#creature that wasnt even involved but just wanted to fuck with him

[themyscirah]

I'd like to state officially, for the record, that I think the Parallax retcon IS stupid as hell and if I worked for dc that garbage would be gone in an instant. Just like, FYI <3

[sabaramonds]

the thing about mikoto of milgram fame is that hes like. okay. so theres a lot that cant be said about him yet because his 2nd trial hasnt released and wont be for quite a while and his music video and interrogation only tell us so much. but what they DO tell us is um. enough to say some things if he answered his interrogation questions honestly, we know he has a younger sister he brags about, his parents are divorced and his father isnt involved in their lives. in regards to his mother, he says that “she raised me. i cant let her worry.” he downplays his own interests/hobbies a lot. he said he played baseball in high school but that he wasnt good at it; he went to an art school but did so in order to go into business (though design was related to his chosen company) and says that he likes drawing but, again, isnt good at it. he says he hates working late nights but we see him pulling an all nighter at work in ‘undercover’. when asked why hes working his current job, he says he worked incredibly hard to even get hired, so its something to be proud of. finally, when asked if he ever gets angry, he says he doesnt. he says, “i dont think ive ever gotten angry before. isnt it disgraceful to get angry?” theres also the following milgram portal conversation (src):

Yuno: Hey, Mikoto-san. Don’t you get tired being so conscious of others all the time? I mean, you’re free to do what you want though.

Mikoto: Eh…… Aha, what are you talking about? I’m not being conscious or anything. It’s normal to make sure to get along with everyone, right?

I mean, when you put it like that, aren’t you the same, Yun-chan? You’re always smiling and getting on with everyone too.

Yuno: I don’t smile unless I actually want to. But with you, when you’re talking with other people it’s more like you only smile deliberately. So I kept thinking, don’t your cheeks get tired?

Ah, is this just what happens when you become a working adult? ……you see people like that sometimes.

Mikoto: Haha, you don’t mince your words do you.

…….that was never my intention, but now that you mention it, yeah, I guess I do. This might’ve been since I started my job too…… But like, if I was rude to everyone I met, all my efforts would come to nothing, right?

all these little things add up to paint a picture of a stressed and deeply repressed guy working a job he doesnt actually like (but he has to have a successful job he can brag about or his mother will worry) he thinks little of his own interests and hobbies and socializes more out of obligation than out of genuine desire. all of this culminates to um...his present situation... basically what i want to say is that i think its fine. also i think he killed someone and immediately repressed it but that incident is entirely unrelated to his anime brand DID and his alter. who aside from trying to whale on es that one time has only ever really showed up to be like “can you shut the fuck up. and get away from me. im trying to be normal over here and you are RUINING my life” or to pace around in mikotos cell in the middle of the night like a creature. i think mikoto 2 was entirely unrelated to mikotos repression stress induced rage murder but they might have cleaned up after him idk. we will see. mikoto wants to be a normal guy having a normal time and not worrying his family at all ever and never experiencing anything like anger or frustration at all EVER EVER!! because he has to set a good example for his sister and be the perfect son for his mom so she can relax. and he doesnt think he can do the things he enjoys for the sake of doing them. so what im saying is if he killed someone who cares. whatever. also we should all mass vote him forgiven/innocent just to spite kotoko after last nights birthday timeline post. AND because it would be funny as hell and the fandom flopped HARD voting haruka guilty/unforgiven. like god forbid girls have a little fun 🙄 btw its my firm belief that the tarot set we see in his mv (and i could talk a lot about the rest of the imagery used in that video but its almost 2am and ive rambled long enough) was designed by him during college. really funny to think about it like that. he does have one of the card designs (the. hangman, actually. i think) visible on a canvas in his apartment, partially obscured behind his couch at one point. so. lol

[minalblood]

I figured if Meg, Drake and Nida are streaming an episode,ni may as well be in line and continue my rewatch so here we gooo, ep 5!

Akridaaa here yaay! I love those fuckers! And a lot about the Akrida this episode since we're finally getting to seeing them full on.

God, Dean speaking about pain and letting it out so it doesn't fuck you up hurts. And of course it's highly relevant to this ep, Mary of course once more being the Dean mirror.

Ok lets begin, cuz I've thoughts. We'll do this one chronological aka as the ep goes.

1stly this is the episode when I literally went "oh there you were, u fucker" cuz this episode is the one when John acts most like the version we're used to from spn. Interesting thing, when John's talking to Millie at the beginning of the episode and she asks him.how he is but in a way that he can easily let rest there and he is so in his head about what happened last ep that he preemptively reassure her he isn't affected by the Vietnam trauma which ofc means it is at the front of his mind. Also about that scene, Millie saying she wanted to take a pry bar to the motorcycle heavily echoes Dean taking a crowbar to Baby after John's death. I have many thoughts about Millie saying Mary is good for John like Betty was. Like what does she mean? Why does John need someone to keep him in check tho, because thats the implication there for me, we'll circle back to this cuz my opinion kind changes as the ep goes on.

Ada off the bat is the focus here.She ignored Carlos' mention about the demon after the last time when she was almost sadistically plucking leaves off. She wasn't really listening to the case detail as Mary was listing them. She didn't even really get involved in the discussion except to say they need to work this case and oooof it hurts to see because we ofc now know why shes acting as distracted and worried as she is.

Lata took Ada knowing her djinn lore as a ... birds of a feather thing aka Ada being interesting in the lore as she herself is and is so pleased about it. I wonder what she thought about it after finding out about Tony and Ali.

God Tony's entrence is pretty fucking great tho, jeesus. I also love that we start it off on the usual set up for monsters that spn perfected aka the monster of the week doesnt show their face til late in the episode cuz theyre the threat, the danger, the thing we're not supposed to relate to or get close to whereas the victim and the brothers (in spn) are introduced to us with full shot of their face because we're meant to care about them, to associate them immediately with a person and be invested in them, be close to them. So Tony being shot as just his legs as he runs until the moment he sees Ada is absolutely gorgeous to me. It goes from this distant, dangerous thing to someone important to one of our main charaters in the span of seconds. In seconds he becomes someone we're emotionally invested in (even if just curiosity about why Ada has her reaction) only to then really hit home once she says who he is, her son.

I also love that Lata's question about Ada being a djinn is said completely without judgement, just Lata trying to recontextualize what she know about Ada to herself, including the earlier knowledge about djinn lore. And this non judgemental attitude is relfected by Carlos and Mary as well. They're curious, confused, shocked, but not hostile to Ada. They just want to understand. But John is a dif creature here. From the moment Ada memtions who Tony is, John is pissed. He's absolutely furious throughout Ada's story, completely cruel in his reaction and absolutely oblivious about how he comes across for all of it, or willfully ignorant if I'm not feeling charitable. And this after he was a dick to Mary earlier about the motorcycle, but that by contrasr was just a foot in mouth thing That, while yes, dickish, wasnt harmful ultimately. And in both he had no clue how he came across. In the 1st scene, Mary let him know, in the second, because it was so striking that Mary Carlos and Lata chose instead to remove him from Ada's presence as quickly as possible without any chastisement because they knew Ada safety was more important than John being made aware of his behaviour (be it even just the emotional side here, since I don't think they would ever think hed do anything really). And it's this scene that makes it clear beyond any reasonable doubt to me, thay yea, this is def John Winchester and he is just a few degrees off of spn!john and could easily become him.

But the other interesting part here is that it's him having this reaction, the newbie here, the one who's joined this fight without any personal stake really. Like Henry doesn't count since the trauma of losing Henry is an old one that is wrapped more in Henry's abandonment than the actual supernatural world, whereas everybody else has lost people they loved as a direct result of monsters. But they're still empathetic to Ada and understand her choice so much easier than John who just doesn't get it or even try. Because he's already written monsters off as the Enemy thus the evil to his good.Like I said about the previous episode, John views it all in stark Black and White colors.

And now we have the Millie/Ada/John/Dean parallel. Aka the parent afraid of/for their child to the point they end up hurting them. Now importantly, Millie is parallel more clearly with John as parent here, specifically his controlling behaviour towards his kids, Dean most of all Id say and using that fear/worry as an excuse for his shitty behaviour. While Ada is both Dean and John. Leaning more toward Dean, who ultimately did realise that the behaviour was wrong and tried to fix things in much the same way Ada gives Tony the choice to help, to reestablish connection, Dean extends the same to Jack. John never fully does this, he dies still balancing between saving his son vs killing him. And then there is the treating your child based off of seeing him as another person. This one is big too, because Millie and Ada treated their sons as tho punishing them for their fathers, but important distinction, Ada tried not to allow her fear to taint Tony, it was him walking into her nightmare that led to their break. Millie does treat John like this, deliberately. She constantly compares John to Henry and we have to assume this is a behaviour that's been present during John's childhood too because of how prevalent it is.

So we already have all the daddy issues before the main emotional break of the episode is even introduced. And it all paves the way for the John/Samuel parallel's and as such the Dean/Mary parallels once we enter Mary's mind.

And it's important too that it's John talking to Mary that cools John down and it's the comparison to themselves that has him actually willing to relate to Ada's experience.

God I still hate the Saint Miguel reference, especially after the previous episode.

Another important thing about Ada/Dean is they both acknowledge their failings and then choose to do better, whereas Millie is a bit of an inbetween, she's changing as I've said, but is just figuring it out still, she's not really there yet, but she's asking about how to do it which is very important. It means she's willing to put in the work to do better. I also love that Ada immediately believes Tony but so does Carlos, even without the evidence.

Small thing I appreciated about the talk the gang has about the Akrida is Carlos picking up the file and clearly trying to put stuff together themselves.

I love everyone but John's reactions to Ada. So so much. I also love the following your heart advice Ada gives Mary, it reminds me of Mildred (my beloved) giving the same advice to Dean.

God Carlos' lies are awful, how have they been a hunter so long ans still.are this shit at lying. I love them.

I adore the Akrida design as well, i fucking love those bugs soo much.

Aaaand Mary got stung. And Carlos making a joke to difuse the worry is soo soo good and his advice to Ada to just tell Tony the truth is brilliant. As is Ada's talk to him. I LOVE her making sure she refers to Tony as his own person rather than who he is in relation to her, it's her ackowledging his personahood and also her not pushing him and making it clear she knows he likely will still leave and wont force him.to stay, it is such such good communication.

John being signled out makes perfect sense to me here tbh, bacuse outta everyone there, John has been the one to push Mary even when she's been at her most stubborn, he's the one whose been challenging her since they met as she does him. They know Mary can just tune them.out because she's done it before (in this show even) but John has always broken through to her.

John saying you cant fight ur trauma but you can face it, is chef's kiss after last ep. It shows he has been thinking, has been trying to do better even if it's not shown to us. To some degree he knows what he needs to do. I dont even mind thay he's a bit too harsh initially in trying to convince Mary to face her worst memory, bacause it is a time crunch, there's time to process it properly after, once Mary is alive to do it. And he give her the space and understanding she needs once she's going through it, he doesnt make it about himself. So we have not just Mary afecting him like Millie says in the beginning, but he afects her too. This is why they can work together.

But goood I hate the Campbell's just as much as I hate spn!John. For the same reasons, and I still think they were better parents then John, bacause Mary at least had more stability than Dean and Sam did, because she had a stable home. But yea, Mary's tragedy in spn is def partly the fact that her kids had to live what she did, and she has no idea just how similar it was, not really.

John giving Mary the reassurence that shes right to want to leave once shes done hunting is also very very good.

And I gotta say I love the bonding between Ada and Tony at the end, open ended but full of potential and i love lata and tony so so much! And also also, carlos once more pulling that vital vital background work to finally find out about Roxy.

This episode is so chock-full of intergenerational trauma (not that thats surprising, but rather the way it gets highlighted here). There is so so much to talk about and I can't even get all of it out but yeah, heres ep 5. Do i have more thoughts about it? Always. But so far here we leave it

[badatjokezz]

Haikyuu!! Rare Pair Fic Recs

i’ve been so hype about some Hq rarepairs lately now imma list some of my fav fanfics, mostly OiSuga mwehehe.... 

(probably gonna add some more in the future)

Oisuga (Oikawa x Sugawara)

1. Stuck in the Middle With You by overlymetaromantic

It's not the kind of blossoming relationship either of them would expect, but maybe, just maybe, it could lead to something good.

1. In which Suga and Oikawa run into each other on a late night convenience store run.

2. In which Suga and Oikawa inadvertently switch bags and end up with the other’s uniform.

3. In which Suga gives Oikawa the lecture he doesn't want but probably needs, and Oikawa might accidentally be a little in love.

4. In which Oikawa won't shut up about Suga, and Iwaizumi plays matchmaker just to make him stop.

5. In which there is not a date, and Suga likes spicy things much more than sweet.

6. In which Karasuno and Aobajousai hold training camps in the same neck of the woods, and the trip back proves to be more revealing than it probably should.

7. In which there might just be a future to this after all.

(Dis is so fluffy i might die)

2. moving on (growing up) by _helios (neocitz)

‘I’ll do it,’ Suga says, walking into their prep school and dropping his bag on the floor next to Oikawa. He shoves the melon bun and drink forward into Oikawa’s hands, and stands there looking down at him because he knows that he needs to not chicken out.

‘You’ll do what?’ Oikawa looks up through his glasses, eyes wide and confused as the other students stream in around them.

‘The fake dating thing, I’ll do it.’

‘Fuck. Yes.’ Oikawa says with a fist pump.

(It’s been AGES since i read Fake/Pretend Relationship fic, this one is goood)

3. how strange, to be remembered by venusintwelfthFandoms

"He is not formed of the type of dust that makes up stars. Suga is not the type of person that stays in the mind of one like Oikawa Tooru, ten years later. He is formed of the type of dust you shake off, the type that settles into the ground."

Ten years after Suga last steps off a high-school court, Oikawa recollects a "Mr. Refreshing" in a post-game interview, and Suga is left scrambling.

(Cute one-shot, Oikawa still remember Mr. Refreshing from Karasuno)

4. all the small things by Authoress for lemedy

Sugawara Koushi.

Oikawa’s brain supplies the name of the person standing at the other end of the aisle before Oikawa can even register him, attuned to spitting out facts about other volleyball players on a second’s notice, even after all these years. Karasuno High vice-captain. 174 cm…no, more like 176 now. Skilled at raising morale and bringing an element of surprise to their strategy. Troublesome. Refreshing. Setter.

The enemy.

(Single Dad! Oikawa, cuuutee ugh)

5. Win Some by kingdra (aroceu) for Icie

Tooru does not have a problem, its name is certainly not Sugawara Koushi, and he is not going to the Karasuno practices just to watch him. Regardless of whatever Iwa-chan says.

(High school romane~)

6. Even as bright as you are? by BKAKCANON

That night when he goes to sleep, he includes "the safety of fairies" on his prayers, making a promise to whoever was listening him, that he'd protect all the fairies and keep their secret safe forever.

[Where Oikawa meets Suga when they are kids and Oikawa believes Suga is secretly a fairy and decides he has to protect his secret all costs.]

(This is basically matches my headcanon)

7. getting to know you by oisugasuga

Suga feels like he’s back on the court then, his heart thudding hard in his ears… so hard he almost misses what Oikawa says. Unfortunately, though, he doesn’t.

"My, my. What a surprise," Oikawa Tooru says. And then… "Hello, Mr. Refreshing."

(Haven’t finished yet but DAMN I LOVE OIKAWA AND SUGA IN HERE, single dad! oikawa, and Suga babysitting oikawa’s kid, def slow burn. Imma follow this fic till death)

8. Dear Reader by hyirule

No one seems to read the paper anymore. But Oikawa likes to for the sports section. One day he finds himself reading a section called "Dear Reader" and finds a submission he can relate to.

Basically messages sent through a page on a newspaper brings to unlikely souls together, who maybe have more in common than they first thought.

(Cannon compliant, simple and... refreshing(?))

9. rest by shicchaan

Tooru looks at the sleeping person beside him as he waits for the lights change into green. The growing fringe of his husband started to cover his eyes but he can still see the beautiful birthmark under the silver haired's left eye.

(Established relationship, fluff fluff!!!)

10. long is the road (that leads me home) by ichweissnichtauch

He thinks about himself, deleting contacts from his phone and throwing coffee cups away without even looking at the string of numbers scrawled in Sharpie ink underneath, and he’s tired of hiding, tired of carefully treading the lines he’d drawn for himself all those years ago.

Just this once, Tooru wants— he thinks he wants to be brave.

Oikawa Tooru is not a stranger to wanting.

(like... 20% Oisuga but i like the way this story follows the Cannon till he get to Argentina)

11. It's Always Been About You by mintycarrots

Every time Tooru had envisioned meeting his soulmate, it was a confession of love, filled with tears of happiness and a lot of making out. It would be a faceless petite girl that would support Tooru in whatever he chose to pursue and would understand when Tooru prioritized volleyball over all else.

It was never a boy on the rival team.

(Soulmate AU)

12. a play in three acts by venusintwelfth

"The first time Sugawara Koushi sees Oikawa Tooru play, he thinks that if he wasn’t so set on volleyball, he’d do well in theater."

the first seijoh x karasuno match through the eyes of suga.

(Kinda poetic i guess, well written af)

13. colors by dazeful

Sugawara Koushi's colorful life as an archer.

(this is like the perfect oisuga one shot ive ever read)

___

IwaSuga (Iwaizumi x Sugawara)

1. And so the moon cried by iwriteinpenFandoms:

The hillocks are the domain of unearthly creatures. Creatures of rot and fog, of music and dance. Like ghosts in the night they travel without leaving footprints, they disappear in a flurry of long dresses and pale hair. Those who are fated to see them risk curses far worse than death. You may hear them, a giggle in the wind. You may smell them, the smell of the fog rolling in through the trees. You should pray you never see them. Iwaizumi Hajime is a simple man. He works a simple farm job and enjoys simple things. After one morning where he woke next to a perfect circle of death and only the memory of brown eyes and cold hands, he finds himself inexplicably drawn to the forest. Will the tales of his childhood play out with him at the center or will he have to disregard all reason?

(Danish Folklore AU)

2. Cry Just A Little by DreadfulMind

Suga was whistling a tune to himself as he opened the door to the bathroom, so he didn't hear the muffled crying through the door. But he could hear it clearly once he was inside. He heard the sharp sob of someone trying to stop.

"Iwaizumi?" He asked, "are you sure you're alright?"

(Simple but c u t e)

3. Generations by Karasuno Volleygays (ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor), mozaikmage

Professional sports blogger Sugawara Koushi writes an article about a volleyball match that bears special meaning to him and his former kouhai: a showdown between Kitagawa Daiichi and Yukigaoka Middle School, ten years after the teams faced off for the first time. He doesn't plan on capturing the attention of the world of sports journalism, and he certainly doesn't expect himself to end up having a thing for one of the coaches involved, one Iwaizumi Hajime.

(Time-Skip, I loved it)

___

KuroTsuki (Kuroo x Tsukishima)

1. Invictus by Chiru

Kuroo T. » So let me get this straight (gay?) Kuroo T. » You want me to pretend to be your perfect and fabulous boyfriend, so that your little freckled friend will stop trying to set you up with cute little highschool girls? Tsukishima Kei » yes Kuroo T. » Aha. Tsukishima Kei » you'll do it? Kuroo T. » I don't know. I missed the part where I get something out of it. Tsukishima Kei » you get to annoy me. Unfortunately Kuroo T. » Tempting, Tsukki, very tempting indeed.

(Fake/Pretend Relationship, some fluff, some angst, i read this in the middle of the night and cried, fortunately happy ending)

2. hold onto hope if you got it by nekolyssi

"Now, in the beginning of their third year of high school, the obnoxious hollering and incessant spirit of his teammates became normalcy to Kei. And now, normalcy is this. Weekly psych meetings. Pharmacy waiting rooms. Prescriptions. Refusal of prescriptions. More prescriptions."

(Not finished yet but yep prolly gonna put this one to one of those best haikyuu fics ive ever read. I wasnt so interested at first but i really like the idea of mental ilness etc, this is g o o d!!)

3. [KuroTsuki Fest Week 2017] Traces by Heartythrills 

Kuroo’s disappeared for a little over a week now, and suddenly a 4 year old who looks like him appears before Tsukishima’s apartment.

(Age regression, fluff)

4. I swear by xArtemisx

Like the shadow that's by your side I'll be there

"What are you doing here, Tetsu? It's cold." Kei asked softly. Tetsurou smiled. Hearing his name came out of Kei's lips is always music to his ears.

"Nothing. I just came to think that whatever memory we make, may it be happy or sad memories, the bright moon and the starry night sky is always there to be the witness. Did you notice?" The alpha answered and Kei nodded. He also noticed it.

"Yes, I did noticed it."

(I love agony and sad ending....)

5. Honeybee by ClosetGoblin

Tsukishima has trouble sleeping one night during a Third Gym Camping Trip. So, he takes his acoustic guitar and passes the time with some music, and gets a visitor. Maybe he doesn't mind Kuroo's voice as he does the screeching that Lev and Hinata call singing.

(Simple but sweet)

6. Say You Like Me by the_madame21

It's been three months. And Tsukishima Kei is going to see Kuroo Tetsurou.

(light angst and.. s m u t. Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamic)

7. trying to get to you by mytsukkishine

Everything came crashing down on Kuroo when Kei had left him alone with nothing but the moon shining down on him.

Wherein, Kuroo was struggling to move on and decided that he wouldn't mind being with Kei again.

(sad beginning? yes. sad ending? y e s. you’re a masochist? come get your juice)

8. Please Hold by ThemooncatFandoms

Kei was expecting Kuroo to do one of two things; Send a text to the office saying that they will have to call back another time and continue what they started, or excuse himself from Kei to answer the call, which was most likely. He shouldn’t have been surprised when Kuroo does neither of those things.

(short but hot. what’s hotter than quiet sex?)

___

Ushijima x Oikawa

1. This Insignificant Pride and Prejudice by Mysecretfanmoments, Pouler (poulerslashes)

Oikawa Tooru graduated high school with the burning desire to succeed in his college career. He'd hoped that might include taking down his arch-nemesis along the way, but when he finds that his college team hosts an offensively familiar face, he can't help but think that the universe might be conspiring against him. After all, what could be worse than playing on the same team as Ushijima?

(It was funny for me reading oikawa/ushijima fic with that “you should’ve come to Shiratorizawa” joke at first but somehow i found this one... endearing :3, cute poor ushiwaka)

___

Atsumu x Nishinoya

1. All the things I love about Yuu by KilluCoulomb

Atsumu Miya is fixated in Nishinoya. The way the boy acts, talks, plays. He Carefully observes from afar, but he slowly warms up to the Libero. Friendship becomes more and more intimate. Atsumu realizes Nishinoya is not that simple guy he met three years ago. And he loves it.

(pro volleyball players AU)

2. i'll see you then by noyabeans (snowdrops)

Nishinoya Yuu and Miya Atsumu build a rivalry and something more.

“Oh, it's Karasuno’s libero,” he says, mildly surprised to see Nishinoya’s face staring back at him from the brochure, grinning wide with his arms folded over his chest.

Contains spoilers for the current manga arc, up to chapter 380.

[modern-vellichor]

Grief, is a Beautiful Thing

Stage Two: Anger

Warnings: Grief!! Mentions of death, suicide. Loss of a major character. Battles with depression, silent tears, heart and gut wrenching sadness, minor smut just to keep you on your toes.

Series Masterlist

Anger; a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.

Eventually, after weeks of watching the front door with a longing look in your eyes, after weeks of keeping Steve's things untouched, after weeks of waiting up at night for him, you realised, maybe, he isn't coming back. You were mad.

You were angry at Steve, angry at him for lying to you, for leaving you. You were furious at him for leaving you cold and broken and empty and thinking you were strong enough to pick yourself back up again.

You were angry at Bucky for trying. He was always there for you, calming you, telling you everything was okay, and it wasn't, it really wasnt.

You and Steve never argued, never in public anyway. God, if you could see him now, you would scream and shout and make sure he knew how wrong he was, how much you hated him right now. How could he do this to you.

You had disobeyed direct orders on a mission. Steve told you to hold back, but you saw and opportunity, and you took it, it was the right decision. Sure, you got stabbed a few times, but you got what you needed, quicker too.

"I can't believe you, Y/N. I gave you a direct order and you didn't follow it. Look at you now, you could have died"

You rolled your eyes at the love of your life, sighed, and stood up, blood trickling through your fingers clutched to your side.

"With all due respect, Captain, I did what had to be done, and it worked. So don't criticize my decisions", you only called him Captain when you were raging, when you thought he didn't even deserve the acknowledgment of a name.

"You are hurt, you went against me. I could ruin your career for that stunt"

"You wouldn't dare, don't lie to yourself"

"God, you're so fucking full of yourself, Y/N"

"excuse me?", you scoffed, eyebrows raised. Steve immediately regretted his words, uttering hurried apologies. "You know what, Cap, I am full of myself. I'm such a narcissist, such a bad person, huh. Where did our little golden boy go wrong, ending up with a good for nothing gal like me, huh?"

As if right on time, the jet had landed, so you made a grand exit, waltzing off the jet with your head held high, and tears in your eyes.

You couldn't go to your own room, not where the sheets smelled of him, not where his things sat snug next to yours. So you knocked on Bucky's door, he let you in without hesitation. He walked you to his bed, he held you as you cried, cradled you until you slept. He tucked you in under blankets that smelled like coconut, gun powder, and whiskey.

So as you lay, head buried into a pillow that smelt like Steve, tears staining soft satin, you thought about doing the exact same thing.

You picked yourself up, untangling yourself from the sheets, bare feet padding to the elevator. Straight to Bucky's door.

knock knock knock. gentle and soft, barely audible.

"doll?", he was half asleep in his doorway.

"hey, buck", you muttered, smiling sadly.

"what's up?"

"I can't sleep in there, Bucky. I can't do it. I swear to god, hes everywhere", you sobbed.

He wrapped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his room, into his bed. For once, you welcomed the cooing and the soft touches. You appreciated the way he cradled your face in his hands as you cried, catching tears with his thumbs as he watched you fall apart. He was holding you together, his legs tangled with yours, his lips uttering sweet redemption into your hair, hands softly drawing circles on your back.

You leaned into him, wrapping your arms around him in return, you pressed your face into his neck, breathing him in, soaking him up. This was what you need right now, and you fell asleep bathed in the warmth of his bare soul.

Bucky's eyes opened to you making your way out of his room. He sighed, hands reached out to you, lazily.

"why are you up so early, doll?", he checked the clock. 05:57am.

"I gotta work"

"you really gotta take some time off, you're gonna work yourself to death, especially in your form"

You gave him a small smile, "I'll be fine, Barnes. Go back to sleep"

He happily obliged, rolling over and closing his eyes, hearing the far away click of his door closing.

You locked yourself in your office the entirety of the day, making angry phone calls to people who just wouldn't listen, pacing as you waiting on stats to come through, filing reports, organising mission after mission, without even considering a break.

Bucky knocked on your door around 6, pushing it open softly.

"Hey, Barnes. What is it?", you asked, not looking up from your computer as your fingers danced quickly across the keys.

"Its dinnertime, come eat"

"I'm not hungry, but thank you"

"Y/N", you answered his calls, not taking your eyes off the screen. "Y/N, look at me, for God's sake"

You slammed the laptop shut, eyeing him up and down dangerously. Sure, Bucky Barnes might be able to snap your neck with his little finger, but he couldn't break a man down like you could. He couldn't stare at people so hard it bore holes in their skulls, he couldn't exude power like you did, he couldn't tear into someone's soul with spiteful words and a harsh tone, not like you.

"What was that? I'm looking now, Mr. Barnes, please, embarrass yourself further, you have my full attention", you smiled at him, but it was sly and condescending.

"You haven't eaten all day, you need to eat"

"I need to do my job, and I think you've forgotten that I am, in fact, your superior, so get out of my office", with that, you opened the laptop again, and continued on with your furious typing.

Bucky didn't budge, he knew you could get irritable on a good day, and good days usually didn't involve dying, being resurrected, losing half your team, and taking over Stark Industries.

"Y/N, please, come on. You're being irrational"

"And you're forgetting your place, you always do. I care about you, Buck, but now is not the time to be sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong, go annoy Sam or something, I don't have the time for you"

You stood up and ushered him to your door, with a hand on the handle, you gazed at him with a harsh stare.

"Have a goodnight, Barnes, stay out of my office"

You swung the door closed, if slammed shut mere inches away from Bucky's nose.

You avoided him like the plague for the next few days, not meeting his gaze, not uttering his name. You spent all your time locked in your office, not saying anything to anyone, until you had to.

You called a meeting, the pathetic remains of your team gathered around you. A teenage boy, a bird man, a god of thunder and an ex assassin walked into a room, what a wild joke.

You briefed them, you flew them out to the hotel, nicer than the last one you stayed in. You could only get three rooms, Sam got one to himself, he won rock, paper, scissors.

The awkward silence had settled thick and heavy between you and Bucky, sat on your own separate beds, neon light filtering in through the curtain.

"I think it's your turn to tell me a story", that was the first thing he had said to you in days, you were shocked, a little taken aback.

"what?"

"The last time you and I were in a hotel room, you asked for a story, and I gave you one. I want a story."

"oh", you chuckled, "what about?"

He thought for a minute, shifting to face you, blue eyes bright and playful.

"a boy"

You both laughed, all remnants of anger and spite evaporating. This was exactly like Bucky, make everything better with a joke and a laugh.

"I don't really have stories about boys. I was only 18 when I started with Stark. I met Steve when I was 23-"

"How did you meet Steve?", he cut in. You realised then, no one had ever told Bucky that story.

"He never told you?", Bucky shook his head in response.

"Well-"

You met Steve before Thanos, before Bucky, before Ultron even. You were young,

You walked with purpose across the dirt and sand, General Sanchez struggling to keep up as he briefed you. You were in an old army uniform, one that had once belonged to a friend, it was a little tight but it made do.

"Ms. Y/L/N, you said you called backup?", he asked, hesitant.

"I did", on cue, the quinjet handed some feet ahead, and Tony stepped out. "and there he is"

Tony started to walk alongside you and the General, the team walking a few feet behind you.

"Stark, pleasure seeing you again"

"same goes for you, Y/N, what's happening"

"ever seen Godzilla?"

These creatures had been popping up around coasts all over the world, a couple even had gone as far as peaking tails out of the water, ridges on their backs visible deep below the surface. All you knew is that they were massive, monstrously big, and dangerous. They had been testing the waters, seeing how ready you were for an attack, and today was the day. According to radar scans, the biggest off them all had showed up off the coast of L.A, so here you were.

Steve couldn't help but stare at you, walking tall and dignified, head held high, voice strong and authoritative. Even as you were bleeding out on the floor, cheek swollen, lip cut, eyes blackened, he thought you were beautiful, angelic.

"Really?", Bucky laughed. You just nodded, saddened by the distant memory. "you guys always seemed so, settled"

"once upon a time we were running around like kids, sneaking into empty offices to make out like horny teenagers. We settled down eventually", bitterness was evident in your voice as you spoke. You missed those days, running around with Steve's hand in yours. He had really ruined hand holding for you.

"You wanna know what Steve said to me on our first date?", you asked, breath trembling and voice shaky, tears brimming in your eyes.

"sure..", he spoke hesitantly, not sure if that was the right answer or not.

"He said, "you remind me of a girl I knew back in the war", the same girl he left me for. He fell in love with me because I reminded him of a dead girl."

You and Bucky ducked behind a car, both of you officially out of ammunition. You sighed, looking around for any form of weapon as bullets came ricocheting towards you.

"If this is how we go, I'm gonna be pretty fucking pissed", he scoffed, always making a joke.

"me too, Buck"

Your eyes scanned the ground desperately, Bucky was trying to get to Sam, Thor, even Peter, but the comms had been cut. Your eyes settled on a baseball bat not far from Bucky's feet.

"Hey, Bucky?"

"yeah, pup?", for a split second that dream flashed behind your eyes. pup.

you were snapped from your thought by a bullet flying past your ear.

"I got another story for ya", you grinned. Bucky cocked an eyebrow.

"Now?"

"I used to play a lot of baseball in high school", he followed your gaze, mischievous grin playing at his lips.

"you sure?"

And with that, you emerged from behind the car, bat in hand.

"Hiya, boys", you called out to the two thugs stood in front of you, they trained they're guns on you, just not quick enough.

Before they could even process what was happening, you were on top of them, swinging, punching, kicking. Bucky snuck up behind you, joining in on the fight.

Your breathing was heavy as the two men collapsed at your feet, blood spattered across your chest and face, Bucky couldn't help the butterflies in his stomach, red always was your colour.

There was a wicked smile playing on your lips, teeth sharp and glinting, you looked psychopathic, killer, and Bucky loved it.

Maybe he could help you release some of that anger, he hadn't gotten a good beating in a while.

You went out the night you got back. You almost went to knock on Natasha's door to invite her with you, you stopped yourself with tears in your eyes when you remembered.

You didn't tell anyone where you were going, to be honest, you didn't know yet. You slipped out of the compound quietly, the kind of thing Steve would have disapproved of.

You decided on a quaint little bar, a few blocks away, small and cozy. Old jazz hummed softly through the speakers, you fit right in, blending in with the crowd, no one paid you any mind, and you reveled in it. Being normal for once, being another someone in the crowd, instead of some comic book superhero.

A few hours went by, you spent the time people watching. You paid particular attention to a girl, not much younger than you, she looked just like Natasha, she even ordered a vodka and soda, you just smiled to yourself.

You heard someone slid into the barstool next to you, it must have been at least midnight at this point. He ordered an old fashioned, Bucky's signature. You just kept your attention trained on the other patrons, that was until you felt a hand splayed across your back and warm breath fanning out across your bare shoulder, you were ready to punch a man at least twice your size. You turned around, hand balled into a fist.

"Hey, pup"

"Bucky?"

It must've been the drinks, it had to have been. Bucky's tongue was hot and heavy in your mouth, hands all over your body. He kicked your door closed behind the both of you, pushing you up against it, rough. The wind was knocked from your lungs, his lips travelled down your face, leaving a trail of wet kisses across your jaw and down your neck. He nipped at the shell of your ear before growling, low and animalistic.

"I saw you covered in that blood on the mission, and I just couldn't help myself, pup, I had to get myself a taste"

fuck. me.

@vicmc624 @dee-vn

[bozowrites]

I kinda pictured the 2nd part to have her be out and about with dabi doing things for the league and hitoshi sees a glimpse of her and he goes crazy for the rest of the day until he found out that he wasnt the only one seeing glimpses of her. Somehow they get her back and then it could end in a really sad loving fluffy reunion between everyone and then have hitoshi show her how much he truly loves her and have him make love to her 👉👈 idk i really suck at imagines/stories

Things Change

Imagine (PART 2)

↳ Part 2 to Things Change

Pairing: Shinso Hitoshi × Fem!Reader

TW: Angst...

Word count: 1.3k

A/n: *deep inhale* AHHHHHHHHH. i tried so flipping hard! but fuuuuudge i suck at good endings :( im so sorry :((((( its now....sad again. i am the worst lmao

Part 1 / Part 2

“Dabi?” The woman grinned, “Do you think this is my colour?” The man stared at her stoically. “We’re here for supplies, not clothes.”

“Awe, Baby, you’re no fun!” She frowned, wiggling herself into his arms and pleading for his attention. He sighed. “I prefer you with nothing, but yes, purple does suit you.”

L/n looked away, the words he said hitting her. “purple does suit you.” She moved away from him and tucked the revealing purple dress into her bag, ready to steal it. Just like the rest of the supplies they had.

Shinso chuckled over the small joke Midoriya made, quick to hide his face from him. His eyes wandered over to the woman jumping around another male. She had this large smile on her face, the hood covering her face still revealed the beauty and similarity to his past lover. His heart panged and ached. Even after these last three years, it still hurt. He let his eyes linger before settling back on Midoriya.

“Hey, can we visit the pet store?”

“You’re not getting another cat, Toshi.”

“I need food for them. But a new kitten does sound nice. I was thinking the name Pekoe, what do you think?”

“No.”

Shinso grinned at the kittens mewling at him. The orange tabby in the corner stared at him straight on, not blinking or moving a muscle. Shinso did the same, glaring ever so slightly, challenging it. “This one, I want this one.” Shinso muttered, not breaking eye contact with the four-legged creature. “No.” Shinso frowned over to Midoriya, giving the best kitty-eyes he could muster. “Please?”

“No. Now, let’s go back to the dorms, we got the cat food and groceries. Oh! Actually, I wanted to visit the new pro-hero merch store. Can we?”

“No.”

“What? Why? We visited your store.”

“Cause you already have enough merchandise.”

“And you have enough cats.”

“You can never have too many cats.”

“And you can never have too much merch!”

“Izuku?”

“Hitoshi.”

“You’re an—” his words cut short. He watched the same woman pass by the store window, hood down. The same hair, only longer. She had the same figure, and the same walk with only a slighter more slouch. He held his breath as he watched her walk by with another man, his hood up and face hidden. It couldn’t be her. It was impossible. She died. He watched her die.

“Hitoshi!” Shinso jumped and let out a quiet startled cry. “Oh, um, sorry. Uh, let’s go to that new store, or . . . whatever.” Midoriya stared at the purplette that walked away from him and to the cashier. His whole aura had shifted. They were in a playful argument, but it ended oddly. Midoriya brought his eyes over to the window Shinso previously stared at. There was nothing, only the occasional passerby. Perhaps he saw someone familiar? Or a hero?

“Yo, guys! I’m going out for a bit!” No one payed any mind to the woman as she left the building. No one ever did. She stepped out on the sidewalk, pulling up her hood to conceal her face a bit, a face mask on her too.

“Damn assholes.”

Years ago, she found herself wandering into the dark side. She let it corrupt her, almost all of her. Key word: almost. Her mind always found its way to think about the man she left for this life; Shinso Hitoshi. He loved her, she knew he did, and she loved him, of course she did. All she wanted was him, his cuddles, his laugh, his beautiful face, and that faint scent of cat.

She only helped from the sidelines with the LoV, they didn’t want her to be completely involved. She thought it was because they didn’t fully trust her, but they always said it was because she was “dead”. If someone ever saw her, she could merely say she was a lookalike. It was dumb reason.

“I knew it was you.” She halts in her steps, looking up to see the very man she was thinking of. “I’m sorry? Do I know you?” She plays it out, like the others always told her to do if someone recognized her. But . . . she never thought that person would be the person who knows her like the back of his hand.

“Don’t do this. Please, for the love of Gods, don’t do this.” His voice is anguished. “You left me. You left everything!” L/n bites her lip, holding in tears that threaten to fall. “Why?” She stayed silent, not wanting to break. “TELL ME WHY!”

“BECAUSE I WAS SCARED!” She finally broke. Her hands, in fists, shook at her side as she shouted at him. It was so fast. He just saw her and, yet, they started immediately yelling at each other. The two had stayed silent after her burst. He stood far from her, around six feet (as you should be doing too), and grumbled under his breath. Her feet walked backwards slowly, very slowly, to get away, hopefully, from him.

“Y/n?” she didn’t answer. He might use his quirk on her, and she was surprised he hadn’t yet. He could turn her into the police. He could get all of the information he needed from her to destroy the LoV, yet, he hasn’t.

“Y/n,” his voice quivered. She didn’t look up to see that he was crying. She didn’t have to. “I miss you so damn much. I blamed myself. I thought it was my fault you died, I could have been better, that it was my fault we weren’t going to grow old together, but, no, it’s your fault. You left me. You left your parents. You left everything behind. Because you were scared.”

She also began to cry. How could she not? “Yes, I did. I know I did. I know what I left. And I miss—”

“Don’t you dare finish that fucking sentence!” the streets were completely bare, no person in sight as they fought. It was a dark alley in the middle of night, of course no one was near!

“Toshi—”

“Don’t call me that. You lost that privilege the moment you gave yourself to the League of Villains.”

She stayed silent again. Their breaths mingle in the newly winter’s air. She heard his steps coming closer, causing her breath to catch in her throat. What’s he doing? She brought her hands closer to her chest, trembling under his obvious gaze.

“Look at me.” He demanded. She did as asked: looked up to meet his angry stare. He brought his hands to her cheeks, something she hadn’t felt in forever. His hands were cold to the touch, but the feeling was warm. “Just . . . don’t say anything.”

She found his lips on hers. It was sloppy and wet, but so needed for the both of them. They held on to each other desperately. She could feel the coldness of the air nipping at her hands. She could fell the same fluffy, softness of his hair it always had. Saliva dripped from the corner of their mouths. She pulled at his hair, earning a pleasured groan. His hands are traveling down her body, landing on her hips and squeezing the flesh.

He pulls away from her, hands still on her hips as he keeps his head down to avoid her eyes.  She smiles, missing the feeling that she just had.

“I—”

“Go.”

“What?”

“Go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Go. Before I change my mind!”

She shakes. He refused to meet her eyes, his arms hugging himself. She cried, but obeyed his ask and ran away from the alley. She ran fast, the opposite of the LoV headquarters, just in case.

Why did she go to the dark side again?

TAGLIST (aka those who commented): 

@sillypersonobservation

[heat0death0of0the0universe]

i gotta talk about Narrative Telephone

I. Fucking. Love. It.

when my extreme dislike of second-hand embarrassment takes a loud backseat i can fin so much that i love about it. 

but what i love most isn't the humor. or even the continued critical role content. no, i love the allegory and the metaphor of the whole concept. 

all my life i loved the concept of watching time move forward. seeing evolution, hearing language change, watching cultures rise and fall. but what i dont like is time and the fact that im along for the ride. id rather watch evolution, not be step 48801 of a process with no end. and sadly most media and general public doesn't like watching time change. no one wants too see how the English language evolves with a rise in Spanish speaking folks and pop culture creating new idioms and words. everyone would much rather watch something with the same animals with the same people walking the same cities speaking the same language, albeit maybe with a few more neon lights and holograms to make you feel like its in some vague ~future~. but narrative telephone gives me the change i like to see. i can finally feel like im watching a story going through the times and changes of a culture.

im gonna need to explain a little more. what better way than to show off all the current episodes.

episode one is simple, pumat and the big bad wolf. the sorry starts with pumat on a stroll through the woods. he finds a talking wolf and they fight. the story ends with the pumat eating a nice mushroom and wolf stew. but the changes to the story are what get to me. i love ashley, trust me i really do. but in this context, she’s basically the dark ages. everything crumbles and the story follows in the crash. this point is when the more brothers grimm tales and nonsense folklore are added in. people dont like the night, so the seen changes to match. suddenly the wolf not only speaks, but has a beak! the fighting through being somewhat vague in the original story now is lost to time and is none existent. taliesin builds off it, changing it ever so slightly from a garbled to a more of a warning story. a story that reflects a change in a cultures thoughts on the woods. when everything was all writings and giant building the woods where just a place to rule over and harvest, but after the fall now its returned to the unexplored. the place of fey and monsters that should never be explored at night. marisha adds winter and gives it just the smallest bit of added context. a man in the woods during night before might have been seen as mad or crazy, but a man scrounging for some mushrooms in a dead forest in winter isnt tempting fate, he’s struggling to live. a shift in view also makes it so that the beaked magic wolf is just as weakened by the winter, and is easily turned away by just a voice. sam is..something. if ashley is the dark ages than id say sam is like a renaissance. specifically a very drunk renaissance. the kingdom was risen and is filled with hubris and pride.its gained a very “man falls for his hubris” greek vibe to it.  pumat has gone from scavenging to walking unbothered by cold dead winter. the kingdom has lost its enjoyment of strange creatures, monsters are still around in legend, but most have been replaced with magical people, with a clear rise in “person in an animals skin” tropes. the original fight has been mostly lost, now the story is that of a magic hunter who eyes the mushrooms taken by pumat and gives a chuckle and permission to continue exploring the woods unimpeded. pumat eats just the mushrooms, which now have gained the lupine taste, and the vague description of “he became something more” giving the idea of some sort of curse for his nature. Laura has added back the wolfs anger, but removed the suspicion of pumat. the curse is still in the end of the story though. this could be a change into more of a forbidden fruit trope. because pumat still trusted strange mushrooms in a dead forest with a magic guardian, he paid the price. travis is a sort of close to modernization of the story. its the point in time when its nonsensical nature and magic was viewed as weird and convoluted.  similar to when we look at older myths with long intricate plans and think “nice story, but poor pacing”. liam goes for the “granddad telling stories by the fire” vibe. the tale has died down and is being co-opted for new use. now the rather dark tale has turned into more of a children's storybook with messages like not to trust strangers and to not do drugs being tagged on. 

ep. 2: jesters ability to say 1000 words a second. pickadors plume is a story in a story. a story about gaining a treasure through a complex and detailed series of events  with lots of loaded lore about the world with no clear description of what the treasure truly is. liam is the first few generations. the generation close enough to the original to try and remember, but not enough to keep every detail. the best example is of the ending, where the treasure should be. humans love rewards, so a story with a vague reward isnt enough for people. in liams generation transition to the griffon, travel, and fruit specifically being the treasure begins to lay its foundations. since this is already so long i will also mention that the transition from stone shaped like a heart ---to----> stone shaped like a hut could be an example of a changing dialect and language. sam, travis, and marisha are clear evidence of a shift in culture. jesters complete backstory wasnt introduced till now. and in it comes the cultures want to explain this event. humans love simplifying, but we also love to describe things. if we want to, we will add words just as much as we remove them. the dialect changes just as much. the new word of “schtupping." has either replaced or become a synonym of the word fucking, the name of the plum as even changed too. the treasure has gone from “lost to time” to “there is treasure, i just wont name it”. but fret not, for the mystery aspect is still in the story. for now everything will disappear like it never happened, or did it? though travis specifically specifies that you keep the treasure. humans love rewards, it was gonna come back eventually. matt is the sorta an enlightening moment in the society. at the very least its the point in time where people who know geography and history say “wait, that layout doesnt make any sense”. taelisan and ashley are the beginning of the end. the slow fall into the dark ages. the story becomes vague and small. slowly becoming more of a statement and less of a story. the society is forgetting large chunks and its bleeding out into other legends. there maybe a sort of thanksgiving/ christmas sort of event spawned from or because of the myth, but the story itself isnt going to live every far (hence why its ending in a dark age and not somewhen else)

Ep. 3: boy do humans enjoy rich’s, love, and drama. sam’s story comes from a society that warns against wanting what you wish for without expecting some strings attached and features a evil ruler to boot, just so they can date the legend. the story of a delivery boy who invents a pair of glasses to see through objects and uses them to win rewards and gives them all to a rich woman that only loves him for the money, and really loves the prince. matt changes the story so the two are already in love. but also changed it so that it was the greed of the prince and the wife that lead to the heartbreak rather than the delivery boys naivety. travis changes delivery boy from a clever inventor to just already owning the glasses. both matt and travis with there respective fictional cultures are showing how humans like to remember the stuff they liked in a story, so when they forget when something specifically came in, they just fill in the blank and assume its always been there. travis specificaly begins the stories slow march to a less heartbreaking story by adding a joke to help give the couple a more flushed out relationship. this is also the shift in cultural perspective. the antagonist began his life as a evil prince, but now is simply a rotten neighbor. this could mean the myth was co-opted to fit a better role, possibly after the removal of monarchy or just of a specific bloodline.the rich wife becomes just the wife, no money involved. this is also the beginning of what a full fledged re-write of the story. now the delivery man has gone from giving up to still being in love with the wife and now even standing up for himself. (possibly a mix of when the story was of a prince and used to promote the common folk to rise up against the kings, leading to the theory of a removal of the crown). ashely...oh ashely. this moment in history atleast solidifies the love between them, and even brings back delivery husbands inventor skills. liam is the slow clawing climb back up out of the collapse. he’s still very much in the collapse of the kingdom. but aleast its just before when begin to solidify into the new meta of the era. laura and taelisin’s era is a complete re-write after the collapse of the society. the focus has moved to more of a folk-hero style legend about rising above through theft and cheating (could mean that after the collapse the culture around theft changed from crime to fighting to survive. the antagonist has really changed from being the bad guy to just in the love triangle. the society seems to agree with every polyamourous person when we all say “this how drama triangle could have been avoided if you guys all just got together”. marisha’s only real change a more modernization from “specticals” to “goggles” and that the culture either wants to make half-orcs feel more inclusive or just really dont like goliaths and changed it. 

ep. 4: deargodfinallyigottheneedtowritethisoutofmysystemsoletsspeedrunthisshit. liams story is an analogy for the horrors, pointlessness, and sacrifics of war. but over time the story shifts from a “we did this to ourselves” narrative to a “an outside force did this to use”. this shifts the goal from a need for peace to a need to protect everyone for the sake of the many. ill write more later but dear god i my hand might fall off soon

[seagullsausage]

also i'm still,,,, hhhhhh,,,, hyped for jackieboy w/ schizophrenia,,,, son

OMG YESSS OK OK this got kinda long but here ya go 

jackie was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in high school after he had these delusions that he was a superhero and had super abilities that helped him dismantle non-existent crime rings in his town. he was being trained and worked with a group of guys with leather jackets and cool sunglasses and they were his really good friends, especially with their leader. besides his superhero delusions and the hallucinations of his patrol and the criminals, he would constantly hear things that he believed was his super hearing picking up on radio signals. he heard lots of chattering and faint music among radio static, and he would hear robotic voices talking to him and trying to give him orders from who he believed was the government. he couldnt sleep at night because these would get so bad. he would also often hear people screaming for help and would drop everything and run to try and help, much to the confusion of the people around him

when he went missing and was found three days later in an old train yard trying to bust open cars with his bare hands looking for a criminal he was chasing, he was first arrested but then hospitalized. he was sure that he was being experimented on and that he was in a secret government facility posing as a hospital and so was really uncooperative for awhile, until his mom and doctor started proving that his “friends” werent real, that the criminals he supposedly took down werent real, that he actually didnt have any powers and that many of the things he saw and heard other people didnt see. after he was diagnosed he was sent home where he dropped out of high school, and he just stayed inside all the time while going through his treatment and cycling through medications trying to find one that didnt make him feel like shit. he felt like his life was over, that he would never go to college or get a job because he had a “scary” mental illness. eventually when he got better he was able to get out of the house a little more and got a job at the mall, which helped him socialize and gave him back a little more of his self esteem. one time there was a robbery that he managed to stop, and realized that even though he didnt have any super powers or anything he could still do the right thing and be a hero

jackie was born with the memories of his backstory and so he knew that he had it, but was too scared to tell jack about it because he was made to protect him, and didnt want jack to see him as weak or crazy. but jack was really supportive and made sure to keep an eye on him and made sure he was taking his medication. he thought that jack made him a brother named marvin, but he went missing, and whenever he tried asking jack about him he would just get really sad and wouldnt want to talk about him. jackie concluded that marvin was just a hallucination that he had, as having a dead brother was a little too much for him. and anyways henrik came a month later and he was really happy with his little family

when jack started getting sick around october, jackie started noticing things that schneep and jack didnt. like how he would catch jack staring off into space or sleepwalking, how sometimes he would get nosebleeds and his eyes would turn black, he would have nightmares and technology around him malfunctioned. jackie tried to brush off the increasing paranoia about jack, thinking his schizophrenia was acting up again. until anti started popping up in his videos. and jackie knew he wasnt crazy, because both jack and henrik saw anti too. the entire time anti was taking over jacks system, henrik tried to leave jackie out of it because he was worried it would send him into an episode. after all, anti was his perfect nightmare––a creature that was invisible to the eye, that caused paranoia and distorted reality, caused explainable sicknesses and was intent on taking away everything jackie loved.

after the events of say goodbye, jackie was pissed as hell that henrik and jack didnt really take him seriously at first when he started seeing the signs before they did, that they didnt want him involved because of his mental illness. from that point on, they had to realize that they didnt exactly treat jackie like a normal person because of his schizophrenia, and they started taking him more seriously and trusted him more. he was very stable and functional as long as he took his medication and that he was keeping up with a therapist, but ever since anti, the few episodes and relapses he did have would be anti-centered. he would get intense paranoia that anti was taking over another one of the egos’ systems, that the voices in his head were from anti, that anti was going to kill him or his family while he was sleeping, stuff like that. 

and when anti found out about his illness, he thought it was funny as FUCK that the big bad hero that was supposed to keep everyone safe was fucking crazy (in his mind, anyway). he would deliberately do things that set off hallucinations or gave him new ones just to see what would happen. although jackie is healthy and able to function as well as the rest of his family, anti found his brain fascinating and couldnt help but fuck him over as a special brand of torture from time to time. 

[charrfie]

For your Frankenstein hcs, how are you imagining Walton, Victor, the creature (Adam), and Margaret all come together? Specifically, the creature— I’m a sucker for backstories! Also is Ernest in the picture?? :))

I have plans to type out my entire au in detail separately and share it here another time, but I'll give you the basic rundown, hopefully I don't write TOO much (its inevitable that I'll write too much)

Basically, in my au, everything follows canon up to the point where Victor's health starts worsening. Instead, he begins to get better, and his outlook on life, while still VERY much so grim, starts to stabilize and become somewhat bearable thanks to Walton's support and friendship. Then one day, as in the book, Creature boards the ship and, rather than being faced with guilt and sadness after seeing Victor dead, his anger and thirst for revenge is still there once he discovers Victor's still alive.

The conflict that then happens involves a lot of detail, so I'll save a majority of that for the detailed explanation of it I'll write later, but long story short some shit goes down, Walton gets really fucked up trying to defend Victor, and suddenly, right when Creature has the upper hand, he sees himself in Victor's eyes and remembers the day his cottager family attacked him. Everything catches up to him at once and he becomes extremely silent, sullen, and limp- he refuses to fight anymore.

Victor and Walton escape their cabin where they were and inform the crew of everything immediately, but before anything bad happens and the crew can do anything about this, Victor speaks up about wanting to find the reason behind everything that's happened, and why Creature didn't kill both him and Walton when he had the chance to. They go back to the cabin, things happen that I'll explain later, and it comes out that Creature discovered all of Walton's yet-to-be-sent letters, which has let him see a whole different perspective on his actions.

Blah blah blah things happen that will make this a whole fuckin essay if I type them all out but long story short things eventually work out on the ship and tensions cool just slightly (although the relationship between Victor and Creature is still fairly hostile, nothing violent happens between them, and whenever things start getting more tense, Walton is always the mediator and calms things). The ship finally gets back to England after Walton accepts that they need to turn the ship around, and so Walton takes both Victor and Creature back to his home where Margaret is so they can meet her (she lives at his house bc I've always imagined the man she married to become Mrs. Saville to not be around, whether that means he died or left or???? Idk??? I honestly just assumed that from the very first time I read the book and even did any character work on her so I'm rolling with it)

Margaret is instantaneously fascinated with the two strangers after having heard so much about them in her brother's letters (that she finally received a month or two before they arrived). Shes a very kind soul and not timid at all, so she's not the least bit spooked by Creature, despite all that happened and the possibilities of that happening to her as well. Shes honestly the biggest help in the whole au when it comes to Creature finding a friend that he can confide in bc she doesnt judge him from the start- and she's also the one who eventually gives him the name Adam.

I'm desperately trying to figure out how to add Ernest into the story!! Just havent gotten that far development-wise yet. I can't imagine what his reaction to this would be... I almost feel like he'd refuse to speak to Victor for creating the one who murdered his family, and obviously would refuse talking to Creature because, well, he's the who killed his family in the first place. But I really want to figure a way around it bc he deserves some plot time :^< he wasnt in the book almost at all like Margaret, and I gotta do him some justice like I've done her. So I'll try my best to include him in the picture :^)

Hopefully this is good enough though! It's very sloppily typed out and theres a LOT of details left out that let the story flow more smoothly or make more sense but I tried to include the highlights on how they all get together?? Lmk if you have any questions at all and I'll gladly explain!!!!!

[getaroomyouheck]

aight bet dmc5 story thoughts

for all yall that wanted to know

obvious spoilers under cut lol

the shit i was most worried about was V’s backstory, specifically that the explanation they’d give for him being vergils human half would be forced. but in actuality it turned out really cool, i think it was explained well and had cool context

actually showing us the specific actions vergil did really made it work i think. showing him shamble to his old home, and impale himself with yamato only to just have V naked pop out + vergil going sicko mode and turning into urizen was really cool to see

plus, V is less like vergils human side, more so his good aspects. his ambition, his guilt, his souls desire to prevent others from getting involved, all of that. and urizen was just like vergils power gluttony and such given full rise

and it actually gives this cool lore detail to the yamato being able to separate man and devil, which retroactively gives nice lore to rebellion too and finally makes that sword more than just “hehe big hit stick”. cause dante thinks about why sparda gave him rebellion out of everything, and eventually realizes that if yamato severs and vergil impaled himself to sever his human and demon sides, rebellion should do the inverse. and so he pulls out his hilt of rebellion and just fucking impales himself. rebellion’s hilt combines with sparda, and we get the demon sword dante + majin form

besides V being vergil there wasnt much left i was worried about. and as a whole the game had a good story with nice highlights. still wacky over the top fun action, but with a couple more loftier storytelling scenes. whether it was V explaining to trish his backstory, V speaking to nero about the story of dante and vergil as dante is impaling urizen, dante driving rebellion into himself, and all that + more. was hype as fuck to see unfold

and hell even a couple emotional moments too. nero’s DT scene being a particular highlight, as it really lets his character breathe and come to life. he namedrops credo and talks about how he felt useless and refuses to forgive himself for his death, only to scream “I WONT LET YOU DIE” to both dante and vergil and going DT

which is perfect characterization for him + calls back to when dante calls him dead weight in the prologue. nero dwelled on that so much, because its actively what he’s been trying so hard to never be again

when he saw credo die, he felt like a dead weight. a useless nothing who let his brother figure + closest friend perish without anything. and he vowed to himself there that he’d never let anything like that happen again. the buildup of legacy as nero began walking also really let the emotion soak in

one of the most fascinating things regarding dmc5 is the lore behind V’s summons and what happens to em after V and uri join and make vergil. as it turns out, griffon shadow and nightmare were essentially just vergils nightmares and night terrors he had as nelo angelo made manifest into living creatures (griffon as he’s speaking to dante literally namedrops nelo angelo it was a really cool moment). hence why all 3 are enemies found on mallet island. they really add some angst to vergil, showing that as he was being tortured and experimented with by mundus he suffered and had so many nightmares over them that they literally manifested themselves into the dmc1 creatures

also griffons last words to dante were really fucking sad lmao. “we were just vergils nightmares. and this is our last battle. godspeed dante, you’ll need it” like shit dude yall making me sad for the death of a demon birb

really the only thing that disappointed me was that neither trish nor lady really have a central role here. like they’re cool and i love their designs and there are some cool interactions between V and trish in a few moments, but as a whole they don’t really do much. what they do is just like shown off screen or through dialogue. and i understand it aint really their story to be told and nico’s more the main heroine of the game than them, but its still kinda disappointing. hoping that there’s a dlc focused on them and such, that’d be cool

besides that small gripe i really enjoyed seeing how the story unfolded. was really cool to go from knowing like fucking nothing to piecing together the pieces and little bits of story till everything became truly clear. and it was cool how many things they pulled from the other dmc stuff into this. mentioning mundus, nell, a bit of dmc2, its cool. def a satisfying story to me, i did not predict it being like this, but im ok with it regardless

very excited to see where they go from here, the ending feels less like a conclusion and more like a new page starting up. hearing nero answer his phone with “devil may cry” really cemented that feeling for me

also as a side note the end credits scene with dante and vergil duking it out in hell is like almost self aware to how fucking ridiculous it actually is lmao. like the 2 are keeping score of their battles and dante wins a clash and says “yes, im 1 above!” and vergil responds with “where’d you learn to count, we’re even.” like the game is 100% acknowledging how ridiculous and like nearly childish their sibling rivalry is lol. even as like 41 year old men they’re still like this

dante even comments on it like “y’know, is this ever even going to end?” or something like that

[dreams-of-wings]

Phantom Dragon

Imagine being on of the things/people that make Ikebukuro so special.

Warnings: It's me, so swearing. I'm a slut for Light Fury's, sorry. And being obsessed with something (for me) means crossing it over with almost every fandom I know.

There's so much that makes Ikeburkuro stand out from other cities. Sure it might not be the biggest or most populated city in the world, but you know what they say, "Quality over quantity."

It's the people that make this city so unique: you've got The Headless Rider, Saika (who some still argue is just a myth), the strongest man in the world Ikebukuro, everyone's most hated favorite information broker, and heck even some of the gangs help make the city widely infamous.

And then there's you.

You only came recently.

Some time after that big fight that landed Masaomi in the Hospital.

You hadn't arrived there by normal means- traveling internationally involves medical records and documentation in order to make sure that, health wise, you were okay to travel to another country. BUT because you aren't completely human, and have a little somthin' else, any form of testing might come up or appear outside the normal ranges for a human being (little things like taking your temperature might be alarming to medical professionals).

So you got there by paying someone to stow you away on a boat. Unfortunately getting somewhere by shifty means, ment you had to hire some shifty people, and that ment they couldn't always be trusted to keep their mouths shut - especially after they thought they saw something.

That being said, of course Izaya knew about you the day you arrived.

Correction

He knew of you, but not about you. He only knew what he had been told and that only made his interest in you deepen.

"Someone's arrived in Ikebukuro who might add some extra weight to the scale- maybe not on one side or the other, but perhaps in a new direction."

Oh color him interested.

For about a month or so, you were able to live quietly and without being seen while you were... *cough cough* having fun being yo majestic dragon shifting self.

The first sighting happened on one of the days when Celty was being hunted down ceaselessly.

Someone got their hands on one of those giant guns that shoots out a big net, and they had the mind to try and use it on Celty.

Let's just say their aim was off

And you, in all your curious glory wondering why so many thugish-looking bikers were ganging up on one woman, were gliding around kinda low.

Then it happened. You were shot down, but at first no one could see you and for a second they thought the net was faulty.

But Celty knew otherwise.

She was able to use her powers to help you get away without being seen by the people in your immediate vicinity, but she could do nothing about the people in the surrounding buildings.

So of course someone had seen you and gotten video evidence before you seemed to disappear into thin air.

It took only a few hours for the footage to go viral - with some people stoked to see that such a creature existed in their home town, while others were skeptical of the video being real.

Izaya was giddy as fuck, because this must be what that one guy was talking about.

Shinra wasn't sure if it was real, but then again his girlfriend is a Dullahan so why the hell not?

Shizuo was there when Celty set you free.

Anri was a bit more on the indifferent side, she wasn't sure how she felt about the video. If it was fake it didnt change a thing, but what if it was real? Her school girl mind could only imagine.

Masaomi cracked jokes about there being a princess in town, and that was why there was a dragon here.

And as always Mikado was a bit late to the party.

Let's talk about the people who know about you- and I'm not talking about people who saw the video, no. I mean people who looked at you and just got a sixth sense or figured it out.

Simon: Just seemed to know somehow? He seems kinda like the guy who knows more than he let's on? So people just don't really think much of him at first glance. He said something to you when you stopped by for a bite to eat that just made you freeze, "Sushi is good and easy on stomach before and after long flight, no?" Oh...

Celty: She had never actually seen you shift, but when she met you she also just knew. She got this hair standing up on the back of her neck feeling, and it took her a few more interactions to figure it out, but she was one of the faster ones to the draw.

Shizuo: The timeline of the viral videos and him seeing you (a new face in Ikebukuro) around now had bothered him. It seemed very coincidental and everytime he saw you or that damn video he thought about it long and hard, and eventually he put the pieces together. Just because he's strong, doesn't make him dumb.

Izaya: One of the last people to know, though not from a lack of trying I can promise you that. Even Mikado and his friends, and Erika and her group knew about you before he did (mainly because Celty and the others told them after convincing you they were trust worthy). After managing to make friends with you, Celty and her friends did everything they could to keep you hidden away from the information broker, and that normally ment one of them being with you when you went out into the city. Celty would be damned if she let Izaya dig up your information and hold it over your head like he did to her. Of course he connected the dots when he questioned why his dear little Celty took a sudden interest in a nobody newbie. Being friends with them was probably your downfall to be honest.

Now let's talk about all the things that come with being an undocumented [I guess] dragon shifter.

God forbid you get sick, and I don't mean, "Oh look I've got a runny nose," sick i mean- coughing fit, feels like your dying sick. All I can say is fire, fire everywhere. Hope your neighbors aren't nosy.

It's kinda hard to get a good job? Everything needs proof of identity and since you aren't from their you dont have things they would normally ask for, you also dont have a work Visa saying that it's okay your there.

Sure you can get hired under the table, but keep in mind if anything goes wrong (and not necessarily with you) you'll be the first one your boss gets rid of incase people start snooping around.

You do a lot of job hopping, apartment hopping, and sometimes squatting, till you're finally able to get a good job.

#EveryonesFirstApartmentIsShit

Honestly being a dragon helps you save a lot on food sometimes- you can just go hunting yo.

Once you make friends with the crew, getting a decent paying job is easier and you bounce between working deliveries with Celty and debt collecting with Tom and Shizuo.

Kinnosuke, that hard ass motorcycle cop that gives Celty problems, gives you problems as well. Of course he wanted to know what kind of people the headless rider hung out with, so after he saw the two of you together a few times on the street he flagged you down on your walk home from work (Yes, you walk), and asked for your ID. He wasnt heartless, just a man of the law, so he understood that getting a new ID could take a while. When you gave him the ID from where you previously lived, he politely asked for a Visa or proof of citizenship in Japan/Ikebukuro.

Oh

Oh, no

It was on the second you ran for a nearby ally, turned into a damn dragon, and flew away.

"Do you have a license to fly?!"

"Do you have a permit to fly within city limits?!"

After that, you would fly to the nearest ally of your destination for anything because at least he can't get to you in the sky, and you can still hide.

"Its not the same as flying a plane you idiot!"

Sorry, not sorry.

[blookmallow]

i made a shitty khajit to do the rude shit im too nice to do on my other file lmao

----

this is ragweed hes a thief and general public nuisance who doesnt like anybody. interested in alchemy. doesn’t want to be on anybody’s side but his own

i want him to be friends with medea even though they obviously can’t actually coexist in the same universe lmao

playing the intro again helped a LOT with like. processing what the fuck even happened and also i noticed the dragon both has a name and can apparently talk??

like im guessing this one is an Important Dragon so thats why he has a name and the others dont, and like. yeah the shouts are. dragon words so it makes sense that they have language but. idk there’s something really odd about “monstrous beasts” and “named creatures intelligent enough to have language” being true of the same thing 

anyway i now understand that there’s actually two options for which guy to follow out of helgen, you can go with hadvar who is an imperial soldier who sympathized with you but still helped lead you to what was supposed to be your death, or ralof who is one of your fellow prisoners and is a stormcloak soldier 

either one leads you along basically the same path and they’re weirdly both from riverwood but don’t seem to know each other??

i didn’t even realize there were two guys calling out to me in the chaos the first time i played. so. medea just blindly followed hadvar because she didn’t see ralof there, hadvar helped her and was kind to her, and she doesn’t understand the politics involved and doesn’t know what she was arrested for in the first place so she feels maybe the imperials had a good reason for wanting to kill her, but still doesn’t trust anyone who leads prisoners to execution without telling them why 

but she’s kinder toward them because of hadvar (and she was so confused and disoriented she doesn’t realize he was one of the main officers involved in the execution either) 

ragweed however followed ralof, saw hadvar but went NNNNOPE FUCK THAT GUY. he’s actually fond of ralof now and is VERY much on a “FUCK THE IMPERIALS” mindset after what they did to him. headcanoning he just kinda got roped into that whole mess like the other thief did

boy needs some better clothes :’) 

for a while i was doing a thing where he’d steal the shoes off every corpse he came across (or created) just to fuck with people like “who’s going around taking all these shoes” but then i got tired of it bc obviously the npcs dont actually notice that happening and it wasnt that funny 

so now his new hobby is stealing every egg he can find. when he gets a house hes just going to have this huge pile of eggs 

hes not an Evil person hes just very very morally suspect and does not have any reservations about stealing from pretty much anyone. doesnt hurt people without cause but Will at any provocation

also one of the first things that happened on this file was me discovering a cave/bandit hideout/whatever this was that i hadnt seen before, and falling in a pit full of khajit corpses specifically, which seems very particularly ominous, 

i was wandering around and came across some of the companions looking over a dead giant and they were immediately mad at me for not helping with it buT THIS WAS ON RAGWEED’S FILE AND HE HADN’T EVEN BEEN TO WHITERUN YET, SO HE DOESN’T KNOW THEM AND ALSO IT WAS DEAD BEFORE I EVEN REALIZED THEY WERE HERE :’) 

and like. he doesnt have a reputation or anything yet nobody knows who the fuck he is except for ralof. who does this “YOU THERE. RANDOM GUY I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T YOU HELP US” like damn you’re not yelling at the farmers for slacking off 

look at all them skelemens

meanwhile medea got attacked by cultists suddenly. i killed them and stole their cool masks 

sick

this deer isnt afraid of me at all, 

ALL HAIL

I GOT HEARTS!!!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!

there was a. mentally ill guy looking for his sister and i eventually found. her remains, among which was An Actual Human Heart, im not sure if it was Her heart (there were no other organs there she was just a skeleton tho so this seems unlikely) or what and then when i brought her pendant back to him to explain what i found he gave me ANOTHER HEART with no explanation

i have no fucking idea whats going on in this family but im psyched about hearts

i also realized you can fuCKIGN EAT!!!! THE HEARTS (because they’re also alchemy ingredients) so. i absolutely did just eat a human heart i found in a river 

i put the other one on my table. lydia was unconcerned 

i noticed some of my skulls are different sizes??

MY BABY GOT ME A DAGGER 

nice

,,,,so is it. blood, or, 

[lollytea]

can you tell us more about the snufmin kids, if thats okay?

Oh of course, of course!! i love those children so much dude!!!

[Original OC post]

Beginnings

-Torben’s origins are kinda a downer but basically his mom was a witch on the outskirts of a little village (real far away from moominvalley) who was killed after a lot of fearmongering. they raided her cottage afterwards and found baby torben and assumed him to be a child she stole.

- They couldnt find the “real mother” and he ended up in the care of a childrens’ home. He actually bounced around a few of them until he ended up in the home where he met with his future siblings. according to those working there, he had a rather unnerving stare and a lot of them felt there was something not quite right about him. (the rumor going around was it was something the witch had “done to him” and that “the poor child might never be the same”)  he was a lot more sullen as a baby who didnt have much of an interest in toys and had a hard time connecting with the other children. He brightened up considerably when he found Birch and Essi

- Birch was an oddity from the start. (Species headcanon from here) Its natural for woodies grow in groups, usually from trees and bushes, so theyre biologically social creatures who are hardly ever seen alone. But Birch may have been a spectacle of his species, as he was formed in a moss patch and born all on his own. 

- Another thing that was considered strange about him was his lack of imprinting. Woodies tend to latch on to the first “safe” person they meet, who then forcibly becomes their “parent”. (Woodies are produced asexually and have no “real parents” so finding a person of protection is often done as a survival tactic. It’s recommended that one stay away from woodies if one is not ready for children.) Baby Birch was discovered by a farmer and surprisingly did not take to him right away, like any woodie does. Actually he was rather standoffish and even bit if the old man touched him. He was sent to the home not long after. 

- Space was tight and there werent a lot of cribs/beds to go around, so Birch didn’t have one to himself. Instead they just squeezed him into 2 year old torben’s crib for the two children to share. Here they became inseparable, with Birch, maybe not imprinting but forming a close bond with somebody and finally finding a source of comfort. He bit a little less after this. Likewise with Torben, who gained a caring gleam in his eye once he had a little one to care for. Even when Torben was old enough for a proper bed, he insisted Birch sleep with him and would not budge on the matter. The home gave in and allowed it. 

- Essi’s origin was a simple one, of just being born at the wrong time. In a house packed with mumrik children, one more simply could not be accommodated. I dont want to say her birth parents were terrible people but with the amount of kids they had, they were rather jaded to a fresh baby face and werent too emotional in deciding they need to be rid of her. 

- She was never an angry or intentionally misbehaved baby when under the care of the home. She just needed a lot of stimulation that she wasnt getting and tended to tear up her clothes, curtains and bedsheets. It was also concerning that she never cried, or babbled or made any sound at all. It had falsely interpreted as some fort of defect child. They didnt know if it was right to mix her with the other babies, seeing as with the damage her claws had already done, they felt she could be dangerous. She was left on her own a lot.

- The other two met Essi when they were caught stealing food from the kitchen and locked away on their own to think about how sorry they were. But being tight on space, the only isolated room was the one where Essi was kept. They had heard about her being “the baby who didnt cry” and were very intrigued. but upon further inspection of the wriggling little girl in the cot, Torben observed that she looked lonely. They wondered if she simply wasnt capable of crying, which would be awful if one wanted to express their sadness. After entertaining her throughout their isolation period, the two decided that she was now their baby. And they would be her siblings. They would all belong to each other. As a family.

Miscellaneous HCs:

-Torben sleeps like he’s fucking comatose. There is no waking him. Even when living with Moomintroll and Snufkin, he and Birch still share a bed and Torben kicks and Birch (a light sleeper) hates it. But no matter how much arguments and late night brawls this causes, they still refuse to get separate beds. 

- Essi has a crib in Moomintroll’s room and sleeps there until she’s like 4. (She always magically ends up from her crib to her papa’s stomach by morning.) They tried to get her a “big girl room” when she was bigger but she didnt adapt very well as she couldnt sleep when she was alone. They had to move her into her siblings’ room. She slept soundly after that. 

- Moomintroll and Snufkin often tell the kids stories from their youth, sometimes using anonymous names to work as “fictional stories” lest they frighten them (or for the sake of their own dignity). Essi is very disturbed by the story of the the hobgoblin’s hat, while Birch can only scoff and wonder aloud what sort of idiot was that moomin who went and put the thing on his head. Moomintroll stares dead ahead and refuses to meet eyes with a highly amused Snufkin.

- Early on in his training, Alicia gifts Torben with his own witch hat. With much excitement, he immediately plops the thing on only for his whole head to disappear under it. Alicia laughs, informing him only a fully trained witch can wear it properly and the hat will adjust accordingly once he’s ready. (The hat freaks Moomin the fuck out. He does not care for magical hats anymore.)

- Essi has a little stuffed yellow bird that Mymble got her, which she carries around (often in her mouth) everywhere. She named him Comet, based on the story of when her papas first met.

- Speaking of Mymble (the younger), she loves doing Essi’s hair, although it took her a while to get accustomed to the little mumrik’s big mop of curls and couldnt understand why brushing it was so hard at first. She’s familiar with it now and often weaves in little flowers and ribbons. 

- Birch is very close with Snorkmaiden who thinks his flowering skin is very pretty and encourages his writing and curiosity. (Being a huge fan of the written word herself, mostly fairytales.) 

- Moominpapa is also supportive of his eloquent grandchild (Splendid! Another writer in the family, eh?)  but he’s a little more pushy and it takes a bit of chiding from moominmama to get him to stop saying “have you considered writing about Me??”

- Torben loves Snork. Snork.....hates Torben really. Well, its not that they hate him, its just that Snork has spent their entire life on this flying machine project and torben+flying broomstick= a mockery of it all. Not to mention Torben is annoying as fuck and spends way too much time pestering Snork about god knows what.

- Essi and Little My hunt bugs together. Lov the cronch

- Birch is afraid of thunderstorms. The whole family usually piles into his bed on thundery nights to make him feel safe. 

- Once Torben is at an adequate stage of witching training, he’s allowed a familiar. Of all creatures, he chooses Essi, the closest thing to a black cat he has. She happily obliges and spends most of her late childhood, mid teens operating under this duty.

- Snufkin has composed a tune for each of his children that he plays when alone and thinking about them, or by their bedside and playing them to sleep. Torben’s tune is called ‘Bonfire in the Rain’ Birch’s is ‘Baring Shards of One’s Looking Glass’ and Essi’s is ‘She Who Stirs the Stars’

- To help with Birch’s collecting hobby, Torben enchants a little velveteen pouch an gifts it to him. It never overflows and Birch can fit the whole forest in there if he wishes. It’s very handy to carry around when Birch is vagabond. Extremely light luggage.

- Torben also gifts Essi with a locket encapsulated with the essence of a star. Just enough heat and light to illuminate her way and keep her warm at night. It’s her prized possession. 

- Birch is ace and a he/him nonbinary. He’s not entirely sure if he’s aro as he feels pretty picky about close friends too. but romance has never appealed to him much. 

- Essi is bi. She’s only briefly been involved with like 3 people before meeting the love of her life, Sislaf. 

- Torben is as fluid as can be. He doesnt really have a way to describe his sexuality, he just knows that he loves and loves and loves a lot. He’s a bit like Mymble in the sense that he dates a lot and is always very naive and devoted right away, only to get himself hurt later. He’s quite sensitive about all that.

Futures

- Once the kids are grown, they do end up going their separate ways in life but remain close and visit eachother frequently. They keep in contact by letters. Birch is eternally pissed about his messy handwriting compared to Essi’s beautiful scrawl and Torben’s neat yet flashy one.

- Torben becomes the Moominvalley Witch, now that Alicia’s family have moved on to other places. He builds himself a small cottage on the outskirts so he can have time alone to think and brew. He’s still a walking distance from his parents home though. Flying distance if he’s feeling lazy.  

- Birch’s travels become longer and in time and through word of mouth, the tale he tells become quite well known. He’s a famous storyteller now, whether he wants to be or not. Luckily, he’s begrudgingly embraced it (better than Snufkin did with his fame) and spends a lot of time in taverns, entertaining the regulars.

- Essi was the one who found it the hardest to grow up. Shes a family oriented person so she didnt want to be alone but she also dreamed of adventure and couldnt just drag her whole family along with her (especially her papas who were at the point where they just wanted to rest and settle down) But she found her calling. Criminal. Leader of a pack of criminals actually. Some were old friends from moominvalley, some she met along the way but Essi was lucky enough to find herself a group that became like a family to her. They traveled land and sea, doing all the righteous work and righting the injustices that Snufkin used to do. Only this time, its not just one little man. Its one little woman and her gang. 

- The siblings meet up a lot, usually around a campfire where they share a pipe and laugh about nostalgia. Torben’s particularly good at animating the smoke into moving images, while Birch tells a story to accompany it  and Essi claps along. And even when shes grown and tough, during moments like this Essi still feels the comforting warmth of being a baby sister

[quanticlub]

Long Lore Rant

... Needs to be reformatted into something pretty rip

Background:

Aight so as per the great and infallible wikipedia, Taoist cosmology states that everything started with wújí and then created yǒu jí. The former means limitless and comes from the words "nothingness" and "reaching the end" ... so nothingness at the end aka no boundaries

the latter was the limited. it's only briefly mentioned as its conception brought on a polarity to the universe - yin and yang

taiji itself is the boundary embodied by you-ji with respect to the infinite wuji and represents the Absolute

The split into yin and yang has a the connotations listed above in the pic ((except... for tikki and plagg the feminine vs masculine seem to be switched cuz from the description, tikki is more closely associated with yang)). Yang is represented by one long dash –– while yin is two small broken ones - - . Now, in the middle column where there are category names for what yin and yang represent the wu xing category (elements, second from the bottom) has earth listed as neither. It also doesn't include air, which the wu xing doesnt include in general but is included by almost every other major culture when classifying the elements.

Kwami Origins: Null

In the beginning there was a great big nothingness and then came a tiny blip of umm... everythingness? making the Absolute. This gave the nothingness and everythingness a consciousness. (wow lots of -ness words here). The nothingness part of the absolute became Null. The everythingness got no name cuz it quickly split off into the rest of creation.

Null's concept art is a three-eyed little creature with two kwami tendrils.  I propose Null as the glowing white kwami they originally made but with all black eyes and The Other One as the all black kwami but with glowing white eyes. The prior emptiness/nothingness was energy while the delineation/everythingnes was matter(?). when they created the Absolute, parts of themselves mixed i na typical yin-yang fashion, thus the eyes being like those of the others. This gave them power over the nature of the other sorta???? hard to explain

 For Null, he had power over mass, time, and space - matter is anything that has mass and takes up space at a given moment. The Other One (imma call them Higgs bc of the Higgs boson particle but it wouldnt be the real name) had power over tendencies of energy*. So. energy can be used up to build something (creative force - in human metabolism it's an anabolic reaction), released to tear something apart (destructive force - in human metabolism it's a catabolic reaction). bBt it can also be stored/dissipate with no specific purpose, instead being available for all sorts of possible things later (chaotic force?)

idea is that Higgs, upon consciousness, sacrificed themselves to give rise to existence. The Big Bang. they justs sorta fucked off to become a bunch of cool rocks/stardust floating in space and initiated the course of time (which could theoretically be split into different timelines? idk time travel is weird and this is superfluous to my current ramble)

the three aspects of Null that Higgs had gained powers from became concepts that would gain sentience of their own. The yin and yang markings are, technically, three lines. not two. cuz yin is split ( –– vs - - ).

* = this bit's a little less science-y except for keeping with the triad thing bc neutron, electron, and proton

Three, Not Two: Tikki, Plagg, & ...Hexx?

I imagine Null took up the developing concepts and nurtured them sorta. like they were incubating under Null's protection. Tikki emerged out of Null's sphere first; she had the most power from Higgs though all three were pretty closely matched. she was the creative force. 

Plagg came out of Null's sphere last. He was the destructive force. Sorta. It was actually coser to... decay?  Plagg is really more of a kwami of decay than destruction. He doesnt just obliterate things, he accelerates their decomposition. when his powers act on metal, for instance, it rusts. thats not destruction it's just the wear-and-tear expected to happen over time. Destruction as a concept opposite to that of Creation and Order involves more entropy and plagg really isnt as chaotic as would be expected. While he represents destruction in the sense that the thing is ceasing to function as a unit, the chaos would fall more under hexx.

The third force, the one that embodied possibility, was too erratic. they got out of Null's care first but remained in the sphere for a while longer. they didn't get out til after Tikki. I'm thinking maybe  emerged from Null's domain just a few seconds before Plagg (time is still wonky at this point). while Tikki is yang ( –– ), Plagg and #3, henceforth referred to as Hexx, are both yin ( - - ). Plagg is slightly weaker cuz he was "overcooked" and Hexx was "undercooked". Tikki came out just right like a yummy batch of cookies ;)

While Plagg is the biggest cuz he stayed with Null for so long, Hexx is the smallest. Even more so than Tikki but only by a little. I was thinking of him looking like a mix of Tikki and Plagg. More cat-like but with red accents and maybe blue eyes instead of green.

That’s the gist of it with a quick reminder note that time still affects kwamis differently like they mentioned in Sandboy or whatever. so they might be around ten billion years old be the time earth shows up but theyve been very immature. like little kids. and unlike kids that go to school to learn how things work, they were given immense amounts of power and 0 instruction so they have to figure out what they can do, what their identity is, and what purpose they want to have in existence

Tikki has a very do-good attitude and wants to help (even if shes proven sometimes she doesnt give the best advice) and be a Good Kwami. But Plagg isn't a bad kwami. The opposite of love isn't hate after all; it's apathy. Plagg just doesnt really care and will follow Tikki around bc he enjoys her company and his primary concern is himself. Oblivio was a good example of this cuz he's like "no fuck you whats in it for me" but still gets affected by tikki's words and comes back to do as she says eventually.

Hexx would be the "bad apple" though kwamis dont really have moralities cuz those were human constructs and are incredibly subjective. He wouldnt be hatred in the analogy with love, but rather fire-y emotions that are still more negative. quick anger and stuff. usually happy go-lucky. temperamental goes with the nature of being THE force of chaos. while he doesnt wanna help necessarily, he still wants to DO. he's the one that instigates mischief and wants to fuck around for the fun of it.

Making the Miraculous

So from the dinosaur ordeal we know the kwamis DID have effects on earth, but they couldnt consistently intervene - at least not in a controlled fashion. and they couldnt really communicate with humans cuz different field of existence. but their presence became known even if the humans didnt know what they were exactly

the set from the miracle box was made my a mage in china for the purpose of conquests. Hexx’s mischief and meddling probably gave the humans access to the magic/knowledge/whatever they’d need for making the Miraculous. The pitch to get these baby gods to agree was that tikki would have greater control of her powers and could communicate and help! tikki was down. It seemed like a Good Thing and she wanted to do good. Plagg was meh but might as well cuz tikki insisted. hexx wasn't convinced. they werent warned theyd be confined to the miraculous and essentially trapped. plaggs agreement was more out of ignorance of this fact. he figured he could make tikki happy but still fuck off to do what he wanted. never imagined that he'd be subject to another's will. 

tikki was happy regardless bc very young (developmentally) and naive and honestly believing that the human knew best and it's what was best for both the kwamis and humanity. she had so much power her jewel had to be split into two - thus, earrings. all other kwamis inhabit a singular miraculous.

when hexx was being trapped it was against his will, unlike plagg and the others. he fought it. he still got trapped but the miraculous wasnt like the others. the nature was different... it was corrupted. Cue: cursed miraculous(es) ((still not sure of the plural)). If he has to suffer then by Null so do the humans who did this. Thus the name Hexx. Opened the option for kwamis to try to fight it or go for it. Werewolves perhaps stem from a group of cursed canid kwamis? The Miracle Box is basically the kwamis who were aight with the idea but other cursed kwamis exist. 

The nature of a miraculous depends on the "recipe" used to make the jewels and the kwami's receptiveness to being basically enslaved. The Miracle Box miraculous were all made by the same mage mentioned earlier so they had the same recipe so to speak. All the kwamis in the miracle box fall under yin or yang. Including the elements. So the Zodiac and Wu Xing kwamis are all in either tikki or plagg's domains. Except for one. I propose trixx as the exception, even if they dont fit the traits of earth. i was thinking for the other supporting kwami to hexx there could be one that also refused to join the mage... the kwami representing air (wu xing is basically the only philosophy without air as an element in some shape or form). Possible name: Jinxx, a crow. The fox/crow/cat are all typical tricksters in myths. 

The way the kwamis’ powers can be manipulated varies and the cursed kwamis offer the least control to their wielders - and the greatest side effects. I imagine jinxx just fucks off to follow hexx's miraculous, wherever it may be. Hexx is closer to the original curse on pv chat noir... the curse is possibly activated and summoned by the use of tikki or plagg's powers outside their miraculous? And dormant after death of wielder or kiss from LB or something. So that would mean Plagg activated him in style queen and then helping him get a better location/target with the smaller cataclysm in i think catalyst (when he's like "ive been practicing!).

Together, plagg and tikki have that OP wish granting ability but they cant truly summon Null to the this dimension without Hexx, who adamantly refuses. it's not like Hexx's miraculous can be stolen cuz it's cursed onto the subject. As a summary of combined powers... Tikki + Plagg = wish granting? ... Hexx + Tikki = good luck ... Hexx + Plagg = bad luck ... cuz Hexx is about possibility and consequences. So creation-related effects tend to manifest as what humans deem to be good while destruction-related ones are seen as bad.

Hexx Making an Appearance

For the current Mari/Adri plot I thought of Hexx cursing Felix or sth and bringing him onto the hero scene. Comes with the benefit of jealous CN. Maybe a scene where cat-ish Felix tells Chat Noir that he’s not interested in LB, only Mari and they have some sorta agreement to respect that (would work best in the half brother’s thing if Adri found out). All hell would break loose if/when LBs identity came out.

 Also I like the idea of Hexx having been locked in Pandora's jar with other angry ~cursed~ miraculous and the others immediately fucked off and scattered their miraculous but Hexx remained. possibility and consequence does not mean bad things. it's the uncertainty of the future that allows for hope, which is what pandora found. the greek tales also have varying connotations on whether finding hope was a blessing or a curse depending on how you looked at it

[the-desolated-quill]

Quill’s Swill - The Worst Of 2018

Congratulations dear reader. You survived 2018. And you know what that means. It’s time for another best of/worst of list. Welcome to Quill’s Swill 2018. A giant septic tank for the various shit the entertainment industry produced over the course of the year. The films, games, TV shows and various other media that got on my bad side. As always please bear in mind that this is only my subjective opinion (if you happen to like any of the things on this list, good for you. I’m glad someone did) and that obviously I haven’t seen everything 2018 has to offer for one reason or another. In other words, sorry that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald isn’t on here. I’m sure it is as terrible as some have been suggesting. I just never got around to watching it.

Okay everyone. Grab your breathing masks and put on your rubber gloves. Let’s dive into this shit pile.

Hold The Sunset

The news that John Cleese would be returning to the world of BBC sitcoms was incredibly exciting, being a massive Fawlty Towers fan and all. Unfortunately Hold The Sunset was not quite what I had in mind. It’s one of those rare breed of situation comedies that chooses to offer no actual comedy. It’s not a sitcom. It’s a sit. Like Scrubs or The Big Bang Theory.

An elderly couple plan to elope abroad only for Alison Steadman’s son to barge in, having left his wife, and forcing them to put their plans on hold. Hence the title ‘Hold The Sunset.’ It’s like a cross between As Time Goes By and Sorry, but if all the humour and relatability were surgically removed by a deadpan mortician. The characters are weak, the plots are thin on the ground and the humour (hat little of it there is) feel incredibly dated. The middle aged mummy’s boy is something that hasn’t been funny since the 90s. It’s an utter waste of great talent and what hurts even more is that this tripe is actually getting a second series. I can only assume the people watching this are comatose. Either that or there’s an epidemic of people in Britain who have lost the remote.

Avengers: Infinity War

Yes this is one of the worst movies of 2018 and no I don’t regret saying that one little bit. Avengers: Infinity War was fucking terrible. Period. There were too many plots and characters going on, which made the film hard to follow (and what staggers me is that the so called ‘professional’ critics have condemned movies for having too many characters and plots before. Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice and even Deadpool 2. But because this is an MCU movie, it gets a free pass. Fuck off). The characterisation was weak due to sheer number of characters they try to juggle, resulting in characters coming off as one dimensional caricatures of themselves and scenes where characters such as Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Star-Lord sound completely interchangeable. The villain, Thanos, is a stupidly and poorly written villain, but that’s hardly surprising considering what a shit job Marvel have done building him up over the course of these 20+ movies. And let’s not forget that pisstake ending. A bunch of prominent Marvel characters die and it’s all very, very sad... except all these characters just so happen to have sequels planned, which makes this ending fucking pointless and have less impact than a feather on a bouncy castle.

I don’t know which is more shocking. That Marvel and Disney think their audience are that stupid and gullible, or that their audience are actually validating their view. Fuck you Disney.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

I’ve always wanted a Harry Potter RPG, where you could customise your character, choose your house and actually live a full school life at Hogwarts. This year, Warner Bros and Jam City gave us just that.

That was a mistake.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is the epitome of everything that’s wrong with the mobile gaming market right now. The gameplay is boring and involving where you just tap images on a screen until a progress bar fills up. Wizard duels are little more than rock-paper-scissors challenges that require no kind of skill. Bonding with friends and caring for magical creatures just consist of pathetically simple pop quizzes and yet more boring tapping. Oh and of course you only get a certain amount of energy to complete these tedious tasks. If you run out of energy, you wait for it to fill up... or pay up for the privilege. So determined are they to extract your hard earned cash from your wallet, there’s actually a bit where Devil’s Snare strangles your eleven year old avatar and the game effectively tries to guilt trip you into paying micro-transactions to save them. It’s sleazy, gross and manipulative. Honestly, you’re better off just playing Candy Crush.

Agony

When the developers of this game said they wanted to give the player a trip through Hell, they had no idea how true that statement really was. Agony is dreadful on a number of levels. The design for Hell itself, while visually interesting at times, is often not very practical and gets quite dull and repetitive after a while. The stealth mechanics are a joke and the AI of your demonic enemies are pitiful. All of this alone would have been enough to put this game on the list, but then we also have the casual misogyny. Agony is a gorefest trying desperately to shock the player. We see men and woman get tortured, but it’s the women that often get the extreme end. The violence inflicted on them is often sexual in nature and the game seems to go out of its way to degrade and dehumanise women at every turn. The orgasmic cries of ‘pull it out’ quickly become a staple of the game’s experience as we see naked women raped, tortured and murdered, all for the purposes of ‘entertainment.’

I would call Agony sexist, but honestly that would be giving it too much credit. Agony is like a little child trying desperately to be all dark and edgy in a pathetic attempt to impress everyone around him, and we should treat it as such. Go to your room Agony. No ice cream for you.

Peter Rabbit

If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of Beatrix Potter rotating in her grave.

Yes we have yet another live action/CGI hybrid, but instead of something innocuous like the Smurfs or Alvin and the Chipmunks, Sony instead decides to adapt Peter Rabbit, with James Corden in the title role.

It’s about as bad as you’d expect.

Their attempts to modernise the story are painful to say the least with pop culture references, inappropriate adult humour and twerking rabbits. Plus rather than the gentle, but slightly mischievous character we got in the source material, here Peter is a sociopathic delinquent who seems to revel in making the farmer’s life a living hell. He’s unlikable and unwatchable as far as I’m concerned and the film doesn’t in anyway earn the emotional moments it tries so desperately to sell to the audience. And the worst part is it’s getting a sequel.

Wait. Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of Beatrix Potter tearing out of the ground, ready to kill whatever idiot came up with this shit.

Fallout 76

I was excited for Fallout 76. A MMORPG where players band together to rebuild society after a nuclear apocalypse. Could have been great. Pity it wasn’t.

Fallout 76 is a dreadful game. Not only is it a buggy, glitchy mess that requires a constant online connection to play, which could result in you losing hours of progress if your WiFi went down, it’s also unbelievably tedious, and that’s because there’s nothing to do in the game. There’s no other characters to interact with, the various robots and computers you come across are really little more than quest givers, there’s no actual plot so to speak, and because of the sheer size of the world and the number of players allowed on a server, the chances of you actually meeting any actual players is remote. And let’s not forget all the behind the scenes drama. Bethesda falsely advertising Fallout themed canvas bags and players getting shitty nylon ones. Bethesda accidentally releasing the account information of various players trying to get a refund for said bag. Bethesda failing to program the year 2019 into the game code, meaning that the game’s nukes don’t work.

Maybe there’s a chance that Bethesda could pull a No Man’s Sky and fix everything over the coming years with various patches and DLCs, but the damage has already been done. It’s incredibly disappointing. The Elder Scrolls 6 is going to have be fucking incredible to win everyone back.

Mama Mia!: Here We Go Again

I can’t stand jukebox musicals anyway, but Mamma Mia was always one of the worst. Its boring, meandering story with its one note, obnoxious cast of characters screeching out ABBA songs like they’re at some drunken karaoke session at some poor sod’s hen party has always grated on my nerves. So imagine my delight when they announced we were getting a sequel. Ever wondered how Meryl Streep met her three lovers and founded her hotel? No? Well tough shit, we’re going to tell you anyway.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is basically just Mamma Mia again. The actors still can’t sing, the characters are still annoying and story is still boring and meandering, completely at the mercy of the chosen songs rather than the filmmakers using the songs to compliment the story (you know? Like proper musicals do?).

How can I resist you? Very easily as it turns out. Gimme, gimme, gimme a fucking gun so I can end my misery.

The Cloverfield Paradox

A lot of people were unhappy about the direction Cloverfield was going. They wanted a continuation of the found footage, kaiju movie from 2008, not an anthology series. I was personally all in favour. Partially because I thought the first Cloverfield was a tad overrated, but mostly because I thought it would be a great opportunity for more experimental film projects and could be a great launchpad for new writers and filmmakers. 10 Cloverfield Lane was a great start. Then The Cloverfield Paradox happened.

The Cloverfield Paradox is basically JJ Abrams trying to have his cake and eat it too. Maintaining the anthology format whilst connecting everything together in a ‘shared universe’ (yes, yet another shared universe). The result was a cliched, poorly edited and idiotic mess of a film that actually took away from the previous two films rather than added to them. Everyone hated it and, as a result, 2018′s Overlord, which was totes going to be part of the Cloververse, was made its own standalone film and Abrams double pinky promised to make a true sequel to the original Cloverfield. A complete and total disaster. No wonder it was a straight-to-Netflix film.

The Handmaid’s Tale - Season 2

This is probably going to be the most controversial entry on the list, but please hear me out because I’m not the only one who has a problem with this season.

I was reluctant to watch The Handmaid’s Tale simply because of how gruesome the original book was, but I forced myself to watch the first season and I thought it was pretty good. It remained faithful to the source material for the most part and included some nice additions that helped to expand the story and mythos. If it was just a one off mini-series, everything would have been fine. But then they made the same mistake as The Man In The High Castle and Under The Dome did where they commissioned another season and attempted to tell a story that goes beyond the book.

There’s a reason why the original story ended where it did. The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t meant to be an empowering story about women sticking it to the patriarchy. It’s a cautionary tale about how fragile our civil rights truly are and how easily they can be taken away from us. It’s designed to shock, not to satisfy. So seeing a handmaid blow herself up in a suicide bombing feels very incongruous and just a little bit silly. It would be like doing a TV adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 where the first season followed the source material and then the second season turned Winston Smith into this heroic freedom fighter trying to overthrow Big Brother. It would represent a fundamental misunderstanding of what the book was about in the first place.

And then of course there’s the increased level of violence in Season 2, which many have complained about. In Season 1 and the original source material, the violence was justified. In Season 2, the motivation behind the violence has gone from ‘how can we effectively demonstrate how easily a fascist patriarchy can happen in the West?’ to ‘what brutal act can we inflict upon Ofglen to shock the audience this week?’ It’s purely for shock and nothing more. And with the showrunner (who I feel I should mention is a man) announcing that he has planned ten seasons of this, it seems that The Handmaid’s Tale is going to go even further with this depravity until it effectively becomes the equivalent of a Saw film.

The Handmaid’s Tale exists as a way of shining light on and critiquing misogyny in its most extreme form. Season 2 however demonstrates that there is a serious risk of it becoming the very thing it’s criticising in the first place.

The Predator

I love the Predator franchise, but The Predator is the worst.

People thought that this would be good because director Shane Black had actually starred in the first Predator movie back in 1987. Instead we got this bloated, confusing, obnoxious and insulting mess of a film that seems to go out of its way to ruin everything that makes Predator so good. There’s no tension. No suspense. No intrigue. Just a bunch of gore, explosions and shitty one liners from annoying and lifeless characters. They essentially took this big alien game hunter from outer space and turned him into a generic monster from a bad summer blockbuster. It no longer hunts for sport. It wants to take over the world and splice our DNA with theirs. But don’t worry, a rogue Predator doesn’t want to kill humans (even though he himself kills a bunch of humans), so he gives us a Predator Iron Man suit to set up a sequel that will probably never happen because this movie was a box office bomb and it fucking SUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKEEEEEDDDD!!!

This film also has a very nasty streak towards those with disabilities. There’s a lot of jokes at the expense of a character with Tourette’s and it has an extremely ignorant and patronising view of autism, portraying the main character’s kid as being a super genius who can decipher the Predator language and even going so far as to say that he represents ‘the next stage of human evolution.’ Presumably the Predators want social communication difficulties because apparently it helps them hunt somehow.

What with Disney acquiring 20th Century Fox, the future of both the Alien and Predator franchises were very much in question. This film needed to be a success in order to make a case for Disney to keep making more of them. It wasn’t. Congratulations Shane Black. You might have just killed off this franchise for good. Thanks arsehole! :D

So those were my least favourite stories from 2018. Join me on Wednesday where we shall discuss something more positive. Yes, it’s awards season. Who shall win the coveted Quill Seal Of Approval? Watch this space...

Or don’t. It’s up to you. I don’t want to force you or anything. It’s a free country.

[tryingthisfangirlthing]

Love, I’ve Missed You In A Million Different Ways (How Is It We Keep On Writing Tragedies Together?) 3/14-ish

So this is part 3 of my @bering-and-wells-exchange gift for @dapperdorian. This section kept kicking my behind, and I wasn’t happy with it, and I wasn’t happy with it but I had a plan to follow. Then last Friday this idea bowled me over out of left field, and exploded, and, well. It’s not soft longing, more like love-hate if-things-were-different repressed wanting.

And warning for implied major character death.

3. She Would Have Given Everything

“I never want to meet you like this again,” Myka bit out, as she grabbed Helena's hand and jumped them both to the posh downtown lobby.

“Well, don't.” Helena lifted one shoulder. “But I'm not going to aside while this plague wrecks —”

“If you want to help, go back to your lab. You are not Batman! Or — Batwoman, or whoever. One of these days you're going to get yourself killed!” And her concern was very real. “And we need you.”

“That fictional, pouty, playboy Gary Stu? I should hope not!” Helena arched her eyebrows at Myka, and shook her head in disbelief. “Quite frankly, I’m offended that comparison even occurred to you.”

“Helena, you’re not super,” Myka hissed at her. “And you have —”

A loud crash rang out above them. Amanda lost the queen, Steve relayed.

On it. “Get out of here, and stay out,” Myka grit out, and jumped back to the 10th floor to search.

Higher than 10. Lower than 15. Closer to 15 than 10, judging by the volume of the ruckus. Coming higher, the screech of metal giving way under demonic claws. Elevator shaft. To confirm, she jumped several floors below, inside the shaft.

The breathless cold split second of everywhere and nowhere. Steeling herself against the rushing freefall, the crack of instinctual panic. Up, look up.

A forked tail, lashing out, snagged her hair. That was too close. Closing her eyes, she jumped again, without those strands.

Solid ground beneath her feet, no large, otherworldly presence. Definitely in the elevator, and climbing, Steve. Then she fell onto all fours, shaky and ungainly.

“Don't you dare talk to me about risking my life, when they need you just as much.” A fierce murmur in her ear, and a vial was pressed against her hand. “Drink.”

Myka opened her eyes just in time to see the swarm zipping up the avenue, Helena flinging a grenade through the doors into the middle of it. Flame burst through the cloud of insects, licking at wings and silencing snapping mandibles. The drones are here. First wave is dealt with, but I'm sure more are coming.

Copy. She could hear the frown in Steve's thoughts. We need to get these civilians out of here.

Shit. Why here? It wasn't a food source for them (like the nuclear power plant just outside of town) or on the dessert menu (the slaughterhouse just across the county line) or even a good nesting spot (no large, open yet enclosed spaces).

Better here than almost anywhere else.

Office complex on a Saturday afternoon… You have a point.

Helena gave you something. Take it.

You connected her, too? A miserable foreboding rose in Myka's throat. But that was Pete's forte, not hers.

Safer for everyone, was all Steve offered in return.

Myka uncorked the vial and drank. It didn't happen all at once, but her heartbeat slowed, a new energy crackling through her veins.

“What was that stuff?” She called across the lobby, as she straightened, rising, testing her knees.

“Just something I cooked up.” Helena didn't spare her a glance, alternating between eyeing the street outside and a flashing gadget on the marble floor by her feet.

“Yeah, I got that much.” She rolled her shoulders, checking for any aches.

“Well, I don't have the time to explain the various biochemical process involved,” Helena snapped.

“I was pre-med, you know. Before —” She couldn't find the words for — this madness. “Before.”

“I didn't know,” Helena said, softly, and Myka glanced at her to find that this was the thing that got her attention. A kind of sorrow flickered in her dark eyes, and Myka almost wondered if she was thinking, for the first time, about how her screw-up had affected everyone else.

“I was going to switch over to pre-law, though.” She brushed it off. Something wasn't quite right, that last jump... “Just didn't know how to tell my dad. You kind of saved me the trouble.” Because the last thing she needed was pity from Helena fucking Wells.

Helena nodded, slowly, her gaze wandering back to the now-beeping device at her feet. “I was a writer, before.”

“I know. Writer, inventor, physicist, all-around polymath.” Something in Myka's back clicked into place, and all her atoms lined up again — sans that shorn-off hair, she reminded herself, running the flat of her hand over the ragged curls. If she tried to reassemble more matter than was there…

You good to go?

“You did?” There shouldn't be that much surprise in Helena's voice, for someone once heralded as “the next Jules Verne or Anne McCaffrey.”

Yep. Where?

They were all huddled in a storage closet on the 7th floor, eight weekend workaholics, one with a kid. Steve was shielding them all from the creature’s senses for now, but the effort it was taking him slipped over their connection as well.

She jumped.

Her eidetic memory served her unspeakably well, in that she could look at a roomful of people and know exactly how to reassemble them. “Hold hands, please,” as she reached for Steve to one side of her and the nearest civilian on the other. “No disabilities or chronic conditions?”

“Asthma,” one person in the back piped up.

“All right, noted. Shouldn't be a problem.” Where to?

Mall on King and McAllister. It was a good three blocks away, but definitely out of any potential lines of fire. Myka drew on all of her focus, making sure she could feel every one of them, and jumped.

A tug, a weight on her core, as she pulled them all through spacetime. Head throbbing as she stumbled onto the sidewalk, relief flooding her as they all came through all right.

Steve tightened his grip, wrapping his other arm around her to keep her from falling.

“You all right?” It was almost startling to her his voice in her ear, after so often hearing it only in her head.

“I will be,” she muttered.

“Get back to Helena. She'll look after you while you rest up.”

“Where the hell are Amanda and Pete?” Why couldn't one of them babysit me?

Amanda and Pete are doing their damn best to contain that queen.

Fine.

So she sucked in a breath and, for the third time in what felt like as many minutes, she jumped back to that damn lobby.

— Nearly jumped straight into Helena, careened as she shifted her destination at the last moment, Helena's startled “oh!” loud in her ear. Helena's arms wrapped around her, as she came to rest back in reality again.

“We've really got to stop meeting like this.” Low, teasing, warm breath feathering over her ear.

Myka let herself sag forward. “Screw you,” she muttered.

“You're quite welcome to, some other time.”

I just learned way more about you two than I ever wanted to know.

Butt out, Steve! And she could practically feel the same sentiment emanating from Helena, though she couldn't hear her directly.

Kinda hard right now, sorry.

Helena guided her over to a red leather armchair, Myka dragging her feet one after another. At least she shouldn't be crucial to operations now, unless they needed a scout, or bait, or a distraction, or a split-second save. Again.

Myka bent over, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, hair falling in her face. Tried not to feel awkward about how sweaty and gross she was making this nice chair.

She heard Helena make some kind of round of the space, muttering to herself, occasionally British-cursing at some gadget or another. Myka focused on breathing and getting her presence of mind back together. “Do you have another of those pick-me-ups?”

“I wouldn't recommend downing two in a row. Just as a precaution.”

“Okay.” She lifted her head, to watch as Helena watched the exterior. A laptop balanced on the narrow reception desk, floor plan of the building on display, surrounded by sporadically flashing indicators of, something, and now Helena paid this more attention than the view through the glass doors. A flash-bang off too their left, building lights flicking off and on again.

“Don’t tell me it wrecked the wiring somewhere.” God, she was getting fucking tired. Both right now, and of everything.

“That was me. Experimental chain-lightning —” she caught Myka's look — “Basically a super-sized swarm taser. Or, attempt at one.” And she frowned at the screen.

“Great. You can knock them out. Now just jump this entire freakshow back off of our plane of existence already.”

“Yes, thank you, I’ve been working on that for the past six months already.” Annoyance crackled through her voice.

“Stopping every time there's even the faintest hint of an attack to go play Batman with us. Or really more Lois Lane.” Myka knew only the vaguest of comic book premises from Pete. “Or whoever the mad scientist is. Harley Quinn, maybe?”

“That is low.” Helena's voice shuddered.

“I Encountered Aliens From Another Dimension,” Claims Sci-Fi Author; The Secret Crackpot Side of Physics’ Once-Rising Star; Local Mother Institutionalized, Daughter Left In Uncle's Care; the headlines flashed across her memory, and she hung her head again. “You're right. I'm sorry.”

Helena hummed vaguely. It wasn't quite acceptance, but Myka would take it.

“Hopper, 10 o'clock.” Myka winced inwardly as its spines shattered window after window on its zigzag path through downtown, thirty feet above ground.

“Yes, I'm aware. How about you do your job and let me do mine?”

“Sorry,” Myka muttered. “Just trying to be helpful.”

“Well, you're not.”

“Besides, I wouldn't exactly call this your job.”

Can you cool it with the negative energies? Really making things difficult right now.

Myka braced herself against the loud crash upstairs, the way the entire building shivered with the massive impact. Then a loud kreee! and the creature fell to the ground outside, writhing on its back, screaming as it melted from its eight feet down.

“What — did you coat the building in something? Or has someone nearby recently discovered the power of carapace-melting acid shields?”

A wicker café chair across the side street burst into flames, and Helena swore.

“Is that going to melt through the cement?” It would be kind of impressive, if this stuff did manage that trick. It almost looked like it might, as the hopper's screams died down to a low gurgle.

“It shouldn't. It should only react with their exoskeletons but —”

“It is.” The last of the creature utterly dissolved, the acidic puddle was now carving itself its own little pondspace, sinking into the middle of the intersection.

A loud sigh. “That's what field tests are for.”

“Really? In the middle of the city?” Myka stood, outrage eating away at her. “You are utterly insane.”

Helena glared at her, and for a split second, Myka was glad those piercing eyes weren't super. “Oh, I'm sorry. Was I supposed to try to lure one out into the middle of bloody nowhere, and try to contain it, just to douse it in deadly acid, and hear from you, ‘Oh, how could you, Helena? Doing something so dangerous on your own! You're too important and we need you working to fix this reality tear you ripped open! Think about others for once!’” Her mimic was mocking, annoyingly accurate for this familiar argument.

Stop it! Fight later!

If Helena heard Steve, she gave no sign. “Myka Bering, my entire life right now is dedicated to mitigating the damage I've caused the best I know how, and I don't need to hear that sort of shite from you!”

She was trembling; they both were. In her peripheral, something burst into flames; a window shattered, smoking shrapnel landing on the entryway carpet.

Myka kicked at it, and found herself swaying on her feet. “You set up a minefield?”

“A perimeter, yes. For the moment.”

“How did you lug all this stuff here on short notice?” She hadn't helped, she knew. She rested her head in her hands again.

(“You're lucky,” she'd told Pete once. “Your powers don't leave you feeling like three-day-old roadkill afterwards.”

“Yeah,” he'd returned, “but I do spend like a billion dollars on tacos now. Besides, your powers are way cooler. I'm just a regular guy who can lift a bunch of stuff.”

Myka had surrendered to eating sugar, in frankly pathetic quantities, to combat the roadkill feeling the day after. But that wasn't something she'd tell anyone, not even her best friend.)

“I didn't.” As nonchalant as you please.

Myka looked up, narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”

“It means, I didn't do it on short notice.” Helena glanced at her, assessingly. “It means I set up what I hoped would be a lure for the queen here. And once she's gone, the rest should shut down.”

“And you didn't think to tell us?” Myka was striding across the room, reaching out to — to strangle her, probably.

She told me, Steve interjected, and Myka stilled. The queen showed up sooner than anyone expected.

Pete might as well have punched her in the gut. We're supposed to be a team, Steve.

“Because we all know how much faith you have in my work.” Helena's momentary smile was saccharine, sardonic.

She sucked in a breath, mind reeling like the colors of a kaleidoscope. “I think you're brilliant,” slipped out. “You've got no common sense, but you're a genius. You're, what, five years older than me? And you've found a whole other universe. Like something out of one of your books.” Helena was staring at her, lips parted, that melting gaze soft and shocked. “You're just so stupid, and — and selfish sometimes!”

Incoming! Myka!

She didn't think, just grabbed Helena and jumped.

But she didn't have some destination in mind, not even some instinctive concept of safe harbor. And now Helena was here with her, floating in this strange stillness that was everywhere and nowhere. I'm sorry, she tried to say, but there was no way to hear.

Like being thrown under a waterfall, she had no idea which way was up, air, reality. Stupid stupid, she'd been so tired, she hadn't thought — and wasn't that what she always accused Helena of? The thing she feared most in herself, the not thinking, the reason for rules... So stupid.

She tried to picture the lobby they'd left, tried to reach for any anchor.

There, that stupid blinking laptop, she could almost see it, and the ceiling plaster raining down, the claws and slobbering mandibles and gigantic five-eyed frilled head.

She pushed Helena away, through, pushed her to stumble onto that ragged red lobby carpet, and then Myka met the monster's claws.

It thrashed, resisted, but Myka yanked it with her, and then everything went black.