#but alas we gotta make it as complicated as possible

[tardis--dreams]

Lord give me strength to call this doctor's office tomorrow morning and ask the world stupidest question

[shiroikabocha]

continued assorted thoughts:

- a better justification for bringing me on the expedition might be that I’ve just recently been through the boot-up process, so I’m uniquely suited among all New Jerusalem’s residents to solve puzzles—it’s fresh in my brain. Just say their preliminary scouting of the island returned photos that look a lot like the simulation puzzles, so they thought it would be useful to bring along the puzzle-baby

- Melville I want to be you when I grow up

- who decided I’m a he? Wasn’t me. Can I change that at Helga’s booth? It can’t be harder than downloading a new gender package, right? YoU wOuLdNt DoWnLoAd a gEnDeR

- this is all… very pretty… but my computer is apparently a bit of a potato 😢 alas I find my philosophical experience constrained by the limits of physical reality, if only there was a Principle that neatly expressed this conundrum

- you guys are setting up SUCH a stark dichotomy between “explore and move toward the future” versus “honor the past and maintain balance”— you realize you can do both, right? Those aren’t mutually-exclusive options? Robots can very easily explore the world while living in harmony with nature—all y’all bots need to read A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, stat. Mosscap for mayor of New Jerusalem.

- speaking of. You guys talk all the time about these vast, vague concepts, but what do they mean, practically speaking? “What’s the true nature of the human spirit, tradition or innovation?” Look buddy, it’s transient, shifting like water what are we talking about, picking a theme for next week’s gala or fixing the maintenance problems at the hydroelectric dam? Let’s be CONCRETE about this

- re: the problems with the power grid, how attached are we to New Jerusalem’s location? It seems like since we’re all synthetic, we benefit from fewer constraints than bio-humans re: comfortably habitable climates. We could move almost anywhere (as long as the cats like it). Wouldn’t the most long-term sustainable solution be to relocate somewhere that geothermal energy is a possibility?

- SPEAKING OF, I understand the constraints on game devs’ time, but it would have been great to see some non-human-shaped humans! If we’re building them all from scratch, why not have fun with it? The featherless biped physical model isn’t exactly the pinnacle of smart design. Surely, at least a few of New Jerusalem’s citizens would upgrade or modify their bodies, right? Gotta be some folks who would be happier being spider-shaped. I think it would add interesting texture to the bots’ decision to call themselves “human,” too—yes, we define ourselves explicitly as a continuation of the human species, even if many of us are also lawnmowers. My neighbor is a lawnmower and she designs fantastic crossword puzzles, lawnmowers are people too!

- hm, I’m not really sure how to put this… but this game feels… sort of like the opposite of what I took away from The Talos Principle? In the first game, you spend all your time in gorgeous puzzle-garden-ruins contemplating the Big Ideas about What It Means to Be Human, but ultimately, you have to reject the perfectly-designed puzzle-world and step outside into the gritty, imperfect reality of a world that wasn’t designed for you to solve. Real life is messy and complicated and often disappointing and not as cleanly satisfying as a world made of brightly-colored puzzles that were made especially for you, but that’s the point, isn’t it? The challenge is worth it because it’s real. This island full of puzzles… doesn’t feel real. It feels like a retreat, like somebody got disheartened by all the boring problems (we’re running low on insulation, the jazz quartet is getting noise complaints again, somebody set a fire in the park by mistake and now everyone is yelling) and instead, ran away to build a bunch of colorful puzzles that make you feel Special and Important for solving them. Bleh, I’m tired, I could probably phrase this better.

[soir-rouges-esprit]

xxvi.c: Son of Salem, But alas … he walks these streets as I do … this time armorless however … I should find him when possible, he might not be taking to the new world in his less guarded state as well as I think he can. Then there’s th … A person sits next to me and says in a feminine voice “You’ve been looking at the bottom of that glass like it owes you money, mind if I ask what’s on your mind?” I turn to look toward the voice, my eyes are met with a muscular red-headed woman with a left nostril fish hook piercing, two right eyebrow ring piercing side by side, and a full dahlia on her left ear. Not to mention … she was larger in proportion than most men & women, even without standing, she must have been easily six two, six three … she was a presence for sure. Oh, uh … yeah no, just thinking is all, didn't even realize I was death glaring my drink, I said with a chuckle. Mostly figuring out a plan to track someone down … gotta convince them to join me in my fight against this big old asshole that wants me dead. She grabbed her glass, shot the whole thing back, then slammed it down flat on the bar and said. “Woah! … who's this bad guy and why do they want you dead?” kind of hard to explain … very complicated mental gymnastics are happening at all times up here *I point to me head* so … the gist is I'm getting in the way of him killing me, well us. “Hmm … so he's suicidal? Wants to bring you down with him, why not report him?” him killing himself is killing me, he is me. “Oh! … you're like … crazy? Or high?” I laugh from her blatant brutal honesty. Yeah … you hit it the nail on it's head I suppose. “Haha, well … at least you can laugh about it, right?” Yeah guess so, nothing else to do except get Crazier, right? “Ha! Right … so, you from around here? The City that is?” Yeah, born and raised, Mega Building and all. “Neat, what exactly is there to do around here for fun other than drink and sulk” Ha, well … there’s the brain dances, to the drugs, to the partying, to the murder … lots … pick your poison … lest it picks you. “I see … and your poison?” I look from my glass at her in slow … still … figuring that one out really. “I see, and when things go a rye … which one of those you mentioned, do you see yourself going towards the most?” … hm … think I’m still figuring that one out, or trying to figure out if it’s even one of the ones listed … could be more you know? “So you're staying in a dangerous place like this then … why? Waiting for one of those things to happen to you so you can find out where you fit? Or die?” No, no … I just have the feeling and a nature a real sick one at that, to stick around in burning houses, seemingly awaiting something … someone. “… why?” can’t say … I just know that something is out there … and I gotta find it or them. One day this whole life I’ve lived will make sense … it has to. “I see … so you’re hopeful for something you’ve got no trust in huh?” sounds crazy I know, and no … I’m not religious … but I know I’m here for some strange and bizarre reason, if not a punishment for something I did I can’t remember. “I feel that … I personally am here to find someone as well … a little girl by the name of Elaine.” find her? “Wouldn’t be here if I had … no, sadly I think she might not be with me anymore … lost.” I see … and what was she like? “Kind … hands not stained in blood, or nearly as callused as mine … she was innocent.” Well … sounds like we both have someone to find then. I take a drink from my glass. “Seems so … You seem nice, calm. My name is … Roxy” She thrust her arm out palm open as to shake my hand. Oh. I do the same. Grab her hand and shake. Names Red, nice to meet you, Roxy. “Nice to meet you Red. Red … Rrrrred … Red Red.” What … what uh, what are you doing? “Putting your name to memory, gotta get it stuck in there so I remember” Oh … I'd assume it's easy to remember no? Three letters … pretty simple … also a color. “Yeah but can't be too sure, also I'm terrible with names so, I gotta REALLY cram them in my head or I'll forget.” ... [To Be Continued]

[oneprompt]

hi! i was wondering if you could write a sanji x female reader where sanji gets jealous because zoro has a soft spot for y/n ? love your writing btw! :) <3

authors note: of course i can , dearest ! thank you for the praise , im glad you can enjoy my work <3 please enjoy ! + now that i review how i wrote this... it seems more poly ;;; but !! i still hope it’s okay ;;

Jealous! Sanji x F! Reader

The sound of your laughter was a sound that usually lifted Sanji off of his feet in delight. But not today, no. Not that your laugh didn’t sound as pretty as it always did, Sanji just hated why you were laughing. That damn mosshead...! Who did he think he was, looking at you all weird?

Sanji had picked up Zoro’s change of behaviour around you rather quick, and so did the rest of the crew. Well, mostly. Zoro would act all... kind and mushy around you. Usually, Zoro would shout at his teammates for getting hurt but whenever you did, he’d wrap his arms around you as softly as possible to protect you, rushing to Chopper to help you. And even on the ship deck, Zoro acted such a way. He’d share drinks with you and constantly chat with you, his tanned cheeks painted red as he listened to you talk.

Most of the crew found that behaviour to be adorable, seeing Zoro act so different was odd but sweet. Sanji on the other hand? Sanji hated it!

Sanji was one to fawn over every and any woman that crossed paths with him but when the Straw Hats invited you to join the crew, Sanji was overwhelmed with a sense of love that he had never felt before. You were sincerely enchanting! From your form that would often linger in his thoughts within the late night or your personality, every word that oozed from your beautiful lips making Sanji squeal out loud.

But you’d never catch on, now would you? Everyone knew of Sanji’s chivalry, he’d even act romantically with the most wicked of girls, women who would end up tearing him apart. Seeing Zoro be affectionate and kind probably seemed more genuine in your eyes, holding more weight in a comparison of a man who would flirt with any woman he met.

“Y/n-kwun!” Sanji had no hesitation to approach you, even as you sat with Zoro. The way you looked at Sanji drove him crazy, your beautiful eyes full of the kindest emotions! Alas, if only you looked at Sanji that way and only him.

“Hi, Sanji,” You smiled, lifting a hand to wave at the blonde. You were currently sun bathing in the beaming sun, leaving you in a bikini and bikini only. Seeing women in such clothing was nothing new, that’s how Nami liked to dress and Robin would dress that way sometimes too. But you? You were a sight to behold! One that could a man in just one look... You were a killer.

Sanji turned his head away, eyes juggling into hearts as blood seeped from his nose. “Oh, Y/n-kwun~! What a bikini!” He cooed, turning back to you as he wiped the blood away quick. Zoro gave Sanji a repulsed glare while you giggled softly, crossing your legs. What beautiful legs...! Such succulent flesh!

“Is-is it really that nice looking? I got it while shopping with Robin.. I was worried it wouldn’t suit me,” You smiled shyly, cheeks tingling as they went red. Gah! What a beautiful maiden!

Sanji clasped his hands together tight, leaning on his toes. “Y/n-kwun! Such a fair maiden...i adore herrr!” He beamed loudly, nearly shouting.

Zoro huffed and interrupted Sanji’s beautiful ‘scenery’, taking a firm step infront of you. He blocked you away from Sanji, for better or for worse. Zoro was never a fan of Sanji’s behaviour and like hell would he let the cook eat you up like a gourmet dish!

“Oi, might want to calm down there.” Zoro said bluntly, raising an irritated brow at Sanji. You couldn’t help but sit there in confusion, puzzled from the sudden change of atmosphere. What were they going on about?

“Eh? Oh, right! Because Y/n belongs to the shitty marimo,” Sanji took a deep inhale of his cigarette, throwing Zoro a mocking grin. “I cant help but love a woman like her~!” He giggled joyfully, breaking back into his love struck self.

Zoro nearly growled. He didn’t like how Sanji acted around you. Zoro knew how things would play out if you and Sanji instigated a genuine relationship. It’d lead to your despair against his behaviour. Zoro was more so worried then jealous about you dating Sanji. What if he hurt you or cheated on you?

“Um- you two don’t have to fight...” You spoke up quietly, now standing beside Zoro. Sanji looked at you, eyes pooling upon the sight of your body. And the face you were making... How cute...!

“Of course we aren’t fighting, Y/n-kwun!” Zoro shot a glare at the other man, huffing in annoyance.

“Right, we totally weren’t.” The swordsman voice was sewed with sarcasm lip by lip. “That dumbass cook is just being perverted but what’s new?”

You pursed your lips together in a sudden frown. Why couldn’t you two get along? You loved both Zoro and Sanji, couldn’t they just be friends? Oh, how thrilled you would be if they could be friends, giving you time to hang out with both of them at once.

“Can’t you two just get along for once? I especially hate seeing you both fight because of me... I love you both a lot, can’t we just settle down?” You smiled at the two men just to be met with two different reactions.

Sanji’s was full of joy, hearts beating from his eyes, almost acting as his pupils. His cheeks were bitten red, infected by the love bug. Zoro was flushed beyond comprehension, eyes wide as he looked at you.

What was their problems?

“Oh, Y/n-kwun! I love you too, my sweets!” Sanji suddenly hugged you tight, feeling his pale hand come in contact with your bare stomach, making his body tremble from his own happiness.

Zoro just stared before shaking his head. “I— gotta got...!” He coughed out before turning his head away from you, leaving red in the faced.

You finally pin pointed the matter at hand and went red yourself, paralleling the expressions of the two men. Oh goodness, they took that declaration of love out of context, didn’t they? You had only meant platonically...! Well- part of you meant romantically, having small personal yearnings and feelings for the two men but you didn’t mean to say such a thing....!

Now things would be far more complicated, now wouldn’t they..?

[jinxthejubilee]

Little D. Personality Headcanons

Our lovely Little Ds! We need to know more about them, as such, I've taken it upon myself to flesh them out. Since we see a lot of No. 2, I'm gonna skip him for now, and just focus on the other 6. Enjoy!

Little D. No. 1

Despite what one may think, this Little Demon of Pride is NOT the leader of the main 7, but man does he want to be. Not entirely for the idea that he'd make a good leader (even though all of them are pretty much equal, don't tell him that), but just for the sake of having that title.

He pretty much embodies the more mischievous side of Lucifer. For example, the prank war between Lucifer and Satan that is more one-sided, is very mutual and at full force here. Little D's. No. 1 and No. 4 hate each other, they want to ruin each other's days as much as possible. While No. 4 is a lot more destructive physically, No. 1 is destructive verbally. He'll insult and give backhanded compliments to No. 4, and when he gets mad, he tells him to keep it "professional," wouldn't want Mr. Barbatos to find him getting upset over nothing. (Poor No. 2's gotta break up fights on the daily. Demon King help him!).

He's a bit more calm than the others, but only by a small amount. He tries so hard to pretend to not be on the same level of mischievousness as his fellow Little D's in front of Barbatos. Key word being: tries.

How He Speaks: He's like those kids in middle school who use big complicated words to sound smarter, except most of the time, he actually knows what the words mean. But he uses them for no reason. I had this thought that all of the Little D's voices are raspy, and now I can't unsee it.

Little D. No. 3

A very self-conscious, clumsy, worrywart who freaks out over every little thing. Unlike his avatar, No. 3 actually admires his fellow familiars quite a lot, especially No. 2, and expresses his acknowledgment of most of their quirks and traits. However, that doesn't stop the creeping envy he feels towards them. But for the most part, when he feels envious, he says it along the lines of "Wow, I wish I could be more like you," or "why can't I do that?" He just feels bad, someone hug him.

He tries to be careful with everything around him since he's very clumsy, but alas, luck is never on his side. Look Barb, he didn't mean to drop that tray you meticulously arranged, please put your creepy smile away!

That being said though, he's still a bit mischievous. He often helps No. 2 when No. 1 and No. 4 continue their non-stop feud, which sometimes involves pranking them. He can't resist, he loves a good curse or two.

How He Speaks: This poor boy stutters a bit when he's nervous, and I'd say that he'd sound panic-y most of the time, and only a little raspy.

Little D. No. 4

A short-fused kind of guy, and very easily irritated, No. 4 is one of the more grumpy Little D's. Unlike Satan, who hides his wrath under a cool and calm exterior, No. 4 has almost no chill and will attack the other Little D's if provoked. But he'll only attack the Little D's, not anyone else, he has a bit of self control.

He can be fun, especially when a good prank idea comes along. The thought of knocking his highness No. 1 down a peg brings him such immeasurable joy. And he's almost never rude to guests, but you can easily tell when his patience is wearing thin.

How He Speaks: Annoyed and very exasperated tone. Almost flat but still a little cheery and very raspy, he's still a Little D.

Little D. No. 5

The adorably, fabulous No. 5. Very peppy, but not that shallow. Since a Little D's whole shtick is being a servant, he's overly generous to the point of being a little annoying.

He won't make innuendos or jokes of inappropriate nature that often, he has a job to hold down so he can't have too much fun. However, he's pretty ditsy, so the jokes kinda come on their own. But, he's more of a romantic than a tramp. He loves fantasizing about the perfect dates the demon bro you choose could go on with your MC. He's very meticulous as well, wanting everything he cleans, makes, or mends to be perfect. So when it's his turn to prank, watch your back.

How He Speaks: He has a very high-pitched, sing-songy voice. He loves to sing, and has the best voice out of all of them. But he still has that raspiness that all of the Little D's have.

Little D. No. 6

The patient, kind and courteous Little D, No. 6 is the food enthusiasts of the group. He knows what everyone eats, why everyone eats what, and how much everyone needs to eat. He's a bit protective of his fellow familars, MC, and Lord Diavolo when it comes to food, and you can bet that he will volunteer to taste test the food to make sure it's safe.

He loves watching Barbatos cook and bake, it's very relaxing to him even though he starts to drool from the smell. It's more of an art to him, organizing food on the plates.

He's a little bitter at Beel, he ate a Little D after all! That won't be forgiven that easily.

How He Speaks: Again raspy, but still gentle. He has the deepest voice out of them all, but a Little D's voice is pretty high, so that's not saying much.

Little D. No. 7

The snuggler and the watcher, the lovely No. 7. Although he may be a connoisseur of pillows, blankets, and plushies, No. 7 isn't lazy and he hates being called that. Unlike Belphie, he tries to be as productive as possible before he collapses everyday. He enjoys being helpful, and he gives the sweetest, tired smile he can muster when there's been a job well done. Frustratingly though, he can't stop his arms and legs from dragging him down to his bed, favorite corner, or secret sleeping spot.

While he's resting though, he watches. He watches everything that goes on around him. How certain Little D. act, where Lord Diavolo, Barbatos, or guests come and go, arguments, love confessions, everything. So, if you need info, he's your go to guy, even if you have to wake him up first.

How He Speaks: His voice isn't high pitched, so much as it's soft and a bit babyish thanks to him being so tired.

Yay! This was fun! I love these munchkins so much, I had to do them justice. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this too. With that being said, goodnight everyone! Have a great night! Byeee! 💗

[simplyxdolxstyles]

Here’s a ‘Brother’s best friend’ type I whipped up. Let me know if you want a part 2. It’s short btw.

Warning: douchey brother lol, a make out, 

“Hey, Ethan are Gray are coming over, move.” You brother said as he stood over you, chucking things on the couch. You rolled your eyes and ignored him.

 “(Y/N)…” “He said, tapping his foot.

 “Fine..I’m going to my room.” You pushed him out of your way and trudged to your room. Not that you were gonna stay anyway.

 You may or may not have had a crush on Grayson. About 2 years ago when he introduced you and you had blubbered up, you were mortified and left the room. Since then you’ve tried to stay out of his way to avoid him at all costs, plus your brother probably wouldn’t allow it anyway. It wasn’t long until you heard the door knock.

 “Yo, what’s ‘sup, man?” You heard your brother. You rolled your eyes again and continued watching your show. After a while your stomach grumbled in hunger. Time to get something to eat. Opening the fridge to get some snacks and a drink only to find it practically empty. You huffed and slammed it shut heading down to the basement where they were all hanging out. All you were gonna do was sneakily take some snacks and get out of there unnoticed. Piece of cake.

 Quietly walking down the steps to the basement not making a peep. You tiptoed to the fridge. But luck just didn’t want to be on your side. Grayson rounded the corner and stopped when he saw you.

 “Hey, (Y/N/N nickname).” Grayson spoke with that smile of his. It took your all not to swoon.

 “H-Hi, G-Grayson.” You stutter.

“How’s it going?” He asked you.

 “I-It’s going..um..good. How are you?” You stutter.

 “Good, it’s good.” He took a step closer to you. Oh shit, what was he doing?

 “How would you like to-” But he couldn’t finish what he started due to your obnoxious brother shouting.  

 “Gray! Where are you, dude?!”

 “Coming.” He replied. He turned to you and gave a small smile. He then leaned down to whisper in your ear.

 “Meet me in the bathroom in 10?” You shuddered at the feeling. You couldn’t respond verbally so you opted for a nod of the head.

 “See you then.” He left you there after a quick peck to the cheek.

   What could he possibly want?  

    This must have been the longest 10 minutes you’ve ever waited for. You jumped up when the 10 minutes was close. What could Grayson want? Why did he want to talk to you? Oh God!

  You were headed straight to the bathroom and saw Grayson already there, standing as he waited for you. He smiled as he saw you. What was he up to?

 “So what did you want to see me for?” You ask curiously, playing with your sleeves.

 “In here.” He gestured to the bathroom. You furrowed your bows but went in. He closed the door behind you and locked it before turning to you. His eyes hypnotized you as you stared at them. However, that didn’t last very long because as soon as the door shut his lips were on yours.

 To say you were shocked was an understatement but you just kind of went with it. Tossing your shock aside you started kissing back. Licking your lower lip for entry to which you happily accepted. Humming against his mouth as he explored. He lifted you atop the counter and stood between your legs (whew).

 “Grayson…” You moaned as he placed kisses on your neck. Grayson now with his shirt tossed somewhere and you in your bra. This was escalating real quick. But alas the moment was interrupted when the shrill ring of his phone blared. Cursing, he picks it up.

 “Yeah, I’ll be down. I just had to take a call.” He lied. Dang it (B/N) (brothers name.)

“I gotta head back, your brother’s barking at me.” He laughed. You giggled but then frowned.

 “W-What was that?” You asked biting your lip. Grayson looked at you as he fixed his shirt and hair.

 “There’s something I wanted to tell you. I’ve had feeling for you for quite sometime now and I was hoping you felt the same.” He blushed. Did Grayson Dolan just confess to you?

 “Uhm..I.. Grayson I don’t know what to say. I do. I do have feelings for you.. but my brother…It’s complicated.” You frowned.

 “I know. He would have my head if he found out. God, I wanna be with you.” He groaned.

 “W-We could sneak around for now and see what happens. If he does happen to find out we’ll just come clean.” You stated. Grayson though about for a moment before smiling.

 “Sounds good. Besides, it’s kind of fun sneaking around.” He leans over and places a kiss on you lips.

Part 2?

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #238: Unlimited Vision

December, 1983

He is Oz, the great and terrible. And he can see ALL.

So what’s going on here? Has Vision been in a tube-coma so long that they just decided to replace him with a giant hologram?

Dunno, but he sure is filling the room with too much pink energy and kirby crackle.

So, there’s been a bit leading up to this.

In Avengers #233, Vision and Scarlet Witch were called in as reservists to help the team with an invisible dome Annihilus was using to destroy the universe, as ya don’t do. When Vision intangibled into the dome, he immediately fell onto his face inert. After the crisis, Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic examined the synthezoid and said that nothing was actually seriously wrong and that Vision would be able to repair himself.

Despite that, he’s been inert in a tube since #234, moved into the Avengers Mansion so they could keep an eye on him. Maybe Reed doesn’t know shit because it’s been several issues!

The Avengers have been taking shifts watching Vision and the least suited to sitting still and watching an inert synthezoid is on duty as this issue opens.

“But being an Avenger, he’s discovered, doesn’t mean saving the universe every waking moment. Sometimes, it requires a lot of sitting... and watching... and waiting!”

Hahahahahah!

I might sympathize more if it weren’t for his full page rant.

Like this goes beyond bored and into ‘UGH I have to do something not immediately entertaining??’

Wait, I’m like that sometimes...

Starfox: “I just don’t understand! My father’s computer assured me that the Earth would be teeming with excitement and adventure -- and from previous experience, I knew that the Avengers invariably became involved in such adventures. But I haven’t seen a bit of action since we saved Project Pegasus from total destruction. That was more than a day ago! Now with Thor off on a mission in space... Captain America away on a personal mission... and the lovely ladies of the Avengers taking the afternoon off, naturally it’s the ‘trainee’ who gets stuck with keeping watch over the Vision!”

“By Chronos, is there no justice?! Where are the thrills, the challenges?!? Am I never to know satisfaction? I didn’t come all the way to Earth just to stand watch over some infernal android in a life-support-tube!”

“Ah, forgive me, friend Vision. I should not make you the object of my resentment. You were, after all, injured to end the threat of Annihilus. It’s just that sitting around and playing nursemaid to a comatose synthetic man is hardly my idea of fun!”

Vision: “I sympathize... but it has not been enjoyable for me either.”

HAH!

Imagine complaining so hard about having to go a day without an adventure that you wake a robot from a robot coma.

Over in a scene shift, there’s Monica “Captain Marvel” Rambeau trying out a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. The salesman is trying to close the deal but Monica finds herself distracted by the events of the previous issue.

Even though she saved the day from lava men and then stopped a nuclear meltdown, she still feels crappy that Moonstone and Blackout escaped AND that Blackout was able to capture her.

When the salesman finally gets her attention again she says she needs a bigger boat!

I’m still wondering what her new career is going to be! She’s taken out a small business loan and looking into buying a boat.

Possibly shark hunting?

Good on her for building a life away from avenging. You never know when you have to retire from superheroing and take up a civilian career.

Back at the Vision tube, Starfox sets up a voice amplifier on Vision’s tube so Vision can talk more easily.

It transpires that he didn’t just wake up in time to deliver the ultimate dunk on Starfox, he’s been conscious for several days. He’s been able to hear and see what’s been going on around him but he hasn’t been able to move or talk.

Starfox apologizes for his rant but Vision doesn’t actually mind.

Vision: “No offense taken. I found it entertaining in a way... I hadn’t heard such vitriol since the time the Beast found himself on monitor duty during the opening night of a Roger Corman film festival. As a matter of fact, I’ve enjoyed all of the one-way conversations that have gone on about me. Captain America’s war stories were most informative -- and the She-Hulk’s stories were quite amusing... If a bit tawdry!”

Amazing.

I actually like that the Avengers have been talking to Vision like a person in a meat coma and not ignoring him like a dysfunctioning fridge of a Jocasta.

He’s their buddy and they kept talking to him in hopes that somewhere he heard them. And he did!

Even all the dirty jokes!

Vision tells Starfox that he’s mostly confused about all the paralysis and that his repair systems haven’t restored his movement. He wishes that he could more fully analyze his condition.

Which gives Starfox a wonderful idea! A wonderful, terrible idea!

He calls up Jarvis on the video-intercom and asks what the range of the Avengers communication system is. Like. In terms of... interplanetary?

Jarvis: “All equipment is state-of-the-art, sir. I dare say we could make contact with any corner of the Solar System!”

I know that the Avengers deal with a lot of space nonsense so it makes sense that they’d need that range. Starcore-One and all.

Anyway, Starfox uses a tight beam signal to communicate allll the way to the master computer ISAAC on Titan.

Meanwhile, the three whole women on the Avengers (She-Hulk, Wasp, and Scarlet Witch) are on a mission together. A friend mission. A friend mission of find She-Hulk an apartment mission because that’s been a subplot for a while and She-Hulk deserves nice things.

Huh! If you ever wondered what the relative heights of some Avengers were here we are.

She-Hulk is most tall. Scarlet Witch is pretty tall. And Wasp is a short.

Comics being comics and not big on consistency, I’m sure this is contradicted a dozen different places. But its fun.

Of course, in the innocent 80s (??) people just weren’t used to seeing tall green woman a-walking down the street and gawk.

But it doesn’t bother She-Hulk like it used to.

She-Hulk: “I must be getting used to this town, Waspie! The gawkers don’t faze me in the least anymore. In fact, I’m starting to have fun, staring back!”

Wasp: “Uh-huh! I’ve noticed you practicing on our dreamy new trainee! Starfox is really something, isn’t he, She-Hulk?”

She-Hulk: “You know it!”

Scarlet Witch: Starfox does have a certain something in the way he carries himself...

She-Hulk: “I’ll bet that Starfox even does something for an old married lady like the witch!”

Scarlet Witch: “Wh-what?! Why, that’s ridiculous! I mean... that is... the Vision is the only man in my life!”

She-Hulk: “Aw, come on, Wanda! You’re married, not dead! ‘Fess up, don’t you like the way Starfox just sort of... stands around?”

Scarlet Witch: “Well, if you put it that way -- !”

Just some gals being friends and talking about how hot their new co-worker is.

Just objectifying a foxy guy... from space.

I like She-Hulk someone immediately sensing Wanda thinking about how hot Starfox is. She has a sixth sense for it.

And I fear because Janet “Aesthetic Appreciation for Every Man” Van Dyne now has a comrade in arms in Jennifer “What are inhibitions?” Walters.

The three arrive at the apartment building Jan found for Jen (not confusing at all). The rental agent isn’t around but Jan basically does whatever she wants and the door is open so they go in to look around.

And its a good apartment! Its got a terrace, high ceilings, deep carpeting! Its perfect for She-Hulk! The long subplot is finally at a resolution!

Alas.

The rental agent comes in and when he learns that its Jen who wants to rent the place. Really wants to rent the place. “You can draw up a lease -- I don’t care how much the rent is!” wants to rent the place. He has one (1) concern.

Rental agent: “My lord! You... you’re green!”

She-Hulk: “Yeah, and you’re a pasty shade of pink! So what?”

Rental agent: “I... I can’t rent to you! What would the other tenants say?”

Oo buddy that’s illegal under the Fair Housing Act. Especially if you just come out and say it. Granted, I don’t think it foresaw this exact scenario so let me rephrase. Oo buddy she is not shy about hurting people who annoy her.

She-Hulk: “Outta my way, Jan! I want to turn Mr. Pink black-and-blue!”

Wasp: “Forget it, Jennie! We’ll find a better place!”

But since Wanda doesn’t have any patience with bigotry, she uses her magic-science mutant magic to set off the fire sprinklers above Rental Agent.

I guess he’s allll washed up.

Back over in New Orleans, Monica returns to her apartment still hung up on Blackout and Moonstone getting away.

I guess it is her first failure as a superhero? It’s a very minor one but if you were on a winning streak before, it could knock you for a loop. Monica seems like the sort of person who holds herself to very high standards.

She considers calling the Avengers on her bracelet radio to see if there’s any leads on the two loose ends but then realizes that she can travel at the speed of light. She may as well just pop into the mansion!

Monica has cool powers.

But when she arrives inside the mansion, she sees a bunch of electronic components just floating through the mansion.

Soooo she follows them. Gotta see what’s going on.

She finds Starfox in the medical room constructing some apparatus around Vision’s tube.

Starfox explains that stuff be floating because ISAAC is using an attractor beam to assemble an apparatus. ISAAC being the Titan computer Integral Synaptic Anti-Anionic Computer.

It sure is cool that some Eternals that went to live on Titan before modern English existed still managed to name their computer ISAAC.

And its cool that ISAAC can apparently influence things like this halfway across the solar system.

Anyway, ISAAC is linked up with the main computers of Avengers’ Mansion to build a more specialized medical computer to get a better idea of what’s going on with Vision.

Vision: “It sounds complicated, Captain, but the principles involved are actually quite simple.”

Captain Marvel: “Vision? You spoke!”

Vision: “That seems to surprise everyone... pleasantly, I hope.”

He explains that if everything goes well with this apparatus, he hopes to be ambulatory again before tomorrow. And also, because he’s a class act, thanks Monica for the stories of New Orleans she shared when she was on Vision duty.

In a funny continuity nod, Vision notes that he and Wanda went to New Orleans once (in issue #152) but didn’t have time to sight-see. Because there was a lot of voodoo nonsense going on.

The Avengers tend to go all over the world but they also tend to be involved in nonsense and can’t enjoy it.

Monica isn’t sure whether they should go ahead with this without consulting the other Avengers but Starfox shrugs that it’s Vision’s decision.

Vision: “In that case, I choose to begin analysis immediately!”

In fairness, I’m sure he’s fed up with lying in a tube staring at the ceiling. Bring on the untested science! My god, just anything novel!

Starfox activates the devices, showing Vision’s body with unearthly energies whiiich makes him twitch and spasm and then a tiny Vision head pops out of his forehead gem.

Mazel tov?

I don’t think that was the intended outcome.

Outside, She-Hulk, Scarlet Wanda, and Wasp are returning from Apartment Quest.

Wanda mentions that she didn’t mean to be away from Vision this long.

Wasp: “Don’t worry, Wanda. I’m sure nothing’s gone wrong!”

Giant disembodied Vision head: “WRONG? ON THE CONTRARY, EVERYTHING’S GONE JUST FINE!”

Oh my god, he got Oz’d.

Imagine coming home to that! You go on an errand with a friend to take your mind off your coma robot husband and you come back and he’s a giant holographic head!

The three Avengers rush inside and find a more reasonably sized Vision hologram and Starfox protesting that this wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

Yeah, I suspected.

But Vision is thrilled with this turn of events!

Vision: “Evidently, the internal dysfunction in my body caused a data feedback-loop which overloaded my brain with ISAAC’s energy-information matrix. Simply put -- I have become as one with ISAAC and our own computer systems! The ability to project this holographic construct is a fortuitous side-effect!”

Huuuuuuuuuh!

Vision merged with some computers. This is fine. Is this fine? Is Vision fine? Starfox wants to know and so do I.

Vision: “ALL RIGHT?!? I’ve never been able to think more clearly. Even with my body temporarily out of order, I can be of great help to the Avengers! I can out-think, out-deduce any computer system in the world! All the information in our files is mine -- instantly! For instance -- I see there’s some unfinished business pending! Two opponents escaped us recently! Those two must be found!”

Well, Monica will be happy with that at least.

Geez, Vision is kind of... manic? Maybe its just the contrast to how dour he tend to be. But he definitely seems keyed up. Like he’s running high on having all these computers running through his brain.

Is this robot drugs?

Wait, no, vibranium is robot drugs. Is this other robot drugs? Connect to a super-computer and scream I’M THINKING SO FAST! ?

MEANWHILE, those very two miscreants!

In a hideout in the Bronx, Blackout is ranting paranoid about how they’re out to get him and are going to merge him with the light spectrum and destroy his humanity. Which is fairly unique paranoid ranting.

Of course, while he’s focused on glaring out the window, he’s not paying attention to Moonstone who prepares a drugged cup of coffee for him.

Blackout: “You’re the only one, Moonstone... the only one who hasn’t betrayed me!”

Moonstone: “That’s right! You can trust me! Now, drink it all down!”

Womp womp.

The drug makes Blackout trance out and Moonstone uses this to start interrogating him about his origin. And... maybe trying to help him? She did start off as a therapist. And even as a villain, she sometimes does therapy.

For some damn reason, Hank “Good Ideas” Pym got her to look over Avengers Academy kids down the line and offer her thoughts on them.

Anyway. Moonstone asks how he got this way:

Blackout: “Well... I ‘spose it all started when Dr. Croit set me up so I’d have to be his guinea pig. He... charged up my body with the power of a black star! That’s why I... *yawn* ... had to punish him!”

Moonstone: “Shh! I want you to listen closely... there are no black-star energies... There’s no conspiracy against you! Let your mind drift back! I want you to tell me what really happened!”

So what really happened is here’s how a Mark Daniels became a man with a lightning bolt mask. He was a lab assistant to Dr. Croit.

Blackout: “He always wanted to be everyone’s big daddy!”

Um. Okayyy?

Anyway, Mark Daniels was helping Croit build an experimental device for tapping energy from other dimensions. And, at least according to Blackout, Dr. Croit liked Mark Daniels because he was a dummy who didn’t understand the experiment at all.

Then one day, while he longingly caressed it, the device blew up in Mark Daniels’ face, somehow making his body a control surface for tapping into another universe’s “dark force.”

Dr. Croit wanted to cure Mark Daniels who took exception to the idea of having his newfound power taken away. So he killed Dr. Croit and the other assistants.

But the power was running out of control (shouldn’t have killed the doctor, ya dingus) and before Blackout could use the stabilizer to save himself, he got stuck... somewhere. Its a bit fuzzy to him until he popped out in Project Pegasus.

Moonstone believes that his mind couldn’t cope with what happened to him so he made up the black star nonsense to be An Explanation.

Moonstone: Imagine... all of that power at the command of a raving paranoid! Yes, but he’s a paranoid who trusts me! Now that I have a handle on his power, I should be able to manipulate him into doing just about anything I wish! Why, with the dimensional-warping potential of a power like his, we could be unstoppable!

“Blackout, we have a very bright future ahead of us!”

And then Vision pops in from nowhere and gives Moonstone a startle.

She fires some of her hand pew pew at him but he’s a hologram and just sasses back.

Moonstone runs to wake up Blackout while Vision can’t help but show off how smart he is now that his computer brain is overclocked.

Vision: “It was, of course, clever of you to seek refuge in a hideaway of your former ally, Egghead! Unfortunately, with all the cross-referenced data instantly at my disposal, tracing you here was child’s play!”

Blackout wakes up and Moonstone basically points at Vision and tells him ‘get ‘im!’ and Blackout gets ‘im.

He uses the same imprisoning black sphere move on Vision as he did on Captain Marvel.

And it probably would have worked. If Vision was really here. He’s just a hologram. And, sure, the light of the hologram would probably be trapped in the sphere too. It trapped Captain Marvel when she was light. But Vision is being projected from elsewhere so he can just turn the projection off and then turn it on slightly to the left.

Vision: “I’m sorry, but that won’t work either! You see -- I’m not really here at all! But my friends are!”

Oh, Vision, you sassmaster.

Moonstone’s ‘knows when to fold them’ kind of lapsed when she was attacking Vision instead of remembering ‘hey doesn’t that guy hang with the Avengers?’ but a whole bunch of Avengers busting in reminds her.

She blasts the floor beneath her and Blackout to try to escape and has Blackout seal the hole behind them to buy time.

But Scarlet Witch is still a great counter to... maybe anyone? But especially Blackout.

She waves her hands at the black barrier and it turns into goo and drips all over Blackout and Moonstone, ensnaring them before they can even try to run.

The Avengers storm after the two villains.

Trapped, Moonstone tells Blackout its up to him to stop the Avengers!

Moonstone: “Concentrate on your power! It’s greater than you realize! If you try, you can control it completely... make it do anything! Concentrate... make this 'dark force’ release us! Yes... that’s it! You’re doing it! But you can do more than just reform the darkness into a protective sheath! You can turn it back on the Avengers... you can make them merge with the darkness! And then we can get out of here!”

Vision warns the Avengers that the dark-force is a manifestation of another universe but She-Hulk is skeptical so goes to grab Blackout out of the black goo but her arm goes right through him.

And not in the gory way that you’d see these days.

Blackout and Moonstone are pretty perplexed too.

Apparently, he done goofed and merged him and Moonstone with the darkness and the two get sucked into a singularity and disappear.

Vision: “This may be a first... Our enemies have actually imprisoned themselves!”

Geez, Vision, these assholes might be dead.

-google- Huh. Nope. They’ll be back to menace.... Dazzler? Huh. It be like that sometimes.

Sidenote: I do like that Captain Monica Marvel, as the newest to this superhero life, is the one that most visibly shows shock and consternation at two villains being sucked into an unknown fate.

It’s a nice touch.

Even though the villains maybe got away? Or got sent to the next dimension? She-Hulk congratulates Vision on finding them. And then notes, seconded by Wanda, that Vision is becoming more of a vision.

Scarlet Witch: “Darling? Your holographic projection is starting to fade!”

Vision: “So it is! I seem to be having some difficulty maintaining the transmission over the distance! Perhaps I’ve overextended myself a bit.”

He decides to switch off the projection to run a systems check.

Later, back at the mansion, the Giant Floating Head of Vision reassures everyone.

Vision: “I was just explaining to Captain Marvel that there’s nothing to worry about! As I’d already guessed, the strain of the long-distance transmission was a bit taxing. A few days of rest, and I’ll be able to transmit myself almost anywhere. Of course, by then, I hope to be physically mobile, as well.”

Scarlet Witch: “Vision, you must be more careful! It’s not safe for you to consider using this power again... not until you’re fully healed!”

Vision: “You mean ‘repaired,’ Wanda. But, yes, a certain amount of caution is required. I must adjust to this extra power in stages. Once I’ve mastered it, I’ll never be so helpless again. I’ll be able to do anything... anything!”

Well.

That’s a massive red flag.

Being locked in a tube has not done wonders for Vision’s emotional state that he always pretends he doesn’t have.

(Side note again: I like that Wasp’s costume has an open back, for her wings. It’s another nice touch.)

Starfox asks if Vision has ever had ego problems but Wasp says he’s never had a swelled head like this.

Nah, not exactly. But can you imagine!

But yeah, no, she says he’s never showed ego like this before.

Its actually such a massive red flag that everyone present seems to pick up on it.

But there’s no time to address that because they get an emergency call from Tigra.

Ah, Tigra! You were fun the short amount of time you were here. What wacky hijinxes do you have going on now?

Tigra: “I’m at St. Anthony’s Hospital in San Francisco, Jan. No, I’m fine -- but a friend of mine is literally at death’s door. She may not make it if we don’t get some help fast... and I mean big help! It’s hard to explain over the phone, but... do you believe in ghosts?”

!!!!

Why, Tigra! I didn’t know you and Spider-Woman were friends!

So next time.... uh. We won’t be addressing this right away. The next Avengers’ issue is an infamous offering from Assistant Editor’s Month and before we can even get to that, we need to look into what Hawkeye has been up to because it’s kinda relevant. Or will be relevant soon. When Marvel decides to give this liveblog a headache by splitting the party.

Oh yes, West Coast Avengers looms in the near future. As does Secret Wars. As does David Letterman!

Good grief!

Follow @essential-avengers​ because I’m going to try to cover all these things. That’s a good reason to follow, probably. Also, like and reblog if you like to reblog.

[marveloussupernerd]

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - V

A list of people who asked for this: me. That is all. But we need more Lucy content LMAO

Warnings: very mild spoilers for V’s judge / forgive

Summary: you and V’s adopted daughter, Lucy, hadn’t had a good Christmas in a while. You were determined to make it perfect. That meant V dressing up as Santa just in case Lucy saw. You didn’t think she was actually watching though...

You had learned a lot about Lucy since you adopted her. First, you learned that she was one of the happiest children alive, despite being put up for adoption and fostered back and forth for a while. Second, you learned that she loved the members of the RFA, so much so that she wanted them to move in with you. Most importantly, you learned that she was not a good sleeper.

She was six. It seemed like she’d be old enough to sleep through the night without problems, but she found it challenging. Almost every night she’d stumble into you and V’s bedroom, complaining that she woke up and couldn’t sleep. Sometimes you’d let her sleep with you, other times you helped her go back to her room until she fell asleep once more.

That complicated the holidays. What if Lucy woke up and went and saw you and V putting out presents!? V found out about Santa Claus way too young as a child, and wanted his daughter to be able to believe in that magic for years. And so there you were, at the store, buying a Santa costume on Christmas Eve. You were shocked there were any left.

V sighed upon seeing it, but agreed to putting it on, as long as he didn’t have to wear a wig or a beard. The coat and pants and belt and hat and boots were good enough to sell it to Lucy if she asked.

“Now Lucy, it’s time to go to bed,” you explained, leading the way upstairs to her bedroom.

“Mommy wait!” She pulled you back to the living room. “We didn’t leave anything out for his reindeer!”

“His reindeer?”

“Yes! They need to eat too. They’re doing most of the work anyways.” She sat down on the couch. “I can’t sleep until we get them something.”

V grinned and left the room, heading to the kitchen. He came back with a bag full of baby carrots. Lucy squealed with excitement, reciting each reindeer’s name as she put out a carrot for them. She seemed quite satisfied with her work.

“Now Baby,” V started, heading off to put away the extra carrots, “You know that Santa won’t visit if you’re up. So you’ve gotta try your best to sleep.”

“And if you wake up, we have to try and fall back asleep, okay?” You added.

Lucy seemed nervous, as though there was a lot of pressure on her to do well.

“Don’t worry! If you can’t go back to sleep Daddy and I will be in our room, okay?”

She nodded delightedly. V picked her up and carried her up the stairs, setting her down in bed. “Mommy’s gonna stay with you until you fall asleep, okay?”

“‘Kay. Good night Daddy!!” She called. You giggled, taking a seat next to her bed. You’d read her The Night Before Christmas. It was festive!

She passed out only a few pages into the book. Lucy was good at falling asleep, just bad at staying asleep. She got nervous being on her own. You just hoped she would stay asleep long enough for you to put the presents out. You kissed her head and then left, closing the door gently as to not wake her.

You carefully made your way downstairs, and V was waiting there for you, fully dressed up as Santa, bag full of presents. You giggled quietly, placing a kiss on his cheek, then began to set out the presents. V started writing a note to Lucy; she wanted to see if Santa had the time if he would write something for her. You took a cookie as you worked, adjusting the presents so they’d present nicely in the morning. V snacked on the carrots, working hard to bite as quietly as possible. It was a team effort.

And then finally, it was all finished! Food, gone. Presents, laid out perfectly. Stockings, filled. Letter, written, signed, lovely. V’s handwriting was remarkably bad, but he worked really hard to make it look nice for Lucy. Maybe you should have switched jobs and written instead.

Still, you were ecstatic to be done! You took a seat next to V on the couch, resting your head on his shoulder for a moment. “I’m exhausted,” you whispered, wiped out from the quick hustling to get things done.

“We should go back upstairs,” he added, “so I can get out of this.”

You tried to suppress your laughter. You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You did perfect. Thank you.”

You went up the stairs first, checking to make sure Lucy was sleeping, then waved V on to hurry into the bedroom. You joined him, giggling and pressing kisses to his lips. It was kinda fun sneaking around like spies. You helped him take off the itchy costume and he slipped back into his pajamas. If you weren’t so tired maybe you could have had a little fun tonight. Alas, it was Christmas, and you were exhausted. You got into bed next to him, wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug, giving him one more kiss on the cheek before going to bed.

The door opened quietly. So quietly you almost didn’t hear. Almost. You had become a light sleeper because you were used to Lucy waking up. She was... sniffling? Was she okay? You sat up in bed, as did V.

“Honey, are you okay?” V asked. She walked closer to him and gave him a big hug.

“What’s wrong Lucy?” You asked, scooting closer to V so you could see her better.

“Santa came,” she sobbed.

“He did!? How exciting!”

She whimpered. “But Mommy! You saw him! I saw you with him”

Shit. You were caught. But how caught were you exactly? Hopefully she didn’t see you eating Santa’s cookies, setting up the presents... “What was I doing with him?” You asked her.

“You... you... kissed his cheek!” She sobbed. Okay. You could spin this. “Like you do with me and Daddy! Why did you kiss his cheek!? Daddy did you know?”

“Of course Daddy knew!” You chimed in. “Sometimes you kiss your friends cheeks too! It’s not a big thing here, but they do it all the time where Santa’s from. I wanted to go down and thank him for the presents. Daddy stayed up here just in case you woke up.”

“But I didn’t see him when I came here!” She pouted.

“I was... in the bathroom!” V confessed. Why was this so challenging for the two of you? You didn’t like stretching the truth, even if it was to keep the magic alive.

“Ohhhh,” she exclaimed. “I get it! I should’ve gone down and said hi.”

“Yes! But that’s okay. You can do it next Christmas,” you reasoned.

“But we should be going to sleep now. You want to sleep with us tonight? It is a special night after all,” V asked. Lucy’s eyes lit up, reaching her hands out to him for him to pick her up and pull her into bed.

She situated herself right in between the two of you, reaching over to give you a hug. “Hi Mommy!” She squealed. You gave her a kiss on both her cheeks.

“Good night Lucy Lu,” you whispered, trying to get her to be quiet as well, and eventually get tired.

“Wait!” Her voice was loud again. “If there are presents now... why don’t we go open them now!?”

“But it’s not Christmas yet,” V reasoned.

“Daddy!! That’s a tech... a technically... a-“

“Technicality?” You corrected, trying to see if you got the right word.

“Yes! Santa brought presents so we can open them now. That’s the rule.” She was pouting.

You couldn’t say no to that face. You swung her in your arms, picking her up and getting out of bed. V stretched, then climbed out to join you. “One present Lucy,” he warned.

You had them all opened in ten minutes.

[modestlyabsurd]

An Old Memory (Loki x Reader)

A quaint, modest home nearly a century old with a faint aura of history. Curtains still flowing across windows, pinned back to allow yellow sunlight into the kitchen. Upon looking, one could feel the hustle and bustle of happy company, smell the coffee steeping in the old pot that shouldn't possibly still work, and see a young woman preparing Thanksgiving dinner for her small family. Huddled around the stove, watching her movements as well as the pumpkin pie she mixed, were young and old children alike. The woman let the youngest of the three lick the spoon before shooing them from the heated oven.

He opened his eyes from the distant memory.

Now, the home smelt simply of cleanliness and very light perfume that had not been misted in some time. The stovetop and surrounding countertops had a thin layer of dust upon them. The floors were clean, the air was a medium temperature due to proper cooling of the home. He looked around, walked quietly, into the living room. It left a lingering touch; forgotten, almost. Furniture arranged for plenty of guests (of all ages, by the large chest of toys in the corner) a television, a computer.

All was there, except any life.

He went over to the wall and studied the framed faces hanging proudly. He recognized her in many of them. In one she donned a blue dress, gazing lovingly into a man's eyes. Her hand on his face, their foreheads touching. The man was much larger than her, holding her closely in a field of grass.

The next was her in mid-laughter, hugging a smiling baby to her face. Radiant, alive. The following photographs displayed somewhat of a timeline, as she is pictured with two growing children, one boy and one girl, as well as grandchildren.

He looked into each room, there being only three. Two were empty, used as storage space with boxes stacked in every corner. Before he reached the back bedroom, a key turned in the front door. It opened. He quickly made himself invisible.

A woman entered. She carried market bags, visibly filled with food, and set them heavily on the counter. He nearly mistakes her for her mother, before he can clearly see their small differences.

This girl had swimming blue eyes, light hair, and was of course clothed up to date. But her body language so eerily resembled ... alas. With beads of stress over her face, she emptied the bags, which contained enough prepared meals for days. She then went into a cabinet above her head, pulled down a transparent shallow box, and emptied something from it as well; all in a habitual motion.

"Mama?" She called out, filling a glass with water. "I brought you some lunch!" Her accent was so easily recognized, he no longer questioned the roles here.

The lively woman of roughly twenty or thirty Midgardian years of age bounced past him unknowingly, to the bedroom he had yet to see. He watched from a distance as she knocked on the open door before entering, going to the middle of the room where a bed sat and a person lay motionless.

"Wakey wakey Mama, you don't wanna miss the sunshine."

The ancient lady opened her small, heavy eyes. They looked around the room, before settling on the young lady beside her. "Hey Lillie," she said.

"Hey there!" Lillie smiled down at her aged mother. "It's lunch time, you know that?You asked for something soupy earlier, so I made you some homemade chicken noodle. I hope it's half as good as yours was," said Lillie, showing the bowl of soup. Then, she began to spoon feed her mother's lunch to her.

This, is what finally caused Loki's throat to become hard and dry.

Every spoonful, every bit, every sip of water. For nearly thirty minutes, making mundane conversation in between. He started to wonder where Lillie acquired the strength of heart and mind to complete these grievous tasks. In his own mind, he could never do such things for even those closest to him.

Little by little, Lillie fed her mother until she began eating slower and slower. Eventually, she wouldn't open her mouth to the food. "You full now? Must've liked it, heck, there's hardly any left!" Lillie laughed.

"It was scrump-dilly-umptious. Thank you baby," she responded, taking the cloth laid under her chin and blotting her lips.

Lillie smiled, "You don't have to thank me Mama. I'm just happy to hear it was worth eating. Now we gotta take your medicine, okay?" Lillie took the tablets she'd placed on the bedside table along with the remaining water in her glass. "Alright, I'm gonna put 'em in there, then you swallow 'em with the water, okay? Ready?" And she did.

For another hour the two generations spoke of nature, current Midgardian events and random pieces of life's perspectives. Loki remained invisible to them for the duration, keeping his pained emotions inside until Lillie left.

After that, with caution, he uncloaked himself and stood in the doorway, watching the circle of human life taking its course. This was a cruel curse, he deemed, certainly cast upon the wrong person. She fell in and out of sleep, small sounds escaping her throat occasionally. Loki didn't know how long he had left.

With some uncertainty, he calls out her name.

She opened her eyes, and scanned around the room once more. Her gaze fell upon the strange man clothed in green armor. "Who's there?" her delicate voice asked.

Loki cleared his throat. "Loki," he paused, "of Asgard."

Her brow furrowed, as the name and vocals didn't register. "Loki? I, I don't know a Loki."

He entered slowly, careful with his steps, and careful not to startle the frail woman he once knew quite well. He sat in the chair that Lillie sat in before, by Y/N's bedside. Her confused eyes followed him intently; guarded. He recalled those eyes. Bright, squinting ever so slightly when she smiled or laughed. Now overshadowed by soft, wrinkled skin; the captivating brightness somehow remained in her irises.

Loki gently took her hand from her side, feeling it tremble. "You don't remember me, darling?" a smile ghosted his lips as they locked gazes. "I don't believe my appearance has changed drastically. Yours certainly hasn't either."

"Loki," she paused, trailing off into deep thought. She nodded, "It rings a bell. And I suppose you look a little familiar."

"Think back to when you were eighteen. You once had a dream that you'd left Midg- er, Earth, and ascended into another world. Do you remember that?"

Staring straight ahead - confused, worried, but beginning to recall - she nodded. "Yeah, yeah I do. There was people there, and... and it wasn't much different than Earth. They talked funny, kinda like you are right now."

"Yes," Loki breathed, holding her hand closer to him. "And on the journey back to Earth, the BiFrost began to crumble. Someone caught you before you fell to the abyss. Do you remember?"

"Yeah," she exclaimed as the emotions of this event washed over her once again. "The one everybody told me to be scared of, and I was. I was scared of him from the things I'd heard. He'd apparently killed a whole lot of people, and hurt twice as many. He was some kind of royalty there." She swallowed, "but a fight broke out on the bridge to Earth, and it started to break and I fell. But somebody grabbed my wrists before I was too far. I, I saw him. I screamed for my life, 'cause it was him. The one they'd told me about. Loki, that was his name. After that, I  stayed with him there for a little while longer and got to know him and, and," she trailed off. Her eyes darted back to the dark man beside of her. "It was you!"

Loki laughed and kissed her small knuckles. "Indeed. Though it was not a dream, my darling."

She glanced at her hand, Loki drawing over her protruding veins with his ghostly pale thumbs. To make sure this wasn't a dream either, she raised it, pressed her palm to his cheek. It was cold. Just as it used to be.

Everything began pouring back to Y/N as her medication took effect. She remembered accidentally winding up in another planet, another realm, though she didn't quite remember how she got there. That of course didn't matter at the moment as joy flooded her mind and body upon seeing Loki once again; sixty-something years later.

"Well I'll be. You're just as handsome as I remember you, Loki."

"And you are still the most beautiful, charming, most notably intriguing Midgardian I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

She was at a loss for words, the same effect he used to create upon her.

"I saw your daughter. Beautiful, full of life and strength of character. Like her mother."

"Lillie?" Y/N said, "Oh boy, she's something else. I, I don't know what I did to deserve such amazing kids. Taking all that time to come out here and take care of me every day. My son'll be out here by dinner time. Said he's gonna bring my granddaughter with him."

"You're a grandmother," Loki whispered to himself, in awe. "So many things have happened since our short time together. I think of it quite often now."

"Yeah," Y/N sighed, "I did too. Before my mind started leaving me. You know I'd have married you if the laws of physics allowed it."

Shaking his head, he thought back to those times, his actions. "I wanted nothing more than to marry you, my dear. But, as can be seen now," he laughs shortly, "it was not meant to be that way. You were still given a family, just as you always wanted and very well deserved." Loki looked off into the air, a smile painted on his face. "We used to discuss our futures back then. My wishes proved to be far more complicated than your own. I always wanted authority, or, equality, while you simply wished for happiness."

They locked eyes once again. Y/N could listen to Loki speak for hours on end. It was the few times like this that they shared, that she recalled so fondly after they separated. Him talking about anything and everything, in a proper soft spoken tone, unlike what she grew up around.

"Did your dreams come true, darling?"

"They did. After I came back home, I met my husband. For a while, though, all I could think about was you. How I couldn't be with you and all. I missed you real bad. But then he came along a couple years later. Stocky little blond-headed blue-eyed devil. But not at all like your brother. I think you'd have liked him."

"If I may ask, where is he now?" Loki asked, with the idea that he was treading on thin ice.

"Oh, he's been gone for years now. He was a good decade older than me, I think he was eighty-four? Eighty-five when he died? Died of cancer."

"My apologies."

"Oh, it was time. He was ready, and the family was too. He died a happy man." Loki couldn't help but think of the eighty-one-year-old white haired, fragile woman before him now, laying in her bed with little mobility. He shuddered it away for the moment, until her frail, aged voice interrupted such thoughts. "Did your hopes and dreams come true, Loki? I prayed they would."

Her small grip seemed to tighten a bit upon his hesitation to answer. Quite frankly, no. None of his dreams had come true. He was preparing for the war of his life and didn't see much of a happy ending in sight. But he found a source of sad, awful gratitude, in that his friend likely wouldn't suffer the consequences of said war. Not at this rate.

He refused to let her know the complete truth about this. Much like he'd always done, about everything. "No. Not yet, at least." He licks his lips, "But I was never the luckiest chap."

"Give yourself a break," says Y/N, looking straight into his eyes with the same bright sweetness he recalled so fondly. "You never know what's in store. You might think one thing's gonna happen, and then something totally different happens, but it turns out to be better than what you expected to begin with. Don't you have another thousand years or so left on you?"

Loki smiles sadly. A ray of sunshine pours through the window above Y/N's bed. "I suppose theoretically, yes. Nowadays I'm not so sure what my dreams are any more. To rule? To inherit? To love? To leave something behind besides a bad memory?Whenever I get to thinking about it too much it just ... smudges into a blur in my mind. Like a spilled pot of ink." He remembers exchanging letters with her years ago, after opening a passageway for them to do so. He remembers stopping as well. Allowing her letters to pile up on his desk within his prison cell, untouched. Unloved. Detached. How selfish he'd been to leave her without another word, reasonlessly.

The loosening of fingers around his cold hand jerks him back to reality, where the elderly woman's eyes fall closed and her hold slips away. Panicked, a cold sweat coating his neck, he grabs her wrist to feel for signs of life. A faint but steady pulse beats within her veins. He leans over her to listen for her breath, and it's there, in deep low snores. She's only fallen asleep.

Loki takes this to mean his time to reunite with Y/N has expired. Gently above creaking floorboards, he swallows down a wave of cries and stands; he notices the lines of concern on her forehead and kisses them, before silently bidding her farewell for the last time.

And on his way through the BiFrost back to Asgard, he allows himself to feel. The waves of light sweep away the tears, the whirring of speed muffles the cries. A series of realizations wash over him, but the most important being that something is about to give in the universe - and he's going to be part of it.

When he arrives at the base of the Asgardian palace, guards are lined up along the bridge's barriers. They bow. The gatekeeper Heimdall addresses him.

"Welcome back, Allfather Odin. I take it your journey was pleasant."

"Only as pleasant as a journey to Midgard can be."

~

memoriiiiiaaaaaa

hi hello thanks for reading this sad thing that's been hidden in my notes for years

tag list: @sydneyss-worlddd @afinedilemma @fire-in-her-veinz @belladonnabarnes @drakesfiance @internetgremlin @dragon-chica @sadwaywardkid @tarynkauai @triggeredpossum

[youichi-kuramochi]

hi viv its me that anon but not on anon this time because im getting annoyed with saying “that anon” every time but. im just here to say that i could never possibly ship harukura (is that their ship name?? haruichi n kuramochi??) because of ryousuke and as much as i love harukura as like. a partner dynamic i could never do that to ryousuke??? although itd be a good angst fic i just,,, rlly think that kuramochi n haruichi work better as a like- sibling type relationship??? idk many thoughts head full

also, to add onto my last ask, i cannot possibly imagine how bittersweet ryousuke must feel watching his brother play in his place. on one hand, he’s proud of haruichi- hes playing well, making all the right plays, meshing well with kuramochi. at the same time though, that was something that he had first. that was something that was his. to constantly have haruichi chasing after him (which, alas, is something that has also probably traumatized haruichi) must be so offputting. even after ryousuke leaves the team, haruichi is still looking up to him and reach his level.

the fact that haruichi was able to get to nationals with seido, while ryousuke just barely missed his chance with them? its like how sawamura was crying because he “wanted to keep playing with this team”?? like i can only imagine how bitter and jealous hed be of haruichi because that was HIS partner... not to mention the whole,,, thing,, with krry,, like- their relationship dynamic??? what the fuck. i just- yeah.

bro............. BRO oh god you’re about to open a whole can of worms I’m so sorry for what I’m sure is going to be a long rant but tl;dr I FEEL YOU SO HARD I LEGIT THINK ABT THIS ALL THE TIME

I love haruichi so very much like I think he was my first fave daiya character tbh but like.... yeah kuraharu could never be my cup of tea like I’m not gonna begrudge anyone for shipping it bc obv to each their own but I’m just so In It with kuraryou and I have SO many thoughts and feelings abt ryousuke and his big brother complex like 90% of the impetus for the first krry fic I ever wrote was me going insane over how everything ended for seidou that first summer and HAVE YOU READ THE ‘FACE’ SIDESTORY FOR RYOUSUKE bc if you haven’t oh my GOD it will make you Feel So Many Things about ryousuke’s incredibly complicated relationship with trying to be the perfect big brother and always trying to measure up to expectations and I just. like.

but GOD I know exactly what you mean like the crazy rollercoaster of emotions that must be watching kuramochi and haruichi play like we see hints of this during I think the fall tournament when the 3rd years come to watch them play and like ok idk this might be a spoiler bc it’s from act ii so idk tread carefully from here on out (not that I’m caught up but like. when I heard that ryou-san was coming home I couldn’t NOT look at the spoilers lmao) but when ryousuke comes to watch them play the next year????? like after he’s graduated???? and he’s so obviously like both proud of these two people who are so SO important to him but also still disappointed that it didn’t get to be HIM standing there and HIM getting that victory and he’s starting all over from scratch again in college trying to get people to take him seriously and I just. I just about LOST IT over this

and honestly like. again I’m not caught up w act ii so like everything I know about it is via the anime or secondhand from whatever spoilers I happen to stumble across but like. I get a little idk conflicted sometimes abt how haruichi’s arc is written bc like I love him. I love that he grows and becomes more confident in himself and I truly do love that he and kuramochi have become such an unstoppable duo bc it’s what they both deserve but also like. like ok there was this recent chapter title page I think???? that’s basically a recreation of a krry cover from act i but with kuramochi and haruichi and I just?????? started sobbing????? like I get that the parallels between the two of them are kind of the point but also idk as someone who really loves both ryousuke and haruichi so very much sometimes I get frustrated w just how much haruichi is filling ryousuke’s shoes like I feel like they both deserve a little more than just haruichi succeeding where ryousuke failed y’know??? like there’s gotta be more to it than that right?????

anyway. I don’t know where I was going with this anymore. I think I got off topic I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense I just. I HURT thinking abt this adlfkgjaldkfjgl

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

ASPECTS AS GAME MECHANICS AND TRAITS

Here’s a fun idea to think about.

The Aspects of Homestuck are both very simple, and very complicated. They can have literal symbolic objects (Pumpkin for Void; IE “What Pumpkin?”), or they can be metaphorically symbollic (Light deals in a lot of metaphorical symbols and meanings), and they are very certainly Narrative Elements (Such as Breath being PLOT, or ACT; and Blood being Character, or YOU).

But I’mma gonna add an additional layer to the subject: The Aspect can also be elements to a Video Game.

Because SBURB is a Video Game, albeit an all encompassing one that plays on a idea that if you can create a universe in a video game, then your universe is also a video game.

BREATH - ACT YOU: ACT

If you haven’t realized, the ACT in Homestuck is Breath based. That’s right, Homestuck has played you. You’re the game now, and it is the Player.

Breath is many things, and they’re all the spur to action or to force, or even to explore. Its very freeform.

LIFE - Health “... Or your Life.”

The Health Bar, Your Lives; and All those lovely and freshly cooked dinners and lunches you keep finding on the dungeon floor.

Homestuck pushes this a step further, and now Life is also your Experience bar, though not necessarily the Level Up. After all, Life is about Growth.

LIGHT - The Guide and your Money pouch “Your Money...”

Light encompasses any Guide. From your Journal, taking on your quests; to your Notes, signalling out any significant information (Be it your actual notes, or something in game, ala Morrowind), to online guides.

Light, for Homestuck’s sake, is apparently your money. Your valuables, anything particularly shiny and expensive that’ll get you that all mighty sword the bastard of a merchant is keeping.

TIME - SAVE GAME? “This will be a timed mission.”

Saved Games, Resets, Reloads, New Games, Timed Games, Timed Missions.

Time is one of those definitive Aspects, and thus, is one of those Aspects that will appear in every video game, even if the Health Bar doesn’t.

But to brass tacks.

Homestuck explores how a saved games and reloads could work, because ultimately you really can’t explore those in a world that doesn’t revolve around one character. I imagine if we only had one character to explore in Homestuck, who was a Time player, then Saved Games would work as expected (Provided that Player is the Only Important Player) [Huh, that brings up an idea that more Players added, the more complicated things get; that could bring up a reason why a Lord of Time really does play Time as its expected to be]

HEART - Aesthetic; Character “ROMANCE OPTION”

While there is the unexplored idea behind how Hearts are also a measure of One’s Life... I’m not gonna go into that right now.

Heart has always been about Character as it (Your character) or they (The characters you meet) are expressed. The kinds of characters that rely on a certain aesthetics and weapons, even when impractical (See Cloud Strife, ) or when “clothes make the man” (see Nick Valentine, Fallout 4), or when the aesthetic identifies the character (Bloodborne).

Additionally, lot of games also add buffs to clothes, armor and weaponry, especially if they’re fanciful.

The secondary here is that there is a different between Character and Player. You want the complexities of Player Characters, you look at Blood. Story Characters? That’s all Heart.

Ask any shipper.

RAGE - Combat and the Fatigue Bar “Y’know? RAGE QUIT!”

Rage is an... interesting bag.

It could manifest as your Berserk button (Literally); its often the Fatigue bar, because gods forbid you can’t just run on a map with no fast travel.

Plus there’s the fact that Rage is a very violent aspect. Very warlike, like every combat system ever. If all other aspects color the powers of your combat system, Rage is the System. Because sometimes that system is bullshit.

BLOOD - Its you! “YOU BOY, stop this scurrying around!”

Blood is, again, a definitive aspect. After all, YOU are playing, ain’t ya? In a game world, especially one vested in choice and exploration, the world is decided based on YOU. Your relationships with the Characters, the Setting, the World...

The game world begins and ends with YOU.

DOOM - Game Over “GAME OVER MAN, THEY’RE COMIN’ OUT OF THE WALLS--”

Doom is pretty self explanatory. Its the Game Over, its the “Pokemon is Poisoned”, its the “Your World is Doom, you must go back a save”.

It can also make a surprising appearance in the form of Sanity bars, Hunger meters, because those are a hanging Doom above you if you can’t keep them up.

Majority of Games will have Game Overs, or Doomed States, or Bad Ends. You want a narrative with choice? Then you accept the possibility of fucking up royally. You want a straight forward narrative but with combat? Accept that you’re probably gonna die, and die alot. You decide to go into the Game Registry and delete something? DOOM.

This can also encompass your deadzones; Areas in video games were you touch em, you die, or you fall and you die (Half Life loved these).

Not necessarily affiliated with the actual game DOOM, but I’d dare you to try.

VOID - Anything, and Nothing at all The Rest...

Void is peculiar in Homestuck, in that it encompasses everything. It isn’t just absolute nothingness, those its that too, its also things that are meaningless, or people who aren’t relevant to the story.

That isn’t a bad thing. Any game with significant world building needs those fillers in order to make the world feel real.

On the flipside.

Anyone who’s played a Bethesda game will have fallen into this at least once (and the one in Oblivion is filled with fucking WATER)

SPACE - The World ... And Everything else.

A game can’t exist without some sort of World. Even if its just a box that collects falling boxes of various shapes. Even if its just a jumping square on a flat plane, its a plane and a world.

Plus, all that world Building.

Additionally, its Fast Travel.

MIND - Management Intelligence is just a dump stat.

There are plenty of games that have you manage resources, manage experience, levels, weapons and armor. Why go for that pleasing dress up when that hunk of full plate armor will stop arrows better?

Plus, Mind is the QUESTION. Its not your Answer, its not your Choices; The Game will provide you your choices, but you gotta have to ask first in order to get those choices.

So y’know.

Mind the pudding.

HOPE - Power UP; The Mana Bar Its your final fantasy.

Hope is an explosion waiting to happen. Its your Limit Break, your Power UPs, that magic mushroom coming out of the metal Brick, that Materia that can summon Gods...

It is also your Mana Bar. Because its fuckin Magic, and Magic in any setting, medium, or story is gonna be about how that world Believes Magic works. So long as you can fireball everything in sight, you’re good.

Its also additionally, the Story. Not the Plot (Breath), not your Fate (Doom) or Destiny (Time), but the Story as its expected to be a story.

... So its that one old bastard in the introduction that won’t shut up about the world ending or something, and not let you get to the game.

[corvid-lullaby]

Finished 5.3 a day ago, but needed time to recover and process everything. If any of you are procrastinating from finishing Shadowbringers due to fears that I probably shared, you have my blessings. Go finish it. Final Fantasy 4 fans are gonna shit themselves silly.

I gotta say though. Not many stories out there leave me crying all fucking day but in a very satisfied way. It was extremely good, and the final fight was really fun. I’m ready for the Extreme version of it.

I’m also including a short guide for the trial if anyone needs it, without spoilers. It’ll be first thing under the cut, so you shouldn’t see any spoilers as most of it is inside vids

 IF YOU NEED HELP CLEARING THIS OR JUST WANT SOMEONE TO HOLD YOUR HAND I WILL BE ABSOLUTELY HAPPY TO COME.

I’ve uploaded the climax portion and the final trial if anyone wants to see. They’ll be after the guide. This isn’t the full finale ending. The trial is a bit longer than usual since I went in completely blind, and so did a lot of others in our party. We had to learn a lot of new mechs on the fly, therefor we wiped several times, but that’s what makes doing brand new content blind so fun. You get to learn and clear it together.

Koi 💜

Final Trial Guide

Phase 1:

Terror Unleashed (HEAL TO FULL): Dark Knight Unleashed skill raid wide. Forces the equivilant of Dark Knight’s Walking Dead on everyone and reduces hp to 1. Heal to full to remove Walking Dead or else the player will die after 15 seconds.

The Bitter End (TANK BUST)

Pause (STAY STILL UNTIL THE FIRE DEBUFF FALLS OFF): When a pause icon is above your head, it’ll count down before fire engulfs the entire raid. This puts the fire looking debuff Pyretic onto everyone. If you move at all or cast a skill while this is on you, you will take damage. Stay still until it falls off.

Play (KEEP RUNNING/MOVING): Same as Pause, but this time with a play icon. This time its a blizzard. If you’re character is still (Using skills does not count as ‘moving’) then you’ll be frozen and take extra damage. Keep moving to prevent this.

Fire/Ice Imbued Sword (FIRE: STAY STILL - ICE: MOVE): When he says “Begone, spawn of Shadow!” watch to see if he imbues his sword with ice or fire. You’ll have to treat it the same as Pause/Play. If its Ice keep moving to keep from being frozen. If it’s fire stay still until the debuff drop. The trick here is knowing when he’s actually going to cast it, as in second phase he’ll delay it. Listen for when he says, “Darkness must be destroyed!”. This will be followed by either a circle aoe around him or a raid wide aoe with a safe spot directly under him. He’ll cast ice/fire just as these aoes go off.

Floor Drawing/Sword of Light (GET OUT OF THE DRAWING): The floor turns black and lazers begin moving around to draw a figure. Watch carefully where the lazers go and get outside of the drawing asap. When the drawing is finished everyone within it takes damage.

FOLLOWED WITH

Bahamut Dive (GET TO THE SAFE SIDE): Right after a drawing incantation is finished, you’ll see Bahamut waiting and ready to do a dive right after. As soon as the drawing damage goes off, run to the safe side. Bahamut also appears later during the dark bubbles/stack/run away mechanic.

Phase 2:

Did you see and recognize that hand gesture? /wink/

Most phase 1 mechs will be in phase 2, but enhanced. Floor Drawing will look more complicated. Imbued Sword will now have a big delay from when it has been imbued to when it’s actually cast.

To The Limit: He’ll now start casting limit breaks to indicate upcoming mechs, starting with LB4 right at the start 

Limit Break 4 (USE TANK LB3): This is his ultimate and, I think not completely positive since I haven’t done this enough, requires a tank LB3 to defend against it.

Meteor Rings (STAND IN THEM)

Elddragon Dive (RAID WIDE DAMAGE)

Summon Wyrm (GO TO SAFE CORNER AWAY FROM BAHAMUT DIVE + STACK/RUN AWAY MECHS): Two large glowing black orbs will spawn at two corners, leaving the other two corners safe. At the same time Bahamut will spawn to dive over one of these two clear corners. Run to the safe corner. Right after a stack mechanic plus the triangle run away marker will spawn at the same time. Stackers should stay in the corner while the person with the triangle marker should run through the center between the growing orbs. Bahamut will already have dived so it’ll be safe.

Limit Break 1 Radient Braver (SEPARATE MARKERS/CONE AOES): Similar to Earth Shakers. People marked will have a large cone aoe directed at them. Separate and everyone else needs to reposition to avoid the cleave.

Limit Break 2 Radient Desperado (DOUBLE LINE STACK): Two people will be marked with line-based stack markers. Split and stack but only ONCE. One goes off before the other, leaving the first stackers possibly tempted to run and help stack with the second one. DO NOT DO THIS. You will be given a major debuff when hit with a stack and you CANNOT live a second stack hit.

Limit Break 3 Radient Meteor (SPREAD AND HUG CORNERS, CENTER IS SAFE): Four people will be marked with huge AOE markers. Each person must run and hug a corner very closely. This will leave the center clear for everyone else. Hug it well, since the aoes are extremely big.

Small Ninja Mudra (PUSH BACK FOLLOWED BY STACK): A Ninja WoL (Not the boss) will be seen casting a mudra while mentioning cleansing water, wash away evil. Tidal Wave-like push back mechanic. Run to the side with the waterfall. This will be followed by a stacking mech. Don’t be me and use arms length or something similar to null the push back. I got the marker and died due to this since this left me far from everyone lmao.

4X Bahamut (FACE YOUR BAHAMUT AWAY/TO ITS’ CORNER): Four Bahamuts will spawn, each tethered to one person. This is like the Zenos fight in the Ala Mhigo dungeon. Each person needs to run to the Bahamut they’er tethered to and towards the corner behind it. The Bahamut will be forced to turn to face you and that corner, dropping its’ cone safely away from everyone else when it goes off.

That’s it, but let me know if I got something wrong or forgot something! I tried to keep it easy to read to use on the fly.

Finale Part 1

Finale Part 2

Finale Trial Part 1

Finale Trial Part 2

Finale Trial Part 3

Finale Part 3

Hit Video limit so here’s the link to the last video: https://youtu.be/R-pLTrmXBes

~~~~~

Again this isn’t the full ending. Just the climax.

But honestly I can’t express how much I enjoyed the closing to Shadowbringers. I’m so fucking happy that our little G’raha lived and got to come home with us. It’s just too cute how much he adores and wants to adventure with the Warrior of Light/Darkness. Hopefully he’ll get used to his new young, spry body. He isn’t a crystalizing grandpa anymore.

I’m gonna miss it.

[glassworkspiderlilies]

giyushino week wrap up!

aaaaand that’s a wrap!! thank you to the moderators of giyushinoweek, and to everyone who liked/reblogged/commented on/sent me asks about my fics!!

it was a wild ride to write 8 fics in basically a week or so; i keep saying the fics were hastily or frantically written but LMAO considering how little fic i put out nowadays and how long it usually takes me to write because i edit as i go (which means i take f o r e v e r ), i was seriously just screaming like I JUST GOTTA DO IT I JUST GOTTA GO WITH IT I DON’T HAVE TIME the entire time haha. it was really good to be able to just think of a thing and run as far as i could with it, though!! it’s been quite a long time since i was able to do that, and it was really nice to have a project to work on in the back of my head. <3

ideally, if i work myself up to it, i’d like to revisit all of these and spruce them up to post to ao3, but we’ll see. :’) 

under the cut is just some thoughts on my process during this and also writing each of the fics, if you’re interested! favorite prompt, the most difficult parts to write, what the fic was originally was, things like that. 

thank you again, everyone!! back to hibernation and occasional slow snail pace writing i go, haha.

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re: writing process -i tried writing a fic per day during the week before the actual event, which...kind of worked!! ideally, i was going to write a mostly complete fic each day, and then spend the week of the event editing each one before i posted it. what really ended up happening was that i partially wrote several, but not all of them, during the previous week, and then spent the week of finishing up, editing, or writing the whole thing more or less the day before the prompt was “due”, LMFAO. my weekday schedule is pretty structured because of work--I have maybe an hour or two of free time before i have to sleep--so i doubled down a bit more on the weekends. i know like it wasn’t imperative that i meet the “deadline”, but i really, really wanted to!! i figured i’ve written a fic per day for fandom weeks before so why can’t i do it again, but BOY i don’t know who i was back then. i mean, i still did it (yay!) but it seemed so much easier then?? either i was just writing more back then or less afraid or...something, or it’s just been so long that i don’t remember what i felt, LOL.

-i was really quite nervous in the beginning to post the fics, since again, they’re pretty hastily written and my usual writing process is much more “careful” and drawn out. but, it was also freeing as the week went on to just post and not worry, because the point of the week was to have fun, and not necessarily to write the best work i expected of myself within a limited time. (oh, how the perfectionist in me still hisses, though.) still, i’m glad people liked them, and even the extra notes that i just kinda spit out for some of them. :’) i do wish that some had gotten more attention than others, but those ones don’t show up in the tags and i’m not sure why, so. alas. 

re: the fics -confession: as of now, i feel pretty neutral about all of them, since i wrote them in a frenzy. at some point i’ll probably go back and read them and feel differently (and catch my mistakes! oh no!), haha. -a lot of them ended up being AU, which is...??? unexpected?? but i think it was just easier to put them in an entirely different setting, so i could play a bit more loose with their characters, haha. 

day 1 - glance (or hug) -this one...im pretty sure was one of the ones i waited until the last possible minute to finish up. it’s pretty basic event-wise, one of the few more regular slice-of-lifey ones for the week. it was surprisingly hard to get down the “movement” of it all; a glance is hard to describe in detail and in any other way, but i had really wanted to create kind of this...fleeting, almost nostalgic atmosphere in the back and forth of “he keeps looking, she keeps missing”, if that makes any sense. oof, it’s still hard to describe what i had wanted to achieve even outside of the fic!!

day 2 - soulmate (or family) -this one was SUPER HARD to write!!! originally i had wanted to go with a “A sees flashes of what B sees” soulmate prompt, because i figured that would be SO disorienting and would be fun to play with. but i ended up not being able to run with that one. i had also wanted to do the “soulmates write on themselves and the words show up on the other’s arm” idea, based off of what i had started in a 100 word drabble i did, but that deserved wayyyyyy more exploration and angst i was able to write in the time i’d allotted. i do like the “tattoo” soulmate aus the best, i think, and i did want to explore the one i did more, buuuut. alas. soulmates aus are something i prefer to read rather than write, i think, they can get so complicated!! 

day 3 - AU (or touch) -i’ve already made enough notes on this haha, but this ended up being a little too ambitious!! it wasn’t originally supposed to stop where it did, but i just...kinda got stuck and couldn’t bring myself to continue it, because i knew it would just keep going and needed more thinking out. so i just stopped it at the scene break, and hoped it would be decent enough. :’) surprisingly people seemed to enjoy this one most of all????? or maybe it was just the au itself that was a appealing, haha. regardless, i was surprised at the amount of notes this got!

day 4 - demon & wedding -soooooo this might’ve been my favorite prompt LMAO, like when i realized what i wanted to do for this day, i got excited because like, oooh yeah, pain. definitely wanted to go in on this to flesh out and explore various aspects more than i did, but i think of all the ones i wrote, i might be the most pleased with this one so far. 

day 5 - moon (or angst) -honestly, it’s a surprise i didn’t choose angst for day 5. writing about shinobu’s death would’ve been so easy, but i’ve seriously been putting it off since i started writing for kimetsu no yaiba. both “a blade of honey” and “if not cut at dusk”, which are my longer fics, were intended to be about shinobu’s death scene and turned into something completely different, and i ended up avoiding it for day 5 even though it could’ve been so easy. it’s denial, probably! anyway, shinobu’s MAD BOLD here. she would never. maybe. there’s two shinobus that i think about--the "usual” one, modeling herself after kanae, and one who’s more in line with her younger self/inner feelings. i think i went with the latter for a lot of these fics, because i didn’t have to be as careful with dialogue. giyu might’ve suffered character-wise, though, woops. but again, maybe shinobu would, in the vein that she wants to win and have the last laugh, haha. still, i feel more like she wouldn’t. :P oh, also, do you remember ages ago, when AMVs were still widespread, that scene that was everywhere in naruto where hinata’s bathing/training at the waterfall and it’s like really pretty and cool and stuff? yeah. that’s what i wanted this one to be, a little, LMFAO. genuinely surprised that people thought this one was pretty spicy!!

day 6 - kiss (or ocean) -confession: i wrote all of this while i was at work LOLLLL. it was a slow day, i promise. this might’ve been the easiest one to come up with, because the “quick, kiss me!” to escape situation is a classic. the characterization is preeeetttyyyyy loose here, but it was also kind of fun, honestly. my day 5 and day 6 run in pretty similar veins though, so i had kind of wished the endings were a bit more distinct from each other. 

day 7 - date (or crossover) -honestly i had wanted to do like, a soul eater crossover!! really i was planning out an au, but i think a crossover specifically has characters of two series interacting, and then i was Tired and was like, i can’t do that. crossovers aren’t something i usually read, either, so the planning got too complicated and i gave  up. the date idea was also one that came much later and one that i finished up last minute; i’d wanted to make it a little more cohesive and come up with better things for sabito’s list, but. eh. it got longer than i expected too! ideally there would’ve been more of the college life, and sabito and makomo. i thought about doing another additional notes for this, but there was wasn’t enough i had wanted to add on. really it was just the majors for them i’d been playing with--shinobu as a med student (possibly a minor in horticulture/botany, SOMEHOW), sabito & giyu as hydraulic engineering majors (sabito more on fieldwork, giyu more on research), and makomo as a marine veterinary student. shrug!! the lines of “you do realize we were set up, right” and “this was a date, tomioka-san” were the highlight for me, haha. and i’m inordinately fond of the title.

day 8 - halloween (or n*sfw) -sexy stuff isn’t my forte at all!!!! so halloween it was, but. i was thinking of skipping out on this one, and then was like, oh what the hell, you’ve come this far, of course you’re going to go the last leg, too. already wrote enough notes on this one too, but yeah, this one really was quick, and just barely meets the prompt, i think, lmao. ended up being more of a fantasy au, which was fun, though there was a lot left unexplored. ultimately just glad that i was able to come up with something for the last stretch. :)

please feel free to drop me an ask if you have any thoughts or comments! i’d love to hear your thoughts on the fics for the week, if you’d like to share. :) 

thanks for reading!!

[curioussubjects]

Non-jittery Thoughts on 15.01

Alright, had some time too calm the hell down, so I could have thoughts beyond a keysmash and a crying emoji. Chances are, too, that I’ll have more to say once I sit down with the episode again. Had to get these initial reactions/musings out of the way first.

This episode did a bang up job setting up the personal plot points for tfw. I’m super excited to see where this is going: Dean’s hell trauma revisited, Sam’s wound and its connection to his own darkness, Cas still struggling with belonging, Dean and Cas’s continuous wrongfootedness coming to a head. It’s going to be a killer of a season emotionally, and I am Here. For. It. 

Full disclosure: the biggest chunk is destiel related. In my defense, Dabb & co. didn’t have to enable me, but here we are.

More thoughts under the cut. 

General Thoughts:

My hype was not squashed! We got a really strong season opener and I’m so happy about it. Sure, we got running ghosts. But overall the episode was incredible; just a solid SPN episode all around. A+ job and kudos to all involved ♥♥♥

The new title card is gorgeous and full of meta potential goodness. See this post for more on that; op hit it on the head I think. For additional analysis, there’s this post from different op that is killer.

Opening sequence with tfw fighting zombie ghosts and running for shelter? Amazing. Showstopping. Breathtaking. 

Dean’s grief over Jack that’s embroiled in his grief for Mary. Just. “He was our kid.” That’s some complicated shit right there. 

Gotta love all the tidbits hinting at what is to come during 15.a, at the very least, if not the larger goal of the season. Reading y’all’s thoughts on the episode has been great so far, and I can’t wait to see what else crops up this week.

                                                              //

On Sam: Currently, Sam’s role in the more interesting aspects of the plot continue to not quite match Dean’s, which has been a problem for a while. I’m seriously hoping that changes some with Eileen’s return, Rowena coming in with some banter maybe next week, and whatever weird curse Sam got with that bullet wound. I’m loving the potential and I’m loving the prospect of having Sam brought back to the center of the plot. I missed some more emotional involvement from him this episode, too, but that should be addressed once things calm down and Sam and Dean can debrief. However, we got peak Sam in a crisis and it’s always a treat to see him do his job. Bless. Him telling the clown to shut up made my night. I love him so much. 

                                                               //

On Belphegor: First off, Alex did such a fantastic job. I giggled a ridiculous amount. Instantly invested in the character as bringer of shenanigans. Was not disappointed. Quick deliciously meta tidbits about Belphegor, some of which may not feature in the show, but are still *chef’s kiss* (x):

Moabite deity responsible for fertility and sexual power (in case the ep wasn’t clear on that lmao)

was worshiped in the form of a phallus (so glad that made it to canon jfc)

is a fallen angel??? hello???

he’s the demonic embodiment of sloth, BUT specifically negligence and apathy (i am screaming isnt negligence the whole ordeal with dean and cas atm...and apathy was the problem with jack’s soulessness) 

rules misogyny and licentious men (yeah ok no wonder he was a fan of younger dean oof)

the juiciest: emerged from hell to investigate marriage among humans (and is conveniently in the peanut gallery of dean and cas’s fight. funny how that happens. hilarious, even.) 

apparently after living as a man to experience sexual pleasure he was appalled and fled back to hell where sex between men and women wasn’t a thing i’m??? what?? (yet in the show he seemed ok with hot dudes ayy)

I’m glad my “horny on main” observation turned out to be so on point jesus. Can’t help but wonder how long he’s gonna stick around. His outside perspective is amusing, at the very least. However, the fact that he barely interacted with Sam, but was a lot interested in Dean as well as Cas (though to a lesser extent) makes me think that he’s doing more than just deus exing them out of zombies and ghosts or offering hell exposition. Seems like he going to expose SOME OTHER STUFF. ABOUT DEAN (AND CAS?). He is the “Lord of Opening” after all. And isn’t using their words and being honest the thing we’re all waiting for wrt to DeanCas?? There’s some opening up that is necessary posthaste. Listen, I know I’ve been saying they need a marriage counselor, but this is not what I had in mind. Pretty on brand, though, I guess lol

I’m also really interested about the coding work the character is doing in continuing to queer Dean’s characterization. Belphegor being himself associated with (male) sexuality, and the show clearly focusing on his attraction to humans of the man variety. I wouldn’t even call it subtextual at this point as Belphegor’s interaction with Dean in the car to was really overt. My hopes that the show might actually be explicit about Dean’s bisexuality is uhhhh getting high again *confetti.* Should also maybe at least note that using a demon to do this is probs not like the best strategy, but at least said demon was 1. not skeevy and 2. mostly sympathetic to the audience. 

This is all assuming, ofc, that Belphegor is not catfishing tfw (there’s precedence, after all -- and kudos to anon and op for the timely observations). 

                                                                  //

On Dean & Cas: I think it’s really damn telling that so much space was given to their relationship as like the most important thing going on with their characters? Obviously they have individual issues to deal with (their own struggles with Chuck, revisiting Dean’s stint in hell....which btw also eventually involves Cas too so *hands*), but my sweet baby jesus the validation feels good. Onwards. 

We actually have a weird amount to unpack here because, as others have said, the tension between them is coming from more than just Mary and Jack -- though Mary and Jack are absolutely the main stressors atm as well as emblematic of problems they’ve had for a long long time.  

I’m gonna start with Dean because boy do I love that dumbass; I want to shake him. So we have Dean: he’s grieving Mary, he’s angry, he’s scared, he’s lashing out. It’s a Thursday. We know he’s angry with Cas because he blames him for Mary’s death, even if indirectly. You know what that reminds me of? Dean hating Jack for causing Cas’s death, even though it wasn’t directly Jack’s fault. More importantly, though, both the loss of Mary and the loss of Cas were caused by the same catalyst: Cas going off on his own to solve a problem instead of asking Dean (and Sam, but really, mostly Dean) for help. Like, it’s the one thing Dean has very clearly expressed that Cas needs to stop doing (hi 12x19). It’s the same mistake Cas has been making for years. There was a false sense of security there during seasons 13 and most of 14, but alas. Again, here we have Dean losing someone because Cas couldn’t just come ask him for help. Like. It makes sense, and it’s understandable, despite Dean’s coping mechanisms being shit. In short, Dean’s actual problem with Cas is less that Mary is dead and more that Cas refuses to learn his lesson wrt them being stronger as a unit rather than doing their own thing and putting themselves and others in unnecessary danger. 

Meanwhile, we have a continuation of Cas just being really sad and heartbroken because not only is Jack dead, but he’s once again unsure about his standing with Dean. He wants to protect his family, he wants to protect Dean, he wants to come back with a win; once more, he goes off on his own to do it and it blows up in his face somehow. As much as I loved Cas getting mad at the end of last season, I get why he’s somewhat subdued again. He has his guilt and grief and doubt to deal with. He doesn’t want to be mad at Dean probably about as much as he doesn’t want Dean to be mad at him. So far I’m not yet seeing the return of the spark we got when Cas was defending Jack last season, but I’m sure Dean walking out rattled him beyond the hurt. I wanna see what else happens to make him leave “in a huff” (a bit of spec on this further down). That said, what I’m most excited about is seeing how Cas gets reintegrated into the family -- pretty sure that’s universal lol.

The juiciest part now, though: I was all about the interplay of distance and care that we saw between them; let’s pause here for a quick sec to appreciate how that same interplay has been such a central part of Dean and Cas’s relationship since always like ugh. So much of the larger plot points in the show have also been situations that kept them from being truly partners as well as being constant interruptions on their ability to USE THEIR FRIGGIN’ WORDS AAAACK. We give Sam a lot of flack, but everything has awful timing in this show. We’ve had moments of honesty and vulnerability, but they’re always always cut short before we actually get somewhere; before they arrive at a place where they can talk about their issues. If the “are you ok” scene isn’t a perfect microcosm of that idk what is  /sigh

So, yeah, the “Are you ok” scene oooh boy. I wasn’t as excited as some of you at this scene being an example that Dean still cared, as that was never a doubt I had in my mind (it was definitely a yes omg just talk jesus moments nevertheless). Dean couldn’t possibly just turn that shit off, no matter how much he thinks he’s done with Cas. Like, please.  What we do have is Dean indulging on his own need to know that Cas is, at least, immediately fine. Triage, if you will. Him walking off before Cas can either elaborate, or, most likely, tell him about Sam, is peak Dean passive-aggressiveness. The meltdown I had in the tags of a gifset of the scene is still relevant:

 #cas's little sigh of idk relief???#like he's so sad and physically fine but he's SO SAD and heartbroken#and here's dean finally not just being cold to him and ASKING ABOUT HIS WELLBEING#look at cas's face in tht second gif my heart#you can see him gd relax too i cant#and dean has his fucking check in during a break in the chaos face#im so mad#jdhakjsdfhklsd#and then dean just.........walks away and doesnt actually debrief or help or none of the things he would do#and cas is just...there all vulnerable and upset right before he clams up at the demon's quip#but it doesnt even last look at his damn face as he leaves IM SO#somebody hug him#skldjfhklsajdfa#he needs a dean hug#but noooo dean is being a jackass#this is awful#im not ok#i hate it when they fight#im over it that's enough drama dabb i take back everything i said about loving pain

I’ll definitely have more thoughts on this once we have whatever emotional payload next week.

All in all, I’m not actually concerned about the future of their relationship. They’ve been through much, they’ll be fine. I am, though, tickled that we’ll see these key problems in their relationship reach a point where they have to be dealt with. Also: I can’t wait for the catharsis that Cas leaving is bound to elicit. Both for us, the viewers, and the characters. Besides, Dean needs to go to a corner and have a think about his behavior and if pushing Cas away is really what he wants. And then maybe finally we can get that sweet sweet resolution of an affirmation about Cas’s place in Dean’s life. And in turn an affirmation that Cas does trust their family unit enough to depend on them. 

I think we got a good set up in this episode leading into whatever drama we get in the coming weeks. The tension was up to 11. Love it. Hate it. Personally, I think the empty deal might be what does sets off Cas walking out. Somehow, the deal is not a secret anymore. We have here another instance of Cas making a super important decision that affects The Family on his own and then keeping it a secret (to protect Sam and Dean, a pattern). Dean can be angry and think Cas is dead to him all he wants, he will blow tf up when he learns about this deal. Sam isn’t gonna be thrilled either, though he’s more likely to make puppy eyes of sadness and Disappointment than yell at Cas. Seriously, though, I can just see Dean saying some bullshit because he’s just so done and here goes Cas potentially dying again, which in turn will probably piss Cas off. Etc etc. Cue the violins. 

                                                               //

tl;dr: if episode 1 is any indication, we’re in for a wild fucking ride, kiddos. hold onto your butts!!! 

[theonceoverthinker]

A Modern Man’s Guide to Piracy

Summary: Killian gets a lesson about modern culture that is very much up his alley.

AO3       Fanfiction.net

Dynamics Featured: Captain Cobra Swan, Swan Believer, Captain Cobra, Captain Swan

Inspired by @distant-rose. It’s actually been so long since I first touched this that I don’t remember exactly how you inspired it (Maybe on Discord some time ago?), but past!me left that note and I wanted to honor it all the same! So thank you for this fun idea, I think!

Timeline wise...it’s kind of all over the place, as you’ll see by the last scene. BUT it was a fun opportunity for some good jokes (Are they good? You tell me!) and I couldn’t resist. That said, it’s during the gap between Rumple and Belle’s departure from Storybrooke and Henry’s departure in the Season 7 opening.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Mom!” Emma could hear Henry calling. “It’s not on Netflix!”

With a bowl of popcorn now sagging in her arms, Emma sighed as she took off for the living room.

Damn. It was Groundhog’s Day and she really wanted to watch the Bill Murray movie. She had made a point of watching it every year and this was the first one where she had both Killian and Henry around to watch it with her.

Emma sighed. “Netflix must’ve taken it off.”

“They always do this right before the holiday,” Henry complained.

“That’s how Hollywood makes its money back and it sucks.”

Looking over at her husband and the confused expression on his face, Emma couldn’t help but laugh. No one could say that Killian wasn’t adapting to modern life like a champ, but those little moments where he stumbled were still pretty funny.

“Sorry, Killian,” Emma said. “The system of Hollywood and how it works with streaming services is a weird and complicated thing.”

But then Killian surprised her.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “I mean, I don’t get all of it, but I think I understand the broad strokes of the matter. It’s like when I buy salmon at the grocery store. The grocery store gets money, but so do the fishers who bring it in.”

Emma nodded, impressed.

“Looks like some old timer’s getting a handle on our modern traditions.”

“Another age quip, Emma?” Killian teased. “Will you ever stop?”

“What can I say? They never grow old!”

Killian couldn’t seem to stop his laughter from getting the better of him and Henry and Emma happily joined in.

“And here I thought I was the one to make the puns,” Killian commented. “But as for our movie dilemma, what of the library? From what I remember, they started stocking movies there.”

Henry took a minute and checked his phone, looking displeased when he at last locked his screen again. “It’s closed.”

“It feels like it always is. Belle really should’ve thought twice before hiring Sleepy to run the library when she and Gold left,” Emma lamented. From beside her, Killian frowned.

“So I take it that movie night has been ruined?” he surmised. “Unless you want to watch that ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie again.”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Emma. She turned to Henry, who must have had a similar revelation, and the two exchanged a look, one filled to the brim with the promise of mischief.

Luckily for her, a sheriff couldn’t exactly arrest herself.

“Not exactly,” Henry said.

“How so?” Killian asked.

“You’ll see.”

Killian smirked. “Is this to be another one of your operations?”

Henry seemed to muse on that for a moment before nodding. “Operation Pirate.”

That seemed to catch Killian off guard. “I’m confused. What can I do? While I’ve learned much, I’m nowhere near as familiar with this realm’s movie services as you two are.”

“No,” Emma clarified. “It’s not about you.”

“It’s a...more modern type of piracy,” Henry went on to say, smiling as the words settled.

Killian clearly didn’t know how to respond to that, but Emma could tell he was interested all the same in what that ‘modern type of piracy’ entailed.

“Well, let’s not waste any time then.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“So what do you think?” Emma asked.

“Well,” Killian said. “It’s not as strenuous as captaining a ship, but the spoils seem to be rather abundant for this age.”

“Gotta love modern piracy.”

“It definitely smells better. So how did you do it?”

Henry went on to explain the concept of online piracy as best as he could. And while Emma loved her kid and knew Killian was pretty smart, she could see him struggling to keep up with what he was saying.

“So wait: Does that red horseshoe drag the movie from the pirate’s computer to ours?”

“No. First, that’s a magnet and second, we all share the movie.”

“Share? Sharing not what pirate are oft to do. Our ways are a bit more cutthroat than that.”

“Well, you’re not sharing,” Henry attempted to clarify. “It’s kind of like a cake with infinite pieces.”

However, that just seemed to make things worse.

“How does cake factor into all of this?”

Henry sighed and to his credit, was about to take another stab at explaining it again when Emma came to put him out of his misery.

“I think Killian’s had enough of our modern education for today,” she said, patting her husband on the shoulder.

While Killian seemed a bit sad to give up, Emma could tell that he felt even more overwhelmed by the extent of his lesson. She couldn’t really blame him -- even most of the people born in this realm couldn’t do it. It might have been a bit much to expect him to figure it out, especially in a single night.

“I’m sorry lad, I don’t quite understand. I think I’ll leave this type of piracy to you and your mother for now.”

Still, even as he said it and Henry relented, there was a lingering determination that Emma could tell was still there, but she brushed that off. Killian was always determined and she positively loved him for it.

But at the end of the day, maybe there were just some things that likely couldn’t be taught to a two hundred year old pirate.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

How the fuck could the freakin’ Savior not get tickets to ‘The Avengers: Endgame?’

It didn’t seem possible.

Emma normally didn’t care for her title of princess, but if there was ever a time where she would’ve bothered to pull rank, this would be it!

She even went as far as to try, but while many were still impressed by her royal status, the man at the ticket counter wasn’t among them.

So nope -- not even her royal status could grant her even one spot to see Iron Man, Captain America, and The Hulk take on Thanos. It was the movie of the year -- no, the century -- and she couldn’t see it.

And it sucked because Emma knew her job -- it wouldn’t take much for her to be spoiled. Her schedule had jammed her weekend, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, there was allegedly some kid running around Storybrooke calling everyone and spoiling the movie. It wouldn’t take long before it reached her, especially because her job necessitated she pick up every call she got.

This was her only chance until Monday to go see it, but alas, the Infinity Gauntlet was just outside of her grasp.

She could only imagine one person who was more miserable about the news than her.

And while driving home, she just happened to encounter him.

While Emma knew for a fact that her son was as healthy as a horse, he currently looked like he’d just been punched in the gut. His steps slugged and his his shoulders were sagging so much that they threatened to dislocate his backpack from his body. And facially speaking, he looked like a zombie. His eyes were heavy and his frown was dulled, as if his sadness was so deep that it circled to resignation.

Emma slowed her bug as she pulled up to him.

“Need a lift?” she said, smiling sadly.

Henry nodded and got in.

“Any luck on your end getting tickets?”

“Nope,” Henry answered, his tone more morose than Eeyore’s when he lost his tail. ”

...And when he found his tail…

“You?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Even with the power pull?”

“Looks like the only thing that can defeat the royal family is the Storybrooke Multiplex.”

Henry sighed. “I even offered to do Jeffrey Frog’s homework for a month and he still wouldn’t give me his ticket! I can’t believe this! Everyone at my school is seeing this movie tonight!” Henry suddenly grinned as he turned to Emma. “Any chance I can skip school tomorrow and see it then?”

Emma shot Henry a teasing pointed look.

“Do you like having two moms? Because I promise, if I let you do that, Regina would see to it that you’d only have one.”

“She wouldn’t have to kno-o-w,” Henry pointed out. Emma almost had to snort at his sing-songy fashion of begging.

“You know we live in Storybrooke, right? She’ll know the moment you step into that theater. Sorry, kid.”

Henry rolled back his head and pressed it against the seat head. “Damnit.”

“Language!” A beat passed and the two started laughing at the spot-on nature of the reference, however unintentional it was.

For the record though, it was completely intentional.

As they pulled up to the house, Emma and Henry slunk into their seats.

“Want to watch Infinity Wars tonight?”

“I think it’ll hurt too much,” Henry dismissed.

Emma groaned. “You’re right,” she admitted. “Should we just wallow in silence?”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Henry replied, his tone just as miserable as Emma felt.

Finally, they got out of the car and went inside their house.

Immediately, the smell of microwave popcorn filled the air.

Henry and Emma looked at each other.

“Killian?” Emma called out.

“Emma!” Killian replied, coming out from the kitchen with a big bowl of popcorn. “And Henry! You’re both just in time for the show!”

Henry, clearly just as baffled as Emma was, looked to him. “Didn’t mom tell you Endgame was gonna be in theatres?”

Killian grinned a suspicious grin.

“Aye,” he said. “That she did, but she also told me that you weren’t able to procure tickets to the film.”

“So you were trying to make us feel better with an at-home movie?” Emma said, filling in the gaps. Killian nodded.

While still bummed out about the movie, she really had to hand it to Killian for his efforts to cheer them up.

For a pirate, he sure was sweet.

“Which one are we watching?” Henry asked.

Immediately, Killian’s grin grew to an outright smirk.

“Why ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ of course, my boy.”

Emma’s jaw slackened as Killian continued smirking at them.

“How?” Henry asked. “The movie just came out!”

“Why, I used that pirating technology of yours,” Killian said, gesturing towards the computer in the living room, which Henry wasted no time examining.

“But I thought you couldn’t figure out how to do it?”

“I couldn’t -- not when you first showed me, but I knew this film meant a lot to you so I did some digging. It took a few pages of this world’s government telling me NOT to pirate things, but when do I even listen to monarchs?”

“You listen to me,” Emma pointed out.

“Because I love you. Besides, you hardly ever use that title of yours.” Emma shrugged. “But anyway, eventually, I found some pages that laid out the process more thoroughly.”

“Well,” Emma said, watching Henry look at the file on the computer with an increasingly growing smile on his face, “it looks like you succeeded.”

Killian’s grin grew impossibly wider. “Yes, no matter the realm, you can always count on a pirate to secure the goods. And thankfully in this land, they’ve the decency to share their findings. Just be warned, the recording was from the premiere and quality isn't too great, especially compared to those Blu-Rays of yours.”

“It’s perfect!” Henry cried out! “It’s the right length, the Marvel logo looks new, the quality is low enough to be real! Killian, you are the best!” Having said that, Henry pulled Killian into a tight hug.

Killian rested his hook on Henry’s shoulder as he gently pulled him closer. “I’d say you own that title, lad, given how you’re far faster at this than I am, but you’re welcome all the same. Now why don’t you go get the other bowl of popcorn that has those accursed Milk Duds melted in for your mother and we’ll get this started?”

Henry, clearly not needing to be told twice, raced to the kitchen as Emma pulled her husband close.

“Looks like you can take the man out of the pirate, but you can’t take the pirate out of the man.”

“That bother you, my love?” Killian’s smirk returned, gazing at Emma as if he already knew the answer.

And dammit, he definitely did.

Emma answered his question with a kiss. She felt her foot pop as she settled cozily into his arms.

“I had a feeling,” Killian said, clearly not even bothering to keep the smug off his face.

“But that comment about my ‘accursed’ Milk Duds definitely crossed a line.”

“Give me credit, Swan. I may not be above breaking the law for my family, but I must have some honesty to my character.”

As she came in for another kiss, she made a point to lightly jab Killian in his smug little chest.

“Guys! Come on! It’s time for the romance to turn off and the action to turn on!”

Emma turned to Henry. ���You wouldn’t be saying that if we were Pepper and Tony!”

“When you have a metal suit and can shoot energy blasts out of your hands, then you can makeout in front of me all you want.”

“Remind me to get some of Dad’s armor the next time I use my magic,” Emma told Killian.

Henry rolled his eyes, but gestured towards the TV before walking into the living room. “Anyway, Avengers, Assemble!”

Killian grinned, following him. “Excelsior!”

As Emma joined in alongside her boys, she marveled at how her pirate did indeed have many more tricks up his sleeve than even she expected.

And more than anything, even experiencing ‘The Avengers: Endgame’ spoiler-free, discovering all of them was to be the ultimate adventure.

[vfdbaudelairefile13]

Misery Loves Company part 1

WE MADE IT TO THE END OF THE BAD BEGINNING Y'ALL.

Thank you so much for your guys' support through these first twelve chapters of my fic. I really appreciate it! Love you guys! Hope y'all love The Reptile Room.

                                             Chapter Eleven:

                        The One With the Vigorously Fixed Destination

Lemony sat miserably in his taxi for the next couple of hours. Debating what to do next. He couldn’t leave them there. That was not an option. What would Beatrice do? He kept asking himself as he toyed with his spyglass.

What’s the use? He asked himself. Then without warning, the passenger-side door of the taxi opened and a woman sat down. She turned to Lemony and smiled. Lemony had his hand on his chest. “What the fuck, Jacquelyn!”

Jacquelyn just laughed. “Did I scare you?”

Lemony rolled his eyes, “I swear you and my…” He stopped mid-sentence. Jacquelyn looked at him confused.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing. Nothing. I swear you’re trying to give me a fucking heart attack.”

“Uh...huh,” Jacquelyn replied still looking at Lemony with a confused and concerned look on her face.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You don’t just get inside someone’s damn taxi unannounced especially when a known enemy is literally down the street!”

“I could kick his ass with both hands tied behind my back, just saying. He’s not as big of a threat as you might think.”

“He doesn’t have a reason to go after you.”

“You right. Not yet at least. I’ll probably foil his plans enough that I eventually do get on that list, though.” She peered to the back of the taxi, “So...I’m guessing you didn’t save the Baudelaire children.”

Lemony rolled his eyes. “It’s...a bit harder than I thought.”

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes. “You’re not doing this right. You’re out of practice old man.”

Jacquelyn got out her spyglass and started to peer at Count Olaf’s house. “Let me guess. You disguised yourself as a...cop...no, a child protective services agent. Then you went in, conducted an interview,- let me know if I’m wrong.- Then you hoped the boy would give you any reason to take them from the home, but alas, he didn’t because Olaf was posing as a threat but not in a way where you could use that against him and take the children out of the house.”

Lemony just glared at Jacquelyn. “How…”

“I just know these things.”

“Have you been spying on me?”

“...that’s confidential,” she replied smirking.

“I’m being serious. Have you been spying on me?”

“I didn’t follow you home if that’s what you’re worried about. I saw your taxi as I was scoping the place. I also saw you crying…”

“I wasn’t crying…”

“Sure, you weren’t. So then I decided that you obviously needed my help.” She said still peering through the spyglass. “You can trust me, Mr. Snicket.”

“You keep giving me reasons to the contrary,”

“Touche,”

“How have I given you reason not to trust me?”

“You’re secretive. Like, more than any other member of this organization.”

“I have my reasons.”

Jacquelyn didn’t say anything as she handed her spyglass to Lemony with a smile upon her face. “Mr. Snicket, I think I’ve found what you needed.”

Lemony looked at her and then pressed the spyglass to his eye. For a minute, he didn’t know what Jacquelyn was referring to. She reached out and grabbed his chin, moving his face to the direction of what she was trying to show him. “You need to look towards the tower window,” she instructed.

“Dear God,” he muttered. He was looking at a birdcage and inside that birdcage, he could see a helpless and scared Sunny Baudelaire. “That...that fucking monster.”  Lemony began to open the car door but Jacquelyn grabbed him.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to save Beatrice’s daughter!”

“Not without a disguise.”

He looked at her and sighed. She was right. But he couldn’t use the same disguise again, Olaf would get suspicious and possibly ask for credentials. He looked at Jacquelyn. “What are we going to do?”

Jacquelyn was already fixing her hair into a bun. “We’re going to go be concerned neighbors.”

“Shouldn’t we just call the authorities.”

“I mean, we could. Honestly, we should. But if we did that, they’d want to interview the man who made the call in the first place and I don’t have to tell you how risky that is.”

“Goddammit,” he muttered. “What if we had another neighbor call the police.”

Jacquelyn was not listening to him. She was doing her best to disguise herself with what little she had. Lemony dragged the disguise kit out of the trunk and rummaged through it. After putting a fake beard on he looked at Jacquelyn. “So I’m gonna be Jeff Bingham and you’ll be my wife, Audrey…” he began.

“Woah. Let me stop you there. No offense, but you are not my type.”

Lemony chuckled at this understanding full well what Jacquelyn had meant. “Well, no offense but you don’t look young enough to be my daughter.”

Jacquelyn laughed. “Why do our disguises have to be related or married? We can’t just be friends.”

“I guess that works, I was just coming up with a backstory in case we get asked.”

“I don’t know how they did things back in your day, but nowadays we try to make it a bit less complicated.”

“Sure. It’s VFD. Everything is complicated. That’s like their gimmick.”

Lemony and Jacquelyn got out of the car and scanned the area for any potential neighbors who would be able to help them with this predicament. Every so often Lemony looked back at the birdcage making sure that it was still there and hadn’t been plunged to the ground. They finally reached the yard of Justice Strauss who was watering her garden. She politely looked up at the two strangers. “Well, how do you do?”

“How do you do, mam?” Lemony replied. “We were just in the neighborhood…”

“...Birdwatching with the help of these,” Jacquelyn commented.

“And we saw something quite unusual.”

Justice Strauss looked at the two strangers confused. “What did you see?”

Jacquelyn stepped behind the judge and put the spyglass up to her eye, pointing her in the direction of Count Olaf’s tower room window. Strauss gasped in surprise. “Oh my! Sunny!” she yelled. “We have to do something!” She yelled before rushing in to call 9-1-1.

“Well, our work here is done,” Lemony said smiling.

“I’m going to call Gustav and stick around to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Lemony extended his hand, “Thank you. Miss Jacquelyn.”

“You’re not going to stay and make sure things go according to plan?”

“Oh, I’m gonna wait in my taxi and see things through. Would you like a ride home?”

Jacquelyn shook her head. “No thank you, I’ll manage.”

“It was nice working with you....keep in touch.”

“Does this mean you’ve officially rejoined VFD?”

“I’ll have to think about that.”

Lemony began to walk towards his taxi. He hated to admit it but he missed VFD. He missed the thrills of a mission and being in disguise and he had a good time working alongside Jacquelyn and fooling Olaf. But a part of him knew that it was a risky business being affiliated with that organization. What would happen to Violet if they learned about her existence? He sat inside his taxi and waiting for this story to conclude.

Jacquelyn used her walkie-talkie to contact Gustav to meet her at Olaf’s house and she even gave Justice Strauss the number to Mr. Poe’s office.

______________________________________________________________

Klaus was under the watchful eyes of either Count Olaf or one of his troupe members. Olaf refused to let the boy out of his sight after that stint with the CPS caseworker and his attempted rescue of his baby sister. Count Olaf also did not care that Klaus was in a lot of pain from the night prior. He had Klaus doing as many extraneous chores. Right now Klaus was scrubbing Olaf’s bathroom with a toothbrush. The stench of the room had Klaus wanting to simply drop dead. He was almost finished with the room when Olaf came in and kicked the bucket of dirty water everywhere, laughing as he looked down at Klaus. “Looks like you have to start all over again.”

Klaus took a deep breath but bit his tongue. He had to just put up with this abuse for Sunny. The sooner he can fool Olaf into thinking that he’s complacent, the sooner he can get Sunny back and then the two orphans would run away from the madman’s house. “I’ll get right on that,” he said.

Both Count Olaf and Klaus jumped at the sound of someone pounding on the front door. “Who could that be!?” Olaf asked in a harsh voice that sent chills down Klaus’ spine.

Downstairs you can hear the sounds of Olaf’s troupe freaking out. “Ummm, boss.” one of the white-faced women called up.

“What? Who’s at the door?” Count Olaf asked heading towards his bedroom window.

“The police!” the henchperson of indeterminate gender replied.

Count Olaf’s eyes got wide and as he began to stare down at Klaus, his eyes began to shine the brightest Klaus had ever seen. Klaus shakingly stood up looking for an escape route. But Olaf was blocking the bathroom door. “Do you want to explain to me why the fucking police are at my door?!”  

Klaus could see that Olaf was shaking with fury which made him retreat a step back. Klaus kept his eyes on the walkie-talkie that Olaf kept in his pocket.

“Boss, we gotta go.” the other white face woman commented. “Like, right now.”

“You three, grab Baldy and Hooky. Take the car.”

“What about you?” The henchperson of indeterminate gender asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ve gotten out of worse scrapes than this.” Olaf said. “ Oh, and on your way out, tell Hooky to drop the pipsqueak to her death .”

“ No! Please!” Klaus pleaded.

The Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender merely nodded at Olaf and began to walk away.

“You monster!” Klaus yelled. “You can’t kill her. The police are outside! You’re just giving them more reason to arrest you.”

Olaf leaned down towards Klaus and smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about the police. They’ll be too concerned about the dead infant  that they won’t even realize that I’m gone. Although by the time that they do finally realize that I'm gone, they're going to wonder about the missing boy.”

Klaus’ eyes got wide. He knew he had to act now. Give the authorities more time. So with all the strength, he could muster, he ran passed Olaf effectively pushing the man down on to the floor. Klaus ran outside the vile man’s room closing the door behind him, hoping that that gave him extra time to run. He headed towards the staircase that led to Olaf’s tower room.  He saw the Hook-Handed Man and the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender heading frantically downstairs to reach Olaf’s car. His heart sank. He hoped he wasn’t too late as he grabbed onto the doorknob of the tower room, he felt a cold, spider-like hand grab his ankle and pull him to the ground. Klaus hit his jaw on the wooden floors and looked in horror to see Count Olaf was the one holding on to his ankle.

“If you think this is over, you’re dead wrong. It’s been fun... I’m going to get you no matter where you go! No matter what you do! I will find you! Oooh, you are so deceased!” Olaf hissed as Klaus. Klaus started rapidly kicking both his feet trying to get Olaf to let him go. “ I’ll get my hands on your fortune if it’s the last thing I do! And when I have it, I’ll kill you and your bratty sister with my own two hands!”

Klaus turned to face Olaf so he can aim better. “ You’ll never touch our fortune or harm my sister ever again!” He cried as he gave Olaf a hard kick in the face. Olaf let go of Klaus’ ankle and Klaus was able to drag himself back up and lock himself in the tower room. Olaf banged on the door for a few seconds until both the young orphaned boy and the vile man heard a shout from downstairs, “Police!” one of the voices yelled followed by the front door slamming open. Olaf growled but decided it was better for himself to escape.

Once he was sure Olaf wasn’t trying to enter the tower room anymore, Klaus turned towards the window and for the first time during his stay with that greedy, violent monster, he began to cry tears of joy as he saw his sister still in the cage waving at him with an unsure smile.

“Sunny!” he yelled reeling in the birdcage and reaching his hands in there to try to hug her through the bars.

“Klaus!” Sunny cried back, putting her small hands around his arms.

“Sunny, where’s the key to the lock. Please tell me they left it.” Klaus said as he placed the birdcage holding his baby sister safely on the ground.

“Ocuclav!” Sunny shrieked pointing to a key on a nearby desk, this probably was her way of saying, “The key-shaped like an eye.”

Klaus hurried grabbed the key and unlocked the birdcage, pulling his baby sister out of it. He held on to her so tight, which was honestly hurting them both.

“Etiam,” Sunny said softly, which meant, “Klaus, you’re hugging me too tight.”

Klaus looked down at his baby sister and she could see he was still crying. “It’s all okay, now. It’s all okay.”

“Baudelaires!” a voice from behind the door called out. “Baudelaires! Are you in there!”

“Justice Strauss?” Klaus called out happily.

“Yes. Children, it’s me and Mr. Poe.”

The children could hear the usual fit of coughing that came from Poe and rolled their eyes. Klaus still holding Sunny stood up and opened the door.

“Did they catch him?” He asked.

“Unfortunately, no. We did see a long black car leaving the scene. So the authorities are going to be on the lookout for that.” Mr. Poe said.

“But...but….there’s no way, he would’ve escaped in time,” Klaus said. “Mr. Poe, you have to go after him.”

“Children. Let the authorities track down Count Olaf.” Justice Strauss said. “Come live with me. I can keep you safe.”

Klaus and Sunny looked at one another and smiled.

“Do you mean that? You really want us to live with you, Justice Strauss?”

Justice Strauss nodded. “Of course I mean it! I am very fond of you two lovely children, and I feel responsible for your welfare.”

“Now. Now. Wait here.” Mr. Poe started as he began to cough into his handkerchief. “I cannot let the Baudelaires be raised by someone who isn’t a relative.”

“Fucker!” Sunny yelled at Mr. Poe.

While Klaus looked at him angrily. “What are you talking about? Justice Strauss would be an appropriate guardian for Sunny and me.”

“That may be so. But your parents’ will is very specific…” Mr. Poe began before being interrupted by a strange auburn hair woman, accompanied by a man around her age.

“It is so specific, in fact, that your uncle, Dr. Montgomery, was designated by your parents as their legal guardian and has been waiting to hear from Mr. Poe.” the woman said.

“Dr. Montgomery? I’ve never heard of him.” Klaus remarked.

“Jacquelyn, what are you doing here?” Mr. Poe asked confused.

“This man is Dr. Montgomery’s assistant, Gustav, who was sent here by Dr. Montgomery to inquire about when the children would arrive,” she replied.

Gustav simply nodded and gave both Baudelaires a small smile. “It’s lovely to make your acquaintance, children.”

Klaus and Sunny looked from the adults to Justice Strauss, who looked like she was about to cry. She smiled at each child and first hugged Klaus and then Klaus handed her Sunny, so she too, could get a proper hug from the judge. “Mr. Poe is right,” she said sadly looking down at Sunny and then at Klaus. “He has to respect your parents’ wishes. Don’t you want to do what your parents wanted, children?”

Klaus and Sunny pictured their loving parents and wish more than ever that the fire had never occurred. Never, never had they felt so alone. They wanted very badly to live with this kind and generous woman, but they both knew deep down that it simply could not be done.

“I guess you’re right, Justice Strauss,” Klaus said finally as Justice Strauss handed him back his baby sister. “We will miss you very much.”

Justice Strauss wiped tears from her eyes. “I will miss you, too.”

Klaus frowned and looked to the three other adults. “Are you sure we can’t make an exception?”

Jacquelyn shook her head. “There is a vigorously fixed destination that your parents had in mind for you and it’s not with Count Olaf or Justice Strauss.”

Justice Strauss gave one big group hug to the two Baudelaire orphans. “Goodbye children. I wish you two the best in life.”

Klaus and Sunny were trying their best to hold back tears. “Thank you, Justice Strauss.”

“Bye-bye,” Sunny said waving at the judge. And with that Justice Strauss walked out of her neighbor's house with tears in her eyes.

While Mr. Poe and the two other adults continued talking about where the two children were going to stay tonight, Klaus excused himself and Sunny from the conversation and made their way back to their room. He quickly packed up their things as Sunny looked around in confusion at the random first-aid supplies that were thrown across the room and the blood that was stained on Klaus’ shoes.

“Nocere?” she asked as she handed him his shoes, which probably meant, “Did that fucker hurt you?”

Klaus frowned. “No. When I tried to rescue you, I injured myself and I guess I didn’t notice just how much blood I lost.”

Klaus lied to protect his sister. He didn’t want her to know the demons that would now haunt him. She was too young. She hadn’t even had a childhood, yet. If the authorities ever do catch up with Olaf, he hoped Sunny would forget everything that happened this past week and be able to move on with her life.  He didn’t want her to suffer the way he did. If he can shelter her from any extra pain or misery that will befall them, then in a way he is keeping his promise to his parents. He didn’t know what the future held for the two of them and he did not know whether or not Count Olaf would be back. But he did know that he was all she had. He was going to do everything in his power to keep her safe from the treachery of the world.

________________________________________________________

Lemony watched as the two children piled into Mr. Poe’s car. He was actually smiling. He knew that somehow Olaf got away but he hoped that Olaf wouldn’t be as lucky as he was and would be captured soon. Lemony watched as Mr. Poe drove away with the two Baudelaire children. Lemony, too, did not know what the future held for those two children or himself or his daughter but he did know that he had done good today. He had saved Beatrice’s children from that terrible man. It was a small win, but it was something. Maybe now he could focus solely on figuring out the cause of the fire.

Before Lemony could start up his taxi, Jacquelyn knocked on his window. He rolled down the window after putting sunglasses on. “You did good, Snicket,” she said smiling.

“Thank you,” he said. “Where’s Gustav?”

“He’s headed back home. Mr. Poe is going to deliver the children to Dr. Montgomery’s in the morning.”

He sighed. “They’re going to be indicted into VFD, aren’t they.”

She bit her lip. “Possibly. That’s up to Monty now. He is aware of Beatrice and Bertrand’s wishes…”

“So there’s a chance that he won’t?”

She shrugged. “VFD is a better option than Olaf.”

“That’s just picking the lesser of two evils.”

She shrugged again. “Sometimes life is like that, Snicket.”

“Well, I’ve done my part. Keep in touch if you ever need anything.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Are you sure you don’t need a ride home.”

“I’m good but thank you. I’m actually going to raid the house see if I can’t find anything important.”

“Suit yourself,” Lemony said as he drove off.

Lemony drove off in silence thinking that this story was over. I am here to inform that the story has only just begun. I would love to happily type up the words 'the end' but let's be real here, there's another...twelve editions...to this story to go and even The End will not be finished with the phrase 'the end'. This is something Lemony should have seen coming because he, himself, knew that no story has a true beginning or end. They were all woven into one massive story. And each smaller stories are simple interjections from the larger ones. Because the tale of Lemony Snicket does not end here. The tale of Violet Snicket does not end here. And the tale of the two plucky, unfortunate Baudelaire orphans does not end here.