#but implying that all of them regularly kill people and get away with it... nah man. i dont buy it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

olivia-anderson-fanfic · 3 years

Text

Stalker X Stalker, Part 13

First

Perma taglist: @nathleigh @peachmuses

Stalker x Stalker taglist: @aespades @jayjayspixiepop @blueslushgueen @fan-written @seraphichana @nerd-nowandforever @toodaloo-kangaroo @khneltea @raeuberprinzessin

Tim was in the middle of a particularly boring meeting when a tiny buzz in his pocket alerted him that Marinette had left the house.

He blinked a little and, after mumbling a quick apology, pulled out his phone to silence it.

He couldn’t tell where she was going right then, it was too early to tell, but he noted absently that she was walking a little faster than normal. He shook his head to himself and resolved to check again once the meeting was over.

But he didn’t have to!

His secretary rushed in just as his last business partner left. She looked frazzled. “I tried to keep them out but they insisted and --!”

“Who? What? Janet, what’s wrong --?”

His attention was quickly pulled away from her, though, because Marinette was stumbling through the threshold.

He rushed forward to catch her on instinct, slipping his arms around her tightly. “Bean?”

She pulled her face out of his chest and smiled awkwardly at him. “Uh… hi, darling. Hate to disturb you during work, but...”

Tim frowned, concerned. He didn’t think she was clumsy (and he would have noticed by now if she was) and, now that he was looking, she looked a little pale. Was she sick? Did she even get sick?

And then he noticed someone standing in the doorway she had stumbled through -- no, she had been pushed through it, he thought as he took in the blond’s cold expression. Tim’s frown deepened and his grip tightened on his girlfriend.

Then, the blond sighed. “I’m Adrien, her friend from Paris. Don’t know if she’s told you about me, though.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed just a little. “Janet, it’s my lunchtime, right?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, looking between the three of them with barely concealed interest.

“Great. Lock the door behind yourself, please.”

Janet seemed a little put out but nodded and went to do what he asked without complaint. He made a mental note to give the poor girl a raise.

He waited until he heard the familiar click of the lock before turning his gaze back onto Adrien. The blond’s scowl had deepened. Tim bit his lip anxiously, considering what deescalation method would be best, but he didn’t know enough yet. He decided to just wait a little longer before doing anything. Marinette was safe in his arms and Adrien was still a little away so there wasn’t any immediate danger as far as he was aware.

“So, you do know his schedule, then?” Adrien asked.

Marinette wouldn’t quite look at the man. “We live in the same house.”

“Did you know before you were living in the same house?” He pressed.

She didn’t answer.

Adrien scoffed a little, shaking his head. “Of course. I knew I should have kept you in Paris where I could see you.”

Well, that’s a little controlling, a tiny part of Tim piped up. He would have said it aloud, too, but there was something bugging him about the blond. He couldn’t place it, but he was pretty sure he recognized him from somewhere...

It clicked and he took a half-step back with Marinette still silent in his arms. “Agreste, right?”

The blond winced. “Dupain-Cheng now,” Adrien said carefully. “In everything but name, at least, I’m still waiting to see if I can get a name change.”

Tim glanced down at Marinette for confirmation and she quirked her lips upward, which was bat for ‘yes’.

He relaxed just a little and let her go now that he knew it was safe. Okay. So, this was just her friend -- no, her brother -- and apparently he was annoyed about something. Their relationship, maybe, since he had brought her to Tim’s work.

… oh, shit, maybe this was Chat Noir. Tim’s eyes flicked down to where the ring usually was in pictures and, yep, that was the same ring but in white. That explained how he’d gotten there quickly despite the fact that he had to be on the no-fly list with a father like that.

But his anger seemed focused on Marinette, which was odd. Tim had figured it would be pretty even.

Tim cracked a grin. “Nice to meet you. You could have just called, though.”

Adrien looked a little sheepish, now, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “What I need to tell you isn’t really the kind of thing you can tell someone over the phone.”

“I meant a call for an appointment. You’re my girlfriend’s brother, I obviously would have wanted to meet you in person.”

He snickered. “You’d be the first. Most people don’t want to meet the family for a good long while.”

Tim shrugged. “I would have liked to know when you’d appear. Easier to prepare that way.”

“I see.”

There was a beat as the two men sized each other up before Adrien sighed and leaned back against the door. “I guess it’s easier to show you than explain it to you.”

Tim watched with interest as Adrien pulled an object from his ear and tossed it over. He caught it easily and turned the object in his fingers. It was like his comm but it was red with black polka-dots.

Oh. He knew what this was.

He handed it over to Marinette without even bothering to listen (Who wants to hear their own voice? No one. Ew.).

“Yeah, she listens in on all of my conversations, I know.”

Marinette and Adrien both froze up, then turned their gazes on him in shock. Tim might have laughed if Adrien’s expression didn’t morph into a horrified look.

“You… you know I planted bugs on you?” Asked Marinette tentatively.

“I’ve known since day one -- I think. Or, at least, near day one,” said Tim with a shrug. He pointed over at the flower on his desk, the bug hidden in the petals. “I don’t mind, though, that’s just part of being a vigilante, in my opinion.”

“You’re a --? Nevermind, that’s not the point here.” He sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s not. She does this to all her crushes.”

“I do it to anyone I care about.”

Adrien seemed to think he was insane.

Marinette, however, was nodding vigorously. “See?! I told you! It’s a thing!”

“It’s a thing,” agreed Tim. “Everyone in my family does it, too, though we tend to prefer trackers and following people to auditory bugs…”

“What the heck?” Muttered Adrien.

Tim continued on despite this: “Even Duke does it sometimes, and he’s the closest thing we have to sane, so it’s probably okay.”

Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose and glared at nothing for a while, clearly thinking hard about how to approach this. Tikki floated out of Marinette’s purse to go over and pet his hair in an attempt at comfort. It wasn’t working, but at least someone tried. Eventually, he pulled out his phone.

“Stalking: the act or crime of willfully and repeatedly following or harassing another person in circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to fear injury or death especially because of express or implied threats.”

“... I haven’t followed or harassed him,” said Marinette.

“And I’m trying to prevent injury or death. Have you met Marinette? Leave her alone for too long and she will find a new way to get herself killed.”

Marinette huffed. “Like you’re any different. I can already count at least three major villains that you regularly piss off and I’ve only lived here a few months.”

“One of the first things you said to any of us was that you had broken your leg but it was fine. I have reason to be concerned.”

Adrien groaned. “We’re getting off topic here, guys. The point is that this is the textbook definition of stalking --.”

“But neither of us feel even a little bit uncomfortable about it,” Marinette argued.

“That would cause a reasonable person to fear injury or death. Clearly, neither of you are reasonable.”

Tim shook his head. “That’s not really what the reasonable person clause is for. It’s for people that are trying to get money over nothing.”

“It still applies!”

Tikki shook her head. “Adrien, they’re not going to get it.”

“But they need to.”

“We’re still here, y’know,” said Tim. Marinette waved her arms in the air to see if they had somehow gone invisible.

“They don’t want to,” Tikki explained gently, ignoring them.

Alright, they were going around in circles it seemed and Adrien and Tikki weren’t responding well to their current arguments… so, new arguments were needed. A short recess was called so the two teams could discuss their rebuttals in opposite corners of the room. When had this turned into a debate? Who knows.

They decided to go after morality first (it seemed like the best bet since they were all vigilantes): “Bean, you’re happy, right?”

“Yep. You?”

“Of course. Happier than I was when I was single, that’s for sure.”

Marinette blushed a little and laced her fingers with his. “Great. Me too. Now, Adrien, don’t you want us to be happy?”

Adrien scoffed. “Okay, no, you don’t get to do that. I obviously want you to be happy but I don’t want you to be in an unhealthy relationship. Because that’s what this is: unhealthy.”

“Unusual doesn’t necessarily mean unhealthy,” said Marinette with a frown.

“No, it doesn’t, but… listening in on his private conversations? Following and tracking her? Don’t you think that maybe you should be setting more firm boundaries with each other?”

“... nah,” said Tim.

“How about this: if he crosses a line I’ll tell him.”

“You don’t have lines and that’s the problem!”

Tim shook his head. “Adrien, I can tell you’re trying to help but, really, it’s fine.”

… fine. Time for their last real argument.

“Would you prefer we ‘stalk’ some random civilian?” Asked Tim. “Or you? Don’t you think it’s best we’re together rather than with some person who wouldn’t be able to deal with ‘stalkers’?”

“Sure, but it would be better if you worked on yourselves before getting into relationships,” said Tikki with a sigh.

Marinette groaned. “Gods, this is never going to work. It’s a love language, Adrien, why can’t you just understand that?”

“Love?!” Tim and Adrien said in unison, though the expressions on their faces couldn’t be more different.

“You love me?” Asked Tim.

Marinette’s face flared red. “I -- uh -- um --... yeah…?”

Holy shit, he's won at life.

“I love you, too,” he said quietly.

“It’s only been a few months, what the heck?” Adrien whisper-yelled. They ignored him.

Marinette pulled him down by the front of his shirt for a short kiss. Then, she split into a grin. “I said it first.”

“Not really, I did,” said Tim, smiling fondly.

“No no no I did. I have two witnesses to testify. You said ‘too’, I win.”

“Hm. Nope.”

“You can’t just --!” She huffed. “Stop smiling like that, it's hard to argue with you.”

He only smiled wider. She pouted until he pecked her lips.

Adrien dropped into one of the business chairs and hung his head.

“... I think I made it worse, somehow.”

Tikki patted his hair again.

Adrien ended up accepting them, albeit a little reluctantly. Marinette and Tim were right, after all: it was better that they ‘stalked’ each other rather than some random person who could/would take it worse.

Now, apparently, it was time for the shovel talk.

“Her parents are huge softies so this falls to me. You’d better not hurt her. She may be an idiot and a stalker --”

“Hey!”

“-- but she is still my sister.”

Tim gave a tiny smile. “Yeah, I get it. You’ll kill me if I hurt her and, since you have the power of destruction, there won’t be any way to bring me back.”

“Oh, not quite. I’m going to ‘randomly misplace my ring’ and whatever happens while my ring is ‘missing’ is up to whoever happens to find it. You’d better hope that whatever you did was small enough that Mari would be merciful.”

Tim swallowed thickly. “Ah. I see.”

Adrien smiled a smile worthy of the model that he was and clapped Tim on the back. “Welcome to the family!”

“Yeah… yay…”

Marinette crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you done threatening my boyfriend?”

“No. If she --.” Adrien cut himself off with a laugh at the glare she sent him. “Kidding, kidding. Do you want some of Pere’s food.”

“Obviously. Tim, do you want some?”

Tim hesitated. Marinette tried not to laugh at how carefully he considered the question, as if he thought it was some kind of test and not two people trying to make up for taking up his lunch period.

“... sure?”

“Cool. Macaroons?”

Marinette scowled. “If you get us passionfruit macaroons I swear to the kwamis --.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll implement a systematic takedown of both me and everything I love, I get it. I’ll grab the tea ones you like.”

Tim raised his eyebrows. “You have contingencies for your friends? What’s mine?”

“... you do realize you have no powers, right?”

“Can’t believe even my own girlfriend underestimates me --.”

“I could drop an elephant on you and call it a day if I really felt like it.”

Tim paled. “I regret asking.”

Tim was sick the next day. That was kind of on him for forgetting that America has weirdly intense food safety standards, which meant food from other countries would likely mess him up. Also, he had no spleen. Wild that he had forgotten that but, nonetheless, there he was.

He groaned and buried his face in the pillow. How was it possible to feel cold and hot at the same time?

He heard the quiet creak of the floorboards and carefully opened one eye.

Marinette stood at the end of the bed, frown on her face, glass of water and a bowl of soup in each of her hands.

He reached a shaky hand for her and she handed him the water. He grumbled a little but his mouth was pretty dry, so he took it.

Once she was satisfied with his water-drinking, she took a seat beside him with the soup. When he made no move to eat it she rolled her eyes and set it aside temporarily in favor of pulling him on top of her. He smiled and rested his head on her stomach.

“You’re cute when you’re sick, maybe Adrien should bring over Pere’s food more often.”

He frowned. “But... work.”

“Don’t give me more reasons to do it,” she teased lightly.

When he pouted she leaned down to press a kiss to his lips. He stopped her with a hand.

“I’m sick.”

“And I’m a meta with an enhanced immune system that wants to kiss her dumbass boyfriend.”

He huffed a little but he didn’t try to stop her when she tried to kiss him a second time. He smiled and buried his face in her stomach, looping his arms around her like she was a pillow.

“How’d you know I was sick?” He asked after a few moments.

She snickered. “Well, I woke up and you were really warm instead of cold.”

“I’m cold?” Tim asked and, despite knowing that it was just a fact, he felt extremely insulted. Damian’s insults had nothing on the fact that his skin was, apparently, cold.

She smiled a little and pet his hair despite the fact that it was probably pretty gross at the moment. “It’s fine. I’m usually pretty warm so it balances out.”

“Awwwww, we reach thermodynamic equilibrium together,” he joked quietly. He let himself sink into her, closing his eyes.

She gave a tiny laugh. “Wow. Romance.”

He smiled. “It is.”

“Hm.” She pet his hair for a few moments longer before pulling them away. “Right, c’mon, get up. I made Alfred teach me to make your favorite kind of soup.”

He blinked an eye open. “Alfred? He knows?”

“Alfred knows everything, I think,” Marinette half-joked. She handed him the bowl and he sat up to eat some. “But I’m pretty sure everyone else at least suspects it, too. I followed all of you bats on Twitter, after all, and I only know a few of you out of costume.”

He nodded his understanding. “So all the secrets are out.”

“Yep. Now I don’t have to worry about accidentally calling people the wrong names when we’re all just hanging out. Still don’t know how you keep it all straight.”

“Nicknames, mostly. Less likely to slip up. Also Dick’s name works for both.”

Her lips twitched. “Yeah. I’m sure that’s why he uses the name Dick.”

“He never answered, y’know, when I said he had a degradation kink. You might be onto something,” he joked.

She grinned now. “I’m always right.”

“Hm. Sure.”

“Glad you agree. Now eat your soup.”

His grin dropped into a pout. “But my stomach hurts.”

“You’re sick, you need your energy to heal. Eat.”

He groaned but reluctantly took the soup when she pushed it into his hands.

She glanced over at the kid that they had taken in. They liked to stick around while Marinette made the food and, if possible, make it herself. She was pretty sure she was checking to make sure they didn’t drug her but Marinette didn’t mind. If it made the kid feel safer then she didn’t see why she wouldn’t allow it.

Now, the kid was mumbling curses in Russian.

She tipped her head to the side. She could chide her about her language but, considering the fact that it was in a language that she couldn’t conceivably understand, she let it go in favor of asking: “What’s wrong?”

“… I can still smell jalapeño on my fingers but my eye itches.”

“Oh.” Marinette handed her a towel. “Alright, Rordan, rub your eye with the side your hand hasn’t touched.”

Rordan wasn’t their actual name, obviously. It was actually Robin (it wasn’t an uncommon name in Gotham or anything, but she and Tim had both had to fight back their amused grins when they had… magically figured it out through completely legal means).

“Yeah, obviously, I’m not stupid.”

She grinned. “I can never be too sure anymore. I’ve cooked with rich kids before and you would be stunned at how little self-preservation instincts they have.”

The kid rolled her eyes. “Can’t be that stupid.”

Tim chose that moment to get off work. He stepped through the door, blinked at the second person in his house, then split into a grin.

“Hey, R...Ronda?” He greeted.

Robin smiled. “Still no.”

“Darn, maybe next time,” he said as if he wasn’t getting it wrong on purpose. He set his scarf on the coat rack and then walked over. “What’s for dinner?”

“For you? A microwaved meal that I’m going to try and pass off as my own cooking.”

Tim huffed. “Bean, come on, it was one time --.”

“And that ‘one time’ is enough to never let you in the kitchen again. C’mon, darling, three steps back.”

Tim groaned but stepped back until he was sitting on the kitchen island.

Robin turned off the burner. “Fajitas are done.”

He pouted playfully. “Can’t believe the kid is allowed to cook and I’m not. I’m an adult!”

“A hazard, that’s what you are,” Marinette teased, smiling. She let Robin set half of the food in her tupperware. “Want to eat with us this time?”

“No thanks.”

Tim nodded. “Alright. See you later?”

Robin glanced back at them from the windowsill. She gave a two finger salute, grinning. “Sure. Bye.”

They watched tiny fingers shut the window behind her before slipping out of view.

She reminded Marinette of an outdoor cat. Kinda just does what she wants and then drops by for food every once in a while; might want affection but probably not, do not approach unless approached; gets in a lot of dumb fights and then comes back with a messed up nose but acts like nothing happened and you’re insane for bringing it up…

Yeah. So, they now have another cat. At least they were both cat people?

Tim grinned as she handed him a plate. “Thanks, Bean. Any progress?”

“Nope,” Marinette said, taking a seat beside him and resting her head on his shoulder. “But she’ll see that we’re safe eventually. I can wait for that.”

He hummed his understanding. “Can’t wait until we make enough progress to be able to eat with her.”

She grinned. “Your bar is too high, darling. It’d be nice if she gave us her actual name.”

“Yeah… I’m still holding out for it, though. She has, what, six years before she is able to legally get a job and won’t need us? We should be able to have food with her once in six years, don’t you think?”

Marinette smiled. “Kwami, I sure hope so.”

Tim rested his head on the windowsill, a tiny frown on his face.

They were on a stakeout. According to Sources there was supposed to be a handoff within the next week.

Marinette sat down beside him and pushed himself up some to send her an awkward grin.

She offered him some Oreos from the packet she held.

There was a long silence as they sat there, listening to the warehouse through their comms. The most interesting thing so far had been the fly buzzing past one of their bugs.

“This feels like cheating,” she said with a sigh.

“I know, right?”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “Also you guys’ bugs are better quality than mine and I hate that.”

He snickered. “I can… ‘lose’ some bugs for you if you want.”

“You’d end up ‘losing’ too many.”

He thought for a minute, then shook his head. “Not if we put it in my watch.”

“Doesn’t it get stolen every other week?”

“Sure, but B replaces it all the time. Still more sustainable than bugging every item I wear.”

She thought about it for a minute before smiling at him. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Marinette sat in a coffee shop, sipping a cup of coffee as she tried to explain to Kagami Tsurugi that, no, a full ball gown wasn’t possible in three days and that she should have given more warning. The power in their apartment building had gone out while she was talking to a client and her phone had low power so… nearest coffee shop. There was free wifi, places to plug in her phone, and, of course, coffee.

A glance at the time showed that Tim would be off work in about half an hour. Hm. She went alone. She figured she’d see him there, anyways.

She blinked as a hand tapped her on the shoulder, expecting to see Tim, only to find the friendly barista that had given her her coffee. She whispered to Kagami that she needed to hold and lowered the phone a little.

“Here, ma’am, I’m sorry I forgot this earlier. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

Marinette stared at the new drink that had been shoved in her hand. There was some writing on the label.

Dont look now but theres a man watching you.

And an arrow pointing to her right.

Marinette smiled up at the woman. “It’s alright. Thank you.”

The woman didn’t seem all that convinced, so Marinette spun around in her seat. “Darling, you’re being a creep, get over here.”

“I’m not a creep! You were on the phone!” He complained, but he walked over and took a seat across from her.

“Excuses, excuses.”

The poor barista looked so confused.

She sent her a smile. “Thanks for looking out for me.” She handed over a twenty. “For the drink. Keep the change.”

The woman left and Tim pulled out his computer to do some extra work while Marinette finished up her phone call. Then, she smiled at him.

“A random lady found you. You’re off your game.”

He pouted. “I was being obvious on purpose. Wanted to see if you could find me.”

“Maybe I just think you’re cute when you don’t know people are watching you.”

He did little more than raise an eyebrow at her disbelievingly. She grinned and leaned across the table to kiss him on the nose.

After a few second’s thought she pulled out her phone and changed Tim’s name to Spy-derman.

He snickered at the tiny notification, rolling his eyes. “Great.” Then he squinted at the name. “I never asked: why Spiderman?”

She grinned. “Well, the first time we met we met on the roof of a super tall building… but the door was super creaky and loud so all I could imagine was you swinging up there like Spiderman… wait, actually, did you?”

He rolled his eyes again. “You were just too concentrated on your work to hear me.”

“... oh. Well. that’s less fun. I’m choosing to ignore that.” She grinned. “Still can’t believe you called me Frenchie of all things. Did you use all two of your brain cells for that one?”

He gasped as if offended. “It was a reference to that character from The Boys.”

“Of course it was. Fucking nerd.”

He pecked her on the lips. “You love me, though.”

“Hm. Yeah. I do.”

#i almost feel bad for ending it without getting them professional help #but like #they were never going to do that as characters #and there wasn't a natural way to change it #so...#happy?? ending #stalker x stalker #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #tim drake #red robin

73 notes · View notes

suf-lives-rent-free · 4 years

Text

Fragments

Everything below is just my opinion; I am in no way trying to say that how I feel about this is the one correct take or whatever.

I know a lot of people like this episode and what happens in it, but I don’t. I totally understand that some people just don’t want to see any negativity, period, but negativity is not inherently bad or wrong.

Negative opinions, even about something you enjoy, can be valid too - regardless of whether you happen to agree with them or not.

Also I get very salty near the end of this, and that might be entertaining to people who stan this episode?

I am aware that a lot of people – the majority, I’m pretty sure – think that the episode is a masterpiece. And on some level, I see where they’re coming from with that assessment.

The episode is boarded beautifully, the backgrounds – especially during the training montage – are stunning as always. The music is fantastic, and the performances are great too. In these respects, Fragments is a stand-out episode; I agree.

(Like look at this. Gorgeous.)

However, something that’s bothered me since I saw the episode is the writers’ decision to write it into the story that Steven shatters Jasper.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: I just don’t get it. I’m purposefully misinterpreting the story to say it’s bad. Steven brings her back to life; and it’s not like he meant to do it in the first place. I just don’t have the capacity to understand the sublime nature of the show’s storytelling. I’m an SU crit and all I want to do is make the real fans feel about themselves for liking it.

Uhhhh... no. Nah. That ain’t it chief.

It’s true; I am not a writer. I’m just a passive consumer of media. However, I do not agree with the viewpoint that in order to properly understand or critique a thing you need to have the expertise and/or experience in order to make something similar.

For example, if I were to put something I drew when I was 10 years old next to something I drew yesterday, it shouldn’t take a person who has had an education in fine art to tell you that the latter drawing is better-looking than the former.

That’s how I approach media consumption and criticism; when I criticise a writing decision, I am doing so as a consumer. I’m not saying I could write it better, or even that my opinion is objectively correct and the writer is wrong or bad. I’m just saying that I didn’t like a thing. Which, I would hope, is allowed?

Okay, defensive hedging over, back to the point; I don’t like that they had Steven shatter Jasper.

[I get markedly saltier from this point on, fyi]

Full admission of bias here: one of the things I really cherish about the original show is how they wrote Steven’s character; he’s a boy with interests that don’t rigidly conform to gender stereotypes. He likes ‘boyish’ things and ‘girly’ things, and that’s okay; thats just him. In cartoons when I was growing up, characters like Steven would be the butt of jokes about being ‘girly’ or thinly-veiled homophobia. I find him very relatable, and I want to acknowledge that yes, that is probably a significant part of why I have such an issue with this episode’s twist.

I am not trying to say that he’s a perfect baby angel or whatever; Steven regularly gets frustrated and angry. He does some pretty manipulative and dickish things to people around him (stop trying to make Larsadie happen, Steven. It’s not going to happen). He is a flawed character who fucks up sometimes. And he’s not 100% peaceful either; he acts violently when he defends himself against corrupted Gems and Homeworld Gems (and Crystal Gems on occasion *cough*Bismuth*cough*).

However, he has a pacifistic temperament; whenever it’s possible, he prefers that problems be solved without needless violence or hurt. And I like that; in most media, it’s rare to have a male protagonist who wants to solve their problems without jumping straight to punching things.

When he accidentally frees Centipeedle, he convinces the Gems to step off and allow him to try and rehabilitate her peacefully; he even notices that the Gems’ weapons are a trigger for her, and make them put them away. He frees Lapis against the Gems’ wishes because he recognizes that keeping her prisoner is wrong, and when she steals the ocean, he talks it out and heals her so she can leave Earth peacefully.

He tries to aid Jasper when she starts corrupting, fixes Eyeball’s gemstone when she’s cracked and tries talking Bismuth down when she attacks him with the breaking point. In all of these situations, his words and help are ignored or rejected; he’s forced to resort to violence. And it traumatises him.

We get an entire episode dedicated to the fact that he’s been struggling with processing these awful things that happened.

Even in Future, Steven shows hesitation about engaging in unncecessary violence; he gives into Jasper’s goading for a fight after what’s implied to be dozens of failed tries at making her come to Little Homeschool, and he spends an entire episode trying to keep Lapis from squashing the two rogue Lapis Lazulis.

The only time he hops into a fight willingly is after Eyeball and Aquamarine hold Greg hostage, and even then they pose a clear threat to his and Greg’s safety and have made it clear that they want to hurt him emotionally and physically. Even at that, he stops and switches tactics to talking them down as soon as they lose their focus and start bickering with each other.

(I mean, he fails. But it’s the thought that counts.)

I personally find it really jarring that the writers found it appropriate to write it into the series that this same character – over the course of three (3) days – goes from disliking mindless violence for mindless violence’s sake to happily engaging in the destruction of plants and animals* and has done a total 180 on his willingness to spar with Jasper, to the point that he instigates their rematch.

*(You best believe plenty of small mammals and birds – y’know, like the nest Steven saved in the first episode – died as he and Jasper felled tree after tree, not to mention all of those displaced by the destruction of their habitats, and the potential loss of food sources from some of those trees.)

You’re telling me that it’s a reasonable character beat for this boy to gleefully laugh like an anime supervillain at his sudden new-found joy in fighting, then pin Jasper in place, taunt her for helping him get so strong, and hit her so hard that she breaks into pieces and dies?

You’re telling me that that’s an in-character thing for Steven Quartz Diamond Cutie-Pie DeMayo Universe do to another character?

(And yes I am purposefully dancing around talking about the mental health stuff because if I did that I’d have to go on a whole other tangent about Growing Pains and fuck I just don’t feel like it right now lmao)

Going back to Mindful Education, another big thing we see Steven struggle with is the idea that his mother shattered Pink Diamond. This knowledge sits heavily with him; it makes him sympathetic to the Diamonds, even under the circumstances in which he sees them (escaping from the Human Zoo, and being on trial for said murder).

He sees their grief, and he feels awful. He questions who Rose Quartz even was. He knows, based on what Garnet said, that Rose had to do it; there was no other way to free Earth. But he still feels awful seeing the pain that Pink’s loss has caused Blue and Yellow Diamond.

In Steven Universe, shattering is clearly equated with execution/death multiple times. When Pearl and Garnet fret over the crack in Amethyst’s gemstone worsening. When Blue Diamond threatens to break Ruby. When Bismuth introduces the breaking point, and Steven recoils at the sight of what it does. If you want to take the fact that Gem shards are sentient and desperate to become whole again into account, you could even argue that it’s a fate worse than death. This particular act of violence is treated very, very seriously.

When we find out that Rose shattered Pink Diamond, there is a season and a half long arc unpacking the implications and consequences of this one action, and how this knowledge forever alters Steven’s mental image of his mother. And she didn’t even kill anyone. It was a lie!

In Steven Universe Future, Steven shatters Jasper 4 episodes before the end of the series. And it’s only brought up twice; once for a big *gasp* moment during his breakdown in Everything’s Fine, and in I Am My Monster by Pearl, when she has to fill-in Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot. Notably, it is never discussed around or by Jasper. Y’know. The person who actually died.

No indication of how (or even if) what Steven did is affecting his own self-image after his initial breakdown, how Jasper feels about what she went through beyond falling back into the Era 1 and 2 mindset. No inkling of how the knowledge that Steven killed somebody has affected how anyone in his life thinks or feels about him; when Pearl brings it up in I Am My Monster, she seems to not even really believe it’s true.

If there are any consequences or talks about this incident, they’re skipped over between I Am My Monster and The Future, and we’re expected to assume that Steven and his therapist are dealing with it, I guess?

And yes. It was an accident. He did bring her back to life. But it still happened. If you hit someone over the head and they stop breathing, just because the paramedics are able to resusitate and stabilize them afterwards doesn’t mean you never hit them.

But here, it’s shoved aside because dwelling on it would take far too much time, and risks framing Steven in an unsympathetic way when he’s meant to be on the cusp of a breakdown.

It just feels like careless writing to me. They really, really wanted their big action scene with Steven and Jasper, but didn’t think (or maybe weren’t interested in thinking) about the seriousness or consequences of what Steven shattering someone would entail.

In my opinion, Steven shattering Jasper is one of the cheapest, laziest things they could have ever done with his character (and hers, for that matter). To me, the entire thing feels entirely out of character. It’s pure shock value; nothing more.

So yeah. That particular writing decision just does not work for me. And if you disagree... well that’s fine? It’s fine. We can agree to disagree? I’ve read a lot of defense/praise for this episode, and honestly even after processing all of those opinions and all the time my thoughts about this plotline have been stewing in my brain, I still feel the same way.

#steven universe #steven universe future #negativity #cw death

7 notes · View notes

jess-rewatches-prodigalson · 4 years

Text

Episode 5: The Trip

This episode is one of my favourites simply because we get high!Malcolm.

Here are my thoughts.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1:15 - Malcolm’s hair is attractive like this.

2:29 - Poor Malcolm is deteriorating fast. At least he knows he needs sleep? I guess that’s good?

3:00 - Malcolm’s startled self-deprecation here is upsetting. Does he really think that when it comes to relationships/non-murder related things he’s incapable of being right?

3:26 - When Malcolm isn’t doing well, but he’s actively trying to convince others that he’s fine, he ends up looking very manic.

4:20 - “Where are they going?” That look? That is desperation. The look in Gil’s eyes? That is pain. That is concern. I am living for it.

4:45 - The look Gil give Bright here breaks my heart. You can tell that Gil wants nothing more than to wrap Bright in a blanket and haul him off to some sort of safe place until Bright feels better.

5:00 - Confirmation that even if Malcolm’s dad wasn’t a serial killer he wouldn’t be a stereotypical sports loving guy.

5:50 - It’s upsetting that Malcolm looks happiest at crime scenes.

6:25 - “He’s literally covered in drugs.” hahaha JT is the best.

7:10 - Aww Malcolm, reign it in buddy. Dani seemed annoyed before you started profiling her.

7:34 - Gil’s face here is perfect. It’s a face that says “I work with children. I regret the life decisions that led me into this room.”

8:07 - Why doesn’t Malcolm know about this? It happened after the 90s. He met Gil in ‘98. Gil took him on stakeouts. Did Gil never tell him work stories!? Nah. I don’t buy it. This explanation was for the audience. Malcolm already knew.

8:08 - ...So the woman in the pew that we just saw. Is she really present for the whole drug/police convo that’s about to happen? Does it get her killed? Seems like a church should be evacuated before police and drug dealers discuss dangerous information in it. Maybe that’s just me?

8:10 - Gil blesses himself. Gil is catholic? Do you think he ever took Malcolm to church? Does he regularly attend church or is this a childhood habit that Gil has? Was Gil raised catholic but moved away from the church as an adult? I’m fascinated by this. I want information.

9:10 - Is Dani ok? I mean I know why she’s acting the way she is (because rewatch) but she seems really upset this whole episode. Is there something else going on with her?

9:50 - *sigh* He’s having hallucinations now too?! This is not good. Our boy needs help. ALSO - The looks that Malcolm get from JT and Gil are everything. They look so concerned. My heart is full.

11:09 - Last episode Malcolm had a desk. Now he’s working (with a pencil cup) in the case board room? Is this by choice? Because he wants to be able to look at the board or did he somehow lose desk privileges? Does he share the desk with someone else? I have questions.

11:40 - There’s something really beautiful about the way Dani and Malcolm interact. It’s when we see Malcolm at his most calm and rational. It’s when we see Dani at her most vulnerable. Dani is such a badass but when she interacts with Malcolm there’s a beautiful softness about her. There’s a vulnerability to both of them that’s too precious for this world. You can see how much they care about each other (as friends or more, I’m not getting into the Brightwell debate).

12:20 - You ever wonder if Malcolm experimented with street drugs as a teenager/college student? I do. I wonder if he was so desperate to numb his pain that he tried street drugs in addition to his prescriptions. Maybe when he was at Harvard?

12:40 - Malcolm looks to Gil for permission. Another instance where we see that Malcolm has a big heart. Yes Malcolm is manic and weird but he also cares about others. He has tact. It’s just that sometimes he chooses to be blunt, or to be insensitive when he’s desperate for information pertaining to a case/his past.

13:03 - Holy crap. That look on Malcolm’s face. He’s scared. For Dani. Well. My heart has melted.

13:40 - How many staff members does Jessica have? She lives alone. In a townhouse. She has no yard to maintain. So far there’s been Louisa, Aldolpho, and now Kimberly....Rich people live a weird life.

14:10 - How did Eve find out that Jessica was looking to donate money if she wasn’t invited to this luncheon? Who told Eve about it? Or was Eve spying on the Whitly family?

14:35 - I’ll be honest: I immediately didn’t/don’t like Eve. It seemed weird that she showed up uninvited to the Jessica’s place. Eve’s confidence is mixed with a sort of ambition that just rubs me the wrong way. Basically, she reminds me too much of someone I didn’t like in high school.

15:30 - Malcolm really doesn’t do undercover well does he? I mean he’s sooo overdressed. Couldn’t he have at least taken off his tie before going to this club? He sticks out like a sore thumb. Did Malcolm come to the club to talk to Estime or because he profiled that Dani would come to the club and he was worried about her?

16:18 - “That’s a bad guy window.” This line is cute. What’s cuter is how relaxed Malcolm is in this scene. It’s the most calm we’ve seen him all episode.

17:20 - Did Dani and Estime have a romantic relationship in the past? The way they’re interacting seems to imply it.

17:53 - And we’re right back to manic Malcolm. Look at his eyes. Yikes. This dude really obsesses over mysteries.

18:50 - Why did the gun wielding dude suddenly go away? Did he assume he made the kill he came there for? Did he know the cops were coming?

18:52 - Here comes angry Dad.

19:21 - and here is Concerned Dad.

19:32 - Ok. So Malcolm is high here (which is hilarious) but that little speech he gives to Gil is really touching and honestly completely on the mark. Do you think Gil and Malcolm ever discussed it when Malcolm was sober? Do you think Malcolm ever told that to Gil before this moment? I honestly think Gil needed to hear that. Even if it was from high!Bright. He looked really close to snapping at one (or both) of his children. He needed to remember why he loves them. Why they love him.

20:00 - Seriously. Gil is just the team Dad. I want to see a team dinner at Gil’s place. Where Gil asks everyone about their day and acts like a total Dad.

20:36 - How did Malcolm get into his weapon collecting hobby?

21:07 - It’s heartbreaking that Malcolm is the happiest we’ve ever seen him when he’s high as a kite.

21:38 - That’s unfiltered. That’s a man who lost all his friends when he was ten years old and was never able to make new ones. That is a man who desperately wants a friend. That is a woman who is terrified to trust. That is a woman who wants a friend. A woman who needs a friend.

22:21 - Why is it that Malcolm conveniently has food in his fridge right now? In subsequent episodes his fridge is bare. He’s admitted that most food makes him sick. Why does he have ingredients for grilled cheese tonight of all nights? I mean I know why (because the writers deemed it so) but it seems out of character?

22:40 - Dude. Malcolm has so much product in his shower. What are all of those bottles?!? And what are they for?!

23:11 - Malcolm’s pill bottles are on the counter. Dani can see them. Does she read the labels? Does she ask him about them later? ALSO WHY ARE THERE 3 HALF FULL WATTER GLASSES ON THE COUNTER?!? He lives alone. Is one of them Dani’s? Is that a boy thing? My 20 year old brother regularly has 2-3 half full glasses of water/juice in the kitchen. It drives me crazy.

23:18 - Anyone else desperate to know what’s at the top of the stairs in Malcolm’s loft? Where do those stairs GO?

23:28 - Props to Tom Payne. This is such a believable panic attack. It’s heart breaking but honest.

24:40 - This is it. Malcolm’s deepest fear. That he is just like his father. That he is capable of murder. That he would enjoy it. That he already has murdered someone as a child.

26:20 - Why didn’t Dani sleep on the couch? Did she leave Malcolm to sleep in the shower? Did she somehow move him to the bed? Apparently Dani did dishes though (or Malcolm when Dani was sleeping) because there is only 1 half empty glass on the counter now.

26:21 - Anyone want to talk about how attractive Tom Payne looks in this scene? Just me? Ok.

26:47 - I love this. The vulnerability. They trust each other enough to open up to each other. They need each other. They’re both in more pain than they pretend to be in.

27:34 - What was Dani’s drug of choice? ALSO I want a fic of Papa!Gil taking care of a detoxing Dani.

28:12 - Gil’s smile. His conversation with Dani. Dani’s apology. UgH. It’s perfect. He’s such a dad. He’s already forgiven her before she even tries to apologize. He’s happy to see her and he’s happy that Malcolm’s ok.

28:23 - You know. We give Malcolm a lot of shit in this fandom for not being able to take care of himself (and rightfully so). BUT. Can we for one minute appreciate how Dani, Gil, Malcolm, and JT are all really mature, good adults? Seriously. They take responsibility for their mistakes. They apologize when necessary. They have manners. They talk to each other when something is bothering them and the time is right (well, Malcolm’s not great at this but he’s doing it better than most adults I know).

28:48 - Ugh. Eve is back. She’s mining for information from Jessica. I can’t stand this.

30:00 - Does this mean that Malcolm’s childhood bedroom is still intact?!? I want to see it. I want the team to see it. I want that scene and I want it now.

30:40 - Ok. SO Eve and Malcolm have been making eyes at each other throughout this whole scene. BUT I have to wonder (April 11/2020) - was Eve ever really interested in Malcolm? I mean he just admitted to having drugs explode in his face. He walked into the room talking about barbiturates and he looks manic af right now. Even if she thought he was cute (which he is) the red flags from this conversation should have been enough for her to stay away from him. And yet - she pursues him. Makes me question how authentically she actually cares about him.

32:19 - Where did JT go?!? He’s been gone for the past like 20 minutes of this episode. Did he get sick? Is he on another case? I need answers.

33:19 - Ok. So JT’s pulling a warrant with Gil.

33:25 - That right there is an authentic smile. You can see how much Malcolm loves Gil here.

35:28 - I’ll be honest the “murder of the week” in this episode is boring to me.

40:05 - This little scene between Malcolm and Dani over tea is super sweet.

41:54 - You’re telling me that overbearing, intense Jessica didn’t look in that box before she sent it over to Malcolm. Nah. I’m not buying it. That woman has no boundaries when it comes to her children.

Well. Thanks for hanging out. I’ll be back soon.

16 notes · View notes

zuwritesstuff · 5 years

Text

When You Try To Write a Candlenights Oneshot but it Turns Into a Multichaptered Adventure

Tw: Minor character death, injuries, prosthetics, slight angst, implied betrayal?

A/N- Hiya! This is chapter one in a (hopefully) multichaptered series and I have a lot to say but mostly I wanna thank @anonbeadraws because their Magnulia comic, (which you can see here if the link works lmao), which inspired a real cute scene in here, thanks so much to them and to YOU for reading this, have fun ;) (and please, I don’t mean to sound Desperate but reblogs > likes) also, you can find this on ao3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/22352998 and find the companion piece that you should really read if you want this whole Universe to make sense ijsdkncjfjdlnd right here https://archiveofourown.org/works/22228207

Chapter Title: Something To Come Home To

3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days ago

“And then she said-”

“‘I like you and I love you.’” Everyone in the breakroom chimed in, including those just passing by. Magnus beamed, proud of the fact that he had told this story so many times everyone in the room knew what he was gonna say. He was currently recounting the story of his wife’s confession of love and was draped over a chair dramatically, swooning.

“Isn’t it romantic?” He said, grinning upside down at Merle and Taako. Taako scoffed and went back to drinking his coffee, rolling his eyes. Merle threw his hands up, shaking his head.

“I’m aromantic, leave me out of that.”

“And I’m not, but you’re such a sap, it almost disgusts me.” Taako said, patting Magnus’s shoulder.

“Hey, don’t be mean. Emotions are good, and being a sap is a good look on you, Maggie.” Carey Torres said, next to Magnus. Killian Alvarez and Noelle Nelson were also sitting at the table sharing a look.

“Is it?” Noelle said, stifling a laugh with her prosthetic arm, red and cyberpunk-esque. “Cause it kinda looks like he’s gonna explode.” Magnus sat back up, shaking his head as the blood that rushed into his head flowed back down. They all chuckled, and Killian, feet up on the table, (despite Merle’s protests), looked over at Carey.

“Being a sap is good, yeah?”

“Uh, yeah. Being emotionally forward is...good…” Carey said, blushing and looking away. Killian did the same, and everyone else at the table mentally groaned. The tension between them was, frankly, killing everyone who witnessed it. The two, plus Noelle, were a lean, mean, terrifying machine, and had been together for so long everyone who met them were, frankly, surprised that they weren’t a couple.

Killian took her feet off the table, leaned forward and said, “Well, uh, if that’s the case-” But whatever Killian was gonna say was drowned out by the loudspeaker above them.

“Dr. Highchurch and Agent Burnsides, to Wing F, ASAP. Repeat, Dr. Highchurch and Agent Burnsides to Wing F, ASAP.” Merle and Magnus looked at each other with concern. Wing F was the hospital wing, where Merle worked on their team’s, (Merle, Magnus and Taako’s), off days.

“Mag, uh, not trying to worry you, but didn’t….didn’t Julia and Steph go on a mission today?” Carey asked gently. Magnus’s eyes went wide. He pushed his chair away and rushed out, with Merle close behind.

3 years, 3 months, 1 week and 6 days ago

Magnus took a deep breath and stepped in. Director Austen had just called him into her office. He had just finished his formal training with the Bureau of Benevolence and was waiting to be assigned a mentor, like most of the rest of his class. He had spent the last week fooling around with a few of his classmates, like Taako and Lup Enno, a pair of twins that were trouble personified, or Barry Bluejeans, a soft-spoken nerd who was supposed to be a scientist but ended up becoming a full agent.

“You will train with Agent Waxman, here.” An older man stood next to Director Austen, looking down imposingly. He was built sturdily, even at his age, with a crooked nose and rough and calloused hands, with a small goatee and scar next to his right eye. Magnus stuck out a hand towards him, looking Waxman straight in the eyes.

“Magnus Burnsides, pleased to meet you.” Agent Waxman chuckled, shaking Magnus’s hand firmly.

“Call me Stephen, alright? Lucretia is one for formalities, for sure.”

“Her name is Lucretia?” Magnus whispered, horrified but amused.

“Thank you very much, Agent Waxman. That’ll be all.” Lucretia said, a ghost of a smile on her face.

Magnus and Stephen walked out of Lucretia’s office chatting idly. Magnus learned Stephen had worked at the B.O.B for a very long time- almost 25 years, which is very long for a job that gets people killed almost regularly. He had a daughter, who had also had recently joined B.O.B, and just gotten her mentor; she was actually in Magnus’s class, but alas, apparently they had never interacted. Stephen was also nearing retirement- Magnus was the last recruit he was taking on, he told Lucretia, then a few more years and he was out.

“Man, I never thought that far. Getting out? Nah, I’ll die before that, I think.” Magnus said casually. “I’m more of action first, get hurt, think after that kind of guy. Or don’t think at all, that works too.” He added, shrugging.

Stephen laughed and shook his head. “You know, I was wondering why Lucretia assigned me to you and now I know why. I used to be just like you, hot head and ready to give my life before anything ever happened.”

“Used to?”

“I found something worth coming home to, kiddo, but I suggest finding one soon cause the missions I go on? You’re gonna need it.”

“Alright, old man, whatever you say.”

“Ya know, you say that like its an insult. If I wasn’t old I wouldn’t have lived- trust me kiddo, living comes after everything you thought was worth doing. Then you’re cruising and focusing on the little things, all the good things.” Stephen said lightly, not looking at Magnus. He scanned the base, looking around as Magnus considered this. He had always been, not to be cliche, known to rush in. Protect, don’t think, get the mission done. If he got through it, great, if he didn’t, whatever, but if his friends got hurt, or didn’t complete what was needed? Failed. Living after the mission wasn’t all that high in his priorities, but the Director saw potential in him- she had to since he passed and she gave him a mentor, he reasoned.

“Ah, there she is.” Stephen said, waving over two silhouettes in the distance. As they approached, Magnus’s jaw dropped as he saw the prettiest woman he had ever seen in his life, and one of the hairiest men he had seen, though he wasn’t paying much attention to him. The woman was tall, pretty much rivaling his own height, with long, curly hair wrapped into a braid behind her. Her skin was dark and glowing, with soft brown eyes that made you feel like you were wrapped up in the comfiest blanket under a beautiful night sky. She was, to be crude, buff as hell, with broad shoulders and a broader smile, Magnus noticed as she smiled at him, sticking her hand out.

“Julia Waxman. I see you’ve met my dad.” Magnus said nothing, just managing to close his mouth and shake her hand. He stared as Stephen laughed at him, patting his back.

“Julia, love, this is my apprentice, Magnus, and this is the first time he’s been quiet since I met him. What’s up, Errol?”

One of the hairiest men Magnus had seen smiled at Stephen, with a thick scruff and a long ponytail, shrugging his broad shoulders. “Not much, Steph, knew I had to come to find you once I got little Jules here as my apprentice.” Julia scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Errol, you’re like five years older than me, at most, shut your damn mouth.”

“Yeah, you’re a baby, that's what I said.”

“Fuck off.”

“Language.” Stephen said, almost instinctively.

“Magnus!” Magnus suddenly announced, eyes lighting up and grinning at them all. “My name is Magnus. Burnsides. I’m a new recruit, but I’m made of legend material, that’s for sure.” He said, rambling. “I’m, uh, Hamilton-esque, not throwing away my shot but actually, fuck Hamilton, cheating on his wife I trusted him, I thought he drunk respect women juice when actually-”

Errol burst out in laughter out of nowhere, holding his sides. “Oh Lord- I’m sorry Magnus but that is the funniest shit- man, why’d you have to get the funny recruit, Steph-”

“Hey what the-”

“Julia Bernadette Waxman when I say watch your language I mean it, thank you.”

“Oh god Dad, why’d you have to expose me like that,” Julia said, burying her face in her hands. Errol, laughing even harder, clutched at his sides. “There was absolutely no reason to do that, why?”

“Bernadette, oh lordy lord, I can’t-” he said, wheezing, using Stephen as support. Julia rolled her eyes and looked at Magnus.

“I’m sorry about those two, they’re kindred spirits, Errol had my dad as his mentor, and both of them are idiots.” She said, directing the last part towards the two laughing men.

“I'm...Magnus.” Magnus said, looking right into Julia’s eyes and short-circuiting again. Julia gave him a slow, confused smile and laughed a little.

“Yeeah, yeah alright, Magnus. I’ll see you around, alright?” She looked at her dad and said, “I’m going to meet some friends; you two do whatever. Bye, Maggie.” She waved and walked away, leaving Magnus staring at the spot she was at.

“Julia…” he whispered to himself, a blush and grin growing wider and wider, shaking the hand that shook Julia’s as if to regain feeling back into his lovestruck self.

3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days ago

Magnus ran like his life depended on it, almost shoving other agents out of the way as he ran, only thinking of Julia and Stephen. He skidded to a halt at the start of the wing; Merle crashed into him as he abruptly stopped, but he didn’t care. He stepped forward into the wing, but Merle’s hand stopped him.

“Give me a minute, kiddo. Let me see what happened, you don’t- we need to know first.”

“No, Merle. I can’t. No.” Magnus kept walking, but Merle stood in front of him, stopping him.

“Hey, hey, hey- this is my job, let me do it.” Merle said, looking up at Magnus. “Let me see what happened, and then I’ll come to get you, you don’t know what happened yet.” Magnus looked down at Merle and saw the sincerity in his eyes. He nodded and collapsed into a nearby chair, head in his hands, as Merle rushed off, talking to another doctor as they sped towards wherever they were. He, for once, sat quietly. Honestly, he didn’t know what to do. Stephen’s words from so long ago echoed in his mind. The something to come home to had turned into him, and Julia, and the rest of his team, and if something bad happened then-no. Nothing bad happened, Magnus reasoned. It couldn’t have, but there was no way. It was Stephen, for god's sake. There was no way.

After what seemed like an eternity, Merle came back, looking grim. Magnus stood up, searching for any sign of good news in his face.

“I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, it’s bad.” Merle said, gesturing forward. “We don’t...well we don’t know for sure how it’s gonna turn out, Magnus. I-I’ll do everything I can, but you need to know, we don’t know yet.” He took a deep breath and opened the door, leading Magnus in.

Julia and Stephen lay on two hospital beds. Errol, more shaven and well kept than he was two years ago, sitting by Julia’s side, looked up at them both. Magnus immediately rushed to Julia’s side, hovering over her, not sure where to start. Her face was cut up and blooded, only emphasized by her ragged breathing. The blanket that Wing F gave covered her up, but not enough to obscure her newly amputated right arm and leg, from the elbow and knee down. Magnus looked at Merle, silently, for any kind of explanation.

“There was an explosion, the whole building came down, and the way Julia was caught...she was probably right next to the blast, and the rubble...she's lucky to be alive Mag.” he said, looking down at her sadly. “She's on heavy anesthesia right now, they had to do a field amputation just to get her out; she was just….crushed, and there was just no time. It's looking like she’s gonna have some hearing issues on her right side as well, and there weren’t any issues of much heavy brain trauma, but we have to wait for her to wake up. And, well, Stephen…” he trailed off, looking at the man lying next to her. He was hooked up to an oxygen machine, it breathing for him. “Comatose. We don’t...god, Magnus, we don’t-”

“He’s gonna wake up, Merle.”

“Kiddo-”

“Damn it, Merle, he’s gonna wake up! He has to- he c-” Magnus’s voice broke, and he angrily wiped tears from his face. “He’s got things worth living for and he’s gonna wake up, alright?”

“Alright, alright.” Merle said gently, touching Magnus’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go talk to whoever was on duty when they were found, you’re gonna stay here?” Magnus nodded, sitting heavily down next to Errol. Merle walked out, and the two men were silent for a moment, only listening to the beeping of the heart monitors and breathing, both artificial and otherwise.

“Man, I was just near here, Wing E, visiting a friend and I saw them wheel them in.” Errol said, breaking the silence. Magnus said nothing, not even acknowledging his presence. He just stared out to Julia, barely even breathing. Errol sighed and asked, “You know what she’d say about this?” Magnus didn’t respond, so he continued. “She’s left-handed.” Errol looked at Magnus seriously. “And she wouldn’t want you to act like this is the absolute end of the world.”

“You heard Merle,” Magnus said softly. “Julia...and Stephen is...he’s…”

“Not gonna give up without a fight. And if he goes, then, well…” Errol looked up at the ceiling, stretching out, settling in, clearly preparing for a long wait. “I’m gonna find the bastard that did this and make him suffer.”

2 years, 7 months and 3 days ago

“Alright buddy, now’s the time.” Aubrey Little said, slapping Magnus on the back. “You’re gonna ask that girl out, and she’s gonna say yes, and if she doesn’t, you’re gonna respect her boundaries.”

“Hell yeah, I am.” Magnus said, standing in front of his mirror, making one last check to his appearance. Littered around the apprentice boy’s dorm was Taako, Barry, Aubrey, and Jake Coolice, all there to hype up Magnus. He, (and Julia), had been pining for a hot minute- everyone in their “class” was very ready for all of them to get together, so the 5 of them had gotten together to keep Magnus from chickening out, (he loved the friendship that had grown between him and Julia, and didn’t want to mess it up for the world), and to give themselves peace of mind. The rest of their class did their own thing, usually, but rest assured, everyone knew the dance Julia and Magnus kept around each other.

“Alright, let’s get this thing going.” Taako said, standing and clapping his hands together. “My mentor wants to meet up and spar a little, and I can’t wait to beat his ass.”

“That’s mean, T,” Aubrey said, scrunching her face up, looking at him through the mirror. “Duck’s a nice dude.”

“One, he will not tell me his real name, does anyone even know it?” he asked nobody in particular, “two, he can’t lie for shit, so when he tried to fake compliment my sparring skills, it just, just didn’t work.” He shook his head, sighing. “He has so much to learn.”

“My mentor is a doctor, technically an agent but he works mostly as a doctor; he’s super interesting.” Barry chimed in. “A little weird, kinda hippie-ish, but cool.”

“Nerd.”

“Thanks, Takoda.”

“Barold, don’t start with me, I will fuck you up, I know you have a crush on my sister, I can and will use this to my advantage. And, also,” he turned to face Barry, “You’re bi, and we’re twins, why not me? I’m clearly the superior twin.”

“Huh, I wonder why…” Barry said sarcastically, blushing at Taako’s accusation. “And I don’t have a crush on your sister, I’m dating your sister.” He mumbled.

“Excuse me, you’re fucking WHAT?”

“Hey, bi twins!” Aubrey said, going over and high-fiving Barry as Taako threw his hands up, super done.

“I think we’re losing focus here, guys. Also, bi-pan solidarity.” Jake said, finger gunning at Aubrey. She gasped excitedly and then shook herself, turning back to Magnus.

“Right, yes, Magnus, come on, you’re meeting Julia at the coffee shop and asking her out, let’s go!” Aubrey said, spinning on her heels, pointing and walking to the door. Magnus scratched the back of his neck, walking slowly and then stopping.

“Uh, guys, maybe this is-”

“Alright, enough of this- Magnus, you’re gonna ask Julia out cause you are so, so head over heels for her. Isn’t that true?” Taako said, clapping Magnus’s shoulders and looking into his eyes.

“I mean…”

“Magnus, yes or no?”

“Its, uh, complicated-”

“Magnus, bud, answer the question.” Barry said, looking at him sympathetically.

“Yeah...yeah, I’m super gone for her. I like her so, so much, I just wanna hold her all the time and be with her ‘cause I just, she’s so nice and funny, so fucking funny and beautiful, so so beautiful, inside and out, and she’s got such a good heart and all that but I don’t want to ruin our friendship because it’s super amazing and she’s super amazing and-”

“Magnus?” A voice said from the doorway, soft and quiet. There stood Julia, slack-jawed, looking around like she was trying to grab words from the still air around them, but she found none. Aubrey stood to the side, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Lets, uh, go guys. Somewhere…” She said, slipping out of the door, turning around and giving Magnus a thumbs up as she did. Taako patted Magnus’s shoulder reassuringly and walked out with Barry, who waved at Julia but didn’t get one back, and Jake, who threw up a peace sign at Magnus, trying to reassure him as well.

Magnus, face burning, looked to his shoes and said, “Hey, Julia…”

“Did you mean it?”

“W-what?”

“Did you mean what you said?” Julia asked, walking close to Magnus, looking him right in the face. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t say it, ‘cause I heard you, but did you mean it?”

Magnus looked at her, locking eyes with her, and took a deep breath. “With all my heart.”

Julia bit her lip, looking away as a slow smile spreading on her face. She covered her mouth, looked back at Magnus as she put her hands on her hips, looking a bit contemplative before saying, “Can, uh, can I kiss you?”

“Uh,” Magnus laughed a little nervously, stepping towards her shyly, “that would be nice, yeah.” Julia grinned and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. Magnus wrapped his hands around Julia’s waist, lifting her up and kissing back with a fierceness that kind of surprised him. They swayed for a bit, staying together for as long as their lungs could let them, and upon hearing the wolf whistles from their friends outside, they broke apart, giggling at each other. Magnus put Julia down gently, stepping a little away, still shy, blushing even harder. Julia chuckled a little, stepping close enough to put her right hand on Magnus’s cheek.

“You are, no doubt, adorable.”

“Oh?” He asked, snaking an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. “Do tell…”

“Maybe after you’ve taken me on our coffee date? You gotta explain how you got from ‘I’m Magnus’ to this.”

“Is this..is this not good?” Magnus asked worriedly, biting his lip, standing up straighter as if to put a little distance between them.

“No, no, this is good- hey, Magnus?” Julia said, looking in his eyes, putting her other hand on his cheek and stepping closer. “This is so, so good.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good...I just don’t wanna mess this up, you know?”

“You won’t- you’ve already got me, hook line and sinker.”

Magnus smiled, kissing her forehead, then the tip of her nose, and then her lips, softly, before backing up and holding out a hand for her to hold. “Coffee date, then.” Julia smiled and took his hand, squeezing it tight before leading him outside.

2 months and 2 days ago

Julia gripped the parallel bars, sweating, walking clumsily. Merle stood next to her, ready to help when needed, and Magnus stood at the end, offering encouragement.

“Come on, you’re so close, you got this love.” He said as Julia approached the end. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, trembling with effort, slowing. “No, no come on baby,” Magnus stepped closer but Merle held a hand out, signaling for him to wait.

“She can do this, hold on lovebird.”

“I-I can’t, Merle,” Julia said, looking down at her right arm, fitted with a temporary prosthetic. “It’s not strong enough.” She had decided to train one limb at a time, leg first, so her right leg was was fitted with a black, wired, titanium leg, hollowed out to look like geometric art, snaking up Julia’s right thigh, printed to match the size and shape of her other leg. She looked up at Magnus, clearly using all her strength to hold herself up.

“Merle, come on man, let me-”

“No, Magnus, hold on.”

Merle walked right up to Julia, looking up at her, seeing her welled up eyes, her still slightly scarred face, straining with effort, he pulled down his right sleeve, exposing his prosthetic. It was made to look like it was carved out of wood, with smooth, ringed patterns flowing down his arm. He held it up for her to see and then pointed at her with it.

“You’re right. It isn’t strong enough, but you are. You can do this. This,” he pointed to his own prosthetic, and then hers, “is a part of your body now, use it to your advantage. You are strong enough, Julia; you need to trust yourself- now come on.” He stepped away, waiting for her to follow. She looked to the sky, blinking away tears, and leaned forward, shifting the weight onto her prosthetic leg, stepping forward. She shook, almost falling, but managed to get to the end. Magnus walked forward quickly, and this time, Merle didn’t stop him. Julia collapsed into his arms, and he held her upright, stroking her hair.

“You did it, see? Was that so hard?” Julia laughed a little, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face into his neck, nodding. Magnus chuckled a little, kissing her hair. “It’ll get easier. And hey, now you know exactly what you need to beat in terms of prosthetic coolness.” Magnus looked over to Merle, grinning a little. Merle rolled his eyes and smiled, shaking his head.

“I think we’re done for today. When are you gonna send for a permanent arm, Jules?” She pulled away from Magnus a little, still using for him for support and shrugged. Merle sighed and stroked his beard. “It’d be better to get it sooner, rather than later if we’re being honest. You need to get used to them both. And, seeing as you’ve got almost no wait time here, as opposed to a regular hospital, it could be really quick.”

“I know, I know, but…” Julia closed her eyes and shook her head. “I just...I need time, I just need some time.” She looked back up at Magnus, and then away, who realized she wasn’t just talking about recovering physically- she was talking about Stephen, who didn’t make it. They realized he just wasn’t going to wake up, that the machine was just keeping his heart pumping for him, and pulled the plug. During his funeral, about the entire B.O.B. came, and just about all the seasoned agents, including Merle, talked about him. They laughed, they cried, and Julia, who sat in a wheelchair for the funeral, not having recovered physically or mentally enough to start her prosthetics, didn’t speak the entire week.

Merle, having just connected the dots, sighed. He walked to Julia, put a hand on her shoulder, and said, “I miss him too kiddo. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“1 pm sharp.”

“Yeah. And, Magnus.” Merle said, turning to him, “I think we’ve got a mission coming up, I talked to Cretia, she said shes found something we gotta look at.”

“When? I gotta…” Magnus looked at Julia, who rolled her eyes at him.

“I don’t need protecting, Magnus.”

“No, I know that, but, uh,”

“Alright, Merle, could I talk to my husband for a second?” Julia said, starring daggers at Magnus who, actually, felt good about it. If Julia could get mad at him, she was...making progress. Not just sad, but mad, he reasoned, is progress. Merle took the hint and skedaddled out of there, and Julia just sighed.

“Magnus, hon, I am so, so grateful for you, you know that, right?”

“Mhm, I am aware.”

“I just...I’m gonna be okay if you go out and do your job, you know? It’s just for a little, and I’ll probably stay in and chill, maybe call some people over to visit.”

“Yeah, but,” he grimaced a little and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I just wanna make sure you’re okay, you know?”

“Magnus…” She said softly, shaking her head. “There are more than enough people making sure I’m okay right now- I just want you to be you, please? Don’t treat me different because,” She looked down at her leg, sighing, “because of this. I want the Magnus that thinks going to the store is a grand adventure, not the one that treats me like a fragile thing. I’m not fragile, and I don’t need...you know?”

“Yeah. Yeah, no, I get it.” He said, nodding. “I just gotta be there for you, but I can do that while...being me, but I gotta say, this is hard, you know? I know its infinitely harder for you, just, watching you try to walk, I just feel like I should be there more. I just need to do more.”

“Magnus.” She put her hand on his cheek, her left hand, her gold wedding band glinting in the light, and he nuzzled into it, sighing and closing his eyes. “You staying by my side? That’s all I need. Something to come home to.” He opened his eyes, searching her eyes for the recognition that was there, she knew she was channeling her dad, and she smiled sadly. Magnus leaned down slightly and kissed her, softly and sweetly. Julia stood on her tiptoes, instinctively, barely aware that her prosthetic was as well, to meet Magnus’s lips. He pulled back and nodded.

“Then that’s what I’ll do, love. I’m gonna stay right here, with you.” He grabbed her hand on his face and kissed it, and then grabbed her right hand, putting his arm on her waist to keep supporting her, and kissed her prosthetic as well. She sighed with happiness and kissed his forehead.

“Come on, let’s go home…” She said as Magnus helped her walk to the wheelchair she used for long distances, for now. Magnus helped her wheel out of the room, chatting idly as a shadowy figure nearby looked on.

Today

Julia walked, slightly unsteadily, to the door. She cracked it open, and then smiling wide, opened it fully, revealing one slightly timid Angus McDonald.

“Hello, ma’am! It’s nice to see you up and about!”

“Aw, thanks, Angus- it’s nice to be up and about, but you know you can call me Julia, yeah?”

“Yes, I know ma’am.” Angus grinned up at her as she laughed, shaking her head.

“Well, come on in, kiddo.” She said, gesturing for him to come in with her right arm, specifically, which looked like her leg- black titanium, geometrically arranged but, the fingers and wrist were jointed, allowing free movement. Angus was, understandably, amazed; they talked about the specific mechanics of it as Angus walked inside, (the doctors and scientists of the Bureau of Benevolence had been working on neurally controlled prosthetics that worked the same way actual limbs did- nerves sending messages to muscles to contract and move, but instead of going to the muscles, it travels down wires to wherever it should have gone if the limb was still there. This lets the user control their new arm as if it was still flesh, and the Bureau scientists were looking for someone to test it on when the accident happened), sitting at a dining table, directed by Julia, as Magnus came out of the kitchen, holding a platter of grilled cheese sandwiches in one hand and a pitcher of lemonade in another.

Angus looked surprised as Magnus put these down on the table and went back to the kitchen. “Did...were you expecting someone?”

“Oh hon, there’s either always someone at the house or someone to give food to,” Julia said as Magnus put plates and glasses down, kissing Julia’s hair as he passed by. “we kinda just make food to prepare for both now.”

“Mmm, nothing to do with the fact that you said, and I quote, ‘I want nothing but a shitload of grilled cheese and lemonade for lunch’ huh?” Magnus asked, chuckling as Julia gasped and pushed him playfully.

“Magnus, there’s a child!”

“To be fair to Magnus, ma’am, I am 15, and I train with Taako too, he has more of a sailor’s mouth than Mr. Keene and he was an actual sailor.”

“I’ll talk to him about that…” Julia muttered, grabbing a sandwich, scowling.

“Wait, why do you call Argo ‘Mr.Keene’ but me Magnus?”

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with Mr.Keene, and I have spent a lot of time with you.”

Julia chuckled at her husband’s offended expression, sipped her lemonade and smiled at Angus, who smiled back, though his grin faded into a more serious expression in a moment. He seemed to be considering something for a few moments, before looking up at Magnus grimly.

“Sir, do you remember what we talked about the other day- at Taako’s apartment?” He, of course, was referring to last weeks incident- essentially, Kravtiz Ajal, Taako’s boyfriend, had gotten stabbed based off of some bad information, and had barely gotten out with his life, but Angus had suggested the traitor might have come from closer to home since this was the second time in months that a worker of the B.O.B. had gotten hurt, or killed, based off of some bad information. Magnus nodded, grimacing down at his plate. Julia put a hand on his shoulder and turned to Angus, confused.

“What’s happened, Angus?”

“Well, after Kravtiz got hurt, I got to thinking- this isn’t the first bad incident that the Bureau has had, clearly, but it was the second time in a few months that someone had gotten severely hurt off of bad information, is that correct?”

Julia sighed, nodding. “The tip we got was on the inside, it seemed solid, but…” She trailed off and now Magnus took her hand, squeezing it slightly.

“I know you must have heard this a lot, ma-” Angus sighed, looking up at her. “Julia. But I am very, very sorry for your loss. And I’d like to help you get to the bottom of this.” Julia looked up curiously at him. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that these incidents happened so close to each other. Someone has an agenda- I don’t know what, but something is going on.”

“Well, what do you think, Ango?” Magnus asked, sitting back. “I’m sure you’ve got some ideas.”

“I do…” Angus said, looking directly at Julia. “I think its time we questioned your partner, Kalen.”

To Be Continued

First Chapter (you are here) | Previous Chapter (N/A) | Next Chapter

10 notes · View notes

allsortsofgeekery · 5 years

Text

One of Us is Lying: Chapter 4

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Synopsis: Five students walk into detention, but only four walk out. These four are all main suspects in Remy Kallagher’s murder, but who really killed him—Logan, the valedictorian and student council president, Roman, the all-star athlete, Patton, the adorable homecoming prince, or Virgil, the infamous school drug dealer?

Word Count: 1,707

Trigger Warnings: death mentions, murder mentions, ransom note (kinda?), anonymous confession to murder, police mention, cursing, let me know if I’ve missed anything!

Pairings: eventual Analogical, toxic Moceit

Author’s note: Hi, all! I’m back! I’m going to try my best to make updates more frequent, now, since it’s summer vacation! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Logan

7:30 PM

Tuesday, September 25

Logan sat at his desk, tapping a pen against a blank physics handout and trying to find the motivation in himself to write anything at all. Usually, he had no trouble focusing on homework; in fact, he actually enjoyed it sometimes, a welcome stimulant to distract his brain from the extraneous stress of high school.

Evidently, witnessing a death and then being accused of murder all within twenty four hours proved to be too large of a distraction for even homework to take care of.

Grunting in frustration, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, deciding instead to check his email for the umpteenth time that day.

He clears out his inbox fairly regularly, so there was only one email in there, one from last night that was sent at 6:15 from Principal Lynch. Logan scrolled through it, even though he had already read it at least fifty times by now.

Dear students and families...a junior, Remy Kallagher...more updates to come soon...talk to your student and see if they are okay...we are truly saddened by this terrible news.

He huffed and put his phone down, trying once again to concentrate on his homework.

He liked physics. He liked physics better than biology, and he certainly liked it better than chemistry.

Ugh. Chemistry. Even thinking of that class made Logan’s stomach twist in both hatred and guilt. He was in AP Chem last year, and it was the most difficult class he had ever been in. Usually, Logan enjoyed a good challenge, relished it, even, but Chemistry was more than a mere challenge--it was nearly impossible.

For the first time, Logan’s usual meticulous studying habits had failed him; no matter how hard he worked, and no matter how much extra credit he did, he couldn’t seem to break out of a C-average. The 73% was an ugly mark on his perfect student record; he watched the low C on every report card drag down his GPA. He could practically feel Harvard slipping out of his grasp--Harvard, the college that Logan had been working restlessly since he was little to get into. Harvard, the school that Logan’s family had been going to for generations.

Harvard, the school that simply does not accept students with C’s in Chemistry.

However, Logan was never one to give up, so he studied even harder and stayed up even later doing his homework. As a result, to Logan’s dismay, his other grades began to slip, too.

Utterly defeated, Logan was just about to ask his guidance counselor to switch him into the non-AP course, when an opportunity presented itself, and Logan took it. He ended up finishing the year in Chemistry with a 96% average.

He still isn’t proud of what it took to get his grade up, but he doesn’t regret it. As long as nobody ever finds out, his dream of attending Harvard is still very much in his reach.

Shaking his head, as if he could clear away the unpleasant memories like an Etch-a-Sketch, Logan picked up his phone yet again. He debated texting Virgil; sure, they weren’t exactly friends, but he was closer with him than he was with either Roman or Patton, and they were the only three people who could understand his situation.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed in his hand, his Sherlock theme song ringtone blaring. It was Virgil--apparently, he had beaten Logan to the punch.

“Logan Sanders,” Logan answered.

“Hey,” Virgil said. Logan could hear the panic in his voice even from the single syllable. His stomach turned. “Have you checked Tumblr?”

“Er--no,” Logan began, brow furrowing in confusion. “I do not have a Tumblr account. Why?”

“Oh, shit...uh, okay, I don’t--I don’t really want to be the one to tell you, but...somebody made an anonymous post confessing to murdering Remy.”

Logan was stunned into silence for a moment, before the implications of this new development sank in. “Can you read it to me?”

“Yeah, lemme just--pull it up...okay,” Virgil said on the other end. He began to read out loud:

“‘Killing Remy was my little favor to the rest of the school.

You’re welcome.

I mean, everybody hated him. Nobody wanted to have their lives ruined by being on “Spill the Tea”, right?

Now, nobody has to worry about any of that anymore.

I’ve been planning this for a while.

And after weeks of watching Remy’s every move, I could finally see my efforts pay off.’”

After Virgil had finished reading, they both stood in a weighted silence. Hundreds of thoughts fired at Logan all at once, but one stood out above all of them: “I could finally see my efforts pay off.” This implies that the killer, whoever they may be, watched Remy die. That, he realized with a sense of growing anxiety, further implicates himself, Patton, Roman, and Virgil. His stomach churned at the realization.

“I know,” Virgil said, breaking the silence in an unsteady voice. “Pretty fucked, right?”

Logan nodded before remembering that Virgil couldn’t see him. “Yes…” he began. There was another moment-long pause. Then Virgil spoke again.

“So,” he said, clearly struggling to make his voice sound casual, “which one of them do you think did it?” It took Logan a moment to process the question, but then it hit him with a pang.

“So—so you believe it, then?” He managed to sputter out. “You think that somebody in our—our detention—“ he spat the word out as if it were poison— “killed Remy?”

“Well...yeah,” Virgil said. “I mean, either that, or we’re being framed, and I don’t know what any of us could have done to piss anybody off that badly.”

“So you are more inclined to believe that one of us is more likely to have committed cold-blooded murder than to believe that we are simply being framed?”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

“Wait, Virgil,” Logan started, gears in his head turning. “You—you do not believe that—that I killed Remy...do you?”

There was a long, tense silence that seemed to stretch out for hours.

“Nah,” Virgil decided at last. “I mean, sure, you’re probably smart enough to pull it off, but I mean, I’ve known you since we were kids, and, I dunno, I just can’t imagine you doing anything like that. I mean, I don’t know if you had some kind of beef with Remy or whatever, but—“

“I assure you, there was no...beef...between Remy and I,” Logan cut in. “Of course, I did not...care for him, much, but I would never do something to that extent. Obviously.”

“Yeah, I figured.” Another pause. Then: “You don’t think I did it, right?”

“No,” Logan answered immediately. “To reiterate what you have already stated, I have known you since childhood, and nothing that I know about you leads me to believe that you would do anything of the sort.”

He could practically hear Virgil relax on the other end of the line. “Okay...cool,” he said, and Logan could sense the difference in his tone. “So then...who do you think did it? Roman or...or...the other kid?”

“Patton,” Logan corrected, exasperated. “You really should know his name. And I do not know very much about either of them, and nothing that I do know about them entices me to suspect either above the other. If you ask me, this whole...Tumblr post is an elaborate prank. A terrible one, but a prank nonetheless. As you have previously stated, none of us, to our knowledge, have done anything to upset anybody enough to frame us, correct?”

“Well...yeah, I guess. But the police are still gonna have to look into it, yeah?”

“Certainly. But, with no further evidence other than that Tumblr post, none of us can be implicated, correct?” Logan was reassuring himself just as much as Virgil at this point; perhaps if he said it enough, it would become true.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, there’s no way Remy’s death was an accident, right?”

“That is true. Again, I do not know enough about Patton or Roman to suspect either of them more than the other, but they do not seem like the murdering type. But I also do not know if either of them may or may not have had a motive. Or,” he continued, “maybe one of them had gotten somebody angry enough to frame them, and inadvertently dragged us down with them.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said, still sounding generally unconvinced. “Okay. You’re probably right. I mean, maybe one of them got worried enough about winding up on “Spill the Tea” or something? They looked pretty weird when the police officer asked us that this morning...but, I mean, you did, too, and I dunno if you’re hiding anything, but…” he grunted in frustration. Logan could feel his face growing hot again. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like...you know what I’m trying to say. Everybody in school’s been worried about ending up on it at some point, right? I wonder if either of them did anything bad enough that they really didn’t want people to know...but that still doesn’t explain the Tumblr post—“

“Indeed,” Logan said quickly, face burning and suddenly eager to end the conversation. “My apologies, Virgil, but I need to go—I have to...er...finish my homework.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Virgil said. “See you tomorrow, I guess?”

“Indeed. Goodnight, Virgil.”

“‘Night, Logan.” He hung up.

Logan tossed his phone onto his bed, and noticed that his right hand was clenched in a fist, nails biting into tender skin. He released the fist and flexed his fingers a few times, trying to will his heart rate to go back to normal. Virgil’s words from earlier that day came to him.

“Everybody has secrets.”

Virgil had been right. But, Logan assured himself, there was absolutely no way that anybody could have found him out, right? Yes, the more he thought about it, the more outlandish it seemed—there’s no possible way that Remy could have known.

Feeling significantly calmer, Logan turned and stared down at his still-blank physics worksheet, convincing himself that there was no need to panic.

Taglist: @fandersunite @unring-this-bell @sparkletastic-cookiedough @mijako98 @coconut-cluster @cinnamonlilac @i-like-cookiesz @noremacdranoel-blog @theresneverenoughfandoms @jughead-is-canonically-aroace @lovelylogans @unipugsat221b @tinysidestrashcaptain @awkwardturtlez @i-have-n0-idea-what-im-d0ing @band-be-boss-blog @theunoriginaldaisy @doodlerodoodlez @nextheirofslytherin @redhoneysugarorange @unnipanda623 @under-the-blue-moonlight @himrachel @hufflepuffgirl01 @casisnotalass @probablysomeproblems @kameraishere @ijustrealizedhowdumbmynamewas @a-valorous-choice @the-parentheticals @punsterterry @levy-the-b00kw0rm @kingwillow @depressed--and--underdressed @wigsnatchedhoteltrivago

27 notes · View notes

merryfortune · 5 years

Note

001. Precure in general. 002: HikaLala. 003: Himari Arisugawa? (not all of them, just what you would like to answer, if any at all)

PreCure in general

Favorite character: Emiru Aisaki

Least Favorite character: this is… highkey unfair and for no good reason but that Towa girl. I’m like 2 episodes away from the violinist princess getting redeemed in Go Princess PreCure but I stan Yui so hard that in my eyes, Towa is the reason that Yui isn’t able to become the Princess of Music & Art

5 Favourite ships (canon or non-canon): Emiru/Lulu, Haruka/Kirara, Hikaru/Lala, Nozomi/Coco, Haruka/Close but there are more but these ones with the most interesting story or dynamic

Character I find most attractive: don’t at @ me but I think Close (and Shut) are both gorgeous as all hell (I like thots apparently)

Character I would marry:

Character I would be best friends with: Emiru!!!!!!!!!!

A random thought: where is all the fic ;w;

An unpopular opinion: I really liked how the Homare has a crush on Harry plot was handled. Maybe it’s because I remember/was in Homare’s position once (16/17 year old me was hot for teacher lol), I really liked how she found closure for herself without having to confess her feelings. I dislike how vehemently fandom will deny that this plotline even took place because I think young girls, who will develop crushes on unattainable/older men, need to be shown stories of how to handle those feelings without placing themselves in danger of being preyed on.

My canon OTP: Akira/Yukari (look, if the dub had to ungay them, that must make them canon)

Non-canon OTP: gonna give this to Ichika/Himari because I shipped them before Emiru was introduced I’m p sure so they get seniority privileges

Most badass character:

Pairing I am not a fan of: tbh I think I can give most precure ships a chance but I did see some Smile PreCure ships where I’m ehhh on. I only like Nao/Reika from that set. all the others should stick to being friends.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I think this goes without saying but Hana. Saaya, and Homare got super screwed over by Hugtto having a lot of Emiru/Lulu subplots. Also, Yui. She should have gone PreCure.

Favourite friendship: I mostly read said friendship as romantic but Emiru and Lulu……… they’re best friends oh my god

HikaLala

when or if I started shipping it: hmmmm middle of episode 1; definitely cemented by the end of episode 2 lol

my thoughts: I wrote a meta on them so I have a lot which mostly boils down to a lot of great symbolism between them gives them subtextual evidences, they hold hands a lot canonically so that’s cute, and it’s just a great ship

What makes me happy about them: Hikaru gets an alien girlfriend aND ITS FANTASTIC

What makes me sad about them: the Hikoboshi and Orihime parallels between them heavily implies that sometime in the future, they will separate and they will only have miniscules chances of continually/regularly seeing each other thereafter ;v;

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: me, who owns a lot of property in the hikalala fanfic tag on ao3, jack and shit, babe!

Things I look for in fanfic: anything which accentuates Lala’s alien-ness

My kinks: look… Lala can generate electricity…. that gives a lot of stimulation play scenarios but mostly… nah

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I like these ships a lot - Hikaru/Yuni, Lala/Yuni, and Lala/Madoka

My happily ever after for them: they go off traipsing the universe, exploring. Hikaru takes after her father and writes a book on her travels whilst Lala uses the information to update the Saman Planet AI because I’d love to see a plot twist where the AI isn’t quite as benevolent as Lala trusts it is so she takes it upon herself to remedy it (using the Rainbow Planet Tragedy as a catalyst for said goal or as foreshadowing towards it)

Himari Arisugawa

How I feel about this character: I was expecting to fall totally head over heels in love with either Aoi or Yukari since their animal motifs are both feline and I’m a major cat person but instead, Himari managed to steal my heart before either of them got the chance. I super relate to her and see a lot of myself and some of my struggles (particularly in social situations) in her. so yeah. I love my squirrel daughter.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Ichika

My non-romantic OTP for this character: no one in canon springs to mind… which brings to mind something else… so this is out of the left-field but I had a dream once where Spectre met all the KiraKira PreCure A La Mode girls but it was Himari whom he bonded the most with in said dream (kind of “I’ve only had Himari for five minutes but if anything happened to her, I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself” type situation or maybe its more comparable to the reaction image of the samurai dude (spectre) with the cat (himari)). anyway long story short, her and spectre because if one favourite character makes me happy then two makes me even happier.

My unpopular opinion about this character: she is the best girl of KiraKira PreCure A La Mode.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: can’t remember if this happens or not but I swear KiraKira forgot at some point that the girls gained animal characteristics (so, in Himari’s case, her superspeed) so I would have liked to see that explored more. also in a kind of Tokyo Mew Mew twist, I would have liked to see Himari (and by extension, all the girls) deal with their new animal natures in their civilian forms too… like, this might be too lore heavy for PreCure but I would have liked to see Himari (and I guess this applies to all the girls) deal with becoming “part fairy” (just like Pekorin and Ciel had to deal with becoming part human). TLDR: more Squirrel characteristics from Himari, please!!! because I am a furry!!!!

My OTP: Ichika/Himari

My OT3: i don’t have any but if I was at gunpoint, the options I suppose I could live with are Rio/Ichika/Himari (gee, Ichika, who let you have a girlfriend AND a boyfriend) or Aoi/Himari/Ichika because apparently Aoi/Himari is a semi-popular ship???

#fandom/character/ship ask meme #doing this was fun!!#enjoy my precure opinions #a-fool-without-a-clue #edit: accidentally skipped a few questions here and there #i'm not bothered enough to add my replies in bc idk man

6 notes · View notes

danishprince · 5 years

Text

redid this 92 questions meme from 4 years ago for Fun and Profit because i like seeing how much i’ve changed over the years. not tagging anyone, but if you want to answer the questions, go wild

what was your…

last beverage? woter

last phone call? a confidential call to a research lab at my university because they’re studying alcohol use in young adults and wanted to know if i fit the criteria to be in the study (i do, so i get money for it fuck yeah)

last text message? i told my dad that our neighbors got two of their trees cut down and his response was “Wwwow”

last song listened to? currently listening to “evening prayer aka justice” by ezra furman!

last time you cried? maybe like saturday or sunday? not really sure

have you ever…

dated someone twice? nah

been cheated on? don’t believe so

kissed someone and regretted it? eh i’ve had a few kisses that i look back and kinda cringe at because we were really drunk or i was Not Into Them or whatever, but actually, truly regret? no.

lost someone special? it’s been awhile since anyone close to me died. my maternal grandma (and step-grandpa) are getting pretty old/less healthy though so i’m like starting to already feel weird snatches of anticipatory grief for that which :/

been depressed? i’d say so yeah, on occasion

been drunk and vomited? fun story i briefly thought i was allergic to alcohol freshman year because i’d throw up every time i drank. TURNS OUT however i just was a dumbass who didn’t know how to hold their liquor

list three favourite colors: hot pink, teal, black

in the last year, have you…

made a new friend? yes indeed

fallen out of love? cannot say that i have

laughed so hard there were tears? oh constantly. though i do that regularly because of the dumbest shit, so that’s not, like, an anomaly

met someone who changed you? YES the professor of my psych lab whom i ADORE

found out who your true friends are? yeah, or at least i feel way more comfortable and grounded in my friendships than i did. which is cool!

found out someone was talking about you? i overheard my coworker at our (drama-filled, my god) orientation leader job bitching about some other coworkers, but then what she said about me was “yeah katie’s pretty cool” so i was like :) :) neat

kissed anyone on your facebook “friend list”? hell yeah babey

general questions.

how many of your facebook friends do you know in person? the vast majority. there’s a few Spelling Bee Kids who’ve just added me for Spelling Bee Clout that i don’t know irl, but otherwise i don’t really add people i don’t know

how many siblings do you have? 1 (one) 16-year-old bröther

do you have any pets? 1 (one) very old round guinea pig named hamlet

do you want to change your name? eh not really. i’m not, like, obsessed with it, but it’s a decent name and i have no urge to change it

what did you do for your last birthday? i turned 21, but it was a monday, so i went to a restaurant with three of my friends and ordered 1 (one) Alcoholic Beverage. then later that week i went to a coffee bar that serves alcohol later at night with some of my other friends and had more Alcoholic Beverages there

when did you wake up today? 9:30ish

what were you doing at midnight last night? being asleep lmao

something you cannot wait for: going to arizona and later going back to kentucky for senior year of college (holy fuck)

when did you last see your mother? like 15 minutes ago, she’s doing laundry or something

what is one thing you wish you could change about your life? where 2 begin. uhh i wish i was more naturally outgoing instead of having to consciously turn on my Extrovert Persona in certain scenarios and end up getting super drained from it. i also wish i knew what the fuck i was doing with my life but i think that’s just, like, The Eternal Twenty-Something Mood (at least i hope it is dear god)

what are you listening to right now? the song “rodeo” by lil nas x, which PERSONALLY said gay rights

have you ever talked to a person named tom? yes multiple, and every tom(my) i have hated (sorry if you’re a tom and you’re a decent human bean)

what’s getting on your nerves right now? i have to do a bunch of important life and school stuff but i am procrastinating it! so i guess...my brain

most visited webpages: twitter, tumblr, discord, instagram, the dear prudence advice column on slate dot com lmfao

blood type: o+ i believe, but i am too smol to donate blood so i do not know for sure :(

nicknames: some of my friends refer to me over text as k8e and i love it tbh. also katie itself is a nickname

relationship status: single but like, kind of a thot

zodiac sign: virgo sun cancer moon cancer rising

pronoun: they/them but she/her is also fine

primary school: private lutheran school

middle school: the same private lutheran school

high school: public school

college: university of kentucky for undergrad and also a concurrent grad program (long story). maybe more grad school???? somewhere else??? or not???? I Don’t Know

hair colour: honey blonde

long or short: hair? just got it cut short in january and it was the best decision i ever made

height: 5’6"

do you have a crush on someone? define “crush”

what do you like about yourself? i’m a good listener and writer and also sometimes my Funney Joaks land

do you have any tattoos? nah. i am afear’d i’d regret it

are you right- or left-handed? right-handed

first surgery: some ear procedure thing in kindergarten. if that doesn’t count i got half my wisdom teeth out the summer before college and the other half the summer after freshman year (but was technically awake for both)

first piercing: ear piercings when i turned sixteen

first best friend: uhhhhh my friend stephanie from home-preschool? or this girl named grace who was my kindergarten best friend but then moved away

first sport you joined: i believe dance classes when i was but a little peanut

first vacation: idk? we went to san diego when i was two i think? don’t remember it though

first pair of trainers/sneakers: good question. had some boss-ass light-up shoes once

right now i am…

eating: popped corn

drinking: woter

about to: hopefully write this [bernie sanders voice] damn email, but who is to say : - )

listening to: my liked songs on spotify (currently “i think i’m going to kill myself” by elton john)

interested in having children? if that’s how the proverbial cookie proverbially crumbles, yeah. that idea seems really far away even though i know high school classmates with kids.

interested in getting married? yes, but if and only if i meet the right person

ready for a career or have one? [sobbing]

which is better…?

lips or eyes? eyes generally, but lips are also Good

hugs or kisses? k i s s e s. i lov to kiss. love hugs too though if it’s with friends

shorter or taller? actually being a similar height to me is optimal!

older or younger? mmm i tend to subconsciously lean older, but younger is fine too

romantic or spontaneous? the wording seems to imply that “romantic” and “spontaneous” are opposites which just isn’t true. both??

nice stomach or nice arms? arms i guess?

sensitive or loud? my first impulse was “loud” but like....loud in that i tend to gravitate to people who are more extroverted than me, but not in terms of being overtly annoying or demanding.

hook-up or relationship? :^) judging by my History(tm) it’d be committed hook-up, lol. but like either is good. am not about sex with a stranger though.

troublemaker or hesitant? troublemaker ~vibes~ but not actually, like, a danger in any way. being hesitant can be cute, but i myself am often pretty hesitant so it can become an Awkwardness Standoff more often than not

have you ever…

kissed a stranger? no, but came damn close in greece

drunk hard liquor? oh yeah lmao

lost glasses or contacts? i’m sure i’ve lost a pair of contacts somewhere in there

had sex on the first date? depends on your definition of “sex”, and also on your definition of “date” really, but also Yeah

broken someone’s heart? i hope not, but i think maybe :/

had your own heart broken? ....ish?

been arrested? nope

turned someone down? yyyyyyep

cried when someone died? not in my memory? though i might have

fallen for a friend? :^) haha oh yeah

do you believe in…

yourself? i try oh my god do i try

miracles? i think

love at first sight? nah. i think intrigue at first sight is a thing, or lust at first sight, or even just a bizarre extraterrestrial sense of Knowing, but real genuine love? nahhhh son you gotta know someone deeply for that. mortifying ordeal of being known and all that

heaven? mm yeah i’d say so

santa claus? no, and i haven’t for a hot minute there

kissing on the first date? lol yeah kiss away

angels? fuck yeah sometimes they’re circle things with 56879879677 eyes and they’re cool af

well in review i have indeed changed quite a bit from myself four years ago! in summary i am more of a thot and also drink alcohol. idk. my answers then ~seemed~ more sure of myself in terms of, like, this façade of being chill all the time, but less sure re: how i related to other people. all my angst on those questions was about school instead of general personhood. 4 years ago i also definitely /remember/ being insecure (at the time) about the fact that i’d never kissed anyone/etc., but my answers themselves don’t look that way. (sidenote being insecure about that kind of thing really isn’t worth it, everyone does life at their own pace.) whereas now i feel more open actively discussing my insecurities (see above re: future plans/etc.) instead of just boxing them down and pretending they don’t exist. as a high schooler i thought i was bad at being a person, and i feel like i’m a lot better at being authentic with myself (and ergo, being a person) now. though of course there is no right way to be a person which is something i still frequently have to remind myself.

ANYWAY yeah that was a fun waste of an hour feel free to use these questions for yrself

#tag meme #personal #92 questions #about me

4 notes · View notes

autisticblueteam · 6 years

Text

Your Friend, Connie (TexCT)

[AO3] [Ko-Fi in Bio]

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 4849

Summary: Connie’s running out of options when a mission gone wrong gives her an opportunity she never expected to have: the chance to talk to Texas, one-on-one. But complicated problems rarely have such simple solutions.

Notes: Final fic for @rvbfemslash February! An immediate heads-up: this fic is not as overtly shippy as I first intended and whilst it’s certainly intended to imply TexCT, it’s not explicit and it focuses more on the potential in their relationship. So it’s toeing the line of counting for this month, but it was written with the ship in mind.

This was ridiculous.

Connie huffed, twisting her wrists in their bindings a little more, trying to get the right angle. There was a little give now, but not enough to get her hands free without breaking a couple of bones and dislocating a couple of joints. She’d rather not do that. Easy fix with some knitting polymer back at the ship or not, it wasn’t pleasant.

She couldn’t believe this had even happened. She was better than this, she didn’t get captured by untrained goons and thrown into the back room of some shady warehouse that smelt like centuries outdated petrol and god knows what else—noxious and distracting, painfully so. Yet here she was, in exactly that situation, with her wrists tied behind her back and her armour nowhere to be seen.

This wasn’t going to help her tenuous standing at the Project. Getting captured two times in as many missions was going to catch much too much attention from command.

If only it hadn’t come so soon after her last intel drop. Sending intelligence over the Project’s own communication networks, even routed through a variety of proxies and other safety measures, was getting too risky. So, rather than take that chance, she’d arranged for her contact to ‘capture’ her on her last mission. It was simple enough; she tripped an alarm that she’d never have fallen for in an actual infiltration and let Sleeves, their muscle, grab her. Cutting off her own comms was easy and the drop went smoothly; by the time someone had made their way to retrieve her, her contact had retreated and she pretended that she’d escaped part way on her own.

Simple. They got what they needed from her, she kept herself out of the suspicions of the Project.

Whether or not that would last now, she couldn’t be sure. Things were getting… precarious.

Time was running out and she couldn’t see the countdown.

Shaking the thought away, Connie focused back on the bindings wrapped around her wrist and the situation she was in now, not the one she faced when—if—she got out of here. The warehouse was far out of the way; it had come up on the Project’s radar only after reports of them using—maybe even attempting to sell—experimental equipment had reached the UNSC.

Going by the strange way her armour had locked up, allowing them to grab her without her even throwing a single punch, those reports were true. Experimental or not, it did its job and completely shut down her armour’s systems, she hadn’t even been able to trigger her emergency beacon to call for immediate help.

Hours had passed since and she knew that, by now, they had to know she was in enemy hands. Or, more importantly, that her equipment was.

Agents were disposable, if worst came to worst. But their armour, their modifications? Never.

So she knew someone would come, eventually. For her gear, if not for her.

The two guards that stood over her changed out fairly regularly, as someone got bored or they were needed for another duty. Watching them gave away no organisation or pattern of any kind, so that was a bust. Even with her bindings almost loose enough to remove, to do so without access to a weapon or her armour, with armed guards so close by? It would be suicide.

And so it became a waiting game.

More guards came and went. No one seemed to know what they were going to do with her, not-so-subtle whispers passing between the assortment of grunts about their options—should they have killed her already? Dumped her somewhere? Tried to actually interrogate her and find out what she was here for? Something else entirely? No one knew. Capturing a UNSC-sponsored prisoner was clearly not part of their plans for the day.

At first, she didn’t notice when those whispers shifted target. She’d almost tuned them out entirely before a sudden yelp came from one of their earpieces, the high-pitched sound of someone being struck down mid-word.

The guards shared a look.

“I’ll… go check what’s going on,” one said, taking a few, reluctant steps away. His current partner, who looked somehow even less enthused about the concept of investigating than he did, just nodded.

“You do that,” he said, before turning to Connie with his rifle raised. Connie tensed her shoulders. “And don’t you try any funny business. I can still shoot quicker than you can move.”

That was almost certainly true.

Unfortunately for him, they wouldn’t have chance to find out. Moments after the words left his mouth there was a loud CRASH behind him as his buddy was slammed against the wall with inhuman force.

He jumped out of his damn skin, turned his attention away from Connie—

—who tore herself free from her bindings, planted a hand on the floor and swept his legs from under him.

A yelp, a clatter, a shimmer, the snap of bone—

He dropped to the floor dead.

Connie landed back on the floor, her heart pounding at the rush of adrenaline after hours of sitting still. Looking up at her rescuer, she exhaled; it could only be one person. “Texas.” The clean-up crew.

The shimmer in front of her solidified, smooth black armour reappearing in swathes of reality and an outstretched hand. Eyeing it for a moment, Connie took it and let herself be pulled to her feet.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were showing off with that entrance,” she said, rubbing her wrists. They’d definitely bruise. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment of blankness in Tex’s posture, before something clicked into place and she chuckled. Delayed social reaction. That checked.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. You okay?” Tex stood almost an entire foot over her. She’d be imposing, if Connie didn’t know as much about her as she did. Oddly, it made her more… human, knowing that she wasn’t. “No injuries that are gonna stop you moving?”

“No,” she shook her head, “I’m fine. They didn’t subdue me physically, it was tech that got me.” Speaking of… “Did you get my armour?”

“Not yet.”

Connie raised a brow. “I’m surprised. Shouldn’t you have been grabbing the important stuff first?”

Tex’s tilted head held the same sarcastic confusion. “Yeah, well, my orders are to prioritise your armour and the tech, but hey, I found you first, what am I supposed to do? Backtrack on myself? Nah.” Then, a shrug. “Besides, I know you’re our best intelligence agent. That seems pretty important to me.”

Stance relaxing a little and her face softening, Connie sighed.

“But hey,” Tex continued, “you don’t wanna be saved I can just leave you here, go grab the armour and swing back to you if I have time, no skin off my back.”

“Alright, point taken,” Connie said, before pausing. “…and thanks. I don’t mean to sound… ungrateful.”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve been stuck here for hours, I’d be grouchy too. You know where your armour is?” Tex said, taking a pistol off her thigh and offering it to Connie. She took it. “Fully loaded. Haven’t touched it.”

“Didn’t need to, I’m guessing.” A knife would have been preferable, but a pistol was better than nothing. “I have a rough idea. I imagine it’ll be wherever they’re keeping their other tech. They have some kind of armour locking technology, more advanced than things like the paint. It locked my entire body up with some kind of energy field.”

“Huh. That’s the kind of shit you’re out here for isn’t it?” Tex nudged the dead guard with her foot and glanced over at the other one—not dead, just unconscious and collapsed in a pile of broken crates. No threats in the room.

“Essentially. So, all going well, we’ll be able to complete the mission anyway.” Connie took a deep breath in. Being without her armour on a mission she was meant to run with armour was a new kind of vulnerability she didn’t appreciate at all. “Okay, let’s get this over with before I think too hard about the fact I’m only wearing a kevlar bodysuit.”

“Don’t worry,” Tex said, cracking her knuckles, “I won’t let anyone hit you.”

There was a kind of surety to the statement that only Tex could give off; it wasn’t just a promise, it was a statement of fact. With her track record in the field and training backing that up, Connie felt a little of the tension in her shoulders release.

“Alright, I’m holding you to that.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”

The warehouse wasn’t kitted out with alarms, but the mess in the open rooms they passed and the sound of distant voices betrayed the panic that had quickly spread once the invisible, wrecking ball of a woman had torn her way through. The halls had been vacated, besides a couple of people grabbing the injured, but alive, members of their group and dragging them away.

There was no point in fighting them if they weren’t an active threat, so they let them go. Going by the buzz of turbines above them, the second assault had provoked an evacuation.

“Think I scared most of ‘em off?” Tex said, nodding towards the ceiling.

“Most of them. I doubt they’ll want to leave behind all their tech and they certainly weren’t moving out before you turned up,” a silent infiltration with no casualties never did have the same shock factor as a true assault, “some of them will have to be near wherever they’re storing it, packing it up.”

“Okay, so where we heading? Where would you keep all your top secret, fancy tech?”

A laptop secured against the underside of her bed. A signal scrambling system built into her personal Data Pad. Her medical information used as a layer of defence over the top of a whole drive’s worth of stolen intel. Innocuous places people would never think to look, hidden in plain sight if anyone even bothered to search in the first place.

“One of the standard warehouse rooms, but the furthest one away from where they were keeping me tied up.”

Tex nodded. “Got it. Stick behind me.”

Connie was right. A few halls away they heard voices; orders to hurry up and attitude in return, interrupted by the scraping sound of crates being dragged and the sputter of an old engine. A quick peek inside and they could see them packing crates up into a very outdated van. There was a growing pile of opened and unopened crates beside it, whilst a couple of the group wrangled others into the back.

Stacked on top of one such crate was Connie’s armour.

“You think you can sneak around to your armour whilst I clean up the rest of them?” Tex said. A moment later she was nothing more than a shimmer, distorting the blank wall behind her.

“I should be able to, yeah,” Connie said, double checking the pistol. “See you at the other end.”

The shimmer shifted slightly—an arm being lifted, perhaps—and then it was gone, disappearing into the rows of shelves between them and the vehicle bay at the back.

Connie waited until she heard the first person take a punch and then she was on the move, too.

Moving quickly but quietly, finger rested close to the trigger and on high alert, she slipped down the aisle closest to the entrance. Thuds and bangs and grunts travelled through the shelving—crunching from unarmoured fists against metal and heavily armoured fists against bone, scampering feet and a crate smashing against the floor.

Connie shuddered. Thank god she’d never had reason to be on the wrong end of her strength.

She was at the end of the aisle when one unforeseen side effect of Tex’s distraction made itself known: a couple of the group had ducked behind the crates. Her path was no longer clear, but their view of her certainly was; movement in their periphery drew their attention the moment she got close enough to register they were there.

Emboldened by her lack of armour, they stood to try their luck. That was their first mistake.

They didn’t have guns, so when they ran at her Connie didn’t feel anywhere near as vulnerable as being in open hallways where someone with a weapon that could tear through her suit with ease was a threat. She didn’t even level her own pistol. Soon, they were in range, fists clumsily raised and—

Connie ducked, swept beneath them and half-knocked their legs from under them. By the time they’d steadied themselves she’d already grabbed one of their arms, twisted it up behind their back and slammed her foot into their spine, knocking them down again. As the second of them turned to face her, she bolted towards the end of the aisle. Gave herself room to move and react.

When he came at her again, she ducked, threw a punch into his gut and dodged around him. With a knife this would have been over in seconds. Instead, he came for her again, the first guy grabbed her ankle—

And then he was thrown into the shelves and their arm snapped between the ground and Tex’s foot.

That was their second mistake.

Connie exhaled. Okay.

Tex kicked the first guy in the head and knocked him out. “Told you I wouldn’t let them hit you.”

“You sure did. The others—?”

“Dealt with, get your armour on. I’ll tear open some boxes.”

As soon as the final piece of her armour clipped into place and her HUD lit up, the last of the hairs on her neck settled. Even her knives were still there and she gladly attached them back to their respective hard-points, resting her fingers against the hilt reflexively. There were no more threats, but being in the field was always easier with multiple inches of armour plating between your vital organs and everything around you.

“What did the thing they use on you look like?” Tex called, the sound slightly muffled by the walls of the van.

Connie hopped up into the back with her. Most of the crates had been pulled open by force, their contents now easily seen and examined. Most of them seemed to be weaponry, much of it completely familiar, but one or two contained more… interesting things.

“I didn’t really see, but if I had to take a guess…” Her HUD was scanning and highlighting things that gave off unique energy signatures. Slowly panning past the guns and ammo, she settled on a box of square units that were highlighted as being electromagnetic. “Those things.” Tex reached out, but Connie grabbed her arm. “I wouldn’t. I don’t know how they activated them and I wouldn’t know how to deactivate it either. Find a smaller box and I’ll take off my gloves, minimise the risk of it touching armour.”

Tex tilted her head, but she stepped away.

Connie exhaled. How one would have reacted to Tex’s body, she didn’t know. And she didn’t want to take the risk. Tex had to know eventually, but… not like that.

Taking off her gloves, she picked up a couple of the units. When Tex returned with a suitable box she set them down carefully, padding between them with packing from the original crate to keep them from touching.

“There. Alright, call for extraction.”

“Already on it.”

Turning back, Connie could have sworn she saw Tex… staring, at her? Staring may have been too strong a word, but looking at her, for sure. Maybe that wasn’t notable, but…

In the back of the Pelican, Connie spoke up. “Hey, Texas?”

Tex’s head snapped up, shattering the eerie stillness that had lingered since she sat down. She didn’t share transports often. “Uhh… yeah?”

“I know you’re busy, with briefings and training and all, but… when you have a free hour or two, do you think we could meet up and talk?” It was reckless. Riskier than anything she’d done before now. But she was more aware than ever of that invisible timer, counting down until she’d have to make a choice.

So she was making one.

Tex stalled. That split-second delay she’d noticed before lingered longer this time—ingrained protocol warring with social rules warring with personal desires warring with whatever else was on her mind.

But, eventually, it passed.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll… set some time aside. I think I have an hour between training and briefing in a couple days? About 1300,” Tex said, shifting a little in her seat. Nerves?

“I can make time. Do you know where the observatory deck is?” Quiet, mostly private. Especially during the day.

“Yeah, I know where it is. Guess uhh… guess I’ll see you then.”

Connie offered a smile. “See you then.”

Tex may have tried to smile back, but it was hard to tell behind that helmet she’d never seen her remove. Regardless, the silence felt a little more companionable after that.

A human connection, first and foremost, that was what Connie wanted to offer. Break the isolation that Tex had been experiencing since she came into existence. Maybe, just maybe, if she was able to get past that… maybe she could tell her. Maybe she could do something without having to leave.

It wasn’t a sure thing.

Still, Tex deserved to have a friendly face to turn to. Her unusual circumstances had dictated her isolation and no one had made the effort to change that, not even Connie herself. Tex was owed that much, surely.

Upon their return, everything went as Connie had expected. Without even so much as a ten minute diversion to check her physical condition, Connie was dragged into a dressing-down disguised as a debriefing. She stood there and took it, zoning out and saying ‘yessir’ and ‘it won’t happen again sir’ in all the right places to placate his anger at her incompetence. It didn’t matter, anyway; that board hadn’t changed since the AI started going out, she wasn’t being demoted to Beta Squad now. Even if she was, it would hardly change anything.

It ended, she left, she passed out in bed with only a wave at South.

Tex was nowhere to be seen for the next two days, but that was expected too. It was a miracle she’d even found one hour of free time to promise. So Connie went about her business as normal, continued her work, kept up appearances.

But when that hour came, Tex wasn’t there.

The observatory deck was dark and empty, so silent that the hum of the engines was no longer just background noise. Connie waited there for three hours, just in case—it didn’t make a difference, Tex didn’t come.

Maybe she should have expected that, as well.

After that mission, everything at the Project seemed to move faster than ever and Tex was somehow more absent than she’d ever been before. No one saw her for days, then a few weeks. Never caught so much as a glimpse. AI production showed no signs of stopping and Connie found herself backed further and further into a corner. Every new piece of intel she stole upped her chances of getting caught and the pressure from Jarrett to leave was piling by the day. Tex had been one of her only other avenues of action and that had clearly closed.

Connie was racing that invisible countdown and she couldn’t keep up.

Eventually, she knew something would have to give. Opportunities to drop her intel discretely had faded. Her next chance involved ignoring direct orders, abandoning a mission and risking exposure. Or, perhaps worse, having to leave before she was really ready to make that decision.

So the night before, she found herself back on the observatory deck, amidst the eerie silence of space that made her lungs feel compressed and her mind run in circles about the what ifs of the void in front of her. Unpredictable and infinite. Absolutely terrifying.

And then a voice broke the silence. “Room for another?”

“I’m certainly not going to stop you.”

Texas emerged from the darkness, her pale face and light hair a stark contrast to it and her black clothes. It was the first time Connie had seen her face outside of the files that recorded every detail of her existence, from the exact shade of her hair to the beauty marks that, if pressed right, would open her power cell compartment.

She knew more about Tex than Tex may ever know about herself and it felt as wrong as it was.

The AI who knew nothing of what she was sat beside her, leaned back upon her palms and stretched her legs out in front of her. Stared out at the abyss in front of them, all of the distant stars that only Maine seemed to know the names of, and said nothing more.

Connie glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, watched her. The slightly too even rise and fall of her shoulders, the unnatural stillness of her position—all the little things. Maybe if she’d been around them more, she would have adapted her patterns to match, began to act more human. Then again, what did it matter? She thought she was human, she acted human in all of the most obvious ways.

Shattering that illusion required more trust than Tex had been given time to place in her. She couldn’t do it now.

Quiet ruled the room for almost ten minutes before Tex spoke again.

“Sorry I stood you up. Shit got kinda busy after we got back, I didn’t have the time.”

“It’s fine. You’re a busy woman.”

Another pause. Connie picked at the scar across her palm and took a deep breath in.

“You ever have to make an impossible choice, Tex? One that could either fix or ruin everything all at once?”

Tex hesitated, but this time it felt more… real, not like a software delay. “Not really. Things have always been… pretty straightforward, for me, I guess. I do my job, do it well… don’t have to make the hard decisions, just gotta follow orders when I get ‘em.”

“Hopefully it stays that way,” Connie sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Another beat. “You on the mission tomorrow?”

“Technically, that’s classified, but… nah, not tomorrow. Got me hanging back on the ship, ready to go if things get dire, but,” she shrugged, “pretty sure you guys can handle this one.”

Connie rested her head against her knee, turned to face her. “Even me? The one who’s been captured twice?”

“Hey, from what I heard, the first time you got out on your own. Second time, you only got caught because they had some weird tech. I think you’ll be fine,” Tex said. Nudging Connie with her elbow, she offered the first and last smile Connie would ever see her give.

“…thanks.”

“Next time I get a break, I’ll try and let you know. See if we can find time to really have that talk you wanted to have. Seems like something heavy, if that dramatic question was anything to go by. Like, seriously; that was a hell of a welcome.”

Connie muffled a quiet laugh, shaking her head. “Sorry. I suppose I have a lot on my mind right now. Hence the staring out into space thing.”

“Literally,” there was a note of amusement in her voice, in her eyes. Connie smiled and nodded.

“Literally.”

“I’d ask what choice you gotta make, but that might be a bit personal for a first meet-up.”

“Ask me next time you see me,” Connie said, “I’ll have made the choice by then, it won’t matter so much.”

“Can I hold you to that?”

“Yeah. You can.”

“Well alright then, I gotta get going so…” Tex hopped up to her feet, stretched her arms above her head. Even out of armour, she was built like a brick wall. “Guess I’ll have to ask you next time. See you around, CT. And good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Tex. I’ll see you around. Hopefully we have more time next time.”

Tex gave her a mock salute and vanished back into the darkness of the connecting hall, gone as quickly as she’d come. Connie was alone again and as midnight hit, her countdown was no longer invisible. The mission clock projected itself on the glass in front of her.

Eleven hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-six seconds, fifty-five seconds, fifty-four…

One way or another, she was going to have to make her choice.

Pushing herself from the ground, she marched through the halls until she reached the locker room. Empty, this late at night, with camera blind-spots that were easily exploited. Finding one, she set her helmet up on a bench and sat against the lockers behind it.

Taking a deep breath, she set it to record.

“Agent Texas. Allison. If you’re reading this, then that means I escaped. Or, well, at the very least, I’m probably not around anymore…”

It took a few takes. The words flowed by with ease, but her voice was unsteady and her tone was off and her heart pounded so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t even hear herself. Recording this was admitting something, something she didn’t want to face. Not yet, not until that countdown was over and things would change irreversibly.

Maybe she hadn’t been able to tell anyone whilst she was here, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try even when she was gone. Texas was still her best bet, the one at the centre of all of this.

Things could have gone differently, in another world. Where she’d spoken up sooner, where she’d made the effort to reach out and give her that human connection before it was too late for it to make a damn difference. Where maybe they’d have had the chance to know each other, before Connie had to shatter Tex’s concept of her own existence.

Where the sentiment behind, “…your friend, Connie,” could truly have been realised.

But this wasn’t that world.

Choices had already been made.

Within a couple of months, branded a traitor and a liar and risk to UNSC security for the second time in her life, Connie was dead.

Bled out, alone in an escape pod. As alone in death as she’d been in her final months in the Project and in all of her efforts to make a difference.

And, eventually, Texas would open her locker. Find a set of dog-tags that didn’t belong to her. See that name.

Watch the video.

“I want to leave behind all the data I've been collecting about Project Freelancer. I never could shake the feeling that something was wrong with the program. The secrets, the lies, the manipulation; smoke, all of it, obscuring a big damn fire.”

Everything clicked into place. Everything Connie had said, the strange way she’d looked at her, the way she had tried to reach out… the reason she’d left, the reason she’d provoked her, the reason the Director gave no order to preserve life.

“I did some digging, and now I know what the Director's been hiding. What he did.”

The reason something had felt off for months now.

“He broke the law, Allison. The one law they don't just slap you on the wrist for. I'm taking the originals with me as an insurance policy. I leave this copy for you not because you are the best soldier in the squad…”

Constant training and meetings. Carolina’s increasingly bitter attitude towards her. The AI. How she never had even a spare moment to interact with the team. The fact that Connie had to have been the only person she’d ever shown her face to.

“…but because I know that I can trust you the most.”

Before she killed her.

“After reading these files you will understand why.”

There was a long list of things that Texas would regret in the years to come. At the top was what happened in that bunker. What she’d done.

In another world, things would have gone differently. Connie’s attempt to reach out wouldn’t have failed. They’d have had the chance to talk, to know each other beyond the surface level banter and offerings of friendship that had at least proven the concept—that they would be a good team, that they could be good friends or even something more.

Maybe, even if she’d still been forced to leave, Tex would have realised something was up and found the message sooner. Soon enough to matter.

In another world, things wouldn’t have been perfect, but they would have been better. The things that could have been lingered in the back of Tex’s mind.

But this wasn’t that world. In this world, they’d both been just a little too late.

Tex rested her hand over the image and made a promise.

If nothing else, she’d finish what she started.

“Good luck. Your friend, Connie.”

#texct #rvb femslash february #agent connecticut #agent texas #rvb #red vs blue #rvb fic #my fanfiction #autistic fics by me

8 notes · View notes

skautism · 6 years

Text

Where Is Your Boy Tonight?

Pairing(s): Race/Davey, Slightly implied one-sided Albert/Race

Warnings: there’s one mention of depression

Word Count: 617

Summary: They forgive each other in the end.

Author Notes: Remember Boycott Love, Detox Just To Retox? This is part two. They needed the closure i didn’t get. Casually named after Fall Out Boy music again.

It had been almost a month. A month and Race seemed actually fine. Albert decided he didn’t need to message him every hour or so any more to make sure he wasn’t spiraling into a depressive state. They were playing Mario Kart and trying to stop the other from winning by bumping into each other’s shoulders regularly. Race’s phone pinged with a new message. He paused the game.

Don’t Answer (Davey): Can we meet at the coffee shop or something? I just want to talk

Albert rolled his eyes. “Oh, fuck no!” Race exclaimed, tossing his phone aside and unpausing the game. They kept playing. Race’s phone pinged again. He ignored it, but it pinged again. “He’s not gonna leave me alone, is he?” Race asked sarcastically, pausing the game yet again. “Nah, I don’t think he is. Just answer it.” Albert said, setting down his remote.

Don’t Answer (Davey): Race?

Don’t Answer (Davey): Please?

Race: Fine.

Race threw on his coat and shoes and headed out the door. Albert waved and got out his phone. Both of them looked worried. “Tell me how it went?” Albert called after Race. “Duh, you’re my best friend!” Race replied, smiling slightly. Albert seemed to look a bit more worried at ‘best friend’, but Race brushed it off. He headed to the coffee shop a few blocks away.

Davey glanced up from his tea as Race walked into the coffee shop. Race ordered a hot chocolate, then sighed, sitting across from Davey. “Hey…” “Hey,” Race replied, looking down at the table. There was a terrible silence while neither of the two said anything. Race got his drink and sat back down. “So why did you want me to come over?” He asked, sipping. Davey hesitated, looking away for a moment. “I just- I wanted to say I’m sorry…” He said. He didn’t know why this was so hard. He was smart. But he wasn’t the best with people. That’s what had balanced him and Race out. Both were smart but in different ways. “I was really stupid, and it’s ok if you don’t forgive me, I’ll… I’ll understand.” Davey’s voice started shaking at the end. Race thought, staring at his cup like it had done something to his cat. He sighed. “I don’t know if I can trust you after that! I’d get it if you were drunk, or if Jack had kissed you while he was drunk, but… You just decided to kiss him for no fucking reason.” Davey swallowed and fought tears. “Ok, I’ll go-” He started, and was almost out of his seat, but he was cut off. “Wait- I- Ugh. Even after all that shit that happened, I still… I can’t let go of you. It’s been killing me,” Race spilled out. Davey sat back down, drinking more of his tea. “But after the first week or so you seemed fine!” “Never heard of ‘fake happy’? I’m a wreck without you, Dave.” The coffee shop was starting to close, it was late. Davey and Race walked out, still talking.

“Would you be willing to give me a second chance…?” Davey asked. He and Race wandered around town talking, it had gotten dark and they were both were starting to get tired. “Yeah.” Race threw his arms around Davey. Davey hugged back, smiling just barely. “Thank you,” he whispered. Race broke from the hug. The two smiled at each other and shared a passionate but sweet kiss. “Are you gonna be able to get back to your dorm in the dark, or should you stay at mine ‘n’ Albert’s?” Race asked, after breaking away. “I’ll be able to get back, Race. Love you.” “I love you too.”

Tag List:

@smoke-the-woke

@concretedonutssprinkledwthmold

@and-such-language

@and-ive-got-a-date

@the-woild-is-my-what-now

@that-one-falsetto

@redthebicon

#newsies #1992 newsies #newsies 1992 #newsies live #race higgins #race newsies #racetrack higgins #davey jacobs #david jacobs #ravey #pineappawrites

10 notes · View notes

silentauroriamthereal · 7 years

Text

Okay, so this is extremely long, but my good friend @ravenmorganleigh tagged me in this a few days ago, and I would never refuse her. I’ll put most of it under a cut! This was very interesting to answer!

1. What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today?

Ooof, that’s a big ask! My very first fic was a Harry/Snape (yes, I know, groan away!) and the fact that I haven’t re-read it in well over a decade is suggestive that I never will, lol. I couldn’t even remember what it was called, so I just looked it up. It’s called Things Change (not linking it, sorry!!) and it was posted on skyehawke.com after fanfiction.net banned me in September of 2004. Lol. It’s still there, along with all of my other Harry Potter fic (of which there is over 1.4 million words).

2. What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come?

I just posted Out of the Woods yesterday, which is an intentionally light-hearted story. My last serious one is the one I wrote just before it, The Clouded Eye, and I would say that between these and my earliest stuff, there is a significant gap in quality, yes. :P

3. In your opinion, what’s your best fic?

That’s honestly impossible to say. It depends what you’re judging on. For intricacy of plot, clearly my novel, Against the Rest of the World. For sheer fixing for series 4, which is a herculean task to explain, fill in the gaps logically, and then actually make it palatable, I would give it to the fix-it that most clearly addresses the most issues with series 4 – the Holmes family history, Eurus’ existence in general, Sherlock’s memory problems, Mary’s wholly unbelievable and unsatisfactory death, the practical issues with the entire concept of John and Sherlock having a child at 221B, etc – and that fic is Hell Hath No Fury. It’s a bittersweet ending, and honestly the most realistic I can see after that disastrous series. For sheer levels of how much it explains and delves into, I’m very pleased with it. For depth and intricacy of emotion, my personal vote goes to The Wisteria Tree. For pure porn, it has to be Best of Three. For one of my overall personal favourites, Bridging the Ravine.

4. In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic?

Far and away it’s Best of Three, which is rapidly closing in on 100,000 hits, probably the only work of mine that will ever achieve this milestone.

Putting the rest under a cut!

5. Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that?

I’m equally proud of all of my stories, for different reasons.

6. Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that?

Nah. I’m frankly proud of the silly ones and as to the early stuff, everyone has to start somewhere!

7. What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

I have no unfinished stories at the moment. I just finished one, so I’m officially between projects. That will probably last for all of 2-3 days and then I’ll start something new.

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

Not applicable; I always finish my stories.

9. Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material?

No, and no offense, but I find that entire concept ridiculous and rather disrespectful to the source material. Even when I disagree with the canon, I have legions of respect for it.

10. Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it?

Yes, I have exactly one Star Wars fic (though I think I took it down for some reason, years ago) and one Lord of the Rings fic, and I still have never read any fic for those fandoms other than my own.

11. Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

Only once, at least knowingly: after writing three long series 4 fix-it fics (A Case For Domestic Propinquity, Hell Hath No Fury, and From the Bottom of the Well), I decided that I wanted to finally give in and write a well-known trope, and wrote a fake-couple-for-a-case fic (Bridging the Ravine), which is now up there as one of my favourite fics of my own collection. Happily, I have a personal policy that I don’t read other people’s stories while writing my own, as a deliberate attempt to keep myself free of influence. The downside is that I miss out on probably a lot of good fic. For this trope, I’d only ever read one or two stories that would fit that description and they were literal years ago, so I don’t remember any of their details and didn’t want to. I make a pretty strong effort to not just reproduce the same ideas that other people have already done, which is a tricky thing to do in a fandom that has a lot of similar ideas and desires for the final results (aka, Sherlock and John getting together). I really do try very hard, though! This particular story also contains way more original characters than any other I’ve ever written, many of whom have developed enough backstories to work as stand-alone characters in their own stories and I’m proud of that, too! There are 24 in total!

12. Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why?

No. There are story ideas I’ve refused to let myself write, though. Or several that I’ve sat on for months in trying to refuse to write, like my first Freebatch fic. I have mixed feelings about Real Person Fic and tried very hard to suppress the urge to write The A.G.R.A. Complex, and managed to keep myself from doing it for nine months. But then I caved. For the few I’ve refused to write, either it’s been because the concept itself made me sad, or it centred around an unpopular sexual kink, or some other reason like that. But generally, if I want to write something, I’ll just write it, and if I write it, I’ll post it.

13. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today?

I wouldn’t say that there’s been a huge change. I wrote more chaptered stories in the beginning, but I’m very busy and the stress of updating regularly is too much for me right now. I found my stride in the long novella. I strongly prefer the single-chapter format, but if it’s over 40,000 words, I’ll make myself break it up into chapters. The last WIP I posted as I wrote it was Against the Rest of the World, which I wrote over four months in the fall of 2013, leading up to the release of series 3 – in fact, I finished it two days before TEH aired! I was updating on average every six days, and some of those chapters were over 10,000 words long. It was a strain to keep it up, honestly – it meant that I was writing around the clock, day and night. It was the first thing I would do in the morning and the last thing I would do at night. I would come home on breaks at work to write, or take my laptop with me. I lived and breathed that story for four months. It’s told in first person voice (Sherlock’s POV), too, so it meant that I had Sherlock’s voice in my head at all times for four months. I missed him when it was over.

14. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today?

I wouldn’t say that there’s been one. I’m always trying to go further and further into the characters, their feelings, their experiences, and relate them so that the reader can ideally not just watch the story unfolding, but feel everything that the POV character is feeling at the same time. One can always go deeper, and I will never stop trying. Obviously different stories call for a heavier or lighter touch that way, but you get the drift.

15. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

No. I write the stories that come to me. I never write aiming for popularity. Though of course, I paradoxically always hope that my stories will be! But I never think, “Hmm, what would the fandom market really go for?” I just write the stories that I feel I need to tell.

16. Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention?

Never. I think that’s lame.

17. In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic?

My most popular, Best of Three! Similar to Bridging the Ravine, I wrote this one after I’d written my initial big trio of series 3 fix-it fics (Deductions of a Lesser Mind, Act IV, and Vena Cava), and just needed to take a break and write something lighter. I wrote the entire thing in under 24 hours. I get why it’s popular – the combination of humour, sheer smut, nod to The Three Garridebs, and then the twist of romance at the end is a fairly unbeatable combination, but at the time I was indignant by its popularity, honestly! I’ve written many, many better, less popular stories. What can you do? Over time, I’ve stopped being exasperated and just rejoiced in Best of Three’s popularity.

18. What’s your most underrated fic?

Ha! That’s so subjective! I really can’t answer that. Instead, I’ll just list some stories of mine that I’ve been very proud of and sometimes wish people would read more: Hell Hath No Fury (again, very proud of this one for its sheer amount of fixing), A Satellite Out of Orbit (this is a companion story to Where My Demons Hide that features Sherlock’s visits to Ella, set just before and during TLD, but also extending to after the point where the original story stops – not compliant with TFP, as both stories were written before it aired, but I’m still proud of them both!), Munich (probably less read because it’s an established relationship, which tends to be less popular), The Legacy of Martha J. Hudson (this one is SUPER sad and I’m not surprised that people have shied away from it, but I still think it’s worth the read! Good for when you need a cry? Because, as the title heavily implies, Mrs Hudson dies in it), Pater Noster (a rather dark fix-it, wherein Mary’s first job was to kill John’s father – I was looking for a reason that Mary thought that John really wouldn’t love her anymore that was that much worse than her trying to kill Sherlock!), The Final Proof (this is even sadder than the Mrs Hudson story – it’s a retirement fic wherein Sherlock dies, then John dies at the end, too. Everyone who has read it has cried (seriously, like 98%) but also said that they found it really beautiful, so - ?).

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

Well, that’s easy! (Note: it’s not!) Possibly Vena Cava.

20. Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down?

No, I wouldn’t rewrite a fic. What’s done is done. Although there are always the typos I missed the first time around. :P

21. If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs?

Only if I weren’t working on something of my own at the time, which almost never happens. What I really don’t like is when someone reads something of mine and then obligates me to then read something of theirs in turn. It makes me uncomfortable and I find it a bit rude. When I discover that a regular commenter also writes, then I will often make an effort to seek out their work when I’m between stories, but I hate having it pushed on me.

22. Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed?

Yes, but not in this fandom.

23. What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten?

Impossible to say. I’ve been graced with some of the best, most thoughtful readers/commenters in the universe!!

24. What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it?

I don’t like to focus on these, but I’ve received numerous death threats for my portrayals of Mary, especially back in 2014 (the year series 3 aired) when even Johnlockers still liked her. That only changed within the past year or two! Disliking Mary was an extremely unpopular stance at first. I received a number of these as comments on stories, particularly after I disabled anonymous asks here on tumblr. For a long time, one specific Mary stan kept on reading my stuff and leaving me hate. I really wondered why they kept reading my stuff when it obviously was never going to be what they wanted to see. Note to haters out there: that’s a piss poor persuasion technique. As to my writing itself, no, not really. When I started writing fanfic in 2004, in the world of Harry Potter, one of the worst things a reviewer could call a fic was “fluffy”. The meaning of this term has changed significantly in the past 14 years, but what it meant then was that it was a story seriously lacking in real substance, OOC as hell, and badly written. While these days it tends to me “romantic, light-hearted, heart-warming, sweet”, etc, it still makes me wince any time someone calls a story of mine “fluffy” for that reason.

25. What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review?

I wouldn’t say that there’s one aspect that gets commented on in a regular way. Though @totallysilvergirl beta-read my novel and pointed out a specific thing I do in terms of sentence structure, but it never made me feel badly to have it pointed out.

26. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised?

I’m always glad to hear when someone liked the main POV, and I tend to get that compliment the most when it’s a Sherlock POV. I’m also always pleased when people comment on how much a story made them feel – that’s really what I’m going for! Also, in Against the Rest of the World, I spent hours and hours on background research – locations in particular, but also things like local architecture, shipping routes and times, flight times, time zones, language, etc, so I’m always pleased when someone comments on that level of detail in that story.

27. If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick?

Single fandom, all the way. I’m not a fan of crossovers or AU’s. I’ve written exactly two crossovers in my time. One was a Harry/Draco story in which Draco nominates Harry for the old TLC show What Not To Wear, to Harry’s fury. I had fun with that. The other, and this is pure crack now, was one of my earliest stories, a Darth Vader/Voldemort crossover. Though it isn’t actually a crossover, as DV was Harry in Polyjuice. It was very silly.

28. if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick?

Single fandom, again.

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy?

Not applicable here; I only write for one fandom at a time. JKR turned me off Harry Potter with the ridiculous epilogue on book 7 and then her attempts to include more “canon” information in her interviews. It annoyed me hugely – but mostly it was the epilogue, which was (deliberately, most of us thought at the time) extremely difficult to write around, though I tried it for a few stories. When I finished that (my last HP story was posted in 2010, but it had been a year since the one prior), I thought I was finished with writing and with fandoms in general. Then I discovered Benedict Cumberbatch in May of 2013, and through him, Sherlock. By the time I was on ASIB, I knew with a sinking feeling that I was simply going to have to write this fandom, too. Lol. I posted the first chapter of my first fic on June 15th, 2013.

30. Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one?

History would show that I focus strictly on the new one. The only exceptions to strictly Sherlock have been my four Freebatch stories (The A.G.R.A. Complex, Having Your Cake, Always Through the Changing, and A Room with a View).

31. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

No one, I hope. I’ve written a large number of the characters in the Sherlock universe, including (in approximate order of frequency): Sherlock, John, Mycroft, Lestrade, Mary, Molly, Janine, Ella, Mrs Hudson, and Sally Donovan. Sherlock and John are my favourites to write, Mary and Molly my least favourites.

32. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

Sherlock, absolutely. He’s where my heart lives. That said, some of my favourite stories of my own are John POV’s.

33. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

No.

34. Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way?

The first time I wrote a Mary POV (Moving on/Making do), I was honestly afraid that I’d made her too relatable, too likeable, but the people who read the story still disliked her. Ha! And again, the sheer popularity of Best of Three always surprised me.

35. Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to?

Yes, I never meant to ship Harry/Draco, but it just happened.

36. Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic?

Yes, for the necessity of canon compliancy, I’ve written John/Mary, which I loathe.

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic?

No. I do my very best to portray the characters as I see them in canon. There are definitely people who would said that I have bashed Mary in my stories, and I respectfully and thoroughly disagree. Mary is canonically: an assassin who killed for the highest bidder, meaning that she killed without principle, for nothing other than money. Personal gain. Gross. She’s also someone who cut and run, leaving at least half of her team alive to be killed or tortured without even checking to see if there was any possibility of rescuing them. She displayed the same urge to run away and leave John behind later, too. I find this distasteful and cowardly in the extreme. On top of this, she canonically gaslights and belittles John, which is emotionally abusive behaviour, yet “playfully” insults both him and Sherlock on an ongoing basis (“I’m not John; I can tell when people are lying” – two insults with one comment!). She displays incredible entitlement after she attempts to murder John’s best friend and doesn’t seem to think that she should need to apologise for what she did, nor that John had the right to be incredibly angry with her over it. She also showed zero signs of remorse for any of her behaviour, past or present – lying to John, anything and everything she did in her deeply criminal past, etc. When people comment and say, “I loved your evil Mary!”, my typical response is “do you mean canon!Mary?” because that’s all I’ve ever tried to write. The ONE exception I will make here is my story Scars, which is a deliberate attempt to extrapolate from Mary’s canonical gaslighting and show where that behaviour typically leads. I did my homework and consulted two therapists who work specifically with men who have been abused by women for this story, and both confirmed that they saw Mary’s behaviour as gaslighting and abusive, too. I wrote this story partly to combat the then-popular notion that Mary and John displayed “playful banter” or “bickering” at the beginning of HLV, when I saw it as clearly one-sided and not at all playful. I still don’t consider this “bashing”, however.

38. Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why?

Yes, the above story. Why? Because it was a story I felt had to be told. Also: The Final Proof (the one where Sherlock dies of old age), which I knew would make people cry. Again: I write what the muses prompt me to write!

39. Do you consider yourself to have a readership?

Yes, I’m very lucky to have a huge readership and it’s wonderful! (Thank you!!!!!) I don’t have any specifics on the numbers in this fandom, but when I was writing HP fic, someone wrote her doctoral dissertation on HP fanfic and she collected stats from the various archives that were active at the time, then contacted the twenty most read authors in the fandom. To my shock at the time, I was apparently the eighth most read author in the slash fandom (male/male fic), though I was far from being the eighth most popular!! She estimated my readership at close to 200,000 readers. This was HP, though, the biggest fandom in history. I don’t imagine that my readership is anywhere near that here in Sherlock-land.

40. Do you feel like you put out enough content?

Um, yes. I’m now close to 1.9 million words over 78 stories. I write constantly, when I have the time to do so. Occasionally a commenter will say something like, “write more, please!” and while I know it’s meant as encouragement, it can also feel slightly exasperating. I honestly don’t see how I could humanly be producing MORE. But I try. :P

41. If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site?

I only use ao3 these days.

42. How many views has your most popular fic gotten?

As I said, Best of Three is closing in on 100,000 hits now.

43. Your least popular?

My least-read story would have to be my most recently posted, which I wouldn’t consider my least popular by a long shot. That’s honestly difficult to identify because of course one has to consider the length of time a story has been posted. It’s not fair to consider a story posted yesterday against a story that’s been up for four years. But the newest story has about 2,000 hits at the moment.

44. Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received?

Thanks to my readership, I don’t think that would be possible.

45. If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself?

I really only have one major work that isn’t fanfic, which is the original novel that I’m still working on getting published (and by “still working on”, I mean that I haven’t had time to work on this since July or so, whoopsie). Its technical genre definition is spy thriller, so let’s go with that! It’s loosely based on Against the Rest of the World with a dash of Vena Cava, a spy thriller with a gay romantic subplot.

46. Do you consider yourself a diverse author?

Yes. While my stories typically come to a similar result, I think they all get there in noticeably different ways! I’ve written amnesia, hurt/comfort, disability, many different character POV’s, gentle romances, heavy angst, deathfic, retirement fic, thrillers, fix-its, addiction (more in HP), magic (HP again), long novels, short sketches, character sketches, silly stuff, dark stuff. If you look at my stories chronologically, you will see a pattern of dark-light-dark-light – if I’ve just written a heap of angst, I’ll typically switch it up and write something lighter, or a different character voice, or a completely new idea (such as the Mary/Molly pairing in The Clouded Eye), etc. I do try to keep it fresh!

47. If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

Only if they were already familiar with the canon and open to reading graphic male/male sex, and that limits most of the population that isn’t already in the fandom.

48. Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too?

A few people know. I’m very careful about who I tell.

49. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

My mother. :) She reads all of my stories. We have a very good relationship!

50. Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive?

Yes, it’s had a huge impact on my life. It’s been my secret other life since 2004, with a 3-4 year hiatus in there. Sometimes the drama gets to be a bit much, but the creative outlet of writing and the joy of sharing the love for these characters with a whole universe of other people is just unbeatable.

#writer stuff #my fics #silentauror #ravenmorganleigh #interview questions #johnlock #fanfic #writing

30 notes · View notes

joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 5 years

Text

2016 Year in Review Part 1:

Hello there, everybody! My name is JoyofCrimeArt and welcome to the fourth and finale part of my month long "Deviant-cember" event! Hasn't 2016 been a great year, guys!...guys? Okay, okay, I know that the grand majority of you probably hate 2016 and are really looking forward to a brand new year to get a fresh start. Though I have noticed that it seems like every New Year's people talk about how much the previous year has sucked and how they can't wait for the next year cause things are totally going to be different next year guys! You'll see! You'll see! I kid, I kid. I know why people are upset about 2016, there have been a lot of celebrity deaths (though there seems to be a lot of celebrity deaths ever year, though there has been a lot more this year it seems.) There was a lot of political tension in the United States with quite possibly the most divisive presidential election in recent history. Not to mention racial struggles, natural disasters, shootings, ISIS attacks....Yeah. Though to be fair most of those things I just listen didn't just "start" this year. They where problems in 2015 too, and will probably continue into 2017. Getting mad at the year, an abstract concept, just feels...unproductive to me. It seem's like it's the wrong target to be directing all this anger at. Sometimes bad stuff just happens, and there's a good chance that by the end of 2017 we'll hate that year too. Because most of the bad stuff that happened in 2016...probably won't just go away come January 1st. That's why I'm here today. To distract you all from the harshness that was 2016 and focus on something a little more fun. Why focus on the dark and depressing world of "reality" when you can focus on things like cartoons! (That's how I stay so optimistic.) Because while the world outside was burning itself to f#&king hell the world of animation has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, and one that I think is worth going over today. Hopefully this review will bring somebody some much needed joy in a year that was so insane. That's why I present the first in a (hopefully) annual tradition on this page in, the "2016 Year in Animation REVIEW" Now let me explain what exactly this is, because I have never done anything like this before. I have compiled a list of a series of new series and different cartoon announcements, controversies, or news stories that I will discuss in a brief manner. (Or brief for me anyway.) The events will go in a rough chronological order, starting from January 2016 to December 2016. And I will discuss my thoughts and feeling on all the changes that has happened in the animation world this year. I will not be talking about animated films or anime, just series and network updates. I also will not be able to talk about every show/event that occurred in 2016 and will be focusing on the ones that I found the most relevant to me, personally. So if I miss something try not to get to upset. I can't watch anything. Also I am completely acknowledging that I am completly ripping off online anime reviewer Gigguk and his yearly anime reviews. I loved the concept and the way Gigguk would go about his yearly reviews, so I borrowing the format to talk about something that I'm passionate about. If you want to check out Gigguk here's a link, www.youtube.com/user/gigguk&nb… if you are really into anime, or maybe even if your not, you should consider checking him out. He's a bit raunchy but he also has a great balance of comedy and critical thinking in his reviews, and his reviews have been a big inspiration for me and my reviews so check it out. But enough pointless blather, it's time to get into things! It's time for my 2016 year in review! The year started out...with a bit of a rocky start to be perfectly honest with you. The first big piece of cartoon news I noticed in 2016 was with the inclusion of a new main character in "The Fairly Oddparents." with the added inclusion of Timmy's new neighbor Chloe Carmichael

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D56T-r3Dz28

(My God, at the time of this writing this video has over 39 THOUSAND dislikes to 4.4 thousand likes. Jesus Christ!) So I'm going to be honest here. I don't watch the Fairly Oddparents. I haven't watched this show regularly in years, so I haven't actually seen any of the episodes that Chloe is in. Normally I wouldn't talk about something like this except it was kinda a big deal at the beginning of the year in the cartoon community. People who had stopped caring about Fairly Oddparents suddenly cared again as they ran to watch the episodes so they can see how bad the show had gotten. It was kinda a resurgence in the fandom to be honest. It does amaze me that the show is still adding new characters, and not just new characters, but like cartoonish exaggerations of what shows with new characters have. Like adding a baby I get, that makes sense. And even Foop makes sense given the established lore of the show's universe. But never since Scrappy Doo have I seen a show add a talking dog to the main cast of characters unironically...until Fairy Oddparents. It's kinda incredible in a way. Now I don't know how bad Chloe is, and adding another kid that Timmy has to share his Fairy's with is a dumb idea...BUT if you where to put a gun to my head and tell me that I had to make a new Godkid for Timmy to share his fairies with...I probably would come up with someone like Chloe. In concept Chloe as a character should work. She's kind, smart, and completely unselfish. She's the opposite of Timmy and should make a good foil. Plus, from what little I've seen, she does seem to have a bit of a crazy side that should keep her from being boring. It at least sound better than Sparky who, from the way it sounds at least, is just another Cosmo. Though keep in mind all this comes from someone who hasn't actually watched the show, and from what I understand the execution is what most people have a problem with. I've seem people say that she's a Mary Sue character, and the reason she has fairies doesn't make sense. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn't. (Though it probably is.) But I guess I'm a bit more open to the idea than most. I was honestly surprised how many people got mad at this new development. Like I just don't understand why people got so upset. Like if this was any other show I would understand, but It's the Fairly Oddparents. The show has already jumped like ten sharks by now. At that point what's the harm in jumping one more. Like, what do they have to lose? What I'm actually annoyed at is the fact that Poof and Sparky have been written out of the show! No, written out is to generous. Written out implies they gave a reason why there gone. There just gone, without any mention of why there gone! Poof is confirmed to be in ONE episode later this season, and Sparky has been confirmed by her voice actress to be gone from the entire season. She says that it was a decision from the higher ups, which is really surreal when you think about it. The artist was the one saying "Nah man, we need a talking dog." and it was the higher up who where like "Wait, what! Why?" Maybe it has to do with Sparky's voice actress going through a sex change operation between seasons. Maybe she went through voice therapy or something, and maybe that effected the voice. But I don't even think that's a factor 1.) I have no evidence that Sparky's voice actress did go through voice therapy and 2.) Poof is also gone, even though he's IN THE THEME SONG! I don't get it. The could of hand waved something but no. It makes Cosmo and Wanda look pretty frickin' neglectful when they don't even mention there son. And I know what your probably thinking. "Who cares, isn't it a good thing that Poof and Sparky are gone. They sucked." And that all might be true, but you can't just retcon them out of existence! You're not DC Comics! Retconning them is the lazy way out. THEY MADE THESE STUPID CHARACTERS AND NOW THEY HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM! ...Okay, maybe I can kinda start to understand how so many people could get so upset about The Fairly Oddparents. But look on the bright side, next year the Fairly Oddparents will be switching over to flash! S...Some shows have Flash that looks good. I'm sure Fairly Oddparents will put in the effort to....Okay, screw it, next topic. Gravity Falls aired it's final episode after airing a three day long marathon in which Disney XD aired the entire season FOUR FRICKIN' TIMES! (Calm down Gravity Falls, your making Spongebob and Teen Titans Go jealous.) (WARNING: I'M GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT SPOILERS FOR GRAVITY FALLS! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN GRAVITY FALLS TO THE END SCROLL PAST THIS PART AND CONTINUE READING ONCE YOU SEE BOLD AGAIN! THIS IS NOT A SHOW YOU WANT SPOILED!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_t-aOeiFa0

Anyway, Gravity Falls aired it's final hour long episode as Dipper, Mabel, Stan and Ford go up defeat Bill once in for all. This finale was definitely and interesting one to talk about because, in my opinion, it did have a lot of problems. Oh God! Hear me out! Hear me out! A lot of things about this special, especially in the first half I didn't like. I didn't like how Stan so reluctant to save Ford from Bill. I know that Ford and Stan didn't get along, and Stan was still mad at Ford because Ford didn't thank him for rescuing him the first time, but it felt out of character for Stan to be that selfish. The whole series makes a big point about Stan being willing to do anything for his family. He spent thirty years trying to save Ford even though there last encounter was a giant fight. It shows that he still cares about his brother well being even after all of there bad blood. He was willing to work thirty years to save Ford the first time and now that he knows Bill has captured him and could be torturing him or killing him or worse and he just doesn't care. And I get it, Ford wasn't thankful the first time so he's not going to go through all the work a second time, but this is Bill where talking about. Ford's LIFE is on the line and Stan is basically leaving his brother to die just because he didn't apologize to him, and that made him seem very unlikable an goes against his whole "protecting my family" motivation. I see what they where trying to do, but I just don't think they executed it that well. Also there were a couple of other problems that, while not as much of a big deal to me, were still problems. Like how they make a big deal about how they have to whip Stan's mind to kill Bill, but couldn't they just write "Bill" on the memory gun and just erase him, without whipping out Stan's entire mind? Also the twist that Stan and Ford can do perfect impressions of each other did kinda seem like an ass pull, especially when they could of easily set that up some time earlier but didn't. I feel these are real problems that hurt the episode.. ...but for the most part none of that matters. Because the episode gave us everything a Gravity Falls fan could want from a finale. It had an epic conclusion with the entire Pine's family working together to stop Bill and save the world. It wrapped up all the lose threads and plot points and gave every character there happy ending, in a way that just felt complete. Unlike some other shows that either end without proper finales or end with the story left open this one felt complete. Not that those types of ending are bad, those endings can be great, but it is nice to see a show that delivers on all of it's promises in such an epic way. I really cannot think of many cartoon finales that felt as HUGE as this one. Where it really felt like the world and possibly the entire universe would be doomed if our hero failed. other cartoons have had finale's like that, but rarely do you really feel the weight of that kind of threat. In this episode you did. It was a grand finale and a perfect end for such an amazing series... (Though seriously Bill knew all the people who where in the zodiac and he didn't kill like, one of them, just to be safe. That pretty stupid Bill) (OKAY NOW YOU CAN COME BACK, PEOPLE WHO SKIPPED ALL THAT!) After Gravity Falls ending there was a void that lots of cartoon fans needed to fill. Gravity Falls had ended and Steven Universe was on hiatus and people needed there "cartoons with an ongoing lore." fix to be quelled. But nothing quelled it. This lead to several months of people freaking the f#&k out over Steven Universe being on hiatus from January to May. Now I get that they hiatus sucked and it happened right in the middle of a story arc, but I feel like people where really over reacting to this. It was a four and a half month break between seasons. That's perfectly normal for most tv shows. Show's like Adventure Time and Regular Show have had hiatus comparable to that and nobody seemed to care, but here people were freaking out, saying how Cartoon Network didn't care about Steven Universe and stuff like that, which I just felt like was a bit over dramatic, personally. And afterwards at least you got a summer full of new episodes. Maybe I'm just use to long and random hiatus due to being a "Young Justice" fan. (Which for real once had a three month hiatus, than a two weeks of new episodes, followed by another three month hiatus! DANG!) Anyway after that we got the news that Craig McCracken's "Wander Over Yonder." was going to be cancelled. This coupled with Gravity Falls ending made things hard for Disney XD fans, leaving only "Star and the Forces of Evil" and "Pickle and Peanut-"...leaving only "Star and the Forces of Evil" for most adult cartoon fans to be excited about. I didn't watch much Wander Over Yonder, only seeing some season one episodes and none of season two. That being said from what I saw, and this might be a bit of a controversial opinion, I didn't like it that much. Which is weird because I love "Powerpuff Girls" and "Fosters" was, from what I remember, pretty good. I don't know, the show just didn't seem like anything that new. It was another show where a dumb oblivious character annoys a rival who hates them while the main character doesn't realize said rival hates them. I just felt like we've seen that before in shows like "Spongebob" and "Camp Lazlo." and the show didn't seem to add much new to the formula. I didn't find the characters that interesting and even there space setting didn't seem that interesting. Maybe a lot of this improves in the episodes I haven't seen, but even though I didn't like the show I was still kinda sad to see it go. Even if it's a show I don't like I'm never glad a show ends, because I know it means a lot of people are out of a job and lots of fans are upset. So keep that in mind when I talk about cancelled showed. And speaking of cancelled shows it was also announced that Uncle Grandpa would be getting the ax sometime next year. Uncle Grandpa seems to be a somewhat divisive show, but I will say that I think the show is fine. Not great, but fine. Uncle Grandpa was always a unique creation, and I admired it for it's out there qualities. (And for helping create one of the best Steven Universe episodes ever! That's right, I said it!) The show was fun and wacky, and the comedy and characters were passable. It's no piece of fine art, but I don't think the show was trying to be. There was a lot of creativity in this show, and it always felt like the people behind it were always trying there best to make something good, even if it didn't always pan out. It is a shame to see it go, but not a grand shame. It got five seasons, and that's probably enough if where being honest. Plus with Cartoon Network having so many shows running it's probably a good thing to see some ending, making room for some fresh blood. Just as long as they don't cancel to many of there shows this year...he he he.... And speaking of fresh blood Cartoon Network premiered a new show this year. He he he....Okay, let's just do this again, and talk about the 2016 reboot of The Powerpuff Girls. May God help our souls!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbvC9Xtpm_8

Since I've already talked about this show before, I'm going to try to make this brief. (Ha! That's the funniest joke in the whole frickin' review!) What is there to say about this show that I haven't said already in my 6,836 word long three part review of the show. (Oh my God what is wrong with me?) Well, there is some stuff. As my opinion on the show has changed a bit since then and at the time of writing that review I had only seen twelve episodes, and now thirty nine are out. (Though I have not seen ALL of the episodes.) So let's briefly go into this. Once more, with feeling. Is rebooting The Powerpuff Girls a bad idea? Many say yes, I say no. I think that if we have to make a reboot out of any Cartoon Network show right now, I think Powerpuff Girls would be the best option. We know that superhero shows in particular are very easily reboot-able, and there are many different directions you can go with it. Just look at any Batman show if you want proof of that. Also unlike Ben 10, I think the Powerpuff Girls is old enough to warrant a reboot, as the show ended in a whole eleven years before this reboot came out. In concept I think there is a lot of cool things you can do to change the Powerpuff Girls and make it unique. I mean the Powerpuff Girls Z did it, and while I haven't seen that show, it does show that there are different directions you can take this franchise. Because, this isn't even the first time the series has been rebooted! I was excited about this show coming out prior to it's release. I think I was the only on who was optimistic about it. And how did the show do when it actually came out? Well...that's kinda the problem. The show is pretty mediocre. I do think I was a little to easy on the show when I first reviewed it, but a lot of what I said back then still stands. I think that the problems I have with the show are different from the problem most people have with the show. The main problem with the show is that it just seems kinda bland. It doesn't seem to have it's own identity. In a lot of way it seems like it's trying to be like the old show, by keeping the old character designs and most of the old voice actors, and not really explaining who most of the characters are. The show expects you to know the source material going in. Some episodes like "Bye Bye Bellum" don't make ANY sense unless you've seen the old show. So the reboot must be aimed at the older fans right? Well I don't really think that's true either because a lot of stuff that made older fans like the original Powerpuff Girls are gone. The humor doesn't really match the first show, and the action is for the most part gone. In terms of crime fighting we've still haven't had an episode with Sedusa, The Gang Green Gang, or Fuzzy Lumpkins as main villains yet and we're pretty close to being done with our first season. It seems like the show was trying to appeal to everyone and, judging by the ratings and online response, didn't end up hitting anyone. It seemed like they were kinda trying to be like the original, while also trying to be kinda like a less controversial Teen Titans Go! (focusing more on humor then the crime fighting.) While sprinkling in a little Steven Universe with some of it's more feminist qualities and it really just felt like there where to many cooks in the kitchen. That being said there are some things I do like about the show. I like how they tried to focus on the girls more, as most people seem to agree that the girls were the most boring part of the original show. Though the reboot kinda messed that up by making the girls feel like flanderized versions of there 98' counterparts. Still though, I do like how the Powerpuff Girl's personalities are a bit different in this version than in the 98' version. Most of the characters just act like how they did in the original but they changed it up a bit and I appreciate that. I know in my first review I said Buttercup was about as good as she was in the original, but after watching more episodes, yeah...she is kinda annoying in this version. There are really only two characters who I think they improved on, and that's Bubbles and Princess. I like how both of these characters are portrayed in this series, and I might prefer these versions over the originals. Both seem to change some stuff about the character while still making them still capture the spirit of the original. Bubbles is less of a crybaby and a bit more ditzy which is fun, and Princess is a lot less whiny and they do a lot more funny stuff with her being rich, and having her have a rap themed soundtrack is something I never knew I wanted, but I like. Also Princess is a lot more sympathetic in this show, which I also like. Also there are some good episodes, like "TTG vs PPG" (Which is technically a Teen Titans Go! episode but still) "Poorbucks" and "Tiara Trouble." (YES THAT EPISODE HAVE A "NO ME GUSTA" REFERENCE BY IT'S LITERALLY ONLY THREE SECONDS LONG AND THE REST OF THE EPISODES SURROUNDING IT WAS PRETTY GOOD!) And speaking of the "No Me Gusta" thing, let's talk about the whole meme thing. I understand if you think those jokes are annoying, there not funny, or were not executed well. I completely get if you have that opinion. But I feel like the whole meme thing has been so overblown that it's kinda ridiculous. If you look at any online review for the Powerpuff Girl reboot you will see that almost all of them will have wither the "No Me Gusta" face or the girls twerking as the thumbnail. While you may find these scenes and jokes dumb I don't like how people act like the show is just nothing but that. Even though that if you take all of the meme references in the entire show and string them back to back it probably takes up less than two minutes total. People obsess over these scenes even though tonnes of cartoons make references to memes. In "Painbow" Blossom makes a "I can't even" joke and everybody freaked out, but when Lincoln Loud said the exact same thing in the Loud House episode "Roughin' It" nobody sees to care. And that's not even counting all the other cartoons that reference meme's, like these examples.

And yes, that last one was a "surprised chipmunk" reference from "The Powerpuff Girls Rule." which was written, directed, and story boarded by Craig McCracken himself. And as for the twerking lots of other cartoons do that to. Again, Lincoln from the Loud House has his butt dance at the end of "Roughin' it" there's the infamous "Booty Quake" from "SymBionic Titan" and, again from "The Powerpuff Girls Rule-"

-Man, Mojo's been shaking his grove thang since before Miley Cyrus was even on the SCENE SON! And you might still see these things as a problem, I get that. After all execution is a big thing, which is why I love it the internet references in We Bare Bears, but am mostly indifferent to the ones in this show. All I'm saying is that this is far from the first show to do stuff like this. And it's seems odd to be that these are the moments that people are freaking out about when this show DOES have a lot of serious problems that holds it back, and yet it's the "No Me Gusta!" reference that everybody is freaking out about. The show, as a whole, is mediocre. I don't want it to get cancelled, I want it to improve. And hopefully that'll happen in season two, because I want a good Powerpuff Girls reboot to happen. And if the critical and financial of this series stops that from happening, I'll be very disappointed. It seems like everybody just wanted this show to fail almost a whole YEAR before it came out, and months before we even had our first clips of it and I just didn't want that. Plus if it wasn't for this show I probably wouldn't of started doing these reviews, so there's also that. But at least it wasn't the most hated reboot of 2016.

But then, after that, something happened in the animation community. A new show premiered that, really out of nowhere, took off like a rocket. A show that was a hit with both adult critics and in the ratings (sort of the reverse of Powerpuff Girls.) This show was none other, than The Loud House.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6MpT7lLwls

Yes, it was the Loud House, the show that changed Nickelodeon in the eyes of many people. Not only did this show come with many adults praising it but the ratings for the show were, and still are, huge. The shows popularity rivals Spongebob Squarepants! Think about that. What was the last show that aired on Nickelodeon that was both good and Nickelodeon actually gave reruns to on there main channel fairly consistently. I'd say T.U.F.F Puppy and that show was only reran at the beginning of it's run. For a show on Nickelodeon to be both good and not treated like garbage by the network was a big deal! And the fan made Loud House memes! OH THE FAN MADE LOUD HOUSE MEMES! So how was the show. It's pretty good. I don't think I love it as much as some other people do, but it is a good show. As someone who is the middle child with three older siblings and three younger ones the premise alone had me interested. I also really like the Sunday comic inspired style the show has. It's a unique look that really makes the show stand out. It's also neat seeing a cast of mostly girl characters in a show on Nickelodeon, that seems like it's really been trying to push shows for boys. Is this proof of my "Girliness Revolution" theory? PLUG! Cartoon Thoughts: MLP and the Girly Revolution. The show is pretty funny. Though the humor can be a bit to juvenile for me at times, with a lot of toilet humor and stuff like that. Also the characterization of most of the characters are a bit weak in my opinion, with most of them being pretty one note. Hopefully they'll be developed a bit more in season two, but as it stands there kinda bland in my opinion. Not bad per say, just a bit one dimensional. It's these things that make me say that the show is only good and not great. Also like a third of the episodes follow the formula of, 1.) Lincoln wants something incredibly simple. 2.) His sisters f#&k it up for him 3.) Lincoln is justifiably mad 4.) Lincoln learns he shouldn't be mad at his sister cause family, even though his sisters totally has the right to be upset. That's also a bit of a flaw with the show, but it's not a huge one or anything. If the characters could become a little bit more than there one trait I think we would have a great show on our hands. But despite all the shows flaws, I still like this show. It's not the best show ever, but it is a step in the right direction for Nickelodeon. I'm really glad that Nickelodeon has a show that is almost as popular as Spongebob that is actually pretty decent. Hopefully this can be a turning point for Nickelodeon, like how Adventure Time was a turning point for Cartoon Network. But only time will tell if that's the case. Also THOSE DANK LOUD HOUSE MEMES, BRA!

And that seems like a good place to stop for now. I would go on, but I'm afraid that if I make this review to long nobody will actually read it, so I'll be breaking it up into two parts. Part two will be up tomorrow, on New Years Eve, so get excited about that. What do you think of some of the shows that I've talked about here today? Tell me your thoughts in the comments down bellow. I would love to hear them, even if your opinion is different from mine. Please fav, follow and comment if you liked the review, have a great day. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

All credit for the "Clyde likes who blank Meme" goes to https://www.deviantart.com/cartoonteen18 It was fun to fill out, and here's the link to the original Clyde likes who Blank Meme.

#gravity falls #the loud house #editorial #powerpuff girls 2016 #fairly odd parents

0 notes

saveloadreset · 7 years

Text

The ask that turned into an essay: People seem to come to some funny conclusions about Chara based of some selective quotes

SLR INSERTION

Rather than putting it at the end, I’m going to be inserting my commentary all over this submission like this, in little ‘pockets.’ Now …

Trigger warning: suicide mention, self-harm mention

… on to our regularly scheduled submission

The ribbon description is not a hint at previous violence in Chara’s life. “If you’re cuter, monsters won’t hit you as hard.” = “Chara was subject to beatings before running away, long enough to be familiar with the experience” Is the ribbon description not plain and simple advice on how battles with monsters work? We later find out in the librarby that monsters really do hit less hard if they don’t want to fight. Putting the ribbon on and becoming cuter works against even Undyne the Undying,* so it seems that this really is a nature that monsters can’t help.** Narra-Chara uses descriptions to hint at their tragic backstory elsewhere, so the ribbon could be part of that pattern, but there are also examples of Narra-Chara giving us plain and simple advice.** So I see the ribbon description as honest advice, not a hint at abuse or whatever

* (at least, I’m fairly sure it does) ** (and isn’t sans clever for finding a way around it?) *** Some of the advice is snarky or condescending, but not all of it is.

SLR INSERTION

That’s a valid reading. I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong. But it’s really not any stronger than the readings of people who read it as a sign of abuse. And there’s a piece of info that I think you might find interesting … Did you know, this narration changed?

Here’s what it said in the demo.

Tells you most of what you need to know, really. But Toby looked at this, and decided … Nah, this has gotta change. And I would argue that what he changed it too was much less objective, and much more ominous.

Do with that knowledge what you will.

Chara didn’t necessarily develop their deep hatred for the humans whilst in the village; that could’ve grow in the underground, or at least been a lot more complex than simple revenge for a violent childhood. “Frisk, I’ll be honest with you. Chara hated humanity. Why they did, they never talked about it. But they felt very strongly about that.” = “Chara was treated badly by the humans and hated them for it” Is it not possible that Chara’s hatred developed AFTER falling into the underground? If tween-age me had ran away from home, found what Chara found, and learnt the history and plaight of the monsters, then I can imagine me falling disillusioned with humanity (and maybe even growing a martyr complex). “I hate humanity” sounds like a very angsty and tweenish thing to say. It could be so easy for a child to grow a very negative view of humanity, if first they lost a little innocence (maybe they learnt about war, or maybe they read a sad book (like Kitchen)), found a tragic race like the monsters, then learnt their story and their view of humans, at a time when they were still making sense of the world. Especially with the librarby comment about humans not needing compassion, monsters could very easily teach a child the wrong things about their kind. Maybe things would’ve been different if there was another human in the underground, who could be a good example to Chara, and show that humans can still have compassion, even if they don’t strictly need it. What’s more, Asriel says “humanity”, not “humans” or “the people of the village”. That feels very significant to me, as though there were some quality that “humanity” comes with that had that had Chara’s attention, not a personal hatred for the people of the surface. We know humans in Undertale differ in at least a few important ways from monsters, from their persistent souls and their physical bodies, to their lack of needing compassion and …. whatever’s going on with determination and time rewinding (if Chara knew about this). Could one of these qualities, unique to humans, be what Chara dislikes about humanity? I sometimes wonder (inspired by Underline), whether Chara could reset, and something about this, or something that happened because of this, sparked Chara’s strong hatred? Though, personally, I believe Gaster’s experiment caused the reset ability, somehow. If Chara’s/Chasriel’s soul survived death (both humans and boss monster’s souls persist at least briefly after death), perhaps Gaster took it and mucked about about with DT and gave himself the ability to play about with time and resetting. Perhaps playing about with that is what scattered him across time. Perhaps he used to soul to build the core (a machine that converts heat into magic?). Perhaps once he had used his ability, maybe something “broke”, and resets became possible for the most DT-filled creature behind the barrier, and only behind the barrier. All of this would have happened after Chara’s death, and Toriel’s comment about knowing previous children somehow makes me think she’s not including Chara when she says that. Or maybe Underline hit the nail on the head? Maybe Chara’s hatred for humanity happened after some bad timeline that Chara had to reset from. After all, something about Chara, even just “the look in their eyes”, inspires the monsters to not be afraid of humans anymore, and gives them hope. Yet this does not rub off on Chara? Or maybe Chara has a change of heart? …. Though, hope for what? Peace with humans? That not all humans are evil? Or maybe just hope of breaking the barrier? Maybe Chara made a scheming promise to break the barrier and the buttercup plan was what they had in mind, but I somehow doubt that. Maybe the hope was just the feeling of having found a happy place to live. Either way, there’s so many different things to say and think here, that I can’t think it’s as simple as Chara having a personal vendetta against the village for violence they used to receive.

SLR INSERTION

Let’s talk about why people think this about Chara, because that’s worth analyzing in greater depth. The first significant point–it didn’t happen while Asriel was around. This isn’t explicitly said, but if it had, Asriel would know about it.

Second, Chara is reluctant to actually talk about it. If they hated humanity as a result of schooling in monster schools and learning monster history … Why wouldn’t they tell Asriel at all? Even if they learned it in a reset, it’s hardly a surprise that they look at all these murals and go ‘golly gee, humans are horrible!’ That implies that there’s a specific incident that sparked this hatred in Chara. One big inciting incident. And one that they’re reluctant to share with Asriel, their best friend.

SO, it had to happen both while Asriel wasn’t there, and it had to be something Chara would be reluctant to talk about. Abuse on the surface is one of the very few things that would qualify for that.

And like, I love underline and everyone should read it (Hi dusty!!!) but they take a couple liberties in order to tell their story. For instance, their Chara needs to meet humans and encounter them, seeing their reaction to monsters, before they go ‘to hell with these guys I hate humans.’ In canon, that cannot happen. The barrier is impenetrable. If Chara had a personal encounter with humans that soured their feelings on the matter it happened before they fell. No question.

That’s not to say that there might be other things that might spark a deeper loathing of humanity. If, for instance, someone in particular groomed Chara into hating humans more, and seeing them as the enemy, to the point that they weren’t really eager to tell anyone about it … That could do it, too.

But at that point, we’re just dealing in wild speculation. People lean into ‘Chara hates humans because they had bad encounter with humans’ because it’s the Occam’s razor solution. It’s pretty strong. Personally, I imagine it might have had more to do with Gaster’s meddling, but speaking objectively, from what we know now, it’s more likely the humans Chara knew were garbage to them.

Dying was not on the table until the buttercup plan “Travellers who climb the mountain are said to disappear.” + earlier context = “Chara deliberately climbed Mt Ebbot to commit suicide” We know falling into the hole in the cave in Mt Ebbot was an accident, not deliberate. I also feel that it’s much common for children to run away from an unhappy situation, rather than think of suicide. Committing suicide and commiting self-harm, as some seem to think is implied, sounds like the actions of a teenager, not a child. Also climbing a mountain, one that people don’t return from, doesn’t sound very suicide-y. My intuition and experience with children is they get quiet and they run away. Well, Chara ran away from home. In the family photo, Chara is hiding their face shyly. Chara revealed private and important things to only their best friend, who kept them secret. Chara strikes me as a reserved, but bright child, who had a bit of sadness inside them. Falling into the hole in the cave was an a ccident, after apparently exploring said cave out of curiosity. That sounds more like a child who has run away from home with hopes of finding a better place and never having to return, than one who intends to end their life.

SLR INSERTION

Okay, let me get this out of the way right now before it riles me up too much. You’re entitled to your headcannons and nothing says explicitly that Chara wanted to kill themselves, but if you think someone is too young to self-harm and want to kill themselves, you’re dangerously wrong.

At risk of getting too personal, I was chewing on my arms so much they were more or less one big bruise by the time I was elven or twelve, and already chasing off thoughts of … You know. That’s a false assumption and a pretty dangerously wrong one. Whatever else you take away from this post, please at least revise your understanding of that. It’s important.

Secondly, we don’t really know how old Frisk/Chara are. If I had to guess, I’d throw it somewhere around thirteen years old, because that’s Ness’ age in earthbound. But ‘kid’ can mean a lot of things. Preteen? Prepubescent? Teenager? All kids. You can’t really narrow that down.

And like, we know that Chara’s fall was an accident, but … You don’t climb a mountain it’s said nobody returns from if you really think your life is precious. There’s more, but I’ll get into that next insertion.

The buttercup plan was not about a long standing wish to die buttercup plan + “I know why Chara climbed the mountain. It wasn’t for a happy reason.” + earlier context = “Chara was suicidal, even before falling into the underground” Surely, the buttercup plan was not about a desire to end their life, but about sacreficing themselves? I know self-sacrefice and suicide kind of functionally have the same end, but we all know the differing contexts makes all the difference. In suicide, your own death is the goal, in and of itself. In self-sacrefice, there is some end that your own death helps achieve (even if that end could be achieved through other means). I don’t think Chara was lying to Asriel about the buttercup plan being, at least partly, a plan to break the barrier. I can certainly imagine adult me, with all my fully functioning coping mechanisms, stable mental state and confidence in life, getting tempted (and tempted is the important word) to stand in front of a monster I trusted and offer my life to them, if I was in either Chara or Frisk’s shoes, stuck underground with these tragic people that deserves better. Not out of any self-hatred or suffering on my part, but out of sympathy for their plight. Who wouldn’t want to help these people if they could? I won’t ask who else would be tempted, but I think a child with less life experience and weaker coping mechanisms would quite possibly be more than tempted

SLR INSERTION

Why not both?

I think you may be ignoring some of the actual context of that conversation with Asriel. Like, let’s chart the followup to what he says. It begins with Asriel asking Frisk why THEY climbed the mountain. Was it curiousity? Was it fate? Or … ? And he trails off here. He had something to say, but then suddenly elected not to say it.

Let’s not kid ourselves, he was about to ask Frisk if they came to kill themselves, and then thought better of it.

And from that conversation he follows immediately into Chara’s mysterious, sad ‘reason’ to climb the mountain. Immediately after electing not to ask Frisk if they came here to die. It’s not proof. But. It’s kind of hard to shake that off.

I mean you’re right. CLEARLY Chara wanted to save monsters, and that’s why they came up with this plan. But this plan is stupid painful. Buttercup poisoning is awful. And a child who comes up with a plan to kill themselves like this never thought too highly of their life in the first place.

I think you’re right about why they did it. But I don’t think you’re correct about cutting Chara’s self-loathing out of the equation completely. It might not be why came up with the plan. But I think it’s definitely a factor in whether they thought it was worth it.

For instance, when Asgore sometimes kills himself at the end of the neutral routes, he’s killing himself because he wants to give Frisk the chance to find a way to free his people. But if he really believed that was the biggest hope they had, he would have killed himself when he came to trust Chara and given his SOUL to them. What changed?

He hates himself, he thinks he’s a horrible person, he doesn’t think he deserves to live. He wants to die, and that makes the decision to give up his SOUL easy. Sound familiar?

And it’s not like suicide isn’t rare here. It’s all over the place. Undyne meets Alphys as she’s staring contemplatively into a dark pit and if Mettaton or Undyne die, in the ending, Alphys mysteriously disappears. Toriel tries to trap you in a situation where if you DO get past her, she won’t be lonely and afraid anymore because she’ll be dead. As Flowey, when Asriel gives into despair he destroys himself and, in his own words, ‘decided to follow in your (Chara’s) footsteps.’

I don’t think Chara took Asriel for granted. That just doesn’t make sense to me. *the lab tapes* = “Chara took advantage of Asriel, and was mean and manipulative to him” Chara and Asriel really were best friends. Every source of information about their relationship, besides the tapes, makes that clear to us. The “walk of feels” tells us so. Geno-Flowey tells they played together in New Home. They shared clothes and a room. Asriel had all the toys on his side of the room, while Chara had just a photo, pointed at the head of their bed. Gerson tells us the Dreemurrs’ behaviour embarrassed Asriel and Chara. Chara had secrets about themselves that they privately revealed to Asriel, and only Asriel, given that none of the other monsters know what Asriel tells us. The kinds of things Asriel reveals to us about Chara are things that sad children keep secret, revealing only to those they trust. And I think Chara does trust Asriel. After all, he proves himself trustworthy, keeping the secrets, only ever revealing them privately to Frisk after some very significant events. Asriel even has an air of privacy in the last conversation, like he’s revealing private things that aren’t meant to be shared (to the person he says he would replace Chara with, I might add, which is gut wrenching to hear because I think Asriel was the best thing to ever happen to Chara). Asriel also comments repeatedly about how Chara being the only one who ever understood him. I think there were things Asriel told Chara that, either he didn’t tell anyone else, or the he felt only Chara truly listened to. I’m not saying there were no secrets between them (after all, Chara doesn’t talk about why they hate humanity). And what’s more it seems Chara’s (implied) interest in flowers failed them and, despite their knowledge of them, fed them to their new dad and got him really sick. Maybe Chara’s botany didn’t fail them and it was deliberate, but maybe it was a joke, the consequences of which Chara didn’t process and laughed away. Maybe it was when Toriel got upset at the two children, that Chara was forced to realize what they’d done. Maybe that sparked the martyr complex. Chara sounds like a fan of poetic justice, so I can easily see the way they chose to die, and the idea of becoming a martyr in the first place, being related to the poisoning incident. I can imagine a stubborn kid like Chara, and Chara apparently takes after Toriel, who is very stubborn, you don’t listen to your crybaby brother’s fears when you came up with a plan like the buttercup plan. I’m not saying Chara was or wasn’t the greatest person, but at worst, I imagine Chara as like one of the kids from The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson. It’s a story about a girl who lives in a care-home (think orphanage). The kids in the book are sometimes horrible to each other, but despite the kids literally having nothing in common with each other except that they live in the same care-home, there is clearly a shared sense of family between them. You might say some of them are trouble makers, but you wouldn’t (if you had any sense of empathy) call them bad kids.

SLR INSERTION

I have nothing to say here. I think Chara loved Asriel deeply.

#save analysis #save submissions #save asks #submission #suicide mention #self-harm mention

70 notes · View notes