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a-world-of-whimsy-5 · 2 years

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Hyacinthus - Part 6

ʚ Summary : Artemis stops her from learning she knows will only hurt him. Hyacinthus celebrates the big twenty one and then has a run in with a Titan, Zephyrus.

ʚ Themes: Slow Burn | Fluff | Soft | Angst | Loss

ʚ Warnings : Threats of bodily mutilation | Mention of attempted s. assault | PTSD reference | Death | Loss

ARTEMIS POV:

I stopped my twin as soon as he set foot on the balcony. "No."

Apollo was flustered and more than a little angry. This is the first time I have refused him. I could never refuse my brother, but in this matter, what he wanted to do, I had to say no.

Help me. I need to know what Cinthus’s fate is. Please help me.

I will not help you with this. In fact, I need you to promise that you will never seek out knowledge of his destiny.

My brother grew puce. Why?

What would you do if you had that knowledge, hmm? Hunt down all those who wish to hurt him? Spend every moment fretting over gathering shadows and unseen enemies? Waste what precious time you have with him?

He could be gone tomorrow by dawn! This very hour! I need to know!

No! I push him back and use my powers to stop him from leaving. It really hurt, but I had to do it. I will not let you do it. Phoebus!

He stopped, his breath coming out all ragged and harsh. I have never seen my brother behave like this where anyone else was concerned. That look in his eyes, that anguish, that desperation, it was as if Hyacinthus was--

Your other half? My hands go to my mouth. Is he your soul’s other half?

The way he looked at me. How is this even possible? We were Gods. A soul’s other half should not exist for us, but this was a matter for another time. Right now, I had to stop him from doing something reckless and foolish.

Apollo, you must not go to the Fates. They have not forgotten that stunt you pulled with Hermes. Remember? When the two of you got them drunk so that you could meddle with Admetus' fate? The crones do not forget such acts; they will only plague you with riddles and half-truths, leading you by the nose, just to get back at you.

That got to him, I think. Sensing the futility of his cause, my brother collapsed onto a stool and buried his hands in his hair. I am afraid, sister. I have this feeling in me that this is not going to last much longer.

Can you not see it? I crouch next to him and try to peer into his thoughts. Anything connected to Cinthus and his future faded abruptly into nothingness. Someone very powerful was preventing us from seeing. The Fates, no doubt, already getting back at my brother for what he did. My throat tightened. I peered into the bedroom, and my eyes actually stung. Cinthus was not going to be with us for long.

Apollo shook his head. Every time I get close, it feels like a great wall drops in front of me to stop me from seeing beyond. He looked at me, his eyes filled with golden tears. What do I do? Should I tell him?

No. Cinthus will always be looking over his shoulder. Let him enjoy the most of what little time he has left. My brother nodded in agreement. As for what you could do? Love him. I said. Maybe he truly has only one hour left on this earth, and how do you want to spend that hour? Fretting over every shadow or making the most of every last second with him?

My brother looked like he had decided. I will not seek out the Fates. It is all right, sister, you can go now.

First things first. But only after you swear an eternal vow to not interfere with his fate.

Sister…

Swear it! I held onto his arm and refused to let go. Swear that you will not meddle!

My brother sighed, his shoulders slouched in defeat. Help me with the words then.

I did it carefully, leaving nothing to chance. Apollo winced as he repeated every word I said, for there were no weaknesses for him to find, no crack to wriggle through. Finally, we were done, and a silvery star gleamed in the centre of his chest. Go. I heard sheets rustling, a body stirring, lips forming my brother’s name. He searches for you.

Is Hyacinthus truly not long for this world?

Hermes was here, and he, too, was upset. Over the past few months, we had both come to see Hyacinthus as a brother of sorts, our newest comrade. The knowledge that he would not be with us for much longer was too much for even me to bear. Yes. I put an arm around my half-brother. But do not say a word. Let them enjoy what little time they have left together.

For once, Hermes sniffed and made a vow not to gossip.

HYACINTHUS POV:

Finally, spring surrendered to summer. My birthday dawned bright, crisp, and hot. Father threw a feast after we had made the necessary sacrifices for the Gods.

Many came up to wish me, with just as many asking when I hoped to marry, asking if I would like to be introduced to the noble maidens they knew. I politely refused, and when they turned to my father, he simply said, if he's not interested, then he’s not interested. Many were confused by this, but the others, older and much wiser, understood without having to be told further. They bobbed their heads and went back to eating and drinking.

The mid-morning feast had been splendid, as was the private dinner mother had planned for when the twins and Hermes dropped by.

Hermes was very well behaved, although that could have been due to the vow he swore, promising not to make off with anything that belonged to us. He stretched out by the fire while I opened my presents.

First, there was a beautiful bow, with gold inlay that gleamed in the light. This was from Artemis, and the quiver was filled with sleek arrows. They all bore the mark of Hephaestus, and I would neither miss nor run out of arrows. Next was a box of rare coins from Hermes, from countries as far off as Taprobane and even further than that, from a land famous for its silk. "My lord?" I pointed to the crest on the box. It had been taken from someone else. Hermes' reddened cheeks were proof of it. I grinned and accepted it all the same. Hermes was who he was. Nothing was going to change that.

Then there were the traditional gifts from my parents, given to all Spartan men on their twenty-first birthday. A traditional Spartan helmet with a horsehair plume that had been stiffened and dyed a deep rich red, a shield and spear. I would now carry these if we went to war again. Poly gave me a bracelet she made herself, then made herself content talking to Artemis.

When he and I were alone, Apollo gave me the most beautiful aulos I had ever seen, something he had fashioned with his own hands. We then lay down on the balcony of my room, under the stars, with him pointing out those that were made immortal by the Gods.

"Herakles," he pointed to a constellation. "Athena herself brought him to Olympus. He now guards the gates to our realm."

And Apollo was the one that set the twelve labours on him, so he could atone for murdering his family. "And that?"

"Kheirôn," the centaur of legend. "Father brought him to Olympus to teach his growing brood."

"He died just after the Trojan war, didn’t he?" I rested my head on his chest, my heartbeat slowing down with every breath he took. "I heard he taught Herakles and Achilles."

Apollo flinched. "My love? Is something wrong?"

"It is the reminder of Achilles," he said quietly. "I pushed Patroclus off the wall."

Apollo sighed. "Patroclus tried to scale the walls of Troy. If he had, it would have roused the Argives into pushing through." Apollo looked ashen from what he had done. "I pushed him off the wall, stripped his armour off of him. Made it easy for Hector to kill him. It was cowardly, I see it now. Patroclus fought bravely, and with honour. He deserved a better death."

I just listened. The Gods had a direct role in the war, and to hear something resembling regret from one of them...

"I sided with the Trojans. Father’s orders. He favoured the Trojans and wanted to support them. I was given clear orders. And I followed them. And Troy still fell." Apollo sighed and raised my hands to his lips. "All of that grief because Paris could not keep his hands off Helen. She is there too," he pointed to the sky. "With Menelaus."

According to legend, it was she who went with Paris willingly. Artemis said it was actually Paris who abducted a very unwilling Helen. "Was she happy after that? Helen?"

"Traumatized would be a better word." Apollo ran his hand over my chest, his breath hitching when mine went over his thigh. "And she cursed Paris till the day she died."

He carried me to bed after that, our hands and lips going over the bumps and lines that had become so dear to us. It was well past midday when he finally left.

APOLLO POV:

The memory came back again, this time sharper and clearer than before.

It was in Troy, with the Argives being slaughtered after Father dropped the scales to honour a debt he owed Thetis. The smell of steel, flesh, and burning wood filled my lungs, and that voice in the darkness grew clearer now. This time I could see fired gold hair whipping in the wind, and sea green eyes spitting fire and malice at me.

"But I swear, here and now, a time will come when all your hopes will dash to the ground, and your joy will become like ash in your mouth. A time when your dreams will burn to cinders and all that you have longed for will come to nought. When that day comes, I will drink to your suffering."

I opened my eyes with a start. I never bothered with the ravings of angry mortals, but this, this settled in my heart like a flame.

A time will come when all your hopes will dash to the ground, and your joy will become like ash in your mouth.

Hyacinthus. My joy, now sleeping safely in my arms. What will I do when I lose him?

I remembered my sister’s words and fought back the feeling of gloom growing in my heart. Whatever amount of time I had with him, I would make the most of it.

HYACINTHUS POV:

Three days later, I went to the marketplace to meet some friends. When the west wind picked up and dust whirled around us like angry bees, I was joking with them, listening to their stories, their loves and losses, and how we planned on competing for the games. I picked up the scent of something strange.

"Prince of Sparta."

The voice was ugly, and the words came out in hisses, like rough winds whipping around jagged mountain peaks. It had to come from a God, and only one God had ties with the west wind. My friends made their excuses and left.

"My Lord Zephyrus," I said, bowing as deeply as I could. "Would you care for some refreshment? some libation? Perhaps I could take you to the palace, so you could rest?"

"None of that." His voice was rather like the wind of a hurricane. "I wish for your company."

The tone of his voice set my teeth on edge and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand. "How may I be of service to you, my lord?"

He seemed to leer at me, and I did not like it one bit. I sent a quick prayer to the twins, hoping one of them would hear. Zephyrus cocked his head to the side and said, "You will serve me. Or do you need plainer words than that?"

I understood fully. Some Gods were like this, never asking, only demanding, or simply taking. "You flatter me with your attention," I put on my best simpering voice, to soften the blow to his ego. "Truly."

"B-but?" Zephyrus said in a huff.

He would not appreciate it if I refused him, but I must. I could not bear the thought of being with anyone other than Apollo. "I must decline. I am already promised to another, and will not betray them."

"I know who it is. You reek of him, that Olympian prig," he spat in disgust. "Come with me, young man. I will show you a much better time than him."

"My answer is no." I stood up to him, my spine straight. "I belong to Apollo and no other. Kindly leave me, my lord, and trouble me no further."

Zephyrus advanced on me, the wind whipping at his hair in a rage. I guess no one had told him no before. "You dare refuse me, you insignificant worm?"

I backed away from him and realised the streets were now empty. Everyone had gone for their afternoon rest, and I was alone. Damn. "You will give yourself to me, and I will not hear a word against it!"

My palm, the one that was cut when Apollo's vow to me was sealed, burned. "No!" I backed away from him some more, only to find myself being pushed back into an abandoned alley, one that had a dead end. When a wall hit my back, I winced. There was no escape now. I close my eyes and await the inevitable.

Zephyrus was close, his breath on my cheeks, his hand pulling on my arm, and then—

He quickly let go, and the scent of honey and warm summer morning filled my lungs. "He said no, you primitive slug." There was a growl, a loud thud, a struggle of some sort.

I opened my eyes to find Zephyrus pinned to a wall and Apollo in front of him, his arm on his throat. Artemis had her back to me, an arrow already nocked to her bow. Her dogs were on either side of her, snarling and snapping. The Titan squirmed, but Apollo had him in a firm grip. "Leave us, Titan. Leave us and never come back to this place."

"Or what?" Zephyrus had not been bested by an Olympian and looked humiliated. "What will you do? Sing to me?"

"No singing for the likes of you." Apollo snarled. "I will simply beat you to a bloody pulp, and my sister will geld you and feed your parts to her dogs. What say you, sister? Will you be up for the challenge?"

"I look forward to it," Artemis said with a vicious smile.

"There, you see? My sister is looking forward to it. How will you feel pleasure again?" Apollo’s eyes narrowed to slits when Zephyrus struggled again. "How will you face your fellow Titans again?"

That got to him, the shame of being emasculated by a bastard child of Zeus. Zephyrus tried to speak, to reason and compromise perhaps, but Apollo cut him off. "Be gone West Wind. Never bother us again."

Time seemed to stand still. Titan and Olympian glared at each other like two rival lions circling a kill until, finally, Zephyrus growled again before yielding and vanishing.

I tried to breathe, to speak, but the world grew dizzy. I was nearly assaulted by a God and he would have gotten away if the twins had not turned up when they did. It was too much. It was all too much. My knees buckled.

"Cinthus!"

"I have him," Apollo murmured, and lifted me. Everything shimmered, and I found myself in my bedroom. I was stripped of my clothes, washed, and then taken to bed. There was humming, and the pain in my hand disappeared. Soft pillows greeted me, and strong arms went around me. "Thank you," I whispered and buried my face in his chest. The warmth of his skin soothed me, the sweet scent of honey lulling me to sleep.

"Anything for you," He whispered back. "Rest, my love, you need it."

APOLLO POV:

We heard neither hide nor hair of Zephyrus after that. I heard no gossip from other Gods, and neither had Hermes. Had Zephyrus backed off for good?

I pushed him and the growing feeling of dread out of my mind and focused on Hyacinthus instead. He had grown quiet and withdrawn, always fearful if I was not around. I tried to be with him as much as I could, to make him feel safe. I asked if he wanted to tell his parents, but he refused. He said it would only endanger everyone if his father took it into his head to challenge Zephyrus, and challenge Zephyrus he would if he knew what happened to his son. I respected his wish and tried to come up with as many distractions as I could for him.

Today I took Hyacinthus to an old orchard away from the city—one that had been abandoned and allowed to grow wild. "Don't worry, my love," I brushed back his hair as we sat beneath an ageing olive tree. "You are safe now."

"Gods do not take kindly to such rejections," Hyacinthus rested his head under my chin and sighed. "Especially the likes of him."

There was that feeling of dread again. "Ignore him," I leaned in for a kiss, my smile growing at the need in his eyes. "Later."

He blushed and reached into the pack I had brought with me. "Discus?"

"Why not?" I helped him up. "You could do with the practise before the games."

"First one to throw the fastest wins?"

I picked one out for myself and grinned. "Deal."

Nothing seemed untoward as the morning progressed. We took turns teasing each other, throwing the discus as far as we could. I taught Hyacinthus a few pointers, helped him improve his throw. I came back to my pack for another discus after having shattered my first one by accident. "Look!" Hyacinthus called out to me. "Look at how far mine is going!"

I grinned, ready to indulge him. Something then changed. I felt like we were being watched by jealous eyes, angry eyes. The wind felt foul, unnatural, like something else was in command of it.

If I cannot have him, then no one can!

Zephyrus. I dropped the pack just as the wind changed direction again, and then—

Bone shattered. The smell of blood filled the air. A body collapsed. I got to Hyacinthus before he hit the ground. I tried to heal him, to revive him, but his life-force continued to spill out of him. I heard cackling. The Fates. This was Hyacinthus' final destiny.

There was a wail, loud and unnatural, shattering the peace of the grove. It was mine. There were pleadings and screams, and tears, hot and stinging, like a million tiny blades. They too, were mine. "Hyacinthus," I whispered, between ragged sobs. "My heart. Do not leave me."

Hyacinthus' eyes flickered open, briefly, and they already glazed over. "A-apollo..." He fought for each breath. "I-I -." He fought hard, but he was already losing. Death had him in its grip.

I barely have time for a final farewell. "Do not speak. Just listen." I kissed his hands repeatedly. "I am grateful to you. Every moment with you has been a blessing, and I would not have it any other way. I love you. I will always love you and no one else. That was my vow to you."

He smiled. His hand, weak and trembling, tried to reach up to me, and then, he was gone.

Hyacinthus. My joy. The light of my life.

And whose passing has plunged my world into bitter darkness.

#apollo and hyacinthus #apollo #hyacinthus #greco roman fics #greco roman pantheons #greek gods #writing #creative writing #writeblr #amwriting #a world of whimsy writes #greco roman tales #greek mythology #greek mythology fanfiction

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tornsurvivors · 2 years

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❝ 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 '𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑒... 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑, 𝐼 𝑎𝑖𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙. ❞

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄: Alicia Marion Walker 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐒: Deadeye / Wild Ace 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘: August 16th 𝐀𝐆𝐄: (verse dependent) Mid-twenties to mid-thirties. 𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘: Demisexual 𝐄𝐘𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑: Sky blue 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑: Blonde 𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓: 5′10″ 𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄: athletic / toned 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐒: In a relationship with Bella Johnson. 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘: Clyde Walker (father, alive). Eleanor Price (mother, alive). Winnifred Price (grandmother, alive).

𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘: Her parents met when Clyde (an outlaw) was on the run from the law at the age of nineteen. He had broke in Eleanor’s (daughter of a high society lady) home to hide. Eleanor was eighteen by the time and home alone. She had almost gave him away to the law, but she just saw something in Clyde’s soft blue eyes-- something more than a lowly criminal. She had the talent of reading people and sensing whether they’re good or bad. Clyde was far from bad. He was just a boy trying to survive in the cruel world. So, she allowed him to hide and sent the law away.

They later fell madly in love and Eleanor was conceived with Alicia.

However... Winnifred Price, Eleanor’s mother, had a problem with the fact that Clyde was an outlaw and that her daughter fell in love with someone of a lower class. She was enraged when she found out Eleanor was pregnant and vowed that the child-- later known as Alicia --would not live to see a future. Winnifred had considered her an ‘evil abomination’ because of Clyde and the rough life he’s lived. Eleanor decided to run away one night with Clyde when she was five months pregnant, being so fed up with her mother’s nasty treatment and attitude towards her. Four months later, she gave birth to Alicia in a small cottage by the lake just miles outside of Rhodes. They were happy for the first year and half, till they were faced with money problems. Eleanor decided to return to Saint Denis to try get back into her mother’s good graces just to get her money back. Clyde agreed that Eleanor deserved the money more than her mother did. So, while Eleanor went back to Saint Denis, Clyde raised Alicia with the help of his sister. Eleanor still would come back to visit them in secret every now and then to ensure her family was alive and well, of course. She would send money to them via personal delivery.

It wasn’t till Alicia was eight years old, that Winnifred found out Eleanor had lied to them about Clyde and Alicia’s deaths. So, the crone decided to pay a gang to assassinate them. It was also the first time Alicia had fired a gun, when one of the gang members had tracked them down and snuck in to kill them, only to be shot by the eight years old Alicia. Shaken up, Clyde hastily wrote a letter to Eleanor, warning her of what had happened and that they would have to flee the state. Eleanor in turn, was enraged and sought revenge on her mother. She succeeded by finding a way to make Winnifred seem like she was mentally ill and had her sent away.

Alicia was raised to be a decent human being, Clyde had decided to teach her how to use guns when she became ten years old and trained her. It’s how she became the well-known ‘Deadeye’ in all of New Austin. Thanks to Clyde and his sense of morality, Alicia had a passion in helping those less unfortunate than her and with the increasing numbers of vicious gangs in the west, Alicia decided to become a bounty hunter at the age of eighteen-- trained by Camille Davis, the legendary bounty hunter and a good friend of Clyde’s. The murder of her aunt (Clyde’s sister) was part of the biggest reason why she decided to become a bounty hunter.

She would often visit her mother in Saint Denis whenever possible, they also had a healthy mother and daughter relationship, very much unlike Eleanor and Winnifred. Even though Eleanor helped Alicia become rich, Alicia still sought to make money on her own as well-- through bounty hunting and the moonshine business. Eleanor had graciously accepted that Alicia preferred the wild life outside of Saint Denis, knowing well that Clyde had taught her how to survive out there.

One day, when Alicia was twenty-five years old... Winnifred had returned, surprisingly. She was supposedly ‘healed’ and came to terms with how horrible she was acting towards her own daughter. However, Eleanor and Alicia did not buy it and turns out they had assumed correct. Winnifred had the plan of trying to turn Alicia to her side and tried to bribe her into turning to the high society life. Tried to brainwash her, so she’d turn against her own father. Alicia’s only answer to her was: “Listen ‘ere, you vile crone... an’ listen real good, I ain’t high society material. Mother deserved better than you. So, you can take yer dirty money an’ go burn in hell.”

#ALICIA WALKER » the bounty hunter #ALICIA HC » one hell of a deadeye

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tamrielarchive · 4 months

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Mehri awakes after a long nights sleep to the sound of warriors bustling around about her. She feels stiff as a log and her joins crack as she pulls herself out of bed. She gets her stuff together and shakes herself awake listening to the conversations of the companions around her. Some of the lazier louts still snore loudly in their cots.

By the light of a hanging candle Mehri takes a moment to write a small letter. Using her journal she scribbles down some notes about where she's been and where she's going before tearing the page out. She folds it up and tucks it away in her pocket and takes her leave from the musty basement.

As Mehri heads upstairs and finds the hall sparsely populated. Most of the warriors seem to be sleeping in. As she takes a turn towards the door she runs into a new face. The man looks remarkably similar to Vilkas, enough to be his twin brother. He approaches her curiously, Farkas: "Hmm, You must be the new blood everyone's yapping about. You're at it early? Where you headed to?" M: "Oh just into town I guess. Gonna look for some work. Are you Vilkas's brother?" F: "Mhm. If you're looking around for something to do we've got word of some trouble. Bandits holed up at Redoran's Retreat to the west. Up for it whelp?" M: "Ah! I'll take care of it then. Some bandits wont be much trouble." F: "Haha, I like your spirit. Hope to see you back here soon then." The young man wanders off towards the dining table leaving Mehri to her own devices. Mehri steps out of Jorrvaskr to find a light morning shower greeting her. The rain is cool and refreshing but it isn't long before she attempts to take cover under the large twisting tree at the center of the plaza. Although slightly under cover the rain still pitters down on Mehris face. She thinks to herself that perhaps it would have been better to take cover under a tree with leaves. For a moment Mehri gets lost in thought, enjoying the smell of the morning air. Her face goes numb from the cold of the rain. Her mind is so muddled by the senses around her she barely notices as a woman in a blue robe approaches. As the priest walks by and up to the tree Mehri shakes herself from her haze.

The woman begins to pray for a moment before turning to Mehri, the two look at each other and back at the tree. Danica: "It's a shame isn't it..." M: "The tree? Yeah it looks.. unhealthy." D: "It's called the Gildergreen. It was planted as a sapling in the early days. Deciples of Kynareth could sense the winds of the goddess in its branches. Many pilgrims would come to see the tree, they built the temple to our lady. Not so much anymore though." M: "Why not? The temple's still here isnt it?" D: "A dead tree isn't so inspiring. The divine of wind and rains is the mother of life and we need a living tree to be our symbol." M: "Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense. Whats wrong with it?" D: "It was wounded. Struck by lightning. I would try to tend to it, but the process would be long, and there are many wounded from the war I have to care for."

M: "How would you go about that? Reviving a dead tree?" D: "The Gildergreen is ancient. It's parent tree, the Eldergreen was but a seedling when the first men came from the north. Its sap is potent, and can revive even barren fields. I'm sure I could revive it if I could get that sap." M: "Ah. I could help with that. My name is Mehri, and I am one of the companions, I suppose it would be my job to aid the citizens of Whiterun." D: "Even if you could get to the tree you wouldn't be able to cut it. Not even skyforge steel can cut the bark of the Eldergleam. You'd need to tap into the old magics to wound it. That means dealing with the hags. Those old crones terrify me, or I'd have already tried." M: "Sounds like a problem I can take care of." D: "Your spirit is strong, Mehri. Thank you. The hags are located at a place called Orphan Rock, just south of Riverwood. You'd be looking for a knife. I hear they call it 'Nettlebane' and use it for sacrificing spriggans. You can find me at the temple if you need anything, My name is Danica Pure-Spring. May Kyne's winds guide your path."

The robed woman gives Mehri a quick bow before heading back towards the temple. Mehri lingers at the tree for a moment waiting for the rain to let up, though she quickly grows impatient. She meanders around town finding her way to the more affluent manors of the city. As the rain continues to pitter on the cobbled streets a large statue of Ysgramor looms over the wind district. There a lone redguard man is patroling the plaza, a familiar face. Mehri approaches sensing an opportunity.

M: "Hey you!" Mehri approaches the man and greets him with a little wave. Amren: "Can I help you?" M: "I saw you around yesterday, arguing with your wife. You need hired help yes?" A: "Ah. Yes, I do. My name is Amren. I lost my family sword, but I've tracked it to a den of thugs nearby. I want to go get it but my wife, Saffir, she wont have it." M: "I would be glad to help then. No use in risking your life over one sword." A: "I know. I'm not an idiot. My father fed my family with the gold he made using that sword. I just cant let it gather dust in some bandits cave." M: "I can take care of it." A: "I'd be in your debt then. You'd be headed just east of the city in a little cave called White River Watch, it's not far. Good luck out there, and stay safe. It'd be nice to have another friendly face around to bring some warmth to this frozen wasteland" Amren chuckles and gives Mehri a soft pat on the shoulder. He takes a deep breath and sighs before continuing his patrol, wandering off towards the cloud district. The morning rain continues to pitter down. Mehri takes shelter under a small roof and pulls out her map. It doesn't take her long to locate the locations of the camps on her map and formulate a route. She sets out with a skip in her step, hopeful she can take care of two jobs in one day.

As Mehri passes by the gates to the city she loiters for a moment, sheltering under the walls waiting for the rain to die down. Eventually the last of the morning trickle fades away and soon after the gates lumber open. Through comes in a small group of travelers, but Mehri only has her eyes on one. She approaches a scrawny nord lad that seems to be in a hurry, wearing a hefty couriers satchel. She retrieves the crumpled note from her pocket. Thrusting her hand out at the boy as she steps in his way she offering him a fistful of septims. M: "Ay boy you can take this to Riverwood yes? Take it to the trader, they will know who to give it to." The boy is startled but quickly nods and snatches the letter from her. After counting the coin the lad gives Mehri a big grin before running off further into the city. Mehri turns and strolls out the gate of Whiterun. The morning sun peaks its head from behind the fading rain clouds. A faint mist begins to form over the plains of the hold. Mehri jogs down the road, excited to finally get out of the city.

#elder scrolls #skyrim #tes v skyrim #the elder scrolls #storytelling

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ncody · 2 years

Text

Long Fall Break

Characters

Mom

Null, son

Fiero, friend of Null

Luke, friend of Null

The Crone

[Mom, Null, Fiero, Luke enter the Cabin stage right, carrying baggage.]

Mom. Here we are. Hope it’s all still in one piece!

Null. Whoa! Smells like rotten eggs in here!

Luke. Oh, that’s nasty. Smells like something rotten.

Fiero. Yea. Whew! Smells like something died in here.

Luke. It smells like more than one thing died in here.

Fiero. It smells like something died, was brought back to life, and then it swallowed raw sewage and died again.

Null. It smells like Fiero’s feet after soccer practice!

Mom. Enough! Sweetie, open the windows. And the ones in the kitchen too.

Null. Yes, your Highness. [Exits stage left to the kitchen].

Fiero. Don’t open the windows! [Everyone pauses]. You’ll contaminate the entire world!

Mom. Let’s turn on these fans too. There’s the switch.

Null. [returns with a plastic bowl] Found ‘em. Three dead mice. [Shows everyone the bowl] They were all huddled together. As if they were bracing for impact.

Luke. Impact from what?

Null. From Death. [Laughter for all others]

Mom. Poison maybe. Throw those outside in the trash. The bowl too. [Null exits stage left]. There, it’s clearing up already. It’ll be better before too long. Now look, you are Null’s best friends. See if you can talk some sense into him, would you please? He’s had a rough spell. You know that better than anyone. Use these three days wisely [Null re-enters] By Monday, you’ll all be back bracing for the impact of your final exams. [Gives washing hands gesture to Null] Soap and hot water, in the kitchen, now.

Null. Yes, your Majesty.

Mom. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with some breakfast for you guys. Don’t stay up too late because you promised to help with the weeding tomorrow.

Fiero. Give me the weed cutter and I’ll flattened the lot in an hour!

Mom. Fiero, you’re an angel. Now everyone, before I go, I know ya’ll don’t wanna hear this, but we gotta go over the ground rules one last time. [Collective groans]

Null. [Null re-enters from kitchen] Collective groans! The Three Nos!

Mom. Yea, yea, yea. Listen. No drugs or alcohol: I promised I wouldn’t search your bags, so this is an honors system. Number two, no swearing. Keep it clean, ok? Number three, No Phones! At least until Monday morning. Those things are making mush of your brains. I pity your generation. Try it Mom’s Way J

Fiero. Huddle up! [The three friends huddle up.] “Let’s get this done!”

Mom. That’s the spirit! If you’re looking for something to do, admire the sunset! You won’t have to wait long. Smooches, Muah! Muah! Muah! Be good! [exits stage left]

Null. [Slouching in a chair] I can’t believe we actually agreed to this.

Luke. Ah, it won’t be so bad. Maybe there’s a boardgame or something we can play.

Fiero. Let’s shoot something! Tell me you guys at least have a BB gun in this place. No? Then what about bathroom cleaner? And some baking soda. I can make a wicked explosion from that stuff.

Null. We’re not supposed to have any fun. It’s against the rules. We’re supposed to suffer and nearly die of boredom. I guess so that we see the value of…I forgot what.

Luke. Not true! Your mom just wants us to uncover--or is it recover--our latest humanity.

Fiero. “Latent humanity.” What we left behind, buried, or whatever, when we started using our phones. Your mom is so philosophical!

Null. I’d rather get caught up on my sleep. Or is that one of the Nos too?

Luke. Dude, you sleep way too much as it is. I’m sure we can find something to do.

Fiero. Halo Apocalypse, that’s my playground. Enjoy your little vacation away from Living Hell, my friends. When we get back to the PX [peering through a sniper scope], your skulls are mine. I don’t know if I can make it three whole days without shooting you guys in the head.

Luke. Because you’re a wussie sniper who is much, much too afraid to engage a close-quarters specialist.

Null. If I don’t get expelled first…

Fiero. [to Luke] Mr. Shotguns, how charming you look through my scope. Shame to make a mess out of your pretty head.

Luke. Three days of trash talking! That sounds productive!

Null. Look, there goes the sunset.

Fiero. It looks like an A bomb!

Luke. Seriously, guys. There’s got to be something to do around here. [searching the cupboard] Hey! This’ll do. Anyone for Risk?

Fiero. Ohhh! World domination, that’s right in my line.

Null. No dice.

Luke. Oh, come on. Let’s play at least one game. It’ll pass the time.

Null. No dice.

Luke. What’s the matter with you? Mr. Depressed, depressive, depressing… Break the spell, bro!

Null. I mean there’s no dice in the box. I remember from last year. We couldn’t play. I don’t know what happened to them. They just weren’t there.

Luke. Major bummer!

Fiero. Maybe we could use a coin? Coin toss to determine battle outcomes instead of a die roll?

[All three pat their pockets but find nothing.]

Null. No nickel. No dime. No quarter.

Luke. Not one red cent. [Fiero and Luke mull around the cabin, searching].

Fiero. Fiero finds the boom box! Not sure how much boom this thing’s got though. It’s pretty tiny!

Null. Good luck finding any music. We cleaned this place out after my dad…[pause] Yea.

[Fiero and Luke exchange looks.]

Luke. I’ll check the kitchen. Might be something in those drawers.

Null. Doubt it.

Fiero. We don’t need no stinking cds, no boom box, we got OURSELVES. [Fiero starts imitating the start to Another One Bites The Dust. Luke returns empty-handed. The beat is contagious. Almost against his will, Null starts to warm up his dance moves. Fiero and Null continue, looking at Luke.]

Luke. I ain’t pulling off no Freddy Mercury. Sorry to disappoint. Gimme something easier. Maybe Johnny Cash?

Fiero. Ok, dig this. [Whistling the opening to “Delirious”]

Luke. I get delirious, whenever your near. Lose all self control baby, just can’t steer…

Null. Hey wait a sec. You guys hear that? [Slight sound of cat’s meow offstage].

Fiero. Hear what?

Luke. Shh!

[Sound of meowing gets a little louder].

Null. Sparkles? [Null runs stage left into the kitchen. Brings back a phone making the meow sounds. Fiero and Luke laugh and point at Null.]

Fiero. Got you, man. You should have seen your face. Sparkles???

Null. You bastards!

Fiero and Luke. Language!

Luke. That’s my backup phone. Did you think Sparkles followed your mom’s truck and ran the entire 90 miles to get here?

Null. Man, it’s a reflex. When I hear my sweetie pie, I just drop everything and serve! Anyway, I thought we agreed, no phones?

Luke. It’s hardly a phone now. No connection. Besides, it’s about 10 years old. I think the Calculator App works. Yep, that’s about it. Multiplication anyone?

Null. You’re multiplying my boredom.

Fiero. Funny, you weren’t supposed to bring your phone, and I wasn’t supposed to bring THESE. [Shakes a small jar of pills].

Luke. Whoa! Not sure I like the sound of that. Shake it again.

Null. Will they help me get to sleep?

Fiero. Get this. I’ve never had one, but these are used to treat schizophrenia. Bomb, right?

Luke. No way. Count me out. Pills that treat illness probably have the opposite effect on the sane, right?

Fiero. Wrong. I googled it. One of them just makes you giggly. Two is like rainbows and unicorns. And three is NOT advised.

Null. Man, I’d rather drink tap water.

Fiero. We can do both. [smiles and gives Null one. Luke holds up two fingers. Fiero and Luke exchange knowing glances.] Uno, dose, tres for me! Down the hatch.

Null. Where the hell did you…

Fiero and Luke. Language!

Null. Get schizophrenia drugs???

Fiero. Online, duh! These are called placebos. [More knowing looks exchanged with Luke].

Null. Isn’t that the stuff that a baby in the womb lives off of?

Luke. Dude, that’s the placenta. [Laughter]

Null. Can’t feel anything yet.

Fiero. Duh! It’s only been 20 seconds. Besides, some of these powerful ones don’t take effect for about 10 years. Then, without even knowing why, you’ll start doing odd, bonkers things, like buying a mini-van and attending Taylor Swift concerts.

Luke. Did the smell go away, or did we just finally get used to it?

Null. Hey, do you guys remember when we fought that orc hunting party in the Underdark?

Fiero. Oh man, and they had a troglodyte! Nobody could swing their swords because we were all retching too hard. It’s really, really is hard to puke and run at the same time. Why didn’t we bring our old D&D books! This long weekend would have been perfect! One last adventure…

Luke. First of all, it’s been ages. Second of all, since Matteo ditched us for freaking West Point, we have no Dungeon Master, and third, if my wizard becomes any more powerful, you’ll all be consigned to shining his boots in retirement.

Null. If we were all puking, how could the orcs stand it?

Fiero. Nose plugs?

Luke. Anyway, you know I was just teasing you. Your cleric had the greatest all time save, bro! Back when my wizard could only cast cantrips. [Extends hands magically] Boil water!

Fiero. The Crone! Yea, what an adventure! Blast from the past. We were on Death’s door there.

Luke. [Points to Fiero]. Your ranger was out of arrows. And blinded on top of it all! My wizard was in the grips of the Crone’s Weeping enchantment. And my brother’s barbarian—Mosh! He named his barbarian Mosh!—was Gold Struck and counting coins in a corner of the dungeon.

Null. Man, Matteo wasn’t pulling any punches with that old witch. No doubt.

Fiero. After you saved the day, everything became more obvious. But up until then…the clues were super subtle. How did you know what to do?

Null. Believe me, I was gripping my mace, ready to go down fighting. She had her back to me too, and I was just about to throw a haymaker. Which we know now wouldn’t have worked at all anyway. And then, I don’t know. Maybe it was how Matteo described her, and yeah, she had scraggly, greasy grey hair, but something about how he described her reminded me of my mom. I don’t know, man! I just had gut feeling.

Luke. Sheer genius! Who decides to cast a heal spell on the enemy in a Boss fight? Heal True, for the win! [fist bump with Null.]

Fiero. Lucky I wasn’t playing the cleric. I woulda swung the mace for sure! [Laughter]

Fiero. [Swatting at a mosquito]. I think the little suckers are more vicious out here. I’ve definitely lost half a pint of blood tonight.

Null. I wish mosquitos were big enough to punch. [Makes a feeble jab].

Fiero. Oh yea, that vicious jab would definitely do the trick. Lucky for them they are so small.

Null. That stuff you gave me still isn’t working.

Fiero. That’s because it was baby aspirin. We were just trying to fake you out; bring you out of the doldrums.

Null. Wouldn’t that be nice. Take one little pill and become a new person, with all new memories.

Luke. Hey, I know something we can try.

Null. As long as it isn’t homework.

Luke. Well, it’s not exactly NOT homework. [others groan] I wrote a one-act play for Mr. Pepper’s Creative Writing class, and I’m not sure about the ending. It’s called Long Fall Break.

Fiero. Sounds like a meteorite! Long…Fall…Break! [acting it out with her hands, then Exits].

Null. Everyone dies, just like the dinosaurs.

Luke. Come on, I’m almost finished.

Null. You and your half-finished projects. They’re never-ending. Literally!

Luke. Hey, at least I start some of them! Look at you, Mr. Living Dead. Besides, it’s basically finished. I just need your feedback on the ending.

Fiero. [Enters carrying a plunger]. Anyone got a headache? Come over here, I can fix that. Just lay down with your ear facing up.

Null. I’m the living dead. I don’t get headaches.

Fiero. Well, you got ears, don’t ya?

Luke. Please, guys! Let me think of the ending here…It starts with the entrance of The Crone.

Null. What? What are you bringing that up for again?

Luke. Because I want to use her in my play. Her Mind Control is such a wicked super power!

Fiero. I’d rather be able to shoot fire…[interrupted by a meow sound, and they all pause] balls.

Luke and Null. [flatly] Language. [All look stage left for the source of the meowing].

Null. Luke, turn that off. Why do you always have to be messing with me?

Luke. [Looking down at his old phone] It’s off. Battery is dead. [Holds up dead phone to Null]

[Null runs off stage—exits stage left—sound of the back door can be heard. Fiero half pursues].

Luke. Man, I’m never gonna get this project done. Let me see. My wizard draws his magic circle [makes gestures on the floor with his hand], performs the spell somatic of the incantation, and intones, “ULU SUL, LAN GOL, HASOMAH!”

[Null shouts off stage] I think there’s someone coming!

Luke. [Sighs] Give me a second, I’ll go get him. [Luke exits. Fiero listens, almost pursues, then pauses center stage].

Fiero. What? You seriously think it’s Sparkles? Quit tripping! You know it was just BABY ASPIRIN, I gave you guys, right?

[A figure cloaked in black rises from behind Fiero. She touches Fiero’s head. Fiero collapses.]

The Crone. What is this place? A theater…Mhmm. Yes, it is. What is the meaning of this? Who brought me THROUGH? [The Crone points to someone in the audience.] Are you at fault?

[Audience member shies away.] Ha, ha. I don’t know what’s going on.

The Crone. Is that why you’re crying? Why are you crying? [Audience member breaks down.]

[Enter Luke.]. Fiero, oh that’s a wicked cloak. Ok, so you stand over here. [The Crone approaches him.] I said stand over here. Wait, where did you get a jedi cloak?

The Crone. Are you the wizard?

Luke. Umm, I’m a college sophomore.

The Crone. Open the door. I said: Open the Door. OPEN THE DOOR!

Luke. Oh god, umm, gesture of the incantation, utter the verbal component, “ULU SUL, LAN GOL, HASOMAH?”

The Crone. [Looks over her should, stage right and sees the door. She casts a spell and Luke begins hopping up and down.]

Luke. Oh, oh, hot feet, hot feet!

The Crone. [Looks up by Lecture Hall entrance] My Other is coming. [She exits through the door, stage right].

[Fiero wakes up and looks confusedly at Luke who is sitting on the stage, fanning his feet.]

[Enter mom carrying a lit birthday cake, followed by Null].

Mom. This was supposed to be a surprise! What were you doing outside?

Null. I thought I heard Sparkles, so I went to check.

Mom. Sparkles??? What would she be doing out here? Sparkles is at home, silly. Probably sleeping.

Null. Long story.

Mom. Well, tell it to me. We have time. But first, let’s all gather round so you can blow out your candles. [Mom and Null stand by Luke and Fiero, center stage].

Null. [Big smile] WORST. BIRTHDAY. EVER!

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 2 years

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If the LOTR characters were majority female instead of majority male, how do you think the story would stay the same? How much do you think the story would change?

I mean, this is one of those where you can kind of do what you want with it.

You could either make everything the same completely or you could make it wildly different. Tolkien's world is such that, and he does say this, it didn't make much sense even for the very powerful female characters in his universe to be a part of the Fellowship. Now, this was just because the world he wrote was the world he wrote, and it didn't have to be that way but when you start getting away from that... Things get a bit loosey goosey in terms of discussing it.

So, this is kind of a weird question to me.

I guess in terms of characters themselves...

Gandalf is a Maia, being an old man is merely the guise he's shackled in. He and the other Istari could easily have been female and they would still be powerful, but bound, and still be eccentric strangers weaving themselves in and out of society.

It just might make it weirder for Men and Hobbits if an old crone is trying to hang out with them and wield a sword than an old man. But wizards being so strange already I imagine it'd be fairly accepted with just a shrug of the shoulders.

Frodo was chosen per the misfortune of being related to Bilbo and inheriting the One Ring. Frodo easily could have been a niece and the Ring ending up in her possession. Frodo, as a woman, would still find her place on the quest.

Sam, Merry, and Pippin might get looks if they insist on joining (as this is not a journey for the faint of heart, will likely involve bloodshed, and not something for female hobbits who have never left the Shire) but they were already woefully unprepared just by being hobbits. I imagine they could stubborn their way onto the quest regardless even as hobbit women.

Aragorn's where things get interesting. As a woman he would presumably not be heir to the line unbroken. Oh, the blood stops with her, but the focus would be on her having a son to reclaim the throne and not on her ruling herself. I imagine there'd be much more focus on female Aragorn daughter of Arathorn finding herself a husband to keep the bloodline alive and she would most certainly not be joining this quest out of duty to this (even if the elves are cool with the idea).

Legolas, too, rather than being a prince is now a princess. She probably stays home in Greenwood and someone else is sent in her place.

Etc. for Gimli with the added bonus that there just aren't that many female dwarves period.

Basically, those races who sent male representatives of importance aren't going to send female representatives of importance when the world of LotR is as patriarchal as it is. The elves are pretty cool with things (they have frighteningly powerful female figures through much of their history and in the third age with Galadriel still hanging about) but Men would consider such a thing to be an insult and there are too few women among the dwarves to risk their dying in this ridiculous quest among the elves.

They weren't going to send women.

If anyone is, it'd be the elves, and there'd probably be much side eyeing from Boromir and Gimli wondering why the woman is sent along (until that woman sings down a tower and then they quake in terror because she's an elf witch!)

#lord of the rings #lord of the rings meta #lord of the rings headcanon #the fellowship #meta #headcanon #opinion

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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 3 years

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Dear Evan Hansen

You may have seen some ~online discourse~ about the film Dear Evan Hansen, an adaptation of the 2016 Broadway musical, and you might have wondered what all the hubbub is about. I mean, it’s a feel good story about a senior in high school, Evan Hansen (Ben Platt), who has some pretty severe anxiety and depression. While trying to fulfill an assignment from his therapist to write a letter to himself, his letter gets picked up by another student, Connor (Colton Ryan) - and later that day, Connor kills himself. Connor’s grieving parents and sister Zoe (Amy Adams, Danny Pino, and Kaitlyn Dever) are desperate to learn more from the boy they think was Connor’s best friend - after all, Connor’s suicide note was a letter addressed to “Dear Evan Hansen.” And, as you can imagine, Evan tells them about the unfortunate mistake and sits with them in their grief as they struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Just kidding! He lies to them, repeatedly, elaborately, expansively for months, constructing an entire false friendship with Connor that never happened, and ingratiating himself into the wealthy nuclear family he never had, in large part because he wants to get into Zoe’s pants! THIS IS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE STORY. Oh, and it’s a musical so there is a lot of singing and crying and singing WHILE crying and sometimes crying and not singing at all. But the #inspiration, you guys.

Things I liked:

Pretty much everything but the story and Ben Platt’s performance. The supporting cast is stacked, and all of them do a great job at elevating material scraped directly out of a diaper worn by someone who just chewed their way through a copy of the DSM-5.

A couple of the songs are damn catchy - “Waving Through a Window” and “You Will Be Found” are standouts for a reason - and here’s the thing, Platt sings them well. But as you’ll discover, there’s a lot more to a movie musical than just singing your part.

Stephen Chbosky, the man behind every deep thought I and a lot of people in my generation had in 2006 after he wrote The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is a pretty good director. I particularly enjoyed the fanvid-type cuts in “Waving Through a Window” in conjunction with the lyrics, and his use of interstitial shots to flashbacks (and sometimes flashforwards!) is a neat little bit of shorthand that I thought was used sparingly enough to be effective.

Amy Fucking Adams. She’s holding on so hard, so desperately to the idea of who her son could have been, rather than the reality of who he was, and she is full of such deep pain that is masked by an almost endless supply of patience with Evan and relentless positivity. All this made me want was Enchanted 2 even worse than I already did.

Super into everything Zoe wears - the costuming department did a great job, and now all I want to do is live in mom jeans and baggy sweaters.

Did I Cry? I teared up a couple of times because I’m not a completely heartless bastard and when Amy Adams offered Evan Connor’s college money, my heart broke for the lie Evan had thrust upon her, and Julianne Moore’s song got me good, because she’s just a single mom to Evan who is doing her goddamn best.

Things I hated more than the time I dropped a frozen gallon container of fruit cocktail on my pinkie toe in my parents’ garage and it turned black and I thought it was gonna fall off:

Ben Platt is 28 years old. He originated the role of Evan Hansen on Broadway, so in many respects it makes sense that he plays the role in the movie, except for the one kinda sorta important thing where he looks like a wizened old crone standing amongst a sea of children doing his best twitching, cringing Hunchback of Notre Dame impression. If you want someone to convincingly play 20 years their junior, hire Paul Rudd. Otherwise, please don’t ask me to believe that this supposed 18-year-old has crow’s feet.

And that twitching nervous energy is a huge part of the black hole at the center of this film - he’s playing to the cheap seats and walking through the halls of his high school like a wet chihuahua. It’s an excruciating acting choice to watch - he doesn’t just have anxiety, he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown seemingly every second of every day. Like honestly, where is only-mentioned-never-seen Dr. Sherman, because this young man’s meds are NOT WORKING DR. SHERMAN.

There’s such a lack of self-awareness on behalf of the writing, directing, and performance by Platt. There’s one song, “Sincerely, Me,” that offers the only glimpse of commentary about what Evan is doing, by pointing out the malicious ridiculousness of him writing a series of fake emails as proof of his and Connor’s friendship.

Also what high schoolers email this much?? I know this was written in probably 2014 or so, but has a bitch never heard of a text? Even a DM? This whole plot is constructed around the premise that high schoolers are just constantly, constantly emailing each other.

Everything - and I mean EV-ER-Y-THING - about Evan’s relationship with Zoe is so creepy and disturbing that with a soundtrack change, this could easily be a horror movie. He attempts to get her to like him by describing to her all the things her brother noticed about her - oh wait, I’m sorry, all the things HE noticed about her while he was skulking in the shadows following her around for years, watching every move she made, and it ends with him singing repeatedly “I LOVE YOU” because following a girl around and never having a conversation with her or knowing her at all is love, right? This was clearly written by the same people who chose “Every Breath You Take” as their wedding song because Sting is hot and they never actually listened to the damn words.

And it gets about 10 billion times worse when Zoe goes to Evan’s house alone, takes him up to his room, and sings “I don’t need reasons to want you” and that was the moment I was that person I hate in a movie theater and I pulled out my phone to Google who wrote the music and lyrics to the musical (we were in the back row of the theater no one was behind me THIS WAS AN OUTRAGE EMERGENCY) and of motherfucking course it was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, 2 men who heard about meeting an actual human woman from a friend one time but otherwise are unfamiliar with the concept.

Lastly, enormous serial killer vibes from Evan sending unlabeled flash drives anonymously through the mail with no note in an attempt to right his wrongs. That’s not catharsis, that’s how the next installment in the Saw franchise starts, with Evan in a Billy the clown doll mask showing up on the screen and asking if you want to play a fucking game.

Also, I know it’s not possible for the narrative to justify this in a way that could be satisfying based on Evan’s actions, but what is with this thing where single working-class mom Julianne Moore is turning down rich people’s money for Evan to go to college? Like, obviously we can’t have that happen in the movie but in real life, fuck your pride! Take those rich people’s money!

I also know how movies work but nothing annoys me more than a giant group of high schoolers all getting beeps and boops to indicate text notifications all at the same time because I don’t know a single person under the age of 55 who keeps their ringer on. That shit is on vibrate AT MOST, and I feel like that’s a millennial thing.

The emotional climax of the film is obviously Evan’s WAY TOO LATE confession, but the idea that it’s prompted by Connor’s family suddenly getting a lot of internet hate is, frankly, laughable. If Sandy Hook taught me one thing, it is that no tragedy is immune from trolls who live only to cause other people devastating emotional pain on the internet. That shit starts day 1. Apparently no one involved in this production has ever been on Twitter?

Also it feels like there should have been a dog somewhere in this movie and there was no dog, so points off for that too.

Perhaps Dear Evan Hansen isn’t nearly as deep as it aspires to be. Perhaps it’s a morality play, a simplistic message of “Don’t lie, kids, lying is bad!” Major studio movies wrap themselves up with a nice bow at the end so everyone can feel good about themselves and leave with a happy ending, but the moronic cruelty on display here makes that feat feel impossible. We’re left with Evan in an orchard, reading Connor’s favorite books and staring into the big blue sky with all the self-actualization he’s earned now as a lil treat. And if Evan Hansen looked like an actual 18-year-old, it would be a lot easier to extend more empathy to him and his not-fully-developed prefrontal cortex, but it’s a little harder with this fully-grown, weathered man who was old enough to remember seeing Liar Liar in theaters.

Dear Evan Hansen,

Get some actual help and a haircut and maybe you can grow up enough to have an actual healthy interaction with any other living person, ever.

Sincerely,

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

#121in2021 #dear evan hansen #dear evan hansen review #dear evan hansen 2021 #ben platt #amy adams #kaitlyn dever #julianne moore #colton ryan #danny pino #movie reviews #film reviews

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drabbles-of-writing · 3 years

Text

A Little Kindness: Chapter 3

AO3 Explanation of AU

Chapters: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

In which Raine meets Hunter years before canon, and decides that a kid like him could use all the help he could get with an uncle like Belos. Even if they couldn't go much, they could try something, couldn't they? Years down the line, Raine is exposed as a traitor to the Emperor's Coven, and they are bound by the brand on their own wrist. Hunter notices. And as to be expected, he has more than a few complaints. It's not a big surprise on who he goes to for help.

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Luz and King were just as perplexed as Hunter, and he didn’t know if he was relieved by that or not. Luz had given him his staff back at least, so he had that.

The death glares from the small demon dog--didn’t that guy have a broken horn last time he checked--he could’ve done without, though.

“Are you sure this isn’t a trap?” King asked Luz for the fifth time, never taking his narrowed eyes off Hunter.

“Eda believed him, so probably not.” Luz shrugged.

“Or the old crone’s losing her touch.” Hunter couldn’t help but add, and in turn got two glares trained on him. “I mean, it’s not, but still.” He added, raising his hands, palms up.

“That’s exactly what someone who was planning a trap would say.” King accused.

“Come on, I’d have way more nuance than that.” Hunter rolled his eyes. “If anything, I’m more suspicious of them being so gung-ho about helping me at all.”

“Why helping? Isn't that what you wanted?” Luz raised a brow.

“Because of basically everything?” Hunter replied. “I was expecting you to agree to help on your own because you do that with everyone. Getting the Owl Lady is more than I bargained for.”

“If this person is so important to you that you came to me for help,” Luz said, stroking a hand down King’s back as he continued to glare. “Then it’s gotta be something serious. And I’m ‘too nice’ to let you go off on your own, or something.” She muttered.

“I--oh.” Hunter blinked slowly, feeling his cardinal hop off his shoulder and onto his knee, pressing its face along his hand resting there. He probably should’ve expected that, Luz didn’t seem like the kind of person to skimp out on offering help to anything that breathed.

But that, of course, still left the question as to why Eda agreed to it.

“Alright kiddies, are we ready to make bad decisions?”

The three turned, Eda, of course, slipping in through the living room doorway in her usual getup, staff clutched her hand. He eyed the owl palisman sitting atop it for the briefest of moments, his twitching hands the only thing betraying him holding back from grabbing it. They’d never help him if he tried to get another one for Belos, and he could never do that to another palisman in front of his cardinal. The urge was still there all the same.

“Always, but why are we helping him with our bad decisions?” King asked, pointing a claw towards Hunter.

“Because he’s our best way in. And he’s the Golden Guard, kid could probably walk the entire Castle in his sleep.” Eda said with a shrug as she breezed by them.

Hunter decided to forgo correcting that in all his years in the Castle, there were still sections of it that Belos had forbidden him from going in at certain times, or he just hadn’t explored nearly enough to remember the layout from memory. In a place like that, he was perfectly content staying in his own little corner.

“Also,” Eda said, turning on her heel and lazily pointing her staff towards Hunter. “Forgot to ask this earlier, but now is as good a time as any. Why do you, of all people, want to help someone like Raine after they betrayed the Coven?” She inquired.

It was a test, Hunter could see one like this set up from a mile away. Belos always phrased his better, made them trickier. He snorted and pushed Eda’s staff out of his face like it was a minor inconvenience.

“I knew them before their betrayal, in a sense.” Hunter said simply. “They did a lot for me, and I want to return the favor. I’m not helping them after they escape the Coven of course, then they’re on their own.” He added quickly. “And I’m not taking unnecessary risks. But I couldn’t not try.”

“Wasn’t asking me in the first place an unnecessary risk? After all, you keep insisting you didn’t need me.” Luz said, brow raised.

“It was a risky caution, not an unnecessary one. This, however,” He waved his hand towards the three of them. “Is getting very close to being one.”

“Well, if you ditch us halfway through, I’ll be sure you live with the guilt for the rest of your life.” Eda said simply.

“Can’t wait.” Hunter said dryly.

“That’s the spirit. C’mon, kids, let's get to the Conformatorium.” Eda said with a grin, jerking her head towards the front door as she began walking again, Luz and King quick to follow with Hunter trailing behind.

“How do you know the BATs, anyway?” Luz asked, scooping up King in her arms as Eda pushed open the front door.

“Old friends of mine. Had a bit of a rebellious streak with them.” Eda said casually, looking back at Luz with a grin and a flicked ear.

Recently, then, Hunter thought to himself. The BATs had been around before Raine was ever considered head of the Bard Coven, but they hadn’t gained notoriety until around the time Raine got promoted, and Eda was most certainly not someone who could keep a rebellion like that a secret for long if she was in it, they would’ve found out before now. But she didn’t exactly sound or look like someone who was lying to them.

So he figured out three things at that moment. That Eda’s time with the BATs had been recent and brief, that neither Luz nor King knew about it, and that she clearly must have known Raine beyond sharing a conversation in passing. Which already brought up a whole list of questions, his biggest one being how well exactly Eda had known Raine. Because she clearly worried about them enough to immediately trust a stranger who’d done nothing but torment her when he came to her kid for help to rescue them, but that might have just been loyalty to a leader.

Maybe Eda was a new member, and looking to break out her old rebellion buddies to kickstart their plans again.

“Don’t you live in a rebellious streak?” Hunter snarked instead, holding out his staff and letting his cardinal hide in his hood as he pulled it up. The guards at the Conformatorium would recognize him with the mask on.

“A slightly different rebellious streak, then.” Eda rolled her eyes, taking King from Luz and setting him on the staff in front of her as Luz climbed on behind her.

He’d have to keep an eye on her, Hunter thought as he narrowed his eyes. He didn’t trust a word she said about leaving Raine alone once they were rescued, and he didn’t put it past her to grab Raine and start the BATs up again after they had already been through more than enough danger.

Raine never exactly seemed like the type who’d stand their ground when egged on by someone like the Owl Lady, and he’d be damned if they were put right back in prison because of this lady.

He’d make sure of this before they parted ways, of course. Raine would handle themself after he gave his warnings and made sure the Owl Lady wouldn’t bother them. Precautions.

Eda shot off on her staff just as Hunter situated his hood, muttering to himself as he swung his leg over his staff. And promptly teleported right next to the three.

King yelped and almost went teetering right off the staff if Eda hadn’t grabbed him. Hunter grinned gleefully and lay lazily across his staff as he flew beside them.

“How’s it going?” He teased, ignoring Luz’s over-exaggerated eye roll.

“Sorry, kid, but I can’t take you seriously when I know you’re a teenager.” Eda said, glancing back at Luz and sharing a look.

“Oh, sure, blame me for being born at the wrong time. My bad, I’ll be better next time.” Hunter huffed.

“Blame is more on Belos, really. What, guy couldn’t find enough crazies, so he threw in a kid with a fancy staff?” Eda gestured towards the staff he was laying across. “Guy’s really running out of ideas.”

“I am sixteen, that's not that young.” Hunter grumbled, sitting upright on his staff again.

“As far as I’m concerned, everyones a kid till they hit twenty-five.”

“That’s because everyone's young compared to you.”

“I already regret waking up.” King groaned, thunking his head on Eda’s staff. Luz appeared to share his sentiment.

“You didn’t have to come along. In fact, I insisted that you didn’t.” Hunter said pointedly.

“Well, hey, now you know for future reference to not bother me before the crack of dawn.” Luz sneered. “But looking at the bags under your eyes, this is probably lunchtime for you.”

“I’m going to beat you over the head with that dog of yours.” Hunter threatened.

“You will not.” Eda warned.

“Try and stop me. I dare you. See how that works out.”

“I’m not fighting a child. That’s immoral and below me.” Eda said simply, which he did not believe for a second, poorly attempting to hide a smirk.

“I am sixteen--”

They made it to the Conformatorium in one piece. Miraculously.

They’d landed a safe distance from the prison, and Hunter had a fairly ridiculously difficult conversation explaining that no, he cannot just teleport anywhere. He has to know where he’s teleporting to, and it has to be nearby. He hasn’t been in the Conformatorium nearly enough to know where to teleport to, and the guards would have seen him by how close he’d have to be to teleport inside.

“You’re the Golden Guard, just walk in.” Luz muttered.

“But then someone will end up telling Belos that I was at the Conformatorium, because nobody in this Titan-forsaken Coven can ever keep their mouths shut.” Hunter hissed, getting more and more riled up by the minute. “And it’s not like I know who I’m looking for. You can’t expect me to find these BATs by just shouting their names and hoping nobody comes checking and that no other prisoners pretend those are their real names to escape.”

“I thought we were also rescuing the other prisoners?” King looked up at Eda.

“I’m working on it.” Eda assured him.

“I should really just go back to the Castle.” Hunter growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is already too much effort and we aren’t even at the ‘rescuing Raine’ part.” His cardinal chirped from within his hood but otherwise remained still.

“Then go,” Luz said unsympathetically before turning to Eda. “How well of a distraction do you think you could pull?”

“An amazing one, but I’m not letting you kids go in without me.” Eda said firmly. “King, you up for being extra adorable this morning?” She asked, looking down at the demon.

“Do I have to?” King whined. “They always pinch me too hard and it stings for forever!”

The three argued back and forth, Hunter’s eyes darting between who was speaking as his insulted disbelief grew. He didn’t think he could be even more embarrassed that the Emperor’s Coven was being beaten by these three nutjobs, and yet, here he was.

He gave up after barely another minute of their debating on how ‘adorable’ King would have to be to distract the guards and scooped up a rock from the ground. He peered out from behind their hiding spot and watched the two guards at the entrance to the Conformatorium standing about, likely exhausted from having the early morning shift.

He threw the rock off to the side, but significantly closer to them than he and the Owl House residents were. One of the guards perked their head up towards the sound and nudged the other, gesturing towards the side of the pathway where they had heard the noise. Their buddy didn’t look thrilled, but the two of them mosied off from their guarding positions and off to peer over the path to see what had made the noise.

Hunter looked back to the three, who had at some point stopped arguing and started watching him, all staring at him in surprise. Without his deadpan expression changing, he gestured grandly to his perfectly executed plan with a careless “ta da.”

“Wow,” King was the first to speak. “I knew the Coven was full of idiots, but this is kinda sad.”

“We’re working on it.” Hunter said through gritted teeth. “Come on,” He jerked his head, darting out of their hiding place and silently racing past the guards, ducking through the Conformatirum’s doorway while pressing his back to the wall.

The others followed right behind. With slightly less quiet footsteps, but the guards were busy talking, so they thankfully hadn’t noticed as they all slipped inside.

“Good thing I’ve been here before.” Eda said, cracking her fingers. “Once we reach where the cells are, we split up.”

They all nodded and followed Eda as they hurried through hallways, ducking into other connecting passageways when a guard passed or finding themselves (badly) hidden behind a tapestry or using Eda’s (and Hunter’s staff once) to hide on the ceiling. Hunter never knew he could get so much more disappointed with the recruits of the Emperor’s Coven until he saw just how little they noticed from the most obvious band of idiots he knew.

When they did reach the cells, Hunter took a minute to glance over them with a slight frown. He’d been there once or twice, and he recalled there being more prisoners than there are now. Nearly all of them were empty, with only one form or two seen through the bars every once and a while. He wondered what happened to all the prisoners he’d seen before.

“Alright, everyone stay quiet.” Eda instructed. “Just find the BATs and alert everyone else as subtly as possible, we don't need the whole place rushing down on us.” She said, looking at Hunter as she did so.

“I know what I’m doing.” Hunter huffed, holding his staff closer and curling a lip, exposing a fang. “Let’s just hurry this up.” He sighed, already rushing off as the others split in opposite directions to scour the cages.

The few prisoners he did see he swore really came in all shapes and sizes, none of them the run-of-the-mill con he was expecting. They just looked weird, really. He had kept his mask off, mostly in the worry that someone would recognize him by it and report it to Belos, and the looks the prisoners gave him made him uneasy. Their expressions ranged from sad to surprised to pleading, and he could still so clearly remember the hatred he’d seen from them during his last visit, just a little over a year ago, when he wore his mask.

He refused to look at them and simply asked a blunt “are you with the BATs?” to every cell with a prisoner inside he passed, not even slowing down or pausing as he did so.

“Oh, hey,” He heard Luz’s voice, lifting his head and realizing she was actually quite a few cells ahead of him, talking at a regular voice level instead of the whispering she should’ve had. “You’re the fanfiction witch!” Luz said cheerfully.

“Shh!” Hunter hissed, darting up beside Luz in a flash and flattening his ears. “We’re trying to be quiet here, you know.”

“Hey, Luz!” One of the prisoners came up to the bars, a witch somewhere around his age, but taller and with fangs that poked out of her mouth. “I know you kinda already did me a solid, but do you think you could get us out a second time?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.” Luz waved it off, already reaching for the levers by the bars. “I can probably get them this time. How’d you get back in there, anyway?”

“Hold on!” Hunter hissed, holding out an arm and blocking Luz’s reach. “We’re here for the BATs, remember? Not random people.”

“She is not a random person, I know her.” Luz said confidently.

“Do you know her name?” Hunter raised a brow.

“...we’ve met before, it counts.”

“And now I suddenly understand deserters.” Hunter mumbled.

“Hey, wait, we are the BATs.” The girl said, waving her hand out of the bars. “We just got here, like, last week.” She said, pointing with a thumb behind her.

Hunter spared a glance, noting two other witches, one of them possibly slightly older than him, and the other appearing closer to Luz’s age, with cylinder-like ears and purple skin. Both of them were looking at Luz and Hunter expectantly.

“Uh huh,” Hunter said disbelievingly. “And why would we believe that?”

“Hunter!” Luz protested.

“They could just be lying to get out.” Hunter reminded.

“Even if they are, I’m not just leaving them!” Luz pushed Hunter aside, reaching for the lever and pulling at it.

“I’m done. I’m out, you guys are on your own.” Hunter threw up his hands and began walking back the way he came. “I tried my best, but clearly we aren’t getting to Raine like this any time so--”

“Katya? There you are!”

And of course Eda knew them.

Hunter stopped short of a loud groan as he looked back over his shoulder, seeing Eda appear from further up the line of cells and stop outside the one Luz was still struggling to open. The three caged witches' eyes lit up in recognition when they saw her, and Hunter felt like ripping hair out.

“Here, you're pulling it wrong.” Eda said, lightly moving Luz aside and pushing the lever up herself, opening the cell door.

“Oooh,” Luz hummed. “Yeah, I think I did it wrong the first time, too.”

“What are you two both doing back in the Conformatorium?” The girl--Katya--asked as her friends rushed out of the cell like they were freed pigeons.

“Rescuing you three,” Eda said. “Now c’mon, we’re going for Raine next.”

“Raine got captured?” The purple witch’s head raised, voice laced with concern.

“It’ll be fine, they’re tough.” Eda assured her, ruffling her hair. “Luz, go find King. We’re getting out of here before someone notices.”

“On it!” Luz nodded, giving a mock salute before dash past Hunter, giving him an annoyingly smug look as she passed that he resisted snapping at.

“You too, kid. We don’t have time for sulking.” Eda said, suddenly much closer to him as she bumped his side. Hunter jumped at the contact, five feet away in the blink of an eye with his arms raised. Eda blinked at him in confusion, brows furrowed.

“Yeah, sure, I know that.” Hunter mumbled, averting his gaze.

“Who’s the new kid?” The boy from the group of BATs asked, eyeing him up and down.

“The guy who can help us find Raine.” Eda said simply. “Don’t worry, he’s not becoming a new member.” She assured in a slightly teasing voice.

“You wish.” Hunter gruffed, smoothing down his hair with one hand and looking over the group.

“I don’t, actually.” The little purple wish growled, arms crossed as she glared at him, likely for trying to abandon them earlier. Hunter would’ve probably taken her more seriously if her voice wasn’t so adorable sounding.

Eda herded the kids into moving along, Hunter tailing them the whole way. Occasionally one of them (usually Eda) would stop and push the lever on one of the cages, freeing a prisoner before running off again before they could process anything. They didn’t free every single one, but they freed enough that others could go around freeing each other.

Hunter was mostly just begging that a riot wouldn’t break out before they even got close to the exit.

“Found him.” Luz suddenly popped up before the group from around the corner, holding a disgruntled King in her arms. “He was talking to the rats in the wall.”

“Those buggers bit my tail!” King complained, getting a light sympathetic pat on the head from Eda.

“We’ll get ‘em some other time. Right now, we’ve gotta go.” Eda said, continuing her speedy walk. “Whole place is about to go into an uproar, and I’d rather we’re not caught up in it.”

“They better be worth all this.” Hunter growled at Eda.

“You gonna turn them in if they don’t meet your standards?” Luz teased, and this time Hunter didn’t resist grabbing the hood of her cloak and yanking it over her face.

“They’re escaping!”

“Get them!”

“There it is.” Hunter grumbled as the group came to a screeching halt, two of the BATs almost crashing into each other.

Two large guards stood at the entrance to the prison block, one holding a sword, the other a mace. They had probably already alerted other guards, and they’d all come running soon.

“Alright, hang on everyone, we’ve got this.” Eda said, patting herself down and withdrawing a glyph. Luz set down King and pushed through the others, drawing her own glyphs with a determined set to her face.

“Nobody has an instrument on them, right?” Katya asked, looking around.

The guards ran at them, weidling their weapons high. Hunter raised his staff and teleported away from the others, hearing a “oh come on!” from Luz as he did so.

He reappeared behind the charging guards, clutching the staff in his hands. The end of his staff glowed as he rose it in the air, a similar red hue appearing around the guards. He swept his staff off to the side as the guards kicked about middair before flying into the wall, leaving an indent as they groaned and slumped over each other. He’d have to check the magic level on his staff soon. The guards would be fine, he’d seen them go through a lot worse.

When he turned back to the others, they were blinking owlishly at him. He mentally berated himself for the pun and gestured towards the now-clear pathway.

“You’re welcome. Can we go?” He huffed.

The group broke out of their momentary trance and took off running again, Hunter following in step alongside them.

They could hear the growing ruckus from the prison escapees behind them as they fled, and Hunter was already eyeing the thought of actually teleporting beyond the walls and hoping it worked.

But Luz would yell at him for ditching, and then they wouldn’t let him help rescue Raine.

And wasn’t that a thought that made him awfully bitter. He had been the one who decided to rescue Raine, and yet he still knew that if he didn’t play nice, they’d take over his mission. It was like an insubordinate Coven member within a group he was leading, only this time it was a full-blown mutiny. And there was no Emperor to report it to and get the problem fixed.

Well, technically there still was, but he’d feel even worse if he did. And he already had enough guilt about not noticing who Raine was to last him for months.

Guards appeared from down the hallway they were rounding, about five or so this time. Once again, everyone almost smacked into each other from how fast they skidded to a stop, and Hunter almost got squished between the purple witch--he really needed to learn their names--and Eda as they halted.

“Wait, wait, let me do it!” King squirmed in Luz’s arms, kicking about until Luz was forced to drop him.

“Alright, sure, but let us step back a bit first--”

Eda’s words were cut off by King standing on all fours, tail sticking straight up in the air, opening his mouth and screaming.

Hunter braced his staff against the ground and ducked his head so as not to be blown over by the force, clearly something magic. Two of the BATs and Luz weren’t so lucky, falling back before they could brace themselves. His cardinal curled closer to his neck and lightly bit his ear to keep itself in place.

But it knocked over the other guards, too. With the ones that hadn’t managed to brace themselves knocking into those who did and causing them to tumble like a pile of dominos.

“Ha! Take that!” King boasted, jumping back onto two legs. “Try and take me on now!”

“When could he do that?” Hunter exclaimed, a hand against his head as he cleared it from the noise.

“Long story, just get moving!” Eda called back, scooping up King with one arm as everyone shook their heads to clear them and stumbled back to their feet. Hunter held out the end of his staff to Luz without thinking, who blinked at it for a moment before grabbing it so she could pull herself upright.

“Thanks--”

“Hold that thought.” He said, an idea forming.

Hunter then teleported the two of them a few more feet down the hallway, and a few feet off the ground. He managed to land on his feet, but Luz didn’t have any time to correct herself mid-air and yelped as she hit the ground.

“Oops,” Hunter said with a grin, leaning down with his hands on his knees. “Thought that would help.”

Luz glared daggers at him, pushing herself back to her feet as the others raced by. His cardinal chirped in what sounded like berates next to his ear, but he ignored it in favor of continuing to race down the hallways.

They met a few other guards here and there, but so long they were quick enough (or Luz and Eda had a glyph ready), they made it by without a hitch. When the entrance to the Conformatorium came into sight, and they were rather relieved to find the two guards must have run into the Conformatorium when the ruckus started considering they weren’t there, they all streamed out as fast they could.

“Alright, we still have everyone?” Eda called, still running as she turned her head to look back and count heads. “Cause I do not want to go back in there.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet.” Hunter said, breezing right by her and holding his staff out. “I still don’t like that we haven’t seen that old warden yet. You will not believe how insufferable he is when--”

“Eda the Owl Lady!”

“Never mind, found him.”

Eda didn’t seem too thrilled either, holding out an arm as the others scurried behind her, Hunter standing off to the side, as they turned back towards the entrance to the Conformatorium.

Sure enough, Warden Wrath stood there in all his glory, hands already twisted into axes. Hunter pointedly turned his head away and raised a hand to further conceal his face. He doubted the Warden would recognize him, barely anyone did, but he didn’t want to risk that Kikimora had blabbed. He hadn’t exactly worn the most inconspicuous of cloaks, either, now that he thought about it.

To his benefit, the Warden seemed to have all his attention focused on the Owl Lady.

“So, you came running back.” Wrath said, dragging his axes across the ground in an unpleasant sound as he approached. “I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me for long.”

“Ew, no.” Eda scrunched up her face. “Look, bud, we just came here to grab some friends and get out. Don’t you have some other runaways to deal with?”

“I can spare a moment or two for you.” Wrath said, raising an axed hand in the air. “And unfortunately, I’m under orders not to let any traitorous BATs escape. And I’m not letting a chance like this pass me by!”

“Titan, I always think it's not as bad every time I come by here.” Eda muttered under her breath before she began quickly herding the kids off, attempting to also grab herself a glyph. “Go, go.”

“Can’t you boss him around?” Luz whispered, leaning closer to Hunter as they watched. “Tell him to, like, leave us alone?”

“Hell no!” Hunter whisper-yelled back, letting his hand fall for a moment to give Luz a borderline offended look. “I mean, I could, but I’m not risking Belos finding out over this.”

“What’s he talking about?” The older boy from the BATs whispered, leaning closer to Luz.

“Long story,” Luz waved her off. “He’s just a brat.”

“I meant him.” The boy said, pointing his thumb towards Wrath.

They turned their heads, noting now that Eda had ditched them to play a game of cat and mouse with the Warden, who was only focused on her, despite his claims about the BATs earlier. Hunter tried to listen to whatever he was saying, before immediately deciding he didn’t want to know when he heard about three mildly disturbing compliments from the Warden in a single sentence as he attempted to capture the outlaw.

“Ew,” Hunter, Luz, and King chorused, faces scrunched up.

“Oi, lay off!” Katya yelled, hands cupped around her mouth. “She’s got better tastes than you!”

“Thank you, Katya, very much appreciated!” Eda called through gritted teeth, exasperated.

“I’m doing something about that when I get back.” He promised with a lazy gesture towards the Warden before turning to the BATs. “What are your names again? I’m not gonna keep calling you ‘boy witch’ and ‘purple witch.’ I already know your name.” He raised his hand to stop Katya from speaking when she opened her mouth.

“Oh, uh, Derwin.” The boy said. “This is Amber.” He introduced his friend.

“Why? What’s your name?” Amber asked suspiciously, and she didn’t even have any amber colors on her, a waste of a name if you asked him.

“Hunter.” He said, slapping a hand over Luz’s mouth before she could blurt what he knew she was about to say. “Don’t lick my glove, that’s not gonna do anything for you.” He warned her without so much of a glance.

“Should we, er, help her?” Derwin asked, gesturing back towards Eda.

Hunter looked back, and not noting any immediate danger, simply shrugged.

“Eh, she’s the Owl Lady, she’s probably got it.” He said calmly. “You guys wanna hurry up and get out of here?”

“Yes, dear Titan, please.” Amber groaned. “Those cells were awful.”

“Oh, you do not have the right to complain.” Katya huffed, hands on her hips. “That was your first offence.”

“Sorry I don’t make a habit out of getting thrown in prison.”

“Hey, Owl Lady!” Hunter called. “We’re thinking of heading out. You coming or what?”

“I’m working on it!” Eda snapped, almost getting beaten into the concrete for her troubles.

“Don’t get squished!” Luz called in some form of support, before Wrath almost immediately swung his axe-arm into the ground and created a massive crack. And wasn’t that just perfect, there goes the Coven’s budget again.

“This is a mess,” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “I can’t believe we lost at anything with you people.”

“Neither can we, really.” King said, still engrossed in the fight.

Hunter raised his staff, pointing it right towards the fight. He let the end of it become enveloped in a red glow, aware of the BATs watching him as he did so. He wondered, yet again, why Bat--Raine--whatever--ever employed them if they were so useless without their instruments.

The second Eda was clear, a blast of energy fired from his staff.

It hit Wrath right in the shoulder, and the warden cried out. He whirled around in the direction of Hunter, wound sizzling as he locked his eyes on him.

“Shit,” Hunter cursed, immediately ducking down as a blast of fire from the Warden’s mouth went right over his head, just barely missing the others.

Wrath roared, and Hunter grabbed those closest to him, King and Amber, and immediately clutched his staff and teleported the three further away as a mass of tentacles landed where they had once been, almost hitting the other three.

Luz took the moment to slap a plant and fire glyph on Wrath’s arm, as it was practically right next to her head now. The plants burst forth first, wrapping around his body. The fire came second, turning the plants into a net of blazing flame.

He knew Wrath had a weird case of fast healing, what with his stretchy skin, but Hunter couldn’t help but wince at the pained roar and burning he saw before he turned away and held out his staff.

“They’ll get the others, come on.” He instructed, and Amber obeyed and climbed onto the staff behind him. King was about to do the same, were it not for Hunter grabbing him by the collar and yanking him up before shooting into the air.

“Would everyone stop picking me up today?” King whined, though Hunter didn’t let up on the arm across King as he held him against his chest as he looked back towards the fight, far enough away to not be caught, close enough that he could offer assistance.

Eda managed to grab Luz as Wrath flailed about, along with Katya and Derwin, before using her staff to dart back into the air. Wrath attempted to make a wild grab with his weird tentacle arms towards them, but fell short as they rose higher and beside Hunter.

“Whew, let’s get outta here.” Eda said, her and Luz breathing heavily from their fight. “We’ve had more than enough excitement for one day.” She said, her and Hunter already rushing off through the skies, Warden’s angry shouts fading behind them.

“Could you put me down?” King complained, louder this time as he wiggled in Hunter’s grip.

Hunter looked down at King, a plan slowly forming his head. His expression didn’t change, but Luz clearly saw something, because her tired panting immediately switched to her giving him an alarmed look.

“Don’t.” She warned.

Hunter looked at her. Luz glared back. The others glanced between the two and each other bemusedly.

Hunter let go of King.

The demon yelped and tumbled right over the thin pole of the staff, his yelling being swept up by the wind as he free-falled.

“King!” Eda and Luz exclaimed, staff already tilting downwards to dive after him.

“Dude, what are you--”

Amber’s berating cut off as Hunter suddenly teleported, appearing just below King and holding out his hand. The moment King fell right by them, still shrieking like a banshee, Hunter grabbed his tail, jolting King to a stop.

Hunter cackled, King’s breath wheezy as he attempted to shout obscenities that barely landed from how spent his vocal cords were from all the screaming. Hunter plopped the demon right back down on the staff in front of him, one hand against King’s side in case the exhaustion caught up with him and he fell right off again, still laughing as he flew back up to the same height as the others.

“Are you trying to scare him to death?” Luz scoffed, shaking her head in disapproval.

“He’s fine.” Hunter waved his free hand. “A little terror never killed anybody.” He said, ignoring his cardinal lightly head-butting his neck underneath his hood in disagreement.

“Very hilarious,” Eda said dryly. “Try that again and I’m breaking that staff over your back, you hear?” She said with a light growl, though Hunter had definitely heard worse.

“You’re all so dramatic.” Hunter rolled his eyes.

Amber, in response, lightly whacked the back of his head. Hunter yelped and spun his head around as he rubbed the sore spot, giving her an astonished and offended look that she met with a serious, miffed expression of her own. His ears only pressed further back when the others snickered at his predicament. He wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or annoyed by the audacity.

“Yeesh, it’s like nobody here ever fell from their staff.” Hunter grumbled, shaking himself out and hunching.

“Typically, they weren’t dropped like loose stones.” Eda said. “You hanging in there, King?”

“Peachy,” King mumbled, sounding less spooked and more annoyed than anything now that the danger had passed.

“Good enough, let’s just get home in one piece, eh, kids?” Eda said, shoulders falling tiredly as her staff banked slightly to the side.

“And answer some mysterious backstory questions?” Luz perked up. “Like how Katya is part of the BATs but you didn’t know her until--”

“Absolutely not.”

“Aw,”

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cherrywoes · 3 years

Text

dark sun. (ryoumen sukuna x fem!reader x oc)

xiv. boketto.

— the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.

You came back into your body with a quiet crackling of the air around you. You could feel the way you acclimated back to your own body, having been pulled from it without Shion to occupy it while you were gone. You were stationary, your fingers still gently pressed to Yuuji’s forehead, and it took you a few moments of blurry vision and confused thoughts for you to realize the boy was very much awake and staring at you with a wide, surprised gaze. You lowered your hand from his face cautiously, wary of earning some sort of lash back for invading his mind, but all he did was look at you with slow, even blinks to convey his mental game of confusion.

“Um… What’s going on here?” He questioned, eyes flicking from you to Gojo and back again, as if his teacher had an answer for what you had just done. He watched you reach up and gently touch the baby at your chest, frowning for a moment. “Shiraishi-s...san?”

“I apologize for invading your mind without permission.” You smiled and bowed your head, trying to resist the way Shion was attempting to work your connection back. It seemed he was struggling more than usual and it was causing your chest to twist and ache unpleasantly; likely a result of his leftover anger. He was still likely angry, you knew, but he couldn’t resist staying away from you for too long. At least an hour was his record, at least, you believed it was an hour—you couldn’t be sure when domains worked differently in terms of time. It was probably longer, you supposed, but you couldn’t stand around and wait to see how long it would take him to establish that connection. “And I also apologize for… hurting you, before. You must know I didn’t mean it, Itadori-san.”

He looked more befuddled than before, eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise. You wondered if Sukuna was talking to him somehow, telling him to befriend you—or something along those lines. “Oh, uh… Yeah. The god in your body did it, right? Not you? So, consider it water under the bridge, I guess.”

You couldn’t blame him for his hesitance. He was, after all, a vessel, the same as you, and he knew as well as you did that sometimes the actions of vessel and curse aligned at times. You weren’t sure about Sukuna in Yuuji’s case, but Shion’s actions aligned with your beliefs and wants perfectly. He didn’t doubt you for a second, and nor did you him—except for recently, perhaps.

The tampering with your connection was growing too irritating for you to bear and you could feel bile cresting in your throat. It wasn’t much, but you were going to purge you stomach’s meagre contents, and soon, so you fixed Gojo with a grateful smile; one that was laced with warning for him not to stop you.

“I’m afraid I have to go now,” you said, bowing low to Yuuji and Gojo separately. It was only the polite thing to do, and well, it didn’t help settle your nerves in the least. Shion twisted at the connection again and your smile became a little more pained, a little more tenuous. “I apologize for the intrusion, Satoru-san. Thank you for bringing me here.”

With little else to spur you on than the pinpricks of pain crawling up your belly and chest, you breezed past Gojo and up the stairs, slamming the door when the wind vacated the space behind you. The basement was silent for a few moments, maybe more, with Yuuji and Gojo staring up the staircase where you had vanished, as if you had never been there to begin with.

“What was that all about?” Yuuji asked, reaching for a half drank can of soda. He grimaced at the flat taste and the sickly sweet artificial aftertaste that came after, putting it down on the table with an audible clink. “Oh, gross.”

Gojo hummed and declined to answer, pulling another move from the generous pile he had donated to the cause, and cracked open the case. He spun the disc around the holder a few times, thoughts whirling as he considered your words from before, about the higher ups. The distaste in your tone as you spoke. He didn’t think you would have been one to be loyal to the higher ups in the first place, of course, seeing as you had been hidden from the world for almost your entire life—it wasn’t such an issue to assume that you were, in fact, harboring the same ideals he was: get rid of the higher ups. Your views, however, might be inherently more selfish; you had no care for any of the other sorcerers, not even for the woman who had been at your side since you became a vessel. You seemed entirely focused on escaping the confinement, the pressing holds, of the old crones that made up the circle of higher ups; at least, that was what he was able to read from you. Without that god hovering over you like a ghost, you were surprisingly human, and vulnerable—not that he had expected anything less. Yuuji was much the same in that regard. However, while parallel in origin, you and Yuuji were not the same, not really; your curse would protect you until the day you died, that much was obvious. Sukuna was much more malicious in intention, without a doubt.

“Gojo-sensei,” Yuuji whined, drawing his attention back to his student. He huffed and slumped over on the sofa, almost knocking over a stray can. “Are you even listening?”

“Of course,” he laughed, inserting the CD into the disc drive. It was a low budget horror film, he recognized, but he didn’t watch it personally. He had scooped up the cheapest selections he could find, with some more widely known titles like Lord of the Rings, but Yuuji didn’t seem to mind them as much as he thought. “I was just thinking about our new ally.”

“Ally?” the pink haired male gawked. “Who?”

Gojo tipped his head to the side, a large grin on his face. “You just met her.”

While Gojo shoved his student back to the test, you were worse off—perhaps even more so—your eyes darting across buildings and streetlights to gauge your location. Your stomach rumbled unpleasantly and you almost swore Shion was doing it to you on purpose, but you could feel his anger preventing him from unraveling the block completely; or he was conflicted, and was going back and forth on his decisions. It was wreaking havoc on your body, that was for certain, and you almost wanted to reach into his domain and pull him out yourself. If that was possible, you didn’t know, but for now, you could be content with a toilet.

You had to sprint to make it to your building before your stomach betrayed you. You had sense enough to lean over in a group of shrubs and hide your evidence, heaving your stomach’s contents onto the grass, and when you opened your eyes, spent, tears glazing your eyes, you noticed that it was entirely black; as black as ink, as black as the night sky in full midnight. You didn’t think you had eaten anything that color and when you rolled your tongue in your mouth, you tasted something sickly sweet and with the tang of iron.

Blood.

You wiped your mouth with the back of your sleeve, feeling it smear across your cheek. You couldn’t be bothered with it now; you had to get back into your room and make sure Shion was none the wiser to what you had been up to. Your stomach cramped painfully and you barely made it up the tree and across the roof, biting the inside of your cheek to prevent yourself from groaning at the pain. You wern’t certain if it was Shion or the blood you had vomited up that made you feel so awful, but you could attribute it to both if you wanted, and you did. You slipped through the window once more and locked it behind you, snatching up a book and cradling Ayako to your chest despite wanting nothing touching you at the moment.

Cold sweat dripped down the back of your neck and you were certain it had nothing to do with Shion now. You felt… ill. Sick. Diseased. Your heart was beating a little too fast; your pulse pounded in your ears; you felt anxious, panicky; you half wondered if you were having a panic attack, but pushed it aside when the connection finally unraveled like the petals of a lotus—slowly, and then all at once.

“Shion,” you croaked, breathy and light. You sensed his alarm at the growing pain in your body and a flush of energy breezed through you, dulling the pain bit not completely suffocating it. “Thanks.”

What happened? He materialized almost instantly afterwards. His hair was haphazardly put into a knot at the back of his head and stuck up in a million different places, as if he’d spent hours running his hands through it before tying it back up and leaving it as was. His horns even protruded from his skull, longer than you recalled them being, and he had dark circles under his eyes, deep and ominous against the pallor of his skin. He looked almost as sickly as you did, if not worse. Your gut told you that something more was going on here, something deeper. “[Name]?”

His vocalization of your name ripped you out of your thoughts and you looked up at him, sweat beading your brow. “I… I don’t know. I threw up, and then my stomach started—then the sweating…”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, gathering you into his arms. Your book flopped to the floor, uncared for, even as the page fluttered open to the ‘A’ section, the name ‘Ayako’ highlighted by a streak of moonlight. “If I had known my anger would make you so ill, I would have never cut off our connection. I could have stopped this.”

Your own guilt overpowered his. You patted his arm, just above the crook of his elbow, and grimaced at the way your skin stuck to his with the cooling sweat. “It’s alright, Shion. It isn’t your fault—your emotions, while new, aren’t something to be brushed aside. You can’t just ignore them for me. You have to overcome them. I think not sharing them is… making it worse every time.” You silently omitted the fact that his failed attempts at unraveling the connection had started it in the first place. You deserved this pain for betraying him. You deserved everything he gave you, even if it was unintentional. It was the only way you would succeed. “... Help me up?”

When you were safely tucked away in your bed, your clothes changed into something more cooler to deal with the sweat, you allowed Shion to sequester Ayako away in a pillow barricade and steal her side for himself, likely having learned it from passively observing you. He was careful not to jostle you too much, highly aware of the way your stomach was still churning, and rested his ear against your heart, tapping his fingers to the rhythm on your hip. You didn’t fight him off, no matter how uncomfortable you might have been, and played idly with his hair, pulling it from the knot and twisting it around his horns. Other than your breathing and Ayako’s quiet sounds of grunting and squeaking, the room was quiet. You could feel him gearing up to speak in the way his jaw was working.

“You don’t have to say anything,” you reassured him, throat flexing over the gag reflex you were trying to repress. A moment later it was gone, magically repressed—but you could still feel it resisting his power, strangely. “I don’t expect you to explain everything to—”

“But I want to,” Shion interrupted you. He never looked up at you, but continued to tap to your heartbeat still, even noting the slight stutter when your thoughts came to a screeching halt. “That was a… sensitive time in my existence. I admit that. But… I don’t believe I’m ready to speak of it just yet. When I’m ready, I’ll let you know.”

You waited for a moment to see if he would say anything more, to even hint that he was as angry as he was before, but all you felt from him was guilt, guilt, and more guilt, which made no sense; you were the only one who had to feel guilty about anything. His secrets didn’t have the ability to break hearts and fragile trust, after all.

“Alright,” you said, once it was clear he had nothing else to say. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Shion.”

“And if one day, I want to?”

You frowned slightly at his change in tone. Something was different. Something had… shifted. You couldn’t put your finger on it and shifted uncomfortably, reaching up to thumb the prongs of his horns thoughtfully. “Then that’s your decision, not mine.”

A pause. Then,”I see.”

“Are you alright?” You asked, finally, when waiting became too much. He looked up at you then, green and gold eyes flashing in the moonlight, and though his gaze was gentle, every instinct in you warned you to flee. But like a lamb to a lion, you were doomed to a careful existence with him. “You look, well, awful. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sick before.”

He frowned, almost similarly to how you did, and his eyebrows drew down. “I’m not sure.”

“I’m sure it'll be fine then.” You yawned, pressing your fist against your mouth to smother it. You snuggled into your pillow and shifted Shion to be a little more comfy, eyes flicking to Ayako, who was as placid as ever. Shion turned his head again and pressed his ear to your heart once more, obscuring your view of Ayako completely. You were blissfully unaware at the way his eyes narrowed at the child when you slipped into a deep sleep, mumbling,”Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Shion whispered. “[Name].”

Ayako froze underneath his stare, dark eyes wide, and remained that way until the god finally vanished upon the first rays of the sun.

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