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#but WHAT third option are you trying to take here? what on earth is your proposed outcome
captainjonnitkessler · 3 months
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You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".
Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.
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kichoukotori · 2 years
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Several years ago I briefly worked in the warehouse of a nondescript extremely large e-commerce company. I had no other options for employment but desperately needed money. Turnover was like 150%. I worked from something like 7pm to 5am, my commute was 50 minutes each way and before I got paid I didn't even have the cash for enough gas to get home one night and had to bum $10 off of my kid sibling (this is all to give you an idea of my abysmal mental state while employed here.) You're not allowed to do anything besides your job, no music or anything and they track your movement on cameras so you can't even take a breather. The job is real monotonous, you get sent boxes of items of random sizes and you have to put the items into shelves of varying sizes and the shelves come to you, you don't walk to them. Because the company tracks the rate at which you put items on these shelves, many small items are desirable because you can put a lot of them in quickly. Everything about the place seems almost designed intentionally to break you mentally and turn you into a robot. So I'm about 6 or 7 hours into my shift, feeling on the verge of a mental collapse, and up comes a container with a bunch of small white boxes, bout half the size of a deck of cards. No labels. Great, I'm already happy about whatever these things are. So I go to scan them in, and it gives you the name of the item and a little picture. Sasuke Penis Costume. What? Sasuke Penis Costume. A picture of that red cloud robe from Naruto and one of the headbands with the metal plate on it. I'm thinking, there's no way. What is a penis costume? Am I hallucinating this? And there's so many of them, literally about a hundred, and I know I'm going to be spending at least an hour with Sasuke Penis Costume, there's so many and they're so small, I'm already excited about the potential efficiency of these, and then I see it's Sasuke Penis Costume? So the entire shift I'm like, trying to not put these things away too quick, because honestly I'm starting to build a kind of kinship with them. This is quite literally the most exciting thing to happen to me during my whole 2 week employment at the warehouse. I started to see Sasuke Penis Costume as a friend, some reminder of the outside world, a reminder of the humanity I was becoming so unfamiliar with, a reminder the world contained comedy, art, anime, and penis. I really couldn't tell you if I ended up putting all of them away, the last thing I remember is my desperate need to look these items up when I got home. I needed a link to send to my friends for when I told them this riveting story. I learned that the costume is called the Akatsuki cloak in my fervent search for the item, and wouldn't you know it, absolutely zero trace of these things exists online. Not on the e-commerce website, not on any specialized penis-costume websites (whose existence I was not privvy to prior to this incident) and no third-party retailer has these. Not even Google images will show me the hypothetical existence of Sasuke Penis Costume. Every few months I look it up, trying to find evidence that it can be bought, that any of this was ever real. My bond, my friendship, and dare I say even love for Sasuke Penis Costume feels as tangible as the boxes they came in, and yet the universe will give me no closure of their fate. Less and less frequently I search for them, each time becoming more and more discouraged that I will ever find them, but unlike their substance on this earth, one thing is inarguably certain. Sasuke Penis Costume exists to me, and it will live on firmly and resolutely within my memory and within my heart.
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catherinnn · 5 months
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Faking It, Feeling It
summary: fake dating with eddie! where jason and chrissy break up and they become a little too obssessed with Eddie and you. so much so that you start acting as if you two are already dating so they'd leave you alone. but you were never very good actors.
warnings: mature content (not actual smut but implies), jealously, swearing, just major fluff really.
6.8k words
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The last few weeks at Hawking’s High have been hell, even more than normal.
Star couple, high school sweethearts, prom queen and king of the school: Chrissy and Jason had broken up.
They have been dating since their freshmen year, and now they’re currently in their senior year.
And while it was hell for everyone who thought they were the perfect couple, the ones that claim they no longer believe in love since they broke up; it was even more of a hellhole for you and for Eddie Munson.
A weird combo, I know. Why do you two randoms have anything to do with the break up? You may have had like two conversations with Hellfire’s Dungeon Master in total within all of your high school years.
All you knew of him was what the people here say about him, which you don’t really believe in. You don’t really care, you’ve learned the hard way to not care about the rumors they spread in this town.
But back to the original question, I’ll give you the answer: Eddie and you are involved in this whole situation because after the happy couple decided to break up and accept their new bachelorhood, they wanted to get back out there and be with other people, and guess who their first options were? You for Jason, and Eddie for Chrissy.
Not so random since Eddie and Chrissy have been friends for ages, plus, Chrissy knew he was the perfect guy to get back at Jason. That Eddie has had a little crush on Chrissy for ages was totally a coincidence. A happy one she would say.
And since you’ve been trying to ignore Jason’s longing stares at you while he was actually dating Chrissy, trying to forget about the time he had called ‘dibs’ on you if he was ever single again, so none of his other friends made a move on you— not that they really listened —it was not random either.  
Now the question may be: Why has it been hell for both of you?
The thing is, Jason and Chrissy have been flirting with you and Eddie at every given chance since they broke up.
For obvious reasons you didn’t want to go on a date with Jason. Not even if he was the last man on earth.
Eddie didn’t want to date Chrissy because, even if he has had a crush on her for so long, he realized that she would only use him as a rebound, a toy she plays with for a little while just to make her ex jealous. And even if his hellfire friends told him “fuck it, that’s the only chance you’ll get with a girl like her! Take it anyways” It didn’t feel right for him, so he decided not to do it.
As for right now, you were currently running away from the classroom you just had history at. It was one of the classes you shared with Jason, and even if you did have the luck to not be seated with him, it was in his plans to walk you out of the class to flirt a bit more and maybe you’ll finally agree to go on a date.
“Gorgeous! Wait up for me!” he yelled at you, but you were luckily faster than him and got out of the classroom before he could catch you. You did see him spot you in the hallway though, so you ran without even looking where you were going.
You turned to the left into another hall with a couple of doors. You tried to open the first one but it was locked, you tried the second one but quickly realized it was the boy’s bathroom— because a boy inside fixing his jeans looked at you with a horrifying look on his face and stared to yell at you to get out.
You heard Jason calling out your name, so you quickly entered the third door and closed it behind you.
You heard his footsteps slowing down.
“Hey, princess! Where did you go!” you heard him continue walking further into the hall and away from your hiding place.
You sighed.
“Caaann we help you?” a voice behind you asked.
You turned around and saw a full table of people staring at you weirdly.
“Oh- sorry, I didn’t know you guys were here”
“You didn’t see the sign on the door that said ‘do not enter’?” a younger boy asked you a little annoyed.
“Actually no, I was kind of in a hurry to… hide from somebody” you confessed.
“Who?”
“Jason Carver”
“Wait, I know you” The guy at the end on the table spoke, whom you did know too, Eddie. He said your name to confirm he did actually know who you were.
“The one and only”
“Why would you even run away from Jason Carver? Isn’t he like every girl in here’s dream boy?” The same annoyed boy asked you again, you recognized him as Nancy Wheeler’s brother… Mike was it?
“What, him? Disgusting, he’s been trying to make a move on me even before him and Chrissy broke up, so now he’s even more annoying” you told them.
“Alright, we’re kind of in the middle of something here-“ an older guy started but Eddie cut him off.
“He’s been annoying you too?”
“What? Did he try something on you too?” you joked.
“What- no! I mean that Chrissy has been flirting with me nonstop as well since they broke up, I already told her no, but she keeps trying to convince me”
“You rejected Chrissy Cunningham?”
“I ask myself that same question everyday” another guy commented, a curly-headed one.
“No! I don’t mean it in a mean way, it’s just- I thought every guy wanted to date Chrissy Cunningham”
“She’s only trying to use me to get back at Jason- you know what? Doesn’t matter. Just a funny coincidence that the same couple is annoying both of us” Eddie explained.
“Yeah, how funny” you said in a sarcastic tone. “Look, you can continue with your board game, I just need to hide for a few minutes until Jason finally leaves”
A few guys sigh in annoyance, but Eddie nods and signals a chair near him so you can sit.
“So… wait- you’re both trying to get out of Chrissy and Jason’s flirting with you?” the curly-headed guy speaks again.
Eddie and you nod.
“And you’ve both already rejected them?”
You two nod again.
“But they won’t listen?”
Again.
“Huh”
“What?” you ask.
“Nothing, I just… thought of something funny”
“What?” Eddie asks.
“Well, if this was one of those rom-coms my sister always watches, you could both start acting like you’re dating each other. That way both of them leave you two alone” he comments.
“Act like we’re dating?”
“Yeah, how would that even work?”
“Well, in those movies they usually act like an actual couple, like, maybe you could have lunch together in the cafeteria, or walk each other to your classes, come to school together, things like that” he explains.
“Umm- I don’t really see that working, they would see right through” you say.
“Yeah, how we even start dating in this fantasy? We’ve barely spoken before” Eddie comments.
“Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense”
“Okay, I don’t really care about this so, are we gonna continue the campaign? Because otherwise I could use the free time” Mike interrupts and Eddie is brought back to reality to continue with the game.
A few days after all of that, you were in the cafeteria trying to find your group of friends but you don't seem to find them anywhere in there, maybe they're still grabbing lunch.
"Hey you! I can finally talk to you again, you've been really busy lately, I barely see you anymore!" Jason corners you right when you're about to sit at a free table.
"Hi Jason... yeah, I've been -busy with school, you know?"
"Yeah I understand, you know I've been having a hard time with Spanish this semester, and I know you're very good at it" he starts and you fear where he's going with this.
"Yeah, I wouldn't say very good, you know Rachel Stinson? She's much better than me, the best in our class!"
"Yeah, but I don't really know her. Plus I think you'd be a better teacher than her, and a cuter one as well" he says giving you a smirk, very proud of his response.
"Eddie, look" Gareth tells Eddie and signals to where you stand with Jason, looking very uncomfortable.
"Fuck, yeah. He's definitely asking her out again" he comments.
"You could... help her"
"How? Is this about your little plan?"
"I'm just saying, you would totally save her and you'd like that if that was you and Chrissy instead of her and Jason" he points out. Eddie thinks about it for a few seconds. Gareth is right: he would be grateful if he didn't have to come up with another excuse to Chrissy.
Fuck it, he's already walking up to you two.
"Jason I don't..." you start but someone interrupts.
"Hi pretty girl, I haven't seen you all day"
You turn and see Eddie.
"What?" you ask confused but you see him blink at you and you remember what his friend told you about. "Oh! Hi Eddie, I didn't see you there"
"Have you been avoiding me, princess?" he asks with a smirk while putting his hands on your waist.
"I could never!" you say and put your hands on his shoulders.
"Um... hi?" Jason interrupts you two.
"Hi Jason?" Eddie greets him with a wondering tone, "Oh, we're you talking to him, baby?"
"Oh no, he was just telling me that he's having trouble with Spanish" you explain.
"Oh yeah, she's great at Spanish, good thing I have her as a personal teacher" Eddie comments quickly catching on.
"You're teaching him?" Jason asks you.
"Yeah, for like a month already I think"
"Thanks to this pretty little thing right here, I have a B in Spanish now"
"Wait, I- I'm confused, what are you two?" Jason asks with a frown on his face.
"Well, we haven't really put a title to it... but we've been seeing each other for a few weeks now" you explain.
"Seeing each other? As in... dating?" he asks again.
"Can you believe it? The prettiest girl in Hawkins gave me a chance" Eddie says and gives you a kiss on the cheek.
"I can't believe it" Jason murmurs.
You hear your name being called from behind you, you turn and finally see your friends with surprised and confused faces looking at this scene.
"Hey girls, finally," you greet them, "Eddie, I'll see you later, yeah?" you say to him getting a little too close to his face to emphasize the flirting.
"Mhm, please" he adds and lets you go.
"Bye Jason" you quickly say to him and then walk over to your friends to explain everything.
Later that day, you were quick to find Eddie before he got into his van to leave.
"Hey, Eddie!" He turned around and waited till you got closer. "I just wanted say thank you for helping me today with Jason, you really saved me there"
"No problem, really. I'm still surprised it actually worked" he comments.
"Yeah," you laugh, "either Jason's really stupid or we're really good actors"
"A bit of both maybe" he laughs.
"Anyways, thanks for today, I owe you one" you finally say, and start walking away.
"Wait" Eddie stops you after a few seconds, "Maybe we could actually do what Gareth said"
"Which one was Gareth again?" you ask.
"The one with all the curls, he told us to act like we're dating" he explained.
"Oh, yeah. Umm, I mean it really worked. Jason left me alone for the rest of the day"
"We can try it on Chrissy next time and see if she buys it"
"Yeah, sure" you say with a smile.
"Do you need a ride? We can maybe work out the details on the way" he offers and you accept.
--
"So the story would be that I started tutoring you in Spanish and then started dating" you confirm.
"Yeah, that seems believable. Do we need any rules for this?"
"Like what?"
"Like... boundaries, I don't know"
"Yeah umm, well obviously no real intimacy, we should communicate openly to avoid misunderstandings, umm what else?" you list.
"How long are we gonna do this for?" he asks.
"Maybe we should see how it goes, I don't want to say that we should do it for the rest of the year, so maybe until both of them are no longer interested in us" you propose.
"Yeah, that's good. What about physically?"
"Umm well, the hugging was fine, flirting obviously. I don't know, what couples do"
"Kissing?" he asks.
"I guess we would have to do it eventually to seem believable" you say.
"Yeah, totally"
The next day Eddie came to find you in your locker.
"Are you ready to start, girlfriend?" he jokes.
"Yeah, sure... boyfriend"
He walks you to class, you sit together in the classes you share, you start doing everything together that morning.
Eddie and you are walking to his locker and when he opens it, a note falls from it. He grabs it and reads:
Meet me in the woods at lunch. -C
He sighs.
"Guess we're having lunch together too" you say.
"Yup, seems like it" he confirms.
And you sit at the Hellfire table next to him. Eddie explains to the guys what you two are doing and Gareth has a big smile because he was right, his plan actually worked.
After like 20 minutes, Chrissy shows up in the cafeteria.
"Eddie! There you are!" she walks up to your table and you quickly sit closer to him. "Didn't you get my note?"
"Note? Oh, I totally forgot Chrissy. Guess this one here distracted me" he blames you with a sweet tone.
"I did not!" you say giggling a little.
"Oh, I didn't know you were in hellfire" Chrissy says to you.
"Oh, I'm not, I just wanted to have lunch with him" you explain to her while you play a little with Eddie's hair.
Chrissy frowns, clearly not understanding anything that's going on.
"Sorry Chrissy, what did you want though?" Eddie asks.
"Well, I wanted to ask you if you're doing something this weekend, maybe we could go see a movie?" she proposes.
"Oh, I'm sorry I already made plans with her," he puts his arm around your shoulders "right, sweetheart?"
"Yeah sorry, he's all mine this weekend" you joke and give him a sweet kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, I didn't know you two were..."
"Dating? Yeah" you finish her sentence.
"Huh, well... congrats!" she says with a fake smile on and walks away.
"That was quite a show" one of Eddie's friends says. You should really ask Eddie for their names, it seems like you're going to spend more time with them than before.
As the week continued, your acting did too. Jason wasn’t bothering you as much, and if he did you just gave him the excuse that Eddie was waiting for you and walked away.
But on the second week you started to notice Jason’s stares while you were with Eddie, either at lunch, or class, talking in some hall. Anywhere. It was like he was studying or analyzing, looking for something between you two.
When you told Eddie about this, he said you would have to be yet more believable. So far you’ve only been flirting or close to each other if Chrissy or Jason were around.
But now you’re acting for the whole school. If one of Jason’s friends sees you two a little distant, they would tell him right away.
Right now, you two were standing in front of the door of your next class, a class you share with Jason. You were just standing there, talking closely to each other.
“The short one with the curls is Dustin, and his friend, the tall one with black hair is Mike” he said to you sweetly. From the outside it looked way more romantic.
“Wheeler, right?” you confirm.
“Yeah, exactly!” he says with a smile.
“Yeah, I figured because he looks just like his sister, Nancy” you told him, looking up at him lovingly.
“Yeah, is true…”
“Oh, Jason is coming” you tell Eddie as soon as you see him.
“Ok, do you trust me on this?” he asks and you’re a bit confused but you still nod anyway.
When Eddie is able to hear footsteps behind him, figuring it was Jason, he grabs your face with the one hand that wasn’t on your waist, pulls you closer to him and gives you a sweet kiss on the lips.
It wasn’t very long or short, just the right time for you to feel his soft lips on yours, feel his soft touch on your cheek. Just the right time for you to hold your breath for a second because your mind became so occupied by him that you just forgot.
Who would have thought Eddie Munson could be so sweet? Not you.
For a second there you also forgot why he had kissed you in the first place. But thanks to Jason you fell back to reality, since he walked right next to you two to enter the classroom while clearing his throat a little too loud.
-
“Why is Jason looking at our table so angrily?” One of the kids asks while sitting down. Lucas, you learned his name was.
“I may have kissed the girl he likes in front of him and now it seems like he’s pretty angry” Eddie explains with a smirk.
“You’re kissing now?” Dusting asks.
“Yeah, I mean we had to, he was already suspecting something”
“Lucas is right though, why is he still looking at us like that?” you notice.
“Are you done eating?” Eddie asks you.
“Yeah”
“Come here” he pulls his chair back to have more space between him and the table and pats his thigh.
“Excuse me?”
“Sit here with me, let’s actually give him something to stare at”
“I am sitting here with you, you’re asking me to sit on you” you tell him.
“Sweetheart, please. I know it will work, it will make him even angrier” he convinces you somehow and you end up sitting on his lap.
“Well, if you’re gonna do it, you should be more convincing” Gareth corrects.
“How?” you ask annoyed.
“Loose the attitude, you want them to think you like Eddie so much that you need to be as close as possible to him at all times, and right now you look like you hate this and you want to run away from him” Gareth explains.
“Wait, do you?” Eddie asks concerned.
“No! No, it’s fine,” you comfort him and adjust yourself on him, sitting more casual, as if you do this all the time, “Better?”
“Yeah, I’d say that’s ok”
“Hey, I was meaning to ask you,” Eddie starts, everyone at the table went back to their own conversation so he’s only talking to you now. “you can totally say no, because it wouldn’t be at school, and I don’t know, we haven’t really discussed if we’re still doing this outside of school-“
“Eds, you’re rambling. Just tell me, what is it?” you cut him off.
“Well, you know I’m in a band with the boys and we’re playing this Thursday, so Chrissy came up to me today and told me that she was looking forward to Thursday because she was planning on coming to see us play, to see me” he explains.
“Oh” you cringe. “I’ll go too”
“Really? I don’t want to force you or anything, you’re already doing this here at school, wouldn’t want to bother you outside as well”
“Eds, I’m not just doing this, you’re helping me here too,” you tell him with a smile, he can be really cute sometimes. “It’s not trouble at all, I didn’t have any plans for Thursday night anyway”
“Thanks, really” he says.
“Besides, it would be weird if you’re playing with your band and your girlfriend wasn’t there to see you front row. Kind of suspicious, don’t you think?” you joke.
“Definitely suspicious, but your boyfriend will buy you a drink anyway for the trouble” he says and you feel like there’s a flirty tone in his voice, but… no, it couldn’t be. Nor Jason or Chrissy were around to listen.
Either way, you don’t know if it is because of how close his face is to yours right now, the possible flirty tone he’s using, calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, or because of the stupid kiss he gave you before that you can’t seem to stop thinking about, but you’re feeling a strong desire to have his lips on yours again. 
And you’re kind of acting on autopilot right now, but your faces are already realllly close, your hand comes up to meet his cheek, he’s not pulling away or looking at you weirdly, so you do it. Your lips meet his in a short kiss, a sweet and delicate one.
But as soon as your lips separate and you look at him in the eyes, you panic.
“Uh I- I’m sorry, J –Jason was… looking at us again and –I kind of just-“ you start but he interrupts.
“It’s fine,” he laughs at your nervousness, “We’re dating, remember? So it’s normal that we kiss. Besides, I don’t really mind kissing you, sweetheart”
Thursday night came along and here you were with Corroded Coffin getting some drinks before it was their moment to play. You were a bit exited to see Eddie play, you weren’t going to lie.
“Eddie! Hii!” you hear Chrissy greeting— only him —behind you and so it was show time for you two. If this was a movie, it would be the director shouting ‘action.’
“Hey Chris” Eddie greets her back while pulling your chair closer to him subtly.
“Oh I’m so excited to see you play, have you seen him yet?” she asks you.
“No, it would be my first time. I’m really excited too!” you explain to her but you look at Eddie with a smile during that last sentence.
“Oh it’s like you’re dating a rockstar! I’m so jealous!” she jokes… I think? But you laugh anyway.
“Guys, you can start in five minutes” the bartender lets the guys know that they can go up stage already.
It’s just a few minutes of alone time with Chrissy once they guys go, but luckily they start pretty fast and all of your attention is on the stage, or on one of the people on stage anyway.
And you have to admit, you didn’t really know what to expect, metal music isn’t really your type of music and you didn’t know if the guys would be really good.
But they surprised you completely, even if it’s not the music you usually go for, the show was great. And they all played so good, you can tell they take this pretty seriously.
Eddie was completely mesmerizing on the guitar and after every guitar solo he played, you were there cheering for him so proudly. Along with a couple of other girls your age, you couldn’t help but notice.
Once they finish and come down the stage back to you, you were the first one to go give Eds a big hug.
And you’re going to excuse yourself because Chrissy was right next to you waiting to congratulate Eddie too, but as soon as you two separate a little from the hug you take the chance and give him a good kiss that has all of his friends cheering as well.
This time it wasn’t a shy or short kiss. You had one arm around his neck and the other you used to grab his face by his cheek. He was already with his arms around your waist, but when he felt your lips on his, he pulled you in even closer.
And when you cut the kiss you look at him with an audacious look. “You were completely amazing”
A big smile forms on his face after your words and that kiss. “Thank you, baby”
An hour passed, you’ve all been drinking a little more, but luckily no one was actually drunk yet.
Chrissy had gone outside since one of her friends joined her and both went out for a smoke. So you and Eddie didn’t have to act anymore, he had gone closer to the bar with Gareth and you stayed talking to Jeff.
After a while, you excused yourself to go grab another drink, that’s when you see him again. But he wasn’t with Gareth. No, he was talking to another girl, one of the girls you saw cheering for him.
She was wearing a Black Sabbath cropped shirt with a little black skirt and boots, black hair with some red strands. Which made you feel… uncomfortable, like a little squeeze in your chest. She looked just like Eddie’s type.
Every time she laughed she would lean closer to him, and take the chance to touch his arms or chest.
He didn’t seem uncomfortable though, he was laughing too, having a blast. And you felt yourself getting angrier.
“Eds” you interrupt them, “sorry, I’m gonna steal him for just a second”
“What’s up?” he asks once you’re a few steps further from this girl.
“I just saw Chrissy getting inside the bar again. I’m sorry, but it would be weir if she saw you flirting with another girl” You lie… but just a little white lie, I mean, Chrissy could actually walk in again at any minute and see him with this other girl. Imagine the mess.
“Oh, yeah that would be weir” luckily he agrees, “thanks”
“Do you wanna go over there? I was chatting with Jeff” you propose.
“Yeah, I’ll be you with in a second, just let me apologize to this other girl”
“Yeah sure, and can you get me another drink while you’re there?” you ask him with a smile.
“Of course”
After a few minutes he meets you and Jeff. “Here’s your drink, princess”
“Thank you, how much was it?”
“Don’t worry” he says.
“No, come on. You already bought a drink for me, let me pay for this one” you insist.
“Buut I wanted to buy you another one, so let me” he says with a smile.
“Alright, but we’ll share this one”
After a couple of minutes of talking with the boys, Chrissy still didn’t show up and you were a little nervous he would discover your lie.
But thankfully, after ten minutes, she and her friend came back inside, walking right over to you. Eddie sees them too, his arm was already around you, plus you were both sharing a drink so you didn’t worry.
“Guys, we were gonna head home already” she announces. For a second there you were cursing internally fearing that once she left, Eddie would go back to the girl from before.
“Oh yeah, maybe we could head off as well, right sweetheart?” he asks you.
“Yeah, sure” you agree with a smile. Luck was on your side today.
You greet everyone and Eddie drives you home.
“Thank you for coming today, really”
“It was really fun. You really were amazing up there, I didn’t just say that because Chrissy was there” you confess.
“Thank you, and I’m glad you had fun, maybe –um, you could come again next time, if –if you want” he proposes a little nervously.
“I’d like that, count me in”
“Great” a little smile forms on his face from your words.
“You know… you’re not what I thought you’d be like” you confess, maybe you were tipsier than you thought.
“What? A freak?” he says and it breaks your heart a little that that is the first thing he thinks.
“No, just… a little scary maybe”
“Am I not scary?” he looks at you acting threatening.
“No, not at all” you laugh, “you’re really funny and really sweet actually, like a teddy bear—TEDDIE!”
“I’m not a teddy bear!” he defends.
“You are, a really cute one” you say without even thinking, and you don’t see this but Eddie blushes hard from your comment.
“Thank you, princess”
“You know Jason calls me princess all the time too?”
“Oh –sorry”
“No, I actually like when you call me that. When he does it is disgusting, but when you do it its actually nice… it’s weird” you ramble a little.
“Well, I’m glad you like it when I do it because I like calling you that, it suits you” he says, “We’re here sweetheart, do you need help getting to bed?”
“Eddie!” you laugh at his question, “you know it’s only acting, we can’t actually sleep together!”
“I didn’t mean it like that” he laughs a little at your reaction, but you see his cheeks also turn red, “I meant if you need help to walk, or go up the stairs?”
“Oh no, I’m fine, thanks” you give him a kiss on the cheek, “Bye, thank you for driving me”
“Bye princess” he greets you with a smile.
--
The next day it was hellfire Friday, you walked with Eddie to the drama room where the guys were waiting for him. You weren’t going to stay, you just walked him to say bye to the boys and then go home.
“Ok, I should get going now. Bye everyone!” you greeted them and they greeted back. “Bye Eddie” you turned around to see him and gave him a smile.
“Bye sweetheart, see you next week” he gave you a hug and off you went.
“Wow, she walked you all the way here just to say bye?” Dustin noticed. “Even without Chrissy or Jason in the room you still seem to be acting”
Before Eddie could answer, he noticed that Mike and Lucas are practically biting their tongue to hold their laughs.
“It was nothing, she just said goodbye, what was so romantic about that?” Eddie explains.
“Last night at the bar they were both extra sweet with each other, even when Chrissy wasn’t around” Jeff joins in the teasing as well.
“They were?” Dusting asks concerned which seems to only be worse for Mike and Lucas since their faces are now fully red and with tears forming in their eyes.
“What’s up with you two?” Eddie finally asks them.
“Guys, stop please” Dustin complains to them, but this only makes them start screaming in laughter.
“You don’t realize?” Mike manages to say between laughs.
“You’re making little Dusty here soooo jealous” Lucas explains.
“Stooop” Dustin complains again.
“What do you mean ‘jealous’?” Eddie asks confused.
“He’s had a big crush on your fake girlfriend since he first saw her” Mike explains.
“God, I hate you two” Dustin tells them.
“Oh… you have?” Eddie asks him.
“I’s not like I’m waiting to get a chance with her, I know it would never happen, but it’s just –weird to see you kissing her and all of that” he explains himself. Eddie feels a little bad for him, but at the same time it bothers him a bit that Dustin has a crush on you. It’s like… you’re his, Eddie’s. It’s obvious you would never look at Dustin in a romantic way, he’s way too young. And it’s not like you and Eddie are a thing, you’re just acting, but it’s weir for him to know one of his friends has a thing for you.
And since that day—Eddie would never actually confess he’s doing this—but every time, after Chrissy or Jason would walk out after seeing you two all romantic, and you would move over and go back to your conversation with Dustin, he would come up with something to get your attention back on him.
Again, he would never actually confess he does this, it makes him feel like a little kid. Jealous of a literal fifteen year old, when he’s 20.
The following week felt different. The dynamics between you and Eddie had shifted since your fake romance began. Every stolen glance, every scripted touch, all the playful banter—they'd unconsciously started to blur the lines between acting and genuine affection.
Late at night, you find yourself replaying those moments. Holding hands while walking, his arm around your shoulder at any given time, every kiss, how fucking soft his lips were all the time, making you want to kiss them every second you’re around him. And when you’re not around him? You’re thinking of them, of him. Finding yourself actually missing his company.
Would Eddie feel the same? Does he miss having you around? Does he want your lips on his all the time like you do?
You were considering just killing yourself if he didn’t actually felt any of these things. Imagine the embarrassment it would be to have fallen for someone you’re pretending to date, and him feeling completely indifferent towards you. You’d have to move out of the country.
Thanks to these thoughts you were feeling a little uncomfortable around Eddie, so you started to—you wouldn’t say avoiding him—but trying not to be so close to him all the time. Until he started to notice you were being different around him.
One day, he decided to ask you about this. If it was really happening or if it was all in his head.
Because, if he was honest, he did start to overthink things when it came to you. You made him so nervous lately, he just wants to do everything right with you.
He was looking for you everywhere, even started to ask random people if they saw you today. A guy told him he had seen you going to the library a few minutes ago. And when he went to check, bingo. Finally he found you.
"Hey, there you are" he greeted you.
"Oh Eddie, what are you doing here?" he noticed your sudden nervousness. Fuck, what if he had done something to upset you?
"I was looking for you, I wanted to talk for a second"
"Now is not a really good time, you should get going, I'll find you later"
"Why?" he asks a little offended
"I think I saw-"
"Princess!" Jason finds you as well.
"...Jason" you whisper to Eddie finishing your sentence a little too late now.
"Oh and her apparent... prince" Jason comments referring to Eddie.
"Apparent?" he asks him.
"Jason, what do you want?" you ask annoyed.
"Why so defensive? You look way better with a smile on that pretty face" Jason started. "Is he bothering you?"
"No, I'm not!" Eddie answers. "Am I, sweetheart?"
"No, of course you're not" you lie for the sake of your fake relationship. Even though right now, they're both bothering you.
"See Jason, she was fine until you came, so why don't you go?" Eddie tells him while wrapping you in his arms. Fuck, you can already feel the stupid butterflies.
"Princess, I can tell when you're lying. Tell me and I'll take him off of you... with pleasure" Jason tells you.
"Jason, I’m fine!”
“Come here baby” Eddie said taking you to one of the tables away from Jason.
“Thanks, he’s so annoying I swear… Eds?” you started complaining but he wasn’t playing attention, still looking over at where Jason stands.
“He’s still staring at us, giving me looks” he complains. He looks back at you and brings you closer to him, wrapping his arms around you again.
“Eds…”
“Let me just do this” he finally says before kissing you. He gives you a sweet kiss. One where your lips are dance together until you someone interrupts.
“Excuse me?” The lady of the library says a little offended. “You can’t come here and do that, I’m going to have to ask you to leave”
“What?” you ask confused, but before you can even comprehend what’s happening, Eddie grabs your hand and starts running deeper into the library.
“Excuse me?!” You hear the lady from far away now.
Eddie turns in a random aisle and runs with you until you reach the end of the hall.
“Shhh” he says to you and tries to listen if the lady has followed you two or not, “I think we’re clear”
“Why was it necessary to run from her? She’s like 60” you complain.
“What is your deal today?” he asks.
“What?” you act as if you don’t know what he means.
“Why are you so annoyed?”
“It’s just… Jason, he puts me in a bad mood”
“That’s not true, you wanted me to leave you alone even before he showed up”
“I don’t have a deal, I don’t know what you mean”
“I think you do, and not just today, you’ve been weird with me for days now”
“Weird how?” you ask.
“You’re more distant. And I get it if you don’t want to be hanging out all day, but… you weren’t like that before” he explains.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would care so much” now you feel bad.
“You’re crazy if you think I wouldn’t care or wouldn’t notice. We’ve been hanging out nonstop for weeks now”
“A month and a half actually” you correct him.
“Has it been that much already?”
“Yeah” you laugh, “One would think they’d get over us by now and let it go” you joke referring to Jason and Chrissy.
“We’re too attractive and so interesting” he jokes but he says it with a straight face, as if it really was a struggle. And this makes you laugh harder.
“Shh” he laughs too. “She’s gonna find us”
“She’s another one who’s also jealous of us, that’s why she wanted us to stop kissing and kick us out” you joke.
“I bet she is, we have to be more careful. We’re too much of a power couple”
“Yeah”
“See, I missed this” he explains. “If I overstepped one time and didn’t realize, I’m sorry, or-“
“No, no, Eddie you didn’t do anything, it wasn’t your fault”
“Then what was it?” he asks.
"This whole pretending-to-be-dating thing… it's made me realize some stuff" you confess.
Your heart started racing, you were actually telling him.
"What stuff?" he could feel the gravity in her words.
"That maybe… maybe I'm not just pretending anymore" you finally say, looking at the ground, you fear if you look at him, it would make you even more nervous.
His gaze was fixed on you, his breath caught in his throat. The air suddenly felt charged, unspoken emotions crackling between you two. "Me too" Eddie admitted, barely above a whisper.
Your eyes are quick to look up at him, a mix of surprise and relief washing over you. "You feel the same?"
Eddie nods, a shy smile tugging at his lips. "I didn't think you would too. I thought you wanted to end all this agreement actually”
You shake your head with a smile.
“Come here” he says and you move closer to him, his hands on your cheeks, bringing your face slowly closer to his. Your hands set on his chest, just because you needed to touch him, to feel him.
His lips crash into yours. You have kissed before but this somehow felt like your first kiss, ever. It wasn’t like any other kiss he had given you before, this was more passionate and romantic all at once.
"I guess all that acting wasn't so pretend after all" Eddie chuckles softly, after you pull away.
"It seems we're not really good actors” you reply, a hint of playfulness in your voice.
Eddie took a deep breath, gathering his courage. "Would you… maybe want to go out for real? No more acting, just… us?"
A rush of emotions flooded you as you look into Eddie's eyes. "I'd love that" you reply, heart pounding with newfound excitement.
786 notes · View notes
damianbugs · 7 months
Note
with all this gotham war stuff (most recently the comic sc you posted on your twt with jason and bruce), can u explain what is actually going on? like, i’m not that far so i haven’t read it, but… like is it actually bruce saying all that stuff about the kids? or is it this zur person people keep talking about?
oh my friend, it's crazy around here, but i will try my best to explain it!
A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO BATMAN IN GOTHAM WAR:
firstly, the comic reading list to catch up with gotham war is: as of 01/10/23 (the ones in italics are core issues to the story)
for some background on what happens leading up to gotham war:
Batman (2016) #125-136
(Optional) Knight Terrors: Batman
(Optional) Knight Terrors: Catwoman
and then the actual gotham war story:
Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Battle Lines
Batman (2016) #137
Catwoman (2018) #57
Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Red Hood #1
this is everything that is out right now, but from the third of october to halloween we will also be getting: Batman #138, Catwoman #58, Gotham War: Red Hood #2, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Scorched Earth.
secondly... who is Zur En Arrh.
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Zur En Arrh taking over Bruce, Batman (2016) #126
zur en arrh, in the simplest way of explaining, is this alter ego/personality (it's unclear) bruce created for himself should batman (bruce wayne) ever be psychologically compromised or brainwashed. it's not him, but a more sadistic and crueler person that is the "ultimate batman" who doesn't care about anyone or anything but getting the mission done.
during Batman #125-130, zur takes over the role of batman because bruce was losing very badly to the robot Failsafe (which is zur's own creation, that bruce has no memory of making). after getting vaporised by failsafe and sent travelling through dozens of alternate universes, losing his hand and fighting a flying shark (Batman #131-135), bruce returns to gotham incredibly mentally unstable.
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During a peaceful dinner with his family, Bruce suddenly imagines the entire world on fire, Batman (2016) #136.
during everything, bruce managed to mentally fight back and kind of... merge their ideals together in order to survive and win in the moment.
and then successfully trapping failsafe back into his mind where he can no longer take over!
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Bruce uses some sort of mental technique to lock Zur away in his mind, Batman (2016) #136.
except he didn't succeed! at all!
you see, when travelling through all those universes, bruce somehow brought back every single version of zur en arrh with him. now all of then combined, plus his already deteriorating and weak mental health from the last few years, bruce is currently operating under the impression that he's locked zur away, when he actually hasn't.
zur is the one partly, or even entirely, in control. right now, he's just pretending to stay locked away so bruce continues to do what he thinks is 'right' despite them being incredibly out of character for the run.
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During his eight week coma, Bruce sees Zur 'locked away' and he is, apparently, not alone, Gotham War: Battle Lines (2023)
an example is when zur referred to robin as batman's solider, bruce mentally fought back to make it clear that tim was his son. but then, a few issues later, bruce refers to his children as his soldiers and that they've all betrayed him, implying that zur has always had control and isn't locked away.
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Bruce and Zur get into a fight inside his mind about Robin [Tim Drake], Batman (2016) #127
so yeah, zur is not bruce! they're both batman, but zur en arrh is like his somehow unimaginably even worse twin. if you're interested more in him, i would suggest giving his character history a read! be warned it gets changed A LOT and is definitely not everyone's cup of tea (personally i hate him and need him shelved for another forty years).
now that that's all done and explained, the current state of gotham war is Bruce (thinks he's okay) fighting everyone else (except Damian) because in his (Zur's) point of view, they're all against the mission and therefore are now his enemies (he's lost his mind). totally not convoluted.
to answer your original question, yes, this is all bruce saying and doing these things but he is being HEAVILY influenced by Zur. we can't tell for certain how much of this is bruce and how much is zur, but we can definitely prove zur is partially or completely controlling him again.
even jason points it out after bruce implants that fear toxin chip into him in Batman (2016) #138:
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like we can see the intention is to keep jason out of this, because compared to everyone else, jason was the most directly opposed to bruce. but zur is twisting how this concern gets expressed, since forcing jason into feeling fear everytime he gets an adrenaline rush is hardly the reformation bruce is usually encouraging. the other batfam members also talk about how uncharacteristically violent bruce is being.
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"He's out of control." / "He's gone [In more ways than one.]" Batman (2016) #137
as the story progresses we see more and more of zur replace bruce, but because he can't have bruce trying to stop him again, zur is playing along and convincing bruce he's locked away. so really, bruce is at war with not only his entire family, but also his own mind. just another average tuesday for batman. he's being tricked and is unknowingly doing exactly what he was trying to prevent.
to understand what the actual war in gotham war is, give the comics listed above a read! if you find the story boring/ridiculous/stupid, don't worry, it is! the social commentary leaves a lot to be desired, as does most of the characters writings (especially selina's).
bruce and his one sided battle with zur is sort of an overarching story happening alongside it (along with a bunch of other ongoings. i don't even understand how detective comics and batman and robin are going to tie into this once it starts up again).
sorry the answer isn't a simple one, but unfortunately nothing is ever simple with bruce. also apologies in advance if any of the future gotham war comics come out and completely debunk all of this! who knows what will happen in this dramatic family drama.
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wolfjackle-creates · 1 year
Text
I'll Carry Your Heart with Me (Until I Find You Again): Part 3
And this is the third and final part of my hundred follower celebratory writing. The fic will continue past this, but it will be a while before I can return to it. I want to get back to Ghost!Robin and Bring Me Home first. This was a blast to write, though.
The angst starts here. Parts 1 and 2 were fun and fluffy. But things take a turn here. And it'll be quite a while before our boys can get back to happier times.
Mostly Jason POV with a short section from Danny's.
3.8k words. There wasn't a great place to break it up.
First, Previous
----------
Jason sighed as Danny flew out of his range of awareness, leaving him alone in his lair again. Though… he touched his lips which still tingled with cold and smiled to himself. At least this time he was left with some pleasant memories.
Turning his back to the swirling void, he entered the brick building that housed the most important parts of his home from before. Ignoring the kitchen, he walked through a door and into his bedroom. It was the only place he had yet to show Danny.
Though maybe he should change that?
He flopped down on his bed and touched his lips again before rolling over and burying his face in his pillow. God, he felt like a teenage girl. Was this why Dick liked to meet up with girls? Jason had kissed girls a few times before, but with Danny… It just felt so much better.
Maybe it was because his mouth was cool? Kissing him felt like a drink of fresh spring water on a hot day. Or perhaps it was the way they could project their feelings while kissing. And not needing to breathe was definitely nice.
He sighed and moved until he was staring up at the ceiling. How in all the realms was Danny interested in him? A dumb kid who got in over his head and died because of it.
Danny was still alive, too. With a sigh, he pushed himself up. He didn’t want his thoughts to go this way—he wanted to bask in their first kisses some more.
Would Danny get too old for him?
Alfred would have been able to set him right. Let him know if this was doomed from the start or if he might actually have something. And Dick… Well, first he’d tease. But after. They’d go to the gym and when he was tired out and sweaty, they’d go and get milkshakes or something and Dick would give surprisingly helpful advice. The type he couldn’t quite bring himself to ask Alfred or Bruce.
Bruce would be insufferable, of course. He’d insist on researching everything he could about Danny. Would probably stalk him, too. But after he was convinced Danny wasn’t trying to take advantage, he’d tell Jason to invite him for dinner. He thought they’d probably get along, too. While their personalities were quite different, their morals were a perfect match.
But no. He’d never get any of that. Because he had to be an idiot and die.
Though… did death have to be permanent? Danny had come back after all. And hadn’t several members of the Justice League died at one point before returning to life?
Could he do that?
Restless now, he got out of bed and made his way to the gym. These were the types of thoughts that only made sense when he was doing something physical. One routine in particular was his “thinking routine.” His dad would always call Alfred in if he saw Jason doing this one. How would he be able to come back?
Most of the stories he heard required something happen to the body on Earth. But he didn’t have that option. He was limited to the Infinite Realms. But… these lands were infinite. There had to be someone or something here that could help him. Maybe there’d be some information in Ghost Writer’s lair? What other ghosts had Danny told him about?
And then he remembered: Desiree. He froze, leg in the air as he was halfway through a kick. If he’d still been human, he would’ve fallen on his face.
Desiree had been able to rewrite reality so that Danny and Sam had never met. In doing so, she’d erased his death from ever happening. If she could do that, bringing Jason back from the dead would have to be a piece of cake. So long as he phrased his wish correctly.
Now that he had a new mission, he fell out of his fighting stance and made his way to the library. He had a wish with a genie to craft.
-----
With how time never seemed to work right in the Realms, Jason wasn’t sure how long it took him to craft his wish. But he finally had it. And this one shouldn’t backfire on him.
I wish I was alive again with a healthy body and intact mind.
Though he did continue trying to think it through. Would it be possible to twist this one? If it was, Desiree would find away. At least if Danny’s stories could be believed. And Ember and Kitty insisted that Danny downplayed his stories more than anything.
Which was hard to believe, even as a former Robin.
Now he had to find Desiree. And as much as he wracked his brain, he didn’t think Danny had given him any sort of clue as to where her lair might be located. And he didn’t want to just ask someone straight out. They’d try and dissuade him from going. Even worse since the only ghosts he really knew were ones Danny introduced him to. Apparently it was normal for a ghost to not leave their lair much for the first few years after death, so he hadn’t yet done much exploring of the Realms.
Though Danny had once tried to sketch him a vague map. Apparently things in the Realms had a tendency to move around a lot, but clusters did form among people of similar background. Medieval European ghosts clustered together in one area, Kryptonians could be found somewhere else, and so on.
Now, where did the ghosts from the Middle East gather? He looked over the map Danny had given him and chewed his lip as he tried to figure out where things were in relation to him. No sun or cardinal directions made it so much harder to orient anything. Which was probably the point.
But he did have some anchors to recognize. After being to Ghost Writer’s domain, he could find that again. And he’d once gone to visit Kitty and Johnny with Danny. So that was another point of reference.
Finally, he thought he had at least enough of an idea to get close. It would have to do, though Bruce would have insisted on more research.
But Bruce wasn’t here which was the entire point.
Well, that and he didn’t want Danny to get older and not want to date or kiss him anymore. It’d be fine for a few years, but what about when Danny was twenty or forty or whatever and Jason was still the same fifteen year old kid?
He shook his head. That didn’t matter because he’d be able to grow up, too. Dick would be there to tease him about his boyfriend. And Alfred would give him a hug and his favorite meal. And Bruce would help him finish school and get into a good college and would celebrate every passing grade with him.
With those pleasant thoughts, he exited his lair. He gave it one last look before setting off in the direction he believed would lead him to Desiree.
He hadn’t been traveling very long when he approached a lair who’s ghost was sending off such strong stay-away vibes that Jason was forced to go around. Putting him quite far off course. The ghost must have been strong to control such a large area of the Zone.
Gritting his teeth, he tried to reorient himself to get back on track.
Which is when he heard a menacing chuckle from behind him. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the whelp’s friend. You’d make such good bait. With you at the center of my trap, I may actually catch the boy and finally get his pelt for my wall.”
Jason spun, Robin costume appearing as he did. Behind him, his cape flared. “And you must be Skulker. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I’m sure you have.” Although his face was just a mecha suit, it grinned viciously. “But you will not find me so easy to escape.” Compartments on Skulker’s shoulders opened and a flurry of small missiles flew out at him.
A wave of Jason’s hand brought up a shield that easily deflected the projectiles. He turned invisible and quickly changed position, sending his own ectoblasts back at Skulker. After months of sparing with Danny, he knew how to handle himself in a ghost fight. He could even hold his own against Johnny when he came to visit.
Of course, fighting with Skulker was not on the agenda for today. He just wanted to get to Desiree.
“Can’t you see that I have better things to do today? Go bug Ember or something!” shouted Jason.
The only response he got was another missile sent his way. Only this one tracked him. Reaching into his core, Jason sent out a burst of flame, exploding it before it could get too close. There had to be something he could do to end this battle sooner rather than later.
At the very least, he could get some distance between himself and Skulker. He retreated a bit, wishing that the Realms had more cover instead of being mostly open void.
And then he felt it. The stay-away feeling from the lair he’d avoided earlier. Skulker shouted something else, though Jason didn’t bother to pay attention to the words. Instead, he made his way closer to the lair. To his satisfaction, Skulker followed.
It wouldn’t do to project his own presence, so Jason pulled in on his power, keeping it coiled tightly around his core. He focused hard on not projecting any emotions. Danny taught him how to hide his presence from other ghosts in order to prank Dani who had tagged along to visit.
Now, to make Skulker really mad. Jason turned to face his attacker and stuck out his tongue and waved his hands next to his head. “Na, na, na, na, na, na!” he called.
“Whelp!” roared the other ghost as he pulled out a huge bazooka and shot several blasts.
Jason immediately turned invisible and pulled his aura in even tighter, flying away from his position as fast as possible.
Not even a moment later, a loud booming voice called out, “Who disturbs my peace?”
Jason didn’t wait to see what sort of ghost it was, he just focused on escaping. After who-knows-how-long flying, he slowed down and looked around. He couldn’t see Skulker anywhere. More cautiously, he let his aura expand again. There were some ghosts around, but none of them felt aggressive or seemed to pay him any mind.
Now he had to figure out where he was and how far off course he’d gotten. Looking around, the doors and buildings he could see all looked old. Stone walls and thatched roofs. Weathered wooden doors. So he was in the territory of older ghosts. Excellent. Though the architecture definitely looked more European than Middle Eastern.
He pushed on. No way was he going to turn back now.
After passing who knows how many lairs, he stopped for a moment to try and get his bearings. Obviously just continuing on was not going to work.
“Thine garb is unlike any I have seen,” commented a voice from behind him.
Jason spun and came face-to-face with an elderly woman who he couldn’t help but describe as matronly. Her dress was extremely old and she had a head wrap, though wisps of shadow instead of hair were just visible under the fabric.
“No, ma’am. I’m just passing through.”
“A pilgrimage? Where dost thou go?”
“I… yeah. I’m on a pilgrimage. I’m trying to find the Middle Eastern ghosts. Er… Constantinople? The Ottoman Empire?” He had no ideas what the countries would have been called back when this woman had been alive and hoped he got wasn’t completely off. “In life, I had some teachers from that area and I wanted to see if I could learn more in death.”
She nodded in understanding. “Much can be learned in death that life left no time for. But thou hast been turned around. Thine destination is not in this direction.”
“Can you direct me?”
She smiled. “Certainly.”
Though once she started explaining the path, Jason sent out a few curses to the ancients. Why couldn’t things stay still in the Realms? From their current position, he was supposed to go down until he came to a lair which was a stone tower that flew red flags. Then he had to spin in a circle clockwise five times. When he stopped, he might be facing Queen Dora’s city. In that case, he had to fly in the opposite direction.
But he might also end up facing a fortress made of black stones and guarded by skeletons. If that happened, he should go left. If he found himself facing a forest with a waterfall, he should continue straight past it.
And for each option, another half dozen instructions followed. Thank the ancients Bruce had tested him on memorizing complicated directions constantly as Robin. He wasn’t sure how else he would have found the way.
“Thank you,” he said once she had finished.
“May thine journey bring thee peace.” And she was gone.
Jason repeated her instructions, going straight down until he saw the tower with the red flags. He spun. And found himself facing a medieval European city with a black and purple dragon flying in circles over it. On her head was a golden crown: Queen Dora. He turned his back to the city and flew in the opposite direction.
It took so long to come across the next landmark he was told to look out for that he was afraid he had done something wrong. But he had no other guide, so he kept going.
And eventually he found it. And the next one. And the one after that.
And finally, he noticed a change in the architecture. The towers became more graceful. The materials they were made of changed.
“Desiree!” he called.
No one answered. He kept going.
Every so often he would call her name. He let his aura spread to see if he could sense any powerful ghosts. The few ghosts that were around disappeared as soon as they heard her name leave his mouth.
For the first time, he started to wonder if this was a bad idea.
Just when he was about to give it up and turn around, a presence made itself known.
Amusement, curiosity, entertainment surrounded him.
The mix of emotions sent a jolt of fear up his spine. It felt so similar to how The Joker would laugh when he got them in a trap. How he laughed when he laid that last trap; the glee he projected as he smashed Jason’s bones with a crowbar.
“Who calls me?” echoed a woman’s voice in the void around him.
Jason forced his back to remain straight as he faced the direction he could sense the presence in. “My name is Jason! Jason Todd and I have a wish.”
Smoke gathered before him forming into a giant woman with long black hair and bright green skin. She smiled at him; it sent shivers down Jason’s spine. “Lucky for you, wishes are my domain. What do you wish for, Jason Todd?”
If he still had a heart, it would be beating fast in his chest. As it was, he was glad he didn’t have to breathe. Far easier to hide how much he was starting to regret this journey.
But no. He needed to do this. All his reasons for being here still existed. It was far too late to turn back now. “I wish I was alive again with a healthy body and mind intact.”
“So you have wished it, so shall it be!” Desiree waved her hands and Jason was surrounded in a wave of power. It twined around him. He was spinning and wind tore at his clothes. He slammed his eyes shut as laughter echoed in the tornado. He curled up, trying to protect himself from the unrelenting power.
And then everything was silent. It was dark and he was lying on his back. He pushed up and yelped when his head hit something hard right above his head. Where was he? What was going on? He banged on the top of the box he was in.
He needed out. He pushed and screamed. Something shifted and he pushed harder. It was cold, why was it so cold? Something broke above his head and he coughed as dust fell into his mouth. He closed his eyes and mouth tight and kept pushing. The surface gave. It poured down on him, but he pushed his way up.
Nothing could keep him trapped. Never again. When had he been trapped before? Where was he? He pushed through and his hand reached the other side of whatever he’d been trapped in. He pushed more. His other hand was free. He grasped and pulled himself free.
And finally he could breathe. And see. Someone was supposed to be here. Where were they? Why hadn’t they come for him? He needed to find them. They were here. They had to be. They wouldn’t have abandoned him. Not again.
Where were they? Where Were They?!
He pulled himself up. He stumbled. He kept going. He had to find them. The person, people?, who were supposed to be here. Why weren’t they here?
He took one step after another. They were nearby. A person! Right ahead! Was that them? No. It wasn’t. They were wrong! Why were they here? He pushed them away. They weren’t supposed to be here. They weren’t the right person. He kept going.
But everyone he found was not right. Why weren’t they right? Where were they?
The world got brighter. More people came out. They still weren’t right. It got dark. Where was he? Why was everything wrong?
Another wrong person. He tried to punch them. Only this time, his fist didn’t connect. They said something. The voice was wrong. He tried to kick, but that was stopped to. More people surrounded him.
His arms were pinned back. Then his legs. He couldn’t move. Why couldn’t he move? He tried to scream. Something was shoved in his mouth. He couldn’t scream. He struggled. He needed to get free. He needed to find the right person. Where were they? Where were they?
The world went black. When it lightened again, he saw a pool of green.
Green was safe. Green meant home and peace and an end to the fighting and the fear and the pain. He struggled, needing to get to it. But he couldn’t move his arms and his legs. And people were touching him. Surrounding him. Still the wrong people.
He thrashed and tried to scream. He wanted the right people. And suddenly he could move again. The people ran away from him. But that was fine. He didn’t want them near him. His legs hurt. And walking felt strange. But he stumbled forward. He needed to get to the green.
He sunk down deep and let the green take over. He breathed it in and everything made sense. This was right. This was home. The woman who brought him here was the right person. She was green and green was peace.
But when the green faded, all he saw was red. Red all over his hands and his arms and his clothes.
And he was so, so cold.
-----
Less than a week after their date (yes Jazz, he could admit it was a date now) at Ghost Writer’s lair, Danny returned to spend more time with his boyfriend. His boyfriend.
Only… when he got there, Jason’s lair was empty and abandoned. The island was entirely gone, leaving just the door. When he opened it, a layer of dust covered everything. The kitchen was filled with moldy food. Water overflowed the blocked sink. He floated above the floor, not wanting to step in the mess. What had happened? Where was Jason? The library. He had to be there. His hand shook as he turned the doorknob.
The mess in the library was almost worse. All the books had been knocked off their shelves and lay haphazardly all over the floor—spines broken and pages torn and bent. Jason hated damaging a book.
“No. No,” he whispered. This wasn’t real. A ghost’s lair reflected their state of being. Jason was okay. He had to be.
He backed out of the library. The gym. Jason always went there when he was upset. Only the gym was empty, too. It was in just as awful of shape. The punching bag had been split and it’s sand spilled over the floor. The weights were tossed about, the floor cracked under where they’d fallen.
There was only one more room. The only room Danny had never been in before.
With shaking hands, he opened the door to Jason’s bedroom. Clothes were strewn around the floor, torn and dirty. The bed was messy, but something was glowing under the covers.
He let himself land on the floor. He needed the connection to the world. Nothing felt real. The clothes piled on the floor meant his footsteps were silent, though his breaths echoed loud in his ears. It seemed to take forever to reach the bed.
His hand shook as he reached for the blankets and pulled them back one by one. Under the last one he saw what looked like a smoldering, black coal.
Jason’s core.
“No.”
Danny instinctively took a step back. That couldn’t be Jason. It couldn’t. He didn’t know how long he stared at the burning coal. He had to move. He stepped forward again and sunk to his knees by the bed. He reached forward and gently touched the core. It was barely warm to his touch.
It should have been an inferno. Jason burned so brightly. His breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t breathe. He fell the rest of the way down, face pressed into the dirty, dusty sheets. He flared his aura.
The core felt like Jason. It was him.
Danny pushed himself up enough to cradle it gently in his hands. How could Jason be so small? He held him to his chest and curled around him. Whatever happened, he’d make it better. He’d find out who had hurt Jason and he’d make them pay.
His eyes burned and the world grew blurry as he cried, curled around Jason’s comatose form.
-----
Next
So, don't @ me about the "intact mind" thing. I will address that later in the fic. I promise it's not a plot hole!
Tag List
@britcision, @echoednonny, @adorablechaos, @letoasai, @saphjack, @emergentpanda-blog
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softstarlite · 5 months
Text
The Casualty of Love
CHAPTER 3
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Summary: He's back home. You have almost forgotten how warm his eyes were and how big your crush for him was.
Warnings: Age gap (Javi is 40 and reader is 27), mentions of grief, mention of self pleasure (f receiving), alcohol consumption, angst, both reader and Javi are horny and their thoughts show it, mention of tattoo. (Let me know if I'm missing one)
Rating: +18 (not explicit)
Word Count: 2.7k
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Masterlist
A/N:Here's the third chapter!! Finally!! I'm really sorry about the delay guys, truly. The reader is hispanic but I don't specify what kind of hispanic. I've tried to make all the Spanish sentences as neutral as I can, but they won't probably be completely be neutral, I'm from Spain, so it could show sometimes, sorry in advance. Well, feel free to tell what you thought about this chapter! (Always being kind please) I'm kind of nervous about writing smut in the future chapters (I've never done it). I specifically included the whole dancing part because I personally feel it's a big part of hispanic culture and it's not enough mention in fics where reader is indeed hispanic.
P.D: headcanons, asks and thoughts about this fic are welcome on my ask anything section ;-) <3
Dividers by @saradika
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“Pops, we are already too late!! Come on!!” Javier yells from the entrance of the house where he can't help but to look in the mirror on the wall and rearrange his shirt, doing and undoing a few buttons, debating what would you think of every option. He finally shakes his head and reminds himself that he can't think of you like that, not only you´re 13 years his junior but he also isn't good for you.
“Ya voy, mijo! (I'm coming, son!)” Chucho shouts walking down the stairs.
When Chucho arrives at the entrance of the house and sees Javi checking himself on the mirror, making sure the collar of his shirt is okay. Chucho can't help but to raise an eyebrow in disbelief.
“We're feeling cute today, mijo?” he says, holding back a chuckle.
Javier gets startled by his father´s voice, “umm, no pops, just…didn't want María to scold me about a crooked collar like she did when i was a teen” he lies quickly before his dad has more questions.
“Sure, mijo, si usted lo dice (if you say so)” Chucho comments while taking his hat and his keys and walking out to the truck.
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When they arrive to Doña Lucia´s house and they come into the backyard by the door fence on the side of the house, the first thing he sees is you, your hair down over your shoulders, your body frame by a summer dress, light blue with little daisies and thin straps, and your feet completely bare, just like when you were a kid. You hated wearing shoes as a kid, your mom and his were always behind you trying to tell you that you could hurt your feet by not wearing any but that never stopped you from going around the ranch “trying” to help Chucho with no shoes.
You´re dancing with an old lady that, if he remembers well, is Doña Esperanza; your cheeks are flushed and your mouth is curved into the most gorgeous smile he's ever seen. He can't help but freeze on the spot, making his dad crash with his backside.
“What the-? Javier!” says Chucho, balancing a bottle of whisky he had brought.
“Um?” Javier gets back to earth and turns around “Oh, sorry pops, here let me do that for you” he takes the bottle from Chucho´s hand and walks to the table where all the drinks are.
While putting the bottle down into the table, he can feel a hand on his shoulder. All of him inside shouts to the earth to swallow him, it must be another town person just wanting to talk about how proud they are that someone they know has done such amazing thing with the government and to ask how did it feel to take Escobar down; to his surprise when he turns around he finds you instead, with that smile, that could heal any illness he'll ever have, still adorning your face.
“Hey, you came!” you say with your hand still resting on his shoulder.
At first he can't find his word for a few seconds, but then he answers you “Um, yeah, wouldn't miss the free drinks and food for anything”
“Ey! Dancing is also one of the best parts of these things!” you say removing your hand from his shoulder to put up your hair into a messy ponytail; his eyes watching the action and it making him gulp.
“I haven´t been to one of this in a long fucking time” he chuckles, putting his hands into the back pockets of his tight jeans.
“Lastima (too bad), it's what i enjoy the most of this get togethers” wait, where you suggesting that you wanted to dance with him? “By the way, don't tell Doña Lucia that i told you but she keeps the really cold drink inside, if i get it she won't suspect a thing” you say suggesting that you could get him one.
“Sure, i would love a cold one with this stupid heat” he says, feeling the sweat going down his back, not sure if it was really from the heat or your mere presence.
“Well, then i'll be back in two minutes” your smile widens a little bit more before turning around and starting to walk towards the backdoor of the house.
His eyes can't help but to wander towards how your hips move when you walk away and how the dress you´re wearing hugs you ass…just before you start opening the door to go inside something, that makes his body freeze all over again, catches his attention. A tattoo on your right shoulder plate that says as clear as day, “Mi Alma” with a little heart beside it.
A chill goes through his body, you´ve tattooed his mom's name on you…
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You dry the sweat at your temple as you walk inside the house; it was empty, the AC welcoming you and cooling you a little from the Texan heat from outside and to be honest from Javi´s presence as well. In the kitchen you lean your lower back into the counter and take a deep breath.
“We made a fucking deal, I'm not 15 anymore, i can't react to him” you say softly, arguing with your own mind, if anyone would to walk in now, they would think that you´re insane.
Since you saw Javier again on that parking lot, it was like he was the very air you were breathing; he had consumed every thought you had when your hand wandered inside your underwear at night; you would catch yourself counting the minutes that were left to see him again, even when they felt like way too many, you would think of excuses to show up at Chucho´s ranch before they day that you usually do. At some point in this over a week expanse of time, you had stopped yourself mid thought of him and told to yourself that it needed to stop; you weren't 15 anymore, you were a grown woman now, you couldn't spend your days just drooling and daydreaming about a man 13 years your senior, who you were pretty sure would never look at you as more as the closest thing he ever got to a younger annoying sister.
You smooth the skirt of your summer dress down and pull yourself up from the kitchen counter, you open the fridge and feel a few of the beer bottles to see which one feels colder, when you find it, you take it out of the fridge, uncap it and prepare yourself to walk outside and be in his presence again.
As soon as the sun hits your skin again, your eyes find him immediately, but now he isn't alone like you had left him, your mom is right there beside him, talking his ear out.You make your way towards them and without interrupting your mother, you reach your hand out to offer him the cold beer; when his fingers graze yours, it makes goosebumps crawl through your upper arms and you internally scold your body for betraying you. Once your mom finishes the sentence she was saying, her gaze turns to you.
“Oh mija, le prometí un baile contigo al nieto de Doña Lucia (I promised a dance with you to Doña Lucia´s grandson)” she says, giving you that smile that you know way too well.
You groan and throw your head back “Again ma? I told you on the last barbecue, deje de intentar juntarme con hombres…(stop trying to matchmake me with men) ” you say glaring at her.
She ignores your statement “He has a little dental clinic in town, es un hombre bueno para usted (is a good man for you), he could be a good husband” she says smirking and hitting your arm with the back of her hand.
“Ma…” you warn her; by your side you see Javier hiding a chuckle by taking a sip of the beer you brought him.
“No me haga quedar mal en mis promesas (don't make me look bad on my promises)” she says sternly, putting her hand on her hips.
You groan again and give a little nod; you put up your index finger and say “Just one dance, that's it” her facial expression changes immediately into a smile and nods enthusiastically.
“Es el muchacho de allí (It's the boy over there)” she says, pointing to a man with glasses and slightly curly hair, probably a few years older than you, that's sitting in one of the wooden tables.
You turn slightly towards Javier and tell him “wish me luck” you roll your eyes and walk quickly towards the man before your mom says anything about your comment.
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Javier had watched your whole interaction with your mom in silence, feeling the need to jump into it several times to defend you and to prevent any interaction of you with any man. He now watches you dance a salsa with the unnamed man, his fist tightening around the beer bottle unintentionally.
“They would make a good couple, right?” Maria asks beside him, also watching you dance with the guy.
“Umm…don´t know, she didn't really sound interested Mia” he says back trying not to greet his teeth together.
“She could be, he's a good man, lo que ella necesita (what she needs)” she says not taking her eyes off of you and your dancing partner. The sentence makes his chest hurt, a good man…not what she would think of him if she knew even just some of the things he had done in Colombia.
“Mia…could I ask you something about her?” he says feeling like a little kid asking for a piece of chocolate.
“Claro (sure), Javiercito “ she says finally taking her gaze away from you to direct it towards him.
“I saw the tattoo…” he says, knowing he didn't need to say more.
“Si…” she says breathily looking back at you for a second “she got it done when she turned 18, when she was away in college, she came back that christmas with it done already, when i saw the ink at first, casi le grito (i almost scream at her); but then i saw what it said and all i could do was going into the bathroom and cry…” she tells him, at some point through it she unconsciously starts to caress his arm up and down, he's not sure if she's doing it to comfort him or herself.
He can only nod as an acknowledgement that he has heard her, feeling like if he opens his mouth, the only thing coming out of it would be a sob.
He's pulled out off the moment by your laughter, his gaze quickly wandering towards you. The guy you were dancing with accidentally stepped on you and he is apologizing again and again while you laugh it off and shake your head no, to let him know that it's okay.´Javi feels that if his hand gets tighter around the beer bottle, it will break, but before he could even think of doing anything about it, Maria talks again.
“Doña Lucia is calling for me, i'll see you later mijo” she gives his arm a final squeeze then takes off towards the host of the barbecue.
A minute later you're making your way back to where he is, the salsa song has finished and you were serious about only giving the guy one dance. He can see the sweat drop going from the base of your neck disappearing into the valley between your clothed breasts; he gulps the sip of beer he is taking. A few strands of your hair had fallen out of your messy ponytail, your cheeks a little more flushed from the heat than before.
“I think i'm needing one of those” you say pointing with your head to the beer in his hand.
“Well, Doña Lucia is distracted with your mom, and I need another one too, so let's go inside and get us both one, eh?” he says smirking, you just nod, look briefly towards where your mom and Doña Lucia are talking and then start walking again towards the back door of the house with Javier behind you.
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The AC welcomes you again when you step inside and you even sigh from the relief it brings to your heated body. You can feel his presence right behind you, you´re sure that if he reached one arm out just a little bit, he would get in contact with your lower back. Once you both get a beer on your hands, you climb on top of the kitchen counter, crossing your ankles together, and he leans into it beside you. For a few minutes you both just stay silent sipping your respective beers, and you can't ignore how the side of his arm grazes your thigh when he takes a sip. Javier is the one to break the silence surprisingly.
“Pops has told me that you visit the ranch often…” he says, looking at the bottle in his hand and picking at the label in it.
“Mmhmm” you say while nodding even if you know that he is not looking at you.
He then turns towards you, now leaning the side of his hip into the counter “Thanks for that, I'm sure it has made him feel less lonely when I was away…” he says to you, looking into your eyes, shaking your entire nervous system.
You shrug your shoulders “It's not a big deal, his family and I actually enjoy his company” you chuckle softly.
“Right…But anyway, thank you” he says before his body acts by itself and his free hand lifts and tucks a strand of your hair behind your ear. You freeze and your eyes widen a little bit, not expecting the sudden physical contact. He doesn't take his hand away, but rather rests it on your cheek. You both stare into each other eyes, your heart is going way too fast for it to be even healthy and when your eyes wander towards his lips, you both hear the back door of the house being open; he almost jumps away from you quickly, he is very thankful that Doña Lucia doesn't oil the hinges of the door very often.
Chucho walks into the kitchen a minute later, his eyebrows lifting since he didn't expect the both of you there.
“Muchachos, what are you doing here? The party is outside, you´re young, you should enjoy” he says walking past the both of you towards the fridge.
“Nos resguardamos del calor por un rato, viejito (we´re sheltering ourselves from the heat for a bit, old man)” you answer when you see that Javi can't handle it right now.
“It's just a little bit of heat” he says with friendly mock in his tone “ustedes jóvenes no pueden manejar nada (you youngsters can't handle anything)” he smirks and you see how much it looks like Javi´s smirk; you stick out your tongue to him and he laughs and combs his mustache with his fingers.
“Mijita, we might be needing you by the ranch soon, the peach and nectarine trees are getting too full” he tells while uncapping his own beer.
Javier keeps being quiet and it makes you worry inside of what is going inside his mind “Sure viejito, whenever you tell me” you say, giving him a soft smile.
“Gracias mija (thanks, my daughter)” he squeezes your shoulder when he walks past you “Come out when you want kids” he says while walking out of the kitchen. You wait until you hear the hinges of the back door again, indicating his full leave, to turn towards Javier, you open your mouth to address what happened before Chucho came in but before you get even a breath out, he walks out of the kitchen without a word or a glance towards you, and leaves you there, anxiety already creeping up your body.
Next chapter
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isalisewrites · 4 months
Text
TERRIBLE, BUT GREAT - CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SUMMARY:
“Harry Potter.” The cold burrowed into his flesh, the scent of cloying death and molding earth clogged his senses.
“The Boy Who Lived.”
A strange sense of loss and disappointment rose within him. That brilliant, yet cruel boy could’ve been so much more if he’d not stepped down this bloodied path.
Terrible, but great. He pitied this creature.
“Come to die.”
Harry Potter faced the flash of green light with the bravery of a Gryffindor and the broken heart of a Hufflepuff.
---
When Death gives Harry a third option, one that can save everyone he ever cared about, he takes it unflinchingly. Even when that means doing the impossible: falling in love with the enemy, Tom Riddle.
---
TWENTY-SEVEN EXCERPT:
The scars of a harsh life were branded into Harry’s very skin.
Rage boiled inside Tom. He strode towards Harry.
“Uh, Tom? What’re you—oh, fuck—”
Tom grabbed him by the upper arm and forcibly whirled Harry around. He couldn’t hear Harry’s protests or the endless string of profanity. No. He could only see the belt scars of many whippings. So many. The scars disappeared beneath the towel, hidden from view, but there was no doubt they continued downward. Some of the scars were faded with age, but a couple of them were far too recent for Tom’s taste.
“What the actual fuck, Tom?!” snapped Harry, trying to wrench away. But Tom tightened his hold, relentless and furious. He jerked Harry closer, who let out a strange, high pitched sound.
“Where did you get these?” demanded Tom.
Harry struggled, surprisingly powerful muscles flexing beneath Tom’s hand; he twisted and pulled against the hand holding his upper arm, almost managing to get away. Tom shook him lightly, wresting some of the control out of Harry’s fight; his free hand snapped out and gripped Harry by the face. His fingers pinched Harry’s cheeks.
“Who did this to you?” hissed Tom. “Tell me the name—their location.”
“Tom, stop!”
Those green eyes glimmered.
“Were these made by your parents?”
“N-no! Of course not—Tom, fuck—calm down—”
“Then, tell me who they are!” shouted Tom.
He would kill them.
Harry became frantic, squirming and jerking, but Tom wouldn’t let go. It was a violent dance, their struggle against each other, until Harry slammed into the tile wall and let out a cry of pain. His head whipped up with the beginnings of furious tears in his eyes and he glared at Tom fiercely. “They’re dead!” he cried. Tom stilled. The fight died between them and Harry sagged against the wall. “They’re already dead. They’re…” He squeezed his eyes shut.
Tom’s chest heaved and the hand pinching Harry’s cheeks loosened. His hands slowly dropped to his sides as the clouds of fury parted in his mind. Tom shook on the inside. He wanted to curse something into the oblivion, but there was nothing to curse here.
Tom met Harry’s eyes. His tears hadn’t fallen, but they still glistened, making the color glitter with the light. It reminded Tom of one beauty, the surface of the Great Black Lake as the full moon rose high above it, its waters rippling with the shimmer of moonlight. Harry shivered, drawing his hands over his arms. Droplets of water slipped down Harry’s neck over another scar - claw marks? - down his collarbone; they drew his gaze towards the burn scar there. 
Tom swallowed. “Pity,” he whispered. “I would’ve liked to have killed them myself.”
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nadiawritessomething · 9 months
Text
Headcanon time
(long text below)
Do you know what 1610 Miles and 42 Miles would have the most misunderstandings and quarrels about? Even putting aside the concept of morality, rules of life, and intra-family conflicts?
The attitude to money.
They ended up in completely different financial situations. Because Jefferson, the third man in the family, earns money for them.
Or, in the case of 42, he did.
And it's not that Rio and Miles have become incredibly poor, no. They have a home, they have food, they have clothes, and they have sleep.
But they're not rich, not even just people with enough money... I simply don't think so. Yes, Rio works hard, and Miles does the best he can, but don't tell me that in a world as cruel as Earth 42, the conditions for workers are not uncomfortable and the pay is not insignificant.
Therefore, a family that is left on the shoulders of two people and one uncle cannot help but have a problem with finances.
Bills for gas, electricity, water, the terror of the city, a large square pilgrimage that they do not want to lose.
And a job that pays a fraction of what it would in any other universe.
I mean, Uncle Aaron brings them money, of course, even more than they ask for sometimes, but they can't rely on him alone. It will never be enough.
That's why Miles G. himself simply prefers to call himself... frugal.
While Miles 1610 has never had any problems with money.
In terms of, yes, he's not rich either, but none of their family seems to have any lack of money.
Miles easily wears comfortable clothes, and before entering the academy he went to a good school, buys quality things and, believe me, often has pocket money with him.
That's why he can't understand his doppelganger when he looks at this ordinary medium-sized Coca-Cola jar and says "It's expensive"
And oh, it's not the first time and it won't be the last time they'll quarrel over how differently they see the same prices on a price tag.
Because for this incomprehensible person, absolutely everything that Miles 1610 wants to buy in the store seems to be "expensive".
He doesn't even accept gifts that people have been trying to shove into his hands for a very long time, justifying it by saying that "I can't just take something you spent your money on."
And he stands on it like flint. Even if it's a statuette, a dress for his mother, a new set of paint cans, or a blank sketchbook.
Miles sees that 42 wants to take it all, but still refuses.
Because he wasn't the one who bought it.
Even if it was bought for him.
And no, Miles 1610 himself can buy everything in the store, but Miles 42 will never buy anything that costs more than a simple pencil. If it is more expensive, he buys it for his mom. Or his uncle. But not for himself.
"Money's not made of rubber, stupid," he says as they walk between the supermarket shelves and pick up a snack for their short walk.
Miles 1610 has never been afraid to spend money, especially if his parents personally authorize it, but he thinks it's unfair for the two of them to have food from different price points.
And so he sighed as he passed the shelves of his favorite donuts, chips, sugary drinks, and snacks. They weren't expensive, and hell, Miles was sure of it. They weren't expensive at all.
But his doppelganger still dismissed each of these options with a shake of his head and a "Do you see this price, idiot?" and, in shorter form, "Dude, money" and "Expensive"
There's that "expensive" again, it's just impossible to negotiate with him when it comes to this particular word. That's the only reason they move on.
And finally they reach the section with prepared food. The most horrible prepared food Miles 1610 has ever seen in his life.
And even here, 42 looks at the price tags skeptically. To finally reach down and grab a package of cut up potatoes.
It's not chips, Miles is sure, the last thing it looks like is chips.
But his doppelganger seems to be more than satisfied with this option
Not Miles himself, that's for sure.
"Hey, are you seriously going to buy this?" he shouts out in indignation, looking at the package.
"Yeah." Miles 42 shrugs his shoulders steadfastly, "What's wrong with it?
"Everything is wrong with it!" he quickly dissects, not letting go of the topic "We could have easily bought two packets of chips on the shelves over there, further on... " here he points towards the shelves with his favorite 'Springles'.
After that, he reaches into his pocket, where his pocket money is safe and sound - a whole pile of gold coins and a few more bills. Mom and dad knew that he would not be walking alone tonight.
Miles G., on the other hand, doesn't seem to have any love for this type of chips, frowning in this direction.
"I told you that money is not infinite," he replies dryly, "It's always better to save the rest for the future."
1610 Mild knows perfectly well that his pockets are completely empty, but he acts as if he has thousands worth saving.
As always: clear, fast, ironclad in his convictions.
Okay, then we need to move on to another part of the defense.
"And how are you going to eat this..." he snaps, looking at the package again, "...whatever it is?"
"Calm down," Miles G. says, "My mom and I once made a great pasta from a similar brand of ready-made food." He catches Miles' confused look and explains, "We have our own at home, almost identical."
"Just say you're a cheapskate," Miles snaps back, but gives in and takes the second package from the very bottom shelf.
With this (ironically) small load, they make their way to the checkout. Miles 1610 is sullen and angry at this strange double. Miles 42 seems completely satisfied with his victory.
"You just don't know how much it really costs." he finally replies, punching in the purchase. "I'm just frugal."
"Frugal, of course," Miles 1610 snorts to himself.
What he doesn't know is that just a few bags of that stupid pasta cost the same as paying his mom's alternative version for one shift.
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moon-tells-stories · 3 months
Text
Dear diary, i’m an idiot
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Connor Stoll x gn ready
Part two of Heart Problems
Connor is completely in love with you, here is the embarrassing tale of how the new Apollo kid realised it.
~~
Remy wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.
Why?!?! WHY WHY WHY??!?
Honestly at this point they deserved the “most likely to find themselves in awkward situations award”
Their father was the god of prophecy so why couldn’t he sometimes send Remy some sort of sign like: “hey! you shouldn’t do that!if you do you’ll find yourself in awkward situation, my dear!”
Could all of this even be considered an awkward situation?
What do you call it when you ask your crush’s love to set you up with him?????
Remy really really just wanted to hide themselves under their blankets and never come out.
~~
Remy’s demise started when they found out that their father was actually a god. Their life completely turned upside down and they found themselves in a strange camp for demigods.
The first two day were spent in the Hermes cabin waiting for their father to claim them.
It was there that everything started going to shit.
Honestly at first it wasn’t so bad, Remy had finally found a place with people like them, that didn’t judge them or made fun of them.
Plus, the counsellor of cabin 11 was quite hot.
Connor seemed like a nice guy, obliviously without counting his mischievous eyes that made Remy think he had stole their wallet at first.
(he didn’t, but his younger brother did)
From what Remy had gathered he was the typical son of Hermes, with a pendant for trouble and great lying and stealing abilities.
As the counsellor of the Hermes cabin however Connor knew how to make people feel welcomed, he showed Remy around camp, introduced them to the rest of the Hermes kids, he taught them how to use a sword and reassured them that their father would soon claim them.
Remy couldn’t help it, he was cute, with his beautiful blue eyes and pretty brown curls.
They spent those two days hoping, praying, begging that their father wouldn’t be Hermes so that they wouldn’t be related.
Thankfully on the third day Apollo claimed them and they soon joined cabin 7 and met their siblings.
With the possibility of being related to Connor gone, Remy decided to shoot their shot. (like a true kid of the god of archery)
The problem was that while being generally friendly, Connor still seemed to prefer to stay with his friends, so every time Remy tried to talk to him he would simply joke around a bit but never really go into deeper conversation topics.
Remy’s new brother Will told them not to take it to heart, that Connor was simply a bit of a reserved person, he liked to joke around and talk to people but it took him a while to fully trust them and get close to them.
So, Remy created a perfect foolproof plan.
Said foolproof plan was the worst idea they’ve ever had. Damn them and their stupid crush.
Connor was close to most of the oldest campers, among whom were his brother Travis and his best friend.
Remy absolutely refused to ask Connor’s brother, it would just be extremely embarrassing, so they decided that his best friend was the best option.
(wrong.
completely and absolutely wrong.)
But in Remy’s defence how were they supposed to know?????
You seemed kind and when Remy asked you to help them with Connor you didn’t seem to mind.
(if only they had noticed the strange look in your eyes)
You promised Remy to try and help them, telling them a few things about Connor and offering to rely a message to him. Remy had thanked you profusely and felt warmed by your kindness.
In the end however Connor didn’t come to the offered meeting, obliviously it had hurt a little but after all he didn’t own Remy anything and they weren’t going to be an asshole about the rejection.
They thanked you for your help dismissing your apologies because it wasn’t your fault either, feelings can’t be controlled after all.
Then they went on with their life like normal, after all it was just a little crush, Remy didn’t even know Connor that well, so after around a week they were fully over it.
The revelation arrived after a particularly draining day spent helping Will in the infirmary.
Will was finishing putting away some bandages while Remy waited for him, Will turned towards them with a smile.
“So, what do you think about your first month at camp? Did you make some friends?” their brother asked them with a curious and caring expression.
Remy shrugged with a smile “it was nice, i met lots of kind people” they started recounting to their brother a few names and episodes that happened during the month, when your name came up Will sent them a confused look “really? how did you meet them?”
Remy felt a bit embarrassed but decided that it’s not really something to be conscious about, it’s normal to have crushes and even more normal for them to not always be returned.
“I had a crush on Connor and asked them to try and set us up” they laughed a bit awkwardly “it didn’t end the way i wanted but they were very kind and nice about it”
Will looked absolutely horrified.
Remy started feeling a bit worried when he breathlessly asked “sorry?”
Remy shrugged trying to play it off “yeah, it’s whatever really, i guess he didn’t return my feelings, it’s fine, it was just a crush” they say genuinely, but Will cringes.
“oh gods- you asked them to set you up with Connor?” he asks looking as if he wants to either laugh hysterically or face palm.
Remy shrugs “pretty much, was that wrong?” they ask self consciously, Will shakes his head softly with an embarrassed smile.
“No, it’s just-“ he takes a breath “Remy, Connor is in love with them.”
Remy just wants the ground to swallow them up.
How in the gods’s names do they always find themselves in such awkward situations?!??!
Sure, the rejection had hurt, but- how will have Connor felt? The person he apparently loves just tried to set him up with someone else.
Remy really really did not mean for things to get like this.
~~
Remy understood the true extent of their idiocy at the camp fire.
Connor was sitting next to you as you conversed happily with Annabeth Chase.
And gods, that look.
Remy had always been a romantic at heart, they loved to watch romance dramas and daydream about meeting the perfect person for them.
Watching Connor look at you as if you had hung all the stars in the sky made Remy squeal with joy, whatever slight hurt they might have felt at the rejection had been completely forgotten because it was so oblivious that he was absolutely and totally in love with you that Remy couldn’t even feel bitter about being rejected.
They just wish you would simply notice too and finally get together because from what Will had told them, you and Connor had been in love for years.
The entire camp was just waiting for you to notice as well.
~~
Dear diary,
This first month in camp half-blood has really been something.
A lot of things have happened, i finally know who my father is and i even have some siblings now!
I’ve made lots of friends here, and i’m pretty sure that a cute guy from Demeter cabin is flirting with me :)
Before i can however relax and fully enjoy my new life here, i need to complete a mission that i have personally assigned to myself.
Perhaps i’m not a child of Aphrodite but i’ve watched enough dramas and telenovelas to be able to complete this personal mission.
My attempt at getting together with the cute counsellor of cabin 11 failed miserably, but it’s fine because i decided that this time i will be the one doing the setting up part.
My personal mission this summer, is to help Connor Stoll get together with the one he loves.
PS: second personal mission is to not get into other awkward situations- Remy’s embarrassing era has come to an end, long live Remy’s love guru era.
-Remy
~~
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yunomagic · 1 year
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What if: sonic sacrifices himself in sonic the hedgehog 3 instead of shadow?
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Okay so before we start this, a key thing i want ppl to remember is that movie sonic is incredibly selfless. Like, when tails got hurt for the first time he immediately jumped straight into danger and refused to accept help from his parents and was also willing to DIE for them in exchange for the safety. No questions asked. Hes rlly just too selfless for his own good, and i imagine that quality carries over to sonic the hedgehog 3
ALSO this is gonna be more based on headcanon cuz, the movie is in two years by the time yall are reading this so yeah dont take my word for it. Do what you will with the following scenario and information. Anyways here we go:
First of all, sonic and shadow are probably going to have an interesting dynamic in the third film. Mainly because of their experience with grief and familial loss. Sonic lost someone who was like a mother to him, shadow lost someone who was like a sister to him. They both failed to save the women that played an important part in their lives and were heavily traumatized by their deaths. How the two hedgehogs deal with their grief is where their paths diverge a little.
Sonic spent ten years living in isolation, being afraid of himself and what people will think of him if he revealed himself to the world. And possibly beat himself up so many times for failing to save longclaw, while trying to make her proud by becoming a hero on the streets. Shadow on the other hand suffered from manipulation under gerald robotnik, who forced him to become humanity’s final destruction, although he was created to help it. And instead of beating himself up, shadow became filled with rage and unspeakable hurt. He found it easier to blame humanity for the death of maria and uses his anger as a driving force for revenge. Which undoubtedly, is a more dangerous path of grief he chose to walk on.
Thus, the two hedgehogs are foils, two sides of the same coin. They arent too dissimilar to each other, especially in the roots of their pasts. They learn that there’s more to the other than just looking like each other. Unfortunately, due to drastic circumstances, one of them is going to relive through their trauma of losing someone all over again, and dealing with that same feeling of loss and self-blame.
Everyone knows how SA2 ends, shadow sacrifices himself to save humanity and dies while doing so. But if the film wants to do something different, (and give everyone a huge punch in the gut), they’re going to twist that fate in some way.
Its already in the title but i still propose it: what if sonic was the one who sacrifices himself instead?
Its the final hour, the bio lizard has been defeated, but the ark is still falling down to earth. Running out of time, shadow blurts out the idea that hes going to use the power of the chaos emeralds to push back the ark into orbit, maybe he can save humanity. Sonic, is dumbfounded, shadow is going to die and he knows it. Shadow knows it too, but what other options are there?
Panicking, sonic defaults to HIS way of solving problems. Talking it out. Fast.
“You can’t just throw away your life like it has no meaning! You— You don’t have to use all that power. You can stay with us back on Earth! You can— you can have a life there! Just like you and Maria would’ve wanted!”
Shadow of course is insistent that this is his destiny. His fate. If hes destined to be the last hope to save humanity, then itd be fitting if he were to die. Sonic is still frightened and restless, he’s getting a familiar itch in his throat and a familiar heaviness in his chest. The same feeling he felt years ago, when he was a small, helpless child.
No. Hes NOT going to lose someone to the same fate again.
“You made a promise to Maria, to keep everyone happy right?”
Shadow glances at sonic, eyes widened, knowingly.
“That includes you too shadow.”
“Are you crazy?! If you do that then—“
“I wont be able to go back home to my parents and my brothers, or the townspeople of Green Hills. I know. But they survived long enough even before i came into their life. They need someone who can keep them happy.”
Shadow too, gets the familiar itch in his throat, the familiar tightness in his chest. Fear. Panic. Memories resurfacing. A parallel of maria shines through sonic’s selfless attitude.
“…and that someone is you, shadow.”
“Sonic—“
Sonic shoves shadow away with as much force as he could. A wistful smile present on his muzzle, along with a sorrowful glaze in his eyes. Shadow, with a raised voice, stretches out his hand. Hes trying to reach for sonic.
The blue blur has more experience with the chaos emeralds than shadow does. Making this sacrifice should be easy. If it werent for the grief-stricken ebony hedgehog reaching out behind him. For one last send off, sonic and shadow’s eyes meet for the last time.
Its crazy how they thought so lowly of each other when they first met, and nearly tried to kill each other. But the more time they spent, the more did the hedgehogs realize how much the other is truly worth, and how much respect they hold for one another. Its a shame they wont get to spend more time together back on earth.
A damn shame. But humanity needed a fresh sacrifice.
One pair of eyes, plaintive yet noble, another pair of eyes, staggered and fearful, stare at each other, for one millisecond.
Sonic raises his hand, not to reach back out to shadow. But to wave. Wave goodbye.
“Please… keep them happy for me, okay? Promise me. You’ll protect my family.”
Shadow cant hold back his apprehension any longer. Fruitlessly calling out to sonic for him to come back. To not go away. To not throw HIS life away like it had no meaning. Of course, it falls on deaf ears, and two voices say at once:
“Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog…”
Followed by a yell of chaos control, a blinding light, a futile chase for a falling body, and no recollection of being sent back onto the ark. To be greeted by an array of faces. All grief-stricken, mournful, sullen, and unreadable.
Shadow, in spite of his own grief and his own recollection of his past trauma. Does his best to comfort sonic’s brothers. He’ll attempt to do the same to his parents back on earth.
A couple months have passed by then, and shadow has learned from his past mistakes. Right now, he wont go down the path of revenge and go guns blazing in the streets again. Right now, he has a promise to keep. A promise to her, and a promise to him. Of course, thered be times where he wonders and hopes that hes doing enough to keep humanity, the people of green hills, and sonic’s family happy. Hes trying his best, and he’ll keep on trying no matter what.
Shadow sometimes fantasizes about a scenario where sonic lived, and the blue blur shows him around green hills. Rambling non-stop with that annoying (yet kind of endearing) voice of his, maintaining that same charm. Cracking jokes shadow cant understand, showing him technology and culture shadow has to learn. It wouldve been… nice to still have him around. It really wouldve been. He wishes it so.
Tails and knuckles are starting to warm up to the ultimate life form, and the wachowski’s appreciate shadow’s efforts in helping humanity. Understanding that he has no intentions of replacing their son, and cherish everything the ebony hedgehog does to honor green hills’ fallen blue devil.
And even shadow knows that the world is filled with cruelty and sorrow. Yet it was the world that maria wanted to live in, and it was the world that sonic chose to fight for and protect. There’s a lot of awful, sad things in the world. But there are still things, people, worth protecting.
There’s a promise.
Shadow will remember it.
Shadow will never forget it.
And that is why…
He will keep fighting.
(If things are messy sorry ill edit it when i get back from canada which is tomorrow lol-)
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jeannefostergoriot · 3 days
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The Prophecy x Sophie Foster
(How that, it’s my third analysis of the day?)
« Hand on the throttle, thought I caught lightning in a bottle »: she literally caught starlight as one of her first accomplishments. And then unending fire. Lightning here as a symbol of power. Fire as the fact that she is right.
« Oh, but it’s gone again »: but no one ever let her decide, she always have opposition, whether it’s the Council, the Black Swan, her bodyguards, even her friends, she has to argue. Power never stays hers.
« And it was written, I got cursed as Eve got bitten »: all her life was thought before her, her wars exists before her. She’s cursed from beginning to end.
« Oh, was it punishment? Pad around when I got home » is how she feels after every defeat, after every time she couldn’t keep things from going bad, every time Keefe left.
« I guess a lesser woman would’ve lost hope »: she is still a fighter. As of the end of Unlocked and Stellarlune, we see that awakening, and she starts to take pride in it.
« A greater woman wouldn’t beg »: she has yet no trust in herself. Almost no confidence. She isn’t as great as she could, thinks she.
« But I looked at the sky and said »: through the panakes branches, Sophie is looking at the sky every night, and she is begging.
« Please, I’ve been on my knees, change the prophecy »: everyday wishing, waiting for a change, hoping it could be easy for once.
« Don’t want money, just someone who wants my company » *look to Keefe*. And it’s not just someone, it’s peace, she wants peace by her side.
« Let it once be me… »: let her be just a normal teenager. She deserves it.
« Who do I have to speak to, about if they can redo, the prophecy? »: she’d bargain for so long. If she just knew who to address. She’d bargain for everything and if she’d get a rebuttal for peace for herself, she’d ask for her friends…
« Cards on the table, mine play out like fools in a fable, oh » is about how she’s feeling about the fact that the Neverseen always seem so much further in their plans and their attacks. Like they always know what Sophie will do next.
« It was sinking in, slow in the quicksand »: the progressive realization over the four first books that she has, not only a whole world to discover, but secret organizations to deal with. And in background the fact she actually has to *stop* one.
(Also, yes, I thought of the access to Atlantis and the cover of book 6)
« Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand »: post Neverseen, post Unlocked. Even more Unlocked. Cause Keefe ran away, refused to stay, to be helped, and even if it’s not treason this time, it hurts. And she doesn’t know who to trust. She doesn’t know who she loves. She doesn’t know who she is.
« Oh still I dream of him ». Sophie, if you ever get sleep, we all know Runaway Boy is in your dreams.
« And I sound like an infant »: she prays, she hopes, she doesn’t want this place. But she gets remorse from this, calls herself an infant who has to grow up and stop complaining.
« Feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen »: she’s alone. The story can’t continue without her, the ink has to be used, but she is terribly lonely and vulnerable. The last on Earth able to do something.
« A greater woman stays cool, but I howl like a wolf to the moon »: Sophie is over-achieving and going to burnout. That’s pretty clear. She has that idea in her mind of the greater woman she has to be. But she’s here, crying, praying, trying to go on, having panic attacks, insomnia, anxiety.
« And I look unstable ». She often looks very tired, it’s said multiple times. Also, at the beginning of Stellarlune, everyone looks at her like she’s crazy for the storehouse fire.
« Gathered with a coven at a sorceress’ table »: her coven is her friends, her team, all around her, doing planes. And the sorceress table is that magic thing Mr Forkle showed us with different views of places and options.
« A greater woman as faith, but even statues crumble »: that’s when she will realize she can actually be enough.
« If they’re made to wait »: and that’s the reason she starts burning. Fighting. Attacking. Cause she doesn’t want to crumble anymore.
« I’m so afraid I sealed my fate ». Sophie is thinking that constantly, about every decision she makes, wondering which one could be fatal.
« No sign of soulmates »: cause she’s unmatchable
« I’m just a paperweight »: useful, a little, but a weight, how she thinks.
« Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it’ll be ok »: she needs so much to hear it. And it’s not said enough in this series.
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spaceless-vacuum · 10 months
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YESS I saw your requests open and I had to ask this
Can I have yandere playtonic ganondorf's x CHILD mute reader
Like the the little girl if From abuse family but falls into Link universe and see the all the ganondorf and is in aww cuz she likes them and is her favorite character. And like a duckling she fallows them. And the links find out about her and she quick runs blowing her wishlist for her dad's help cuz scary links are here and trying to take her away.
( I am mute and I really like gagon a lot it was hard to choose but I always use him as a father role model I don't know why
Fron mute sand 🦭 Anon
The blessings of the goddesses came in all different shapes and sizes. Many could not feel their energies still laying in the earth waiting for someone to wake it. Maybe it was because of his dark descent into madness in his past lives. It was possible that after all these years all that time spent with the triforce of power had granted him power even without it being with him. Whenever he felt useless or like it was all over he made the trip to find what it was that he had lost.
At that time he had been granted passage back to his homeland. Many people had ignored him as he boarded the ship and made his way across the waves. It was the rebirth. The waking up knowing who he was and what he would have to do was weighing heavy on him. It had been  such a long time since he last woke up he was unsure of what to do. A couple of months ago he had landed on these shores and now he had to find a place to settle and take control.
The people could complain all they wanted but there were bigger issues to work on. There were always things to complain about here. There was always something to do. The work here was never over.
Din’s blessing was an unusual one. She offered him the power to never have to fight alone. The minions of darkness are the first many seem to think of when they imagine him summoning his forces. These were the foes people tended to think of when he asked for aid. They were a problem. Not things you wanted to deal with often or at all if you could help it. It would not be happening here. Not until everything was settled and there were no other options. They were the last ones to answer his calls.
The second are the foul sorcerers who roam the land. Those who are always looking for an ounce of power they can reach for no matter how high the cost. A few joined him because there was no other option. As walls were torn down and the days of reckoning here the god king left few alive in his wake and many felt that they had no other choice. Everyone has a price.
The third, as all things rotten and blessed come in three, are his warriors. The homelands' shores rest far from Hyrule and he longs for the days where his army full of warriors ready to follow any order stood proudly as he raised the order to go across the great sea to leave his mark on the lands of Hyrule. Gerudo woman were proud and stubborn. Getting them over to his side meant working his way back to the top and reminding everyone why he was the one in charge of it all in the first place.
A challenge but a welcome one. The years of fighting and torment had left a stain on the political landscape. He was well versed in it but right now it was something to tread lightly into. As it stands- he is alone- on the banks of an oasis. The cold howling wind picked sand up and threw it against this exposed skin. Thoughts of who will hear his call and come over throw themselves in the air and are picked up along with the wind. Until all that is left is the cold. Cold and uncaring.
Ganondorf hesitates for a moment. The thought that a wizard like Vatti might show up instead of anyone helpful would be a nasty surprise. He had only so much patience to spare. He had nothing to offer anyone right now. His taste had been worn down since he crossed the sea. Not all the minions of darkness could recognize their old master's new form. His control over them would not show unless he lost himself to the curse. There were no plans to do that anytime soon. Yet it had its benefits. He found that the sands were more troublesome than he last remembered. 
A claw from some creature had caught his leg in an ambush. The wound did not look to be infected. The blood had stopped but he knew he had to go get it looked at soon or else it would only get worse. It burned and some sand had gotten into it already. He was hoping for a lone rider who would show up with supplies. Even a blobokin would be ok. They at least would have supplies back at their camp. Even a kind vai could be convinced to share some information on where the nearest town was.
It’s not like he was on the run. He just didn't want to be seen. To announce his presence would give his enemies the time to prepare against him. If people started to talk then it wouldn't be long before word spread and these conditions were not ideal. He was hoping to find a good foothold to settle into before grabbing at his power. This way no one could try to stop him until it was already too late. That and he needed to rest and figure out just what was going on in his own country before trying to do anything more. That and the need to survive in the rough desert was already taking the toll on him; and who knew when his help would arrive. In many instances it wasn't something that worked within his understanding.
“Let's get this done.” Ganondorf stood up from the water and walked to his right back down the path, meaning to continue his journey. Whatever help would come would show up when the gods intended it to. It was then he saw the shadow.
Slowly making its way up the path they walked slowly as if wounded or exhausted. They were short, at best they were an older kid but there was no easy way to tell. The sun had burnt them surly and they looked miserable as they made their descent to the meagre watering hole that could hardly be called an oasis. The person took their time to approach. Looking down until they finally managed to lift their head and wave hello to the stranger.
One heavy leg in front of another you walked alone through the desert for who knows how long before making it here, to the only oasis in miles. This was not the safest place to be either. The source of water here was small and prone to drying up and was not settled by. Only a few days north was a town which was by a river. It was still a few days away but it made all the difference in the world to be able to stop here first. All it took was one look. He knew there was no way this kid would survive on their own. Hell, he had been in their shoes before. Fighting to survive in a world that he would make his own one way or another. He never stopped fighting and that was his issue; but who would fight for you? You were a child and could not understand the world and all the pain it could bring.
They rubbed their eyes and stared at him as he approached. Ganondorf hoped he wasn't too imposing. He was taller than most and tended to scare others when he approached. YOu were either too tired to care or couldn't even notice the possible danger due to your own weariness. His own supplies were short but not so much that he couldn't offer help. He knelt down in front of you to cut down on the scare factor. You were a kid. He hadn't seen another person for a few hours now. Who left you here on your own?
“Are you ok little one?” You nodded, and then hesitated a moment. Looking around at the sand in front of you, around you, and behind you. You then looked back at him and shook your head; letting out a sigh you stood there awkwardly. Not sure what to do to convey what you needed or wanted to someone new. Ganondorf stood up and thought about this for a moment. He was already so sure that you would be by his side from now on, he didn't need to think twice about it; but he had just used his saving grace just a moment ago. This was such a sheer coincidence that it could only be called divine intervention. He asked for a miracle and one was given. 
You were to be raised by him. That much was already decided. If there was anything ou needed he would get it for you. The whole world would fall if only to bring a smile to your face. He'd drag the moon out of orbit if it would keep you happy. He had to change course. The nearest town was not that far away. It was better than out here and from there the two of you could charter a boat and move to the capitol.  It was alright if you didn't know what was going on. He would raise you as his own and have you by his side while he ruled.
Ganondorf stood back up and smiled at you before handing you his canteen. He had just filled it up and would gladly do so again before heading back out. You needed it more than him.
“How long have you been wandering alone?” He looked behind you for a glimpse of someone else, a family member or retainer, anyone he could sink his teeth into to vent his anger. No child should be left alone, especially not in a place like this. Did they not understand how dangerous it could be? He watched you shug and it seemed like you were alone this whole time. He could only hope that the people who left you were on their way to meet their end on their own. It was only fitting. 
The idea of raising a kid again was exciting. Some of his best days were when he was working as a father and taking on the role of responsibility. He was always happiest when surrounded by a family. Even if he did seem grumpy he had a good heart. You two made it to the small amount of water and you handed the canteen back to him, it was now empty. He filled it back up in the water and tilted the lid so you could see inside.
“Look here. This is the canteen's water filter. It's so you don't have to worry about how clean the source is. Just replace it when it stops working and make sure to always clean what you're drinking, ok?.” You nod and he stands up. Happy to be able to pass along information on how to live here. You may not be gerudo but that's ok. They'll happily take you in as his kid just as he has. He chuckles. You're such a sweet kid he feels blessed to have you here. He now knows what he has to do. He can do the math about a lost kid and a warrior who needs someone to mentor. Walking away from the oasis and to the north he explains things about living here.
Don't travel during midday or midnight. It gets too hot or too cold and you have to shift focus on surviving rather than making progress. He talks about the towns and where they're located. He knows how to hunt game and can prepare food for the two of you; but he curses himself for not bringing more supplies. He likes to travel light but with you around it makes him realise that he should have been more prepared. He wasn't expecting you to show up but the gods always give you what you need and not what you want.
Ganon starts to relax as a few hours pass and he realises you're not going anywhere. Not that you'd be able to make it on your own but it takes a weight off of his shoulders to know that you'll stay by his side. It's too dangerous to wander off. In a day or two you'll be both behind walls safe and tucked away. Until then it will be rough travel. He continues to teach you the basics. Explaining and pointing things out to help you understand the area. The idea of you being able to run off on your own makes him just about as angry as he's ever been but he has to accept that in a climate like this not giving someone the knowledge they need to survive is a death sentence. This is also a good way for him to scare you into staying by his side. You can't leave if you're too scared of what's out there.
He starts to talk about monsters and avoids telling any stories that will give you nightmares, but does stress how dangerous it is, even on the roads. His leg is still wounded but it's nothing noticeable but you blanch at seeing it and he warns you to always stay by his side so he can care for you.
“You're there for me and I will be here for you. I have people to lead and plans to fulfil, but I will make sure you have a life here alongside the one I have planned. I swear that.”
. . .
“Please tell me why we have to come out this far?” Wind was the most miserable out of all of them, even Time had left all of his armour in favour of cooler clothes but the pirate was not used to the desert or heat like this. He hadn't stopped complaining since they entered the desert. At first he seemed more open to the idea of something new. Excited to explore a region he had never seen before. Now he was regretting ever travelling with the group in the first place. He was drenched in sweat and was the second most miserable person here.
“I don't know, I wasn't the one who opened the portal in the first place!” Legend said, snark evident in his tone. He had been the one to call for everyone to run after the darkness in the first palace. They hadn't seen any enemies for a few hours at this point and the only point of respite had been a small pool of water no bigger than a pond. It was starting to dry out but it was water. They needed that. It was deep enough to splash onto their faces to help cool off. That was all that mattered.
“Be serious you two.” Sky mumbled. He was either handling the heat well or too out of it to focus, it was hard to tell as the look on his face was always a bit distant. This heat was getting to everyone. Maybe some less than others but it was hard to tell.
“I am serious.” legend bit back. This morning he was snarky but not like this. The heat made him rude. More so than usual. Everyone's tensions were high but he placed a few of them through the rough.
“Be quiet there might be molduga around.” Wild said, he was holding his slate and staring at the screen. There was nothing but static on the map section but he seemed to not be giving up hope as they were by his home last.
“If your slates are not working it's not your Hyrule.” Time muttered.
“Sure, but are we so sure they don't exist elsewhere.” Wild countered, not yet convinced that they were safe to be making so much noise.
“I never saw one.” Hyrule spoke up. He was something of an expert on monsters having faced so many, but even his knowledge had limits and being sent through time seemed to test his skills more than anything. This fact seemed to dawn on him and he corrected himself a moment later. “I've never actually been to a desert this big so I don't think I would ever have had a chance to see one. Ignore that last statement.”
“So do we need to find a map or should one of us scout ahead and see what’s waiting at the end of this road?” Warrior finally spoke up. He had ditched the scarf and most of his armour to avoid the heat but was not yet convinced they were safe enough to let their guard down. They hadn't seen Dink since they went through the portal and there wasn't much room for him to run. He was either following them, safe and sound somewhere they missed, or had opened another portal and left them out to dry stranded in the desert with no hope of help left to be sucked dry if they didn't find a way out. That didnt mean Warrior felt safe enough to take his leathers off.
“No way to get a map without a town.” Sky pointed out. Stumped, they all had only one choice, and that was to keep walking. The road had to lead somewhere and there must be a friendly face or at least half friendly for them to talk to.
. . .
Don't talk to strangers. Be in bed before dark. Don't go anywhere without telling me where and why. Dont journey outside of the town's limits. Kill anyone who gets too close to you. You counted all the rules you were breaking in your head as you broke them. There were quite a few but you knew them all by heart by now. You had no idea why you had decided to sneak out at night and make your way down the road. There weren't any monsters to fight and all was peaceful. There was nothing for you to expect out here. Not that fighting was why you left, it was just getting to be so boring cooped up in the town all day and night. Gandad, a nickname that had earned a chuckle before, was never harsh or cruel. He just wanted to avoid you getting hurt. He was aware of your unique situation because you were not only an outlander, but an outworlder. 
You followed him around everywhere and earned yourself the nickname of duck or duckling. If anyone needed to know where you were it was about three feet behind Ganon. You often found yourself tucked into his coat falling asleep while he talked or did his work. He had a kingdom to establish and run but not everything was as right as rain. There was always something he had to get done and more often than not he was busy. He never minded bringing you into meetings and no one ever argued or said anything against it. You were considered his child and as such was treated as one of the clan.
You never spoke but you didn't need to. The people here understood sign language and you had gotten verbal cards with simple phrases written on them when you were out and about. That was when you were alone. Ganondorf spoke for you most of the time. He’d gotten used to how you acted and was able to understand you just fine. He has joked around and said he had a connection with a certain silent hero and was used to being able to read emotions off of someone to understand them. He had always danced around the subject of Link, but he always spoke about him quietly and in a low voice. As if he could hear him from even this far away.
The stress of knowing that Zelda or Link could find out about him being alive again at any point must wear on his nerves. He lessened his worries by diving head first into work and making sure there were less ticking bombs around. Checking in on his people and finding out what they needed and how to strengthen them was his first and topmost priority; and you were included in his family now. Which meant making sure you were ok was also the most important thing. Ganondorf was genuinely a good father. A proud dad who loved to spend quality time with you. Even when you broke the rules he was never harsh or mean. He could never raise his voice or yell which put you at ease. The rules were there for a reason and he was worried about you all of the time. A cold fear that he may one day lose you.
The road was stretched out into the distance. All was quiet. There was nothing outside and the air was filled only with the sound of wind and bigs. That was until a new noise joined the march. Something low and angry. A group was silhouetted against the sky. You couldn't tell what they were or how many. It could be travellers. Passersby who were simply heading into town. It could also be a group of monsters! Ready to attack anyone unlucky enough to bump into them on the road. Your hand went to the dagger at your hip. Ready to defend yourself should any trouble start. Dad had always stressed that you were not to be around strangers or to go out far enough to encounter monsters. 
You were not good with a dagger but you could handle it well enough. Dad had enjoyed teaching you to defend yourself and was always proud when you picked up a weapon. He would never allow you to fight but he was a warrior himself and loved passing the practice down. Truth be told you were better at hand to hand combat but that would not help if the group travelling were monsters. It all depended on who was there ahead of you.
You recalled the meeting this morning. A group of gerudo warriors had come in and said that they were having more troubles with the group of local lizalfos. It was not uncommon for them to fight with the woman here with dad around he should be able to talk with them. No one wanted them near the town; and collecting them into his army would only mean more mouths to feed. Enlisting them was better than sending a platoon to wipe them out however. The monsters aren't always good to have around but they aren't always bad either. The ethics of the situations and how far he can stretch his powers were up for debate and talked about into the later hours of the day.
You knew that it had to be something related to that so you carefully took your hand off of your weapon to make sure you were less of a threat to either the soldiers or the hopefully more friendly monsters and kept walking forward. You ran over the items you brought along and stopped on a whistle that Ganon gave you. He told you to use it if you were ever in danger and you hadn't had to yet but you wanted to be safe. Something told you that dad could hear it from all the way out here even if he was still sleeping.
You walked further and one of the people seemed to have spotted you too. They raised a hand above their head and started waving frantically. Whoever it was saying something. You could make out more now. There were about seven of them, maybe more in the back of the group. All of them were tall and carried weapons strapped to their back. They couldn't be from town. They were men. Unfamiliar men at that. Something feels wrong. Like you are now being watched by somebody behind you. The group of men are still approaching and you clutch the whistle in both hands.
The adventures had seen you and mistook you for another hylian. Comforted by the thought that they were close to town or could at least ask for directions they made their way closer. First one, then three, and now seven people all hurtling towards you. Worry starts to fill you starting as a pine prickle on your spine and settling into the knowledge that if your dad saw them you'd all be in so much trouble. Tucking your hands into your pants pockets you stand there ready to answer their questions. Scratch that, if your dad saw them they'd be dead. Dead within a second.
I had some trouble trying to figure out how to end it and to connect the plot threads together but I think I did an ok job. I wanted to show Ganon’s yandere tendencies while cementing that he is still a good dad because let's be real here he has a conscience and wouldn't ever put his kid in danger. I didn't add this but the Links would be so dead. Poison in their food. Assassins sent to slay them in their sleep. Their bodies left for the rats. Ganon cant stand them and certainly not near his kid. He doesn't want to hurt you and will apologise and comfort you but there's no way he could leave them alive. Good or not that many men? Around his child? No. no. dead within seconds. Everyone in town knows you're off limits and who knows what those strangers would have done with a lost child alone, at night no less. For your safety they are gone with a snap of his fingers. Food for the scorpions.
taglist: @monkeyking-and-liuer-mate
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i-didnt-hate-it · 30 days
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I didn't hate Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, honestly it was awesome!
I just got done watching it so I'm still digesting it, but here are my initial thoughts. Any potential spoilers will go under a break.
I went into GxK that it would be similar to GvK and the other Monsterverse films: big monkey hit big lizard, big lizard breathe laser, big monkey block laser with big axe, and so on. And don't get me wrong, it definitely was all that, all pro wrestling but with big monsters, but in a cooler way than what I thought. I'm still trying to figure out what all made GxK more than what I was expecting, but I think this is the main bit.
In today's media, there seems to basically be two options. Either you make a show on streaming, which means your seasons are too short so you have to sacrifice character to plot. Or you make a two to three hour long movie, which uses a big budget to explain either characters or concept, hopefully with something of a plot to tie it together.
But GxK is a secret third thing. Worldbuilding. Adding to lore. Letting the landscapes they paint and the creatures that inhabit them speak for themselves. There were long stretches of screentime where the titans weren't necessarily fighting, they were just doing their thing, exploring their worlds.
Now obviously we need some humans to A, be able to connect to the story some, and B, know what is actually going on. Because while I would love a completely dialogue kaiju movie, the concepts and gimmicks of the Monsterverse just get too convoluted to figure out without Exposition Lady.
I can confirm that Legendary realized that the less human characters they have the better. The cast was relatively small, and while character development was minimal, they did make me feel some feelings toward some of the humans. But they made the right call not giving them too much of the story. What is this, Godzilla Minus One?
It's not, and if you can go into it knowing that it isn't even close to being the same movie as Minus One, and just watch it as a fun Monsterverse entry, I think you'll love it. The music is great too, better than GvK, imo. VFX were awesome too.
Okay, now for some spoilers, just random extra thoughts:
Godzilla really did the OMG MOTHRA!!! thing from that one meme! And I did too tbh, our Queen is back and beautiful as ever!
I love how it wasn't an instant father/son connection between Kong and Mini-Kong (I don't remember his name). Kong tried to help him out a couple times, but then gave up after MINI KONG TRIED TO KILL HIM LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES! Like come on, this little guy is just chaotic. But like they actually had growth in their trust and relationship, it wasn't just like "me big, you little, I dad now".
Scar King was actually a lot cooler than I was expecting. Shimo/Shimu whatever her name is did not have as big a role as I was expecting, but I'm glad she's okay.
Shout out to Mothra for stopping her boyfriend from killing Kong, helping them in Hollow Earth, and then just chilling when they all went to Rio. She said, "you guys got this, right?"
When I saw there was another hollow earth inside Hollow Earth, I'll admit I had a bit of an eye roll. But they explained it away pretty well.
SCOTTISH GUY THAT SAID SHIT IN STAR WARS. Alex Ferns is literally the same character he was in Andor.
I love how they imply that they basically imply that the Iwi had something to do with building the pyramids in Egypt by having the portal thing open RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. Made a cool setting for the fight, too.
At this point, I have no idea how big the Coliseum actually is.
Last thing, for now. For having top billing, Godzilla wasn't in it as much as I thought he might be. I think Legendary is realizing that if you have a character like Godzilla who can just level up his powers instantly to take on anything, and just kinda does his own thing, you've gotta limit that screen time. Since Kong is kinda humanoid, it's easier to empathize with him and thus add character development. Godzilla can only convey so much emotion that most humans can relate to (obviously Shin and Minus convey a lot of emotions, but anyway). Godzilla is in the movie, but Kong is more of the star. Honestly the world of the Hollow Earth and the Iwi people and their history are almost as much of the focus.
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discluded · 1 year
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I was scrolling through Twitter and came across Mile, Apo, Bible, and Jeff's photos from Harper's Bazaar SG's Valentines edition, and I know I should be focusing on the their answers (which were simple but amazing), but I cant help but notice that whoever took Bible's pic and did his hair styling did him dirty??
I know you typically talk about MA and occasionally rt Jeff and sometimes Bible — but I recall you making a few posts before on how MA's modeling experience shine through in comparison to Bible who is inexperienced, and I was wondering if you see it too? or if it's just me being biased to MA and Jeff.
Tbf, I don't think that MA's or Jeff's pics were anything world-stopping (though MA's smiles are making me feel things, and I have a new found love for Apo in earth tones and shades of brown like the cardigan he has on that picture), but Bible's stands out in a not-so good way to me, though I don't really dabble in photography so I was wondering what you thought about it.
I looked at these super quickly before bed last night so (1) I was distracted by the fact Apo and Mile look so much like each other I didn't notice that about Bible and (2) are you trying to have people come for me?! 😂
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You're right and now I can't unsee it either... 💀
Of everyone involved here, I'm pretty sure the stylist is actually the least responsible for this photo situation. Actually this is an interesting case because now Mile, Apo, and Bible have all worn that cursed hoodie so this gives an opportunity to look at fashion vs. modelling technique vs. the models and photographer collaborating.
First of all I AM NOT HATING ON BIBLE I think he looks great in the D7 photos from today. I'm not sure who the photog for this one is, but likely May (BOC's staff photographer) or Pond.
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Second of all, this is why I think Dior is awful. Their baggy on baggy situation is so shapeless. They're all wearing the exact same three pieces, so it has to be that Dior told them the outfit should be styled like this. Someone else mentioned that one of actors Apo was with at the Taiwan store opening wore the exact same outfit as Mile had on in the Bangkok popup so Dior seems very much a stickler.
The advantage Mile and Apo have on Bible here is height. Not only in that they're taller, but their limbs are longer so they look less diminutive and dwarfed in the baggy clothes.
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Though the keyword is less. This is a perfect example of what these ugly baggy shapeless clothes do your limbs length. When I showed @thislittlekumquat she literally said to me she thought the left one was that someone made a hyperrealistic doll of Mile 💀
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So problem #1 is Dior.
The second part is definitely a matter of experience. Here's some other outfits on how Apo and Mile dealt with the baggy Dior situation.
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And here's how Dior runway models dealt with it.
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The hand in pockets situation definitely helps gives shape to the baggy clothes, but Bible's hand is on the one far from the camera and obscured by him that it makes the silhouette worse. Mile and Apo adjusted for it with lighting (knowing their angles) and the Dior runway models adjusted for it by just giving the clothes more shape.
Also compare this to Mile turning and greeting fans at the Dior show and keeping his hand tucked or Mile and Apo's whack grip on the saddle bags. The fact they make these incredibly unnatural body position look easy, natural, and relaxed is also a skill. Mile's popup outfit isn't as baggy as the hoodie, but you might not even notice he's holding his arm/elbow slightly unnaturally but in a way that give the outfit more shape while showing off the bag too.
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So problem #2 is Bible's lack of experience.
And the third is... it's on the HBSG editors/photographers. They didn't only take one photo of Bible but this is the one they chose...which makes me wonder how the others even look 😱
Here's a reel of them going through the photos at Apo's latest Vogue shoot and you can see them going through the multiple options. I think MileApo fans are aware we're fortunate, but part of the reason we get so many behind the scenes outtakes and cuts that don't make it to print is because their modelling work is at a consistently high level that editors are spoiled with choice.
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Also a case where you can see Apo is styled the same in the two pictures but the lighting really affects how the photos turn out... the shadows on Bible's photo are flat. So this is a photographer/editorial choice they could have corrected at the time. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm not sure why they didn't correct at least the lighting because I'm pretty sure that would also fix some of the problem.
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Lighting patterns from left to right: Flat, Butterfly, Loop, Rembrandt, and Split
Problem #3: HBSG's photographer/editors not adjusting for Bible's lack of experience and giving him more direction.
As for Mile and Apo's not being The Most of all shoot of all time, I agree, but as a model you also have to model to the theme. It's a Valentine's Day shoot and they're talking about love... being a little smiley and cutesy instead of serving at 1000% is probably also appropriate. And we as fans are charmed by that too :)
Anyway, yeah, Bible lacks experience but he's an actor and a celebrity they're featuring. The photog should be adjusting for Bible's level of experience and not expect everyone to be experienced models like Mile, Apo, or Jeff.
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obsidiancreates · 5 months
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Some thoughts/criticisms of Battle of the Five Armies because I'm back on my Hobbit Movies bullshit
Should've put more screen time (and by "more" I mean "any at all") into Thorin's descent into the Gold Madness/Dragon Sickness. A lot of BotFA feels, to me, a bit... meandering. Like they needed to hit a certain length but weren't fully sure how to fill it (and I think that also shows in how it's the shortest of all 3 movies, at least Extended Edition-wise). We go right from "They all watched Smaug die," to "He's been down there for days and he's as Gold-Mad as Thror." We needed more connective tissue between those scenes- even just a scene of Bilbo noticing Thorin is refusing food, maybe trying to convince him to eat ("Thorin, take your share." "I've no need of it." "You can't live on gold alone, you know, heh, ahem." "We shall see, Master Baggins.") or something like that.
I get why Smaug died in the first twenty minutes. I do! There's both story reasons as well as behind-the-scenes logistical reasons (can y'all imagine what these movies would've been like if they'd had Reasonable Deadlines, less studio pressure, and more ethical cast and crew treatment? It would've fixed any of the CGI issues, they could've cleaned up some of the odd pacing and editing moments, none of those awful "QUICK QUICK QUICK WE'RE ALMOST OUT OF TIME!" moments in the Appendices would've existed... Fuck Warner Bros, man. Peter Jackson obviously had a lot to do with a lot of the unethical overtime and expectations and wasted time/effort, but like Warner Bros also contributed to this Massively). Anyway, I get why Smaug died so early into the movie. But god, I wish he hadn't. Now I haven't read the novel to it's end in about 13 years give or take- I keep picking it up, getting a good ways in, forgetting to continue, and then picking it up and starting over at the beginning- but I remember Smaug's death being a very Little Thing in the book, since it was Third-Person limited (mostly) and Bilbo wasn't in Laketown. I know that this wasn't a moment of Inaccuracy (though honestly I don't mind most of the inaccuracies but that's for another post some other time) but it was a moment of Deeply Unsatisfying Payoff. Again, I understand why! It's kinda unsatisfying in the novel too- frankly, a lot of the ending stuff in The Hobbit is, but you didn't hear that from me, got it? I'm not sure, exactly, what I wish was different about it. Killing Smaug at the end of Desolation wasn't really a viable or satisfying option either, and focusing more on Laketown would've gotten tedious and repetitive- only so much Burning and Screaming can be made into Watchable Cinema at one time. I think perhaps a larger focus on Gandalf and his experiences with Sauron could've worked here- especially if Sauron is somehow Aware of Laketown falling and uses this to mock and torment Gandalf, speaking of how the quest of the dwarves has truly failed and Middle-Earth is soon to fall the same way- but again, I understand why they didn't do that, that's just a lot of Ian McKellen sitting in a birdcage getting Taunted by an Eyeball. So I don't know what I would've had them change, and I think a not insignificant amount of this Dissatisfaction is unavoidable given the glossed-over nature of the very same plot point in the book. But it's still saddening, especially since they nailed Smaug so well and he's such a fun villain to watch on screen. Azog... a good deal less so.
Bro we couldn't have had one line where they were like "OH GOD FILI KILI BOFUR AND OIN ARE STILL DOWN THERE!" when they were watching Laketown burn? One show that someone remembered FOUR OF THEIR PARTY IS STILL THERE?!
Some of the line deliveries in this movie were an... interesting, choice, to make into the final cut. I'll chalk it up to Those Damn Studio Deadlines, though.
I know I already talked about this but SERIOUSLY WHERE WAS THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE OF THORIN'S MADNESS, IT AIN'T EVEN IN THE EXTENDED THE EXTENDED IS MOSTLY THE ACTUAL BATTLE (plus the Best Scene In The Movie where Balin alludes to Bilbo to keep the Arkenstone hidden forever, which it's a crime that was left out of the theatrical by the way).
Yeah okay the Kili and Tauriel parting at the shore was kind cliched and acted weird. Again I'll chalk it up to The Deadlines.
If we could've have had the Connective Tissue scene(s), I wish the reunion with Bofur, Oin, Fili, and Kili had been a proper scene and not just a quick cutaway. It would've been a great opportunity to catch them and the audience up on Thorin's condition and how he got to that state, as well as establish how The Company In General feels about it earlier into the movie.
Again, I know why they didn't... but even a hint that the Madness was taking the other Dwarves at least a little bit would've been nice. I truly feel that, by the time of The Ramparts, the party was at a point where at least 1 or 2 of them would've decided to go with Bilbo, and a hint that they're all slightly under the spell of the gold in the way Thorin is would've really made their decision to all 12 of them stay behind make more sense. Yes, Thorin is their king and their leader and their friend and Dwarves are known to be very loyal- but Bilbo has stood in as a leader, rescuer, and friend often enough that I think one or two of the party, in their own fully right minds, would've chosen to go with him, especially after witnessing such a horrific display from Thorin.
The pacing of the movie in general Needs Some Help, that can't go unsaid- but again, Those Damn Deadlines. The amount of palpable stress from the crew in the Appendices is genuinely stressful and heart-wrenching, and I blame the majority of my issues with this movie- and the other two- on Warner Bros being completely unreasonable with their time expectations. Especially since they pushed this 2-movie project into being 3 movies, like Fuck off, Warner Bros.
GOD I WISH MORE OF THE RING STUFF HAD CARRIED OVER FROM DESOLATION. Like again I get why it didn't, this movie kind of takes some of the focus off Bilbo and uses that extra attention on Thorin and Bard and Legolas, which I enjoy. But still, The Ring Moments in Desolation were so good, and the effect The Ring had on Bilbo in Desolation is not unlike the effect the gold has on Thorin- but Bilbo is better at fighting it. It would've been nice to see something done with that, especially as Thorin was falling to madness and Bilbo maybe recognized some of the signs from his own experiences like the one in Mirkwood. But also THE RING STUFF WAS SO COOOOOOLLLLLLLLL I WANT MORE OF ITTTTTTTTTTTTTT
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cyeayt · 5 months
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Mormon Hell!
I have stuff to do tonight but why would i when i could make a post explaining the mormon afterlife (as i was taught it)
prelife
we all lived with god in heaven in our heavenly bodies, until lucifer and the exodus n all that
we travel through the veil and lose our memories of our heavenly families and bodies
earth
we have free will! yipee! you have a few different options here. live according to the principles of the gospel, be baptized at 8, be a missionary and a productive worker and raise children after being sealed with your spouse in a temple, teach and lead if you get the chance. do all that but with less enthusiasm dont get sealed. be aware of god and be baptized and be mediocre. be baptized and leave the church. be baptized, leave the church and disavow it, dedicate your life to disproving it, torment members of the faith. die before you're 8. die before you learn what mormonism is. know what mormonism is but never participate and be a decent person. know what mormonism is but never participate and be a bad person. die and get baptized by your descendants after death.
die. what happens next?
purgatory. or spirit prison. theres two versions. one is where you just chill (and i once heard you get to be a holy ghost and help guide people), or go to jail where they teach you how to be good and you have the change to redeem yourself.
the second coming! mormons will never take any war or disaster seriously or try to do anything about it, because strife and hardship mean the second coming is near!
zion! (yikes) 1000 years of heaven on earth, the resurrection of christ was like a free trial of this. everyone is alive again and everything is perfect. supposed to happen in the garden of eden, which is in missouri. yeah i know. the church is helping fund the genocide in palestine also. we suck, go to protests n keep posting.
judgement day!
where can you be judged to?
the celestial kingdom! beautiful sunny top tier heaven, for eternal families sealed together in the temple! people who go here are the ones who will supposedly eventually get to be gods of their own universes.
the telestial kingdom. second tier heaven. kinda boring, better than earth and you get to talk to jesus but not god. you go here if you were pretty good but never got sealed with an eternal family. i assume that unbaptized babies and people who were baptized after death also go here.
the terrestrial kingdom. third tier heaven. basically more zion. no jesus or god but maybe angels. i think most people go here.
and finally
perdition! the outer void! eternal suffering! well actually as i was taught, eternal suffering is only for the souls who followed satan out of heaven in the exodus before any of our lives on earth. even if you really really sucked, youd get thrown into the outer void, which to me always meant your soul getting ripped apart by the vaccum of space and your eternal spirit ceasing to exist. you have to be really really bad to get here. even like murderers and whoever get to go to the terrestrial kingdom. so, souls who followed lucifer out of heaven, and people who were allowed to be born but who dedicated their lives to serving satan. souls here are the only ones who will not be allowed to receive the glory of god, even after they are resurrected.
in other words, who wants to be a child of perdition with me?
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