#fucking hell okay so major i will knock you spoilers ahead

[petrichoraline]

this is the funniest thing pleasee

[ladywaifuuwrites]

The Hotel

Pairings: Sanemi Shinazugawa x fem! Reader

Synopsis: Sanemi goes to your peculiar hotel which is for dead people.

Warnings/Tags: Hotel Del Luna! au | blood | verbal torture???

a/n: Major manga spoilers ahead! Picture not mine!

I have been aching to write this for months and finally here it is. I added some elements of the hotel on my own since it’s been so long since I last watched it, so forgive me if there are some differences. This is not drama accurate okay?

I don’t know why but I feel like using “(Y/n)” instead of “You’ here.

The hotel is operating as usual in the night, the main floor is busy accommodating the lost souls. The hotel changes its appearance during the night, growing into a taller building towering among others in the city. People would freak out if they saw a building pop out of nowhere, but normal people can’t see the hotel.

Dead people would.

They would naturally find themselves at the front of the hotel as if it were calling their name. It was indeed calling his name as Sanemi found himself standing in front of it. 

The architecture was different compared to the other buildings in the city. It was majestic and quite ahead of its time, like it was separated from the rest of Japan. He was staring up at the hotel, mouth slightly open because it was his first time seeing something like it. 

Then a cold breeze passed by him and when he looked beside him, his eyes were gonna pop out of its sockets. 

“Hello Shinazugawa-san!” A bloodied demon slayer was beaming at him brightly. The smile on the demon slayer’s face dropped down as if he realized something. “Are you dead too?” The boy asked but Sanemi didn’t answer, so the boy sighed. “I hope Muzan will be defeated soon. I trust our comrades.” He mumbled under his breath.

Sanemi couldn’t speak a single word for he was confused. Dead? Was he dead? Then he remembered the previous events, he was thrown to a building by Muzan’s tendrils. He looked down to the ground and he was indeed dripping with blood but he can’t feel any pain. He faced the young demon slayer. “You go ahead.” He said hesitantly and the boy nodded happily, opening the wide doors of the hotel.

“What is this place?” Sanemi walked in and found himself agape in awe. To his right side, there was the front office with a huge key rack. A weird door stood in front of him, and a bright crystal thing was dangling above him. Everything was so new and beautiful that it filled Sanemi’s empty heart with joy.

He curiously trudged forward, having a staring battle with the weird door. He tried opening it but it was hard as steel. But he still pushed it with all his strength but no luck. 

He sighed as he parted his hair in frustration. Wet trickling sounds came closer to him as he felt a colder breeze. Sanemi’s heart jumped at the sight beside him. A woman who was bloodied and drenched in water pushed the circle button and the doors opened.

The woman entered and Sanemi followed suit. “Thank you” He said quietly but he heard no response. 

What the fuck is this place?

Sanemi could feel that he was moving upwards and he felt quite nauseous. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The moving finally stopped and he heard a “ting!” sound.

When he opened his eyes, he was not prepared to see all of these. It was an even bigger floor than the one earlier. A large shining crystal chandelier hung on the ceiling, big grand staircase at the middle, luxurious looking furnishes, illuminating bright lights and people everywhere. He stepped out of the elevator and circled, taking in the marvelous sight around him. It was like a breath of fresh air, everything was so foreign. So enchanting. 

He finally stopped sighing in awe when two large guys approached him. They grabbed both of his arms and dragged him away. 

“Stop it! You fuckers! Don’t touch me!” He struggled with all of his might but the two large men was far more strong, possessing impossible strength.

He was brought to a tall wooden door adorned with intricate golden details and expensive polished wood. One guy knocked, not letting go of Sanemi. They waited for a few seconds until a feminine voice spoke.

“Come in!” 

They pushed the huge doors and Sanemi was welcomed into an equally large room. The room itself screams luxury. But the woman sitting prettily at the center sofa was even more luxurious and beautiful. 

Sanemi never saw someone as beautiful as her.

“What is this?” 

“A human at the lobby.” The woman’s eyes widened and her mouth formed an “o”. She blinked a few times and stood up. “Leave us” She ordered and the two large men exited.

(Y/n) furrowed her brows and took a closer look at Sanemi. “You’re not dead.” She said in an amused tone with a slight smirk. (Y/n) sat down and poured tea into two cups. 

“Sit down” She ordered and Sanemi sat down opposite her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. There was an aura in her that was commanding and enticing. Her hair was tied up, stray hairs framing her beautiful face, she was wearing a long beautiful kimono which Sanemi was sure that was made of expensive silk, exposing her collarbones. 

(Y/n) pushed the tea forward to him and gestured for him to drink it and Sanemi bowed before drinking, he seemed to have calmed down. 

“(Y/n) (L/n)” She introduces herself.

“Sanemi Shinazugawa.” He introduces himself which brought a smile to the beautiful woman’s face.

Her eyes went to the blade attached to Sanemi’s hip and you let out a snicker. “There’s an awful lot of you coming here tonight huh?” (Y/n) said in a teasing tone but somehow there was an underlying hint of pity. 

“A troop of demon slayers came in about an hour ago. It’s like I was watching a demon slayer parade.” (Y/n) lightly chuckled, sipped on her tea and continued. “They were confused about being dead, poor kids losing their lives so early.” She says while shaking her head.

“They were the ones who didn’t follow your master’s command. Stubbornness leads to death I suppose.” (Y/n)’s eyes creased as she she keeps on talking to the man in front of her. Sanemi’s eyes widened because how in the world did this woman know that information?

(Y/n) kept talking and Sanemi grew impatient by the second. Anger bubbled in Sanemi because this girl who was living in the lap of luxury was taking his comrade’s deaths so lightly. 

“Listen here.” Sanemi says with a stern voice that made (Y/n) look at him in surprise.

“Those demon slayers fought with their lives to protect civilians like you. Those kids were brave until their last breath so don’t speak shit of them.” Sanemi spat which brought a smile to (Y/n)’s face.

She was about to say something but was interrupted by a knock on her door. (Y/n) said to come in and an old man with smiling eyes laid a folder on her table and left.

“That is the manager of the hotel. He’s the only human here.” (Y/n) said as she looked at the pages inside the folder.

“Hotel? Only human?” Sanemi asked in confusion but (Y/n) didn’t answer because she was focused on what she was reading. It took her for a few minutes to answer and put down the folder, shifting her focus to Sanemi.

She hummed in agreement, legs crossed and hands intertwined. “But apparently there are now two humans in the hotel. One of them is you.” (Y/n) points at Sanemi.

“Listen here.” She playfully mimicked Sanemi and leaned closer to him. “My hotel is called Hotel Del Luna. This is a hotel to accommodate souls before they go to heaven.”

She smacks her glossy lips and Sanemi can’t help but follow her movements which places a little smirk on (Y/n)’s lips. 

“As for your case, I don’t know why the hell you are here when you are not even dead. You are just on the verge of death with all the injuries you’ve been sporting.” She points out his now healed injuries. His clothes were not bloodied anymore too. 

“My room door has a magic beautifier and healer because no filthy being can enter here, but those injuries will come back when you wake up so don’t expect anything.” She continues. “You need to go out of the hotel because you don’t belong here. Besides if you stay here for long, you will really die.” 

(Y/n) stands up and motions Sanemi to follow her. “Let’s go wind hashira.” 

Sanemi’s heart jumps at her calling his title of wind hashira. The way it rolls of her lips is different from when others say it.

They are now outside the hotel and the outside turned into a tunnel. “This wasn’t the entrance before.” Sanemi thinks to himself, his train of thoughts is cut when (Y/n) calls out his name. 

“Go through the tunnel and you will find your way back. Don’t look back or you’ll be stuck here forever as my slave.” (Y/n) says half-playfully and half-serious, but she was mostly serious. 

Sanemi looks at the dark tunnel and back at the hotel owner. “How can I see you again?” Sanemi asks, he really wants to see her again even though it seems quite impossible.

(Y/n) laughs. “Die.” 

She deadpans which erases Sanemi’s hopeful look. But she laughs again which made the air around them lighter. “I don’t want you to see me again.” (Y/n) said in all seriousness and Sanemi could feel his heart become heavy.

“Because I will be the one to see you, I will visit you.” She says while smiling at Sanemi, and the man’s hopes returned, making a soft smile appear on his face. (Y/n) pretends she didn’t want to melt at his smile.

“Oh, don’t worry about your brother. He’s in good hands.” Sanemi smiled when he heard this and tears filled his eyes but he didn’t dare let them to fall. A comforting silence fell upon them until Sanemi spoke.

“Sayonara.” The white haired male said to her and she nodded her head slowly. 

“Sayonara.” She replied to his goodbye.

Sanemi turned around and headed towards the dark tunnel. But before he could be near to the entrance of the tunnel, (Y/n)’s hand tugged at his wrist. Sanemi could feel that her (e/c) eyes were sparkling with hope. 

“Muzan is long overdue, I trust you and the demon slayer corps that this night will be a successful one. I trust that you guys will bring that demon to me.” (Y/n) says with a smile and Sanemi held both of her hands. 

“We will.” 

*Sigh* 

“Don’t tell me this guy is gonna die again?!” (Y/n) stares at Sanemi’s collapsed figure. She crosses her arms while looking at the kakushis who are giving medical aid to the wind hashira. (Y/n) could feel her anxiety starting to grow by the minute because Sanemi won’t open his eyes. 

A moment after she sighs again, Sanemi opens his eyes and (Y/n) let out a breath of relief. She heads over to where Sanemi is laid, hovering above his body. He can’t see her right now because she is on invisible mode. (Y/n) caresses his cheek and Sanemi let out a “Fuck...”  

She chuckled and moved away from them. Then she glanced at the red haired boy with the hanafuda earrings, (Y/n) smiled and silently thanked everyone’s efforts before making her way back to where she belonged. 

BONUS

“Finally, Muzan Kibutsuji! I’ve been waiting for you...” (Y/n) says with a sinister smile, her red polished nails gripping Muzan’s shoulder tight. 

Muzan glares at her in annoyance, his dark locks falling in front of his face. 

“You’re so pathetic that you expected to pass down your legacy don’t you?” (Y/n) pouts in front of Muzan’s face, wanting to see his limits. The demon attempts to move but he just winced in pain.

“Uh oh. Have you forgotten 400 years ago? I tried slaying you but I wasn’t successful, and you tried killing me but you can’t. We’re just going back and forth back then.” (Y/n) laughs thinking of the time where she attempted to slay Muzan.

(Y/n) sighed mockingly. “Sadly, I’m not the one who will punish you. It’s not my job, my job is to make good souls comfortable. And you’re not a good soul. Wait for the mago, vengeful spirit.” (Y/n) winks at Muzan provokingly who’s tied down with a heavy enchanted chain. She walks away and closes the door behind her, leaving the demon in the darkness. 

Finally, everything was in place. 

She can’t wait to visit Sanemi after this!

a/n: (Y/n) got that Tamayo energy. Tamayo mvp. 🥳

[morethanalittleconfused]

I accidentally wrote a 5k fanfic about incidents caused aboard the ghost by differences between species

I've been reading a lot of those old tumblr posts that are like “what if humans are actually just really, really hardy and alien species would be just completely blown away with the shit we put up with without a second thought” and it's got me thinking about the crew of the Ghost trying to get used to each other at first with three humans that are all just absolutely fucking insane, even more so than even your average human.

Rebels spoilers ahead, as well as a trigger warning for blood, vomit and general injuries

It starts with Hera and Kanan. It’s just the two of them, aboard the Ghost, and it takes some getting used to.

At first Hera is shocked by the way Kanan's body seemingly has no limits. He has never once complained about the temperature of the ghost, even when they were running low on power and Hera could feel her limbs start to get sluggish from the cold. Two weeks later he somehow managed to find his way back to the ghost after being in -2 degree Celsius weather for a half an hour with no coat on. When he walked back through the hatch with snow blowing in his loose hair and a red nose and said “it's cold as shit out there” after Hera had been panicking about losing him for the literal entire time, she had to practically scrape her jaw off of the floor. She would have been dead after a few minutes, and yet here he was, now steaming from a shower and shirtless, bitching about how the caf maker was broken.

As time went on, she learned his body did have some limits to the heat. At about 35 degrees he got irritable and short, but that was about when she started getting uncomfortably warm, too. But he would tolerate it. And more. He kept impressing her with the things he somehow managed to pull off, in conditions she would have thought would kill him. He could get knocked around far more than she thought he should be able to, and would haul himself back to the ship with a grin every time.

The way his body worked constantly surprised her. She noticed it first in how quickly he healed, and in how much he ate.

He could eat literally anything. Things she thought were poisonous for most species. He loved chocolate, and would easily eat ten times the amount that would send her to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. He could withstand a ridiculous amount of alcohol, and could drink unprocessed coffee with no problem by the cup. Caf didn't seem to really affect him because his body processed it so fast. And he ate so. Much. it was ridiculous. The good thing was it didn't really seem to matter what.

Hera didn't need much food, but it had to be good. It had to count. Too much filler and she would lose strength. Her body couldn't process a lot, and if what she got wasn't exactly what she needed, her health went downhill, quick.

Kanan was not the same. He could, and would, eat anything. He didn't have any noticeable preference for plants or meat, or the quality of the food. If he could get his hands on it, he would eat it. He would eat food out of the refrigerator she would have considered to be dangerous. He put appalling amounts of random, unrelated food in a pan, cooked it, and acted like that was an acceptable thing to do. Omelets? She hated the very idea but he seemed to think they were wonderful.

And yet, for all that, they had once been stranded for over a week with only enough rations for one, and Kanan had insisted that she take the vast majority of the ration bars. She pushed back, and he then presented her with the absolutely shocking fact that humans can survive for over a month with no food. She was absolutely flabbergasted, and he took advantage of her stunned silence to press another ration into her hand, smirk at her and say, “I can take it. Trust me.”

Another thing she noticed very quickly was how fast he healed.

He could be bleeding openly one minute, and the wound seemed to close itself the next. She knew human blood had clotting factors far beyond that of nearly any other being, but it was ridiculous how fast he sealed himself up. Further into their relationship she got to see this close up when she accidentally touched some of his congealed blood on the floor of the refresher after cleaning him up. She had had to turn away and take a few deep breaths at the slimy, gelatinous texture. He had gently huffed out a laugh.

“Kinda gross huh?”

“Yeah... it's… unique.”

“I've always been kind of fascinated by the way it congeals so quickly. Handy I guess.”

Out of sheer curiosity she had run the end of a pen through the small puddle and been horrified to see that it mostly stuck together.

“It just… does that? Inside you? And that doesn't cause problems?”

“It can. If it clots when it's not supposed to. But mostly it keeps me alive.”

And it did. And though she wouldn't say it to his face, his ability to pull through seemingly anything took just one more worry off her plate. His wounds would be almost completely closed in often under a week, where she would have been dealing with bandages and salves for a month. He almost never got infections, and could keep going with seemingly incapacitating injuries.

They had once narrowly escaped a fight with a gang of imps and made it back to the ghost with almost no problems. She had a sprained ankle, so he had supported her most of the way there, and they had patched up each other's scrapes. He had needed a bit of training so he didn't just slap a bandaid on what could have been a potentially life threatening injury for her, but he did alright. It was only later, when they were sitting in the cockpit, well into hyperspace, and he had coughed suddenly, when things went sideways. She turned to see blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth, and more on his hand when he pulled it away. They both looked at it for a moment, then Hera almost blacked out as a sudden wave of adrenaline washed over her.

“Kanan you're- are you- let me make the calc- are you dying?”

“What? Oh- no I had thought I just cracked a few of my ribs but it would appear I must have broken at least one of them.”

“BROKEN? Your bone? Like in half?”

“I- yeah?”

“Chopper we need to get to the nearest med center right now. Tell them were coming. I dont care if its a fucking imperial light cruiser”

“Wait no lets not be hasty-”

“HASTY? YOU BROKE YOUR BONES KANAN”

“Okay i know it looks bad but really i'm not going to keel over and die right now. Make sure it's a safe med center and cheap too. I can wait.”

“Kanan your bones are literally broken.”

“Yeah. It's happened before and it will happen again. I've broken my arm twice. I've broken one of the bones in my lower leg. A couple toes. At least one finger. And don't even get me started on my nose. It didn't always look like this.” At that he had huffed out a small laugh, but then winced and brought a hand to his lower chest. Almost as an afterthought, he reached down and pulled up the hem of his shirt. She had started to avert her eyes at the sliver of hip he showed, but as he pulled the shirt up higher and revealed more, she felt the breath taken out of her. His skin was mottled a whole host of awful colors, angry and puffy. He coughed that wet cough again and said, “Maybe I do need a med center after all”

She was incredibly relieved when they dropped out of hyperspace and into the welcoming arms of medicine. She was less happy when Kanan was returned to her, that night no less, with only bandages around his chest and a note to “take it easy for a while” she was appalled to say the least.

His ridiculously resilient body sometimes created just as many problems as it solved, though. He got into bar fights after downing enough alcohol to kill a bantha, and got the piss kicked out of him. He ran headfirst into danger with little consideration for life or limb. He was reckless, and incredibly hotheaded, and overall behaved like a clown. She had no idea how the Jedi accepted humans into their ranks, if Jedi he was. Restraint, my ass.

His recklessness applied to food as well. He didn't really seem to mind what he ate, content with the knowledge that if it didn’t work out, he could always regurgitate it back up. Twi’leks could not vomit, like many other species. It was yet another bizarre human trait. The ability to purge substances from your body without them having to pass through your entire digestive tract and cause more issues had always seemed like a neat trick to Hera. That is, of course, until she saw it in action.

She was roused one night by a strange noise coming from the refresher, and she had padded to the door, only to find it open. Blinking in the harsh light, she saw Kanan curled on the floor, wearing no shirt. His hair was loose and hanging around his face, and he was panting heavily. She only had time to say “Kanan, what-” before he coughed and vomited into the bowl.

Her immediate reaction ricocheted from “Oh my god he's dying” to “I’m actually going to die just having to witness this” to “Oh stars he is actually dying” so fast she could barely process it. She was immediately horrified but had no idea how to help him.

“Kanan are you- do you need a medic? How- chop- CHOPPER! How do I help you? Are you hurt?”

He had turned and peered up at her with puffy eyes and a runny nose. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He tried to talk but his voice came out too rough and he had to try again. Even then it was strangely thick.

“Hera? Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? Am I okay Kanan? You're in here dying for stars sake and I have no idea how to help you and where the hell is chopper-”

“Hey. hey.” He turned away for a moment and took a long breath in through his nose. “Calm down for a sec. I feel like shit so you're going to have to talk slower. Are you hurt or something?”

“Hurt? No I'm not hurt i’m just- you- you're in here- I don’t even know-”

He closed his eyes and took another long breath in through his nose.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah i’m just… trying really hard not to throw up again.”

“Oh.”

He opened his eyes again and looked up at her again.

She shifted against the door frame. “But you're… okay? This isn't life threatening?”

He huffed out a soft laugh, then seemed to immediately regret it as he dropped his head between his knees for a moment. Then he cleared his throat and tipped his head back up.

“No. I'm good, I just ate something bad at that pub. And I also probably drank a bit too much as well. But I think it was definitely the squids fault.”

“Oh. So this is… normal?”

“More so than I would like. Yes.”

“Okay so…” she took a deep breath to calm her nerves now that it was apparent he wasn't in any imminent danger. “Do you need anything? How can I help you?”

“Some tea maybe. Some crackers. Anything ginger you have. It'll work itself out with time.”

She stood in the door, unsure of what to do, wanting to help him, and watched as he drew a quick breath in and closed his eyes again.

“Hera. Tea. Now”

“Right.”

As she dashed to the kitchen she heard the sounds of retching from behind her.

  There were some strange things about humans that became interesting as their relationship developed beyond mere captain and crew. His hair, for example. At first she had thought it was appalling, the sheer volume of it. It was everywhere. But all it took was threading her hands through it a few times, and hearing the wonderful noises he made, before she quickly changed her opinion.

Related to his hair was the fact that humans seemed to enjoy a certain level of pain, which she could not understand. He would moan audibly when she tugged at his hair, which startled her the first time, in the best way. Once, when she was feeling particularly adventurous, she had dragged her sharp canines across the delicate skin of his throat, and had been surprised to find the taste of metal filling her mouth, sharp and bright. She was even more surprised at the way he had shuddered and come apart beneath her, just like that.  

Then, later, when Zeb and Sabine joined the crew, there was yet another learning curve as Hera adjusted to another human as well as a Lasat, and Zeb adjusted to Kanan and Sabine at the same time.

Sabine was just as reckless. She was a fighter too, but she didn't have the force to help her out. Hera had more than a few small heart attacks in the early days of Sabine's presence before she fully appreciated that she could take almost as much of a beating as Kanan. Sabine had once walked over a half a mile back to the ship with a broken leg, and when Hera pressed her on just how she managed to do that, Sabine had gotten quickly tired of the argument, ending it with a, “I don't know what to tell you, Hera! I didn't have any other options! I had to do it, so I did.”

Hera was used to most of Kanan's strange human quirks, but Sabine presented a new and entirely alarming one, which Hera first came in contact with on a supply run. Sabine needed a monthly supply of medical supplies. Hera knew very little about menstruation, as that was a trait entirely unique to human females. Why their biology decided that it was necessary was completely beyond Hera, it seemed incredibly inefficient. Sabine made as little fuss about it as possible, but Hera had embarrassed everyone about three months in when Sabine asked hera to go get her data pad from her room. Hera had burst back into the common room, and only then was able to identify the smell Sabine was carrying with her that had been tugging at the edges of Hera’s mind all day. Blood. She turned on Sabine with a very distressed, “Sabine are you injured? Are you sick?”

To which Sabine had responded, with a distinct note of confusion, “No? Why?”

And Hera, without thinking, had said, “There's blood all over your bed? Did you hurt yourself?”

Sabine had gaped at her for a moment, then blushed ever so slightly. “I uh- I forgot to wash my sheets after... Sorry. I forgot about that before I told you to go into my room.”

Hera still had not connected the dots and was opening her mouth to further interrogate Sabine as to why her bedsheets were covered in blood when Kanan had jumped up and said, “Hera! Let's go for a walk, yes?” and pulled her gently out of the room, but not before she heard Zeb turn to Sabine and say, “So, why were you bleeding?”

Zeb apparently hadn't had much contact with the more alarming of the humans' quirks, as he had his own room, until Ezra showed up. Then Zeb had to learn for himself just how absolutely wild human biology was for himself. He arguably had a rougher go of it, because while he had the rest of the crew to help him out, he was literally sharing a room with a teenage human.

The first time Ezra got food poisoning was just about as rough for Zeb as it was for Kanan and Hera, except it happened in Zebs room.  Ezra was mostly self-sufficient, but Zeb had come hollering down the hall. He had broken the “do not open my door without knocking” rule Hera kept firmly in place, but she couldn't even be mad at him. Hera was just glad Kanan had been in his own bed that night. She had woken to see Zeb standing in her door, his fur standing up like a spine down his back, one ear folded inside out, panting hard.

“Hera the kid- he’s- I don’t know what the fuck happened but he- I think he’s hurt- or- or something but I don’t know how to help him- it’s Ezra-”

At which point Kanan, who had been woken by Zebs racket, slid open his door wearing only his sleep pants. He took one moment to assess the situation, looked down the hall and said, “Oh, Ezra’s throwing up. Do you want me to take care of him, Hera?”

Hera sighed and got up from her bed.

“No, you get Zeb some tea or something. I've learned well enough how to hold hair back at this point.”

Zeb, still looking entirely horrified by the situation, allowed himself to be led into the galley by Kanan. Sabine poked her head out of her door, decided this crisis did not involve her, and went back to sleep.

The same situation had happened the first time Ezra had gotten a bloody nose in the middle of the night. It was the kind Hera had witnessed with Kanan, and knew firsthand how horrifying it was if one didn't know humans noses just Did That sometimes. It was a middle of the night kind of bloody nose, where Ezra had presumably woken up with blood all over his face and in his mouth and in his hair and on his sheets, and had tried to catch the blood in his hands, which was all well and good until he somehow had to get down from the top bunk and open two doors to get to the refresher. That left Zeb to wake up to a room smelling of blood, with blood on the floor, on the door panel, and a trail leading to the refresher where he found Ezra leaning over the sink which was also, conveniently, covered in blood. All it had taken was for Ezra to turn his face toward the creature standing in the door and say “Zeb?” before Zeb was hurtling down the hall in a panic, calling for Kanan to come help him because the kid was dying.

Sabine, who had been up working on a project, was the first to respond to this particular “The human is dying!” call. She took one look at Ezra, standing in his pajamas with blood on his hands and said, “That sucks,” and turned back to her room.

Hera, who was making her way down the hall to check on if Ezra really was dying this time, had the pleasure of seeing Sabine turn back and say, “If you want a tampon to stop up the bleeding, they're in the bottom left drawer.” This worked surprisingly well at stopping Ezras bloody nose, because he was blushing so hard there was no blood left for his nose. Hera turned back to comfort Zeb, telling him she had reacted the exact same way the first time Kanan had woken up with a bloody nose. She saw him come out of his panic in time to realize she had effectively confessed to sleeping with Kanan, but wisely decided not to say anything. Nothing he didn't already know.

The humans were absolutely bizarre to spend time around. They ended up installing a wall in the galley that had live plants in it, not because they needed fresh plants to eat, but because their brain chemicals got thrown off if they weren't around plants for too long.

They had empathy for everything. Hera had once witnessed Ezra cry in a market when they passed a fruit stand with a deformed Meiloorun. When Hera asked why he was crying, he had looked up at her with these huge eyes, sniffed, and said, “I just feel so bad for it! No one will buy it!” They had, of course, bought it. Kanan tried not to get attached to anything, but he apologized for bumping into inanimate objects, and Sabine got visibly sad when they had to throw out a good piece of gear because it was broken or old.

They all three loved swimming. They were awful at it, just barely flopping around on the surface, but any time they were near even relatively safe water, they were in it, having the time of their lives. Kanan had once explained to Hera that humans have an extra fun little bit of evolution called the mammalian dive reflex, which slows their heart rate and lowers their blood pressure when they are in water, making it calming and enjoyable. Hera was skeptical until she watched Ezra calmly floating down a river on his back and wished she had that, instead of feeling nothing but panic anytime she had to float in water.  

They were mimics. They could replicate a stunning array of sounds, from animals to tech. Ezra's favorite way of annoying her was to make the noises her ship made when something went wrong, just to see how much she would panic before she realized it was him. They would sing along to anything, even if it was just instruments, and Hera would never admit it, but she loved Kanan's voice.

They could sleep anywhere. One of her favorite memories was walking around Chopper Base after a particularly exhausting mission and finding the three of them, Kanan in the middle, with one kid leaning on either shoulder, asleep, leaning against a crate. They had looked so peaceful, and yet she was again surprised at them. It was far too cold for her to even consider sleeping, there were fighters landing only a few hundred meters away, people running all over, and they were snoozing with smiles on their faces, just glad to be home.

And humans would pack bond with literally anything. She had thought Kanan was bad until she met Ezra. It was ridiculous. Her father had said that she was improper for developing a fondness for a droid, but the kid formed a relationship with everything that moved. It got them out of a few tight spots, sure, but she would never get used to having to sit still as some enormous predator loomed in their faces. The sight of Ezra staring down a cat the size of the ghost on some jungle planet, the cat's fangs mere inches from his face as it huffed at him, was something she would never forget.

They were wild and hard headed and strong and made her life so much more interesting.

Early on, Kanan’s strange human ability to adapt to seemingly anything had been a momentary point of contention between the two of them, and was still something she struggled with. It took time for her to be okay with the fact that humans and Twi’leks were just built differently. But it frustrated Hera how weak she felt compared to him. It infuriated her the way he could just walk off something that would have killed her. She had always striven to be adaptable and up for anything. She was strong, and she knew it. But she felt her inadequacies sharply next to Kanan. Early in their partnership they had been in the galley repairing themselves from yet another fight, when Hera had turned to see Kanan casually sewing his own skin up with a needle. The way he could just puncture his own skin like that, with nothing more than a wince and a hiss of breath, had made her see red for a moment and she had to excuse herself to the cockpit to take a breath. They had talked about it, and he had helped her to realize that she was, of course, strong. Humans were adapted differently, so it was entirely unfair for her to be comparing them. But they could compare emotionally, and she was one of the strongest people he had ever had the pleasure of knowing. The two of them were forged in war, and had been through incredible things. She had fought prejudice and overcome so many obstacles to get to where she was, the best pilot in the resistance, without question. As he had said the last part, she heard him smirk a bit, and looked over at him, bathed in the blue light of hyperspace, to find him with a little crooked grin on his face and his hair falling down around his ears. She had felt her guarded heart open a little bit more at that, and had to turn and gaze back out at the stars before her heart opened completely to this rogue of a man.

Later, pressed against his chest in a supply closet, hiding from some stormtroopers, she would marvel at just how fast humans' hearts beat. She knew they were supposed to beat about two times faster than a twi’lek, but his seemed like it was fit to fly out of his ribcage. She found herself thinking, “Is it supposed to be doing that? Is this why he's such a hot headed idiot?” Later she would discover it did not always beat that incredibly fast, usually just a bit faster than hers. It made him ridiculously warm, and also may have contributed to why he was so quick to anything. Not rushed. Not hasty. Just quick. Quick to anger. Quick to smile. Quick to fight. Quick to laugh. Quick to love.

Maybe that was why it was such a shock when he finally reached his limit. She had gotten used to him pulling through impossible situations. She had forgotten that they had limits, just like her.

And then, years later, a glimmer of hope. Ahsoka and Sabine, travelling the galaxy over, searching for Ezra. While Kanan was gone forever, she still had a chance to get one of her boys back.

And of course, there was always Jacen. Her beautiful little boy, who was soft and sweet and yet surprisingly strong, just like his father. And Hera was comforted to know that wherever this wild galaxy would take him, he had Kanan Jarrus’ blood coursing through his veins to keep him safe.

[confusedbutstillgay]

MF Gotham Logic.

Okay so stabbing/blood/shooting trigger warning, please DON’T READ if this will trigger you.

Hello, I’m gonna be talking about a bit of Gotham logic today. Before you start complaining about your least favorite plot holes, stupid twists the writers put in there, characters that only popped up for like 5 seconds… nah I’m not here to talk about that shit. In all honesty, I didn’t watch much of Gotham, so I can’t really talk about that. What I am here to talk about is Gotham’s logic of how the human body works. Spoilers ahead.

Let’s start off with one of the most well-known scenes. Ed shooting Oz and letting his body fall into the river. Lemme explain.

Infection. The Gotham river has gotta be polluted as fuck, so if and only if Oz actually survived he would have a hell of an infection.

Pressure. The pressure of the river, as I’ve heard, would probably turn Ozzie’s insides into outsides, especially since he was shot in the stomach region. 

The river itself. Undercurrents especially I’m worried about. How the fuck would Oz get himself out of that in time? And yes, he would have to, since he would die in minutes from blood loss. He doesn’t have enough time for him to just wash out and be magically okay. Not to mention the risk of, idk, breaking bones and stuff from getting bumped around in the river so much.

The risk of hypothermia and/or frostbite, since rivers are fucking cold regardless of the time of day or the season. 

Now let’s talk about what Ivy would have had to do in order to heal Ozzie. First off, she would have to know how to perform surgery, since she would have had to sew up the walls of Oz’s internal organs and also get the bullet out if it was still in there. Second, well, we talked about infection, probably having to patch up broken bones from the river, hypothermia, etc, etc…

Okay, let’s go to something simpler. Bombs.

Mother. Fucking. Bombs.

Inhales

Do you know how far away you need to be to survive from a grenade? 30 feet. This is because your tissue tears from the highly compressed air that slams into you, and your brain and lungs can collapse and bleed internally. Just imagine how far away you need to be from a bomb to survive. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES GRENADES/BOMBS HAVE FUCKING APPEARED IN GOTHAM WITH CLOSE TO NO CONSEQUENCES EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE WERE LIKE NOT EVEN 2 FEET AWAY FROM THE GODDAMN GRENADE

So now let’s talk about the whole severed-hand thing. 

Oh, god, where do I start with this shit.

Okay, let me start by saying: it’s possible, with modern medicine, to have your hand cut off and be able to use it again. BUT. But. You need to go through (I estimate) months of seriously hard physical therapy, and it’s frustrating and exhausting, but again, it’s possible. 

HOW THE FUCK DID THAT BITCH USE HER HAND AFTER LIKE A FEW DAYS?!?!?!?! LIKE MISS GIRL BE GLAD YOU CAN BARELY HOLD ONTO A KNIFE YOU SHOULDN’T EVEN BE ABLE TO USE YOUR HAND AT ALL.

*Clears throat*

Okay, let’s talk about Ozzie getting shrapnel in the eye. This is a bit of a problem for me when it comes to looking up the logic, since we don’t know how big the shrapnel was. If it was over 2 inches Ozzie’s getting some brain damage and probably internal bleeding. I feel like there, yes, is a chance he could survive but he’d have some brain damage. This would affect his temporal lobe, which could result in: difficulty learning and retaining new information, impaired factual and long-term memory, and persistent talking. But otherwise this seems to check out. 

Oh, boy. I wanna talk about Jerome getting stabbed in the neck. So. So, so, so. Getting stabbed in the neck is NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM an instant death. It can take a few minutes to a lot longer than you’d think to die from that shit. Also it looks as though he could have nicked a major artery… so that would mean death in a minute or two, from blood loss. 

Now, Theo’s biggest flaw here is NOT TAKING THE KNIFE OUT. Leaving the knife in means stemming the bleeding and allowing there to be a bit of a higher chance of living. 

Also I want to talk about the bleeding to the mouth… just no. From my knowledge this should not, in any way, shape, or form, happen unless he got tilted back and the blood from his throat SOMEHOW trickled up to his mouth. Actually the blood would go down, which would not be good for your stomach or possibly lungs… but anyways. The “bleeding by the mouth thing…” I’m starting to believe that shit doesn’t happen. Not as much as the media says, anyways. Yeah, yeah, I get that it’s a huge sign you got into a big fight, but that doesn’t mean it’s logical or right. Only way I would accept this is if you made a point that a tooth got knocked out (because I don’t think biting your tongue hard would result in THAT much blood… also if your character is good at fighting this probably wouldn’t happen). 

And last but not least, Ecco dying. Now, getting stabbed/shot in the heart is… fickle. It all depends on the situation (and yes, people have survived getting shot/stabbed in the heart. It happens) and how quickly you lose blood/how quickly your brain loses oxygenated blood. BUT AGAIN WITH THE BLOOD POURING FROM THE MOUTH THING. WHY. WHY ARE YOU SO OBSESSED WITH THIS SHIT. 

Anyways, that’s all for right now, if you have questions about any other scenes my ask box is open and I will gladly speak about these things :> Goodbye!!!

Edit:

@yanderebeat​

Ohhhh. My. God. How the fuck did I forget this??? (Also clearly this is gonna be a thread now so WHOOP)

Okay so it takes like. 4-6 min for someone to die while choking and 10 min for irreversible brain death. IT TAKES. 4-6 MIN. FOR SOMEONE TO DIE. WHILE CHOKING.

This is because of the lack of oxygen that’s going to the brain. SO FUCKING EXPLAIN TO ME HOW AND WHY KRIS DIED THAT FUCKING QUICKLY. Only reason would be if her brain was already lacking oxygen but there’s no reason for that to have happened so like… why

Anyways thanks for the little reminder of that :>

[gotmymindsetonyou]

The Best and Worst Things About Each MCU Movie

These are all just my stinky opinions. You are allowed to disagree, you are allowed to agree. Most of these are jokes anyway. I’m honestly just happy you’re reading this. Minor Spoilers Ahead!

Iron Man (2008) -

Best: This movie almost perfectly sets the tone for the entire universe that has at that point yet to have been created. Looking back, you can imagine the feeling of “Where are they going to go from here?” and I think that’s one of the most important things that this movie needed to accomplish.

Worst: What the fuck is Jeff Bridges doing? What’s his endgame here? I get he’s trying to take over Stark Industries but how’s he gonna do that from inside that giant metal suit he uses to kill people inside their cars?

Incredible Hulk (2008) -

Best: Tim Roth is in it and I think that is pretty cool.

Worst: I haven’t actually seen it, but the cgi looks god awful, what the hell.

Iron Man 2 (2010) - 

Best: Sam Rockwell is so goddamn annoying in this movie and I think that’s amazing, he’s such a little stinker.

Worst: I remember basically nothing else about this movie except some guy talking about birds, idk.

Thor (2011) -

Best: It introduces Loki, probably one of the most beloved villains in the entire franchise. 

Worst: This movie is so goddamn boring and it’s my least favorite and I hate it. Don’t @ me.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) -

Best: The first good chunk of this movie is actually a really compelling character study on Steve Rogers and what makes him a good man. Seeing him basically being paraded as this propaganda figure and watching him struggle with this is one of the most compelling things about him as a person. Really wish they kept this up for the entire movie.

Worst: The red skull is really boring guys. He’s red, that’s it. Give me something else to work with man.

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) -

Best: This movie proved that you can have a superhero team up with this many people and have it fucking work. It doesn’t matter if you hate or love this movie, you cannot deny the effects it has on the genre.

Worst: It’s shot like a bad CW show. It looks so ugly.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Best: This one is actually my favorite of the bunch. Exploring the question of what makes Iron Man, the suit or the person, is shown really well here. I thoroughly dig it.

Worst: That scene where Harley flip flops about whether or not he really knows Tony makes me so irrationally angry.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Best: It’s slightly better than Thor, and I actually can feel myself start to have a good time whenever Loki’s on screen.

Worst: Once again, this movie is insanely forgettable. Christopher fucking Eccleston is in this movie and I could not tell you a single thing about this character.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - 

Best: This movie has one of the best hand-to-hand fight scenes in the entire MCU. You know the one I’m talking about. It gives me chills, I love it.

Worst: Having the government stand-in that Steve questions in the beginning of the movie actually be a front for N*zis that he can just beat up, and not an actual metaphor for the issues with the government today? You ain’t slick.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 1 (2014) -

Best: This is the mcu movie basically anyone can enjoy. Anybody can watch this movie and find something to love about it. The characters, the messages about family and learning to be okay with feeling love, the jokes, hell, even the space setting. THE MUSIC. It’s the full package baby.

Worst: Chris Pratt has an unfortunate cameo in this one.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) -

Best: I have a couple of things. A) The party scene where we get to watch the Avengers talk and be friends with each other and act like people. B) I love James Spader no matter what he is doing.

Worst: Why is everyone quipping? Why is the robot quipping? Why would they massacre my boy like that?

Ant-man (2015) -

Best: I want Paul Rudd to marry me, best dad in the mcu.

Worst: The moment Edgar Wright left this project.

Captain America: Civil War (2016) -

Best: Introduces two great characters, Spider-man and Black Panther. These two get a lot of love when it comes to designing their characters in this movie and it makes me very happy.

Worst: It made the fandom very unhappy and I don’t like picking sides. It feels like watching your many parents get divorced for two hours.

Doctor Strange (2016) -

Best: The magic looks really fucking cool in this movie. Also, the ending with Dormammu is up there for one of my favorite endings of an mcu movie. Having Doctor Strange actually outsmart the villain instead of actually fighting him is endlessly more satisfying.

Worst: Could not tell you a thing else about this movie other than I heard Tilda Swinton plays a character that’s probably not supposed to be white.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) -

Best: Guys, I gotta come clean about something. I actually like this one better than Volume 1. I know, I know, a good majority of people do not feel this way, but I feel a lot more emotionally attached to the movie, and that’s mainly because of two characters: Yondu Udonta and Rocket Racoon. Rocket realizing that he’s an asshole but his found family still loves him gets me, man. I can’t help it. Helps that Ego is a great villain as well. Also the cinematography is some of the best in the mcu.

Worst:  No Howard the Duck.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) -

Best: I think the best thing about this movie is just the solidness of it all. No one part stands out as the best because most everything about this movie is pretty damn good. Michael Keaton will knock your socks off, go watch it.

Worst: Donald Glover is in it to tease a Miles Morales reveal, BUT NOTHING HAS HAPPENED ABOUT IT SINCE.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) -

Best: Taika Waititi knows how to do shit right, lemme tell ya. Taking away Thor’s hammer from the beginning was probably one of the smartest choices in the movie, and this is a movie of smart choices.

Worst: Jeff Goldblum isn’t in it more.

Black Panther (2018) -

Best: Erik Killmonger is easily the best villain in a Marvel movie, and you can quote me on that. An amazing performance from Michael B. Jordan. It’s also the first Marvel movie I saw in theatres (I know, I was very late to the game)

Worst: Everett K. Ross is CIA propaganda and the last fight scene on the train tracks looks like shit.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - 

Best: It’s really hard to sum up exactly what my thoughts are on this movie. I think one of the movie’s best qualities is the bigness of it. This movie feels huge, there’s a lot of different stuff to love here. If you like Wakanda, there’s a whole epic battle set in Wakanda. If you’re more a fan of the space stuff, we got a whole lotta space stuff. The best part of this movie is there’s probably gonna be something that everyone can enjoy packed in here.

Worst: I also think the bigness of this movie is also one of it’s larger weaknesses. Because there’s so much stuff in this movie, not all of it is fully fleshed out. Tony Stark gets a lot to do in this movie, but Steve Rogers sort of feels sidelined at parts. There’s a perfect balance that I don’t think was quite hit.

Ant-man and The Wasp (2018) -

Best: I still really love Paul Rudd in this movie, and I think his relationship with Cassie is still really cute. World’s Greatest Grandma indeed.

Worst: This movie really had its work cut out for itself, coming off the heels of Infinity War, so it sort of falls short in that respect. I don’t want to criticize it too harshly, it is what it is, nothing insanely memorable. 

Captain Marvel (2019) - 

Best: I still think this is a pretty good movie, despite what a lot of people think. I struggle a lot with believing that I have to prove myself to others, so having Carol finally realize that she doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone was really important to me, and probably a lot of other women.

Worst: There were parts where I wasn’t as engaged, like the scenes in the Kree empire. That made some of the movie feel off to me, it’s a bit unbalanced.

Avengers: Endgame (2019) - 

Best: This movie 100% achieves what it sets out to do, and that is to be a huge cinematic event. I don’t even really see this movie as a movie, it’s more like one huge experience. My viewing had one of the most energetic crowds I’ve ever seen a movie with.

Worst: I don’t really think this movie holds up to multiple re-watches. Granted, I saw it in theatres three times. I don’t think any subsequent viewings are ever going to pack that same punch that my first viewing had, and that makes it harder to come back to. Also Steve had a totally lame ending.

Spider-man: Far From Home (2019) - 

Best: After ending on such a downer note in the last movie, this felt like a weight being lifted off my chest. Jake Gyllenhaal gives an insanely energetic performance that I absolutely adore. (Also seeing it with my dad was fun, he would nudge me every time they switched locations to tell me he’d been there)(Also when I saw it with my sibling a kid ran out of the theatre during the Mysterio mind-fuck sequence, some just can’t handle that lifestyle)

Worst: Peter Parker and MJ remind me of how perpetually single I am.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

Hello! I’m not sure if you’re open to requests right now, and if not, sorry to bother you. If you are, I think it would be interesting to read your general thoughts on Ango Sakaguchi.

My Thoughts on Ango Sakaguchi

I’m always open to requests hehe ;) It might just take me a while to get to them, because, you know, life and all. Plebeian tasks like studying tend to get in the way. Thank you very much for the ask!!

As usual, manga spoilers at the end.

Unlike my impassioned and vitriolic sermon on the numerous flaws of Mori Ougai, I have less strong feelings about Ango. I think he’s an interesting character, certainly. Double and triple agents like him are always quite interesting to look at. I feel like he does his best and would benefit from a vacation--but then, Yokohama might fall apart without him there.

#GiveAngoAVacation2k20

Ango has simple enough motivations: to do his job well. What’s interesting is just how far he’s able to go for his job. When he expresses regret that he, Dazai, and Oda couldn’t have been true friends, he genuinely enjoyed their company. But they’re still secondary to his overall objective of taking Mimic down, and he’s not above using underhanded methods to protect himself. Like, you know, knocking Oda out with contact poison. 

It really did break my heart, that last bar meeting in Dark Era, because Ango was just so damn sad about leaving his friends behind. And it’s really not his fault. 

We don’t actually know that much about Ango, but he seems like a pragmatic guy. He has a job to do and he’ll get it done, damn whoever gets in his way. It’s this ruthlessness that let him survive as a triple agent. Someone like Kunikida, with unbending morals and principles, wouldn’t have been able to successfully work for three organizations without blowing his cover spectacularly. And honestly, major respect. 

Okay, he did get Oda killed, though I see Oda as more of a casualty that Ango hoped to avoid. In my opinion, Mori and Gide were the architects of Odasaku’s destruction, with Ango as a reluctant player. The fact that Dazai is salty enough to sabotage his air bag and land him in the hospital after breaking several of his bones will always made me laugh though, because there’s really not enough of Dazai being a petty bastard. 

I can also hear this quote:

“Naaa, Ango!” 

I do appreciate how Ango’s not an action hero like the other characters in BSD. He says at one point in Dark Era something like “I’m not built for this” after jumping out of a burning building, and dude, I feel you. He gives this impression of being so utterly done with everything that I can relate to. This man had to put up with both Dazai and Oda’s bullshit for years, and now he has to basically make sure Yokohama doesn’t burn down between the ADA and Port Mafia. 

If you don’t want to read further because spoilers, my general opinion of Ango is that he needs a full night of sleep and a vacation, because he really does try his best.

MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD.

Okay, when the hell did Ango get this badass??? Flexing his acting skills to throw off the Special Abilities Department (just spy thingstm) and helping Atsushi out when he was in a very tight spot was just...*chef’s kiss*. His ability is really, really fucking cool, too. Reading memories left in objects has so much potential! It’s an info-gatherer’s dream, and it makes so much sense that he was picked to be a spy. 

The part. Where. He nearly. Shot. Atsushi. 

I WAS ABOUT TO FLIP A TABLE BECAUSE...well, it’s in-character. He’s ruthless and he’ll get the job done. But what makes him different from other characters is that he genuinely regrets the casualties. Just...really glad he didn’t hurt Atsushi, because then I would have probably flipped my poor table. In summary, Ango doesn’t get enough credit for being a badass. 

[qrovidcore]

hey what’s up tumblr i’ve now seen hbo’s watchmen all the way through Three Fucking Times and i very well may go for a fourth if given an excuse whoops and apparently i can’t stop thinking about Laurie’s joke in She Was Killed By Space Junk, no i’m not the first person to analyze this and i’m sure i won’t be the last but i sure do have some Thoughts^TM,  so here’s some meta let’s go.

major spoilers ahead for the entire series:

Hey, it’s me again. I’ve got a joke. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. There’s this guy, he’s a bricklayer. He’s really good at it. He’s a real master of his craft. Because he’s precise. Every brick has its place. Anyway this guy has a daughter and he’s gonna teach her to be a bricklayer because after all, all a man has is his legacy. So dad decides to build a barbecue in the backyard. He does the math. He figures out exactly what he needs and he shows the daughter how to do everything. Step by step. And when he finishes, it’s a beauty. It’s a perfect barbecue. Just the way he drew it in blueprints. Only one problem. There’s a brick left over. One single brick. The guy freaks out. He must have done something wrong. He’s gonna have to start all over again. So he picks up his sledgehammer to knock the thing to pieces and his daughter suddenly says ‘daddy wait! I have an idea.’ She picks up the orphan brick and throws it up into the air as high as she can. And then…shit. Messed it up.

Okay forget that joke. Can I tell you another one?

As I said, I’m not the first to break down that Laurie is referring to specific people who have an influence on the story, there’s plenty of meta posts online that’ll say the same thing. I just think this is a Really Clever way to introduce us to her, to the major players in this story, and to the events from the comic that are going to end up being referenced. Anyhow, the bricklayer here is The Comedian. Laurie’s father. I’ll get back to this and how it connects later, but given that one of Watchmen’s major themes is the concept of legacy - who carries it and how, and what happens when that legacy is painful - this is a neat little hook into that idea. Laurie’s dad’s legacy. What she’s done with it, what she’s going to do with it, how she feels about it. Again, coming back to that.

Okay. Forget the brick. New joke. Three heroes die and they all show up at the pearly gates. God’s there and he’s going to decide what their eternal fate shall be: heaven or hell. Our first hero is dressed up like a big owl. God says to him “I gifted you the ability to make fantastic inventions. What did you do with this amazing talent?” Owl guy says “I made this really awesome flying ship and lots of cool outfits and weapons so I could bring peace to the city.” God asks, “So how many people did you kill?” Owl guy seems offended. He says “Zero. I didn’t take a single life.” God frowns. “Sorry owl guy, your heart’s in the right place but you’re just too soft.” God snaps his fingers and the hero goes to hell.

I'm not super into the comic so it took me a while to get that she's referencing Nite Owl. I think this is strange since he doesn't appear in the show himself, whereas everyone else she talks about does, but I suppose it gives a more rounded-out view of the different approaches to heroism, and what exactly constitutes it, and also ties in another one of the original Minutemen. They did cut this over her arrest of Mr. Shadow in the bank, which makes me wonder about his role and why he appeared, and I still find it strange that this part of the joke wasn't about someone who had more of a presence in the show. (Though that being said, DC making fun of Batman, their own big-ticket character? 10/10 thank you for this).

Where was I? The pearly gates await our next hero in line for Almighty judgment. Our hero number two is confident he can game this out because that’s his God-given talent: smarts. Some might even say he’s the smartest man in the world. “So what did you do with that big brain I gave you?” asks God. “As a matter of fact, I saved humanity, ”says Smarty Pants. “Well how’d you do that,” asks God.” “Well I dropped a giant alien squid on New York and everybody was so afraid of it they stopped being afraid of each other.” “OK,” says God. “How many people did you kill?” Smarty Pants smiles. “Three million, give or take. But you can’t make an omelet without breaking a couple of eggs. “Christ,” God says. “You’re a fucking monster.”  “Am not,” says Smarty Pants. God snaps his fingers and our hero goes to hell.

GOD YES PLEASE DRAG OZYMANDIAS. GET THIS FUCKER’S ASS. Though the line that’s sticking out to me here is “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a couple of eggs.” Watchmen’s got an egg motif - and that’s an entire post on its own - and wow this is a place to drop it. I find it interesting that it’s given to Adrien here. Especially since it comes back later, when Will tells Angela that that’s what Jon said in justification of giving his life to stop the 7th K/Cyclops and Trieu. Eggs are used for a lot of things, but this line ties the motif solidly to a value of life here - how Adrien is the way he is because he refuses to value other peoples’, and maybe how Jon is the way he is because, when you can see the future laid out before you and live knowing how you’re going to die, how do you learn to value your own?

Okay. We’re down to the nitty gritty now. One hero left. God cracks his knuckles ready to administer the final reckoning. Now Hero Number 3 is pretty much a god himself. So for the sake of telling them apart, he’s blue and he likes to stroll around with his dick hanging out. He can teleport, he can see into the future, he blows shit up. He’s got actual superpowers. Regular God asks Blue God what have you done with these gifts?” Blue God says “I fell in love with a woman, I walked across the sun, and then I fell in love with another woman. I won the Vietnam War. But mostly I just stopped giving a shit about humanity.” God sighs. “Do I even need to ask how many people you’ve killed?” Blue guy shrugs. “A live body and a dead body have the same number of particles so it doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter how I answer your question because I know you’re sending me to hell.” “How do you know that?” asks God. Blue God sounds very sad when he softly says “Because I’m already there.” And so, a mere piston in the inevitable of time and space God does what he did and will do. He snaps his fingers and the hero goes to hell.

And now, we’ve got Jon. Dr. Manhattan. It's a neat moment of insight into his actions, motives, and how those are perceived by others (namely Laurie), and it's a nice thread of introduction to his previous actions to drop for audiences who haven't read the comics (actually, I can make this point about Adrien’s part of the joke too). Especially because most of what we get of Jon in-show is his relationship with Angela, his entire character arc really revolves around her and we don't see him portrayed as the contentious, unfeeling figure the world sees him as. So this sort of contrast between him as a figure and him as a person is very telling, doubly so coming from someone who it's clear knew him. And I really appreciate that there’s just as much stiffness as there is warmth to the Jon we the audience see - he’s kind, he’s loving, but he’s also very matter-of-fact and deterministic, and that bit of characterization really spans the gap between these two versions of him.

And so it’s been a long day at the pearly gates. All the heroes have gone to hell. His work done, God’s packing up to go home and then he notices someone waiting. But it’s not a hero, it’s just a woman. “Where did you come from?” asks God. “Oh I was just standing behind those other guys the whole time, you just didn’t see me.” “Did I give you a talent,” God asks. “No, none to speak of,” says the woman.  God gives her a good long look. “I’m so sorry. I’m embarrassed. Seriously, this almost never happens but I don’t know who you are.” And the woman looks at God and she quietly says “I’m the little girl who threw the brick in the air.” And a sound from above, something falling: the brick. God looks up but it’s too late. He never saw it coming. It hits him so hard, his brains shoot out his nose. Game over. He’s dead. And where does God go when he dies? He goes to hell. 

Into some Thoughts^TM that I haven’t seen anyone theorize yet(?): I think God is meant to be Lady Trieu, and even if Laurie wouldn’t know this yet that’s some brilliant fucking foreshadowing. It's not as exact, but enough parallels are there that I think they're purposeful. It makes Trieu out as the ultimate judge of everyone - and in a way, she is. She sees herself as the most deserving of power of everyone, and it's her who kills Dr. Manhattan - sends him to hell, you could say, and he knows she's going to do it. It also hints at how she's going to die too, crushed by her machine falling from the sky like the brick, because she didn't expect anyone would be capable of stopping her. And where does God go when he dies? He goes to hell. Trieu isn't ultimately above the others, and she's subject to their justice as they are to hers. 

Fitting too that Laurie is involved with the plan to stop Trieu, since, as I said I’d come back to, the girl who threw the brick is Laurie herself. Her depiction of herself in this way is representative, perhaps, of Laure's own feelings on vigilantism and what justice is, and that she's the force that's going to bring down these overblown personalities and their many incorrect uses of their abilities. Given this, it's interesting to think how the "failed" joke at the beginning connects, given that Laurie's dad is the bricklayer, and he's definitely... not a good person, or at least not in this continuity. But I wonder if it's indicative of what Laurie mentions about her parents training her up to do vigilante stuff (especially since she’s based in part(?) on a member of the Minutemen from the comic), and how she feels about her father and his work. If the brick is symbolic of his work as a vigilante, is Laurie throwing the brick in the air, and ultimately taking down the threat at the top, meant to indicate how she sees herself using what she learned from him, or - maybe and - a disrespect for his work based on her justified hatred of him?

Roll on snare drum. Curtains. Good joke. 

[bitchinrichie]

Fears of the Past ch 4

Major IT ch 2 Spoilers!!

I’m seriously on a roll with writing y’all

AU

***********************************

Numb. You were numb as you sat staring down at the floor. Richie sitting at the end of the bed, switching from looking at you to the hallway. The others gathered outside, silent, you could hear one of them pacing.

You turned to look at Richie and you honestly didn’t recognize him for a moment. He looked paler and empty, like there was nothing left of him. You understood though, he and Stan had been best friends since they were 3 years old. You three were really close, especially during high school.

***

You were leaving for college in a few days and you had finally built up the courage to tell Stan. You had rehearsed it with Richie, who kept reassuring you that Stan wouldn’t hate you. He had marched you over to the Uris residence and Stan could sense you were nervous about something. Richie squeezed your shoulder before walking back down the street.

“Hey, what’s wrong babylove? You know you can tell me anything,” he stared at you, taking your hands in his as you sat down on his bed.

“I got accepted into Stanford and I’m moving out to California in a few days,” all your words were mashed together as you spoke quickly. Stan looked so hurt,

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was scared, I didn’t want to lose you and I wanted to spend as much time with you as possible making it seem like I wasn’t leaving-” He stopped your rambling by hugging you tight, you cried into his chest as you felt his tears run down his chin.

“I love you, y/n. I would never leave you. Just promise me you’ll never forget me?”

“I promise”

***

“Y/n? Honey, we- we shouldn’t leave him in there.” Bev approached you hesitantly.

“Bev, come on, she just walked in on his-” he couldn’t say it, he wouldn’t say it. Richie just shook his head. Bev sighed and grabbed your hand.

“It’s been almost 3 hours, we can’t leave him in there.”

“I didn’t want to,” it was so quiet and broken, you didn’t realize you said it. Bev and Richie just stared at you with the saddest, apologetic faces and you broke down again. You wiped your tears, getting off the bed and walking off to god knows where. You tried to block out the others yelling for you to stop and come back but you kept going.

You didn’t make it far, you were sitting outside in the parking lot next to your car. You didn’t have a plan but you knew you wanted to be out of there. You felt empty, you hadn’t done enough. The minute you saw Stan again, you wanted to tell him you loved him and that you’re sorry that you did forget him. It was so quiet, the breeze was softly blowing through your hair.

The more you thought about it, the angrier you got. IT has taken away the man you loved, had taunted you about your sexuality and aimed to hurt more of your friends. You weren’t having it, you were gonna kill that fucker if it was the last thing you did. You ran back to the inn, rushing back upstairs while everyone started asking what the hell was going on.

Your blood was boiling as you opened the door to Stan’s room again, the others stood behind you as you walked. You entered the bathroom to look at your lover one more time but instead you found or actually didn’t find something you should have.

“What the fuck guys? You think this is funny? Where’s Stan?” You snapped at your friends who stared in confusion and disbelief.

“Y/n I’m here,” you whipped around to find Stan standing by the bed without a shirt on, holding a towel on his bleeding shoulder. He had minor cuts on his face and a huge bruise close to his beautiful curls. You just stood there, not believing what you were seeing,

“You- you were dead- there was so much blood- and the writing? On the wall? How-” you were rambling and hyperventilating, you pinched your arm and winced, this was real. He was here standing before you and before you realized what you were doing, you walked over, wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him. He used his good arm to hold you close as you broke apart and you sobbed.

***

“Okay is this some Evil Dead shit or are you actually you Staniel?” Richie poked his cheek while Stan rolled his eyes as Bev fixed up his shoulder.

“It’s still me, trashmouth,” Richie dramatically sighed in relief and everyone laughed, you chuckled lightly but you just kept on staring at Stan.

“So uh, are we gonna talk about this?” Ben shuffled around as he looked at you.

“All I remember is I came back here to look for something, a knife in my shoulder, finding fucking Henry Bowers behind me as he pulled it out and attacking me again and he knocked me out,” Stan sighed as Bev finished patching him up- “I don’t know why he shoved me in the tub and I’m pretty sure he wrote that message to fuck with you.”

“He stabbed Eds too so maybe he’s out for-” Bev was interrupted,

“HE WHAT, EDDIE ARE YOU OKAY WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME.”

“HOW DO YOU THINK I GOT A WOUND ON MY CHEEK DIPSHIT.” You had been pulled out of your trance by the bickering idiots and you really thought Richie was gonna have an aneurysm. Stan took this opportunity to take your hand and take you into the hallway,

“Hey, look at me, please y/n?” He said it with the softest voice you’d ever heard and you obliged. He cupped your cheek and smiled at you,

“I thought you died. I didn’t know..”

“I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere babylove,” he sealed that promise by kissing you ever so softly. You intertwined your fingers together and vowed to yourself to never let him go.

“Aww I missed watching you two love birds suck each other’s faces off,” Richie made kissing noises and laughed while you and Stan just rolled your eyes. He was still laughing but Richie made his way over to you both and just hugged you. Richie loved with all of his being, losing any one of you would break him.

The others joined very quickly in a much needed group hug, some of you breaking apart to be closer to others- Rich and Stan, you and Bev, and Ben and Eds.

“Hey Bev, where’s Bill?” Eddie asked suddenly.

“Um he ran off after we saw a skateboard roll down the stairs, he said it was the kid from the restaurant, he lived at Bill’s old house and Bill said he was in trouble.” Bev sounded more confused in every word so everyone was in the same boat.

***

The 6 of you were walking to the library as Mike proposed earlier, you were walking beside Stan, hands laced together. You could hear Eddie and Richie bickering ahead of you while Ben shyly walked next to Bev.

“I wanted to ask you, what were you looking for when you went back up there?” You gripped his hand tighter and you could hear him hum in content,

“I had been cleaning out old boxes from my apartment and I found an old drawing you did of a bird which you had written on ‘I love you forever my bird boy’” he paused and let out a little laugh- “and along with it was a picture of us cuddled up on your couch, asleep. I wanted to show them to you.”

You let a tear roll down your cheek while you rest your head on his shoulder as you continue walking to the library.

***

The library seemed darker than usual, the streetlights surrounding it were barely flickering. The door had been left ajar probably just Mike leaving it open for you all. Quickly walking through the door, something didn’t feel right.

“Guys I don’t know about this..” you whispered loudly so they all stopped walking.

“It’s just Mike, I’m sure everything is fine,” Richie tried to reassure and then you heard yelling and glass breaking. You all tried to stay as quiet as possible trying to find out what the hell was going on. With everyone on edge, you lost track of Richie,

“Where the hell did Rich go??” Everyone looked around for him, you ran around the corner just as Richie had smashed an axe into Bowers head. Bowers fall on the ground and Mike stared up at Richie in shock, you started to approach and then Richie threw up.

“Jesus fuck, Rich”

“You okay?”

“No I’m not! I just killed someone!!” Richie yelled.

“I was talking to Mike..” Ben added sheepishly.

Mike got off the floor, dusting himself off, patting Richie’s shoulder and coming over to the group. He asked where Bill was and none of you could answer definitely so he called him. Sighing as Bill had hung up on him,

“He said the kid was killed in front of him by IT and he’s going to kill it.”

“Alone? Is he kidding?” Eddie scoffed.

“Where would be even go?” Stan asked, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

“Where we fought it last time..”

“Neibolt.” You all day in unison. You knew, you all knew. The Losers club was in the Endgame now.

@unamused-fangirl @tozierchee @eddiegaykaspbrak @chipoisaloser @multi-parker @tropicaluris @happyhanlon @checkontherep @stark-spiderling @itsbaconheree

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Deacon St. John || Phantom in the Night [1/5]

A/n: This'll be a short series. There are spoilers, so I'll put a spoiler warning before you read.

⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD⚠️

I hope you all enjoy! Love you all!!! ••••••••••••••••••••

***HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD! PLEASE NOTIFY ME OF ANY ERRORS!!!***

***** Prompt: A mysterious woman with a mask has been traveling around the regions taking out whatever evil she comes across. When Deacon meets the woman behind the mask, his entire world changes. *****

~3rd Person POV~

The moment Deacon set foot in Copeland's Camp, he saw the entire encampment gathered in between the kitchen and the bounty stall. Mark stood in the middle as he addressed his fellow men and women. "I understand your concern, but we've no need to worry. Phantom means us no harm."

"What if she does target our camp?" A woman asked nervously.

"I assure you she will not. Now get back to work!" Mark shouted. Everyone headed back to their posts, a suffocating air lingering throughout the camp.

Deacon was perplexed as to why the entire camp was acting strange. He wake sober to many, greeting the mechanic. "Hey, Manny. What's going on here?"

"You haven't heard?" Manny inquired.

"Why the hell do you think I'm asking?" the drifter scoffed.

"Recently, there's been this girl spotted out in the shit. She wears this creepy mask and black clothing. No one knows who she is under the mask. People around the camp are afraid she'll attack us next," Manny explained.

"I didn't come here to listen to the camp's problems. You got anything new for me?" Deacon asked.

"Sorry, Deek. Nothing today."

"Alright, thanks."

Manny watched as the drifter mounted his bike. "You're leaving so soon?"

"Like hell I'm sticking around." Deacon started his bike and took off.

<———————————<<<<<<<<<<<<<

As Deacon was riding through Belknap after accepting a job from Tucker, he was ambushed by marauders. A bullet pierced his right shoulder, knocking him off his bike. The motorcycle scraped against the asphalt as Deacon landed on his back with a painful grunt. "Fucking marauders..."

Four marauders charged at him, their weapons raised. The sniper tried to shoot him again, but the man in the tree suddenly was shot and screamed as he plummeted towards the road.

Deacon grabbed the bat hanging on his bat, ready to defend himself. Before he could even swing it, all the marauders were killed. The gunshots rang through the air, but the drifter was unable to locate his savior.

Suddenly, a figure climbed down a tree by the highway and landed a few feet away from Deacon. By the stature, he knew it was a woman. She turned around, revealing the mask concealing her face. 

The sniper in her hands alerted the drifter, but she lowered and slung it across her back. Deacon was still on high alert as she walked towards him. Standing directly in front of him, she pulled down the hood and took the mask off her face. (H/c) hair tumbled out of the hood as she pulled at the strands to straighten them out. "I can help with your shoulder if you'll let me."

"Uh..." Deacon wasn't sure what to think at her offer. He was still puzzled at her sudden appearance and how she saved him. Now, he wasn't sure what to think of her offer, but he decided to accept her help. "Okay."

"Follow me." The woman guided him to a nearby bush where she fetched a backpack. She rummaged through it and pulled out what she needed. "I know we just met and all, but I'm gonna need you to remove your shirt."

Deacon glanced at the woman with a stoic expression. "You're serious?"

"No, I'm gonna patch you up magically through your shirt," she sighed. "Yes, I'm serious. It's my fault you were shot, anyway."

"How is it your fault?" The drifter questioned as he removed his cut, jacket, and shirt to allow the woman access to the bullet hole in his shoulder.

"I watched the bastards set up the ambush. I should've taken them out the moment I saw them." The woman began examining the wound before cleaning it thoroughly. "Good. The bullet passed straight through. Name's (Y/n), by the way."

"Deacon," the man gave her his name. "Phantom, huh? What are you—some masked vigilante? Never thought I see one of those in the middle of the apocalypse," Deacon commented after he let out a faint grunt of pain.

"Is that what people are calling me? And no, I'm not a masked vigilante. I go around taking out Freaks, Marauders, and Rippers. A few Squatters here and there, but mostly Swarmers and Newts."

"Why the mask?"

"Easiest way to take down a bunch assholes is to infiltrate their own ranks. The mask is so they don't recognize me and report who truly is behind the mask to other marauders. Even with most of the world's population being Freaks, rumors spread like wildfire out here in the shit." (Y/n) bandaged up his shoulder before placing the supplies back into her backpack. "There. It should heal in a week or two since it didn't hit anything major."

"Yeah, uh, thanks." Deacon put his clothes back on while (Y/n) slung her backpack over her shoulder.

She nodded and smiled. "You're welcome." Swiveling on her heels, she began making her way down the highway.

Something inside Deacon nagged him to tell her to stay. He cleared his throat and called out to the woman. "Need a ride somewhere?"

"Actually," (Y/n) spun back around to face him. "I do. You know where Black Crater is?"

Deacon nodded. "Yeah." He went over to his bike and hauled it off its side. "I'm heading there, too."

"Oh," she smirked. "You after the Rippers camped out there, too?"

"Guessing that's why you need a ride there," Deacon said. "And yeah. Those bastards keep ambushing supply runs for the Hot Springs."

"And Tucker asked you to do the dirty work for her," (Y/n) stated matter-of-factly. "Not surprised. Hope you're willing to have a partner on this endeavor."

"For once, yeah. Hop on."

(Y/n) secures her backpack against her back and mounted the bike. She placed her arms around Deacon's waist with a smile. "Let's go kill some Rippers."

<————————————<<<<<<<<<<<<

Eight months later, Deacon and (Y/n) found themselves at the Lost Lake Camp. They were forced to bring Boozer to the encampment due to blood poisoning from where a few Rippers had torched his arm. He was currently unconscious in the infirmary while Deacon had been dragged off by Skizzo.

(Y/n) sat at a picnic table, fiddling with a single bullet. She had used nest residue to create a single berserker bullet and was dying to test it out on anyone. While her gaze was focused on the bullet, she didn't notice Rikki sit down across from her. "It's (Y/n), right?"

"And you're Rikki. Nice to finally put a face to the name," the woman responded.

"You've traveled through Belknap and Cascade. Heard any interesting stories about this so called "Phantom?" I heard she wears this weird mask and goes around killing people."

"I've heard about her a few times during my trips. Not sure about the mask, but I heard she's been focusing on hordes recently."

Suddenly, the two women heard someone clear their throat and they turned their heads. At the end of the table stood Deacon, who was glancing between (Y/n) and Rikki. "Sorry, Rikki, but I need her right now."

"Y'know, Deek, I always took you as the loner type. I never expected to see another woman by your side with... you know..." Rikki's voice trailed off.

"Jesus, Rikki," Deacon exhaled. "We're not doing this shit again."

"I know, I know. I was just... surprised, is all."

The drifter grabbed (Y/n)'s upper arm and tugged her out of her seat and away from the picnic table. The woman already knew about Sarah and how Deacon had finally managed to get over her death a couple of months after their first meeting on the highway with her help.

The drifter released (Y/n) as they stood beside his bike. "Hop on. We're going to pay the Rippers a visit."

"What did Skizzo say to you?" The woman asked as she mounted the bike behind him.

"A plane carrying supplies for the Red Cross crashed in Iron Butte. If Boozer's wants a chance to survive, we have to get that medical supplies."

"We're heading straight into Ripper territory. Are you sure you want to risk the peace treaty Iron Mike has with Carlos?"

"That fucking treaty is already falling to pieces. We're getting that supplies one way or another." Deacon revved the engine and took off out the gate.

It was a thirty minute ride to their destination, which was a bridge connecting Lost Lake and Iron Butte. (Y/n) glanced up at the watchtower built beside the bridge. I don't see anyone on duty." Deacon contacted Skizzo, learning the post was unmanned on purpose. With no one on watch, it made it easy to infiltrate Ripper territory.

"Shit..." (Y/n) groaned as she spotted a car blocking their path. They quickly hopped off the motorcycle as Rippers shot at them. Taking cover behind a truck, the duo gladly responded with their own frenzy of bullets.

"Join us and we will—!"

(Y/n) emerged from their cover, shooting the woman in the head before she could finish her sentence. "I'd rather die than join a cult. I also kinda like having hair."

Deacon killed the last Ripper and they focused their attention on the car wedged in the opening between the makeshift walls. "Help me with this."

The woman placed her hands on the grill of the car beside Deacon's and they pushed the car to make room for the motorcycle. Once the vehicle was no longer an obstacle, the two returned to the bike and took off deeper into Ripper territory.

"Snipers!" (Y/n) shouted as she saw two Rippers and scanning the area with their weapons. Even though they had been spotted, the enemies' aiming was terrible and off the mark every time. Not wasting any more time, they drove past the assailants and to the crashed plane.

Dismounting the motorcycle, Deacon and (Y/n) climbed up a ledge and found the plane. From the wreckage, a Swarmer was tossed as if it were light as a feather. A thunderous roar caused both of them to hide behind a boulder.

"Great..." (Y/n) huffed under her breath.

Deacon watched in horror as a large creature emerged from the crashed plane and tore the Swarmer limb to limb. "The hell is that thing?"

"Never seen a Breaker before?" She whispered.

"Wouldn't be asking if I did," the drifter retorts, eyes plastered to the large Freaker as it stomped around the crash sight.

"Set the brute ablaze and let loose whatever ammo you have left. He'll be tough, but we can take him."

(Y/n) went to sneak up behind the brute, but Deacon grabbed her arm and forced her to remain behind the boulder beside him. "You're staying here."

"You're talking to a girl who's taken down plenty of these things by herself and who hunts down hordes in her spare time. I can just add another Breaker to the list of things I've killed. It's more of a tally than a list at this point."

"No," Deacon hissed.

"At least let me get the supplies while you fight the big guy," she whispered back, a hint of anger in her tone.

Deacon glanced between the Breaker and the plane before agreeing to her suggestion. "Alright. I'll distract it while you get the supplies."

"Just remember what I said, Deek. Fire makes it vulnerable." With those final words, (Y/n) broke off and headed around the other side of the boulder. She waited for the drifter to grab the Breaker's attention, which he did with a molotov. She sprinted to the plane in search of the medical cache and couldn't help but hear Deacon struggling against the large Freaker.

Once (Y/n) locates the supplies, she was disappointed to only find one remaining. Although, she was grateful there would be enough supplies to heal Boozer. She had only met the man a month after knowing Deacon. Now, it had been seven months since then and the two were practically friends. Of course, she and Deacon have spent almost every day the past eight months together taking jobs from Tucker and Copeland after learning how well they work together when they took down the Ripper ambush camp in Black Crater together.

A loud, painful groan tore (Y/n) from her thoughts. She ran out of what was once the cabin of the plane and saw the Breaker stomping towards a cornered Deacon. Grabbing the knife attached to her belt, she held the hilt tightly as she charged towards the shirtless brute. She leapt on its back, startling the large monster. Raising the blade, she plunged it into the side of its skull as it tried to grab her with its large hands. A simple blade to the brain was all that was needed to kill the Breaker.

(Y/n) unlatched her body off the Freak's back before its heavy body collapsed to the ground with a loud 'thud.' She wipes the blood off her knife before sheathing it.

Deacon got to his feet, running a hand across his neck as he coughed. "How the hell did that work?"

"Breakers have relatively tough skin and the muscle underneath makes it difficult even for bullets to pierce. Even with headshots, they're still not easy easy to kill. With fire, the skin burns and becomes brittle. In all honesty, the victory goes to you."

"Nice to know," Deacon sighs. "You find the medical supplies?"

"There's only one cache left, but it'll be enough," (Y/n) responds.

"Grab it and let's get the hell outta here."

Once the medical supplies was strapped to the back of the bike tightly, (Y/n) hopped on and they headed back to Lost Lake. When they crossed the bridge, they had an encounter with Skizzo and Rikki soon arrived on the scene. Surprisingly, she didn't scold either one of them for entering Ripper territory to retrieve medical supplies.

On the ride back, Rikki has taken them on a detour to the sawmill not far from the encampment. On top of a roof, they overlooked a horde wandering around the old sawmill. (Y/n)'s eyes narrowed as this horde was much larger than the ones she has faced before. She hadn't realized Rikki had left until Deacon called out to her. "Don't even think about it."

(Y/n) turned her head, showing the smirk on her face. "You know me so well."

"Yeah, well, Boozer and I are the only ones who know you're really this "Phantom" everybody's scared shitless of who goes around taking out hordes without a care in the world."

"Hey, I've taken out plenty of ambush camps, too. Not once have I attacked an encampment."

"You're unpredictable to them. That's why they're scared," Deacon said.

"Then I better give them a reason to trust me. And to do that, I'm starting with the sawmill."

"Hell no. You're not taking out a giant fucking horde by yourself."

"You're not gonna stop me, Deek. You should know that by now. Anyway, you should head back to Lost Lake. I'll be there shortly."

The drifter was confused as to what she was planning. "How do you plan on getting back?"

"Walking. It's not far from here. I can manage."

Deacon shook his head in disbelief, but he knew he couldn't force her along. "Fine. Radio me if anything happens."

(Y/n) offered him a gentle smile. "I will."

Deacon hopped off the roof and headed back to the camp.

The woman leapt down from the roof and grabbed her backpack. She pulled out her mask and change of black clothes she usually wore to accompany it. Changing her attire, she shoved her original outfit into the bag and departed to Lost Lake Camp.

The moment the guards saw (Y/n), they shouted for Iron Mike. The men and women kept their weapons aimed at the woman as she waited patiently for the gates to be opened. She could hear people in the camp scurrying around and could see a few gathering in front of the gate through the chain link fence.

The gate finally opened and Iron Mike cautiously stepped outside the camp with a stern expression. He stopped a few feet away from (Y/n), staring through the dark eyeholes in the creepy mask. "What brings a woman like you to Lost Lake?"

"Simple." The mask muffled her voice slightly, but it was enough to disguise it so no one could recognize who was under the mask. "To help."

"With what, stranger?" Mike responded cautiously.

"Hordes, ambush camps, infestations... you name it, I'll do it."

Rikki was intrigued by her offer and stepped outside of the camp to stand beside Iron Mike. "You wanna help? Start with that damn horde at the sawmill."

"Let her in," Iron Mike declares, shocking everyone in the camp besides Deacon and Boozer.

"You really think we can trust her?" One of the guards expressed his doubt.

The leader of the encampment spun around and faced the man. "If she was a danger to us, she wouldn't be making the roads safer to travel." He and Rikki walked back into the camp with the masked woman close behind. They sealed the gate and everyone stared at (Y/n) as she passed them.

Deacon suddenly appeared, blocking her path and glaring daggers at her. "Can I talk to you in private?"

"I know you're mad, but—hey!" She whisper-yelled when the drifter grabbed her arm and dragged her to the cabin he and Boozer were assigned.

Inside, Deacon slammed the door shut and pushed her against the wall by grabbing her upper arms. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"Can't I help the camp out?" She retorts vehemently.

"You can help without that fucking mask."

"I'm trying to build a good reputation so I don't end up getting shot in the shit by someone from one of these encampments."

Deacon squeezed her arms tighter, causing her to wince. "What happens when people start wondering where (Y/n) goes when Phantom's around, huh?"

"Cover for me. Tell them I went on a supply run or to check in with another camp," (Y/n) replied.

"You are just—never mind." Deacon released the woman, allowing her to adjust her mask. "If you're taking on the horde at the sawmill, you're not doing it alone."

"Sorry, Deek, but I need to do this alone. I better get going before it becomes night." (Y/n) saw the concern written all over the drifter's face and sighed. "I'll be fine. If anything happens, I'll radio you."

Deacon nodded. "Just come back in one piece, alright?"

(Y/n) smiled gently. "I promise."

[cassiopeiassky]

I Don’t Want the World to See Me (Cause I Don’t Think that They’d Understand) #14

Hi!  So...this is a little thing I like to call Bucky’s Revenge.

This is a companion piece for When Everything’s Made to be Broken (I Just Want You to Know Who I Am) from Bucky’s POV - if you haven’t yet read WEMtbB, this won’t make much sense.

#14 takes place between parts 47 & 48

***If this is your first time reading through, and you HAVEN’T yet read through part 45 of WEMtbB, this will contain major spoilers***

Word count: 4937 (someone save me from myself, this was supposed to be a series of drabbles)

Warnings:

THIS ENTIRE PART IS VIOLENT, FROM BEGINNING TO END.  I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TAG THIS FOR POTENTIAL TRIGGERS - THE LIST WOULD BE ALMOST AS LONG AS THE CHAPTER.  THIS IS BUCKY’S REVENGE.  THIS IS ALMOST 5K WORDS OF BLOOD, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND GRAPHIC DEATH.  IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, PLEASE DO NOT READ!!!  THIS PART DOES NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE STORY, IT IS MERELY HERE FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.

Bucky stands in the middle of the blood-soaked forest, surveying the damage.  He should probably feel horror at the brutality, but he feels nothing but satisfaction.  These fuckers had it coming.

Anatoliy and Grigory are not among the dead.

Yet.

When Yakov’s men had come through the trees, Anatoliy and Grigory turned and ran.  And since some of Yakov’s men are sharpshooters, they deliberately used their skills not to kill, but to herd Anatoliy and Grigory away from their cars.  They’ll have to make the journey back on foot.

Fucking cowards.  They aren’t so brave when they don’t hold the key to Bucky’s heart.

“They are probably going back to home to regroup.”  Yakov walks up to him, nodding in the direction of the manor.

“Yep.”  Bucky makes quick work of cleaning his knives on one of the coats of the fallen Hounds before returning them to their sheathes.

“We can take their vehicles back to their manor.”

Bucky turns to Yakov with clear eyes.  “Go ahead, take Stark and Barton and get a head start.  Just leave Nicolai for me.  I have some hunting to do.”

Yakov’s grin is grim. “Save your strength and ride with us. They have nowhere else to go, they will come eventually.”

Bucky shakes his head. “No.  I want them to know fear.  I want them to know that death is following them.  After what they put her through…”  He exhales as he glances at the other man, “and what they put you, Mikhail, and Izolda through, they don’t deserve anything less.”

Yakov is clearly not about to argue – he knows firsthand the evil these men are capable of.  “Okay.  Keep in touch with us, let us know if you need anything.”

Bucky nods sharply as he walks to his fallen motorcycle and briefly inspects the snow tires for damage before pulling it upright.  “Steve, how is she doing?”

The reply through his earpiece is immediate.  “She’s hanging in there, Buck.  They’re still working on her.”

“Let me know if anything changes.”  He straddles the motorcycle, rubs his tired eyes, and starts it up.  

She’ll be okay.  She has to be okay.

* * *

Bucky grew up in Brooklyn, not the countryside, so the traditional idea of hunting isn’t something he’d grown up with.  He’d learned a lot with the Commandos, though.  The snow helps, too, especially since neither Anatoliy nor Grigory are making any sort of attempt to hide their tracks.

It takes Bucky less than five minutes to find their footprints and catch up with them, and they’re still miles away from their home.  Although part of him is dying to get back to his girl, to hold her and whisper to her that no one will ever hurt her again, he needs to eliminate the threat first.  There’s also a part of him that he hadn’t known existed until these past few weeks – this part screams for vengeance.  

Bucky had never taken pleasure in killing before, not during the war and certainly not during his tortured and brainwashed imprisonment as the Fist of HYDRA, but now?  He’s bloodthirsty.  Vengeful.  Completely, utterly enraged.  Craving violence like a thirsty man in the desert craves water.

He’s the Soldier.

It scares him, just a little, to think that after all the lives he’s taken, after all the guilt he’s carried for so long and for which he’s tried to atone, that he’s now willfully and almost gleefully become the cruel, murderous monster that so many had assumed him to be.   But then he remembers her naked fear, her bruises, her empty eyes and broken spirit when they killed Mikhail, her terrified and tortured screams the night they served her the fake head as they laughed.

He remembers the things they made him do to her, how they made him beat her and render her unconscious. How he had to pretend that he didn’t care, that didn’t love her, that he didn’t even know her as they continually threatened her with physical and sexual assault.  As they threatened to use their Soldat for such assaults.

As sick as he knows it is, Bucky’s going to enjoy this.

He knows they know he’s there.  He follows at a distance for one mile.  Two. Lets them run through the snow, imagining the things he’ll do to them, how he’ll kill them.

There’s something he needs to do first.  “Steve?”

He patiently waits for a response in his earpiece until Wilson’s voice comes across. “She’s good, man, she’s stable and we got her patched up and she’s out now.  She should be good to go until we get her back stateside.  Galina is one hell of a nurse.”

Complete, absolute relief flows through him – Bucky has to swallow hard against the lump that’s suddenly in his throat.  “Alright. If I’m not back by the time she wakes up, tell her I love her and that I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Will do.  You’re off to do what I think you’re gonna do, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good.  Give ‘em hell.”

“That’s the plan.  And Sam?  Thank you.”  Bucky doesn’t wait for the response before shutting off his comms – she’s safe, she’s stable, and she’s got the people Bucky trusts most watching over her.

Now he can do his job.

Bucky speeds up the motorcycle as he unholsters a gun.  They try to run faster, they even try to split up, but it makes no difference to the Soldier.

He will get what he came for.

He lets them run until Grigory finally turns around to take a shot.  Without missing a beat Bucky fires two rounds, shooting out both of Grigory’s knees.  The bastard isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so Bucky swerves and goes to find Anatoliy.

It doesn’t take long.

Anatoliy had the sense to try to hide, but not the sense to make any attempt to hide his footprints in the snow.

The Soldier is well aware of how fear makes people stupid, and he’s no stranger to using it to his advantage.

He stops the motorcycle, kicking down the kickstand before leisurely swinging his leg over the seat, whistling as he does so.  Bucky is vaguely aware that it’s an old Russian tune, one of the many that his former handlers would hum to themselves as they tortured him.  As they strapped him to their goddamn chair.

Bucky smirks as he unsheathes a knife with frosty metal fingers.  The plates of his arm begin to shift.

In his peripheral vision, he can see Anatoliy slowly emerge from behind the tree stump he’d been using for cover.  The other man’s gun begins to rise, but before Anatoliy can pull the trigger Bucky pivots and throws his knife.

“Somebody forgot I’m ambidextrous.”  The taunt comes out in a grotesque sing-song voice, and Bucky can’t help but wonder if Anatoliy has already forgotten the knife fight they’d made him do on his first night in their manor.  “You should have killed me when you had the chance, Anatoliy, but it seems that you keep making the same mistake of underestimating me and overestimating yourself.”

He’s pretty sure Anatoliy didn’t hear him – after all, he just lost his hand at the wrist to Bucky’s knife.  As Anatoliy stares in shock at the bleeding stump, Bucky walks casually by to retrieve his knife, kicking away the gun and stepping over the dismembered hand as he pulls the bloody blade from the tree it’s embedded in.

“Or maybe it’s just that you thought you would always hold power over me by holding the woman I love hostage.”  Bucky lets loose a humorless chuckle as he shakes his head.  “You were right when you assumed I wouldn’t hurt you as long as you held her.”  He turns, putting frigid grey eyes on his prey as he circles around to face Anatoliy. “But we got her out, didn’t we.” The tiniest movement catches his eye, and Bucky whips his booted foot up into Anatoliy’s hip.  As the other man falls, screaming in agony, Bucky gracefully goes to one knee and takes the gun that sits in the holster at Anatoliy’s waist, just above his now shattered hip.

He’d almost forgotten how easily normal men crumble beneath his attacks.

“I’d suggest you not go for any more weapons.  Not that it’ll make a difference in the long run.”  He shrugs before returning to the motorcycle to dig through the compartment at the back.  Finding what he wants, he saunters back to Anatoliy.  

Pathetic.  The man that was formally so bold, so fucking casually cruel, whimpers on the ground.  “I told you, Anatoliy.  Taking her would be your biggest mistake.”

Wide green eyes stare at him in horror as he roughly grabs Anatoliy’s arm.  For the second time tonight he makes a tourniquet, only this time he’s not careful.  There’s no gentleness or love in his actions as he swiftly stops the bleeding with a plastic zip tie.  It’s pulled so tight that it’s already cutting into what’s left of Anatoliy’s wrist, but those are just surface cuts.  

“You don’t get to die yet.”

“What are you going to do?” Ah, the coward finally speaks.

Bucky feels his face twist into a harsh smile, but he doesn’t answer.  He simply walks around and releases a violent blow to the back of Anatoliy’s skull, knocking him unconscious.  He doesn’t give a single shit about Anatoliy’s welfare or comfort, so he leaves him there to go back to Grigory.

He finds Grigory less than 20 feet from where he left him.  Not surprising considering it’s pretty hard to get anywhere with both knees blown out.

Grigory fires his gun, but Bucky stops the bullets with his metal arm as he continues to approach the increasingly desperate man.  Desperate enough to empty his entire clip of bullets.  Stupid, too.  A swift kick to the left side of his face is enough to disarm him, not that it’s even necessary, and the Soldier reaches down to savagely take Grigory by the throat. Slowly, so slowly, he lifts the man from the ground, relishing in the useless way Grigory’s fingers claw at the unforgiving metal.  Terror-filled mismatched eyes stare into his own, but he feels no mercy.

Not for these men. Not after what they did.

They really shouldn’t have messed with his girl.

Bucky looks around with an analytic eye, weighing his options.  Finding a tree with a sharp, broken branch nearly six feet off the ground, he makes his decision.

Grigory fights, of course, but it takes little effort on Bucky’s part to drag the other man by the throat to the tree.  Grigory’s gaze had followed Bucky’s, and he knows, he knows what’s about to happen and there’s not a goddamn thing he can do about it.

With brutal efficiency Bucky closes the distance to the tree, lifts Grigory off the ground, and with a single, violent thrust of his metal arm pins the man to the tree by impaling him through the right shoulder.  Sharp pieces of the broken branch show through the front of Grigory’s jacket – it’s painful, but not enough to kill.  Not yet, anyway.  Bucky was careful to avoid the heart, spine, and lungs.

The Soldier takes a step back to watch as Grigory struggles, kicking his feet as they hang a few inches off the ground.  Grigory says nothing, and his pale eye is swollen shut from the earlier kick although his dark eye is wide open.  Of course, it’s impossible to speak since Bucky crushed his voice box.  All Grigory can do is wait.

Wait for the inevitable.

“You threatened to rape her.” The Soldier cocks his head to the side.  “Repeatedly.”

Bucky pulls a knife from the sheath at his thigh.  

“You entered the room she was in and tried to follow through with your threats.”  He takes a step closer.  “If I hadn’t come in when I did, you would have.”

Grigory can do nothing but stare back in terror.

“She was innocent. She’d done nothing wrong.”  He allows himself a moment to think of her – of how she’d loved him without reserve, her gentle fingers as she’d sing his lullaby, her fierce way of accepting and caring for those around her whether or not they’d earned it.  She was innocent.  And this man touched her.  Hurt her.  The rage boils until it hits the breaking point.  “YOU TRIED TO RAPE THE WOMAN I LOVE!”  The Soldier’s scream echoes through the otherwise silent woods as he pulls his arm back before swinging it forward, burying the six-and-a-half-inch serrated blade into the soft flesh of Grigory’s crotch.

Bucky leaves it there, leaves Grigory pinned to a tree like a bug to a board.  Just like the fucking insect he is.

He estimates that it could take up to three hours for Grigory to die, but die he will.  There’s no point in sticking around.  No one could save him, even if there was someone willing to try.

It’s time to collect Anatoliy and head to the manor.

* * *

It’s an absolute bloodbath at the Krakkens’ manor.  Bodies are scattered in the snow – Yakov and his men, Stark, and Barton have been thorough and concise.  They’re not done yet - the sounds of fighting echo over the snow as Bucky dismounts the motorcycle.  It doesn’t come as a surprise, considering how many men the Krakkens’ had at their disposal.  

“Well,” Bucky mutters as he begins untying a barely conscious Anatoliy from the back of the motorcycle, “I suppose it’s time to haul your crusty ass inside.”  

There’s no point in being gentle – Anatoliy doesn’t deserve it anyway – so Bucky simply hauls him by the collar of his jacket and drags him inside.  Three Hounds rush him the moment he’s through the door, but Bucky unceremoniously drops Anatoliy like the sack of shit he is and makes quick work of the attackers; disarming the first and taking his knife before crushing his windpipe, slitting the second’s throat, and putting the blade of the knife through the eye socket of the third.

The Soldier surveys what he sees.  His teammates and Yakov’s men are drastically outnumbered, but still the Hounds are losing ground.  Numbers don’t always mean much when the opponents have conviction, Hawkeye, and Iron Man.

And now the Winter Soldier.

Bucky finds a closet and throws Anatoliy inside before breaking the doorknob.  This fucker isn’t going anywhere.  

A second knife finds its way from an enemy’s hand and into Bucky’s, and he jumps in.

There’s no concept of time or number of people that have fallen to his hands as he fights, he just fights.  Maims. Kills.  Blood sprays, the floors get slippery with entrails.  The air is thick with the smell of blood and sweat, as well as with the cries of grown men realizing the gravity of their sins much too late.

No one needs to be spared, so he doesn’t need to discriminate.  The only person that had shown her any kindness was already killed at the hand of these monsters.

Just like that, it’s over.

But it’s not.

“Well that was…messy.” Stark is suddenly beside him. “But efficient.”

Bucky scans the area – No sign of Nicolai.

Yakov strides over, blood dripping from a gash just above his ear.  “We’ve secured all areas except the dining hall.  The coward has locked himself in there with his favorite Hounds.”

Bucky shakes his head. “He’s not hiding.  He’s waiting for me.  Do you have a number of how many are in there with him?”

Yakov shrugs. “Fifteen, maybe twenty.  Nothing you cannot handle.”

Bucky nods.  “Thank you.  Anatoliy’s in the closet.”  He tilts his head in the direction of the door.  “He’s all yours – do what you want with him.”

The grin that spreads across Yakov’s face would send chills up anyone’s spine.  “I will make Izolda and Mikhail proud.”

Bucky watches Yakov walk to where Anatoliy is hidden.  He can’t muster one ounce of pity for the man who will undoubtably be tortured for the foreseeable future; Yakov isn’t going to let him die easily, not after what the man did to his fiancée.

“Ready to finish this?” Barton’s voice breaks into Bucky’s thoughts.  

Bucky doesn’t answer, he merely begins taking the stairs leading up to the dining hall two at a time.

He knows without looking that Stark and Barton are flanking him, and that some of Yakov’s men are following; they’re more than ready to rid their town of the disease that’s been steadily eating away at their families’ well-being and livelihoods.  

The double doors to the dining hall are closed and locked as if that will stop the coming vengeance.

“Alright, well I’m sure this would be fun but I gotta go mess with their tech – you’re not gonna let me get a hit in with Bullwinkle anyway, and you already took Rocky out. So…”  Stark shrugs.  “You guys have this covered.  But before I go, allow me.”  He steps up and does away with the lock with a single, well aimed blast.

Bucky marches forward, kicking the door open and striding through.  The waiting Hounds attack, but the Soldier has already tasted blood.  As vicious as they are, these men cannot stop him. No one can.

He does what he needs to do to get through them and no more – they are not his purpose here, so he will leave them for his team.

“You.  Get up.”  Bucky’s growl practically rumbles throughout the room – a thunderous warning of the approaching storm, made more ominous by his purposeful stride.

Nicolai looks up from his customary seat at the table.  He’s polishing his shashka and by all appearances is completely unbothered.  “You do not order me around.”

“I can kill you where you sit, doesn’t make a difference to me.”

Nicolai sighs heavily as he stands, as if he is more annoyed than anything.  “You are not going to kill me, Soldat.  You will try, and you will fail.  And I will not kill you, because you are going to suffer for what you have done.  I will hunt down milaya moya and I will make good on every single promise I made, and when I am through with her you will watch her die a slow, agonizing death. And then I will rebuild my empire from nothing – I built this from nothing, I can do it again.”

Out of nowhere, thirty or so more Hounds pour into the room through the windows and an entrance that was hidden behind a bookshelf.  Bucky stands a little taller – these are Nicolai’s best fighters.  Bucky had been so pissed earlier that he hadn’t noticed that none of them were among the dead.

The Soldier analyzes the information and puts the pieces together.  It didn’t bother Nicolai at all that he’d sacrificed the lives of all his other men – they were there to serve as a distraction and tire everyone out. These men are the best fighters, and they’re fresh and well rested.

Nicolai doesn’t even care that his brother is dead; he’d sent Anatoliy out to collect his Soldat but kept his best men here, most likely assuming they would all die in the attempt and that Bucky would return to the manor.  They figured they would secure their Asset and go back to search for her later.  Bucky quickly surveys the room – his team was massively outnumbered before, but they were fresh and fighting on the strength of their convictions.  Exhaustion is starting to show on the faces of Yakov’s men, and as they count the number of Hounds their eyes grow desperate. Worried.  Even Barton clenches his jaw.

It doesn’t shake Bucky’s resolve – he doesn’t plan to lose.  If he kills Nicolai, this is all over; the Hounds are excellent fighters but they are ultimately minions, not masterminds.  They won’t be a threat without their master.

“You’ll be too dead to rebuild anything, Nicolai.”

“Oh,” he begins as he starts swinging his shashka in an elegant figure eight pattern, “I do not think so.”

The Soldier studies his movements for a moment – the shashka is a brutal but graceful weapon.  The motions look showy but are meant to confuse and mesmerize the opponent; a simple twist of the wrist can change the blade’s trajectory into a fatal blow.  It is clear from Nicolai’s even, graceful movements that he’s a master at his craft.

So is the Soldier.  

Bucky reaches behind and unsheathes both knives from his back.

Nicolai stops his motions to laugh.  “You really mean to fight me with a couple of little knives?”

There’s no response from Bucky as he flips the knife in his left hand to take a reverse grip.  These knives don’t have crossguards so they aren’t exactly ideal in this situation, but four-inch blades are just as deadly as a shashka in his hands.  

A grotesque laugh comes from Nicolai as he resumes swinging his shashka.  Nicolai comes from a family of formidable warriors – he won’t be easy to defeat.

But Bucky’s skills were forged in the frozen tears of Lake Cocytus, deep within the ninth level of hell.

The Soldier waits patiently; he’s not going to make the first move.  He watches Nicolai as he listens to the sounds of fighting from the other men – it’s impossible to tell what’s going on without turning around, so he’s just going to have to block out the noise for now.

Without warning, Nicolai lunges forward.  His blade cuts up at an angle, but Bucky merely leans back to avoid the blade before quickly ducking down and into Nicolai’s guard, slashing his left knife across Nicolai’s abdomen.

First blood.

Nicolai might be surprised, but he hides it well as he launches another attack and then another, seemingly tireless in his efforts.  Bucky parries the blows with his own, slicing in with his own attacks but Nicolai manages to avoid them.

Their battle continues, each comfortable with his skillset and confident of the outcome.  Sparks fly when blade meets blade and the vibrations of the impacts would be enough to cause less proficient fighters to drop their weapons.

Nicolai watches for Bucky to make a mistake as he relentlessly swings his shashka, but the Soldier is too thoroughly trained.  Nicolai is too, but he doesn’t have the benefit of a supersoldier’s endurance. In a particularly brutal move, Nicolai swings the shashka down, twists, and then thrusts back up again.  Bucky blocks the upswing, and there’s a loud metallic clang as the sword collides with his metal arm.  Using his right hand, he quickly jabs the knife up and stabs into Nicolai’s left shoulder.  Nicolai jumps back, furious.  Bucky doesn’t miss that he’s panting with the exertion.  He’s had his fun.  It’s time to end this.  

The Soldier smirks.

This time, it’s Bucky that mounts attack after attack.  He almost effortlessly breaches Nicolai’s guard again and again, slicing, slashing, stabbing.  Nicolai lifts his shaskha, intending to bring it down upon Bucky’s head, but the Soldier drops his knife and it instead meets the palm of his metal hand.  Nearly invincible silver fingers close around the blade, and with a grunt he rips the shashka out of Nicolai’s grip.

Tossing the shashka lightly and catching it neatly by the grip, he cuts once, twice.  

Two arms fall to the ground with wet, sickening plops.

Before Nicolai can so much as blink, Bucky swings his right fist, still holding the knife, into Nicolai’s temple.

For a long moment after his unconscious body hits the floor, it’s as if someone sucked the air out of the room;  it’s eerily quiet until someone - most likely one of Yakov’s men - screeches a battle cry.

It’s over in a matter of minutes – Bucky and his team fight with renewed vigor and viciousness and relentlessly cut the remaining Hounds down one by one.  There’s no need for mercy.  They watch as Bucky disembowels the last man before turning and stalking back toward Nicolai.  

Nicolai has regained consciousness and tries to sit – he really should have stayed down.  The Soldier doesn’t slow his stride as he grabs Nicolai by the hair, drags him over to the table, and forces him to sit in the chair they always reserved for her.

The same spot where they had continually subjected her to their favorite kinds of torture.  The chair she was sitting in when Nicolai threatened her, when Anatoliy touched her.

Where she sat as they laughed at her every flinch and cheered at her reaction to being served a severed head.

Nicolai opens his mouth to speak, but before any sound can come out his jaw is broken by a sharp punch to his face.

Wide, hate-filled green eyes stare at Bucky.  “I told you not to do this.  I told you that using her to get to me would be your biggest mistake.  I told you.”  He roughly pries open Nicolai’s jaw.  “I also told you not to call her milaya moya, didn’t I?”  Bucky doesn’t bother waiting for the answer that will never come, he just calmly proceeds to cut out Nicolai’s tongue and throws it into the fireplace.  

“You hurt her.  Made me hurt her,” the Soldier whispers, unmindful of the pathetic, gurgling whimpers coming from Nicolai.  “You took her from her children.  You took her away from me.  She’s my everything – she’s my world.  She’s my fucking heart. You took my heart away from me, you bastard.”

A cold smile crosses Bucky’s face as his left hand comes up to rest against Nicolai’s chest; he can feel the man’s heart weakly hammering out a fearful beat as Nicolai shakes his head in either a plea or denial.  Bucky doesn’t really care which; it doesn’t matter.  They wanted the Winter Soldier.  They got him.

“So I’m gonna take yours.”

Metal fingers push slowly and deliberately through skin, muscle, and bone.  Nicolai’s desperate screams echo throughout the dining hall, just like hers did.  Naked fear shows on his face, just like it did on hers.  Tears of pain run down his cheeks, just like they did hers.  

The Soldier’s searching fingers reach the heart and he screams his rage as he squeezes, twists, and pulls.

Bucky carelessly tosses the mangled organ into the fireplace alongside the tongue as he stares down at the slain monster, watching as it slowly slides to the left before falling off the chair to the floor.

The hall is completely silent with the exception of Bucky’s heavy breathing, and it stays that way until footsteps start making their way to him.

“Well, that was certainly something.”  Stark stands next to Bucky as he surveys the damage before raising his hand to shoot a small blast into the fireplace.  “I, uh, I’ll be leaving that part out when I give Capsicle the rundown of what happened.”

Bucky doesn’t say anything. He just stares into the fire now burning brightly in the fireplace.  

“Hey, so I found Dr. McCreepy.  I don’t know if you had any plans for him, but I kinda did a thing.”

Bucky exhales a shaky breath before replying, “Yeah?  What’s that?” His voice is surprisingly even.

“He was hiding in his lab like the ugly little troll he is.  So I kinda sorta accidentally strapped him to a table and forced him to take some of his poison.”  Stark turns to Bucky before putting a hand on his shoulder. “They’re never gonna hurt our girl, or anyone else, ever again.”

Bucky nods as he swallows hard.  He’s a little scared at how easy that was to do, at how he took pleasure in taking lives tonight.

He still isn’t sorry.

He’d figured out early on during this ordeal that protecting her brings out the worst in him, and just like when he realized that, he’s still okay with it as long as it brings her home safely.

Whatever it takes…

“She’s waiting for you, Barnes,” Barton murmurs gently, having approached on silent feet.  “Let’s go.”

Bucky nods weakly and walks out of the hall and out of the manor without a backwards glance.  As he steps into the frigid Siberian night, the release of the pressure from the past few weeks hits him hard.  He barely makes it to the bushes next to the walkway before he vomits, and he has to kneel and brace his metal hand in the snow to support himself as he heaves and purges the horror and fear that have been his constant companions.

It’s just as well – the snow helps remove most of Nicolai’s blood.

No one judges him, no one makes any quips or jokes.  There’s a warm hand on his shoulder – Yakov’s – offering silent support as he gathers himself.

“Thank you,” Yakov murmurs, “for bringing justice to our town.  I know that what they did cost you greatly.”

Bucky can’t bring himself to reply as he stands, turning to see Yakov’s men watching him with nothing but respect in their eyes.  A chorus of ‘thank yous’ and respectful nods come from the men as they depart; despite the sober air, there are several smiles.

“That’s our ride,” Barton nods to what looks to be an armored pickup truck.  “Here,” Bucky looks over to see Barton offering him a piece of gum, “it’ll help rinse out your mouth.”

“Thanks,” Bucky mumbles, taking it gratefully.  He climbs in to the passenger side of the truck, Stark hops in the back with his legs dangling over the tailgate, and Clint gets behind the wheel.

“Let’s get you back to your girl.”

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[glitch-h]

Infinity War Spoilers Ahead

Aight so I saw this godforsaken movie yesterday and I’m still crying about it

But my brain gifted me with a Very self indulgent dream last night and I just akdjflsmfkfkdkdk

It basically started after my boy peter fckn died and I was there and I just start screaming. And Tony’s like “first of all who the hell are you second of all are you ok” and I’m like “IM NOT FUCKING OKAY HE KILLED MY BOY”

Then I explain to tony that I’m a witch but I’m better than doctor strange blah blah blah and that I’ve got a way to defeat thanos. And he’s like “I’m listening” so I opened a rift between universes and THE ENTIRETY OF CLASS 1-A FROM BNHA SHOWS UP (plus eraserhead presentmic and allmight akdjfkfmsj) (Mineta wasn’t there cuz if he did show up I’d immediately launch him into the sun)

And then I explain in depth to tony about who these people are, what their quirks are, and all that good shit. And I’m like “ya and the infinity stones control this universe right? Well they’re from a completely different universe so if I’m right, the stones shouldn’t affect these people which gives us a major advantage”

Oh and I guess I accidentally summoned Lotor too cuz he showed up akdifldnf and ya we Immediately started flirting hardcore. I called eraserhead hot at one point which pissed Lotor off and he got kinda possessive. I loved it coming from him akskfkgmf which is funny cuz I broke up with someone for the same thing. But purple aliens man, I’m into that. Anyway. Bakugou kept yelling at us to knock it off. I told you, this dream was like the most self indulgent thing I could ever come up with. It’s like my brain was trying to help me deal with the trauma that goddamn movie induced.

SO ANYWAY, me being me, I performed a protection spell so no one else would fucking die, as well as a spell that would hopefully ensure victory. And then everyone starts heading off to wherever thanos was and I made Lotor give me a piggy back ride the whole way which is honestly the most me thing to happen in that dream. And then there’s this major battle and thanos is getting his ASS BEAT by my children and like it’s amazing. It’s fucking amazing. Someone manages to get the gauntlet and throws it to me and I use it to make everything right and bring back all the dead people, starting with Peter. And then Thanos straight up dies via the bnha people murdering his ass and it’s amazing

And that was super self indulgent crossover dream where thanos got his ass handed to him via my children.

[jadedglory]

So much talk about Fast 8 on my feed. Damn guys. 

I’m upset about the rumors of spoilers, too. If all is true, well.... Guess I’ll be calling it Fate of the telenovelas from now on because it’s just pretty much that. And not in the good way either. I’m all for drama, but not at the expense of Letty and Elena, where the Fast franchise once again misses opportunities and misuses their female characters. 

Supposedly there’s talk of two versions going around the test screenings, but so far only one person has been able to prove they actually went to it by showing off one their tickets. Unfortunately, it’s not the version everyone is hoping for and would make more sense to have. 

HEAVY SPOILERS FOR FAST 8 AHEAD...

TL;DR Version if you don’t want to read my ramble: I feel bad for F. Gary Gray if these spoilers are true, he’s a great director, but he’s gonna get flak for this story being even more absurd than the rest.

You’ve been warned... 

As it looks, Dom is the father of Elena’s baby. No, he did NOT cheat on her, she got pregnant just as Dom left to go to London to get Letty. Cipher uses her as leverage to get Dom to do her bidding. Unfortunately, Elena dies when Dom tries to rescue her, leaving the baby to Dom and Letty at the end of the movie, and Letty supposedly just okay with it. In fact, according to two people that saw it, she’s completely okay with it? (what the fuck?) Not saying she’d leave Dom, but no even a conversation about what went down? Really?

Ultimately, this is just plain stupid. I don’t understand why they did it. I understand it’s possible, but why? It just doesn’t make sense. 

As one of like... 4 people that created the petition to get Michelle back into the franchise, who Vin often likes to thank for getting her back in, it’s more than a bit of a slap in the face. I get it’s a movie, I know we’re not getting super in-depth stories and all that but I’m left scratching my head, putting aside from the fact I’m a major Dotty shipper and Vin’s been praising their love story time and time again. 

It’s not just problematic, it’s unnecessary.

They could have done the same story just have Elena dying trying to save her son when Dom tries to help and there. Dom would have done the exact same thing, without the Telenovela undertones. What’s next? Dom’s mom comes back next movie to suddenly be in his life? Or his dad?

I also don’t get when did Elena have a baby? How the hell did Dom not know? I’m sure Hobbs would considering he was her partner and they’d undoubtable spend 99% of their time together. He’s not dumb, I’m pretty sure he’d see her get immediately pregnant after her encounter. And he wouldn’t keep that shit from Dom after everything that happened with Letty. How could she even keep this from Dom? She’s in LA for godsakes.

Not to mention, like I honestly can’t see Letty able to swallow this. Not in the sense it’d turn her into a bitch, but... there she went to go do something to bring Dom home after all the shit HE caused. She nearly dies. He moves on until he finds out she is in fact alive and goes after her, unknowingly leaving Elena apparently pregnant. That kid, without Elena there is gonna be a constant reminder of what happened and what she caused. As well as an ‘oh if i hadn’t interrupted his life, he’d have a happy family now’. And some other shit.

But you know we’re not gonna get that because it’s okay. Dom’s a good guy, he didn’t know he knocked her up. *rolls eyes* 

Sure there are rumors of another version that is just as problematic, one where Dom works with Cipher thinking at first it’s his baby with Letty, but I can’t find proof other than some person giving a very sloppy synopsis over on Gamefaqs. Which I’m sorry for anyone that believes what was said there, but I’m 99.9999% sure it’s all bullshit. The characterization of the characters presented is even more out of character then the one given by the guy that proved he went to see it. Not to mention, none of it matches with the behind the scenes stuff that was shot.

I would love it if Dom wasn’t the father, but unless people are trolling and giving inaccurate stuff, or maybe even interpreting stuff wrong, I’m gonna say that Dotty shippers are gonna be raging when this movie comes out. Especially over Dom naming non-freshly born baby Brian. Like seriously, how does a baby not have a name for at least a couple months, to a year? 

Gah, this is stupid. I honestly regret the petition now, unless they do something to fix this before the movie comes out. The girls deserved better than this crap for storylines.