#ester orphan

[queen-of-films]

'M3gan': The Creepy Child Revealed Scene

We are all familiar with the creepy child trope in horror films. But, in case you don't, here are a few examples: Ester (The Orphan), Samara (The Ring), and Lilith (Case 39) just to name a few. Notice most of the creepy children we think of in horror films are young girls; there is a reason for this. Young girls are usually depicted as innocent, but when they're in horror movies, the innocence can easily be a ploy.

M3gan is our latest creepy child and has caught my eye on a pattern I see in most horror movies with the creepy child trope. As said before, girls are usually seen as innocent, from their long flowing hair down to the softness of their voices. The point is no one could suspect a young innocent girl to be a murderer, and that is the ploy. But, we are not going to talk about the trope, as the trope has been talked about so many times. What we'll be discussing is the creepy child revealed scene. This is the scene that is either near the middle or end of the film, where our creepy child reveals their true nature to the protagonist(s) and/or removes their disguise.

The AI M3gan was designed to hide the fact that she is a robot, to the point that her physicality is flawless. Everything that made M3gan seem friendly and human is all taken away in the scene where M3gan tries to kill her maker Gemma. In this scene, Gemma uses a chainsaw that only manages to rip half of M3gan's wig and face off. This scene reminds the audience and protagonists that despite M3gan's programming to be a caregiver, she will always be inside and out, a robot. A few more examples of the creepy child revealed scene are Ester removing her make-up that made her look like a little girl, Lilith's demon face reveal, etc.

Ester, Lilith, and M3gan all have something in common; they wanted to be what they disguised themselves to be... little girls. All three of the girls wanted someone to care for them and someone that made them feel human. However, pretending to be someone you're not can only work for so long. Eventually, their desire to be loved would be consumed by their true nature. Once they've realized they can't have it both ways, someone has to die.

[justaneurodivergent]

Ester from "The Orphan".

[bloomingkyras]

The BOLD THE FACTS tag by @helenofsimblr

The Rules are simple! Tag people and name a character you want to know more about! If you want to let the person you tagged decide who to showcase, then don’t name a character and they can pick somebody. Easy! The person who is tagged will then bold the remarks below which apply to their character &, if they want to, include a picture with their reply!

i was tagged by @estah ❤❤ Tq grandma Ester and since she didn't mention who, I think i will share about with her granddaughter, Dar'leen Neilsen.

[ PERSONAL ]

$ Financial : wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty

✚ Medical : fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable

✪ Class or Caste : upper / middle / working / unsure (working as detective)

✔ Education : qualified / unqualified / studying / other (she qualified degree in Physics)

✖ Criminal Record : yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

[ FAMILY ]

◒ Children : had a child or children / has no children / wants children (opss.. i spill some tea here 🤭)

◑ Relationship with Family : close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings /sibling(s) is deceased 

◔ Affiliation : orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable  

[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]

♦ extroverted / introverted / in between

♦ dis-organised / organised / in between

♦ close minded / open-minded  / in between

♦ calm / anxious / in between

♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between

♦ cautious / reckless / in between (she had been in danger before)

♦ patient / impatient / in between

♦ outspoken / reserved / in between

♦ leader / follower / in between

♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between

♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between

♦ traditional / modern / in between

♦ hard-working / lazy / in between

♦ cultured / uncultured  / in between / unknown

♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown

♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown

[ BELIEFS ]

★ Faith : monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic (not sure)

☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits : yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✮ Belief in an Afterlife : yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✯ Belief in Reincarnation : yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

❃ Belief in Aliens : yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✧ Religious : orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious

❀ Philosophical : yes / no (not sure)

[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]

❤ Sexuality : heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual 

❥ Sex : sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favourable / naive and clueless

♥ Romance : romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favourable /naive and clueless / romance suspicious

❣ Sexually : adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious (don't know)

⚧ Potential Sexual Partners : male / female / agender / other / none / all

⚧ Potential Romantic Partners : male / female / agender / other / none / all

[ ABILITIES ]

☠ Combat Skills : excellent / good / moderate / poor / none  

≡ Literacy Skills : excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✍ Artistic Skills : excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✂ Technical Skills : excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

[ HABITS ]

☕ Drinking Alcohol : never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / Alcoholic

☁ Smoking : trying to quit / quit / never / trying it / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker

✿ Recreational Drugs : never / quit / trying it / rarely / sometimes / frequently / addict

✌ Medicinal Drugs : never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess

☻ Unhealthy Food : never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater

$ Splurge Spending : never / sometimes / frequently / Shopaholic

♣ Gambling : never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler

i'm tagging : anyone who wants to do this!

-> here's a link to the OG post so you have a fresh "template" : bold the facts tag.

[daughter-of-melpomene]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆… 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

❝ Theo Ester knew about monsters. He had been orphaned by one at the tender young age of eight, cowering in a cabinet under his kitchen sink as a former gang member had slaughtered his prosecutor father, his mother, and all three of his siblings, leaving him the only member of the Ester family left alive. Raised by his wealthy aunt and uncle from then on, Theo finally had not been able to stay in his home state of Louisiana any longer, giving away most of his sizeable inheritance to charity and making his way to New York almost as soon as he reached legal age.

Theo Ester wrote about monsters. Trying to find a way to cope with the trauma of his family’s murder, he had thrown himself into writing books about other murderers and true crime cases, putting the writing degree he had gotten from university to good use and eventually winding up with four bestselling crime books, a status as one of the best true crime writers of the twenty-first century, and a position as a writing professor at NYU. He didn’t quite feel like he deserved any of this, but as someone who had had possibly the worst thing ever happen to them at a very young age, he knew he couldn’t pass up anything good when it came his way.

Bruce Banner is regarded by many people as a monster, despite his recent heroics, which is why Theo is beyond shocked to see the doctor in the audience at one of his lectures. Approaching Dr. Banner after the class is dismissed, Theo learns that the Avenger has taken an interest in true crime as of late, and, surprising both Dr. Banner and himself, Theo offers to meet up and discuss some interesting cases. It’s not something he normally does, as a sufferer of intense social anxiety, but there’s something about the shy doctor that intrigues him and makes him want to be around him more.

Theo Ester has known about monsters his whole life - they’ve put him through a completely terrible thing, and he’s been trying to learn all he can about them ever since. But the more time he spends with Bruce, the closer they get, and the more his feelings for the other man start to develop into something deeper, Theo finds that he wants the whole world to know one simple truth:

Green inner self or no green inner self, Bruce Banner is not a monster. ❞

General Taglist: @hiddenqveendom, @auxiliarydetective, @foxesandmagic, @artemisocs, @reyofluke-ocs, @endless-oc-creations, @stanshollaand, @ginevrastilinski, @luucypevensie, @arrthurpendragon, @fakedatings, @impales, @ocappreciationtag.

[plumsaffron]

What's this stupid Lila is Ester from Orphan crap

Please be false. Can't stand these annoying self righteous acting and gloating marinette emulations of the fandom being like hah we were right all along again. Anyways umm... Lila Rossi can't be also just extremely intelligent? Lets say what if the genius Max Kante was an reoccurring antagonist. You know the one who made a robot this has a will beyond what he expected. A robot while akumatize that actually screwed Hawkmoth over too. would you say the same for him?

How about I talk bit of Seto Kaiba's story. He saw that Wealthy CEO and Chess World Champion, Gozaburo, as a way for him and his brother to get out of the orphanage. He went to study all of chess and Gozaburo thoughs and strats. This young Seto challenged him and beat him so he'd adopt him and Mokuba.

Gozaburo purposely put Kaiba through strict studying education hell and if Kaiba were to fail, back to Orphanage. No childhood fun allowed. And he took his games away after Kaiba told him what he'd do if he obtained his inheritance. He made the days more hell without realizing he's gradually increasing Seto's intelligence.

Gozaburo keep making foolish mistakes, turning Seto against him. He gave Seto the perfect plan to take over his company without knowing. Here's a clip I found of his plan (https://yewtu.be/watch?v=TLYXi0V3ENg) and at the end, used Mokuba to trick him into thinking Seto would not succeed in a year of shares take over.

Tricked Gozaburo into thinking he had more total shares than him. Mokuba gave the remaining shares to Kaiba. Thus Gozaburo loses the company to Seto Kaiba, forcing him to suicide.

Some people just train at very young ages or are just that good and know what they are doing before they are adult.

[captainimfangirling]

Orphan: First Kill

I actually liked it. I kind of predicted what would happen but didn’t think it would actually happen. It was more like wishful thinking. In the beginning when Ester was looking at the missing children’s website I thought a cool plot twist would be that the child was actually dead and someone like the father killed her. One thing I didn’t expect was rooting for Ester to kill them. Well I was until she killed the father. I felt really bad for him. I wish he found out what happened to his daughter. Isabelle Fuhrman was amazing. She’s so underrated.

[rodent-king-buunii]

DUDES MY FEARS ARE FUCKIN IRRATIONAL BUT FUCK YOU MAN

okai okai backtrack

remember Orphan? [this bitch]

remember how she was a fuckin 30yo woman??

so this family adopted a little girl from overseas, she[the girl] had medical issues.

2 years into housing this poor kid the family up n abandons her, claims shes a terror n shes lyin about her age

some documents claim she was 22 at the time n others claimed she was simply 7 as she was.

whats crazy is, her new family love n cherish her n she hasnt gone on a killin spree yet-

like..

the first family lied on her... yes, some documents were altered so i see how they thought "o shit we got an Ester" but in reality that girl was a kid at that time.. n she hadnt shown any signs that she was a danger..

they even found her birth mom who wouldve been about 10 at the time of the girls birth...

im...

[yaoifan20forgoodgirl28]

Tiger and Hare's kits' arrival, Chapter One-The subtle yet also apparent changes in Hare.My very own little personal story disclaimer for this particular story -To truly absolutely clarify all lawful/ legal things that I definitely do not have any, cero, nada, nage, née, nein, nem, neoni, nic, nistica, no, non, none, nola, nul,null, nulle, nullis, nula, sufuri, tutti , zero, zilch , zip or zeroin say whatsoever I definitely do not own the Monster Rancher anime series or video games legally as they definitely do quite rightfully belong to Bandai, Koei, Konami, Tecmo and Toei for all legal things related to the franchise.But at least thankfully enough on the happy, positive, plus side of things that I can honestly truly claim as my own creations alone and mine only; I definitely do own all of my original characters who are in this story including but definitely not limited to - Goldie Solide, Shade, Limber, Ester, Katelyn, Ziva, Gwyneth, Emmeline, Ariana, Shelly, Tulip, Dandelion, Portia, Masaki, Imogen, Dorothy/Dotty, Tuyet, Cuyen, Eleanor, Lorne, Fonza, Gracie, Ninette, Ituha ,Ozara, Seren, Ami, Lorette, Sasha , Hoshiko Quinta and most importantly of course Tiger of the wind and Hare's unborn very first litter of Hare kittens/kits.Also I own this story and its plot at the very least as well. *Genki Sakura attempts to climb a tree and grabs a vine successfully swinging to another tree, seeing Genki do it without a problem this action causes Suezo tries to arrogantly*

------------------------------------------

The ten sibling girls

_____________________________________

The ten human girls that Tiger of the wind and Hare have adopted as their daughters.They are 100% orphans

-------------------------------------------

Ester-She is the oldest sister of the girls besides her younger twin sister Katelyn.

Katelyn-

Ziva-

Gwyneth -

Emmeline -

Ariana-

Shelly-

Tulip-

Dandelion -

Portia -

-------------------------------------------Other Humans besides the girls. They are mostly from Panagea but there are definitely some Earth human girls mixed in.

____________________________________

Other humans besides the ten girls that Tiger of the wind and Hare adopted. They are a mix of adult, teenage and kid characters mostly from Panagea but there are a good number of Earth humans thrown for good measure in here as well.

-------------------------------------------

Goldie Solide -The mysterious woman who found the girls.

Limber-

Shade-

Dinah-

Jane-

Fennia-

Dorothy/Dotty -

Imogen-

Masaki-

Cuyen-

Eleanor-

Lorne-

Fonza-

Gracie-

Ituha-

Ninette-

Ozara-

Seren-

Ami-

Lorette-

____________________________________

Tiger and Hare's kits' arrival, Chapter One-The subtle yet also apparent changes in Hare.

[countlessmask]

Agent RUM-005: daiquiri.⠀⠀

⠀⠀A Daiquiri cocktail tastes like watered-down rum with a dash of lime and sugar syrup. A strong beverage with a hint of sweetness.

Profile

Birth Name: Unknown

DOB: Unknown

Nationality: Unknown

Occupation: Agent of MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service)

Codename: RUM005-daiquiri

Born of daiquiri ⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀She was pretty much a common kid who is so quiet and always being alone despite many children around in her age at orphan she stayed. She remember to be called "Ester" before a professor adopted her and since that she keep changing her name. Not only name, after eight years she spent at orphan in Estonia she keep moving from city to city, also country to country. ⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀The professor who adopted her train her to hide behind shadows. Rum, that's how the professor introduced herself and give a codename daiquiri to her. There are passion and loyalty Rum can see from daiquiri's brown eyes, and that's how she work to serve this secret organization. There is only one thing information about Rum's agents, they are specialize in disguising to get information. The front liner before other team take over. ⠀

⠀⠀Daiquiri is a quite skillful agent after many years train and experienced she get. Sometimes she is a collage student, sometimes a seller in market, sometimes a high class business woman etc. None can tell where and when she start the mission and finish it.

ㅡㅡㅡ

Cherylanne Rayleen

Profile

Full name: Cherylanne Rayleen

Nickname: Cherry

DOB: September 17th 1995

MBTI: ISTP

Nationality: Swedish

Occupation: Bartender ⠀

⠀⠀It's been six months since daiquiri get new mission and new identity, she is currently work as bartender at one of famous night club in Sweden. Her goal to get information as many as she can about the drug dealer. ⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀Cherylanne or commonly known as Cherry, that's how she introduce herself to her costumers. A very friendly woman and approachable one, all regular costumers know how cheerful and bright Cherry is. Her small and lanky figure catch everyone's attention, little they realized so many secrets they already tell to this agent. ⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀Besider her night work wour, Cherry has nothing much difference with all resident in her apartment. It's easy for her to blend and being unnoticeable. A diligent worker who never forget to check her surroundings and set all equipment on stand by, that's her. Usually during her free time on her mission, she will get some small task with her fellow agent. A very reason why she always keep the distance from everyone and never let anyone to get her closer.

But well, this identity only last until her mission done and/or ordered to start new mission.

[companionwolf]

Paper Crowns

Central only remembers the Commander’s tendency for strangely theatric retelling of Jewish stories once they’re up on the bar, wearing a cape made of their bedsheet and a paper crown.

Judging from the shaky steps and ruddy face, they’re at least a little drunk. Definitely tipsy, Central thinks, tugging at the collar of his sweater. He weaves his way through the throng of chattering crew, finding a spot at the end of the bar to look up at the Commander and shake his head.

“Get down from there,” he says, “you’ll fall.”

“Fuck you, it’s Purim,” they answer, before ungracefully tripping over their cape and falling with a crash behind the bar; Central sighs at the sound of glass breaking and swearing.

Their head pops up over the edge, hair and face slick and dripping with liquid from broken bottles and blood. “It’s all good! All’s well! I’m fine!”

“There’s blood all over your face,” Central says. “I think you gave yourself a nose bleed.” And slashed a cut across your forehead, he thinks, eyeing the wound.

“I said I’m fine!” they say louder, as they wipe their face with their hands, fingers flickering purple as they brush them against the forehead cut. They pat at their head, find its bare, and then drop back down again, reappearing once more with their now slightly crushed and dampened crown.

“Gotta be...in character...or something,” the Commander manages to mutter to him while clambering back up onto the bar.

“Hey everybody!” they yell.

The throng’s chatter dials down a tick; Mox, Outrider, and Kelly standing near the dart board, stop in their discussion and look toward the bar. Central sees the Skirmisher say something that makes the two laugh as they take in the Commander.

“Y’all remember storytime back in December?” the Commander asks the crowd as they open a beer; murmurs of “Yeah” and “is this the spring one?” reply.

They go on, prancing back and forth across the bar top. “We’re doing it again, but this time it’s a one person theater performance!” They pause. “Technically it’s called a spiel, because Jews love fancy words. I dunno guys, it’s just always been called a spiel and I ain’t stopping now. Anyway, here we fucking go!”

They pantomime drawing back a curtain with their free hand, sashaying to the center of the bar.

“The setting is Ancient Persia, in the city of Shushuan. That’s Sector...uh, well it’s definitely a sector. Middle Eastern area. Anyway, Persia has this king. He’s got this name that practically no one can pronounce or write properly— Ashashearetz? Ahasearus? Ashehaha? Something starting with A.”

They shrug.

“So, King Asparagus has this feast. It’s a long event, multiple days. And on the last day he’s drunk as shit and goes ‘Queen, get naked for us! show off for us!’ And the Queen, name’s Vashti, understandably goes ‘Fuck no’ which me too. Who wants to get undressed for a bunch of weird drunk guys?”

A shudder runs through them; a few of the girls shout agreement, Kelly yelling from her place on Outrider's lap “Stick it to the man, Vashti!’

“Damn right,” the Commander says. “Course, this is a king who is also very drunk, so he’s pissed as hell she’s not obeying, and in a rage sends her away. Some texts interpret this as she’s killed for her action but since I’m an optimist we’re saying she’s just kicked out. The servants of the king go ‘well shit we can’t have no Queen’ to which Asphalt answers, ‘We're gonna have a pageant! All the girls of the land shall come to the palace and I will choose a new wife from them!’ And so that event was set up, because king says it, you better do it, unless you’re Vashti and are kind are fucking badass.”

“Where’s the Jewish people?” calls someone.

“We’re getting there,” they answer. “So there’s this guy named Mordecai, who also has a name no one can agree on a spelling for. Mordecai is the adopted dad of his orphan niece Ester, who like all the girls, goes to the pageant to be judged."

“Now there’s this guy named Haman—“ The Commander cuts themselves off, snarls. “Sorry, it’s tradition. Make noise when I say the fucker’s name, ok? Scream, stamp your feet, whatever, just drown it out. Let’s practice: Haman—!”

A cacophony answers, hooting and hollering. Someone does a Wilhelm scream, another person starts rapping. The Commander nods, looking thoughtful.

"A little unconventional, since we don't have the little spinny noise makers but you all seem like you get the concept well enough to compensate," they say. "So remember -- everytime I say that name, just … freak the fuck out. Cool? Cool. Let's move on."

The Commander readjust their crown, and then with their free hand and a Psionic wave, pulls something from behind the bar. It's a crocheted three pointed hat-- they throw it out to the crew.

"That," they say, "is the hat of our antagonist, Haman." They pause to let the jeering die down. "Now this motherfucker is the councilor of the king. What is a councilor? I don't actually know, but I think it's analogous to whatever me and Central have going on.

"So they're gay," says Kelly.

The Commander flushes red. "Demoted to rookie!" they bark, but they're laughing too. "In any case that would definitely add a dimension to this story that rabbis…probably have argued about honestly but no, they're not gay as far as I know and remember, just stupid on the king's part and evil on Haman's."

Another phase for the noise, and then they continue. "So evil not-Central, because my second is good and lovely and also Jewish, is able to kind of do whatever he wants, because Persia's government is kind of not sensible in the slightest. so he goes 'everyone must bow to me when I go by, because fuck you' and makes it a law."

"So the Jewish people do not follow this man's law?" says Mox.

The Commander points a finger gun at him with their free hand. "Yes! Specifically Mordecai, because he is also smug and a motherfucker but considerably less powerful. Anyway, we love Mordecai. Haman…does not and he's pissed, naturally."

"And they fistfight," says Kelly.

"God I wish," the Commander says, tipping their beer toward her. "No, instead we shift away from evil hat man to Mordecai proper, because our good Jewish boy has overhead some fuckery from the palace guards. It goes a little bit like "killing the king is my plan for Monday.' 'OH shit ME TOO lets do it together <3'."

Someone shouts, "How the HELL did you make a heart with your voice?"

The Commander shrugs, takes a long swig off their drink. "Psions can do weird shit," they say. "Can I keep going?" Central nods at them from his place at the end of the bar.

"So Mordecai goes and tells the king that maybe he should deal with that, and he does, and all's well," the Commander continues. "So well, in fact, that the king goes to Haman and asks 'what would you do for someone so amazing and good and nice that you just have to honor them?' And Haman, who's internally like HAHA ITS FOR ME, answers 'money, fancy shit, and let the entire kingdom know of my I mean their greatness.' The king nods. 'Go," he says, 'do that for my man Mordecai."

The Commander pauses, grinning. "Haman pissed off 2 times combo. So much that he starts plotting. And this scares the shit out of Mordecai, but CUT JUMP ITS PAGEANT TIME."

To emphasize their words, the Commander jumps along the bar, misses their mark, falls off again. Central sighs into his hands as they clamber back up, brushing off more shattered glass and alcohol.

"Are you…okay?" asks Outrider.

"...Yes," the Commander says.

"You hesitated!" Kelly says.

"I'm very well," they say. "Superb."

"Maybe someone should…take that drink from you," says another soldier. The Commander shakes their head.

"I am allowed one drunk day a year and that day is called Purim," they say. "I'm good. It's all good. Let's see what's happening at the pageant."

They draw their cape around them like a dress. "So, Esther. Everyone remembers me mentioning her? Niece of Mordecai? Thing about Ester is she’s the hottest and baddest girl in town, so naturally the king picks her at the pageant. And off she goes, becoming queen and chilling in the palace, with one caveat— she’s Jewish as hell and nobody knows, save her uncle."

"I see where this is going," someone calls.

"Do you? Great, don't spoil it," says the Commander. "Meanwhile, Haman. Finishes his plotting. Plot result: KILL THE JEWS. Very original, say the Jews at this. Super good job, dude. Definitely not something we've dealt with."

The Commander waves their drink around. "Esther convenes with her uncle, who lets her know about Haman's plot and basically does to her what our pal the Spokesman did to me ala 'save our world' except the world here is literally every Jew."

"What are you on about?" someone asks. "Who's the Spokesman?"

"He used to be on the council who helped determine XCOM's funding," the Commander explains. "Everyone else started sucking alien dick except him so now he's a, uhh… he's a friend. A friend of ours. With inside benefits of sorts. We love him."

"Wow, I thought you were loyal to Central," says Kelly, grinning.

"Demoted to whatever is below rookie," they say. "I am not banging the Spokesman. What the hell, Kelly."

"If you are, we need to have a talk," Central says.

"I promise you I'm not, sweet Central," they say, sliding over to his end of the bar and tussling his hair.

"You two are so fucking weird," says someone. "Save it for the bedroom."

"Can we get back to the story?" says another.

"Yes we can, thank you," the Commander says, straightening back up and returning to the center of the bar. "So Mordecai drops this on Esther, who goes 'well damn' and starts Operation: Save the Jews. What does this include? Step one: extravagant banquet. Step two: fuck."

The crew exchanges looks. "Esther and the king?" akss someone. "Or uh…"

"Esther and her husband, yes, and once they've had food and fun times Esther goes oh lovely husband can I ask a favor? He goes of course. And she goes you'll protect me from anyone who wants to kill me, right? And he's like sure yeah okay. And she's like cool, another banquet tomorrow too. Be there. And he is."

The Commander pauses to take a breath. Mox is talking quietly to Outrider and Kelly, who are throwing small glances over to them. They arch an eyebrow. "What? What is it?"

"Are you sure you're not just making shit up again? To inspire us?"

"If you're inspired, great," the Commander says. "If not, that's also great. I'm just…" Their shoulders slacken a little, and they go from pompous tipsy performer to deeply sad and visibly drunk faster than Central has ever seen. "Trying to keep it alive. The stories, I mean."

They fumble for a new drink, take a long sip. "Anyway, at this new banquet, Haman's there too-- Esther actually invited him. And the king's like oh shit not what I expected but something i can work with."

"They fuck again?" guesses a rookie.

"I guess the king is thinking that, yeah but no, they're just eating and drinking and such," the Commander says with a shrug. So Esther goes 'so what if I told you I knew someone who does want to kill me? 'Well, they'd be dead,' says the king. 'Great, what if I said it was this dude?' Esther continues and points at Haman. Oh shit, Haman. Oh shit, says Esther, entirely different cadence and tone and everything."

"Oh shit seems like the least amount of exclamation," says Mox.

"There's probably a lot more than just that expletive, you're right," they say.

"Fuck," Mox says confidently.

"Absolutely," the Commander replies, nodding. "Okay, so. Esther reveals she's a Jew. Haman goes FUCK. The king goes TO THE GALLOWS WITH YOU which Haman was actually building for hanging Mordecai on so you know. Irony."

"You're telling it wrong," says someone from the crowd.

The Commander frowns.

"I don't remember my hometown's name, you think I can remember details of a holiday I missed 20 years of?" they ask.

"Sorry," comes the reply.

"It's chill," says the Commander, "my hometown sucked anyway. What am I missing?"

"It was for everyone," the soldier says. "Not just Mordecai."

"Ah," says the Commander. "That's… wildly inefficient."

"You sound like the Hunter," says Kelly, frowning.

The Commander blinks. "Horrific, thanks for informing me," they say.

"So they hung the hat man?" says someone. The Commander nods.

"And we have these little hat shaped cookies now, that we eat on Purim… good God I miss those a lot."

"We could make some," says Central. "I made cupcakes before, I can find the ingredients for that."

"Central I WILL kiss you if you make hamantaschen with me," they say.

"You'd kiss him anyway!" yells Kelly.

"Demoted!"

"I'm already at the bottom!" she answers. "Beyond it, even. You have no power over me anymore!"

The Commander rolls their eyes but they're grinning. "So back to the story, just for a second because we're at the end -- guess who the king makes councilor instead?"

"Mordecai?"

"Mox, you get a gold star, you're an excellent audience member," the Commander says. "Yes, Mordecai."

They give the crew a warm look. "So yeah," they say. "On Purim we dress in costumes, get drunk, and revel in the fact that those bastards haven't managed to kill us yet."

The Commander raises their newest beer to the ceiling. "A toast to us too, XCOM -- we're not dead yet either."

The crew toasts them back, and then the bar fills again with chatter and noise. The Commander slides off the bar and stumbles to the couch in the corner, dropping heavy onto the cushions.

Central approaches with water, gently pushing their crown back from falling off their head as he sits next to them. "You okay?" he asks.

"I had too much," they say, hiccuping around the water.

Central shakes his head at them, but his eyes are soft. "I liked your spiel," he says. "Never seen somebody do one all by themselves."

"I think I'll ask for help next time," they say, leaning against him. "It's more fun when it's more like a play."

"Mmm," he answers, wrapping an arm around them. "Next year, then."

"You think we'll still be fighting?"

Central hesitates. "I wouldn't put money on it in either case," he says.

The Commander closes their eyes. "It would be nice," they say with a sigh. "But yeah, let's not bet on it. Let's just… hope. Hope's good."

"Hope's good," Central repeats.

And he thinks, that at this moment, he really does believe it.

[ghooulishh]

Sitting here after watching Orphan; the first kill

Just thinking to myself

"Good for her. Good for her"

Never expected to be on ester's side but here we are 😂

[thegalaxyfoxx]

Who would win in a fight Wednesday Adams or Ester “The Orphan” ? Lol

[house-of-slayterr]

So there’s a trend going around on tik tok using an audio form American Psycho where we reveal our childhood crushes. So I did all the Red Flag alg ones I could remember from each year. Up until 13 they were all pretty much Trauma crushes because I was so terrified of these mfs, and way too young to be watching these things. But I obviously appreciate them now.

Like I remember I used I had to sleep on my parents floor after watching Halloween for the first time when I was like 7 on accident, but then 4 years later I watched it again with my sister and I was obsessed! 😂

[wallflowerproduction]

esther || ready or not [orphan first kill]

[horrorandhalloween]

[obscurememesubjects]

leena... bitch I know you’re crazy but like, make an effort