them in Onidamashi because she thought Keiichi found out about her murders and that he’d ratted her out to them, but part of me’s still kinda suspicious of how Keiichi walks up to them at the festival but then just stops and walks away before actually talking to them, while Rena stares at him in the background. It makes me wonder if the way the scene was depicted wasn’t actually true.

In general I wonder how much Gou might be willing to intentionally depict false information to the audience about Keiichi’s POV. There’s a few scenes where he obviously hallucinates stuff, but maybe it extends more than that.

Looking at it from an Umineko perspective, Keiichi might be the viewpoint character in Gou, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the detective, so it’s possible that his perspective is sometimes just straight up misleading.

If we’re willing to doubt Keiichi’s perspective on things, I also think this raises a lot of questions about the Yamainu’s potential involvement in things. If he was the one who killed Rika and Satoko in Onidamashi, then maybe in that entire arc they didn’t actually do anything at all. And maybe in Watadamashi Rika didn’t even talk to a construction worker at all, and that was just Mion covering for Keiichi. He might have also hallucinated seeing them on the security camera footage due to being suspicious of them by that point, but it’s also possible that what he saw was just some random construction workers doing work near the Sonozaki property, and in his paranoid state he interpreted them as being evil and coming to murder them all. I don’t think he was directly involved in Mion and Satoko’s deaths, but I wonder if maybe the Yamainu weren’t involved either, and it really was more of a murder-suicide. The gun looked like it had been swapped out, but maybe someone other than the Yamainu did it, like Ooishi.

A lot of this is a big stretch, but this ties into a lot of little things that have been bugging me, including the fact that Keiichi has felt almost strangely ‘innocent’ in each arc thus far, compared to how he was in the VN. And looking at this from the perspective of Gou being an accessible mystery to new fans, it makes me think that maybe a lot of these mysterious incidents aren’t being caused by effectively unknown third parties, but by Keiichi himself.

It might be a bit cheap, but I think the first two arcs at least provided very understandable motives for why he’d kill Rika, which even new fans could catch onto. In Onidamashi she basically tried to gaslight him into trusting Rena which lead to him nearly getting murdered, and in Watadamashi she straight up started talking about Takano and Tomitake’s deaths while acting like she has a creepy amount of knowledge about everything going on. On a similar note, it’s starting to kinda worry me that there’s been several instances in Tataridamashi of him noticing that Rika keeps talking about stuff that he apparently said to her, that he has no memory of. It just feels like in every arc she keeps doing and saying stuff to him that from his perspective would be extremely suspicious.

I think Watadamashi also provided enough evidence for how he might have snapped and killed Takano and Tomitake off-screen, since he was acting weirdly hostile toward Takano during the entire Saiguden scene, and then freaked out at Shion/Mion when she talked about what Keiichi was up to at the festival and provided the cover story of him just hanging out with everyone on the steps. Even when Ooishi questioned him about what he was up to, he got defensive about it and complained about how everyone keeps asking him about his involvement with them.

It’d at least be a pretty simple way to have Takano and Tomitake be red herrings this time around, if we find out that they just keep getting killed by people who get suspicious about them.

Along these same lines, I have to wonder if maybe Teppei’s going to wind up dead because Keiichi killed him off-screen in some kind of paranoid fugue state that he might not even remember. But we’ll see how it goes.

One thing that I like about this theory, at least, is that it would play into how Gou seems to be designed specifically to mess with Rika’s preconceptions, and having Keiichi be responsible for a lot of what’s going on would really fuck with her, especially with how she’s acting in this arc. Honestly, I started thinking about the “Keiichi culprit theory” after how it started seeming like blatant dramatic irony that Rika was talking over and over again about trusting Keiichi. In basically each arc thus far she acts under the assumption that things will play out a certain way, and then they don’t, and in this arc the main thing she’s done has been trust Keiichi and assume that he’s going to resolve everything with Teppei peacefully and lead everyone to a happy ending.

Anyway this got a lot longer than I wanted it to, so I’ll stop there, lol.

[sanders-sides-fic]

Hunters and pray(ing)

So, I talked to my younger brother about the prompt-thingy. My brother doesn’t watch Sanders Sides and avoids English with a passion (it’s our secondary language), but he still made a request. So, even though he will never read this: “Are you stupid? Or just randomly suicidal?” and “Careful, there are Vampires around here” with, and I quote, »the purple one, the snake-guy and the one who does that thing with his arms«

XD Enjoy.

Virgil hated whenever Janus did something like that. He was supposed to be the one in charge, he was supposed to be careful. Not… Whatever that was!

Then again, Virgil may or may not be a perfect example on what not to do, as well. After all, he hadn’t left their new house since they had moved in, not even for the sake of buying new clothes. But that didn’t matter, he’d just used some of the fabric from an old cloak he couldn’t wear anymore anyways and had patched his outfit up. He kinda liked it. Actually, he felt way more comfortable in the worn, customized hoody than he had with any of the high-price stuff Janus felt to be appropriate.

But that wasn’t the point.

The point was that Janus was ignoring all the flashing lights and for what? He just didn’t get it. Why was it so important to Janus to always look perfectly put together at all times? Why was it so important that he had to go into the city, right amongst the ones they had to fear the most, every other day. Appearance had always been a huge deal to him, Virgil guessed, but not to that extent. Maybe because they were new or something like that?

No. No, Virgil couldn’t believe that. Janus was a smooth talker, a slick bastard and a cunning schemer. Janus lied like it was his second nature. Janus was untrustworthy and, yes, at times also back-stabbing. He was impulsively loyal, fiercely vindictive, specifically prideful and his moral compass mostly seemed like a fucking roulette wheel, but the one thing Janus was not was dumb. Dense, maybe, but not dumb. He knew when a risk wasn’t worth it.

So there had to be a reason why Janus went into town all the time. Virgil knew that there had to be. But he had confronted Janus before and, as always, received an outrageous lie as an answer. That and a half-hearted promise not to go for the next few weeks. A promise he’d never intended to keep, as Virgil and he had both known very well.

Virgil looked at the clock in the back the room. It was fairly late, almost five in the morning. And yet Janus wasn’t back still.

That was something that had happened more and more lately, too. Janus never named a reason or anything, but he went out in the early evening hours and would return way too late. Sometimes even injured. He never used to come back hurt, never used to be this careless.

Virgil bit his lip, wanting nothing more than to slap Janus for being home late, again. Seriously, what could be more important than to come back to-

A sudden thought occurred to Virgil, making him stop his pacing back and forth dead in his tracks. No. No, not Janus. Right? Janus wouldn’t get this caught up over some… some guy, would he?

Sure, he had had many lovers before, but every single one of those had been disposable to him. Some even just means to some end, if Virgil remembered correctly. But Janus had never really been in love. He had been loved, but he had never put anyone on equal footing or, perish the thought, even above himself. Even Virgil, who had known Janus basically his entire life, could barely reach thought to him. There was no way Janus had fallen that hard, to actually endanger himself and his family, was there?

…

He didn’t take a coat as he ran outside as fast as he could, just following the street Janus would always take. It took him about five minutes that way to reach the small town close to their new home. He knew Janus had been exaggerating! But that wasn’t what he was here to do. He was here for Janus, to make sure Janus hadn’t gone and done the one thing that had even landed them in this situation.

It took a long time to find him. Longer than he wold have expected, which made it pretty clear that Janus didn’t want to be found. He had been on the verge of giving up and returning home for the night, hoping Janus had done the same already, when he saw him. The young man he considered to be his brother was leaning against a wall, clearly amused. His gloved hands twirled his hat around, the black vest had moved up ever so slightly above the yellow button-up, and Virgil couldn’t help the snicker. As per usual, Janus looked like a mafiosi standing in that dark ally, possibly as suspicious as that would have been possible for a man in a suit at all. And Virgil mistrusted most men in suits.

But, there was also someone with him. Someone with the back to him, so Virgil couldn’t see him properly. But he could make out the brown hair. It looked neatly trimmed and pushed back smoothly. Judging from his back, Virgil would have guessed that the other man lived uptown. A good, stable household. The worst kinds of people, if anyone asked him.

He made a point of not listening in on their conversation, but he didn’t let them out of his sight either. Janus looked happy, or at least he was enjoying himself. Virgil could appreciate that about the stranger. After all, with what had happened, Janus had been tense for quite some time. Thinking about it now, Vigil realized that Janus had been a bit more relaxed lately. Less frustrated and more playful. That hadn’t happened since Remy…

Well, there was a good reason for them to be tense and on the other end of the globe now.

It was close to sunrise when Janus said something and pointed in the direction of a shop. Judging that it would be safe to listen in without disrespecting Janus’ privacy too much, Virgil stopped dulling his senses. “-so my roommate doesn’t get worried. Well, more worried, I suppose. He’s always anxious.”, Janus laughed silently. Virgil huffed in annoyance. As if he hadn’t seen through that tactic long ago. Janus didn’t even try anymore at this point, just bringing back a single, random article. “I’ll be right back, alright?”

“Or, just a thought, you could talk to him.” The strangers voice was thick and rich, like a singer’s voice. Thinking about it now, he also had a great posture, like an actor on a stage. Oh, great. As though Virgil didn’t have enough dramatic people in his life already.

“I will. I promise I will”, Janus replied, making Virgil clench his teeth. Such a liar. “as soon as he’s gotten used to life in America. He’s shaken from that fire still.”

“Oh, the mysterious fire I’ve heard so much and nothing about. Will you ever tell me what actually happened?”

Janus only laughed and waved as he walked into the shop he had pointed at before. Some sort of candle store by the looks of it. Oh, God. Please, not another scented candle!

Virgil sighed deeply as he watched his ‘roommate’, apparently, walk away. Maybe he should go take a closer look at the stranger? See what kind of person Janus had fallen for? Just to make sure it was safe, of cause, the curiosity wasn’t any part of the reason he wanted to do that at all.

Nah, he should probably get back. If Janus wanted to end up a pile on the floor, that was his decision. He himself would much rather go back to sleep or have a nice meal right about now. Besides, it could be dangerous to go talk to a stranger in a strange town in a strange country. Yeah, really didn’t seem like a fail-safe plan to Virgil.

So he naturally put his hands into his pockets, looked for cars and crossed the street, right to where the stranger was standing.

The stranger’s brown eyes meet Virgil’s storm grey ones. He was pretty, Virgil had to leave him that. And he had a color coordinated outfit, which didn’t matter much to Virgil, but was probably a huge plus for Janus.

“Uhm, hi? Can I help you with something?”, the stranger asked. Virgil looked him up and down and nodded his head slowly. “Yes… I kinda got lost and I’ve been wandering around for most of the night. Do you know the direction to the highway, by any chance?”

“What?!”, the nameless stranger asked shocked, his eyes visibly widening, “The entire night? Oh, lord! You have to be more-”

“Responsible? I know. My whole family seems to have that problem lately.”, Virgil interrupted annoyed, looking for a way look into the stranger’s eyes deep enough to question him.

“No. Careful. There are vampires around here, you know?”

And that made Virgil freeze up. He knew? The humans knew? How did they find out?! Had Janus been even more careless than he had thought? Had Janus maybe even confessed? No. No, surely Janus wasn’t that stupid. No way.

“Oh? Doesn’t the church usually take care of things like that?”, Virgil asked, paranoia creeping into his mind. Had there been anyone there tonight who might have figured him out? Anyone who could follow him and stick a pole through them while they slept today? He didn’t think so, but he hadn’t payed attention either. Well, fuck.

“Yes, we usually do. And we did. We have a non-aggression pact with them, though it’s anonymous. Still, you have to be careful with creatures like that. They have… prejudges. Justified prejudges maybe, but they still often attack first and ask questions later, you know?”

What. The. Fuck?! Who the hell was it having prejudges now, idiot? But Virgil forced himself to remain calm. “So, what do you do to be careful? Wear a cross or something?” Most of the things humans thought to be helpful were rubbish, but some of them actually worked. If he was unlucky, he wouldn’t be able to hypnotize the stranger, and then it would only blow his cover and he would know about Janus and they would end up like Remy and-

“No, that doesn’t really work. Best is just not to be out on the streets so late. Well, not alone anyways. I usually go with a friend of mine, but he’s in the store right now.”

Okay, good. If he was quick about it, he might actually be able to pull this off. So Virgil took a deep breath, took the stranger’s face in his hand and forced the eye contact, with a smirk. “I see. You will do as I say and answer al my questions, then.” The stranger barely had any time to gasp in shocked recognition before his body went lax.

“Good. Now, who are you?” “My name is Roman Royals.”

“How old are you?” “Nineteen years.”

“And you are completely human?” “Yes.”

“Do you know Janus?” “I do.”

“What is he to you?” “My boyfriend.”

“And is Janus human?” “Yes.” Virgil let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding when he heard that answer. So at least Janus hadn’t told him anything.

“Okay, last question: You just said ‘we’ when you talked about the church. Why?” “My father’s the priest there.”

Well, fuck. Did Janus know? Probably, he did a background check on the barista he gets his coffee from now. So why did he stick around Roman if he knew? What kind of bullshit was he pulling here? Virgil sighed heavily. “I see. Well, you will forget this ever happened. You just told me where to go and I was on my way. Got it?”

Roman nodded absentmindedly and Virgil let the hypnosis drop, sprinting home without checking that Roman actually forgot what had happened. He just had to get away from there, away from Roman, the priest’s son.

Shock turned to fear pretty fast, and fear to terror. Terror turned into a lack of air and that lack of air turned into helplessness. It was unfortunate that Janus came home right when that helplessness just finished its slow transformation to rage. Not unfortunate for Virgil, but certainly unfortunate for Janus. And Janus could tell the moment he closed the door and locked eyes with Virgil.

For a few moments everything was silent. Then, Virgil pointed out in a voice colder than ice: “You’re late. From happy hour to blue hour, again.” Janus nodded slowly. “Yes… I lost track of time.”

Virgil didn’t even acknowledge that lie with a response, which told Janus enough about how damn angry he had to be. So Janus gave a nervous smile, swallowing dry. They both knew how dangerous Virgil could be if he wanted to. He had always been their best fighter, amongst other dangerous but useful qualities. Janus cleared his throat. “Right. As you said, Virge, it’s pretty late, so I should probably go to bed. Good day.”

“Don’t”, Virgil interrupted Janus’ fast retreat dead in his tracks, making his friend stop dead in his tracks, “lie to me, Janus. I know about him.”

“What?” The question was a mere whisper, probably even imperceptible to the human ear. But neither of them were human, were they? That was kind of the problem, so Virgil certainly heard. He didn’t answer, though, only looked Janus dead into his eyes. So Janus asked again, this time a little louder though still full of shocked uncertainty: “What do you mean?”

“I mean”, Virgil answered through clenched teeth as he stalked forward towards Janus, “I know what you’ve been up to every night. I mean I know about your stupid ass decision. I mean, Janus, that I know about the Royals boy.”

“How do you know about Roman? You never even leave the house!”

“For good reason! Or have you forgotten why we came here at all? Have you forgotten about the fire that did that” - Virgil pointed uncharacteristically expensively to the light burn marks on the side of Janus’s face that started to stand out more in the morning light - “to you? And then you go and, what, jump at the first decent looking human you can find?”

“No! Of cause I didn’t forget. But this is fine, we’re fine, we’re safe, I promise.”, Janus was quick to defend, but it didn’t do him any good. Virgil only let out a humorless laugh.

“Oh? Is it? You are always out with a human, whose family runs the church no less, and come back so close to dawn that you arrive seriously injured. So, please, tell me, Janus, are you stupid?! Or just randomly suicidal? Which one is it, huh?!”

“Really, Virgil. I’m being honest right now.”, Janus insisted, even taking off his gloves to show the trembling hands underneath and painting a cross above his heart. “He… Roman, isn’t like that. He’s different. This is different. You have to believe me!”

“Funny. That’s what Remy said, too. And then the fucking house was brunt down by the fucking human. Tell me, how did that go? Hm? Where’s our coven now? Our home?! It’s only you, me, and the two unconscious brothers upstairs that’s left!”

Janus tried and failed to hide the pain that crossed his face remembering that night, whispering: “No one could have seen that coming…”

“I did!”, Virgil cried angrily and desperate, ”I did, and you didn’t listen to me, and now it’s happening again, and you don’t listen to me again, do you?!”

A beat passed by before either of them did anything again. It was Janus who moved first, straightened his back defiantly and moved out of his defensive position, crossing his arms and shaking his head slightly. “No, I will not. And I don’t have to, either. In case you forgot, I am the leader of this coven, so I get to decide. Maybe I should have listened to you back then, but that was back then and now is right now. This conversation is over.”

“It’s not.”, Virgil sighed defeatedly. He didn’t make eye contact anymore but watched the sun rise through the protective glass instead. “I won’t stand around and watch this happening again. If you don’t end things with him, I will end things with you.”

“Are you… Virgil, is that an ultimatum? Are you making me choose between you and him?”, Janus asked in disbelieve. He wanted to get angry at Virgil, but he could see the pained expression on his friend’s face. His shoulders were shaking and tears started to silently race down his face, as he whispered with a broken voice: “I just can’t see that happen again, Jan. I’m sorry, but I just… Just, please.”

Janus sighed. “How long have you known me for, Virgil? Six-hundred years?” “Five-hundred-thirty-five. Since the fourteen-eighties.”, Virgil nodded absentmindedly.

“Right.”, Janus softly continued, drawing soothing circled on Virgil’s back. ”I got us through the times of the witch trials, I got us through two world wars, I got us through the development of photography and videos. I protected us from werewolves, aristocrats, christian fanatics, fanatic civilians, homophobes and even nazis. So why would you ever mistrust me?”

“Because you are a liar by nature.”, Virgil answered without missing a beat. But he also sighed, leaning against Janus. “But… It’s not you I have troubles trusting.”

“Only because you don’t know him yet. Roman won’t hurt us.”, Janus insisted again

 Virgil scoffed: “He’s human.”

“So where you. But I gave you a chance, didn’t I? When everyone was avoiding you because your mother used to be a witch?”

The silence dragged on and on, until Virgil finally pulled away and walked towards the stairs. “I’m gonna hit the hay, tonight was fucking exhausting.”

“Virgil?” Janus’ voice was so soft and breakable right now, so very vulnerable, and Virgil couldn’t even bare to look at him. So he sighed, almost out of sight, hesitating before finally saying: “One dinner. Tell him I’ll cook dinner for us the night after tomorrow, nine in the afternoon. He’ll get his chance to make me trust him then, and if he does he can stay. But that’s all he gets, just that one dinner.”

And then he left, leaving a smiling, somewhat relieved Janus down in the entrance hall. Now all he had to do was tell Roman. And maybe, in time, the two most important people in his life would actually get along some time soon. He sure hoped they would. But for now, a chance was good enough.

For now.

Masterpost: here

Prompt-chart and one-shots: here 

Taglist:  @gattonero17

[corpse--diem]

Ring of Fire | Nell, Remmy, Luce, Adam & Erin

Timing: Current Featuring: @nelllraiser, @whatsin-yourhead, @divineluce, @walker-journal Summary: In the dead of night, chaos ensues and The Ring is forced to shut its doors--what’s left of it, anyway.

This was it. The nervous energy that gripped Erin’s chest, making the blood pulse in her ears, was the very same one that sparked something bright and bold within her. Pure adrenaline. There was nothing in the world like it, and the closer they got, the thicker and faster it coursed through her veins. The only distraction were the bottles clinking quietly in her bag as they slipped into the shadows surrounding The Ring. Alert, eyes keen on anything that moved. Knowing what went on behind those walls, who they’d harmed, and especially who profited greatly from their operations left a thick, dark anger sitting heavy in her gut. The depravity was unrivaled. But that’s why they were here. Their final blow to the sick fucks that made so many lives hell and for Erin, the first in a long list of things to come. For now, the plans were set, the parties were divided and ready to go. She glanced over to the Vural sister crouching near her as she pulled out a bottle, the alcohol-stained rag smacking her senses. “Do you have everything you need?” She asked, a final preemptive check in. Her eyes bounced from the building to Luce, lingering on the hands that were quite literally about to make some magic happen. She was the fire power here and Erin knew when to sucede to those with greater expertise. “Ready whenever you are,” she nodded.

Rolling her neck, the material of her choker a reminder of everything that had brought her to this moment, Luce ducked alongside Erin in the shadows. When the other woman had reached out to her, asking for her help-- who was she to say no? Erin had helped their family in ways that no one else could, keeping Bea’s body for them without question. Hearing that she wanted to take down the Ring, to burn it to the ground? It was the least she could do. “Yeah. I’ve got everything I need.” She said, holding up her hands with a cold smile. Luce scanned the surroundings, taking note of the doors, the windows, the thick walls. She wanted to funnel them out. And while a wall of flame would probably work… there were other ways of smoking people out. “Let’s do this.” She said before rising from their cover. As she stood, Luce touched the small silver bracelet around her wrist, alerting Nell that their plan was in motion. With a deep breath, she tapped into the well of magical energy within her, letting loose a torrent of power. The magic manifested itself into a burst of blue flames that shattered through one of the windows, the edges of the glass melted from the heat. The kid gloves were off now.

At the mouth of the hallway that led to the cages, Nell was crouched along with Adam and Remmy, on high alert as she stayed hidden with the two of them, waiting for Luce’s signal. When it came, she waited another long moment until there was a shuffling of feet, and muffled words could be heard down the way about fires and evacuations. Still not speaking, she raised a single hand before motioning it into a beckoning gesture, taking the first few steps forward into the open. She’d put a spell in place to help dampen the sounds of their movements, but invisibility was out of the question at a time like this. It would be a quick drain of her magic to cloak all three of them for an extended amount of time, and she didn’t want to be caught without it in case something went wrong. This path down the dark and damp walls of the Ring was one she knew well, one she’d taken when bringing in the creatures she’d caught for the fight. Being back at the Ring was...strange after the events of the past couple of weeks, the hairs on the back of her arms standing up as she continued to move forwards, searching for signs of life with a heat signature sensing spell every ten feet or so. “I think we’re clear,” she finally breathed, barely above a whisper as she straightened and continued on their trail.

The last time Remmy had held a gun in their hands, they’d woken up without an eye. This would be different, though. This time, they were ready. They were crouched between Nell and Adam, low to the ground, waiting for the signal and Nell’s lead. Being back in this place, especially back down here with the cages, made their skin crawl. But they had to focus. They didn’t have time to think about how suffocating the world was down here. How they’d been trapped down here. How the cage bars, despite being open, had felt smaller and tighter than any walls. The damp air circulated around them like a cloth, trying to choke them. But Remmy reached deep within themself, to the place they hadn’t gone in years, and pulled out the little soldier that always slept inside. Focus. Narrow down your target. Relax your arms. Think only about the mission and the mission objective. Get out alive. Lancer’s voice echoed in their head, and when they opened their eyes next, they were ready. Slinking along the ground behind Nell, firearm held firmly in their hands, alert and in front of them. Ready for anything. They paused in the doorway. “Then get the cages open,” they said to the other two once they were in the clear, “I’ll keep watch.” This time, they would not let their friends fall.

On one hand, recent events had made Adam more determined than ever to abstain from getting enmeshed in human conflicts. He needed to regain focus on the Code if he was going to find some way to atone for ….everything, that’d happened these past few months.

On the other hand, though Adam longed for a conflict was clear-cut, pure, and simple, real life was proving ever less accommodating. This was a chance to strike out at an organization where humans were being killed by monsters. Sure, it wasn’t in the context he usually dealt with. But could Adam really justify turning this down and let people fight, die, and stay in cages just because he couldn’t foresee the consequences?

When Rem gave the signal, Adam went to the first containment room at a half-crouch, tactical knife and pistol held at the ready. A first Adam ignored the battered and withdrawn figures in the cages. Instead he kept to the sides of the cell ward, carefully checking around corners and adjoining hallways for sentries or patrols.

The fact that there didn’t seem to be even a guard or two left behind here put Adam on edge. Even if whatever distraction Erin and Luce were up to was working and had drawn Ring personnel away to to deal with it, surely the mooks wouldn’t just leave all these people unguarded?

Call it Hunter paranoia, but Adam’s ‘oh shit’ vibes were building.

Nevertheless, the mission had a pretty small window to get these people to the extraction point. When Adam had completely ascertained that the inside of the containment rooms were free of guards, he signaled the ‘all clear’ to Nell and began retrieving cage-smashing gear from his tactical vest.

It was one thing to talk about what they were doing here, but the moment Erin watched the windows burst through sheer badass magical fire power alone, she knew she’d recruited the right set of people. “Whoa,” she grinned over at Luce. Already the guards were starting to pour out from the building as smoke and fire engulfed the entrance points. Some were trying to investigate, others were fleeing for fresh air. Erin whistled into the night air as she crouched, setting a lighter to one of the molotovs. “Shaggy! Come here, boy!” she chirped. Within seconds she heard the patter of feet on the ground racing towards her. “Go get it!” She yelled, hauling the molotov at the building. The hellhound burst from the shadows, excitedly stomping towards the fiery ‘toy’, knocking down and chasing off some of the guards who’d grown close to their hiding spot. Within moments, Erin lit another, ducking back down. Whistling loudly, she hauled the next one just short of the building and the second hellhound joined the group. She could hear the guards hollering as more and more emerged. Glancing up, she caught a few more guards headed Luce’s way. She didn’t even think--just whipped out the gun holstered at her side and shot the ground in front of them. Oh fuck. She always forgot about the kickback from this thing and stumbled back a step. “How’re we doing?” She yelled over to her, reaching for another molotov. “They could use a little more heat, don’t you think?” She smirked.

“Trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet.” Luce said, the familiar rush of magic filling her with a blazing warmth of power and energy. Watching as Shaggy rushed towards the Ring, she couldn’t help the way her jaw tightened. Nell’s demon dogs, back at it again with the arson. Memories of the horrible things she’d seen in Montgomery’s home spurred her onwards. Watching as few of the guards began to run towards them, she prepared herself, steadying her mind and drawing forth flames. But, her concentration was disturbed as gunshots went off in front of her. Luce flinched, the blue flames sputtering for a moment. She fucking hated guns. She hated guns. Christ. “We’re good!” She yelled, before muttering under her breath, “Stay in your lane.” With a growl, Luce conjured long streams of fire and flung them at two of the guards that charged at her. Screams rang through the night as they furiously tried to beat out the flames, dropping to the ground in an attempt to smother the flames. Waving her fingers, the tendrils of fire began to dance, curling around the guard’s necks. The screams intensified then died as their throats were seared shut by the heat. “C’mon, you wanna go?” She asked, cocking her head at the remaining guards who stared at her, seemingly caught between the urge to charge her and to run for the hills. “Let’s go.” With another flick of her fingers, the flames surged through the air, coiling around the guard’s legs.

Nell wasn’t sure how she’d feel when she faced the cages again. She could still pick out the one she’d been kept in for a week, no room to so much as stretch her cages while she was just given enough food and water to survive, drained on the hour every hour of her magic to make sure she wouldn’t be able to utilize it. For a fleeting moment she stiffened in a natural response of self-preservation, but the anger building in her stomach swiftly came to a boiling point, and as quickly as it had come, the fear went, leaving her ready to strike back at the Ring. As Adam signaled and she felt the ping of Luce’s confirmation on her wrist, she snapped out of the momentary distraction, striding forward to the first cage she could get her hands on before magicking the lock open in the blink of an eye. Start with the more sentient ones first. They’d be able to help undo the rest of the cages, and wouldn’t cause as many potential problems as the beasts and other creatures...hopefully. Nell went to cage after cage, silently trying to get as many open as fast as she could, unable to ignore the feeling that their luck wouldn’t last long. Even if the initial guards had been lured away, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t send someone back, or that another one might just chance upon them. With a wave of her hand, another row of cages popped open, the unwilling fighters spilling forth from them with wonder in their eyes, barely believing that this might be their chance at freedom. Perhaps they’d actually get out of this relatively unscathed. And yet...as soon as she’d thought the words, she stiffened, the sound of rushing air floating over from somewhere down the hall they’d taken to get here. It was as if a balloon had been punctured, the hissing sound of it growing closer as she hurried along the cages. Looking between Remmy and Adam, she jerked her head towards the sound, as if asking them to investigate.

Remmy held position, just like they were taught to be. It was strange being back in a place that had helped destroy them, performing a skill that had helped train them. Their eyes were glued to the hallways, even as their chest constricted, knowing that the place they’d been tortured and starved was just a few feet down. That the cage that had once held Ben was still there, a reminder of the blood on their hands. Of the reason they were here. They tightened their grip a moment, when the hissing sound echoed down the hallway. A soft rattling. When Nell approached and they all shared a glance, Remmy gave the nod and signal that they would go check it out. Crept silently along the wall, gun held  in front of them. Steps could be heard, almost as quiet as their own. Then, finally, Remmy rounded the corner. A figure came into view, spotted right away. But before they could react, Remmy pulled the trigger. Once, twice, right in the knee. The person cried out, an angry hissing. Shit, that meant others were coming. Remmy back peddled quickly, launching into the room. “We gotta go,” they said, “we gotta move.”

Adam had been tending to the fighters whose tenure in the ring had left them crippled and malnourished. Many of the fighters triggered sensations of freezing heat across Adams skin, revealing them to be various inhuman species. However being enslaved was not a crime and Adam distributed revitalizing tinctures the Vurals had given him, carefully applying the luminous amber mixture to the lips and joints of those who were too battered to move.

The monsters of the ring were another matter and Adam had to use both his knowledge of cryptobiology and sometimes some brute wrassling to get incalcitrant beasts on the move without trampling everyone. Paws, claws, tentacles, skittering legs, slithering scales, and humming wings blended together in a strange cacophony as Adam and Nell performed their own strange crossover of Mission Impossible and Noah’s Ark.

Adam wasn’t sure about how wise releasing all these critters was, given that some were highly dangerous. But considering the only two extant options were humans maybe being harmed if they went too close to a magic farm versus being killed for absolute certain in death matches against these monsters, Adam had to go with the former as the most palatable option.

These thoughts were rendered moot by gunfire and Remmy’s guarded retreat into the room. Acknowledging the announcement that shit was going down, Adam put his arms out to lift and support some prisoners who were still struggling to walk, and tried to hustle their conga line of slaves and beasties down the hall.

Luce was definitely good. Erin didn’t mean to stare as the fire flew from her fingers like high voltage ribbons, effectively strangling the guards and tripping up the ones who were trying to flee. “Shit,” she mumbled under her breath, never feeling more human and vulnerable in her life. Sure, she’d helped bring them all here, but she was only here physically for the assist. Not even the guards were human, from what she could tell. The hellhounds were flocking to some of them like a gnat to a porchlight, gruesomely chomping off bloodless limbs. Zombies, maybe? Vampires? The brute strength they showed when they tossed off the hellhounds matched up. Fuck. She wasn’t the only one with a gun. The night sky lit up with the sound and Erin dropped behind a dumpster. Her hands shook as she tried to ready another bottle. Holy fuck. Focused on the flame touching the damp rag. Not the screams in her ear, bones snapping under powerful jaws, the fire roaring behind them. Success. Gravel crunched a few feet from her spot. Without hesitation, she jumped back up to her feet and whirled the flaming bottle right into the face of the guard coming at her. He screamed as it exploded on impact and Erin fell back as she watched him erupt in flames. In seconds, he dissolved into dust. The world pulled into focus again and the sounds around them came rushing back. Keeping going. They just had to keep going. “Any word?” Erin shouted over to Luce, trying to steel her resolve amidst the chaos. God, she was ready for this to be over.

Her attention absorbed in the twin ribbons of flame that coiled and shot through the air at the guards who had come to put a stop to them, Luce didn’t notice the guard that Erin took on until he had exploded into dust. Fucking vampires. Christ. “Watch what you’re doing over there!” She called out to the woman, but the words were joking. She fucking hated vampires, good on Erin for dusting one of them. Letting out a sharp whistle, she tilted her head towards a fresh batch of guards who had come out of the building, armed to the teeth. “Get ‘em, Shaggy.” Luce said and watched as the hellhound bolted for one of the men, ripping his leg off with a savage bite and tearing motion. Swallowing as blood and marrow was sprayed against the cement, Luce lifted the silver bracelet around her wrist to her mouth.

“Nell, how we doing?” She asked, voice calm and level as she directed the lines of fire to rejoin, combining into one bright blue wave of flame that stretched out before her. As Shaggy continued to run around the group that was running towards her, Luce directed her attention back to the building. With a wave of her hand, the flames reared back like a cobra, poised to strike. Deep breath in, the flames remained still. And deep breath out-- the blue flames surged forward, slamming against the windows of the Ring, the material already starting to strain and melt under the heat.

“We’re not done yet!” Nell called back to Remmy, still getting more of the cages open, stretching her magic as far as it could go amongst the locks. Hurriedly, she rushed the latest of those freed from their confinements, trying to be reassuring in her attempts to get them moving, but keeping a sense of urgency. Leaving people and creatures here could be considered signing their death warrants, forced to fight another day, not knowing whether they’d make it out the other end. Luce’s voice on her wrist wasn’t reassuring in the midst of it all, and her own response was terse and tense while she continued on to the last row of cages. “Something’s here. Someone’s found us. We’ll take care of it. We’re just about to open the last of the cages. What about your end?” On top of not wanting to leave anyone behind, there was still the matter of the documents and records Nell wanted to swipe, though if it came to choosing between getting people out and her own personal mission, the choice was clear. Finally, the last of the bars swung open, and Nell ushered the inhabitants towards the exit with the rest of the growing crowd, trying to keep the escapees relatively calm and focused. Of course, that was easier said than done as the hissing sounds only grew louder. It seemed that whatever Remmy had shot wasn’t quite as easily deterred as most by the fall of bullets. All at once, the light from that few lamps above hit the creature, bouncing off its scales as slitted eyes narrowed to get a closer look at those escaping, and those responsible for the breakout. A Lamia— perhaps the biggest one Nell had ever seen was advancing, obviously displeased with the loss of their captives.

The crowd that had gathered in the hallway was beginning to spill out, prisoners and beasts alike ushered away from their captivity. Nell was right, they couldn’t leave until everyone was out. And if Remmy was the only thing between them losing their freedom and this creature, they would stand their ground. This time, they would stand their ground. They held the gun trained on the doorway and when the thing appeared, they fired just above their head, taking out the light. It shattered and sparked and the creature hissed loudly again, stumbling back. “Hurry, get everyone out!” they said, placing themself between the crowd and the snake. “I’ll hold them off!” It would be easy enough to train the gun right on this creature’s head, tap one two right between its eyes, but as soon as they lined up the shot, they froze-- Jax’s eyes staring up at them, angry and blue, covered in blood-- and they lost the shot. In the next moment, the creature was on top of them and with one swipe of its massive arm, Remmy was slammed into the wall, dizzy for a moment as their head hit stone. Hesitation, Lancer had always told them, was death. But now, Remmy could no longer. They whipped the butt of the gun up and around, connecting with the side of the snake-man’s head, before rolling out of the way of another swipe and bounding towards Adam and Nell. “Are we clear?” they shouted, scrapes on their face wiping themselves away, as if they never happened.

Adam didn’t necessarily want to risk gunfire with this many civilians and animals nearby. The walls around them were a large prison of concrete and a stray bullet could ricochet and hit a civilian or strike one of these monsters and cause a stampede. Neither was acceptable if he could help it.

Likewise he was supporting multiple people with his arms and shoulders at the moment. Thus the Hunter was put in the position of being paralyzed by his duty to help the injured to safety while only being able to watch as Remmington got blind-sided by the biggest giant fuck-off cobra Adam had ever seen. Seriously, what had this Lamia been eating? Was it a mutant variation or some kind of…

Ok, not the time.

Adam focused on getting the wounded and weakened out of the cell block, using unnatural strength to just outright haul people like hay bales when necessary. Remmy fell back to their position and Adam confirmed that they were all clear, albeit barely.

Erin kept low to the ground, every sound sending her on edge, reminding her how far out of her element she was right now. This was taking too long. It was working, she knew that. Trickles of previously caged beasts and people alike were fleeing from the building. Good. That was good. She’d focus more on that when she could safely see Nell and the others again. But their window was closing. “How much longer?” she yelled over to Luce, watching one of the hellhounds dragging a charred guard leg toward them like a stick in a game of fetch. If it wasn’t spectacularly gruesome, it could have been endearing. She whistled to catch it’s attention and tossed another bottle back to the building and exploded as it landed in remnants of Luce’s flamework. Her eyes locked in on the building, the outside already scorched and smoking. There was an opening in the cluster of guards. Some moving, some not.  “I’m gonna get closer. The second you know they’re out of there--” she cut herself off. Wasn’t time for this. Luce knew what to do. Well, this was it. She gave a quick nod, crouched back down into the shadows, and disappeared around the side of the warehouse.

Listening to her sister, Luce could hear the sounds of conflict in the background and she did her best to push the worry from her mind. Nell could handle it. With Adam and Remmy down there with her, she’d be safe. “Just-- stay safe, okay? The second you guys are clear, that place is getting blown sky high.” She said before raising her hands in front of her once more. The flames she’d sent at the building at melted through the glass, but they couldn’t go any further, not if she wanted to kill all of them. She didn’t know where the gas lines in the building were, didn’t know what kind of explosives the people in there were packing. If she set the wrong thing ablaze, she’d-- Swallowing, Luce waved the magic away, the blue flames that wreathed the building sputtering out. “Do what you need to, I’ll keep them busy.” She said to Erin before sliding her knuckledusters on and charging at a few of the guards who still remained. Their eyes widened as the witch came at them, armed with seemingly nothing at all. Whipping her hand around, Luce allowed the magic to flow through her fingers, filling her hands with flame as she slammed her hand against one of the guard’s head. A disgusting crunch, followed by shrieking as flames licked the woman’s flesh-- it didn’t matter. These people, they’d kidnapped Nell, been complicit in the torture her sister had faced. They deserved to burn.

“It’s what?!” Nell’s voice cracked on the last word with surprise. That hadn’t been the plan! Not that she was opposed to blowing the place to smithereens. It just hadn’t been what they’d all agreed on beforehand. “You can’t just change the rules mid infiltration!” Jeez, when had she become such a wet blanket? Probably around the time she’d realized that being hasty and not giving all the information about an operation didn’t hurt solely herself. She had a feeling it was too late to change her sister’s mind, though. Which meant they had even more limited time than anticipated. “We gotta hurry them all the way out! I’ll finish here!” she yelled to Remmy and Adam. “This place is gonna come down, apparently!” The enormous Lamia was still advancing, though, and it looked like there was no way she was going to get the papers now. Unless… “Remmy, switch with me!” They would be able to physically carry more people than she could if it came down to it, and even though she knew her friend had the ability to kill, they didn’t always aim to do so. Get the prisoners out, get rid of the lamia, get the papers. In that order. As soon as she’d said the words to Remmy, Nell was darting towards the snake-person. Seeing her advance, the lamia reared its head, opening its maw to spit its fangs, full of venom in her direction. “Shit,” she cursed as she barely dodged, whispering a quick few words as she swiped some blood across her arm. A flash of magic activated the other summoning sigil she’d had tattooed on herself. The first one she’d originally gotten. A fully grown cockatrice sprang forth from the magic, immediately charging the lamia.

Nell called for a switch and Remmy immediately obeyed the command. They were a soldier, a follower-- not a leader. Holstering the gun, they started gathering up people who looked too worn to walk, helping them get out of the room and down the hallway, hurrying them along. If they needed to get out fast, then they needed to start herding more people at once. Remmy knew they would be more help getting people out, but something buzzed under their skin at the thought of leaving Nell behind. They’d been taken together, suffered here together, broken out together, they couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her. “Adam!” Remmy called up to the young boy, “lead everyone out the back quickly. Everyone’s out of the cages, but-- I’m going back for Nell. Find Luce and Erin,” they said, before heading back into the cages room. They gave Adam one last look, one last chance to see if he would join them or do what he was told and get the prisoners out, before shutting the door and looking back over to where Nell was. The snake person seemed to be spitting something at Nell, and even though she’d summoned some sort of angry looking bird, they reared their head and spat again. But this time Remmy jumped in front of it, feeling the wet liquid drip onto their arms. They looked over at Nell with sharp, determined eyes. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

Adam has been the one trained to do the suicidal last stand charging around here, and was rather put on the back foot to not be the one playing dice with God today. Normally he’d do something like insist that it was his place to put his life on the line.

However he had his arms full of refugees in a building primed to explode, now wasn’t the time to debate whose life was most expendable here. It felt wrong, but letting these folks explode due to his inability to delegate risk was even more wrong.

“Understood,” he affirmed to Remmington, one soldier to another, and set about hustling the prisoners out of the building.

Nell knew that if they caught her again, they most likely wouldn’t bother with cages. Hadn’t her and Remmy been enough trouble the first time around? No, if the Ring was to have either herself or Remmy in their grasp once again, they’d want to do away with the pair, wouldn’t they? Perhaps that was the reason the lamia seemed to be aiming for kills. Thankfully, the cockatrice that Nell had fondly named ‘Nugget’ when she was thirteen and developing her summoning skills was doing a decent job of taking most of the venom hits, keeping her out of range for  the potentially deadly fluid. Wait where the hell had Remmy come from? Before she could even ask what they were doing, they had already answered, and a fleeting warmth passed over her at their words. “For old time’s sake, yeah?” They’d spent countless time in the Ring as a tag team by this point. It made sense to finish it on the same note. Nell pooled her magic, ready to continue her onslaught of the lamia when she remembered that Luce and Erin were waiting. They didn’t have time for this. “We need the documents. Let her take care of the lamia for now, and we can go grab them!” she finished, jutting a thumb towards the cockatrce that was now dive-bombing the lamia from above, sharp claws extended before it.

Remmy couldn’t help but feel a little excited by the prospect of fighting by Nell’s side again. It had been so long, but they’d done it so much, there was a rhythm now between them that barely needed any sort of verbal communication. But Nell was right-- this Lamia wasn’t their target anymore. They’d come here to get something and they were running out of time. “Right,” they said, before looking back at her, “duck and dive?” They gave a little grin, before turning back towards the snake, watching it tussle with Nell’s bird. When they saw the opening, they charged forward, feinting in their attack. The snake fell for the bait and tried to swipe at Remmy, but they ducked easily out of the way, feeling the whoosh of air from his oversized arm. Meanwhile, on their cue, Nell had taken the opportunity to dive between his legs, and the two ended up together on the other side of him, bolting out the door and down the hallway. Remmy followed Nell to the records room, positioning themself at the door as lookout while she shuffled through the drawers. “Might wanna pick up the pace,” they said anxiously, “I’m getting a bad feeling here.” But it only took a few minutes to find what they came for-- apparently the Ring only paid for security when it came to guarding entrances and not their own employees-- and the two were off down the hallways again, circling back around to meet up with Adam and the prisoners. Little did they know, though, that they were being followed by a slither.

Adam looked back and sized up the enemy and situation at a glance. There were several options, none of them good. He couldn’t allow Jet the Pit-boss Lamia to take any of the refugees hostage, as that’d end up bringing them to a stand-still and possibly kill them all in the explosion. To Adam there appeared only one logical choice, to interpose himself between the refugees and the threat. He set down the prisoners he was carrying, urging them on before barreling across the tunnel at Jet.

This was one bigass snake boi, the kind that Harrison Ford and Samuel L. Jackson had been warning us about us for years, but we fools didn’t listen and now the chonky man-cobra was helping run gladiator games and gulping down the losers like mammalian power bars. But Adam was still surrounded by refugees in this rather narrow passage with cement walls, thus going all Rambo with a rifle on the Roid-rage Mamba here would risk collateral damage.

Adam ran directly at Jet the Lamia. It was a calculated risk, and one Jet responded to by whipping back, tension visibly rippling through the scales of the pit fighter like a scaled cord. Adam was quick, but Jet had more than enough sinuous speed to match the mutant, and a lifetime of glatorial experience besides. Jet matched Adam’s momentum with an unnatural curve of his reptilian body that would’ve snapped a human spine in half. Adam grunted and bit down a snarl of pain as two fangs the size of railroad spikes sank into his shoulder.

Agony rimmed Adam’s vision in red. Everything rippled and felt like ice water as poison sank deep into his veins. But Adam had known ahead of time that it was tactically likely that he couldn’t beat Jet without his weapons and having to shield refugees at the same time. Thus he had decided to take a gamble in order to get Jet close and nullify the warrior Lamia’s overwhelming advantage of speed and flexibility.

Muscles bunched taut as Adam fought back the pain and took hold of the snake-man’s jaw that was currently latched directly into his shoulder and pumping venom into his flesh. Adam twisted away but kept hold, leveraging a foot against the smooth scoots of the Lamia’s stomach. His fee-hand gouged fingers into Jet’s eyes as he snarled with the raw brutish effort.

There was a sickening crunch and wet dripping sound. Adam stumbled dizzily backward,  tearing fangs out of his shoulder while Jet flailed around on the cold cement, blood pooling out from where the Lamia’s entire lower jaw and tongue had been ripped free.

“Nell..could’ya burn him,” Adam slurred, stumbling as the venom played havoc with his nervous system.

One moment Nell had been settling some prisoners atop her summoned cockatrice to be carried out, and the next Adam’s pained noises were filling the air. Her head whipped around instinctively, heart dropping into her stomach with dread as she watched lamia bite into the Hunter. Her adrenaline had already been pumping through her veins, but now it seemed to race, ice-cold worry coursing it’s way through her. It seemed that Adam had been determined to take a piece of the lamia with him, though. As he fell back, the witch first went to him, barely catching his words. The last time she’d felt like this...Jesus, the last time she’d felt fear this strongly was when Bea had died. Her brain was moving too quickly, whirring usually while she looked between Adam and the lamia. “No, I can’t burn it!” she yelled shrilly, it being the only thing she could think to say. She was usually the one who was cool and collected in times like these, but it was hard to keep focus when it was Adam twitching under the effects of a venom that could be permanently paralyzing him as they spoke.

The lamia. Jet the fucking lamia. As they always tended to do, the emotions Nell couldn’t deal with in the moment formed into anger instead, pure and hot as she advanced on the lamia this time. It was her turn to charge the thing, Adam’s blow having left it floundering in the dirt. Emotions were always a powerful tool in magic if used correctly, and she’d learned that rage was one of her strongest when it came to giving a spell brute strength. Advancing on the lamia, she wasted no time in laying her hands on the brute, nails scraping against the surface of his scales as he continued to writhe. She didn’t see one of its meaty legs whip towards her while it  blundered around on the ground, having assumed he was a sitting duck. Nell wasn’t ready for it, and for a moment she went down, trying to catch herself with hands splayed in front of herself. But the force with which the snake-man had kicked was enough for her to hear a slight pop from one of her wrists as landed to the ground, and pain was quick to follow. Thankfully, it only served to fuel her ire.

This time, she put her hands to either side of the lamia’s head, trying to ignore the throbbing of her wrist, and watching for any stray legs or arms that might try and sideswipe her. What had Kaden said it had felt like when she’d dropped him in the kitchen of Bea’s house? ‘Felt like you were going to turn my body inside out.’ That was what Nell wanted to do. Bring the insides of the lamia, out. The blood that was dripping from the wound Adam had struck began to drip more freely, turning from a steady stream to a river, its current coming faster as the red spilled out onto the ground. She wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it, but she could have sworn that as she stood there with Jet’s head between her hands...his eyes bulged as she looked into them. With a snarl, she tugged on that kernel of magic she’d been prodding more and more as of late, and raised her hands from the sides of his skull. All at once, his head burst open like a water balloon on the sidewalk, blood and whatever else had been left of the lamia’s head painting the front of Nell’s clothes and face. His body went limp, a headless stump now laid on the ground before her. For a moment victory was rich, until she remembered why she’d been so angry in the first place. Adam. The venom. The refugees, and Remmy. Shaking herself from the spot and the headspace, she went back to the Hunter, hands automatically hovering over him, trying to find a way to help.

In the light of day, the first thing Erin noticed on her dry run of the area was how similar the warehouses at this end of Amity all were. It wasn’t an area she visited if she could help it. The Ring was housed within the biggest by far, but all concrete industrial boxes built for efficiency, a few long abandoned. The piping system built along the back of each was almost identical on each one. Here, now, with chaos erupting on either side of her while she slipped through the shadows. She didn’t have magic or supernatural strength like almost every other person by her side. Alone, she was vulnerable. Just a human with a plan, a gun, some bolt cutters and a wing and a prayer. Guards were fleeing, chasing after the winged, furry, scaled and humanoid creatures escaping into the night. The guards that weren’t playing animal control were prowling around the building, though they were far and few between at this point. After the hellhounds hand made the rounds, the ones that hadn’t burned ran for their lives. Already, the air was starting to smell like the crematorium.

Finally, the message came from Luce that the others were out and all doubts, all fears were gone as soon as the auto-pilot in her brain kicked in. She’d watched nearly a hundred videos while Nic explained gas lines and piping until she was confident she could do this in her sleep. She worked quick, adrenaline giving her some sort of ‘mother lifting a car off of her child’ strength. Loose bolts clattered at her feet. She didn’t have time to do all of them but the kick of gas was making her dizzy as it hissed into the air, even through the bandana tied over her mouth. Sure as smelled like enough. Cautiously, very cautiously, she backed away, as fast as she could manage. If she even sneezed wrong, she’d blow up right here with it. And when it was safe, actually safe, Erin ran as far and as fast as her legs could carry her. Didn’t feel her legs moving or the wind in her hair. All she could feel was her heart rattling in her chest. Finally, she forced her feet to still, ducking down behind a supply shed way down along the docks. She was still heaving for breath when she messaged Luce.

“Go.”

Hand to hand wasn’t Luce’s wheel house-- never had been, never would be. She liked swords, liked her fire, liked the explosive wards she could throw down when needed. Her knuckledusters were more of a deterrent than anything else, she didn’t actually mean to use them for real fights. But, she’d made the decision to leave her sword at home because she was just here for firepower. That’s what this whole thing had been advertised to her as, anyways. As one of the vampire guards snarled at her, fangs exposed and ready to strike, she dodged out of the way and sent out a jet of flame that engulfed his face. As she did so, another guard took advantage of the distraction, sending a kick at her stomach. Luce was knocked to the ground, doing her best to roll out of the way as the man circled her, kicking and punching her. She curled up on herself, protecting her face as he attacked. “Fuck off!” She snarled and let loose a blast of fire that radiated out from her. Her attacker backed away with a scream, his clothes ablaze.

Rising to her feet, Luce felt her phone buzz in her pocket once. A text. She had a feeling she knew exactly who was sending the message too. A grin slid across her face and Luce turned her back on the man she’d just set on fire. The building was an easy fucking target, and with the windows burned out, it was almost too easy. Blood dripped down the side of her head and her arms hurt from where the guard had kicked her, but she ignored it. Just one last nail in the coffin and it was good bye Ring. Conjuring up a small ball of fire, she sent it streaking towards the building before turning on her heels and sprinting in the other direction, hands pressed over her ears. The seconds dragged on until a concussive explosion rang through the air and a scorching blast of heat washed over her.

Without a specific moment to focus on, Remmy’s mind began to let erroneous thoughts trickle in. Then again, they weren’t as out of place as they initially thought, as the words ‘blow up’ focused in their mind. This building was gonna blow. Remmy could feel something else trying to trickle in, an old memory fighting its way back through their mind. They grit  their teeth and fought against it, searching wildly for something to hone in on. There. The people. The prisoners still trapped inside. They rushed forward and picked up someone who looked as if they were struggling, hurrying them along. People and creatures alike scrambled to get out the doors, two by two, knocking each other over, biting and hissing and punching. Desperate to be free of this place. Remmy ignored their own instinct to barrel through and started shoving people along, when the loud hissing caught their attention. He was back.

“Adam!” Remmy had tried to warn him, but they were too late. Teeth were sinking into his flesh. He was teetering on his feet. And then-- the smell of blood filled the hallway. A few of the creatures stopped to sniff and Remmy felt their own mouth begin to salivate. No, no. Not now. They couldn’t lose it now. This was too important, too big. They whipped back around and shoved the critters that had tried to turn back outside. Clapping their hands loudly, banging their gun against metal to scare them away. Everything else had run off on its own. Remmy looked back just in time to watch Nell rush towards the creature, hands held up to his head. Somehow, Remmy inherently knew what was going to happen. They could see it clearly in their mind. They turned their head away quickly, picking up a small critter who had gotten injured in the stampede and booked it. Ran as fast and far away as they could before the smell of splattered membrane could reach them.

The small critter struggled in their arms, jolts of electricity rushing through their skin. They yelped and let it go, watching it skitter off quickly. Turned back from their spot in the alleyway to see if Nell and Adam were coming. They needed to get out. Where were they? Eyes searching, desperate.

And then the BOOM! came. Remmy’s mind fell away. Their back hit the ground, head slamming down from the force of the wave. A reminder of what had brought them here. A reminder of how they’d died. Hands digging into wires, watching the timer. A shout. Falling back. Fire licking up above them, smoke billowing. Sand beneath them. Remmy cried out. Hand whipped up to their face where a sudden pain exploded, digging in. There was no blood but they could still feel it, pouring down their face. Reliving a memory their mind had so long forgotten.

Erin felt the warmth, the rush of air and heard the explosion all at once, even behind her relatively safe spot behind the shed. It was the loudest thing she’d ever experienced but--it worked. Holy fuck, it worked. Debris from the building clattered around them and smoke filled the air, dark and thick, even as far as she was from the building. What was left of it, anyway. When it was quiet enough, she chanced a peek from behind the shed. Oh, shit. Remmy. Erin saw them and tried to call out but couldn’t hear herself say their name. Realized her ears were ringing a bit--she hadn’t run quite far enough, she supposed--but she could faintly make out the sirens far off in the distance, the red and blue lights cutting through the smoky, blazing skies. There wasn’t time to check to make sure the rest of them had made it, she could only hope to high hell. But they did it. Fuck. Fire reflected in her eyes as she struggled to get Remmy to their feet and trudge away from the scene as fast as her legs could carry the both of them.

[aurelieparra]

I AM THE STORM [1 of 5]:

A little bit of set up. This series is going to come from many angles, so do enjoy. You shot her up and dismembered her best friend’s corpse, so like, it’s fucking on now I guess. 

Date: June 12th, 2020. Warnings: None.

“Well, somebody’s overcompensating...”

It was a half-hearted attempt at a jealous jibe.

The smile she’d once adored more than any other came a moment later.

“After the four year migraine it took to get to this point, I think I’ve earned a little leniency in the showing off department,” he said with a muted chuckle. The man didn’t pull his attention away from the view to look at her—not that she could blame him. “You’re just jealous mine is bigger.”

Now it was her turn to laugh.

Well, he was right about that.

When she finally made her way to his side—not without taking the time to appreciate the expansive penthouse in which they stood—she lifted a hand to point toward another building a short distance away. The tower their eyes met was not an architectural marvel by any stretch of the imagination—in fact, in her opinion it gave credence to the idea that money couldn’t buy taste—but it was a behemoth; a king that loomed over all others, and one that had raised an entire city along with it.  

It carried the name Bennett more proudly than she ever had.

“For now.”

It was peaceful up there. That in itself was such a stark contrast to the world below that she couldn’t help but be taken aback by it. Aurélie St. Clair was no stranger to Launceston’s skyline—her family had built enough of it—but it’d been so long since she’d visited, she’d forgotten that the city was, on a superficial level at least, one of the most stunning on the face of the earth.

“I’ll admit I was a little surprised when you asked to meet me here.”

When he finally turned to look at her, she felt her heart sink.

It’d been six months since she’d last seen him, yet he seemed to have aged by years. The evening light did him no favours. He looked uncharacteristically stressed. Tired. Unwell.

A fresh wave of guilt hit her in an instant. Aurélie felt a great deal of remorse for all the business associates who had suffered as a result of their involvement with the French Organization, but none of them hurt quite as much as it did with Amir. It was personal.

“I partly wanted to congratulate you,” she began, cutting off her own train of thought by fishing a bottle out of her bag. Even if the idea of a quiet drink with an old friend was an appealing one, she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that would be the full course of this conversation. “I was going to get you a watch, but where’s the fun in not being able to share it with me.”

“Fair.”

As soon as he had a hand on the neck of the cognac, she found the glasses.

It wasn’t until they’d made their way over to the empty kitchen that he finally spoke up again: “And what about the other part? I’m guessing if you’re trying to sweeten me up with a rather impressive Rémy, it’s not going to be anything good.”

“Always such a pessimist…”

“When in Launceston.”

Aurélie directed her attention to the alcohol as though she needed it to get through what she was about to say. In all honesty, despite the fact she had been rehearsing all afternoon—trying her best to figure out a way to approach a conversation in a way that wouldn’t seem pathetic or patronizing—she still didn’t know whether she had it in herself to convince him. Amir had always been so difficult to manipulate; it was one of the things she appreciated most about him.

Unless you were Lara Rutherford, anyway.

“I don’t know how best to go about explaining this, but things are going to get bad in London, Amir.”

Straight out with it, then.

The sharp and bitter exhale of a laugh that he offered didn’t surprise her.

“What, worse than New Year’s Eve?”

It dawned on her then that he had no real idea what these people were capable of. Rumours of the Russian Mob had no doubt reached Boston, but he had never spent enough time in this breeding ground of horror—not even when he was with her—to understand where London was going to end up if someone didn’t stamp out the Russian cancer before it spread.

“Those same Russians mailed me parts of my dead mother,” Aurélie reminded coldly, gulping a cognac far too expensive to be downed in one. “We’ve held back on the Rutherfords since Porto Velho. I sought peace until I knew they were responsible for bringing the Vorshevskys to London. That is unforgiveable.��

“So you’re going to pick a fight with the most powerful family in London to fix it?”

The defensive tone didn’t surprise her. Amir had almost been one of them, after all.

“You realise they were likely just as responsible for the attack on your hotel as the Russians?”

“Our hotel,” he reminded stiffly, taking a sip of his own drink. The pause that followed seemed uncomfortable on his part. “Look, Andrew Rutherford and his entire organization of scum can burn for all I care. I mean that. But you’ve seen what wars like this do to a city. Look what it did to Launceston. Look at the people whose lives have been ruined because of it.”

“That’s why I’m telling you this. I want you to leave.”

Amir was the type of man so insufferably level-headed and calm, that when his jaw tensed in obvious annoyance, her discomfort was genuine.

“What?”

“I don’t want you caught up in this.” The sincerity of her words seemed to surprise him. It was a painful realization, as her voice cracked, and not the way this had panned out in any of the thousand attempts she’d made at running the scenario through her head. “I’ve already lost too many people I care about, and you’re a convenient way for them to get to me. What they perceive as French business. They know that now. I want you to leave.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

It might’ve seemed like an over exaggeration if she hadn’t already lost enough to make the paranoia justified. New Year’s Eve alone had taken both her uncle and her best friend, and almost left her children without a mother.

“It’s why I moved Laurent to Launceston. If I could’ve made Ethan—”

“What happened to Ethan was not your fault.”

Even though he reached a hand out to the top of her arm, neither the gesture nor the words held much comfort. If she hadn’t opened the fucking place—as much a fuck you to the Rutherfords with the Amir partnership as it was a legitimate business decision—he never would’ve gotten caught in the crossfire.

No, she mightn’t have held the gun in her hands, but indirect responsibility was still responsibility.

“You can’t carry all of this on your shoulders,” he continued. “That’s not how it works.”

“My family has done bad things.”

“I don’t need to know—” It seemed like he cut himself off, and a part of her was glad she didn’t have to hear the rest. Aurélie had long ago come to terms with the monster her decisions would eventually make of her, but it seemed to hit different when the judgment came from someone on the outside. Someone she respected. Maybe he didn’t want to know for deniability. Or maybe, he didn’t want their façade to be ruined, either. “Look, my hotel in Belize is almost ready to open. If it’ll make you feel better, Revati and I can stay there for a while.”

It took a moment for the words to register. The relief came quickly.

“Thank you,” she breathed, flinging her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. “It sounds awfully selfish, I’m sure, but I can’t afford more things to worry about right now.”

Aurélie hadn’t realised she was still holding onto him until he laughed humourlessly into her shoulder.

“You’re right. It does.”

“If being away from The City is going to be a work problem, I can write off the loan.”

“Absolutely not,” he interrupted, before she could expand. Even though it hadn’t been on her mind when she’d suggested it, she hadn’t expected him to say anything else. Amir didn’t like to feel indebted. “That’s almost eight-hundred million dollars, you idiot.”

When she finally let him go, she let out a sigh. Like she gave more shits about the money than him.

There were still a few others she wanted to see out of the city before the wheels of her plan were set into motion, but he had topped the list, and if nothing else, the ease of this gave her some confidence about dealing with the others. God, she needed another fucking drink, though. As the blonde reached out to take the bottle, however, her attention was caught by an expression on his face that wasn’t inspiring quite so much confidence as the conversation that’d come before.

“I don’t want my loan gone—”

She stilled for a moment.

That was definitely going to be followed up with a ‘but.’ Aurélie poured herself a drink as though preparing to brace herself.

“—but I would appreciate it if you could do something else for me. I wouldn’t ask you this if I didn’t think it was important.”

“What is it?”

It was as though she could physically see his brain doing somersaults inside of his head trying to figure out how to phrase whatever was coming next. The fact he seemed so unsure was doing little to ease her anxiety.

“If I can set up a meeting, and believe me, if I ask, she won’t say no—”

No. No, no…

“—would you meet with Lara?”

Aurélie immediately regretted attempting a sip because she almost fucking choked.

Had his brain injury sent him on a path to senility before his time?

“Absolutely not,” she replied in a heartbeat. “Not a chance.”

“Hear me out for a second.”

“Her family had people try to murder me. Twice. And the first time she had the gall to send me flowers to the hospital afterwards!”

There were a great many people that her lifestyle had baited her into hating, but aside from Konstantin Vorshevsky himself, Aurélie wasn’t sure she despised any of them as much as her. The mere mention of her fucking name—especially from him—was enough to make her blood boil. After everything she’d just said, about the Rutherfords…

With his hands up in surrender, he quickly added: “She’s the weak link.”

Aurélie narrowed her eyes suspiciously. The weak link was surely Damon.

“I went to see her in the hospital after New Year. We talked.”

“You did what?” The sigh that left her was one of exasperation because she wasn’t even surprised anymore. The man never learned. “Amir, you have to stop doing this...”

“I know,” he said; though to his credit, whilst looking rightfully disappointed at his own idiocy. “But that’s not why I brought this up. We talked about everything that happened. The point is she wants the Russians out of London as much as you. And she doesn’t just blame them for being shot. She wouldn’t even see her own father.”

Now that was useful information.

Andrew’s little princess blamed him?

“Lara doesn’t agree with them bringing the Russians here?”

“Not at all.”

It was enough to pique her interest. Somebody like Lara Rutherford would never turn against her family, and Aurélie knew it because like it or not they were cut from the same cloth, but that didn’t mean that her discontent with their direction wasn’t exploitable.

“They’re grooming her to take over the family,” Amir continued, fingers reaching for his glass again. “The enemy of my enemy.”

“Is still a manipulative fucking bitch.”

Even though he glared, she stood firm.

“You can’t fight the Rutherfords in London. You know that. Take a loss on her to screw the Russians.”

The idea of taking a loss was so foreign a concept for the French Organization, she was almost offended. To not see some merit in his point, however, would have been as egotistical as the woman they were discussing. Lara was going to take over the Rutherford family one day; of that, there was no question. If they could find some common ground in their hatred of the Russians, maybe she would make for a leader far easier to negotiate with than her father.

“There’s no way she would even entertain this.”

“You don’t know her like I do. Her ego overrides everything, and she can’t stand that they got away with this. Whether you hate her or not, in the long run, you know she would be more useful as an asset than an enemy.”

In the long run.

And that was when she realised.

“Fine.” The word was so begrudged, she could’ve fucking choked on it. “I’ll meet with her.”

If he was in any way relieved, he hid it well.

So she prodded again.

Scrutinizing.

“Just answer one thing.”

“Of course. What is it?”

The woman took pause to finish her second drink. To consider if she even wanted him to confirm the answer.

She sighed. Continued.

“Are you trying to convince me she’s useful to help me, or protect her?”

Amir looked about as stiff as she did when he brought up her stupid fucking name in the first place.

She knew before the word even left his mouth:

Both.

[eremiss]

I do have another, unprompted question that keeps coming to mind whenever I read Gwencred: What happens when she learns he's been swiping and reading her journal all this time? Does she know already and "allows it"? It upsets me whenever he does it, as it's such a perfect not-so-great habit for him (and one of those "wish I'd thought of that" things).

This answer is best described as, “A collection of thoughts interspersed with writings”. It got pretty long, oof haha

Gwen becomes a bit suspicious that Thancred is occasionally a little too insightful around the time of Heroes of the Hour and Litany Of Peace MSQ in Dragonsong War/Post-HVW through a combination of little slips of the tongue on his part and catching him in her room once, which he was able to play off…mostly. 

I haven’t hammered out the exact moments of her suspicion and gradual realization, or any sort of confrontation about it, direct or otherwise, but I do have a relatively solid handle on Gwen’s line of thought– where it begins, where she goes while overthinking it, and where it ends up. And I also have roughly written out a point where she’s presented with proof that he was most definitely stealing her saved pages and reading her journal right at the end of StB.

—

Her initial reaction was to kind of try and brush it off. “What? No, no he wouldn’t…” But then she thought about it for a little bit and… “…except yeah, he juuust might.”

She had bigger things on her mind then and half-wanted to think she’d imagined it or, if she hadn’t, that it was a one-off situation. She stewed on it for a little bit and, though she never caught him trying to read over her shoulder or going through her saved pages, found herself torn between ‘yes, he did’ and ‘no, he didn’t’ and not entirely sure how she felt about it. 

Rather than accuse him or try to confront him about it, she decided to simply keep her journal close or on her person rather than leaving it in her desk or in her room, and was also a bit more sparing about what she wrote in it. She covered the change of behavior by claiming she had a lot on her mind and was frequently busy, so she needed to be able to take any opportunity she could get to write. 

In the following few weeks it seemed like Thancred wasn’t quite so insightful or on-the-ball in trying to get her talking about what was on her mind, or picking at it in ways that offered new perspectives.

But then, strangely, everything seemed to go back to normal. Odd. Perhaps it had been her imagination the whole time. Or maybe he’d gotten sneakier. (it was the latter)

Which left her feeling a bit…paranoid. Still, she avoided confronting him. Partially because she simply didn’t want to, and partially because she still hadn’t fully sorted out her feelings yet. She didn’t want to be wrong and, more subconsciously, she didn’t want it to be necessary/didn’t want it to be true, in a way.

Nothing much seemed to change on his end, as he didn’t act differently or treat her differently, nor draw any conclusions about how she was keeping her journal close aside from one teasing inquiry as to why she was suddenly carrying it around like a teddy bear.

He’d been fairly aware, as usual, of when to seek her out and provide a bit of company, and that hadn’t stopped during her ‘trial period’ either. And he barely missed a beat in terms of talking with her and giving advice, so…?

But the more she thought about it, the more she came to think that brief period sort of was, and sort of wasn’t, proof. They were both apart for a portion of that time, meaning he would need time to catch up to her current situation, snooping or not. Whereas before, when she’d begun to be suspicious, they’d been in relatively constant contact. It’s a lot easier to be insightful about things you know about, isn’t it? And even then, when she thought he’d snooped, he didn’t always have the right answer or good advice anyway; and he didn’t always say or do the right thing. He wasn’t perfect, and he had his own life and his own problems and responsibilities to worry about. So was this even really all that odd? Or was she just reading into it because of her own suspicions? 

She talked herself in circles like this for quite a while, torn about whether or not she was being paranoid and what she should actually try to do about it. Confronting him would be the simplest plan, but she really needed to have her feelings on the matter sorted out first, right? and what if she was wrong? Then what? 

And then he had all gone back to normal, even though she’d been more protective of a journal… But perhaps he was just a bit more clever than her and had managed to read it again. While that wasn’t ideal, if it was the case, being able to lean on his insight and his advice again had been a relief…

…Oh. 

So… If he was snooping, which she couldn’t fully bring herself to admit, then it….was helpful. Kinda.

She didn’t like that he might have been reading her journal or prying, but at the same time, if it helped him talk to her, and thus helped her…? They were still close, they still talked, they still leaned on each other…

Hm… 

After a bit of debate, and rather at a loss for what to make of the whole thing or what she should do about it, Gwen stopped being quite so protective of her journal. In part, she was simply tired of it, it was another thing to have to think about all the time, and partially she wanted to see what would happen, or if she’d catch him again. Then, she told herself, they’d have to have a talk. After seeing that nothing she wrote ever really came back to bite her –unless she counted Thancred being more aware of her mood or the increased likelihood of efforts to assist with whatever problem she was tied up in as ‘biting’– she gradually went back to writing as she always had, with a few exceptions, such as her suspicions or venting about friends (which she never did much of anyway).

Her feelings about the whole thing were, are, and will continue to be rather complicated. But they’ve simplified somewhat since the beginning.

She lowkey wants to write something like ‘so are you gonna fess up or do I actually have to catch you red-handed’ in her journal and wait for him to find it. But then she’d have to, you know, deal with the results, and she isn’t entirely sure what would happen, so she’s held off so far.

By late-StB and into ShB, after sort of settling with the whole idea, her mindset is hovering around something like: 

– A little bit still annoyed for violating her privacy, and a little bit… nervous and hurt, in a sense, that he hasn’t come clean about it and seems to have no plan to. At the same time as she understands why that’s a rather intimidating proposition, she wishes he’d trust her a bit more and not feel like he had to keep it secret.

– Being more mindful about her phrasing but not censoring herself entirely, which usually results in a lot more writing, marking out and then re-writing to reword and rephrase things. Annoying as it is, and as little as she likes the bit of paranoia and worry (worse at sometimes than others) that inspires it, the rewording and rephrasing does actually help her think about things a bit more thoroughly and carefully than she would otherwise.

– Over time she came to appreciate that he doesn’t share her secrets with anyone (or maybe he does on certain occasions, because sometimes Y’shtola is far too aware of her health) and he hasn’t used anything he’s read against her, at least not so directly as using it as justification to dismiss or discredit her opinions and concerns, nor does it ever seem to affect or change his view of her–negatively and/or outwardly, at least. 

(((That’s not to say he hasn’t ever been less-than-happy with something he’s read, particularly about himself, but he’s the type to brood and stew on things rather than immediately go running to confront her over it. Eventually he remembers that he has his own opinions, gripes and flaws, and just because he can work them out in his head while she needs to write them out on paper doesn’t make hers any more intentionally hurtful or antagonizing than his.)))

– She tries to look out for the Scions’ mental health, mostly through making sure they rest and getting them talking about their problems even as she tends to bottle up her own, and reading her journal seems to be Thancred’s way to look after her. He uses her journal like a guide for when and how she needs a hand talking out a problem, or when someone needs to make her step away and breathe for a minute. He offers his opinion and advice and helps her work through hard topics, but he doesn’t tell her what to think. He presses on certain issues when he thinks he needs to, sometimes a little too hard, but in the end the questions and pushing serve to make Gwen reevaluate and reaffirm her reasoning for her decision, and thus lead to her holding to it more strongly. Once she’s proved her convictions he doesn’t try overly hard to change her mind, even when it isn’t necessarily a decision he agrees with. (“I was really hoping you’d change your mind about fighting two primals at once. This did not go as planned. But you’ve made up your mind, so…”) 

– It is a Struggle for Gwen to fully explain and vocalize her concerns and worries, particularly when it comes to more tangled or complex issues and things she blames herself for. Most because she’s self-conscious about rambling or ‘word vomiting’, which tends to happen when one is in the midst of trying to process their thoughts and feelings on a situation, and also when one feels they need to justify why their thoughts are what they are; and, going along with that, she doesn’t want to say the wrong thing or give the wrong impression of a situation. Writing things down gives her the chance to work stuff out herself and get all of the pieces in order and in the right place, even though it doesn’t grant much opportunity for outside perspective or trying to view things from a new/different angle. 

And once it’s written down and in order, then she’s ok talking about it. But, ah, well, you know… it’s all worked out and in order, so nevermind, don’t worry about it.

How much she really needs someone to be able to fill in the gaps and ‘see the end picture so they can help sort the pieces’ in order to properly discuss or address whatever is bothering her is really brought to light during Stormblood when she and Thancred spend moons apart. Gwen finds that, even after she’s sisterly-levels of close with Alisaie and Lyse and even after they prove how well they know her and how she tends to think/act, she can’t really talk with them quite the same way as she can with Thancred. They don’t mind her rambling, but they both tended to try and stop her and address each little thing as they came up, rather than going along and letting her train of thought keep going forward, either giving minor fixes along the way or waiting till the end and addressing all at once like Thancred tended to.

Why, though? Other than personality, anyway.

Well, it’s easier to reach the finish line when he already knew where it was, which meant he used her rambling to fill in a few holes and adjust the route, rather than trying to blindly follow the winding path she was making.

By reading her journal Thancred can much more easily ‘meet her halfway’ or jump straight to the end or the important parts of a problem because he already has a general understanding of the situation and her mindset. Already being aware of what she was thinking let him more easily straighten out crooked ideas or misconceptions and redirect lost trains of thought, which helped her clear up questions or finally reach a resolution. Talking with someone else also offers a chance for different perspectives, and helps her get better about reevaluating situations and problems. 

In particular, being able to reliably talk to Thancred got her in the habit of seeking advice for a current/upcoming problem, rather than asking for an opinion after the fact. 

((Her time in Doma in StB, aside from making her realize how bad she is about talking to others about her problems in general, also served to make her reassess how she goes about explaining whatever is on her mind, as well as explaining why she’s feeling or thinking that way. She learns that a bit of word vomit while she gets her thoughts together isn’t bad so long as she doesn’t start talking in circles, and she both gets quicker at organizing her thoughts and better and maintaining a steady, if not straight, stream of consciousness/line of thought in a sense, as opposed to jumping around topics or cutting herself off. She was more open with Alisaie pre-ShB. At the end of 5.0, when she realizes why she’s been so off and what the light is doing to her, she works harder to be more open with everyone –and particularly Y’shtola where it concerns her health– and rely less on her journal in general))  

tl;dr: she’s come to view it as sort of a good-but-not-great thing, though she wouldn’t go so far as to call it a ‘necessary evil’. She still isn’t entirely happy with it, but she appreciates the results and the motives/thought behind it, so she has sort of decided to just leave it be for now. She still hopes Thancred will fess up on his own one day. The longer that doesn’t happen, the more tempted she is to try and find a way to bring it up.

— 

Post-”The Call” I loosely headcannon’d that Urianger came to Ala Mhigo to both check on Thancred and support the other Scions. While Thancred is being transported back to Mor Dhona, Urianger reluctantly approaches Gwen and gives her some papers he found in Thancred’s possession (probably his pocket). He claims he didn’t read much, just enough to recognize the handwriting and realize that they were writings rather than correspondence or some missive that Thancred had intended to deliver. He doesn’t really sugarcoat it, “They were in his possession, though I cannot claim to know why. You must needs ask him once he hath awakened.”

Feeling particularly out of sorts for a variety of reasons, Gwen admits that she’s suspected it for a while, “But I didn’t try to find out for sure.” There has always been a nasty little question poking around about how much Thancred truly knew her or just what she wrote, which was most of the reason she never tried to confront him or catch him in the act. She more or less knew, but sorta-kinda didn’t want to know, and she honestly was able to ignore that poking little question more often than not.

I actually had written out a bit of her talking it out with him, so I’ll put it here as I’m pretty sure I’m never actually gonna write that particular scenario out in full. Somewhere before this particular dialogue, Gwen mention that her writings in her journal are ‘rambling bits and pieces’:

 “If thou wouldst allow me a presumption.”

Gwen glanced curiously at him and nodded.

“To mine eyes it doth appear as though he used those ‘rambling bits and pieces’ of thine thoughts, as thou so phrased it, to try and provide a solution for thine ills.” 

“I–” Gwen paused, her mind all but stopping for a moment while she considered that. The idea had occurred to her a while back now, though she’d wondered if it had merely been an excuse. “That– Well…”

“I will not claim to know his mind, but I do know him, and through that mayhap thou mightest find insight. I have no answers, only speculations, but I would share them, if thou art willing to listen?”

Gwen nodded, the motion helping to get her brain working again.

The Elezen took a slow breath, the expression on his face speaking of intense focus dedicated to choosing his words. Eventually he spoke, “Tis my understanding that you oft sought him for comfort and to confide thy troubles, even outside of thine writing, yes?”

Gwen nodded slowly.

“Why?”

“Well, he…” She paused. Her mouth turned down in a slight frown, descriptions and explanations slipping through her fingers like fine sand. ‘Part of his charm, back before the Banquet when he cared more about that sort of thing, had been being approachable and easy to talk to’ seemed insubstantial, not to mention it was so far in the past now; ‘he always had sound advice, or he could at least put stuff in perspective or say it some way that made me consider it differently’ felt off because she didn’t know how big of a hand her journal had had in that, so…

“He offered assurance, counsel and a steady hand in equal measure when thou wert in need of them?” Urianger offered.

That was basically what she was thinking, yes. Gwen nodded slowly.

“While his words may not have been entirely his own, I should think there was more to his reassurances than merely parroting thine tumultuous writings back to thee, correct?”

Gwen’s lingering frown pulled slightly to one side. She hadn’t really thought about that, but… it was accurate. Her eyes wandered and she dipped her chin in another nod.

“He did not merely read and repeat thine own troubled words in an effort to be the answer to thine problems. Rather he gathered and deciphered thine scattered thoughts and made of them tools that thou couldst use to craft thine own solution.”

Well… Well, that was rather accurate, too, if a bit overly-poetic. Thancred had always given guidance, advice and his own opinion, but he’d never explicitly given her instructions or answers–at least not directly. She’d had to settle her doubts and fears herself, he’d just… offered a steadying hand and a little push.

Urianger let that hang for a moment before quietly offering, “I should think a man who knew thee naught would struggle with such a task, even with thine journal; a map is only so much help to a traveler in unknown surroundings, particularly when they know not how to read it.”

Gwen adjusted her gloves with little tugs and twisted her bracelets, burning a little energy in an attempt to keep her thoughts from running off without her while she considered that. It was an interesting point. Hm. No wonder Thancred could read my botany notes so quickly. He had practice. “That’s,” she admitted slowly, voice soft and withdrawn, “not inaccurate, I guess. But that doesn’t change the fact he hid it from me.”

“Nay, it doth not.” Urianger said with a long-suffering sigh that wasn’t aimed at her. “Nor doth it excuse his disregard for thine privacy. Know that I do not condone his methods, well-intentioned as they may have been.”

Well-intentioned. She hadn’t really let intentions weigh in on her consideration very much. Somewhere in her mind she’d told herself he meant well, but the idea hadn’t held a lot of weight until just then. Intentions matter, do they not? Sometimes? At least a little?

After the silence had stretched and settled comfortably, Urianger spoke again, “I cannot speak for him, nor any other, but if thou wouldst allow me one more presumption?”

His perspective had been a bit uplifting so far, and it had certainly gotten her thoughts moving again. Plus, his voice was a welcome alternative to the silence and the chattering worries and questions filling up her thoughts. “Please.”

Urianger huffed softly and nodded, folding his arms with a look of serious consideration. “Our dear friend is a fool, as we all know, but he is not foolish. I am sure he knew the fine line he walked every time he stole into thy mind and with every occasion that he put his discoveries to use. To blunder or slip would have aroused suspicion, just as would being too brazen. Thus doth he live in hypocrisy with his decision: believing his actions, if not righteous, sufficiently judicious to merit repetition, even as he maketh every effort to hide them from thy sight that he might not be made to throw himself upon thy mercy or beg clemency, nor face thy retribution should he be denied.

“Whatever his reasons, he knowingly risked thine trust for the sake of insight, even as the ramifications for his actions hung heavier with every repetition and each day he chose continued secrecy over transparency.”

“And soon it was too big to even hope to get out from underneath,” Gwen mumbled.

Urianger nodded. “He is not so naïve as to believe that, should his well-intentioned subterfuge be brought to light, thou wouldst merely take umbrage with the moment at hand and dig no deeper. Thou wouldst likely not assume the revelatory act to be the initial occurrence, nor a singular one, which would surely lead thee to ponder prior instances. To wit, his every act, every conversation and moment of insight, would be called into question and scrutinized under a lense of doubt, hindsight and damaged trust. Thus he found yet another justification for his secrecy.” He gestured vaguely between the both of them with a sardonic arch of one brow, “In that, at least, it appears he was right to worry.”

Gwen rocked back and then forward, mouth twisting in a grimace. At the same time as it sounded a little paranoid and ‘worst case scenario’, that line of thinking was perfectly reasonable. Even if she hadn’t been somewhat aware of his prying, Urianger presenting her with solid proof that Thancred had stolen her private thoughts even once would be enough to make her wonder, at least briefly, if it had happened before.

Her suspicion, and her reaction to finding out what he’d been doing, were reasonable things to worry about. Maybe Thancred didn’t quite follow the lines of thought Urianger presented, but she doubted the Elezen was too off the mark.

Gwen wanted to think Thancred didn’t need to worry so much. It would be rough, but surely they would be able to work it out–after trust was damaged, after uncomfortable questions, after time and a lot of work. And even then, once the dust had settled, they wouldn’t really be the same.

Or would they, maybe? ‘They’ hadn’t changed overmuch since she began to suspect he’d been reading her journal, after all.

But ‘not overmuch’ isn’t ‘at all’, and suspicions weren’t the same as proof or a confession.

Whatever happened, and however it turned out, ‘they’ would not be the same if he ever came clean or was caught in the act. What would change and how much, and what would recover, was near-impossible to guess.

Right to worry indeed…

Gwen huffed softly, realizing her expression had started to tighten into a cringe.

Seeing that she’d had enough time to let that sink in, Urianger continued, “And for his perilous duplicity Thancred was rewarded with the means to better understand thee, and thus did he learn how to grant thee and thy troubled mind a modicum of succor. He gave thee clarity when thine thoughts grew clouded, and crafted stability and from thine tremulous doubts.”

That was a more poetic and metaphoric way to describe it than Gwen could have ever come up with, but that didn’t make it any less accurate. She shifted in her seat, glancing down at her hands and her nails, chipped and picked down to nubs.

“Pray consider: of what value would that be to one who cared naught for thee?”

 Urianger is best wingman ha.

Best wingman who, notably, does not tell Thancred that Gwen had not only already been suspicious (for quite a while) that he’d been reading her journal, but now knows it for a fact. His reasons basically boil down to: 

1) Plain and simple, it’s just not his business. It isn’t Urianger’s place to bring up the matter for Gwen, regardless of the fact she’d had her own suspicions before he approached her on the Source. He has no right to try and force the issue in her place, directly or via hints/subtlety, especially when she both didn’t express any desire for him to do so and hadn’t made any attempts to bring up her concerns or confront Thancred herself. This whole thing is their problem that they have to solve themselves in their own way, and he can’t just insert himself into it–at least not more than he already has. Him revealing (but in actuality confirming) Thancred’s snooping to Gwen was an entirely different situation than telling Thancred that he done been found out. And, after the fact, he’s a little torn whether or not he even should have told Gwen what he’d discovered in the first place.

2) Gwen continued writing in her journal despite knowing her thoughts weren’t private, and seemingly didn’t make any efforts to make her journal or saved pages more difficult to access (in the long run), or at least she didn’t do anything obvious that might have alerted Thancred that he’d been found out. Why? How much did the whole thing even bother her, anyway? He couldn’t really tell–partially because even Gwen didn’t know how she felt about it, even after being suspicious for so long. She wasn’t very outwardly upset at his revelation, but the whole thing happened shortly after Thancred lost his soul, so she had much bigger concerns at the time. How much did that influence her feelings on the matter? Probably a lot. When the dust settles and they’re reunited again, what will happen? Urianger has no idea. It’s Gwen’s issue to confront and resolve, and attempting to speak for her just runs the risk of giving the wrong impression, creating false expectations, putting words in mouths and making the whole thing a mess.

3) It wouldn’t have done any good, either right then or over the long-term. Thancred was clearly already in some shit by the time Urianger arrived on the First, what with dealing with being stranded on his own on a strange world, raising little Minfilia and trying to get his own thoughts and emotions in order. He already had enough going on that he wasn’t handling well, and telling him, “Hey that thing you were doing to try and be helpful even though it would probably utterly ruin your relationship with Gwen if she found out about it? Gwen found out about it. Because of me. I’m the one who told her.” would do nothing but give him more problems. It would be another burden for him to carry and be angry, stressed and worried about. He already had situations that he couldn’t resolve or ‘deal with’ himself in the form of being stuck on the First, Minfilia and Mini-filia, and then the revelation of Urianger’s prophetic vision of the Scions and Gwen dying; telling him he’d been found out would just be another thing simply beyond his ability to resolve, which would mean another thing for him to agonize over and stew on until Gwen arrived… whenever that finally happened. Not to mention that, if Urianger chose not to come clean himself, Thancred would probably quickly figure out he had been the one to tell her, and that would only make a bigger, more complicated mess and more hurt feelings, which neither of them needed. 

————-

Thanks to the ever wonderful @evangeline-cross and @rhymingteelookatme for beta-reading and helping with Urianger’s dialogue XDDD

TUMBLR WHY DO YOU LET ME PUT A READMORE IN THE ASK RESPONSE AND THEN DELETE IT EVERY TIME FFS

[ask-marcus-cally-and-ari]

Only Human

Chapter 9: Breather

As the van made its way through the forest, Marcus asked, “So what’s your deal?” 

“Doctor kidnapped me and a Sniper, cut us up, then put my head on the Snipers body,” Spyper shrugged. “I’ve been stuck as a hybrid ever since.”

Marcus winced. “Oh… wow. Uh. That sucks. What happened to the other head and body?” 

“The Medic made another hybrid. Sny. Me and him are good friends, although it does get kinda weird at times since...Y’know, he has my body. And we both have this weird tick where we’ll switch into the other's voice for a moment,” Spyper replied, gesturing to his neck. 

“Oh. What does that even feel like?” 

“Uh… It's hard to explain. Have you ever had sleep paralysis? Where you know you’re awake and you’re aware of what's going on, but you can’t do anything about it?” 

Ari nodded. “I know what that is.” 

“It’s kinda like that. My brain gets paralyzed for a moment and I can’t do anything when that tick starts going, even though I know it's happening.” 

Marcus winced. “That must suck.” Briefly, the teen looked up at the van ceiling, hand on his gun. 

“You okay, kid?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Bad experience with things above me.” Marcus relaxed upon seeing nothing on the ceiling. “You understand, right?” 

“Yeah, I understand. I once fought Brutal myself.”

“Oh, wow!” Ari beamed. “Did you win?” 

“I did. Cut his head right off,” Spyper chuckled, punctuating his words by sharply jerking his hand across his throat. 

Ari whimpered, suddenly very pale- and far less excited. 

“Hey, he was terrorizing a team, and I just happened to drop by,” Spyper shrugged. 

Marcus leaned over. “Real talk, man,” he whispered, “Please try not to go into detail with stuff like that. Ari… isn’t that kind of person.” 

“Oh, sorry. It’s not often I meet people who are faint of heart. Y’know, I hang around Freaks all day. ‘Faint of heart’ isn’t exactly common with us.” 

"That's obvious," Cally responded dryly. 

“Jester and Pure fit the bill, though,” Spyper added, glancing back at Ari and Cally. “Well, not so much Pure.” 

"Who?"

“Christian Pure Spy. He’s a priest that lives nearby.” 

“Who’s he running with as far as other Freaks?” Marcus asked. 

“He’s friends with me Intelligent, and looks after Chaos Kin and Jester. He’s also friends with Polite Spy...But uh...That’s about as far as his good connections go,” Spyper said awkwardly. 

“So he’s a good guy?” Ari asked. 

“By himself? Yes. But he has some… questionable friends outside of the ones I listed.” 

“Define questionable, please,” Cally requested. 

“He’s friends with Christian Brutal Sniper and Gentlespy,” Intelligent answered, looking up from the chessboard.

Marcus twitched, then sighed. “Yeah, let’s stay our @sses away from there.” 

“Yeah, good idea,” Ari winced. 

“What about that Jester person you keep mentioning?” Cally asked.

“Count Jester is their full name. They’re on the more lighthearted side of Freaks,” Spyper replied, clearing his throat. 

“Friends?” 

“Me, Intelligent, Chaos, Pure, Pancakes...A whole bunch of people, actually.”

“Who’s Chaos?” Ari asked. “Good guy?” 

“Chaos Kin? Yeah, she’s a good guy. A bit aggressive, but that’s really only towards people she doesn’t like.” 

“Can we trust her?” 

“Against Freaks like Brutal? Yeah, you can trust her,” Intelligent said. “She’s helped several good Freaks since becoming a Freak herself. She’s helped Medizard, Dr. Dum and Mr. Dan, SomeCleanTrash, Weaselcake, Bellatrix…” Intelligent listed off a handful of different Freaks. “If you asked her, she’d probably help you.” 

“How many Freaks can we trust?” Cally asked. “And is there a database for you guys?” 

“There is, but HECU are the ones who maintain it, and are the only people who can access it,” Spyper replied. 

Cally raised an eyebrow and pulled out her laptop. “Let’s fix that, shall we?” 

“Like you can get through HECU’s firewalls-” 

“I just did. Marcus, Ari. Check this out.” 

Marcus snickered at the look on Spyper’s face. “Impressed?” 

“How did you get past their firewalls!?” Spyper spluttered. 

“With my laptop. Alright, let’s see here...” 

“All you have is a laptop, and aren’t you 17? How on Earth did you get past the firewalls of such a heavily guarded agency?” Intelligent implored, taken aback. 

“The only reason whoever sent Christian Brutal Sniper and Gentlespy found me is because I got past the firewalls guarding the plan to cause basically the end of the world as we know it.” 

“How you got these skills, I will never understand.” 

“My parents used to refuse to feed me if I forgot to do something or didn’t do a good enough job. I had to make money somehow. Ethical hacking was a good way to do it.” 

Ari whined upon hearing this. “They what?” 

Intelligent and Spyper gave each other pale and mortified looks. 

“What?” Cally asked, tilting her head. 

“That is so beyond not ok,” Spyper grimaced. 

“Got me the hacking skills I’m probably gonna need.” 

“Jester has their work cut out with you,” Spyper sighed turning back to the road. 

Cally shrugged and went back to the laptop. 

** 

Rudra was bowed over her desk, hunched over her computer and rigorously scrubbing through every piece of footage of the three teens she could get her hands on. First was the viral video of them fleeing Brutal, then there was a series of videos from the motel they had stayed at, and finally, a very short clip of them fleeing that very motel at night. It wasn’t much, but visuals on the teens could at least help her agents pinpoint the exact people they were looking for. And this combined with the knowledge they already had would make the process of searching for and identifying these three when found all the easier. 

A knock at her door, along with a soft white glow, interrupted her process. 

Rudra sighed heavily and sat back in her chair. “I knew you’d show up eventually.” 

“I was given a tip that the Heart, the Brain, and the Body had awakened, so I came to talk to you.” A black woman in a white robe stepped in. “What can you tell me about them?” 

“All three of them are teenagers. Barely out of high school,” Rudra replied dryly.

The woman, who had been sipping a drink, choked on it. “What?!” 

“I was just as shocked as you are. Why do you think my agents are running around like mad trying to find them?” 

“This is preposterous! They were supposed to select ideal hosts!” 

“Well, I guess they took that a bit too literally. From what I can tell, instead of picking people who already possess the qualities the powers are best suited to, the powers decided to build ideal hosts from the ground up by literally joining with them in the womb,” Rudra sighed, rubbing her temples. “I mean, why else would the powers decide to join with literal children?” 

The woman put her head in her hands. “This is not how it was supposed to go!” 

“Was there no way to ensure the powers would go to people who already possessed the qualities they needed, Mercy?” Rudra implored. “Was there no way to ensure they wouldn’t go such an extreme route?” 

“Had I thought that this option was on the table, I would have forbidden it.” 

“And now three kids are stuck with having to save the world,” Rudra sighed incredulously. 

“Oh, bother. Do they at least show promise?” 

“They do. From the security footage we pulled from the motel they stayed at, we can see their powers activating. Most notably with Ari, the bearer of the Heart.” Rudra pulled up the video feed and turned the computer monitor towards Mercy. 

“Hmm. Ari did not take the negative emotion well. They’re tender-hearted, aren’t they?” 

“Seems like it. They’re an empath. Ari wears their heart on their sleeve. Literally. Look where the Heart’s mark showed up.” Rudra pulled up the feed from Brutals confrontation with the teens and showed it to Mercy. 

“The girl with the Brain. She has not used her powers yet.” 

“No, but she has already demonstrated intellect indicative of the Brain. She managed to get past the firewall that kept outsiders away from the plan to convert the Earth's population into Freaks. Her breaking down the firewall is actually how they even got into this mess.” 

“Given how I overheard a few members of your cybersecurity team panicking on my way here, I believe that’s not the only firewall she got past.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Apparently, within five minutes of the first breach, an attacker broke into your system and downloaded your Freak database before leaving the system. Your team is still trying to figure out what happened.” 

Rudra exhaled sharply and held her head in her hands, going silent. “I didn’t fight a war just to be saddled with this sh@t,” She groaned. 

“I didn’t get cut in half to handle this either.” Mercy sighed. “I understand why she did it, though. The Brain’s purpose is to gather information and utilize it correctly. Information concerning what she and the other two are up against would be a great help.” 

“My question is: Why didn’t they come to us for the information? HECU literally builds itself on protecting people from Freaks, why wouldn’t HECU be their first option as far as refuge goes?” 

“Perhaps paranoia. Given their situation, paranoia is perfectly justified,” Mercy pointed out. “I recall attacking you and the Legion at some point the first time you visited my hideout over paranoia.” 

“And the fact that I was at the forefront of the army should have tipped you in that we were not there to fight,” Rudra sighed, dragging her hands across her face in exasperation. 

“You have never liked me. Besides, it had been a long thousand years. Paranoia was justified given the situation. Speaking of new situations, how are the wife and daughter? Did she like the sword staff?” 

Rudra jerked her head up. “...Sword staff? I don’t even own a sword staff. Mercy, what did you do?” 

“I gave her a present. And trained her on safe handling. You knew the possibility existed when you asked me to babysit.” 

“I expect this from Hero, not you,” Rudra groaned. 

“We both know I have an affinity for bladed weapons.” Mercy looked around. “Does the bearer of the Body share that affinity?” 

“No. The only weapon we’ve seen him wield is a handgun he carries.” 

“Oh. Is he good with it?” 

“He is. And he’s cunning. He faked being shot to get Brutal to lower his guard, then shot him in the heart.” 

Mercy grinned. “Impressive,” she mused. “Mankind might actually have a chance.” 

“Now if only the powers didn’t choose a bunch of kids to be humanity’s saving grace,” Rudra groused. 

“Indeed. Or, as you mentioned being possible, create them,” Mercy sighed. “I certainly hope it never enters their heads that they are weapons if that’s the case.” 

“No. The last thing these kids need is to act like they’re weapons and nothing more. That’ll do more damage than it’ll help.” 

“I am aware. Especially the empath. When I think about it, perhaps the power to take on others’ emotions was not a good idea to give them without them first learning to control it.” 

“You think?” 

“I would have prepared for that had I known it would happen,” groaned Mercy.  “As it stands, I will keep close tabs on them. I suggest you do the same.” 

** 

In Spyper's van, the Trio was reading over the database. “So, Spyper, you have a clone or something? Or just someone created the same way? What is RED Spyper to you?” 

“An enemy. I’m pretty sure the doctor who made me created him too as a form of spite,” Spyper groused, scowling heavily. “He’s basically my evil counterpart. A doppelganger, kind of.”

“An evil twin? Like on TV?” Ari asked. 

“Eh...I guess.”

“Cool!” 

“Cool to you. Not to me! That Spyper’s been a pain in my a$$ for years!” 

“Oh. That’s bad.” 

Marcus glanced at Cally, who was staring at the screen, tattoo and eyes glowing pink, face void of emotion. “Uh… Cal? What’s going on?” 

“Is something wrong back there?” Spyper asked, looking over his seat. 

“Cal?” Ari whined. “Cal, cut it out! Say something!” 

No luck. Cally gave a noise akin to a computer hum. 

“Hey, hey! Kid, come on, snap out of it!” Intelligent urged, shaking Cally by the shoulder. 

Cally didn’t reply; she locked eyes with Intelligent, keeping at least one hand on the laptop. 

“Kid? Kid, can you hear me?” Intelligent implored, growing increasingly worried by Cally’s continued silence. 

Cally’s eyes shone, glowing pink voids, hungry for… something. And then, in an instant, the light fell away, replaced with the soft brown eyes she had normally. “Ugh,” she groaned, “my head.” 

“Cal? Are you ok?” Ari exclaimed, climbing to Cally’s side. 

“I- huh? What happened?” 

“You blacked out, Cal,” Marcus replied, crossing his arms. 

“Oh… crap,” Cally groaned. “Good to know. We need to get help.”

“And that’s exactly where we’re going. I’m bringing you three to HECU. In the meantime, you three should probably get some rest. It’s a long trip there,” Spyper said.

[deedeli-liveblog]

I understand what they are TRYING to do with Ironwood, trying to show he is losing himself to his paranoia about Salem, but he didn’t really though? Literally everything he was worried about happened and it’s not like Team RWBY are any help, lying to him and betraying his trust, plus in this situation, where they know Salem is really close to Atlas, and they should have already evacuated most of The people, abandoning Mantle is kind their only option. Not saying his plan is smart or foolproof(1)

Yeah, I get what you’re saying. But RWBY is a protag centered story, so of course if the protags find it morally abhorrent, the show will frame it as such.

Part of what I loved about this past volume is that even when the characters are doing things I disagree with, I can at least understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.RWBY and co. did wait too long to tell Ironwood about Salem and still lied to him. And it blew up in their faces. At the same time, you understand their caution.

Ironwood’s actions have always been to an extreme. And that extreme usually ends up hurting others that are not him. He also has always had a tendency to believe (or at least act like) he is the only one capable of making the right decisions. It happened in Vale and it happened again in Atlas. He doesn’t agree with the decisions someone else is making, so he inserts himself in a position of power so HE can make the “right” decision.

And whether he is justified in those decisions or not, its an incredibly dangerous mindset to have. Especially when you hold as much power as Ironwood does, and are surrounded by people who are too indoctrinated to even question your decisions.

It’s this volumes main moral: Making the right decision. How can you make the right decision when no matter what you choose people will be hurt? How do you know if its the right decision if you couldn’t possibly predict the outcome. Its an incredibly tough call to make, but you can only push forward doing what you believe is right. 

Though, right now, I agree a bit more with RWBY than Ironwood. Keeping the relic out of Salem’s hands is a bandage on the problem, not a solution. Its the same tactics Oz has been employing for centuries. If Salem’s ultimate goal is to bring the wrath of the Gods down on humanity, the only way to solve that problem is to unite humanity. And Ironwood will make the impossible if he abandons Mantle. Cause in Mantle’s eyes, they see a message about how Salem is the real evil and we all need to work together to defeat her. But jk, Salem’s here now to slaughter everyone, Atlas is going to peace out have fun dealing with that shit.

I will say though, there was like, no reason for Ironwood to shoot Oscar and that definitely feels like an attempt to solidify him as a villain.

[thedarksideofriverdale]

In Unity, There is Strength

Chapter 13: Unnecessary Drama

Masterlist // Playlist // Character Guide // Face-Claim

“Zara!” The girl in question turned around to see Jughead rushing out of the school entrance to her at the bottom of the entrance stairs. He stopped at the bottom step and held out his hand, palm out for her to stop. “Don’t go in yet; I gotta fill you in.”

“On what?” Zara asked impatiently. It didn’t help that yesterday she experienced yet another sleepless night because her ‘roomie’ was out all night no doubt getting high. “What could’ve possibly happened? I saw you yesterday.”

“Don’t shoot the messenger. Betty thought it ‘prudent’ to let you know. Veronica broke up with Archie.”

“Ok, that sucks. And? I feel like you’re leaving out something important.”

Jughead scratched the back of his head through his beanie. “Veronica blames you.” Zara chuckled at that. “Laugh now, but she’s raising hell in school. Even Cheryl’s afraid of her.”

“Listen, she’s none of my concern. Let the wannabe huntress think she’s important for the day.” Zara then walked around him to enter the school. It was already 8:15, and Kurtz was nowhere to be seen. But, across the hallway, she saw mop of red hair racing towards her. She waved at Archie, who seemed frazzled to say the least.

“I’m assuming Jug told you?” Archie asked quietly once he came up to Zara. “I’m sorry, Zara. I tried to keep Veronica ‘appeased,’ but once we left her out of the mini pack meeting yesterday, she lost it. To be honest, everyone was pissed. Veronica and Betty knew something was up when we were all missing from lunch. Then, Veronica told Reggie at Le Bonne Nuit, and Reggie told Moose. Since Moose was at practice, and so was Cheryl, Cheryl learned about it. And, if Cheryl knows-”

“Toni knows. I get it, Andrews. Everyone fucking knows. This is my problem, why? I’m not the fucking alpha. You agreed to excluding them.” Of course, she knew why. Archie always listens to her. “Next time, think with your brain instead of your dick.” She put your hand up to stop him from interrupting. “Don’t even argue against it; everyone knows why Veronica got pissed in the first place. Excluding her was just the last straw.” Fuming, Zara looked for an opportunity to get away from the wolf. And, it arrived. From her peripheral vision, she saw Kurtz saunter away to his locker, only five minutes until class. She rushed off towards him, leaving Archie gob smacked.

Once Zara approached Kurtz, she rolled her eyes at him. “What did I do now?” Kurtz asked, grabbing his textbook.

“Nothing. Clearly, it’s all my fault.” Kurtz raised a brow. “Don’t concern yourself with it. Any luck with finding an emissary?” He shook his head. “Keep trying.”

“Why? I thought you hated my plan of making a new pack.”

“I don’t hate it. I just don’t agree with your methods. But, finding an emissary can give us some much-needed defense against a warlock.”

“You gonna let your pack in on that information, or is it a little secret between the two of us?” he asked with a smirk. Zara took the textbook in her hand and smacked his arm. “Was that supposed to hurt?”

She scowled. “I’ll tell them, soon enough. They’re dealing with trivial drama at the moment, and I need to steer clear of it, apparently. See you at lunch.”

XXXX

Come lunch time, Zara and Kurtz were spotted outside, sitting at the benches. Zara was on her laptop with fifty some tabs open, researching emissaries. Unfortunately, Sabrina still hadn’t contacted her, so that portion of the case was at a pause. At least, Zara can focus on the other parts. “I think I should tell my mom that all of the victims were with the sisters at one point. I’ll leave out the fact that your emissary, Jimmy Riddle, was involved in your gang.”

Kurtz nodded, not looking up from his book. “I think that’s a good idea. I mean, she probably has deduced that, but it doesn’t hurt to enforce the hunch,” he replied. Before Zara could tell him about her research, Kurtz looked up from his book, brows furrowed. Zara followed his line of sight and sighed. Veronica was making her way to their table furiously... well as furious as one can be with obscenely high heels on. “Do I want to know?” Kurtz asked, and Zara shook her head.

“Let me deal with it,” Zara said, getting up from her seat to face Veronica.

Veronica had a beaming smile on her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Haven’t seen you all day, Z. Much to catch you up on. Did you know what I did today?” she asked with a sweet voice.

“No...” Zara lied. “I’m not your keeper, sorry to say.”

Veronica laughed and looked towards Kurtz. “A hell of a jokester, isn’t she? Hey, is it a joke that you completely ruined my relationship with Archiekins? Or, maybe is it a joke that you let Archie fall madly in love with you?” She was seething, but the smile was still firmly planted on her face.

Zara looked at Kurtz, who swiftly turned his eyes back to his book. She then looked back at Veronica and gulped. “I hardly see why I’m to blame. It’s not my fault that Archie likes me.” Keep the momentum, said a tiny voice in her head. “If I really had wanted to break you and Archie up, it would’ve happened much sooner. I apologize if your ex-boyfriend didn’t exactly love you anymore because your father is constantly trying to murder him, and you have done nothing to quell the situation. Let’s see, when did it start? Oh yeah, after a ski trip of his went wrong because of your father. And, do you know why? Because Archie isn’t stupid. He probably thought how the hell did Hiram know he was going to be there? Oh wait, you paid for the trip.”

“What exactly are you insinuating?” Veronica sneered. “I would do nothing to hurt Archie.”

“That probably was true, until Archie got bit. Things changed then. A part of you still loves him, but a part of you wants him dead as well. Am I wrong?”

Veronica gave her a hard look before walking off, confirming to Zara as well as anyone who knew of the confrontation that Veronica was no longer welcome in the Dark Circle.

XXXX

It was 7:30 on the dot when Kurtz pulled up into the Andrews driveway with Zara. Once the two stepped inside, Zara immediately picked up on the awkward tension oozing from Archie. She went to sit down next to Cheryl, who had her arm propped up on the armrest, supporting her head as she sighed audibly. “Who knew that a brooding Archie Andrews was even more annoying than the cheerful puppy we see daily?” she asked, exasperated. “I’m assuming you’re to blame,” she added, eyeing up Zara.

Zara went to deny it, but Archie beat her to the punch. “It was all Veronica’s fault, Cheryl. Don’t take it out on Z.” Zara muttered a thank you to him in response before looking around the room. Everyone looked tense, especially Betty. Her hands were balled up into fists and considering that Kurtz was crinkling his nose, Zara knew that Betty was breaking skin in her palms again.

“I’m sorry, B,” Zara quietly uttered. Betty looked up at her, but stayed silent as she uncurled her fists and rubbed her palms on her jeans. Zara then cleared her throat. “So, aside from the drama today, I realized that I should’ve let the rest of you on the information we received from Greendale. It was a poor decision on my part as paranoia got the best of me. I should’ve trusted my pack.” The kids nodded, eyes focused on her. “In Greendale, we realized that a witch or warlock obtains power from sacrifices. Power that can be transferred to other beings, those who do not have magic. The starting sacrifice is of a werewolf, hence why Kurtz’s werewolf friend was the first body to pop up. The only reason he was kept in the morgue longer than Chuck or our history teacher was because of his abnormal healing. We don’t know why they’re attacking previous patients of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, but we do know that it has to be someone from Riverdale. Otherwise, they wouldn’t know of the facility. Or, we had another hunch.” Zara paused, stealing a glance at Archie who’s veins were popping out of his arms due to his tenseness. “We believed that a hunter may be employing the warlock to not only kill a werewolf, but also give them a reasonable excuse to come and hunt you all. If they can pin the blame on werewolves, according to the code, they can come and kill you. It is fully justified in the hunters’ council.

“Another thing is, the werewolf killed happened to be a son of a powerful witch who also is a seer. A person who can see into the future,” Zara clarified.  “The boy, Jimmy Riddle, was Kurtz’s emissary. We feel that this might have some correlation,” she finished, allowing the others to process the information.

Jughead squinted at Kurtz and asked, “Why didn’t you think it to be vital for us to know this sooner?”

Kurtz shrugged, to which Zara rolled her eyes and proceeded to explain. “He didn’t want to say this, but he’s planning on building up his pack again.” Hearing that, Archie snarled. “Archie, calm down. If you lost your pack, you would do the same. This time, Kurtz wants to start with an emissary, but none of the candidates are showing any potential in any magic, let alone fortune telling.”

“You want a weapon, essentially?” Betty asked, folding her hands on her lap. “If we have a warlock or witch, then we can have a fighting chance.” Kurtz nodded, leaning back against the sofa. “It’s a good idea.”

Zara nodded, then felt a buzz in her pocket. She took out her phone and saw Sabrina’s name in the notification. Unlocking her phone, she held out her hand to stop the others from continuing the conversation. She read it silently and let out a large exhale through her nose. “Sabrina just texted me back,” she said loudly. In response to Cheryl’s confusion, she added, “I asked the witch who helped us if there was any connection between werewolf hunters and witches. Apparently, hunters hunt anything that hurts the normal human race. Essentially, the natural are protected from the supernatural. Some centuries ago, witches and warlocks were excluded from this supernatural bunch after some respected witches decided to... help out with werewolf extermination. So yeah, witches and hunters get along because they both want you guys dead.”

Archie rubbed his eyes with his palms and sighed. “So, the hunters are involved in this somehow. And, we were telling Veronica everything until Zara realized. God, I’m so stupid!” He got up from the chair, protests from Toni and Cheryl silenced with a flick of his hand.

After a moment of awkward silence, Reggie cleared his throat. “So… does this mean I should stop working for Veronica?” which awarded him with a punch from Moose.

“Dude?” Moose questioned, shaking his head. “But, honestly, maybe you should,” he added. Zara nodded, then looked back at the kitchen where Archie stormed off to. She was about to get up before Kurtz himself went back into the kitchen. Archie heard the omega come in and took a deep breath. “I’m fine,” he assured. “Tell Zara to stop worrying.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” Kurtz deadpanned.

“Then, why’d you follow me in here?”

“I need to know if you are going to pursue Zara.”

“Pursue? This isn’t a Jane Austen novel, dude. I’m not going to pursue her. I need time to get over Veronica.” Archie looked up at him, suspicious. “But, why do you care?” Kurtz didn’t respond, but Archie got the drift and began laughing. “You can’t be serious. Like anyone would let you,” he snarled.

“If you care so much for Zara, then you wouldn’t have allowed her to suffer in Veronica’s hands because Veronica knew how much you love Zara. You played Veronica, and Zara is facing the consequences.”

“You know nothing about my relationship with Zara. I…” he trailed off, looking at his feet.

“You what, Andrews?”

“I love her,” to which Kurtz snorted. Archie scowled at him and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“If you love her so much, why weren’t you the one to break up with Veronica? You have too many issues to give Zara the love she deserves.”

“And you don’t have issues? That’s rich, coming from a guy who was so high to not only make his life shit but also cause the deaths of each and every single person of his pack. At least, my issues don’t result in death.” Instantaneously, Kurtz wolfed out, growling at the alpha.

Meanwhile, in the living room, all of the wolves were red faced, staring at each other due to the conversation they were eavesdropping until the loud growl caused them all to get up. “What the hell’s going on in there?!” Zara screamed.

“Stay here, Zara,” Jughead commanded. “You’ll just make things worse.” Zara stopped in her tracks, furrowing her brows as the three wolves ran over to the commotion.

Jughead rushed into the kitchen to see the two wolves on the ground, Kurtz having the upper hand and punching Archie’s face. Reggie snarled and wolfed out to grab Kurtz off of Archie, but the ex-alpha was stronger than an average beta and escaped the hold to hit Archie again. But, Archie expected the attack and scratched Kurtz’s side deeply, causing the other wolf to howl. Unable to handle the noise of the commotion anymore, Cheryl ran in and screamed, causing everyone in the house to clutch their ears. All of the wolves returned to their human forms and calmed down.

Slowly, Zara walked into the kitchen to take in the state of the room and the two wolves who were brawling. “What the fuck, guys?” she asked in disbelief. She looked down and ushered Kurtz. “Come on, we’re leaving. I’ll see you guys in school tomorrow,” she added, leaving the room. Kurtz trailed her, his head down.

The car ride was unbearable, neither one of them wanting to speak until the other one did. It began pouring outside, so once Kurtz parked in the woods, the two ran into the house. Luckily, Zara’s mother wasn’t home to hear the commotion.

It was Kurtz who spoke first. “I’m fine. Nothing major happened,” then started up the stairs, and Zara stared at him for a few seconds before following him, wet hair leaving droplets on the wooden stairs. When she walked into her room, Kurtz was already peeling off his jacket. So, Zara decided to grab clean clothes and went to change in the bathroom.

She was pensive in thought as she changed. Still thinking, she went to dry her hair, but was brought out of her thoughts when she heard loud noises from her bedroom. She turned off her dryer to hear objects being thrown. Furious, she came out of the bathroom.

“Cut the bullshit; you’re not alright,” Zara said, fully taking in the state of her bedroom turned upside down. “What’s wrong with you?!”

Kurtz turned around, a frown marring his face. He stomped towards her, his face inches away from hers. “I can’t understand what’s happening to me,” he whispered.

“Tell me, and we can figure this out together.” Her hand lightly brushes against Kurtz’s, but he stepped back in response. Zara’s eyes watered, and she shook her head. “You can’t just bottle up your feelings and hurt the people around you because you can’t understand your thoughts! Why are you tormenting me?!”

“Because I fucking love you!”

Zara stepped away from him until her back was against the bathroom door. “No, you’re not,” she said firmly. “You’re delusional.”

“Who are you to tell me my emotions aren’t real?” Kurtz sneered. “I love you. I’ve had an inkling but I absolutely knew when we went to Greendale.”

“You absolutely knew nothing! Just because I’m nice to you, and I give you a place to stay does not mean I’m a good person for you to be with!” Zara screamed, breathing heavily after. “Now, clean up my room, and we can forget about this conversation.” She then went to grab her sleeping bag. “And, let me be perfectly clear: you hurt one of my friends ever again, I will no longer cut you any slack. You are my enemy from that day onward,” she stated, then exited the room.

XXXX

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