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beewolfwrites · 3 years

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The Oar in the Sand - Chapter Seven: The Second Day of Nostos

@cheshiya @tenseoyong @szallejhscorner @something-more-original-please @ofsunsetsandpoetries @nek0dzuken @allozaur @serenzippity @hiqhkey

Another update! This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but life just kept getting in the way. But thank heavens it’s here now :)

I’ll stick the AO3 link here for the ones that want it. Thanks for reading <3

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There were two things I had come to enjoy here in the Borderlands. The first was the freedom I had now that the old world and all of its problems were gone. The second was waking up beside Chishiya.

Usually I was the first to fall asleep and he was the first to wake up, so it was rare that he was still around when I opened my eyes. This morning was different. His face was angled away from me, and his hair was splayed across the pillow, almost obscuring his face from view. Almost, but not quite. Curling up at his side, I observed the way his sly smile had become slack, disappearing entirely as it made way for something far different.

He probably hadn’t intended on sleeping in like this, but the exhaustion of the previous day was overwhelming. I remained there for a long time, peeking out at him from beneath the sheets until his breathing lightened and he started to stir. One eye cracked open, squinted, then slid over to mine.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Just enjoying the fact that you’re not dead.’

He raised a brow. ‘Between the two of us, you’re more likely to get shot than I am.’

What should’ve been a snarky comment came across flat and uninterested. Now that he was awake, the shadows beneath his eyes were more pronounced, and I could see the dark roots of his hair had grown longer. It was strange to see him looking this weary, but even Chishiya was only human. He was no more immune to bullets than I was.

‘What are you thinking about now?’

I could tell by his tone that he was trying to taunt me. But my thoughts were detached. I couldn’t stop thinking about the game. ‘Yesterday, it wasn’t just me who cleared it. An was there too, with two girls from the Beach. They said that the King of Spades attacked their camp right after the second stage started.’

He quietly considered it for a moment. ‘And we were close enough to hear the gunshots. He probably started with the camp before heading over to us.’

Heading over to us?

‘You don’t mean…’

‘He knows the location of all the players,’ Chishiya said.

That’s not…

No, it was fair. Once a player knew about his game, it was easy to avoid him just by mapping out the location of his blimp and remaining as far from it as possible. Him knowing the players’ locations only evened out the playing field.

‘An told me something else too. Apparently he moves all across Tokyo. Aside from the other game venues, the whole city is his arena.’

I thought this would’ve piqued Chishiya’s interest more, but as expected he was already a step ahead. ‘I realised the same thing when he chased you. It makes sense they would plan things this way. They’re trying to drive players into the game venues.’ He sat up a little, resting against the headboard and lacing his fingers together. ‘While you were in your game, another one was cleared. The King of Clubs.’

The hardest of the Clubs games. It made sense that those ones would be completed pretty quickly, given the chance of survival was the highest. ‘That was pretty quick.’

‘I suppose it was,’ Chishiya retorted. ‘But I have a feeling I know who cleared it.’

‘Hm?’

‘Arisu.’

Arisu? The last time I had seen him was when he was with… ‘Kuina was probably there too. An said when their camp split up, she got into a car with Arisu and Tatta. They must’ve gone to the game venue together.’

And if they cleared it, that meant they were still alive. They had to be. Knowing Arisu, he would’ve taken Usagi with him too. I almost felt like I could rest easy if the four of them were safe. Although they must’ve met the King of Clubs while they were there.

‘The Queen of Diamonds died.’ I hated how thick my voice sounded. ‘But I wish she didn’t. Is that okay?’ I looked up, meeting Chishiya’s stony gaze. ‘I mean, is it okay for me to like her?’

‘I don’t see why it matters whether you do or don’t,’ he replied. ‘The outcome is the same.’

I could still see her smile right before the wood gave way, a sort of peace mixed with relief. ‘I thought she was going to be evil or scary, kind of like Mira.’ The way she’d picked out the footage of mine and Arisu’s first games, the provocation was like a test. The Queen of Diamonds though, had been totally different. ‘She wasn’t like Mira at all. Right from the start, she wanted us to win.’

Chishiya was watching the dust motes glide in the sunlight, idly listening. ‘Did you find out anything?’

‘I’ve dedicated my whole life to the pursuit of knowledge, but I’ve learned to be satisfied with not knowing.’

‘She was a player,’ I told him. ‘She didn’t know about the Borderlands either.’

He mulled it over quietly. ‘I thought so.’

Chishiya knew they were players?

I sat up in bed. ‘There’s no way you could’ve known that.’

‘It was just an idea,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been here longer than you. I’ve thought a lot about the possibilities.’ He paused for a minute, then smiled ironically. ‘It’s very possible we could all be dead.’

It was a horrible idea, the thought that all our efforts to survive were in vain. Or perhaps, it was one big test of character to determine our place in an afterlife. And if we died in a game, would it be a second death, or would it allow us to proceed to a further level of some kind? Was it a true death at all?

‘I’d like to think we’re still alive,’ I admitted. ‘You probably don’t care, but I’d like to go back to the real world with you.’

‘Oh? And what makes you think there’s a way back at all?’

Hatter’s theory had been only half correct. But while the Queen had avoided telling us everything, she’d revealed even more than she perhaps intended. ‘The Queen of Diamonds said she went through the same thing we did, found all the cards, and then completed the face card games like we’re doing now. But then she called the others citizens. If we’re currently here on a visa-basis, maybe clearing all the games gives us the chance of a permanent citizenship—’

‘If that’s so, it’d only prove my point.’

‘No.’ I shook my head, thinking back to the game. ‘She also mentioned that she chose to stay here. If there’s a choice to stay, it means there’s a choice to leave.

I could see Chishiya’s mind working, taking it all in. It was as if he absorbed all the knowledge he encountered, storing it up and processing it for use later. He didn’t respond to my theory, but simply accepted it, and relaxed against the headboard, staring at the ceiling. As he tilted his head back, the dressing over his neck was exposed, and I suddenly became aware that we were still wearing our old, bloodied clothes.

I really, really need a wash. And new clothes. And new bed sheets.

Climbing out of the bed, I left Chishiya and made my way to the bathroom to clean up a little. However, when I passed the mirror above the sink and saw the face staring back at me, my mouth fell open.

This can’t be me.

My skin looked thinner and sallow, and without the Beach’s constant food supply, I’d lost weight, only not in a good way. The girl in the mirror was haggard and I barely even recognised her. While Chishiya had cleaned the dried blood from my forehead the night before, there were still flakes in my hairline and my face was dirtied.

I reached for the bottle of water beside the sink, except the plastic crinkled, empty. Throwing it away, I then checked the bathroom cupboards for our extra supply, but they too were empty.

You’re kidding me…

A quick search of the store revealed that we’d run out of water entirely. If our little hideout were closer to the river, it wouldn’t be a problem. However the river was too far away to collect water on a daily basis, and with the King of Spades out there, it wasn’t worth the risk. There had to be some way of storing water for the long-run.

Standing in the small kitchen, I could hear the muffled creaks of Chishiya moving about upstairs. And then the idea hit me. Walking out into the hallway, I called up the stairs, ‘I’m just going out to get something! I won’t be too long!’

There was no reply, but I knew he’d heard me as the noises quietened. He then appeared at the top of the stairs, leaning against the banister with an unimpressed smirk.

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea? The last time you ran off on your own, you stole the Queen of Diamonds game.’

His words stung, even if they’d been said teasingly. I hadn’t intended to steal the Queen of Diamonds Game. I only ran inside the building because there were others sheltering in there. I desperately wanted to tell him this, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. Chishiya may not have directly blamed me for what happened, but there was clearly some resentment that he hadn’t been able to complete the game himself. In his eyes, it didn’t matter.

And that hurt. It really, really hurt.

‘I’ll stay away from the King of Spades,’ I called out before leaving the furniture store.

It was warm out here in Tokyo, but not a pleasant warm. The air was dull and sticky, as if the city was thirsty for rain.

There must be a storm coming.

I took my time wandering through the silent streets and deeper into the city centre. Even here, the only sound was that of the birds building homes in vacant office blocks, and aside from a deer grazing on the grass in an empty lot, there was nobody around.

Luckily, I had explored this side of Tokyo enough that I’d formed my own mental map of the area, and I easily found the camping store where Kuina had picked up our current stove. Inside, the place was scavenged, and I had to step over several boxes until I found the section I was looking for. There were several water containers, but none of them were quite what I had in mind.

I ambled further down the streets until the road opened up into a car park. It was lined by several walkways leading into large, white interconnected buildings. Two tall clocks stood above a disused bus station and taxi rank. And as I walked further down the road, there were ambulances lined up outside.

I followed a series of steps led up to the main entrance, but once I was inside, the sunlight cut off. While an abandoned Tokyo was eerie, a dark, dusty hospital was a thing of nightmares. Just inside the entrance was an international poster stuck to the wall, with the same phrase written in different word-art fonts and various languages.

‘Welcome to Nihon University Itabashi Hospital!’

I walked further inside, passing a reception desk and a waiting area. It was evident that other players had been inside here, as there was litter on the ground, and some of the store rooms lay open, their contents emptied out.

Strolling along the corridors, I explored the theatre facilities. There were drawers upon drawers of syringes and sterile metal trays of surgical tools, and aside from a thin layer of dust, the hospital beds were all intact. If it weren’t for the King of Spades and the danger of other players, the hospital would make a decent camp for a group of survivors. But on second thought, I wasn’t prepared to give up the warmth and comfort of waking up next to Chishiya. Retreating back out of the wards, it was in a main corridor where I finally found what I was searching for.

A water dispenser.

Unlike the others, this didn’t open from a cap in the top, but rather the container had a tap at the bottom. It was perfect for Chishiya and I. Rather than having bottles of water lying around, we could simply fill it up and keep it as a main water source. It was balanced on top of a platform, unattached. But the container was filled with water already, and barely budged when I tried to lift it. Wrapping my arms around the body, I lugged it forward, right as a loud clap resounded through the hall.

The echo of a drawer slamming.

Someone’s here?!

Holding my breath, my arms slid away from the water container. I could hear it clearer now, the rustles of someone rooting through drawers of supplies. It was coming from the ward opposite me. Every instinct told me to leave quietly the way I came. My thudding heart screamed at me to get out now.

I should’ve listened.

Inching forward on tiptoe, I peered around the doorway into what looked like a recovery ward. On the right, the door to a stock room had been kicked open, the rustling growing louder as I approached. A tall man with dark fabric wrapped around his head was hunched over a desk. He muttered something, and my heart stilled.

‘What the hell’s this shit? Ah, forget it.’

No.

He was dead… wasn’t he?

‘Where the fuck do they keep the morphine anyway?’

He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive.

My eyes gaped, unblinking, at the stock room door. I didn’t want to look but I couldn’t bring myself to look away either. The memory of his eyes burned through my mind. The sheer, unrestrained rage, and the desire to kill, I’d seen it all through the tatters of his singed shirt as he looked up at me from down below in the hotel lobby and pulled the trigger. I needed to leave. I needed to leave now.

I took a step back.

Clink.

The tiny, hollow clatter of a syringe rolling across the vinyl had never felt louder. It rolled across the width of the hall, before tapping against a doorframe. The rustling inside the store room suddenly stopped, and at that moment, we both knew.

#alice in borderland #chishiya alice in Borderland #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #Chishiya x reader #chishiya x oc #aib #Imawa no Kuni no Arisu

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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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Okay, so I’ve talked before about the many problems I have with James Ironwood’s semblance ‘Mettle’ here, but I wanted to make a post about what changes I personally would make to James’s semblance and how I would put it into practice in the show.

This is pro James Ironwood content. Ironwood haters, don’t @ me, don’t interact.

1. Change the phraseology and the way the semblance is presented. I would present it as a literal form of mind control, where his semblance makes him do whatever it takes to accomplish a set goal. Phrasing it as increasing his stubbornness and focus to the point where other things fall by the wayside makes it seem like his semblance just makes character traits much stronger, villainizes those traits, and is insensitive to people that hyper-fixate and can’t help that. Phrasing his semblance instead as centered around making him do whatever it takes to accomplish a goal, even if that changes who he is, is better in my opinion.

2. Change his semblance from passive to active This is good for a couple of reasons. People can’t control their passive semblances, which A. leaves James looking almost completely sympathetic (since, you know, he can’t fully control his actions) and it also leaves the casual viewer wondering what’s James and what’s his semblance. Did he bring his ships to Vale of his own volition or was it his semblance? Did he close the borders to Atlas himself or is it his semblance? Did he shoot Oscar himself, or was it his semblance? Etc. Etc. Making his semblance something that he himself chooses to use despite recognizing that it’s dangerous both gives James some level of culpability and it makes it much clearer to the audience what’s James’ personality and what is done under the influence of his semblance. I would make it so that James can turn on his semblance, but rarely ever does, because when he turns it on, he can’t make himself turn it off, and he can’t control himself or his responses in that state. I would make it so the only ways for James’s semblance to turn off again is if his goal is completed, his aura breaks, or he dies.

3. Make his semblance use clear through visual cues Honestly, this one isn’t as needed as the other two, but it just makes it much easier to understand and A. gives the audience another way to be clued in to when James is or isn’t under the affects of his semblance, and B. gives the characters a way to be clued in to when James is or isn’t under the affects of his semblance. In the first Avengers, when someone got possessed, their eyes would turn black and then turn a certain color of blue. A similar thing could happen with James, his eyes lightening, even if it was really subtle.

Also a change in body language would make for a subtle, but nice shift. James tends to put his arms behind his back, he tends to look people in the eye when he’s talking to them, he sighs, he acts tired out, he acts a little awkward, he gives little physical signs of affection like a shoulder to the hand, or a hug, or smiling softly. Having him do none of these things - keeping his arms at his sides, not looking at people when he talks to them or they talk to him, acting perfectly alert, not ever showing his more affectionate, warm, or awkward sides - all would make it clear that there’s something off. James isn’t acting like himself. To be totally fair to the show, there’s for sure some of that ‘James isn’t acting like himself’ stuff in the show, buuuut to be totally honest about the show, it’s clear we’re meant to see James as just an evil villain and his semblance isn’t even mentioned in the show, so... Yeah.

So in my ideal version, James’s semblance is an active semblance he can’t turn off, that forces him to accomplish a set goal no matter what and will even change his morality and base personality in order to achieve it, and it has visual cues like a change in body language and eye color shifting. Another thing to note is that James’s semblance is a secret, even to many of his confidants. The people that James has told about his semblance are Qrow and Ozpin.

Now to apply it to the show.

Adding an extra scene into the early episodes of V7.

Qrow enters James’s office and the two start talking about James’ plans. Qrow notes that it all still seems like ‘a bit much’ and James dismisses this concern, talking about how drastic times call for drastic measures, and they have to do whatever they can to stop Salem. Qrow has a moment’s pause and a guilty look (since he’s keeping the secret of Salem being immortal,) but then narrows his eyes and asks James “Is that you or your semblance talking?” James sighs, he says “You know I don’t use my semblance.” Qrow looks unconvinced, and James turns to face him a little more fully. They lock eyes and Qrow seems satisfied, nodding a little and turning away again. James asks Qrow to trust him, and Qrow agrees, with the qualification that James has to let him - and the others - help him instead of taking it all on himself, which James also agrees to, if not a little reluctantly.

Later in the episode ‘Gravity’ when Ironwood makes the choice to leave Mantle, he does so clearly under his own power. As Team RWBY start opposing him and after realizing they’ve gone behind his back, we see James hesitate. He takes a deep breath with his back to the girls and the Ace Ops and then triggers his semblance, his aura lighting up for a minor moment and his eyes shifting color to a lighter blue. The Ace Ops and Team RWBY all have a split second moment of confusion - seeing his aura flash - but then James turns and that’s when he declares he’s going to enact martial law. The scene continues on as is, with Ruby contacting the others and the Ace Ops going to arrest Team RWBY, etc.

Meanwhile, Qrow, Robyn, and Clover are all left confused and uncertain, and then receive the order for everyone’s arrest, including Qrow. Cue more confusion, and Qrow says there must be some sort of mistake. Robyn starts up the fight, Clover and Qrow try to de-escalate things, and in this version of things, Qrow doesn’t really join in the fight (Oh, I should note, I’m also erasing the Oz-punch in this version because I can do whatever I want.) When the plane goes down, he’s still trying to defend and make sense of things, but Tyrian’s coming on strong, taking advantage of Clover trying to make sure Qrow can’t get away - since he literally doesn’t know that Qrow isn’t a criminal - and Qrow being unwilling to fight Clover, and Tyrian kills Clover himself. Qrow’s distraught and affected, but doesn’t blame James, and Tyrian gets away.

He and Robyn are both arrested, and meanwhile, James and Oscar’s confrontation happens, and right before Ironwood shoots him, Oscar realizes that his eyes are different, but is then shot. In season eight and in jail with Robyn, Jacques, and Watts, we see Qrow frustrated and upset as the three argue back and forth, and all three of them are blaming Ironwood, when Qrow gets up and again starts trying to say there’s been some kind of mistake. Robyn says he’s putting too much faith in Atlas’s higher ups, and Qrow says that she just doesn’t know James like he does - which is true. When the guards come to take Watts away, Qrow says “That isn’t like him,” And Robyn rolls her eyes, but we see Qrow’s eyes widen in realization and he tells Robyn that James must’ve triggered his semblance.

Meanwhile, Oz (now back and getting the lowdown on everything from Oscar) speculates on whether or not James’s semblance is affecting his choices, but the both of them agree that they’re not 100% sure if they can give James the benefit of that doubt after Lionheart and everyone else that’s ever betrayed Oz (Note this also leaves a place where at least Oscar can say he’s sorry for how the Jinn/backstory thing went down.) Oscar doesn’t ask how James’s semblance works and Oz only really mentions that it alters his behavior. Oscar doesn’t tell the others Oz is back and Oscar doesn’t mention the semblance to the others, since neither of them are sure if it’s really at play.

Next time we see them, Robyn is pressing Qrow for details on James’s semblance and he tells her what it does and how it works. Robyn isn’t sure, but Qrow insists. He does wonder why James even turned it on and takes a moment to be angry that he did when he knows how dangerous it is - and maybe makes some comment about ‘if I could keep mine off, I’d never use it.’ Robyn hesitates, and then says “Well, I trust you, Qrow. If you say it’s his semblance, and that’s what’s really putting Mantle at risk... Then how do we stop it?” The two start making a plan to break out of the jail to get to Ironwood so they can help him.

Meanwhile, everything with Ironwood keeps escalating, the Ace Ops are still following his orders, they try to arrest Penny, delivering the bomb to the whale, find Team JRY, Winter makes her compromise, Cinder breaks in to free Watts, yada yada. When the Ace Ops bring the bomb back to Ironwood and it’s revealed Qrow and Robyn have escaped, James starts talking about how he should’ve used Qrow to get to Penny, could’ve used Penny’s friends against her, and then decides to drop the bomb on Mantle. And Winter clearly figures out something is wrong and starts getting suspicious and freaked. She tries to talk him out of it and tells him “this isn’t you, why are you doing this?” but James will barely look at her and keeps insisting, and finally she ‘agrees,’ but clearly seems perturbed and very unhappy with it.

Meanwhile, seeing the bomb threat puts Oz over the edge of thinking this is James affected by his semblance. Both he and Oscar still aren’t totally sure, but bring it up to Ruby and the others, and there’s a moment of “What the heck, another secret” before Oscar defends Oz “We didn’t know for sure, there was so much going on, I’m the one who didn’t think to mention it, it wasn’t our secret to tell,” and Jaune or something quickly says they don’t have time to argue anyway, and everyone moves on. No one is sure that it’s just James’s semblance, but Ruby declares that they have to try and break his aura and trust that there’s a fix - keeping the themes consistent, what with Emerald easily accepted right there. However, there’s still Salem reforming and the virus infecting Penny to think of, so they start making their whole plan as it is in the real show.

When Winter helps Marrow escape, she tells him that there’s something very wrong with James (even noticing about his eyes,) and he - like Robyn - thinks she’s just putting too much faith in him, and Winter sadly says that maybe he’s right, but that she just would never have believed he’d do something like that, insisting that his other choices made sense, that every war takes sacrifice, but this was just too far, cruel, evil, even. Marrow gets more serious and agrees. Qrow and Robyn, having escaped, start realizing everything that’s happening, they start to become even more frantic to find James and break his aura, which kicks into overdrive when they hear the message saying they only have an hour to go before James drops a bomb on Mantle. Qrow says “James is never going to forgive himself if that happens,” and Robyn declares “I’ll never forgive him if that happens.” Qrow gets angry and Robyn gets angry in response, reminding Qrow - and the audience - that James is the one who chose to turn his semblance on.

When the two run into Winter and Marrow, Winter starts telling them that James is planning to bomb Mantle, and Qrow gives her a quick low-down of James’s semblance. Winter then gets a quick “I knew it,” moment. Winter convinces Qrow she’ll break James’s aura or die trying and for him and Robyn to focus on getting the other Ace Ops out of commission since James will let her get close enough to land a strong enough hit. Qrow is really reluctant to leave it in her hands, but she assures him “I’m not going to let the General destroy himself,” and Qrow - despite his clear early problems with Winter, says “I know you won’t.” The fight goes down pretty much the same, with the kids still all going hard and Winter getting in the final hit that puts James out of commission. Nora, Jaune, and Oscar are all like “Did that do it, is he back to how he should be?” And Winter says she’ll bring him to a medical room. Nora and Jaune exchange an unsure look, Nora ventures “Just a medical room?” And Winter sighs, looks a little unsure herself, but then nods. Ozpin then speaks up, saying “She’s right. I... I trust him. I have to trust him.” Jaune, Nora, and Ren then agree, nodding, and then things start continuing like normal, only Winter is keeping Ironwood in a medical room instead of a jail cell.

When James wakes back up, he’s himself again. He has to deal with the fact that because of his choice to turn his semblance on, he almost caused destruction and death to innocent people at his own hand and when there was absolutely no real reason to. He has to grapple with the hurt he caused as well as knowing he literally had no control and couldn’t even feel horror or guilt over what he was doing in the moment. He could go on to Vacuo, but he knows the general population of Atlas and Mantle won’t just accept that it was his semblance at work. He’s going to be hated, maybe even arrested as a villain, his position and his ability to lead that he’s strived for in an effort to help whoever he can is gone, many of the people who were his allies will never look at him the same way again, he hurt Penny so much, and he can’t just get rid of that because he never meant to and hadn’t been able to control it - and it was still because he made the choice to turn on his semblance in the first place. But. No, in this version, he doesn’t die, and Qrow would talk to him and connect with him again somewhere down the line, and when James started berating himself, Qrow would softly and sympathetically say

“You idiot. I know you didn’t do this.”

This is by no means perfect. This is by no means without flaw. And I know my Ironqrow shipping impacted it, but you know what? I don’t care. I wrote this for me. This is the headcanoned version that’s going to live in my head rent free, canon or otherwise.

#rwby criticism #anti rwby #james ironwood #pro james ironwood #ironwood defense #pro ironwood #james ironwood defense #Again any Ironwood haters don't interact

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melonsmessymusings · 3 years

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Just seen a post about S6&S3 parallels and @rachaeljurassic made some super interesting points in the tags about Giles’ departure and how INFURIATING it is that I really want to expand upon, so I guess this one’s for you :) I get it, the mentor figure needs to be gotten out of the way in order to progress Buffy’s own arc, that’s fine. It narratively makes complete sense, but it was handled badly.

@rachaeljurassic suggested that maybe we could’ve gotten him out of the way with a coma. I vibe with that. Let’s have the head injuries catch up to him and have him totally incapacitated. Big battle, dire injuries, that works. We could still have Buffy spiralling after, but this time she’d be blaming herself because Giles got hurt as a result of her being the Slayer (even though he’d never blame her for it and it isn’t her fault except for like twice). That also works better because it would be more in character than having Giles go “I know you can’t even breathe right now but I’m gonna flake because you need to be a grown up. Even though when I was your age I was raising demons, doing dr*gs and having orgies so like lmao.” Plus, have a couple of gratuitous scenes of a very injured Giles being visited by someone to pepper throughout the season that were pre-recorded so we don’t get confused as to why they wouldn’t be sat there with him at least every now and then to make us cry. Imagine a scene with Buffy in a hospital room watching a ventilator force air into her Watcher to keep him alive and pouring her heart out because she’s terrified with no idea what to do and he always knew and she needs him and just cries. You could even have it where he’s like slowly deteriorating or something and Dark!Willow uses her magic to cure him so that would explain how he just got better and was like... fine.

I also love the idea of him having a total breakdown after Buffy’s death. I absolutely thrive off him becoming a completely numb droid (he probably was and only bothered to put on façade for the Scoobies but that’s for another day) and the Scoobies decided it’d be better for him to try and find a new purpose in life by sending him to England. We could’ve had like the first episode of them helping him settle with the Coven or something and it’d have been AWFUL to watch, but it would make sense and then when Buffy gets resurrected, they just don’t tell him and they tell Buffy that the grief killed him or something like that? idk... or having them explain that Giles isn’t Giles anymore and he’s doing better (because Tara gets updates from the Coven) but being in Sunnydale was killing him and they never told him that Buffy was resurrected. That wedges the group dynamic enough tbh and would cause Buffy to turn to Spike because he’d have had no clue about anything except that Giles had gone off the bloody rails big time and it was good he was away from this hellhole.

Family emergency? Let’s be honest, the Giles family are probably scum so I’d buy that way less but it’s still more convincing than what actually happened.

Another suggestion was having the Council snatch him. I also adore this. That would make sense. But let’s have them make it look like they killed him because I love that. So they send in a team, take him away but make it look like he’s been completely murdered.

My idea is that they put a glamour or something on a vampire to make it look like Giles (but the audience don’t know this yet) and so Buffy drops by and finds a body that is in every way identical to Giles in a destroyed apartment and just breaks and is like clutching at him or something and there’s blood and its horrendous. Then you could either have swoopy Council guys come in and take Giles away when he ‘wakes up’ as a vampire because “there’s a procedure to this Miss Summers” or have her stake him herself then and there because after Angelus she’s taking no chances. Could you imagine the emotional payoff of that? She then has to go and tell the others, who don’t believe her but they all see the apartment, bloodstains and pile of dust and they all have to cope with the grief of losing him throughout the season in addition to everything else.

But wait! There’s more. Travers ends the episode with a folder in front of him, a report from the team that carried out the operation and smiles saying something evil like “I warned her of dealing with grown ups” so the audience all thinks that Giles got offed by the Council.

BUT REALLY Giles was taken and held in a like prison facility thing, very much alive. Then we get like a showdown of Giles chained to a chair in this cell being forced to watch the video footage of the whole operation and Travers telling him that it’s over and his oh so precious Slayer will end up killing herself with guilt/grief and the Council can have a new start because they’re going to off Faith too. And the last shot is Giles crying in a dank hole.

As far as the audience goes: imagine having Giles showing up at the end of S6 if THAT had been the departure? It’s already an “AAAAAHHHHHH HOLY SHIT!” moment but it’d be magnified tenfold. Then Buffy being completely confused because “I killed you!” then having that moment when she ends up hugging him and he’s warm and breathing and not dead. And Dark!Willow being really confused but trying to kill him anyway because if he was alive all this time why didn’t he come back? That’s when we get the scene with Giles watching what happened on the monitor. Everyone is confused and Giles explains that the Council kept him in one of their facilities and now Buffy feels sick because she’s like “they tortured you... for months!” and Giles is like “Well yeah but it’s fine because I’m here now and I’m so sorry for abandoning you all.” Still can have Evil Willow being evil and Xander saving the day. I don’t care that much but we could’ve had this worked in.

Because the Council would’ve tortured him for fun. Not necessarily physically but they would’ve paraded him around as the example of what happens if you don’t toe the line. They could’ve completely humiliated him and it caused like cracks in the Council because some of them hate that Travers is abusing his power like this on one of their own and others finding it good that such a strong message is being sent. At which point, Travers would give the order for the Special Ops team to start the beatings. Of course, Giles is used to having the seven bells kicked out of him, but to be used as a training dummy by other human beings? They’d practice on him and that’s as far as I think the physical side of it would go, the rest would be mental/emotional torture. Or having hexes/curses tested on him and all the while, Giles genuinely wants them to kill him because everyone he cares about already thinks he’s dead so it makes no difference if it’s the reality. All the while, he’s being kept vaguely up to date with the events of Sunnydale so that he can hear how his Slayer is edging closer into just giving up and it breaks his heart. So Giles spent a year either being locked in a cell translating texts or being used as a punchbag to teach the S.O. team how to interrogate people. That’s how I see it going anyway. We could’ve seen like flashbacks of parts of it in S7 or something idk.

That would explain why he’s so distant in S7. Because he was kept prisoner for almost a year by the people who practically raised him (because the Council kind of did) and how that would mess anyone up and the First tormenting him about how he should’ve gone through with any attempts to end it instead of being a coward because Buffy doesn’t need him and she already thought he was dead.

I dunno if this is actually what you were going for but it’s where my mind went and it would’ve given Tony Head something really juicy to do by playing a slightly crazed version of Giles who freaks out if there’s more than five people in the room because a year of living on your own in the dark drove him mad. He would’ve completely nailed it. Way better than sitting there going, “I’m headed back to England, and I plan to stay indefinitely”. Ugh we were robbed.

#btvs #rupert giles #s6 has a few unforgivable moments and this is one of them #rachaeljurrassic this is for you #sorry im such a crackhead #meta #alternative s6 giles departures #i have an armada of them tbh

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imaginesandinserts · 4 years

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Irreverent Pt. 13 - Better Man

Title: Irreverent Pt. 13 - Better Man Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader Rating: T (Teen) Words: 2214

Irreverent Series Masterlist

You'd spent the night thinking through the end of the case and the showdown with Dawson. You'd made peace with Hotch shooting Dawson - he had been trying to manipulate you, and you had to admit that without him taking the reins on confronting Dawson, you weren't sure how it would've ended. And that thought scared you. The next morning, when you woke up, you laid in bed and debated calling out sick. Hotch would totally see through it, but considering the circumstances he might just let it slide.

But no, Strauss was meeting with your father today and she had asked you to be there as well. At least you were invited this time. As you got dressed, your entire body felt heavy and unwilling to cooperate. By the time you were ready, you were already running late.

When you entered the office, everyone else was already there. You mumbled good mornings to them and went to grab coffee before settling in. "How're you doing, Y/N?" You looked up to see Spencer peering at you from across your desks, but both Derek and Emily were also obviously.

Before you could reply, you heard Hotch's voice. "Y/N, can you please come up here?" Hotch was calling to you from his office. He had his grey suit on today that he rarely wore and a nice blue tie that you couldn't recall having seen before. I wonder if he has a date. The thought infiltrated your mind as you entered his office and saw that Rossi was there as well.

"Hey, good morning Hotch. Rossi." You nodded to them both before taking a seat in the other chair across from Hotch that Rossi wasn't already occupying. That was more words and much more polite of a greeting than either of them had been expecting from you.

Hotch cleared his throat. "Strauss is on her way up with your father, Y/N," he explained. "Before he gets here, I want you to know that I am sorry that we were unable to get more information from Dawson, but it was an inevitable outcome." His voice was calm and steady. He wanted to make sure you understood and weren't about to create a scene.

"Hotch, I know. I - I know." You let out a large sigh and slumped back into the chair, feeling defeated. "I don't blame you. You don't have to apologize. I just - wish we could've pinned him with something."

"I know." He looked truly upset about the outcome as well.

Right then there was a knock on the door announcing Strauss's arrival. You turned and saw that she didn't wait for Hotch to invite her in, but instead strolled in like she owned the place. Your father was right behind her. Based on how smug he looked, you reckoned she'd already broken the news to him.

Both Hotch and Rossi stood, forcing you to stand as well.

"Agent Hotchner, David, good to see you again. Erin here has just filled me in. Job well done it seems." He had walked in and sat on the couch and Strauss came and sat by him. "Y/N, darling, Papa missed you."

You forced your mouth to turn upwards into what you hoped was a smile but from the expression on Rossi's face you couldn't be sure.

You all sat down, your back completely straight now, and your arms crossed across your chest. Hotch and Rossi started to debrief them on the case and filled them in on the takedown with Dawson - conveniently leaving out the part where they were investigating your father as well. Your father was sat on Hotch's couch with the ease and confidence of a man who could not be touched. It was enough to infuriate anyone. The pompous, manipulative, bastard.

As your father listened to Hotch's report, you could feel his eyes examining you. You kept looking at Hotch to see if he was almost finished yet and to avoid making extended eye contact with your father.

Finally Hotch finished the retelling. You couldn't wait for this to be over, so much so that you were already poised to leap out as soon as you father and Strauss left.

"Well then, I believe congratulations are in order. You have once again rid the world of some evil."

"Thank you, sir."

You thought that would be it and he would leave but he was still sitting. Not looking as though he was about to leave anytime soon. Too relaxed. What now?

"I understand the world just has too many of them." He was speaking deliberately. He was about to make some point for sure. "These…lecherous older men…preying on young girls."

There it was. The way his eyes roamed from you to Hotch as he said lecherous older men made you see red. How dare he imply that Hotch would ever - before you could contain yourself, you'd already spoken. "Don't."

"I'm sorry, what did you say mon cheri?" You father cocked his head to look at you with a pleased glint in his eyes. As though he hadn't just blatantly accused Hotch of looking at you in that disgusting manner.

"I said, don't." You had feared your voice might tremble but you were calm and clear. ou pushed up from your chair and moved towards him as you spoke. "Don't suggest that he looks at me that way. You have no right to say that. Not here. Not in his office. Not ever!"

Strauss looked bewildered at your behavior, but he'd been expecting it. He had been poking to see where he could push and he'd found it.

And then he ignored you.

"Erin, it appears this case has obviously had some toll on my daughter. Perhaps the two of us can discuss the next items in your office."

Before you could say anything else, he'd opened the door and was leading Strauss out.

"Y/N." Hotch was at your side, his hand on your arm turning you to face him.

"Hotch, he had no right to say that! And don't you dare tell me otherwise."

Hotch looked to Rossi, unsure of what to say or how to proceed. The two of them watched you like you were a ticking bomb. Hotch couldn't believe you'd gone off like that in front of Strauss because of something your dad had insinuated about him. Who cared what that man thought? Hell, the way he'd found himself watching you on the jet on occasion, it wasn't even too far off the mark, not that he'd tell you that.

You were fuming. He was never going to leave you alone. Not unless you went nuclear. In a moment your mind was made up and you purposefully strode to the door, yanking it open. Hotch and Rossi were hot on your heels as you briskly left his office. The movement upstairs had caught the team's attention as well in the bullpen and they watched the three of you walk one after the other across the top floor.

You quickly walked towards Strauss's office as Hotch tried to stop you. "Y/N, you don't want to do this."

He was wrong. You'd never wanted to do anything more. You didn't even bother knocking this time, just opening the door to Strauss's office and walking in to see your father seated across from her. "Chief Strauss, may I please have a moment alone with my father."

"Agent L/N," Strauss was furious. "I have tolerated your impertinence before, however this -."

"Erin," Rossi had reached the door right behind Hotch who had respectfully stayed outside. "Why don't the two of us go to my office for a moment and let L/N work out a quick family matter?"

She almost dismissed Rossi, but was convinced when your father nodded at her. The power this man held was absolutely absurd.

Breathing hard, you shut the door behind her as Rossi led Strauss away. Hotch was standing guard outside, showing no sign of leaving.

"Y/N," your father was still seated, looking as calm as ever. "What are you doing?"

"I know. I know about Julian," you spat out. "I know what you did."

His face immediately morphed into something unreadable as he processed what you said. "What exactly do you think I did?" His voice was a cold slither that warped your intestines.

"I know you murdered him," you trembled out, tears free flowing down your face now. "I read his journal. You threatened him. You terrorized him. Why?! Because he didn't follow your carefully laid out plan? Because he dared to go against you? How could you do that?! He's your son!"

He looked thunderstruck but did not refute your accusation. You were breathing really hard now and there was no way Hotch hadn't heard that. Hell, with Spencer's lipreading ability and the blinds of Strauss's office being wide open, you wouldn't be surprised if they all knew exactly what you'd said.

You turned away to wipe your face and saw Hotch's form standing outside still. He had positioned himself sideways and was looking straight ahead so as to offer you the illusion of privacy.

"What do you want?" His awful voice was too close now as he had risen to stand right behind you.

"I want you to leave. I want you to leave me and the BAU out of whatever you're planning," you said, attempting to speak as forcefully as you could, trying to mimic the way Hotch spoke to the worst Unsubs to establish dominance.

It was silent for a moment as you waited for him to respond. "You would turn against your father, your family, for this?!" He roared in your face, finally breaking. He was too close, forcing you to back up a couple steps. You stayed quiet and maintained eye contact. "Or, would you turn against me, for him - SSA Aaron Hotchner. Don't think I didn't notice the way you looked at him." His words burned.

"Do not ever think to compare yourself to Agent Hotchner again," you gritted out, your hands clenched by your side. "He is a better man and a better father than you could ever be. There is NO comparison."

His eyes blazed red angry and his hand moved up and hit you across the face with the full brunt of the rings he wore. Before you could react or even truly feel the pain, Hotch had barged in and put himself between the two of you. "You have just assaulted one of my agents. You will leave. Now." His voice was scary and direct, his jaw clenched tight.

They seemed to be in a battle of wills as your father tried to stare Hotch down, but Hotch maintained his position.

"She'll turn on you too one day. Remember that. Her only loyalty is to herself. I should know. I raised her," he spat out, before striding out of the office.

You turned to watch him go and saw that both Emily and Derek had made it half way up the stairs at some point. As your father made his way down, they refused to move, forcing him to squeeze past them.

Hotch was leading you to sit down in the chair your father had vacated, inspecting your face. You were starting to feel the pain of being hit forcefully by metal rings and struggled to stay still as his hands cupped your face and looked it over. "You're going to have some bruising and I'll get a bandage for the cut there, but you should make a full recovery."

"Oh god!" you breathed out. "You're trying to make a joke. The world really is ending." You tried to laugh but your face still hurt and you ended up making a pained face instead.

"You didn't have to say all that." His voice was soft and patient and you felt so safe there with him. He had of course heard everything you'd said through the door, and he couldn't pretend that he hadn't.

"Of course I did." You titled your head up to look at him, and the look in his eyes made you feel so incredibly safe. "And I meant every single word." Hotch just looked at you wordlessly, contemplating what you'd said.

As the rest of the team filtered in and started flustering over you, he kept looking at you. He couldn't believe you'd gone head to head with your father like that - over him. He couldn't believe someone like you could possibly have been raised by that man. You who always listened to Reid and made him feel like someone was truly listening to everything. You who had helped JJ realize how much she truly loved Will and how important it was to him that they were married, to the point that it should be just as important to her. You who stocked your home with all of Jack's favorite foods and always had his favorite beer in the fridge, at your home.

As he watched Emily carefully clean and then place a bandage on the cut at your temple, he felt more than longing for you. Much more. His chest felt heavy and he had to force his breathing to stay regulated at the force of his realization.

#criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds reader insert #aaron hotchner #hotch x reader #hotch x you #hotchner x reader #hotchner x you #irreverentseries #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x y/n #hotchner imagine #hotch x y/n

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jess-the-vampire · 3 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 45

Previous / Next

It was hard to get everyone comfy, especially since King Lucitor was keeping watch, the demon waiting for janna to finish so he could properly rest with the others. It was so many people to pack into this room and not everyone seemed to be able to get as comfy as they wanted. Sure, they had Jackie and Kelly guarding them but at this point they wouldn't be surprised if a sneak attack happened.

No one felt safe, there was no security anymore.

Even if nora's family just up and left they couldn't guarantee they'd be safe, it was an uneasy feeling all around. If no where was safe then was there any point in even trying to go anywhere else? At least here they had a magic user...well a whole bunch of magic users to protect them, but their debate in all this already left nor a a nervous wreck, not knowing how long she might be with her friends anymore.

And it wasn't just her.

Sky had woken up in the middle of the night and she just found herself mostly keeping an eye on judas and angel overall, since she was the most concerned about them in particular. Angel wanted to put himself in danger for the sake of their plan and judas well...he had a lot going on in his head, and his want to get over his issues was something he needed to work on.

Basically right now both of them had a lot going through their heads and now sky was just worried about the both of them.

She hoped they could rest easy despite all this, frankly they probably needed it more then her.

She just wanted her friends to get some time to relax and taker care of themselves, was that really too much to ask for? She might as well have gotten a front row seat to watch them all descend into complete madness while also being sent into complete panic attacks that someone in a mask would pop out and destroy them in their sleep. That of course wasn't including the parenteral issues.

God they would need therapy after all of this.

Like, LOTS of it.

But at least they were all ok physically.

For now.

"Sky?".

The princess turned to find nora nearby, wide awake, "My parents told me angel's mother has finally had her parasite drawn out of her, it was weak enough so...they may of had to uh...magically pull it from her body...she's not awake yet, she's resting and well...she might not exactly be the same as before but...y'know, hopefully she'll be awake by the time angel's father arrives".

"Wait, angel's dad? He's coming?".

"Did eclipsa not tell you? i know you saw her earlier, so i just thought-?".

Sky clutched at her forehead, "Honestly i might of been too distracted by meteora to remember if she told me that or not but...yikes, angel has more on his mind then i thought, his dad isn't terrible or anything but it's gotta be awkward with everything that's gone down".

She rubbed her face, nora trying to be comforting but knowing this was all a lot of deal with,

"But...I was told i'm getting me book back...now that have time, i can focus on judas...so that's really good news, i missed that cluttered thing!".

She seemed happy to help still with judas, though that's when it hit sky.

Right, judas had considered trying to control his arm instead of remove the curse after speaking to eclipsa, he must not have told nora he had this new idea on how to deal with it.

Nora probably wouldn't take any offence to that but judas might panic about getting nora to spent so much time on him only for him to go off and figure out another idea and ignore the time she spent.

He had probably been too distracted to really mention in all yet.

Nora's face dropped though, seeing sky's.

"What's wrong?".

And sky was quick to come up with another answer, judas needed to spill the beans, not her.

"Oh uh...just felt bad for uh...landon...with bernard and everything?".

Actually that wasn't a total lie, that entire situation must've been rough because landon set up his bed pretty much away from everyone else. Bernard already back on earth with his parents, but this time they had company. Honestly no one could blame the parents too much for wanting bernard off mewni but having hekapoo and rhombulus there was enough to tell landon he wouldn't be welcomed back at their home for now.

This entire uproar had gotten their attention, it wasn't ignored.

And star hated even getting them involved after the trail but they needed strong figures to protect everyone and at the very least it kept them from spying on them if they were off dimension. She just hoped Rhombulus didn't accidentally start anything while he was there, the Bonderios were already shaken up at this point, and having them around was only agreed upon because of defense purposes.

As long as they didn't break anything, they'd probably be fine.

But landon, having seen his crush be dragged away from him after such an event, and a failed confession attempt, wasn't.

He barely even got to see him after he was saved. He was landon's best friend and he wasn't even allowed to see him after he was kidnapped for so long, he was only able to get in a few words with him and some glances. Even Bernard clearly wanted to speak to him, and got frustrated he wasn't allowed to. Was it because of his markings? Did he do something wrong?

He couldn't even bring the nerve to text him, what if his parents confiscated his phone?

God, imagine he confessed and his parents were the ones to see it.

He felt embarrassed already and no confession had even happened at this point.This all could not have gotten worse and landon found himself touching his face as if his marks were somehow something he could feel, He'd never felt magic surge inside him like that and just processing the thing was driving him nuts. He found himself wondering if he could do it without the wand like his mom did if he just could figure out how, maybe.

His mom could do it, so he had to be able to do it too.

Did he have to dig deep down inside of him or something to use this kinda magic? He never really questioned how his mother did it before because he never cared so much before, he had just accepted...if angrily, that he wasn't as powerful magically as his brothers. That he didn't have the kinda power they did, and now he was left wondering just how powerful he could get.

Maybe more powerful then his brothers.

It was a scary feeling, but a feeling he also couldn't help but find...intriguing, he never had...power before.

Power that came from his music either, if the fact his wand was a violin seemed to mean anything. He almost wished to borrow a wand again just to see what else he could do but his parents were not going to approve and he had already learned his lesson enough from sneaking around and getting himself in serious trouble as a result. He sure knew the stuff sky did with magic that were less then ideal.

But he couldn't help but think about it either.

What could he do? If he had help...if he had sky's help to train him with the wand a little? Not that sky was currently sure about giving him her help with his current anger but still.If he had known sooner, maybe he could've prevented this kidnapping from even happening to bernard, saving everyone so much trouble. Though maybe that was his dumb teen boy side of things, just trying to picture himself as a hero saving his crush from evil, with how things had gone so far, he probably would've been blasted aside and bernard would've been taken anyway.

Or maybe he would've instead.

It was hard to rest with so much in his head, even though he really needed sleep since he barely got any the night before. He nearly considered leaving to another part of the safe room to try and see if he could get his magic to work but with a room full of people, he was bound to get caught pretty much immediately. He wasn't surrounded by idiots and they were well aware of what he might do.

Maybe he could considering getting eclipsa to train him?

She might be able to teach him some things without having to worry about his parents getting on his case, unless she and his parents talked more then he thought they had. He could ignite a small flame in his palm, staring at it within the dark room. He wasn't sure how to activate sky's kina of magic but he could feel his cheeks puffing up as he concentrated on the flame.

Maybe he could turn it a different color? Or freeze it? or make it water if he thought hard enough about it?

Though the flame remained itself.

Demon magic came more naturally to him, it was...easy despite his issues with it, and that's only because he was surrounded by a family of demons to learn from and to teach him how to do demon magic. Butterfly style magic usually had the wand for a reason, to help them practice and control it, and without it he was basically trying to row a boat without a paddle.

The flame went out, the grump demon pressing his face into his pillow and growling.

He could hear the sounds of fluttering wings nearby and sitting up suddenly he saw mason watching him, out of bed and sitting comfortable close by, his wings moving around to stretch as the boy was startled by his brother sitting up and seeing him there. Landon now felt more embarrassed, was mason gonna spill what he was doing while he was at it?

But he instead looked sad, and landon realized he hadn't seen his brother much since he went to earth after being caught red-handed, and he was left wondering how much mason had been told about...what happened when he was gone. The small boy almost trying to hide his face in his hat and run back to where he was sleeping, having been caught.

But landon just crossed his arms, his moodiness still there but he didn't want to upset his brother anymore then he might have already.

"W-what are you doing here?".

"Why are you conjuring fire?", he asked, both sadly and curiously, not really making eye contact with landon at all and just looking to the ground, landon rubbing at his arm and looking to see if anyone had noticed yet. But considering it was janna now in charge of he watch, his father fast asleep, naturally she didn't seem to care at all about them talking, texting on her compact and laying on the couch.

"I uh...nothing...just wanted light", he lied, not wanting to deal with this right now.

"I heard you have...", he pointed to his own little cheeks, squishing them together playfully,

"The marksssss...". Landon suddenly feeling more embarrassed and pulling up his covers, "Y-yeah...so?". Guess it figured mason would find out soon, though at least he wasn't being weird about them or anything, the boy blinking at him for his answer and reaching out to touch landon's cheeks.

Much to landon's dismay.

"Where are they?".

"I dunno...they vanish or whatever...like mom, like i'm not sure how to activate them exactly...i mean they showed up when i got upset and eclipsa saw them...but".

And that's when it hit him.

He nearly forgot how much magic was effected by emotions, that what a spell did could change depending on how the person conjuring it felt, like how sky destroyed that chandelier, oh his father's anger issues. Maybe that's what he was going to need, he would need to find something out emotionally in order to possibly trigger his magic, maybe.

But mason's curiosity continued to peak, crawling over closer to his brother , his wings folding up behind his back. He blinked at him with his warm brown eyes and landon knew he was getting the puppy dog stare, "What are they? Did you get moons? Suns? I always thought flame markings could also be really cool but i also think violins might make more sense for you-".

"They're crosses...", he said with a grumble.

"Oh? Why?"", he asked to the blushing demon.

"Look, i dunno, the queens don't really pick their marks or anything...though sometimes it does seem convenient their marks matched their interests. But whatever...that doesn't matter...look...i don't know much about having them or anything, i've never had to care that much before, there's n point in asking too much...i don't have much answers myself...this whole wand and markings thing is new and weird and i have no idea how it even really works".

That seemed to cool his brother down a little bit more, landon did have to admit, there was something nice in mason finding him cool...well, mason always thought he was cool but maybe for once landon actually believed it because he felt he was actually cool...or at least a little cooler then he did before this whole mess, he couldn't exactly deny having a wand and markings in a way was actually rather neat...because not many could say they had that kinda ability. But he needed to pull himself together, getting back to his grumpy self, "You uh...you better go back to bed...we have a lot to do tomorrow...so better we rest i guess...", which was saying a lot since he was very much not trying to rest.

But Mason ignored him.

"What was your wand?".

Mason was just not one of those people you could just shake off, no matter how much you tried. You had to tell him everything or he'd keep pestering you until you spilled all your secrets. Seeing no way out of this whole thing, landon gave in, at least if he kept mason entertained a little he'd maybe stop soon and leave the demon to his privacy and rest.

"A violin...it was golden...and whatever...", he sounded like he was trying to make it seem so unimportant but even landon knew at heart the wand he had was a lot more then

"Whatever".

The boy seemed to light up at that, "So the wand knew how amazing you are at violin! That's so cool, I wonder what would happen if you played any of your music on it, like would it make a spell or just be a normal violin? Just...i've never herd of a wand being an instrument before...that means it can't fully function like sky's or anything, it's gonna have it's like...own quirks".

"Well it did ok when i used it...", landon trailed off, "Like i'm not amazing at magic but...i got it work...even if i was doing what was a hard spell. But i mean, i guess that's something worth asking...i haven't even had to try". Guess if he ever got his hands on a wand again he'd have to check that idea out, maybe, he didn't wanna risk something bad happening if he tried either.

God forbid he made an attempt and caused an apocalypse situation by merging dimensions or killing off countless beings or something just because he didn't know how his own wand even worked. But now he actually was more eager to actually practice these new abilities, his sadness was still there about the bad events that went down but maybe this gave him strength that he could get passed everything.

And that was something, landon wasn't much for hope after all.

"Well...i think that was really cool, you didn't have to do any of that...even judas never tried to use the wand before", landon ruffling his younger brother's hair affectionately,

"Well...bernard was in danger and no one else could do it...so...it was better then me sitting there and doing nothing when he could've been hurt, even if it was stupid".

He kinda felt he blurted it out without thinking really, that he was so desperate that he was willing to try anything at this point to save his crush. Not that he regretted it at all, if he hadn't bernard might've still been in that cell, and landon could not have handled that.

Though he wanted to think with enough time the human would've broken himself out after learning about the key swallowing.

A smile creeping on his face at the thought, bernard was way too cool to him honestly, he didn't care what anyone thought. No guy he knew could seem to be that smooth or stay that calm while being taken hostage by a maniac in a mask, bernard seemed to think he was disappointing and worry about impressing everyone or living up to expectations but landon already felt he was perfect...no matter how weird he might be.

Most people with crushes would blush over their crush doing the silliest and most adorable things, like tripping or laughing, or just doing something sweet. Meanwhile landon was blushing over his crush swallowing a key and managing to cough it back up in order to try and escape after being kidnapped. Guess judas and sky were right in saying he had...interesting taste in guys.

"Thinking about him?", landon had nearly forgotten mason was staring at him, the tiny boy smirking to landon who coughed into his hand, trying to hide his red face quickly. "Yeah uh...anyways...", but he couldn't figure out what to change the topic too, instead becoming silent, mason blinking at him as his red cheeks returned. "I need to confess...i know...though after this...and how upset his parents were...maybe it's not meant to happen...".

Mason's face dropping.

"What? But you should! He's your friend!".

"I know but...i don't know how he feels, his parents just had a kidnapp scare that only happened because he and i were friends, and with everything going on maybe it's a bad idea...i just...i know i should but...", but mason pressed a hand to his mouth, looking at him stubbornly, wings outstretched, "Then confess to him like you think you'll never see each other again! If you think you might not get another chance better to do it now then like...when you can't..."

Landon was baffled, seeing his brother get like THIS before.

Usually he was a ball of fluffy sunshine, but here he almost seemed more like celeste. He was kinda angry and fierce and more pushy then he usually was, but not in a mean way either. In a way that showed this really mattered to him and that he cared, that he wanted the best for his older brother even if landon had been a little mean to him before at times.

He felt bad all of a sudden, he'd never seen mason so aggressively care about him this much.

"Mason, i-".

"If you're worried you'll never see him again, then you HAVE to confess, or he'll never really know how you feel! He'll live the rest of his life never knowing you felt that way about him and you might never have a chance with him! If you don't do it now you'll never do it!".

Guess mason had a point, which was weird for him to admit.If he might not be sure what'll happened with their relationship past this point, maybe it was better to let everything out in the open. At least if he did, he wouldn't have to carry the pain of not saying a word and Bernard wouldn't risk hearing about it from someone else and things getting even more uncomfortable. He had to admit though, it didn't make him feel any better.

It'd get it off his chest...sure, but...he was terrified about his reaction, even if he knew bernard wouldn't be mean to him about it.

But mason was right, he was just going to have to get it off his chest, no matter how much he didn't want to, though maybe he needed some time to think about his approach. Otherwise he risked making everything more awkward between him and bernard by not thinking things completely through before he decided when to confess and how to confess.

"Can i help...this time?".

Mason twiddled his thumbs, "I know before i was pushy maybe about your crush and it was not ok of me...but this time, i'm going to ask you first. So...if you want me to help you...y'know, make things easier...i'd be happy to". Landon bit his lip, he didn't really want anyone involved in this private affair but at the same time he knew having company was a good thing because of how awkward it already was.

"I'll think about it...ok?".

He rubbed at his eyes, now suddenly tired and not in the mood when it came to magic and wands and cheekmarks. He was going to need some rest if he was going to work on this properly and not look like a complete idiot, he must've looked tired too because mason crawled over and hugged him suddenly, a thankful smile upon his cute demon face.

"Thanks landon, get some sleep ok?".

"Yeah...you too, try to rest...and we can talk more later...ok?".

His younger brother seemed rather giddy and actually very excited, and landon actually felt...happy about that. Usually he was the least likely to get this kinda reaction out of his brother and it felt...nice. Mason fluttered his wings before heading back to his sleeping bag, trying not to wake anyone else up from the large bunch of sleeping adults and teens.

Landon lying back down in his makeshift bed, his brothers could be annoying but they did have his back all things considered.

Maybe he really had been too harsh on them in the past to an extent. Judging them just because they seemed to get more attention and didn't seem to suffer like he did, yeah that was annoying but his brothers were never mean to him, and they did care about him. They never had to be that nice to him either, especially with his attitude all things considered.

He'd have to figure out more of his feelings tomorrow, finally managing to drift himself into a nice sleep.

This was the largest gathering to a breakfast any of them had really ever had before, even more then regular royal breakfasts. It was a lot of mouths to feed but really it just felt like a big sweet family breakfast, everyone seemed actually in a better mood after they got some sleep. Maybe having a plan to work off of did them some real wonders emotionally.

It was still in the butterfly safe room though, not ready to head out just yet. Not to mention star had put protection spells all over the walls and no one was willing to touch the door just in case she hadn't turned them off for the moment. But the sleep in general seemed to refresh everyone, though that wasn't to say there was no tension at all right now.

Judas was clearly still worried for luna.

Angel was worried to see his dad and potentially his role as bait.

Landon was still thinkin about...a lot.

And Sky was worried about all of them, even more then losing her own wand it seemed.It was funny that way, her wand was broken but it felt so minor to her in comparison to everything else going on. She found herself more worried about her own friends then if she got it back, like her focus had derailed from her thoughts on being a certain kinda queen and more on the people around her that she cared about. Making sure they were ok and came out with some sanity left.

How had she become such a mom all of a sudden? Typically that was judas, not her.

Speaking of moms, hers were scarfing down sugary waffles like they hadn't eaten in weeks, probably to get a head start on the day but sky was sure for her mewman mom it was to cope, her granny coming over was not something to be taken lightly. If she was coming then that meant Star had screwed up BADLY and there was nothing she could do to tell her mom otherwise.

Basically it meant she had failed somewhere as a queen.

Something that freaked her out, but at the same time wasn't too shocking to hear either since what was going on was...painful. She'd have been more shocked if her grandmother hadn't shown up after all of this went down, sky's mom might not have burned down the kingdom but it felt that way sometimes with how mad and terrified toe people of mewni were.

Though in the back of sky's mind she almost felt angry at her grandma, would she really have done a better job in this position? Because somehow sky actually highly doubted she would've. She knew her granny could be harsh but for once she kinda wanted someone to give her mom a break, this was all stressful enough without grandma moon making it more stressful.

Hopefully Queen Star's eating didn't make her sick, she really didn't need to vomit up sugar in the middle of handling all of this.

"We're going to interrogate luna today...", Marco sipped on their coffee, eyeing their oldest son, "Judas...you'lll be coming since you're her friend, and sky too...after that...sky can work on her costumes sunny mentioned...and you'll be having your checkup you missed yesterday". Judas still felt bad about missing out on that, but it wasn't technically his fault luna ended up in prison at that very same moment either.

They didn't protest, nodding.

"You gonna use a truth potion on her? Cause she has no reason to really lie to us, i mean unless you're assuming she might have other motives?", the truth potion they had was important, they didn't want to waste it. Luna could lie to them but at the same time judas didn't know what she'd gain from it if she knew they were going out of their way to help her,

But his mom had to explain, even though they didn't want to use the potion either for similar reasons.

"Well it's better safe then sorry, besides, she trusts you...I'm honestly not sure how much she trusts any of us considering she left the moment we had knowledge of what happened.", i guess when they put it like that, they had no idea for sure just how much luna trusted the adults with whatever info she was holding on her person. Though perhaps it was best to ask if luna wanted to use it first...just to be careful.

Luna might be a little mad if she figured out they slipped her one secretly.

Just a little.

"Uh...is meteora going to be there?", hey turned their attention more to sky, who looked suddenly a bit anxious, "She uh..let us know she's in charge of luna and her investigation...like a LOT, so maybe i might just be a bit nervous about running into her and having her around when we're trying to have a private conversation about something she kinda can't know about?".

Star's eyes seemed to widen, she hadn't known meteora was in charge of the investigation, just that she was assigned to get luna.

Oh Dear.

"Look, we'll do the interview, not tell meteora everything, and if she decides to go in, let her potion wear off before meteora even gets a question in. Nothing against meteora but well...this matter is best left without her knowing, she tends to kinda...well...do what she wants", Tom butted in however, placing a comforting hand on marco's shoulder, "What my love is saying is meteora and them haven't had the best relationship and they personally don't want it becoming more messy if you can prevent it".

Marco was flustered and embarrassed but no one was really teasing them either, it wasn't something any of them could really protest over.

"Well, guess we'll see how things go then-", judas said, going back to eating his eggs, looking rather nervous. He had no reason to be, he and luna were friends, but he had to admit things were still shaky between them and he wasn't sure what to expect when he went to speak with her next. Luna had an aura around her that made everyone nervous, and she was a mystery in general.

He didn't know if he was scared about what'd she say or if he was just scared her thoughts hadn't changed from when he last saw her the day before.

Could always just be a combo of both.

But as they cleaned up and had to leave the others in the room to go with his mother and sky, he quickly tried to take hold of himself, he needed to be strong, needed to keep pulling himself forward. This was important and he needed to focus and get this task completed, and at the very least he had his best friend and his mom just in case he needed support or anything.

And if he needed to leave the room and take a moment to himself he had permission to do so, no one would make him stay if this whole thing got to him.

He felt thankful, his mom kissing his cheek and checking on him outside of the room luna was kept in. The sooner they spoke to her the better, before anyone else could get their hands on her and make her spill her secrets, mot to mention they could warn luna about anything that may happen after they leave so she'd be more prepared about how to handle it.

As long as she hadn't tried to run away already of course.

Though with the guards parting the door for them to enter, they could see they were very much expected, luna sitting on the bed, eating what seemed to be cold soup and crackers, her expression not changing at all as trio came inside to see her. They were bound to come in soon anyway, and she wasn't surprised who was the ones selected either, though she may of almost been expecting either of her own moms.

It was sometimes chilling how calm luna could be under these kinda situations, though underneath judad felt she was freaking out just as much she had been when she was still unused to the changes of a new universe that sent her into a meltdown she had tried to hide.

If he could read her mind he almost felt inside would've been luna screaming internally.

"Hello".

They all just kinda stared at her, the girl setting her food aside and sitting with her hands in her lap, she wasn't wearing the costume anymore, but had changed into what seemed like pjs, her costume probably taken to be tested. They could still spot the ring on her finger, glistening and grabbing all of their attention, they nearly had a heart attack thinking it was stolen.

They almost felt they had to stare at it just to reassure themselves.

"So...what do you want to know?".

She was ready at this point, she saw it coming from a mile away, better to get this all over with.

"Um...wait...why aren't we doing this in an interrogation room?", judas looked to their parent, marco shaking their head, "We considered it but the costume isn't here and we don't want people to know who was under that mask right now so moving her would just mean more risks. So we have to keep her in this room for now and talk to her like this...the room is soundproofed, don't worry".

"You're lucky i have a bathroom in here...", she said, eyeing a nearby door.

"You would've probably made one if you didn't...the castle has so much magic activity no one would've noticed your use that much".

Luna shrugged and got them back on topic. "For the record, i had tried doing charms to ward off any evil spells before i went to sleep, i did not go unprepared after i gave you that charm judas...i did everything i was supposed to do in a situation like this...so don't assume i just let this kinda thing happen to me, i least wanted to have my own body taken over by anyone...and i'm not pleased it happened despite what i did".

"Yeah...well...who exactly wants their body taken over anyway...?", sky was mainly joking but honestly living the life of someone now going through the problems she was currently going through actually sounded not all that bad. Though considering who took over luna's body, maybe she really outta rethink that, it's not a good feeling to have your own body be put in any kind of danger that you can't prevent.

Just imagine if luna's body had been thrown off a cliff or something while she was unable to control it.

That only made her more happy that she hadn't possessed someone like angel in all this.

"They really got passed all your prevention spells? They'd have to know a counterspell for that to work!".

"Oh i'm well aware, trust me...my notes had a lot to do with the fact they had knowledge in some forms of magic i hadn't known much about before, they seem to be rather powerful...but at the same time...rather dumb if you ask me, everything i've gathered leaves me with the impression they don't know what they're doing much at all, and the only reason we haven't caught them is because we're making equally rash choices...".

"You think they're...dumb", marco crossed their arms, raising an eyebrow and not yet convinced, "They've diverted us too well, how could they really be that foolish if they're able to get passed all of us so many times and outfool every single kingdom? Sure maybe they did some stuff irrationally but so have we, thinking on the fly is a thing that tends to happen sometimes".

"Because most of their plans and choices feel unplanned...", she grumbled, "Sure there's some planning, like they obviously planned the heist, and the break in, but as far as i can tell, they're doing random things for the sake of it...what exactly was the point of these break ins? For objects with no use? Then after they're a criminal they just come right back in !".

"Luna, i get what you're going for...honestly some stuff does feel...random...but...we need more...evidence to claim this".

Judas agreed, "For all we know there might be something more behind this we're unaware of...though yeah, some of these choices might of been...a little dumb for a villian to do, like if you're going to get help from someone to do bad stuff...angel would not be a logical first choice...even if he was easy to convince in the first place...he's just...not powerful enough...nor really evil".

"it's not just that, they tried to murder him, in an open field, ignoring all the problems they'd gain from harming a royal member of a kingdom, that entire situation could've easily gotten the attention of anyone, instead of simply taking over his mind or wiping it, they clearly had gotten mad and considering murder before really thinking about it, an on a whim choice".She wasn't wrong about that either.

"It feels to an extent they act out on their emotions, do things based on impulse to get out of a current unfortunate conflict, and it leaves me with the thought we're being danced around by an utter fool rather then some tactical genius with the powers of a god, whoever this is...they're winging most of this...i must give them props...but these are some pretty foolish mistakes on their part too".

Sky had never seen someone be both so nice and so mean about a person before in her life.

"So...what are you proposing with all of this...exactly?".

She stretched her arms, yawning, "I'm saying it provides weakness, and weakness means capture...of they really are like how i think they are they should be easy to fool into a trap, the important part being to predict their moves in case they catch on...they think quick after all...so you need to be prepared for any choice they might back to get out of any situation suddenly".

"Yeah...well..we're working on that...", sky mumbled, "So we'll catch you up on that later...but...um...we have to ask more about what you got up to and uh...we need to know if you're ok with taking a truth potion for us". Someone was going to have to get it out soon so better now before they forgot about it, marco holding out a small vial of the stuff, the liquid swirling around inside.

Again, luna didn't seem surprised one bit.

There was a real likelyhood she had been through something similar to this before back wherever she was from, luna seemed like the type to use truth potions often to get stuff she wanted out of people. Even she would have to admit if she were in their place, she'd probably take out one of these potions too, even if it's results weren't always the definition of perfect,

She nodded, "I'll take it, i have nothing to hide at this point, you might as well...". Though this was done for the purposes of questioning her about her capture, judas had other questions in mind in the back of his head, and so did sky. Luna had a lot of secrets, stuff she kept from the others, and it made her harder to trust, now was the time to finally get answers from her.

About her marks, about her family, about why she was like this.Honestly judas was surprised she was just...ok with this, he felt a little taken aback, he had been expecting luna to protest a little or ask to only ask specific questions and avoid others or find a loophole. Even sky looked a little shocked luna was allowing them to just ask whatever it was they wanted, it seemed luna had done some thinking at some point before making this choice.

But they couldn't help but still feel a bit hesitant.

"Are you sure?", judas asked rather seriously, looking right into her eyes, "Nothing to hide?".

She closed her eyes, thinking hard about this, before letting out a deep breath.

"Nothing to hide...".

She only took a little of the potion, not wanting to be like this for long, but it would be long enough for now. After she was finished she sat rather relaxed, like the calm before a storm, getting luna to open up to anyone was hard, but now she was just letting them do so, They were free to ask her anything they needed to know, and they had much to ask.

"So...what should we ask first?", the demon looked to sky, and then back to his mom, before sky chimed in.

"Well, let's just see if it's working right first...ask something minor...?", they seemed to agree to that so sky proceeded to ask her first question as luna decided to take a drink of tea, knowing they'd be here a bit. Though luna would soon regret this as sky crossed her arms and gave luna the most smarmy look she had probabaly ever given in a long while.

"So uh...whose ashton?".

Luna coughed as tea spilled from her mouth onto the floor, looking extremely embarrassed.

"W-what? Why is THAT your first question? Don't you have anything else you'd rather-? I...I don't...". Sky gave her a look and luna felt the potion kicking it more as sky looked to her company, "Look, i hate people comparing me to the queens, luna compared me to this dude one time when she was mad with me...wanna know how comparable we actually are".

Actually that seemed to amuse judas, especially since it seemed to get a big reaction out of luna, who had not been expecting that kinda question at all.

Guess that's what she gets for having outbursts like that.

"A...companion...of mine...who works under me but also mutually as well, is rather critical of my actions, and um...i'm simply very fond of", the friends looked at each other and back to luna, unimpressed. She was telling the truth but she was also being extremely vague about the truth as well, so it didn't seem she was as well...into this as she claimed.

Though sky seemed to relish a little in seeing luna like this considering how many people she had hurt, including her.

"You mean like a crush?', she asked, reminding both judas and marco a little bit of her human mom with her smile, the words only bothering luna even more, her face even more red then before.

"I am fond of him", luna answered angrily, "Now, move on...".

"Well, i guess we don't have a lot in common then, you sure ain't fond of me", sky said, snorting and sitting back in her chair, luna trying to pull herself together. Judas did find the fact luna had any friends back home rather interesting though, everything about luna seemed like she was more of the loner type of person, not someone with a lot of company.In fact he swore at points she denied having friends much at all.

But that wasn't important, though to some extent it did make judas a little sad to hear, guess her rough relationships did extend back home as well, not just with her parents either. Luan seemed happy to move on from the topic though, but judas wanted to ask at least one more question he felt might've been necessary. "Luna, i hope it's ok to ask but...why do you have...such a rough relationship with your moms?".

Luna looked at him for a split second, but the question seemed a lot more comfortable to her then the last funny enough, though it clearly was something troubling luna.

"We're...dealing with a conflict back home, a conflict started by them...one i'm mostly dealing with the situation because they never leave the castle anymore...they keep telling me how much they wish to connect with me and help me...but they put me into a scary position and i had to grow up fast...and then have the nerve to complain about it. I'm just...it's a very complicated situation...it's why i know memory spells...i had to learn them for...my cause".

She clutched her fists, more angry then anyone had even seen her before, which was saying a lot considering who luna was, she seemed on the verge of hurting someone, or even worse.

She was even shaking a little and sky was worried she was about to combust or something. There was no telling how much all of this pained luna, but it was clearly enough to scare everyone in the room.

"They broke me...my marks...aren't normal...because of them, i never would've had to prove myself to not be some bug if they hadn't broken me before i was even hatched".

"You were hatched just like me...", sky mumbled, touching her own marks.

"And broken like me...", judas mumbled, marco in the back shifting to judas's words.

Luna huffed, "I know you'll ask and i don't...know why my marks...work like that...glowing on one side sometimes...it's just something that happens when i use powerful magic...if it's more light the white one lights...if more dark...the dark one does...your guess is as good as mine as to how that happens...it's been a thing for as long as i can remember but it's certainty not supposed to be that way.".

"I'm sorry...".

"No, honestly...i'm actually a little happy to say it to someone...i rarely talk about it...for...reasons.", and indeed she looked like a large weight had left her chest, "I'm not going to get too into everything because it's not something you need to worry yourself about, my world, my problems, but...i guess if you wanted the "Full luna story", take it, it might help you defend me out there if you need to".

"You sure you're ok with us knowing?", it was worth asking, luna had kept this from them for a reason, they were worried they might have gone to far with this whole thing, and no matter what luna was like, they still felt better knowing this was what she wanted.

"I have nothing to lose at this point if i do tell you, now i'm in deep trouble...this...this is no longer a time i can prioritize my needs", her voice grew stern though, "I didn't want to say for reasons, but i feel i have no choice if i'm getting out of this mess...not to say any of this will help but it's better you know just in case you actually have to know any of it".

"And if we don't need it-?".

"Consider it a serious sign of trust...i wouldn't say this to just anyone, and i wouldn't say this if you were someone i didn't trust to any extent. I know i've been a locked box since i arrived here but i'm not so stubborn i'd put this over maintaining my safety...so i'll...learn to deal with it", luna didn't share anything to anyone since she'd been here, it'd all been secrets with her, she had been a locked safe and refused to even hint at what went on in her mind. The fact she even told them at all was shocking enough, but her saying she even trusted them at all was...another level.

Sky would almost find this sweet if it wasn't well..coming from someone like luna.

But it'd have to do, they were lucky she said anything at all, she easily could have not and risked her fate in the hands of people who didn't know her secrets.

Judas, probably still processing luna saying she trusted him, worked to ask something else to continue their conversation before they got distracted away from the reason they were even here.

"What happened...since you left?", Judas had to ask, he wanted to know more, there was so much that could've went on he had no reason to know about, and maybe there were clues somewhere they could use. Luna seemed to be thinking back, it had been awhile since she left without a word, and she had to find a good starting point if she was going to talk about this.

"Well, i was quick to set up camp...nearby in the woods, i had already gotten food from the kitchens to last me a few days, was able to stay in some monster ruins and spend the next few days investigating. I remembered awhile back when we helped that child they seemed to remember the masked figure, having seen them in the woods, and i felt maybe it was a good place to investigate myself", she reached up to clutch her chin in thought.

"I did not find anything easily...there were rumors helped from the monster town nearby, though a lot had more to do with well...your spider friend, however it made it more clear where i outta look for a hideout. That it could only be in woods in close proximity to angel's kingdom, but also close enough to where the monster town was and near enough to where they could take advantage of the secret tunnels to the underworld...", and the three looked to each other, having not considered much of any of that themselves in their search.

"Did you-?".

"I found...what remained of that old hideout...by the time i got there they clearly bailed, i assume they thought angel would rat out their hideout so they were quick to grab everything to go find somewhere else to plan and scheme.", but she didn't seem upset by this, folding her hands together and looking directly at marco, "But then you found their new hideout...so i guess in the end it worked out...i'd been tracking for a good while but by the time you found them i had only dimmed it down to a few other locations where activity had been high".

"We only really found it because we had help...not to mention we well...tracked bernard's phone", luna raised an eyebrow and marco coughed into their hand, "Janna tracked my phone a lot back in the day and i learned how to counter it...it figures i might pick up something out of it...almost makes her creepiness actually worth having...almost...don't tell her i said that".

"Anyways of course i ran into you judas and by the time i found out about you finding the place it wasn't long before i went to rest and found myself here...confused and maybe a little scared.".

"How'd you know about eclipsa's little...home area?".

"I knew about it a few weeks before, saw eclipsa coming from it at one point, and knowing her, she'd have a stash of food somewhere all to herself, thought i'd help myself considering she sure doesn't mind invading my privacy in the slightest, so she probably doesn't mind if i do the same and take what i need out of it", her bitter tone was almost reminiscent of celeste.

"How'd you eat before that point?".

"Hunting, foraging, i've done this stuff before...in fact so had ash back home as well...not to say those meals were amazing by any chance but hey...it's not that bad if you know what you're doing and fish is rather wonderful with berries". she then smiled a little sheepishly, but then back to something more devious, "I also might've raided eclipsa's actual kitchen as well, i don't think she ever noticed considering how much globgor eats".

"What else did you find out about this...person?", marco hated to interrupt the fun but they needed to focus on the masked person at hand, and get whatever they could get if luna had more information to share about them, the sooner the better. Luna sighed to herself and got back on point, "Well, they're sloppy...and they either want to be seen on purpose or maybe they found out that outfit doesn't help them "Blend in" the hard way...because they get spotted often".

Marco suddenly had flashbacks to hearing all those mole people go off about the witch who had been running around, yeah, they weren't the peak of subtlety. They might as well have been holding a lighted sign pointing to themselves with "Evil villian" in flashing red lights. No one in their right mind would walk around dressed like that regularly unless they were from one strange dimension.

"Well i mean, i guess the idea about them doing this for attention had been floating around...", though judging by marco's tone they had been really unsure, it had been mostly guesswork on motivations. But luna had more to say, "Honestly, it feels like they have it out for sky in particular...she seems the be the one they're mostly framing, mostly attacking the friends of, and so on...i get the impression sky is someone they're purposefully trying to affect and ruin. The fact she is in the spotlight so often just feels...strange...".

"Even with the spiderbite attack?".

"Well around that time judas and sky apparently snuck out to see nora and spend time with her before her book was stolen, so it seems likely, i mean they have yet to touch a kingdom that wasn't related to sky like that...and even hid out in one sky never went to...i mean, it's a likely theory...". her eyes bore into sky's as if sky would start listing potential suspects.But sky just said nothing instead, just making a sickly face and avoiding eye contact with her own sister, thoughts swarming her head.

"Oh and as a bonus...i heard...about angel's mother...and the pest...she consumed...", the girl seemed to smile a little, quite eerie considering the harshness of the situation. "Being so close to his kingdom for a bit it seemed the news had traveled a bit fast...so...it appears the citizens are under the impression the spiderbites poisoned her as some racist attack...though i have some other suspicions...".

Leaving the three to share worried looks, wait, luna had gathered information relating to that? How? Did they want to know what the truth was?

"I only looked into it just in case it tied back into masky somehow, but...it turns out not long before she started getting sick, there had been a big dinner celebration sharing cultural meals between other kingdoms...now obviously angel had been banned from attending ceremonies outside his kingdom, but that didn't mean other kingdoms couldn't come to him-".

"Wait wait...are you claiming-".

"I just said i didn't think it was the spiderbites...and it couldn't have been, the only kingdoms that attended were monster ones, it was apparently the last part of any kind they've had, and turns out...globgor and meteora were there...with the knowledge of meteora being a spy...my suspicion is she was very likely to have been in another dimension before this...and might've dragged something back with her...on accident or on purpose.".The three were stunned in silence and the blonde had to quickly make her point.

"I know this is a bold claim...VERY bold...but i only went in for information about it because i thought it might be helpful, it wasn't a big event, well maybe it was for the monsters...but there's at the very least a decent likelyhood she had been infected there if only because of just how many people from outside the kingdom had attended...it's decently likely it attached to someone and ended up there or someone didn't know any better bringing it in".

"Yeah but...why meteora? People go in and out of dimensions all the time, if we're to assume she got sick because of this whole party, then anyone could've dragged something in!"., granted, this was assumptions even from sky, she really didn't know how often anyone left mewni, dimension hopping was fun and all but there was always a safety at being in your own home dimension.

But Luna had more to say on that.

"The people who were attending were mostly royals, How many other royals attending really go to other dimensions? Especially ones with THAT thing lurking around? Especially when not everyone has scissors out there? But anyways, It's an idea overall so i'm not going to claim it to be true...though i won't rule out a possible assassination, everything i know about this kingdom is that it's both weak and invaluable...if they really wanted to do some damaged they should've poisoned your friend, the prince, breaking the line would've been much worse, but neither of the others had been affected...meaning she either had been singled out...or it had been an accident and she just so happened to have been the one that got hit".

There was no denying, she had a point.

There was nothing anyone could gain from doing this to the queen.

Not unless she had made some serious enemies, but this was a kingdom trying it's damnest to be friends with everyone, even at the expense of their own prince. Whatever, it was only a theory anyway, an interesting theory but just a theory. There was no confirmation any of this was actually the case, though it did get sky thinking a little, because really, how his mother got infected mattered less then saving her.

But now she was really thinking about it.

Really, how had something as dangerous as this from another dimension just end up at their kingdom? It was well worth asking, and with everything else going on no one had considered it to be tied in all that much, and for good reason, it started awhile ago, much before the girls, the masked person, everything. It was much more likely the situations weren't related, unless some serious planning had been going on.

And the idea of doing all this to just mess with angel or manipulate him was a stretch, there was too much that had to go into play for that to even work and even then , it didn't really end up working out at all in the end.

Still, it was worth keeping in mind, maybe to ask meteora about next time they saw her, if maybe meteora did know something about that dinner.

"Is there anything else you want to tell us about? The potion might not last too much longer...".

And Luna took a moment to see what she could remember, before parting her lips thoughtfully, "That i feel i was being watched, not just by meteora, but the masked person too, i think they knew what i was up to, that i was close and looking for them...i can imagine they wanted me to get out of the picture as fast as they could and this whole set up was perfect...but i'm not sure if they know...who i am or not".

"You mean like...from another universe?".

"Well, it's obvious whose under the mask is a magic user so...i would imagine...they would have assumptions about me being one to pull it off, if not that then they'd be a fool to use me as someone to frame...basically i'm just a little suspicious, it sorta depends on how smart they actually are...but even then, if they knew i was magic they should've gone for my wand or something".

Good point.

There was more they could dive into, but their time was growing shorter by the minute and last thing they needed was for someone to walk in right in the middle of this, the group in silence as the adult in the room clapped their hands together. Judas had to go to his check up after all and sky had other places to be, and Marco had to get them moving."Well, i think that's a good start for now...though be careful...meteora wants to speak to you next, and well...she's not in on the group exactly. I'm not sure what she might ask you and how she might do it-", though luna didn't react much at all, shrugging, "This isn't the first time i've been interrogated, trust me, i can handle it and anything she might try and throw at me...".

She seemed confident, then again, she seemed confident she wouldn't have her mind taken over either and that didn't really work out for her. Regardless, they couldn't stay, she was just going to have to handle that by herself. Marco stood up, processing what luna had told them to report back to the others, same as Sky and Judas though the demon lingered on her, worried.

He was a worrying person at times, he couldn't really help it, he wanted to make sure his friends were ok and luna was a friend.

But luna was ushering him to leave, to get going and he sadly turned away from her and to join sky and his mom.

"Good luck out there judas...".

He paused, not quite looking at her but moving his head a little, his ear twitching.

"Same for you...".

The door shutting behind them with a thud.

"Heyo sunny...", sky said, entering her room to spot the cheerful girl sitting on her bed, wiaitng for her, "Judas and his mom left for his checkup so we're finally going to get this whole costume idea you got working on...and uh...". Sky rubbed at her eyes, seeing Galexia had also been invited, scribbling on the floor, pages all around her, "Oh uh...i guess we have three of us now...".

"Well jackie's guarding us today and she said it was cool...so...i thought lexi would love to help out since she's also very artistic!".

Well, sky couldn't argue that.

Plus, she said lexi should and could help them out and she wasn't going to protest against that, shrugging and heading off to get her materials ready, "Yeah ok...so...i hope you have a idea of what you wanna do...because like...making costumes takes awhile and we don't have years to do this, not to mention disguises...or did you have something ready for me?".

"Actually...i remembered something...that they perform...at that place, i remembered talking about it with landon once but he was clearly not interested in it, but well..."."Yeah?"

"Well, maybe i can perform there!", she was practically giggling from ear to ear and sky had to protest despite her cheer.

"Sunny...take this seriously...like i know you like performing and everything but-".

"I am, it's a perfect way to hide in plain sight...we can go in as performers! It's a good idea for a cover, you might be able to listen to things backstage and stuff!".

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea, if they really wanted to go in looking for info, maybe having people as performers might be beneficial. Though Sky wasn't sure how this spying thing was going to work, it was all to see if they can hear more gossip from some well...unruly types and that was all by chance. Granted, this was the place that apparently led landon to fae and a clue so maybe there was more then meets the eye.

"Are you sure about this spy thing? I mean it might not even work, this is kinda all up to chance...".

"That's true...i guess the reason it feels like a good spot to go is it's a place were you said meteora went to get info on her missions, and was where fae went when landon found her...it might be at the very least, a place of some useful activity, at worst...we go somewhere else after all. Besides. we all don't even have to go...only a few of us are needed...".Sky still looked nervous, like even she hadn't been sure of her own ideas.

"Sky...think of it this way...it's an idea, and an idea is better then nothing...if you hadn't made any suggestions who knows if we'd have come up with anything. At this point, we all need to try something, if we get something out of listening in for info, it'll be all worth it, trust me, besides, mewmans and demons love to gossip, just imagine what info they might be passing around we never hear about!" Sunny was trying to pump her up and sky could at least be grateful for that.

"I guess it's ironic...the person we're after seems to not know what they're doing and neither do i...just throwing anything at the wall and seeing what sticks...".

She felt her sister behind her, patting her shoulders in comfort, "Hey no, don't be so harsh on yourself, truth is...it's hard to be a leader...to do everything perfectly and have perfect plans. We all sorta have to make sudden choices or sometimes do things without thinking too hard, i know it's rough though...i'm only 14 and everyone comes to me for advice all the time...and it's kinda just a lot of pressure to know so much and do so much for everyone".

"Wait...really? I didn't know it was THAT bad for you, no offense, i just assumed because you were so young people wouldn't come to you for so much...", sky was only a year older and people didn't go to her like that before all this mess.

The small girl nodded, sheepish, "I'm a child prodigy...back home everyone practically sees me as like...a tiny adult and they go in expecting me to know so much and be so great and...sometimes it gets overwhelming...". She took a seat on the floor, her tail moving around under her dress, "Everyone expects a lot out of me and i think it hurts more when i can't be as great as they want...i'm just...a kid still, a smart kid...but..".

"I'm sorry sunny...".

"It's ok sky, that's my issue, not yours, i'm just saying i know what it means...it's not embarrassing to not know everything, i sometimes get the same way...overwhelmed and unsure of myself", sky took a seat next to her sister, and now it was her turn to comfort sunny back. "Yeah...it's a lot of pressure...to put on you...and me for that matter...i know we're both going to be queens but...we're still like...normal kids...we're not well...like luna".

"Luna struggles too...i mean she's in well...well actually you just saw where she was...i guess maybe she's just the least open about y'know...being imperfect...she seems to really prefer to seem flawless compared to everyone else...it's hard to get her to really admit her issues or insecurities", sunny's ears flickered, "I know she doesn't completely like me, ever since she saw me use my powers and everything, i think she might feel like i'm more powerful then her despite not having the wand for so long...".

"Sunny that's-" cut off as sunny's hand pressed against sky's lips, giggling .

"It's ok sky, i've had that assumption for a long time and i've had to deal with it. I could kinda always tell luna felt a little weird around me...for the record, i'm not mad at her...she has her own issues and i can't blame her if she feels upset, cause sometimes...even i don't want to be so powerful". She stood up and looked over Galexia's drawings, her face now a smile.

"But y'know, it's ok, because you and judas and lexi don't care about how powerful i am, you guys like me outside of that...it's really nice being around people who don't care about that and see me as a kid and stuff. I don't tend to hold grudges...and i don't hold one to luna, because she's troubled, like us...like celeste, like lexi, like judas and angel and nora...even landon...we don't have to agree with her or get along with her...but we can try and understand her more...".

"It's pretty noble of you to not hold a grudge...", sky mumbled.

"I think of people as complicated...i don't like...think it's ok for luna to well...be mean to you and landon and celeste, but with everything that comes with being queen...sometimes it's hard to deal with it without becoming cold like that...it's not a fun job...not unless you choose to do it in your own way. And you know...your way right now isn't perfect, but it's you...".

"Thanks sunny.".

The demon princess handed sky some blank sheets and markers, before getting lexi's attention, "C'mon, enough sad talk, we're gonna make outfits and it's going to be awesome! We're going to go out there and show them all whose boss!". The small girl pulling them in for a little hug as they all got started brainstorming ideas between the three of them.It might take some time for them to fully connect with luna, but at the very least they could say this was a step up from how she had been before..

A step forward.

They all had work to do and hopefully the best was yet to come between all of them.And that not only applied to them as not far away a young demon boy sat to himself, violin in hand as he went over his music sheets over and over again. A lot of thoughts running through his head, some better then others. One in particular caught his eye as he began to play by himself, his eyes closing as he was swept away in the music, more focused then he'd ever really been.

He'd done this before of course, but this time it was different, far more different then his usual practice sessions.

Something about this felt more personal and intimate, and with new context it felt like he was breathing new life into the piece he hadn't before.

He could feel his mind start to drift as it did usually with music, at a point it became less about making sure he hit the notes and more about getting lost in his own music, his fingers working instinctively like they were separated from him, playing everything perfectly. The prince humming to himself as well, this had been what felt like the 100th time he played today, testing for results.

No reaction yet.

But this song, this song had the best chance if any.

He made it for him after all, if anything was going to work it had to be this one, he had gotten himself worked up just creating it after all.

He just needed to focus and not stress so much, needed to push back his anger and keep focus, like his father did with his magic and his mother did as well. Taking slow breaths as he played, keeping his mind focused despite the struggle and sure enough he felt his face warm up and saw light, his markings were glowing due to his playing and emotions.

Though as quickly as they came they went, he had gotten distracted,

But rather then get mad, he smiled.

"Alright, let's do that again".

#sky and the forces of the multiverse #star vs the forces of evil #tomco bby #starkie bby #janstar bby #spiderslime #tomstar bby #ostar bby #marco diaz #marco #janna ordonia #my art #fanfiction #fanfic

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otomelavenderhaze · 4 years

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Talking to Marina, Rayan’s route - Episode 10 (mclll)

I will be honest, I liked how Candy was so level headed with the whole conversation, but I wish we could’ve done more or said more. I don’t like how she was trying to put the blame on Rayan and treat Marina as the victim, when she don’t even know what the fuck are Marina’s intentions.

I can see the point of his friendly behavior back firing to him, but still!!!

Marina: Eer... Oi, May. What are you doing here? I... I’m a little busy right now...

Candy: Don’t worry, it won’t take long...

Marina: I’m not going to lie... I’m not at ease with this, knowing that you and Mr. Zaidi... welll... you understand what I’m trying to say.

Candy: I do...

I’m going to be honest. I think you can imagine that I’m not here by chance.

I... I know it can be unbecoming, but I’m here because Rayan asked me to.

Marina: I have nothing to say. The best thing you could do is leave...

Candy: I... I know, you’re right.

But I came here just to talk with you. I’m kinda lost with this story...

Rayan don’t have any hard feelings towards you...

But I would be lying if I said that he isn’t... upset. But he only wanted, before anything else, understand... and I want too.

I... there’s nothing else to be understood besides what I said in the accusation.

Marina: and I don't have the slightest question of going back to what happened. It is not easy.

Candy: A) Whoever, this didn’t stopped you from doing this and get Rayan suspended, no? (I wish I had pick this one) B) I understand... and the last thing I would like doing is open up the wound again... C) I think we both know the reason... (my regret)

Marina: Err... what do you mean with this?

Candy: I don’t know... what do you think I’m implying?

Marina: let’s stop this conversation right here, OK?

Candy: Hã... that’s the point I want to get! In incomprehension!

I know that Rayan can be very... disconcerting (he’s gorgeous, a perfect adonis, my goddamn distraction, I can barely read the dialogues when he shows up) as a teacher.

And I think he wasn’t aware of that. Without a doubt that’s why things blew this much out of proportion.

I can see that nothing is okay, but, you know, Rayan is totally destroyed over this. I... never saw him in that emotional state. :( baby boi.

He think that you two should talk about this. This time, with witnesses, to clarify everything.

If you want to, you could meet on the Cozy Bear. I would be there too. And you can take someone with you too from your choice...

And this could, maybe, help you two understand what happened...

All this has gone too far, don't you think? (HER FACE, YOU EVIL MONSTER)

Believe in me. I also wished things would have happened differently. (THIS IS SO SHADYYYYYYYYY, U SHADY MARINA)

Candy: a) I know very well how Rayan could be, but I also know that he don’t deserve what is happening to him. b) Yes, I can imagine this isn’t easy to deal with.

Marina: How... what do you mean?

Candy: We know that, sometimes, he can give... wrong signals.

But I assure you that he don’t do this intentionally. This time, he learned his lession. Seriously.

Marina: I wish we could stop this conversation right here. I have still a lot to study... and lately it’s been hard to keep focus.

Candy: a) Yes, I understand. I just wanted to help in a way or in the other.

b) He just want to talk in a neutral place. He’s totally destroyed over this and would like to understand where these accusations come from.

Marina: I-I’m going to call to my lawyer and tell her everything you just proposed. She would know how to handle this...

Candy: I’m sorry that you see things this way... it wasn’t my... hey, but you’re really calling her?

Marina: Hello, Priya... Yes, this is Marina. Sorry for disturb you but I think you should know that...

Candy: (What a fiasco... I should’ve stay quiet about this...)

#my candy love #amour sucre #amor doce #corazon de melon #mclll #episode 10 mclll #spoilers #spoiler #screenshots #screenshot #I will be replaying that episode I think before the next one

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tintinwrites · 4 years

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the stars were made for falling | Poe Dameron x Reader | Part Thirteen

A/N: This is what you begged for right?

Rating: M

Warning: Blood. Naughty words including the C-word used as a derogatory name for a woman. Reader lets Poe know that he shouldn’t have been a jerk.

Word count: 2,608, apparently!!

Summary: You’ve walked into Hux and Poe is the only thing you have to help you.

Masterlist

GIF credit: I have no idea, but it’s not mine.

Tags: @marvelous-revengers @the-lady-of-stars @jxhn-mxrphy @ella-solei @chloe-skywalker @itsamedeemoney @shakespeareanwannabe @mxrvel-fxnxtic @peachdameron @ladyflyer20 apologies if I missed anyone who asked!

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There were moments during your imprisonment that you thought you were actually bonding with the general of the First Order; when you talked jokingly about your hatred of Kylo Ren or you listened intently while he told you little details about himself.

But he was still the man who tortured you and Poe, who found joy in the idea of you turning dark and murdering Poe.

You should’ve pulled your blaster from the holster on your hip when you turned to see him smiling down at you.

Or maybe you could’ve punched him square in the nose to distract him.

There was also the stupid yet possibly helpful option of diving to the ground and crawling between his legs to run off.

Or anything, even if all you did was turn and run to hide behind Poe like you weren’t angry with him.

What you really did, though, was gape at him frozen in terror as images of his hand around your throat flashed in front of you.

This allowed him the opportunity to grab onto your hair tightly and turn you to pull your back tight to his chest, the sharp tip of something pressing into the skin of your neck.

Your brain suddenly realized it needed to get away from this man now, but all you could do was stand perfectly still with the threat of him slicing into your jugular preventing you from doing as much as twitching.

He tightened his grip on your hair and you let out an embarrassingly pitiful whimper at the stinging pain.

“You’re scared. I thought you wanted to die. Is this a bit more harsh than you were wishing for?”

“Let her go now.”

Part of you didn’t think Poe would actually try to save you, but there he was pointing his blaster at Hux’s head and your shielded heart might’ve cracked at the knowledge that he still cared if you weren’t about to be murdered by the man you thought you escaped.

Poe’s eyes were wide, hand shaking.

“Oh, look. Can you shoot me faster than I can slit her throat?” Hux pressed his weapon enough to draw the smallest drop of blood from you, and you calmed yourself down enough to be practical and to try subtly reaching for your blaster.

“Probably,” he said cockily beneath his shaking, terrified voice.

“You’re hardly able to keep your weapon aimed at me, dog.”

“I’m willing to take my shot and see if I shoot something on you.”

Hux’s one hand left your hair to grip onto your arm tightly the moment your fingers touched the handle of your blaster, wrenching it painfully behind your back as his new way to hold you. “I wouldn’t recommend trying something like that, you traitorous little cunt.”

Such an intentionally cruel name seemed to strike you deeply, tingling from your jaw to your ribs in anger and embarrassment.

Poe’s eyes darkened somewhere beneath his terror and he tightened his grip on the blaster, trembling minimally.

You tried to keep your face neutral despite the fear in your veins, not wanting Hux or Poe to see you begging with your eyes like a coward.

“Look, General, I’m sorry I lied to you—” You were tripping over your words, trying to find the courage to reason with him when you knew there was a human in there somewhere; a human you had been unable to reach when you tried once, but maybe…?

“Supreme Leader.” Your reasoning halted with his correction.

He was the Supreme Leader of the First Order now? That meant...Kylo Ren was dead. Or too incapacitated to perform his duties. And there was a reason Rey had locked herself away. She wanted to save him too. And you were no stranger to wanting to hide away for reasons like that.

You weren’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Kylo Ren was no longer leading the First Order.

He was a child.

Hux was...completely mad.

Even if you hoped you could save him from the life he had chosen, you knew the truth.

The man was holding a dagger to your throat and upon reflection you wondered if it was the same dagger that had been in your thigh all that time ago.

“What do you want?” Poe spat, finger on the trigger.

“Oh, I heard the two of you were running all around trying to rebuild your group and I sent a call out for you to come here to see if you were still the whimpering pup I turned you into.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Did they fix you all up again? Do you still love her?”

Any sass Poe forced was forgotten, the slight fake twitch of his lips immediately falling at the question.

Hux noticed you tensing.

“I thought you two were having a lover’s spat when I was listening, but then I heard your typical perversity and the blame leave her lips as she told you she wished I had killed her long ago.”

His mouth was next to your ear and you weren’t able to move with the sharp blade pressing into your skin.

“I suppose I was incorrect about his love for you, hm?”

Apparently you could never harden your heart completely as tears filled your eyes.

Poe stepped closer and Hux tightened his grip on you.

“You’ve seen me. Now let her go.”

“Set down your weapon and leave the First Order out of whatever little plans you’re coming up with, and I will let her go.”

“That is too easy.”

“Listen to what I say and I won’t slit her throat right here.”

“Fine.” Poe hesitated, looking at you as if your thoughts on it mattered at all, then he carefully set his blaster in the grass with his gaze trained on Hux.

“Now wasn’t that easy?” He slowly lowered the dagger and let his hand holding it fall behind you though, true to his word.

Your eyes widened as he momentarily tightened his grip, Poe noticed.

But then he released you almost gently and you let out a little gasp, and he swept away into a nearby alley like the evil creep he was.

Poe watched him leave with his brow furrowed in confusion at how easy that had been; he knew Hux was an insane man who had tortured the two of you for fun, but he really set up a fake mission simply to see what had become of him then let you go with nothing more than a lie of a promise and a weapon that was aimed at him being set down?

He looked at you to see you stumbling forward slightly. “What?”

You looked at him like it was the first time you’d ever seen him and reached out for him, and despite all that had transpired between the two of you, he instinctively let you grab onto him mostly bemused at your actions.

When you went limp against his chest, he had no idea what was happening. You hated everything about him now, but you were falling against him.

His arms wrapped loosely around you as you slid down his body and he touched something wet on your back, drawing his hand away to look.

Red fingers had him stepping back in shock, not totally registering that he let you fall to the ground, staring at his hand trying to figure out why the hell it was covered in blood.

He looked at you for the answer and instead of understanding from words, he saw the red blooming across the back of your shirt.

No matter how reckless or cruel he had been since you escaped from the First Order, his brain was not in the proper state to react immediately like he usually would have; it was like wheels needed to turn in his head for him to process that you were bleeding out at his feet.

It occurred to him in pieces.

How easy it’d been.

The dagger moving from your throat to behind you.

Your eyes widening when Hux tightened his grip to keep you still as he plunged the dagger into your back.

Your little gasp from him yanking it out, not letting you go.

“Poe.”

His name was a soft whisper from you, but it was enough to make him realize that one of his teammates was bleeding out.

He fell to his knees beside you and reminded himself your training your training fuck Poe you’re not allowed to be this far gone you know what to do remember your training as his hands fumbled in their quest for what to do.

Finally he realized he needed to apply pressure and he pushed his palm down against the wound despite your little whimpers, his soldier mind telling himself that you were going to have to deal with the pain if you wanted to live.

But where was he going to get some sort of bandage? How was he going to bandage this? Rip off his shirt and tear the fabric to wrap around your middle? Was that his training or his stupidity talking?

“Poe?” His name again. Terrified. Confused. Lost.

Then it sunk in.

It wasn’t a fellow soldier bleeding out; it was you.

You, who had too much faith in him. You, who put up with a hell of a lot from him as he continued pushing you away for fear of being too vulnerable, fear of hurting you more than he already had by making you live through Hux’s torture. You, who hated him and rightfully so. You, laying on the ground in front of him about to die thinking he was a cold monster.

He moved to sit, pulling you into his arms and holding you close to himself as he kept one hand pressed tightly to the still-bleeding wound.

All the emotions he’d pushed away for the sake of everyone around him were quickly spilling out of him, in the form of tears and panic. “What do I do? What do I do? What...what did I do?”

He’d pushed you away. Tried to protect you from himself despite how he was the only thing you wanted and you were the only thing he needed. And now you were bleeding out and...he’d been too damaged to react properly to your serious injury.

You were looking in wonder at the man you thought you’d never see again as tears fell down his cheeks. “Poe?”

His name once more. Hopeful. A little smile on your lips as you said it. He was never gone and you were never truly hardened to him; you both simply pretended with all your might to protect yourselves and everyone else.

“You’re back...don’t cry.” You reached up to brush his tears away, but he jerked his head back.

“You shouldn’t comfort me. All I did…”

His eyes widened when your hand fell and your eyes fluttered shut, shaking you.

“No, no, baby, please, come back, I gotta...I have to make this right…”

He was starting to fall apart completely as everything he had forced away came to the forefront, as he watched the woman he loved and the woman he tried to convince otherwise lose consciousness in his arms.

“Will you stay if I say I’m sorry? Huh? It was all a lie, Y/N, everything I told you. It was never only sex with you. Never. Fuck, baby, that night in the Falcon meant everything to me and that night in the dining hall...I was too rough...I needed...I wanted to make you hate me that way I couldn’t hurt you anymore, you know?

“I let them torture you and I hurt you myself, and I didn’t want you to have to hurt because of me anymore, but I only hurt you more. I hurt you when all I wanted to do was hold you, to tell you how much it kills me that I let them do what they did to you, to go to that fucking beach and tell you how much I love you. I do love you. I’m sorry.”

He moved his hand to brush your hair out of your closed eyes, hating himself more when he left a streak of blood on your cheek, trying in vain to wipe it away.

You were still bleeding when he moved his hand back to apply pressure to your wound.

Still alive, but not if he sat there apologizing to someone who couldn’t hear him.

All he’d done to you already and he was going to let you die.

No.

He was not going to let you die.

Situating you in his arms for a more secure hold on you, he stumbled to his feet and ran to his ship like his life depended on it.

Which it did.

There was no way he would ever be his old self again if you died from his actions and there was no way to know how long he’d survive as he was.

He kept you in his lap as his hands slipped on levers and buttons, his free one fruitlessly trying to stop the blood pouring from your wound, and it was only by his automatic knowledge of flying that he put the ship into hyperdrive.

The only thing he remembered from the entire trip back to base was a small, quiet moment where he scrubbed the blood from your cheek with his shirt like it mattered.

Like that could make up for everything else.

It was a miracle that he landed the ship in one piece with the little attention he was paying to it, gripping you limp in his arms as he ran from his ship and through the hangar past the few people milling about who stared at him in shock.

He might have been yelling the whole time since he landed the ship, but he only noticed when his voice echoed off the walls of the base. “Medic! I need a medic! A med droid, a…I need help!”

Finn was sure he was hearing things when he thought that was Poe’s voice, sounding like it had actual emotion to it for the first time in a long time. He was ahead of the med droids that were dutifully taking a grav stretcher to the entrance.

It was Poe that was yelling, practically screaming as he held you in his blood-covered arms to a torso that was equally covered in blood from the ways he’d needed to hold you.

“Y/N!” Finn sprung quickly into action when he saw you weren’t moving in Poe’s hold, tugging you from him to gently lay you on the grav stretcher.

Imagine his confusion when a crazed-looking Poe grabbed onto his jacket and slammed him into the nearest wall. “Don’t touch her!”

His emotions were too much now, overwhelming him and dissolving him into a mess of the things he’d hidden for far too long. He didn’t see Finn trying to help you; he saw someone trying to take you when he was responsible for making sure you lived.

Some newer recruits had to force Poe’s grip off of him as he kept him pinned there, restraining him at Finn’s direction as he followed the grav stretcher you were on.

Poe watched helplessly, mumbling incoherently about how he was responsible for you and he needed to make sure you were okay.

He was terrified that your bloody, unconscious form laying there as you were taken away would be the last time he saw you.

Maybe it was.

And it was all his fault.

#poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader #star wars imagine #poe dameron fic

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residentsocialfailure · 3 years

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Thoughts on MAG 190

because I have many, and I’m so excited this show is finally back.

God, hearing that intro again. Gives me chills. I missed this.

Lowri! Helen! For some reason I was thinking they might have only been a part of the trailer, without actually being major characters. I’m so happy I was wrong. Fucking love them. Helen has always been, and always will be, my favorite Rusty Quiller.

“They sometimes go to a side tunnel, for.. private contemplation.” 2 minutes in, and Jonny reveals that wtgfs like to sneak off to go make out. I love it.

First tape recorder appearance. Oh shit. Interesting that they eye doesn’t work super well in the tunnels, yet it still appears. Hmmm.

“First name terms with The Prophets. Bit disrespectful.” Oh, I missed his sass. Jon is so good.

Hiding out in Leitner’s old haunt. Interesting. I wonder if there are any of his books still lying around, and if the fearpocalypse has affected them at all.

“Celia?” Martin recognizes her? Is she the same girl Lowri played in MAG 100?

Oh, I missed Melanie so much. She’s so good, and her disdain for Jon is wonderful. God, I hope nothing bad happens to her.

Helen is Melanie’s therapist! That’s amazing. I love it.

I don’t know why Georgie trying repeatedly to destroy the never-ending tape recorders is so funny to me, but it is.

I’m so glad they’re getting to talk. I missed Georgie, and her not really being there for Jon in S4 always made me kind of sad. I mean, it was totally understandable. and she had to do what was best for her too, but still. I’m glad that she’s acknowledging it though, and saying that she wasn’t really being fair to Jon, and didn’t understand what was really going on. I just love all of these people so much. I feel like this exchange is probably really important for Jon too.

An endless supermarket? That’s super convenient. Just trying to figure out how that would work as a fearscape. Husbands who were sent to the store by their wives and can’t remember what to get? Broke college students who are trying to put together a meal with no money? Feeling judged for your purchases, thinking the employees are watching you and know that you don’t know how to cook. Or something. Or maybe it’s for the retail workers. Feeling like your boss is constantly watching you, waiting for you to make a mistake. Yeah, that makes more sense. Probably some of all of the above.

The Admiral!!! I kind of love/hate that he’s just chilling, going hunting 24/7. Like I’m glad he’s happy. But it’s so sad that he doesn’t recognize Georgie. That must be really difficult. I wonder what specifically he’s hunting. Other cats? Mice? Birds? People who are afraid of cats?

“The Snoop God’s favorite kid”

“Now my therapist thinks I’m the chosen one.” All jokes aside (because it did make me laugh) that must be a super weird dynamic, for both of them. Like, hey, you know everything about me, and how completely flawed I am. You helped me get through some very dark periods, and now I’m apparently the savior of your world or something. And thinking your “prophet” is somebody who you saw in such a way, has to be wild. I’m interested to see if they’re going to delve more into this relationship, because it could be really interesting.

I also really, really, love that Martin and Melanie are able to have this time to just talk. They’ve both gone through so much. And yeah, they were never super close in the before-times. But they still understand each other, in a way I think not a lot of people could, who haven’t worked in the Archives. And they’re just hanging out, chatting about their love lives. It’s so wholesome and good.

“I’m the anti-christ’s plus one.” Oh my goodness Martin. This made me laugh so hard. I feel like that’s going to be A Thing in the fandom.

How weird must that be though, to have people look up to you like that? I can’t blame her at all for lying about the vision. She’s just trying to give them hope, and something bright to look forward to. But it’s also really hard. Because it is a lie, and does put her on a pedestal. It’s a really difficult situation, and there’s not really any good answers on how to handle that. But I can’t imagine the stress that must put on you. Feeling so responsible for these people, who have nothing, and who’s lives you literally saved. And who look up to you like you can solve all your problems, when you have no idea what you’re doing. It must be so hard.

That being said, the cringe I just experienced from “Blind Prophet”. Just. So much no.

I love hearing Melanie talk about Georgie though. She’s so in love and it’s so sweet.

Oh no. Daisy. And the pain is back. The whiplash I’m going through in this conversation. And Spiral Helen. I’m glad that Jonny put that in there though. Helen was just such a good, good, character.. In that her whole point was making you think she was on your side. And she did that to the point that a lot of people, including me, actually started to think maybe she was. This was a good reminder that no. She really was evil, she was just also really good at manipulation. It’s easy to forget sometimes, and to think maybe she didn’t deserve to die, and they could’ve saved her. But it wouldn’t have worked out, Jon knew what he was doing.

Cold baked beans. Delicious. I guess they can’t really make a fire in the tunnels. And obviously no electricity. Seems quite unpleasant though.

”Even if her problems were sometimes... odd.” I don’t remember, did we ever get context for how much she actually told her?

”But you’ve got to have hope in something. Otherwise there’s no point to anything. So, I choose to have hope in them. [...] Times like these, it just helps to believe. I’m not sure it really matters what.”

Anil!! I love him so much. I do wish we got some Arun/Martin bonding time though. I need them to talk about their favorite poets and discuss interpretations of various poems or something. I don’t know, I’m not really a big poetry person, but they both are, and I think they would get along pretty well, if Martin isn’t too put off by the religious part.

He also did sort of bring up a point I had been thinking about. And definitely not thinking this is in any way foreshadowing of anything, or that this is at all something that will come up. It’s just my own personal thoughts. “Maybe your powers feed on hope. On faith, and trust, and hope.” I feel like everything in the universe has an opposite, to a certain extent. And I feel like it makes sense that the fears would have an opposite as well. That there would be some sort of powers of hope or something. Not even necessarily in a good vs evil sort of way, because I feel like that’s an over simplification, and not at all really realistic.Nothing in real life is that black and white. But the fears came to exist because they were something people believed in. Not in like a faith way. But just in a way that it’s something that people thought and focused on enough to give it power. And I feel like that would work for hopes and dreams too. It only makes sense to me that if fearing something so much gives it power to turn into an actual, god-like, entity. Well, people dream about things just as much as they fear other things. I don’t know. I feel like someone smarter and better with words than I am could explain my thought process better. Just an idea that I had, that, as I said, I do not believe will at all come up, or exists at all in this universe. It’s not even really a headcanon. Just thoughts.

Final Thoughts:

This episode was so good? It was much more light-hearted than I was expecting, but in a really good way. I loved just hearing everybody reconnect, and have actual conversations with their friends. I forgot how much I missed these people, and how good everyone is. 10/10, absolutely loved. I’m exited to see what comes next, if a bit nervous. Obviously this was a good episode to ease back in, but the pain will be coming pretty soon. I am curious, there are apparently seven members of the cult, and we only met three, not including wtgfs, so five. I wonder if we’ll recognize the other two, or if they’re just not that important. Also wondering what the plan is for Jon, as he still doesn’t really know what to do. Is he just going to hang out for a bit? Have a chance to relax, like they did at Salesa’s? Wondering if they’re going to leave of their own volition, and decide it’s time to get a move on, or if something will happen to force them out. It’s clearly more dangerous for the cult now that Jon is there, and, ascaves much as Georgie cares about him, I don’t think she’ll let them stay if she thinks they’re an active danger. Anyways, I’m so, so excited that TMA is back, and I can’t wait to hear what comes next.

#tma spoilers #the magnus archives spoilers #rusty quill spoilers #the magnus archives #tma #mag 190 #scavengers

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sundowncryptid · 4 years

Text

My HTTYD 3 Criticisms

This is gonna be a long one so I’m gonna put my criticisms under a read more

Just wanted to make a post listing all of the HTTYD 3 criticisms I have (this isn’t an attack on people who liked the movie, it’s totally valid if you did, I just want to list some stuff that I didn’t like and stuff that, in my opinion, didn’t work in the movie)

- The Light Fury logically shouldn’t have been able to cloak in the first scene when she’s caged up, she would have needed to fly through a plasma blast and there’s no way she did that whilst caged??

- Snotlout hitting on Valka was just really weird and uncomfortable

- There’s no way Grimmel killed all of the Night Furies, he’s just one man with a bunch of Deathgrippers and a crossbow

- The Deathgrippers are portrayed as an ‘evil’ species of dragon, but the dragons are said to be just wild animals?? How can a wild animal be ‘evil’ and have evil intentions if they’re just wild animals? It’s not their fault that their diet consists of other dragons

- The Deathgrippers are also being controlled, drugged and held captive by Grimmel too, just like the Light Fury, but they don’t also deserve to be rescued too??

- If the Light Fury is so scared of humans why did she decide to pick Hiccup up and yeet him?? Surely she would have tried to avoid being seen and especially being touched by them after being caged and drugged by dragon hunters?? If Toothless had looked like he was in danger I could understand her trying to intervene and get rid of Hiccup but she intentionally came towards him unprovoked

- The Light Fury tried to kill Hiccup twice and Toothless didn’t growl once?? (I know she’s scared and I don’t blame her for lashing out at humans after being drugged and caged but I would’ve expected a stronger reaction from Toothless) But in the third date scene the Light Fury steps on a line in his drawing and that’s when he chooses to growl at her

- it feels like all of the other villains in the movie were just dumbed down to make Grimmel look smart

- Grimmel’s Night Fury info contradicts what the franchise has said or shown about Night Furies previously:

1. He said that Night Furies can’t fly for long periods without rest, yet Toothless has one of the biggest wing surface area to body ratios in the franchise and his wings are soaring wings like an eagles, and so he should be able to fly for maybe 4-6 hours straight without rest

2. He said Night Furies can’t survive cold temperatures but Toothless has been living in Berk for 6 years without an issue, and Berk is supposed to be freezing for most of the year according to Hiccup

- New Berk is only accessible by dragon, so how does New Berk trade with other villages? And sail out to catch fish for food? After all of the dragons are gone??

- Night Furies having the ability to cloak is pointless, they’re nocturnal and camouflaged when flying at night so they don’t need to be able to cloak. Idk maybe it could be a leftover adaption that they retained??

- Hiccup is portrayed as ‘naive’ for thinking that Toothless will come back to him

Toothless and Hiccup don’t have a parent-kid relationship. That would suggest that Toothless wants to get away from Hiccup and be more independent, yet he never showed an interest in flying without Hiccup until the Light Fury came along, and that was only because she wouldn’t let Hiccup get near her. If Toothless never showed signs wanting to leave Hiccup or fly on his own in the past then why is Hiccup naive for thinking that he’ll come back?

- Just a small thing but I would’ve liked to see Valka discovering the Hidden World with Hiccup, it would’ve been a nice to see them bonding over the discovery and it could’ve shown how far their mother-son relationship has come in a year

- The Mushroom Forest in the Hidden World must produce spores, and long exposure to mushroom spores causes lung inflammation so surely the dragons living in the Hidden World wouldn’t be able to breathe properly and would get sick from breathing in spores??

- The Light Furies don’t seem to fit with the Hidden World’s bright, saturated colours, their white, pale scales would stand out against the colourful vegetation growing there

- What if a group of Deathgrippers infiltrated the Hidden World? Wouldn’t the Hidden World dragons be trapped and cornered inside?

- Toothless didn’t consider his flock at all when he disappeared with the Light Fury for a day, shouldn’t he have been with them to help protect them just in case, especially since Grimmel just burned down their previous home and may still be tracking them?

- How can Toothless be the king of the hidden world, a place he only discovered hours ago, and command it? Wouldn’t the dragons there already have an alpha dragon??

- It would’ve been nice to have a moment in the Hidden World where Toothless seems homesick and misses Hiccup, just to know he at least still cares about him and hasn’t forgotten

- When the Light Fury comes back to New Berk and smells Grimmel she flies towards him instead of the opposite way??

- Toothless sacrifices his entire flock (including hatchlings) and lets them be caged up by the dragon hunters to save a girl he only met 3 days ago (not saying he shouldn’t care about the Light Fury but he should probably care a lot more about the well-being of the flock he’s been in charge of and has known for a year)

- The Light Fury is somehow aware enough in her drugged state to be able to fly straight with Grimmel on her back in the final chase scene (same point applies to the Deathgrippers throughout the entire movie now that I think about it)

- The Deathgrippers that were still attached to Grimmel’s airship as it crashed into the water weren’t at least attempted to be rescued and were left to drown

- The Deathgrippers shouldn’t have been able to catch up to two of the fastest dragons species in the franchise in the final chase scene

- Coming to the conclusion of the dragons leaving felt rushed and out of the blue

- The message at the end of this film totally contradicts the other two films; the first movie was based around the fact that dragons aren’t the wild, savage beasts that they are thought to be, but beings capable of human-like intelligence and emotion. HTTYD 3 contradicts this by saying the dragons are just wild animals and they can’t help following and listening to instinct.

HTTYD 2’s end message was even though there are bad people out there, we will still fight for what’s right, even if we have to go up against armies and armadas, we will change the world bit by bit so that people and dragons can live together in peace.

HTTYD 3 scraps that message and instead of fighting for the dragons and changing the world for the better, the dragons are just sent away to hide in a hole in the ocean indefinitely and are just left to hope that someone picks up where Berk left off. They beat the warlords pretty easily, Grimmel is gone and the Light Fury has started coming around to Hiccup so why do the dragons have to go all of a sudden?? New Berk isn’t accessible by bad guys (unless they have control of a dragon) and Berk has an entire flock of dragons on their side controlled by a Night Fury so their island is easily defendable.

They are in one of the best positions to continue rescuing, saving and protecting dragons yet that’s when they choose to give up?? Hiccup didn’t even give up in HTTYD 2 when his dad was killed by Drago but he beats a bunch of warlords and an apparently famed Night Fury hunter and that’s when he gives up?? It doesn’t make sense to me

- Toothless was able to smell the Light Fury from miles away in the exodus scene but wasn’t able to smell Hiccup from the rock he was lying on in that decade time skip and almost attacked him and his family, even though in the first film when Toothless was an actual wild dragon he knew Hiccup wasn’t a threat if he wasn’t holding a weapon

- Kinda bummed that Toothless’ appearance didn’t change between the ages of 21 and 31 in that decade time skip, I expected more nubs (the Light Fury too)

- The Homecoming short just proves that if people and dragons aren’t united anymore things just kind of almost go back to the way they were in HTTYD 1 (making the whole 6 years of human-dragon companionship just kind of pointless), the new generations of Berk will never grow up with dragons alongside them and see with their own eyes that they are more than just wild beasts (and apparently they weren’t being taught about dragons either until they put on the show about them according to the short), and dragons will never grow up alongside humans to see that some are good and want to help them, not trap and kill them.

- How is someone in the future supposed to pick up where Berk left off fighting for the dragons and uniting them when the Hidden World is so hostile towards humans?? No human is able to enter without getting swarmed by dragons

If you made it all the way to the bottom thanks for reading :] and again, I’m not trying to attack anyone who liked the movie, I’m just listing the things I, personally, didn’t like about it and the things that I thought didn’t work.

#httyd 3 criticism #httyd 3 salt #httyd 3 #long post #damn this took so long to compile #duskishrambles

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mrs-nate-humphrey · 3 years

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I’ve never personally been a fan of Derena after s1, but reading your posts made me sympathize a bit. I totally agree that them just being friends would be so nice. I hated the whole Serena pining after Dan in s5, it honestly felt like she only wanted him cause he didn’t want her. What do you make of Serena during the dair arc?

hi!! finally i have been re-united with my laptop and i can get to this ask! ngl, i was so excited to see it in my inbox, because i have a Lot of Thoughts about serena during the dair arc (some of which people have said before me, as some old LJ comments can probably testify, haha.)

this got very long and very serena centric *raises a mug of tea* cheers!

serena pining after dan and chasing after him like that was... i hated it too, and it made me.. uncomfortable is the best word i have for it, but also really deeply sad? i joke about serena’s ‘evil arc’ but as someone who genuinely loves her character and wanted good things for her, it was so painful to see her hurting so much and, instead of coping with that hurt in a mature way, causing harm to the people around her (two of whom she canonically loved very much; two of her favourite people in the world.)

the way i felt about serena during the dair arc was very much like... her reacting badly and not being sympathetic actually did make sense. i wasn’t a fan of how the show handled it and portrayed it, but given everything that happened with her in s3 and s4, i do think some kind of fallout was warranted and expected. everything that happened with lily, william and the fake cancer plotline was really messed up, and serena had spent majority of her life waiting for her dad to come back, and - i think we can blame lily for not being a particularly good (or present) parent, but i think serena had this very strong feeling that her dad coming back would somehow fix their family, or something like that. instead, his coming back caused a very new level of van der woodsen fuckery, and i think that would’ve been extremely traumatic for serena.

it’s also worth noticing that she doesn’t spend time after breaking up with nate in s3 to work on herself. she recognises that she needs to, recognises that she needs some time to recover and really find herself again. but s4 rolls around and she’s still feeling lost. going to paris with blair is fun for serena, but it’s also an escape - she’s actively not dealing with the stuff that’s happened, which i think is part of why her behaviour in early s4 is so chaotic and messy - leaving dan & nate hanging like that is.... mean. she should’ve been honest with them, she should’ve made a choice, even if that choice was ‘neither of you, i need more time, sorry’ or ‘hey, i’m not really sure yet, you shouldn’t have to wait for me to choose’.

i’ve said stuff very vaguely, mostly in tags, about serena & dan being very emotionally unintelligent, and i think this is serena’s emotional unintelligence - she wants things to be okay and alright again, but she doesn’t want to face her trauma and her insecurities to get through it (which... trauma is fucked up so i do understand that.) i think that’s what makes her such a sympathetic character to me. like, serena, you can run away from everything, but you can’t run away from yourself + your issues. you have to face them!! but she doesn’t really know how. nobody’s taught her this.

we’ve already gone into serena’s abandonment issues quite a bit, but i think serena during the dair arc was mostly those issues flaring up + the build-up of a lot of trauma re: the thing with her dad (that she was pretending not to see), serena feeling abandoned & lost because the only two people who she’s really ever thought of as ‘hers’, blair and dan, suddenly care about each other in a way that excludes her. we talk about the “dan and i have a real connection” thing in a dair way all the time, but the first time i saw that i was like “HELL YES” for dan and blair but like “ohhhhh noooo” for serena because the whole ‘we do things together that we could never do with you’ - which, i don’t think blair even meant in a hurtful way, but was probably the worst thing blair could’ve said to serena at the time??

it’s also worth noting that serena and dan keep going to each other when they’re at their lowest. serena reaches out to dan over the william thing, even though william majorly fucked over rufus, even though serena was dating nate at the time, it was dan she turned to then. when georgina takes milo away, dan immediately goes to serena, and she’s like, how are you, and he denies feeling bad about it, and serena (who probably knows dan well enough to know that it’s bullshit) humours him and goes “okay, let’s not talk about it” which nobody else was really doing at the time, which is why he went to serena. serena and dan’s high school relationship was very sweet and uncomplicated and i find it interesting (& a little sad, tbh) that when things go bad in either of their lives, both of them sort of immediately reach out for the other, almost like they’re trying to recreate the way their relationship was at the very beginning. gossipgirls has some great meta on this.

there’s probably also some jealousy over like.. dan and blair having found some stability and happiness with each other (without her! she’s no longer the person dan or blair loves the most and that hurts!) - and that they’ve found this stability while she still feels so lost and she’s drifting so much. serena’s gradual evolution into someone who really cared about being a socialite (??) and her reputation (to the extent that she was screwing lola over for her own benefit) felt very... drowning man clutching at straws-ish. like she’s lost everything else, might as well hold on to the one thing that she has.

this made me sad because i feel like... she still had dan. he didn’t want to be her boyfriend, he didn’t have romantic feelings for her, and he didn’t want to have sex with her. but he was still very much her friend. he confided in her!! he spoke to her about blair more openly than he did with anyone else (nate was right there, it’s not like the only person dan had in his corner was serena - serena was just the easiest person for him to talk to) and i really, really feel like if serena had just been like “dan, i want to be happy for you but i feel so lost, i feel like you and blair don’t need me anymore and i feel so lonely” or whatever... he would’ve understood!! he would’ve helped her through it! you know that bit with blair and serena in the elevator in 3x09? i can’t find the gifs right now Unfortunately but you know the scene im talking about - they both open up and talk and serena is finally honest with blair? i wish she’d gotten something like that with dan in s5 because like... this theme of dan trusting her with his heart (in a platonic way, but STILL, he was being soo honest and vulnerable and open with her) and her just being all supportive on the outside and sabotagey on the inside... like.. i didn’t like that for her, and i honestly think the level of evil they dialed it up to was cartoon villainny and very ooc for serena.

i DO see her having resistance and insecurity to the dair arc, but the sort of dishonesty and antics she was pulling felt so wrong and so un-serena, even in the light of all the trauma and the context to her acting out. the shephard divorce thing especially... serena spends so much of the earlier seasons feeling guilty and hating herself over the shephard wedding and the thing with nate. i don’t think she would do that again in any capacity - forgetting blair for a moment, i don’t think she would do that to herself. she hated the person she’d become back then & i do think serena is more strong-willed than most of us give her credit for (filming dan without his consent like that is a georgina move, it’s not a serena move.)

as for leaking blair’s diary... i feel like serena and blair have such a complicated and not always healthy friendship (that bit in s2 i think it is where serena says something about ‘im sick of always holding myself back so i don’t outshine you’ and blair is like ‘hey wtf??’ hits very hard because it’s so... understandable from BOTH of their perspectives, like i feel like i can understand how serena’s just been quietly holding onto all this resentment until she can’t be quiet about it anymore and it explodes, and blair’s insecurities make this moment one of her worst fears being actualised. but it’s an impactful moment because it touches upon the complexity of blairena.) serena leaking blair’s diary makes sense - i hate it, but i don’t think it was that ooc, and if that had been her only act of betrayal that would’ve felt a lot more realistic to me, tbh, given the way blair & serena’s relationship is and how often they hurt each other (sometimes even deliberately!!) like i would’ve just been like ‘serena! no!!’ as opposed to ‘that’s not my serena; what is this arc!!!” which is what s5 always makes me feel.

#meta #serena #this got VERY long!!#i hope it was worth the wait!!#anon #i got SO into writing this lmaooo i just love svdw very much #long post

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laurawritesandgames · 4 years

Text

A Day Late, Sorry!

Title: Reefer Madness

Fandom: Beetlejuice (Musical)

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Beetlejuice/Adam/Barbara, mention of Charles/Delia

Prompt: Parenting

Content Warning: Set during coronavirus pandemic, underage drug use

Summary: When Lydia is caught smoking pot, the Maitland-Deetz household has to come up with a punishment. But how do you discipline a teen during a pandemic? And will Beetlejuice even let the parents (and ghostly parental figures) punish his BFF?

The door to the Maitland-Deetz home opened. Lydia came in, wearing her mask and gloves, with Beetlejuice hovering beside her.

Barbara stopped mixing cookie dough to say hello. “How did it go?” The Maitland-Deetz adults had agonized about letting Lydia go to a class picnic organized by Claire Brewster’s mother during a pandemic.

Claire’s mother had tried to make the picnic as safe as possible. She and a few other parents were chaperones, everyone was required to test negative for coronavirus before showing up, the picnic was outdoors, everyone was expected to wear a mask and socially distance, and Winter River High’s Grade 10 class was only 20 kids. Charles had gone with Lydia to a few Black Lives Matter protests, and those had had many more people than this picnic.

Lydia had been so bored of quarantine that she’d actually wanted to engage with her classmates, which had been the deciding factor.

“It went well.” Lydia threw her disposable mask and gloves into the trash bin by the door. “It was nice to see everyone.”

Beetlejuice’s smell of rotting flesh was worse than usual. Barbara winced, waving her hand in front of her face. “Can you turn it down, please?”

“Turn what down?” Beetlejuice said too innocently.

“Anyway,” Lydia said, walking up the stairs, “my introvert battery is drained. I need to recharge.”

Beetlejuice followed her. “And I need the hot goss!”

Barbara let the two friends have their time together, though she was a little disappointed she hadn’t gotten more out of Lydia. That’s teenagers, I guess. I’ll try again later.

As Lydia washed her hands, Delia’s voice sounded in the hallway upstairs. Lydia responded back. Barbara returned to the kitchen, and had just picked up the mixing bowl when Delia’s shocked “Lydia Lilith Deetz!” rang through the house.

Barbara teleported up to the second floor of the house to see Delia and Lydia glaring at each other in the hallway with Beetlejuice floating beside Lydia. Adam teleported up a moment later.

“Young lady,” Delia said, “I can’t believe you. Smoking weed? Really? I thought you were smarter than that.”

Weed? Barbara sniffed the air, but couldn’t smell anything beyond Beetlejuice’s stink.

“It’s faint, but it’s there,” Delia insisted. She patted her faintly bulging stomach. “I have smell sensitivity, thanks to the child. And I have certainly smelled enough weed in my day!”

Lydia opened her mouth, closed it, then shrugged. “So what? Weed’s legal in tons of countries except for most of this fascist dictatorship.”

“What?” Barbara blurted out as Adam gasped.

“Where pot is legal, it’s legal for adults over 25,” Delia said. “You’re 16! Your mind is still developing.”

“Because you never, ever did pot when you were my age, Delia.”

“And it’s hardly something I’m proud of! Years from now, do you want to be looking for your underwear after a night with a drummer from a Duran Duran cover band? This is how it starts!”

Lydia snorted while Beetlejuice said, “I mean, if the drummer’s hot, yeah, sign me up.” He paused. “Who am I kidding? The drummer doesn’t even need to be that hot.”

Adam frowned at Beetlejuice. “And you’re covering for Lydia. When did you find out about this?”

Beetlejuice glanced at Lydia, who shrugged and gestured him forward. “Lyds flagged me down when she got near the house.”

“And you helped her cover this up without a second thought.”

“’Course I did! Oh nooooo, a teen did some weed. Who cares?”

“You’re the adult in this situation—”

Beetlejuice floated backward, gasping and clutching his chest. “You take that back, sir! I am not!” He paused. “Well, not an adult like you mean it.” Anxious, he bobbed in front of Lydia. “I’m a cool adult. Right, kid?”

“Totally.” There was a faint sarcastic edge to her voice, but he didn’t appear to catch it.

“You all heard her say it!” Beetlejuice said proudly.

A terrible thought occurred to Barbara. “You didn’t share the joint, did you?”

Lydia looked hurt. “I’m not risking coronavirus to get high!” Reluctantly, she added, “We each had our own joint.”

“And who brought them?” Adam asked.

“A goat-footed man offered them to us for the price of signing our name in his book. He said he would visit us again on the dark of the moon to complete his dark pact.” She smirked. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Lydia….” Delia said.

“Or maybe we found them on the ground and smoked them like the reckless teens that we are. I can’t remember.”

“Where is this attitude coming from?” Barbara asked. “This isn’t like you.”

Lydia glared at her, so angry that Barbara almost took a step back. “’Not like me’? We met four months ago! You don’t even know me. At least this one,” she jabbed a finger at Delia, “was supposed to be my life coach, so Daddy filled her in on the basics. Not that she ever bothered to get to know me, either.”

Beetlejuice laughed. “Aw, man, she burned you guys so good.”

“We’re going to talk with your father,” Delia said, “and come up with your punishment.”

Barbara was touched that she’d included Barbara and Adam.

Lydia laughed coldly. “Good luck getting Daddy to punish his little girl.” She strode confidently over to her room and closed the door.

“I’m gonna grab Lyds some chips,” Beetlejuice said. “She’s probably got the munchies!”

“You know,” Barbara said, “you could stay and—”

“Deuces, nerds!” He teleported away. A few moments later, his voice sounded in Lydia’s room along with the crinkling of a plastic bag.

Disappointing but not surprising. When Beetlejuice returned from the Netherworld, he’d made it clear he wasn’t interested in parenting Lydia or any Deetz children that came along.

As they walked downstairs to Charles’s office, Delia said, “My parents never punished me for anything in my life. They let me drink and smoke as long as I was in the basement, where they could keep an eye on me.”

“I went to some parties and stayed out past curfew in Grade 12,” Barbara said. “Mom and Dad grounded me. This one,” she nodded to Adam, “never saw a punishment in his life.”

“That’s not true, honey,” Adam said. “One time, I was doing math homework and I looked up my answers in the back of the textbook. I confessed an hour later and got extra chores for the rest of the week.” He looked thoughtful. “Grounding Lydia seems pretty redundant. Unless someone else holds another picnic, it probably won’t come up. The living are all stuck inside anyway.”

Delia sighed. “I know! And we can’t take away her phone. It’s her lifeline to the outside world! I don’t want to affect her mental health.” She bit her lower lip and stopped walking. “Perhaps we should let this go. She’s still healing from losing Emily. And no way am I going to be the evil stepmother! If Charles punishes her, she’ll probably blame me!” She glanced anxiously between Adam and Barbara.

“We won’t let her do that,” Barbara said. “We’ll be a united front.”

“Using marijuana recreationally is illegal,” Adam said. “I know not all of us agree with that law,” he nodded to Delia, “but it is the law, and she deliberately broke it. She could’ve been arrested! It’s our duty to show her there are consequences for her actions.”

“As soon as we figure out what those consequences are,” Barbara said. “You know, I read a parenting blog that said parents could ask their older teens to suggest their own punishments. Maybe she’ll come up with a good one.”

Delia rubbed her temples. The pregnancy was taking a lot out of her; she was tired and achey most of the time. “Well...let’s go see what Charles thinks.”

She knocked on the door to his office. After a few moments, Charles opened it. Seeing the looks on their faces, he frowned. “What did the demon do this time?”

“Surprisingly,” Barbara said, “he’s not the problem. It’s Lydia.”

Charles took charge immediately. After explaining his plan and getting everyone’s agreement, he asked to see Lydia in the living room.

Lydia came downstairs and Beetlejuice phased through the floor to hover by her side. While Beetlejuice slouched and scowled at everyone, Lydia looked totally confident. She didn’t blush or frown as she faced her entire family.

When Barbara had come home from Miranda’s party, she’d frozen and stammered when she’d seen her father in the living room. I wonder what Dad felt when I stayed out past curfew? Did he expect something like this? Was he grateful I wasn’t coming home drunk? I wish I’d asked him. She’d never know, now. It stung, but she had more important things to focus on.

Like whatever chaos Beetlejuice had in mind. He wasn’t going to take his best friend getting punished without a fight.

“Lydia,” Charles said, “Delia, Adam and Barbara told me what happened at the picnic. You smoked marijuana, breaking both a law and a house rule. I want to see a 5,000-word essay on my desk by the end of the week about the effects of marijuana on a young person’s development. This essay must be the same quality as one you’d do for school. Use the Chicago Manual of Style for reference and citations.”

Lydia chuckled. “You can’t be serious.”

“We’ll just plagiarize it anyway!” Beetlejuice said.

“I can Google an essay just as well as you can,” Charles said, unperturbed. “I’ll be sure to check that your work is your own.”

Her eyes narrowed. “It was just one joint, Daddy. It’s not a big deal. I’m not going to become the school drug dealer or anything—if we’re even going back to school in the fall.”

“Delia, the Maitlands and I disagree. We think it is a big deal. And since you live in our house, you have to follow our rules.”

Beetlejuice turned to Lydia. “Kid, I can get us out of this house anytime you want with a snap of my fingers.”

“And go where, Beej?” Lydia crossed her arms over her stomach. “I know you’re trying, but c’mon. It’s a global pandemic.”

Beetlejuice’s spiky hair deflated a little bit. “Oh, right.”

Charles took a step toward his daughter. More gently, he said, “Lydia, I’m not insensible that you’re facing more stress than anything I ever felt at your age. First, Emily died, then the pandemic happened, and now quarantine…. Not to mention the changes that have happened to our family.” Lydia’s gaze flicked to Delia’s stomach. “If you want to talk about what led you to make this decision, we’d all welcome that.”

Beetlejuice scoffed. “Why she did it? To be a badass!” He held out his fist for a fistbump. Lydia didn’t reciprocate, but watched her father thoughtfully instead. Good. Barbara began to relax. That means she’s listening.

“If you don’t want to talk to us,” Adam said, “we can increase your therapy sessions to two times a week.”

“I’m sick of journaling and breathing exercises!” Lydia snapped. “Nothing works! Even that stupid joint didn’t! I’ve been stuck inside for months because of a pandemic our country’s leaders are too chickenshit to deal with. I’m a privileged beneficiary of a racist, capitalist system that’s destroying the world. And I’ve literally seen what’s on the other side. Nothing gets better. This life is all we get, and it’s shit.”

She stepped closer to her father, her eyes never leaving his face. “And now, I have to do a stupid essay because I did something I thought would make it all bearable for one fucking minute!”

Her family had to do more for her. Lydia had taken antidepressants for months on the advice of her doctor—perhaps she needed her dose readjusted. If this therapist wasn’t helping, they’d find another. Adam and I could make an activity schedule to give her day some more structure, so it’s not just scrolling through social media. And Beetlejuice can probably think of lots of fun things to do—well, fun and slightly terrifying things, but Lydia loves that kind of stuff.

Charles reached out for a hug, but Lydia stepped back, hands out to push him away if he tried.

“Oh, Lydia, sweetheart, I know things are tough right now—” Barbara began.

“Mom wouldn’t do this to me!”

Charles recoiled slightly, his arms dropping.

Even Lydia seemed surprised that she’d said that, but she quickly added, “Mom wouldn’t have punished me for one joint. She would’ve understood me. She would’ve cared. And you know it.”

Charles raised his eyebrows. “Lydia, you’ve built Emily up in your mind as this creative, anarchic madwoman, and she certainly was. But do you seriously think she would be unconcerned if you started doing drugs? We had countless conversations about how to parent you, particularly in those final months when we knew…we knew she wouldn’t be around. This is the punishment we worked out together.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not. This is literally what she would have wanted me to do.”

Lydia stared at her father. Her chin began quivering as tears welled up in her eyes. Barbara almost teleported to her, but stopped. Is it my place? I’m just the ghost parent, not her real one….

At some point, Beetlejuice had floated over to her and Adam. He was watching Lydia and Charles intently, as if looking for something.

Lydia sniffled, swallowed, then said, “Fine, I’ll do your dumbass essay.”

“What? C’mon, kid!” Beetlejuice gestured to Charles. “Don’t give in to The Man!”

Lydia gave him a small smile. “Not everyone has the energy of an undead demon, Beej.” She tossed her hair. “Besides, Dad, all the research that’s out there says pot should be legalized for recreational use, anyway.”

“Not for 16-year-olds.”

“We’ll see.” She turned around and went upstairs.

“Bet you loved that, fascists,” Beetlejuice said to the parents and parental figures. But Beetlejuice usually got over things quickly as long as they didn’t directly involve him, so it wasn’t surprising when he slung his arms over Barbara and Adam’s shoulders and smirked. “Babs, Sexy, if you wanna make out to forget your guilt that you made Lydia hate you, you where know I be.”

Lydia stopped halfway up the stairs. “‘Hate you’? God, BJ, you’re so dramatic. I don’t hate them. They’re completely overreacting, but they’re just being parents. It’s their job.”

That threw him—he blinked at her a few moments, then shrugged. “So it wasn’t my best pickup line. Instead of criticizing my game, go…I dunno, cry about your dead mom some more.”

“Beetlejuice!”

At least Lydia didn’t appear hurt. She rolled her eyes and raised her middle finger at Beetlejuice before going upstairs.

Charles huffed. “I think the next thing we’re going to work on is crude language and gestures. I’ve been quite lax about that and someone—” he eyed Beetlejuice “—has been a bad influence.”

“We should also not joke about people’s traumas, Bug,” Adam said.

Beetlejuice grunted. To Barbara’s surprise, he didn’t say ‘She started it!’ He was legitimately thinking about something.

Delia sat down on the living room couch, sighing in exhaustion. “Well! We got through it. Huzzah, everyone!” She glanced at Beetlejuice. “Except you,” she said coolly.

“Things got pretty tense there,” Adam said. “It’s lucky I don’t have a body, or I might have had a small panic attack.”

“Most of the thanks goes to Charles,” Barbara said.

“I was happy to take the lead on this one. I have the most experience, after all. Unfortunately, this is hardly the first time I’ve had to discipline her. She’s not always the most attentive to her studies.”

“Really?” Adam asked. “But she’s so intelligent.”

“Which means she doesn’t always feel challenged, so she puts off her homework and assumes she can complete it the evening before it’s due.”

“Wow, I had no idea.” Barbara had pictured Lydia as a young woman much like Adam, eager to learn and devoted to school. Lydia is right. We don’t know each other that well.

“Do you think we should talk to her psychiatrist again?” Barbara asked.

Charles nodded. “I was thinking that, as well.”

Beetlejuice poofed away in the puff of smoke as the parenting talk continued. Remembering his unusual thoughtfulness, Barbara resolved to speak to him later.

Beetlejuice appeared as if summoned when, an hour later, Barbara pulled her chocolate chip cookies out of the oven.

“Ooo! They’re all goopy!” Beetlejuice snagged one, and didn’t seem to mind that it was hot.

“We got some news on where the weed came from,” Barbara said as he ate. “Claire’s mom called Charles during our meeting. Near the end of the picnic, five of the kids said they wanted to check out the empty school. Lydia was one of them. They disappeared from view for around 10 minutes. The chaperones figured they just wanted to get out of cleaning duty, and nobody thought much of it because the party was wrapping up. Claire’s mom apologized over and over again. I don’t think she’s going to be hosting any more class picnics. Poor woman. We still don’t know who brought the drugs, though.

“Er, I hate to ask, but…it wasn’t you, right?” Beetlejuice was quite casual about drug use, and Lydia could talk him into anything.

Beetlejuice didn’t mind being suspected of providing drugs to children. Maybe to a demon, that was a mark of pride? “I was watching Farscape with Adam during the picnic. I only teleported away when I heard Lyds say my name.” He could always hear the living say it, for some reason.

“The person watching Farscape could’ve been a clone, though.”

“Ooo, now you’re thinking like a demon, babe! But for real—no way would I bring joints for some teens and not for myself. Am I really that generous?”

“You’re right. Sorry, I just had to make sure.”

He winked at her. “I wouldn’t trust me either, baby.” He bit into his third cookie.

“You seemed caught off guard earlier when Lydia said she didn’t hate us. What was that about?”

He shrugged. “Just trying to make myself fart to break the tension.”

“Well, I know that’s a fib. You’re always able to fart.”

He stopped chewing, thought for a moment, swallowed, then said, “Eh…guess I’m just not used to kids and parents not hating each other.”

She touched his free hand. When he didn’t pull away, she wrapped her fingers around it. “That’s awful.”

“That’s life. And the afterlife, I guess, since Ma was there too.” He frowned. The hand she was holding twitched, like he wanted to start fiddling with something like he always did when he was upset or anxious. “Whatever. I killed her with a sandworm, the scene ended on my hilarious joke, and the audience got a happy ending. It all worked out.”

“If you want to talk some more about your mother, Bug—”

“Why, so I can cry about my dead mom, like Lyds? Sing a song about it? Not my brand, babes. I don’t even think about Mom.” He focused very intently on the cookies on the baking tray as he said, “I think about you and Sexy and Lyds, sometimes Chuck and Delia. You’re the people I care about, not that bi—sorry, sorry, that was gonna be a gendered slur, but I caught myself.”

“I’m proud of you.” Barbara leaned over and kissed his cheek.

He grinned. “You know, I don’t think I hear that enough from you guys. I could kill so many people, and I never do. A little more ‘good job, Beetlejuice!’ would be nice.”

“We’ll try.” She kissed his lips. As she pulled back, he leaned closer and kept the kiss going. Then a goopy finger brushed her nose, leaving a trail of warmth down it.

Beetlejuice pulled away, chuckling. “You look like you ate poop.”

She rolled her eyes (was she picking that up from Lydia?) and wiped the melted chocolate off her nose. Beetlejuice hadn’t used the kiss as an excuse to grab all the cookies on the tray, which was surprising.

Not that Beetlejuice was done with the cookies. He grabbed two more then floated out of her reach.

“Do you mind if I tell Adam about this conversation?” she asked. Adam, Barbara and Beetlejuice hadn’t been in a polyamorous relationship long; Barbara wanted boundaries to be extra clear to avoid hurt feelings and miscommunication.

“Girl, you know I love when people talk about me.”

“Even stuff about your mother, which might be a little more complicated than you’re pretending it is?”

“Or maybe it’s not complicated at all? I’m a simple guy, babes.”

“You do like to say that, yes.”

“But, eh, don’t tell Sexy all the crap I said about kids and parents and shit. He’ll just wanna talk. Bleh. Pretend I was always my normal awesome self.”

“Hey, Bug,” she said lightly, “I think opening up to someone you care about is pretty awesome. So, to me, you were always your normal awesome self.”

“Dork.” But he was smiling as he poofed away.

When the cookies cooled, she put two on a plate, poured a glass of milk, and went upstairs.

She checked in on Adam next. She’d left him reading in their bedroom, but now he was staring out the window at the cemetery.

“Hi, sweetie,” she said.

“Hi.” He didn’t turn around.

“Do you want to go visit them?” That cemetery held his parents’ graves. They’d died in a car crash coming home from a Christmas party five years ago.

He nodded. “I know we can’t stay for long because of the sandworms, but just for a few minutes….”

“When Lydia’s done her essay, maybe she could come, too. She’s mentioned wanting to have a solo picnic in the graveyard sometime.”

“That’d be nice. I hope Mom and Dad approved of how we handled Lydia. They probably would’ve liked a good prayer circle, but the Deetzes aren’t that kind of family.” He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. “They were good people, in their way. They knew farm life wasn’t for me, and they never made me feel bad about choosing my own path.”

“Your family was so welcoming when we started dating.”

He chuckled, smiling at her over his shoulder. “Most of that was shock, I think. They bent over backwards because they knew you were too good for me.”

They’d told this joke at parties before. Barbara laughed dutifully. “Your mom never gossiped. You’ve lived here your whole life—you know how rare that is. Most people just can’t wait to spill the beans. But I could tell her anything.”

Adam’s smile dropped. “I couldn’t.”

His parents had probably been part of the reason he hadn’t come out as bisexual until after his death. Barbara set the plate and glass down and joined him at the window, resting her hand on his shoulder.

“I have no idea what I’m going to tell them when we find them in the Netherworld,” Adam said. “’Hi, Mom and Dad, here’s my wife and my boyfriend. I have an open marriage now! I’ve slept with a man who’s not actually a man! He’s a demon.’”

“Well, saying it all at once is a bit much,” she said lightly. “You might need to lead up to it.”

A smile twitched the corners of his lips before he sighed and stared out the window again.

She rubbed at his shoulder, tense under her hand. “We have time to figure it out. We’re not going anywhere for a while. And maybe their perspective will have shifted in all those years in the Netherworld?”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t worry about it. And maybe the fact that we sort of have a child now means they’ll overlook a few sins.”

No, we live with a child. She’s not ours in any way. Barbara said, “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

Adam turned away from the window and looked at her, concerned.

Barbara and Adam approached Lydia’s room 20 minutes later. Lydia’s door stood out against the pale gray wall; she’d had her door wallpapered to make it look like a dingy, cobwebbed hallway with a mysterious figure at the end of it. Barbara knocked; Lydia groaned.

Opening the door, Lydia looked unenthused. “Is this the real punishment—everyone coming to check up on me?” The cookies didn’t even elicit a smile, though she took them with a curt, “Thank you.” She waved them in. “Shut the door, take a seat. Let’s get this over with.”

Her room was messier than Barbara would’ve preferred, with socks everywhere and a pile of folded laundry still in its hamper. Lydia set the cookies and milk down next to a new pile of books on her nightstand. There were already bookmarks in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and Yes You Can! Your Guide to Becoming an Activist. Lydia had been ordering books from local bookstores like crazy during the pandemic.

“You missed Delia.” Lydia half-sat, half-fell onto her bed, bouncing a little. “‘Peep these stones, girl! They’ll unblock your chakras because they’re fire. But they’re actually stones.’ I got her out of here by hissing some words in Klingon over her stomach. She thought I was cursing her unborn child—it was great! And, no.” She swung her legs up to stretch out. “That doesn’t mean I hate the fetus. They can’t help being incubated in the world’s worst person. So you can tell Beetlejuice that, if he’ll listen to you. He thinks he knows me so well.” She chuckled. “He only thinks that because he thinks I’m a human version of him. Everything’s a Mommy-or-Daddy issue with that guy.”

She laced her hands behind her head. Her black dress blended in with her black duvet cover and the rooms black walls, making the pale white skin of her face stand out sharply. “And, of course, Daddy dearest came by. Did we cry a bit over my dead mother? I plead the fifth.” She looked at Barbara and Adam, waving a hand. “Speak! Impart to me your undead wisdom. Cure this troubled child of her afflictions.”

Barbara and Adam had worked on what they were going to say, but it took a few moments to absorb everything Lydia had just said. She’d be good in theatre. Maybe we could look into Zoom classes….

Adam sucked in a breath. “Lydia, we’ve been talking about what you said to Barbara earlier today. About how we’ve only known each other for a few months.”

Lydia’s eyebrows twitched up. “Oh…kay?”

Barbara spoke next. “You’re completely right. We don’t actually know you. And once I realized that, I realized it was presumptuous of us to join in with your father and stepmother while they were disciplining you today. It made me think about how we joined this family in the first place. You agreed to let us stay, and we’ll always be grateful. But you also agreed after a very traumatic experience, and none of us really knew what it meant to share our lives together, living and dead.

“We all sort of fell into these roles after Beetlejuice left. We became like your second set of parents. We’ve been calling you our adopted child and everything. But…well, you’re not. And you already have a father and a stepmother.”

Lydia sat up on her bed, facing the ghosts, her jaw tense. “You’re—you’re not leaving, right? For the Netherworld?” She swallowed, gaze darting between the two of them.

Adam shook his head. “Of course not, Lydia,” he said gently. “Our boyfriend hates that place, for one thing. And we want to be here for you and the new baby.” He nodded to Barbara to continue.

“But,” Barbara said, “that doesn’t mean we need to be in your life as parents. We could just be two roommates. We could chat over dinner, watch TV together, maybe bake something once in a while. But if you don’t want us to be, we don’t need to be so involved in how you’re raised. That’s Charles’s and Delia’s job.”

Lydia was clutching her fingers together tightly. “I never even bothered to ask—did you want kids while you were alive?”

“We did…theoretically,” Adam said. “That’s the next step in the life plan once you own a home, right? Some of our friends had four kids already. But in practice, we had a lot of fears holding us back. If we’d been braver….” He looked away, sighing, before he looked back at her. “But we weren’t, and we can’t change that now.”

“Or we might have had a child and hated it,” Barbara added. “Who’s to say?” She patted Adam’s hand. “It’s a bit of a complicated topic for us. You’re a child, Lydia. You shouldn’t have to carry a dead couple’s wishes and regrets.”

Lydia’s gaze dropped to her hands, still gripping each other on her lap. It wasn’t an easy thing they were asking. Barbara gave her silence and space to think.

“You’re not who I want,” Lydia said, looking up at them. “I’ll always want my mother. I apologize for the bluntness, but Mom always made friends with the elephant in the room, and I’m my mother’s daughter.”

“Of course, sweetie—ah, Lydia.” Barbara cleared her throat. “It’s only natural.”

“But you two…. You made me feel normal even when I was so alone.” Her voice was getting quieter and quieter. “You always listened to me talk about her. And you’re…you’re part of the reason I came back from the Netherworld.”

Barbara chuckled softly. “You’re the reason we stayed in the world of the living, originally. We had to defeat Beetlejuice and keep you safe. But that doesn’t mean we need to act as a second set of parents. I’m not sure that’s fair to you.

“Lydia, we don’t have to decide anything right now. We can talk about this tomorrow, or a week from now, or a month.”

Lydia’s dark gaze locked on Barbara. Her eyes shone with tears under a heavy frown. “You probably don’t even want me as a daughter,” she spat. “You probably dreamed of some little girl in pretty pink dresses who played with dolls instead of skulls. I’m too complicated, too messy. But you don’t want to say it. That’s not nice, and you two are nothing but nice. Just stop being cowards! Make it easy on us!”

“Oh, Lydia, honey….” Barbara couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to her. She held Lydia as the girl’s tears started falling. Adam sat down on Lydia’s other side, stroking her back. She rested her head on Barbara’s shoulder.

“I love you guys,” Lydia whispered thickly.

“And here I go,” Barbara said as she started crying, too. “We love you too, sweetie.”

“We would’ve been honoured to have a daughter like you,” Adam said, tearing up. He hovered the Kleenex box over to them, so they could wipe their eyes and noses without breaking the hug.

“I am so fucking sick of crying,” Lydia grumbled as she dabbed her nose.

Barbara wiped her eyes. “Language.”

“Right. Daddy said he wanted to tackle that next.” She smiled. “I’m sorry you got a daughter at this intemperate age, Maitlands. I was a real peach when I was four.”

“You’re perfect,” Barbara assured her. “You make bad decisions sometimes, but you’re perfect.”

Lydia’s eyeroll was somewhat undercut by the fresh batch of tears.

Adam commented, “I guess we’ll need to work on a parenting schedule with Charles and Delia. See what we can figure out.” Adam sounded cheerful at the thought. He always loved making plans.

Lydia raised an eyebrow. “You’re dating Beetlejuice, but you still love rules and order. You’re a mystery, Adam Maitland. In fact,” she sniffled again, “we’re all mysteries to each other. That’s what started this conversation, isn’t it?

“So, hello, Maitlands. My name’s Lydia Deetz.”

“Hi, Lydia. I’m Barbara Maitland.”

It was time for the Maitlands to get to know their daughter.

#beetlelandsweek2020 #beetlejuice #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice x adam x barbara #charles x delia #adam maitland #barbara maitland #lydia deetz

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purplerose244 · 3 years

Text

Peacefully

Here for this year’s Ninjago Secret Santa! Man I love this event, thank you a lot @coco-jaguar for organizing it once again! ❤ Hi @davisisacommonname, I’m your secret santa! Here’s you gift, I hope you like it! 😊😊

Merry Christmas and happy festivitites!! 💕💕

Summary: It’s a day like others, just without the usual mayhem shaking the entire city. A time to think of less stressful possibilities.

“So, what did we learn today?”

“That dares are stupid?” As they got back inside the monastery, finally escaping the chilling winter air, Nya raised a gigantic eyebrow at the green ninja. At which the mighty leader seemed to shrink the littlest bit. “… that dares involving the master of lighting putting lights on the tree using spinjitzu, resorting in him entangling himself into the wires and making every single bulb explode by electrification, are stupid?”

“There you go.” The master of water sighed loudly. “I don’t even know why I’m surprised it happened.” Despite the nonchalance of this blondie, the brand-new lights that they had been forced to buy and how she was probably the only one irritated about it – especially since Kai had been laughing hysterically for ten minutes straight afterwards –, she smiled.

Lloyd mimicked her, probably sensing he was not in mortal danger anymore, taking off scarf and hat. His golden locks puffed up as soon as the headpiece was off.

“Does the fact that I lost against Cole count as enough punishment?”

“Mhm?”

“I bet with him it was going to be Kai the first to cause an incident, he was supposed to be the one to take the bet. Now I’m in debt of one week of chores.” Another eyebrow was raised, less furious, more judging. “What? I’m trying to catch up, apparently the guys used to bet on everything when they first formed the team, from who was going to be the green ninja, to who was going to be the first to find out the identity of Samurai X! Like, I’m that prophesied green savior, and I knew about your little escapades.” Nya couldn’t help the little smirk. Ironically, the green ninja did turn out to be the first to discover the truth. “I could’ve won two times already, I wanna keep up now.”

They stepped into the kitchen, hearing faraway sounds. The others were most likely elsewhere putting up less expendable decorations. Nya was already looking towards the stove, thinking of nothing other than hot chocolate. Knowing Lloyd, they were on the same page.

“Okay, that’s uselessly prideful and kind of adorable, but this better not turn into a gambling addiction little one.”

“Nya, my father was the king of the Underworld. Is there really a worse evil than that?”

She couldn’t argue back.

Lost in thoughts about something warm to melt her frozen bones, she almost jumped when the sudden scribble came to her ears, and one extremely peaceful whistling that they were all too accustomed to at this point. In the living room right next, sitting on the sofa with the television uncharacteristically switched off, was Cole. Eyes on a random notebook he had on his knees, a pencil in the air, wearing that ridiculous sweater Jay found at the mall with muscled arms drawn over the sleeves – such a miracle of an ugly sweater.

He looked extremely taken by his activity, munching the end of the pencil every once in a while. Seeing their official lifter so calm and captured by whatever mindless activity had forced him to sit down was curious. It did happen before, but lately it got rarer. It was always a nice view.

Nya looked at the green ninja, who pointed at the kitchen with his thumb, right where the mugs where. She nodded, and went to take place next to the master of earth.

Who jumped right away, giving her a look.

“What the…? You’re back already? I didn’t hear you get in.”

“Wow, you don’t say!” From the kitchen the blonde’s voice erupted. “It’s almost like we’re ninja or something, unbelievable!” It followed accurate noises made by mouth, and if they knew him – and after years they absolutely did – then the little brat was probably mimicking an explosion coming out of his head – he was hanging around Jay a little too much.

Nya giggled, while the master of earth rolled his eyes with a little grin.

“Nice to hear you’re all in a good mood after our little blackout. You got the lights?”

“All done. Sorry about the scare, but it looked like you were in your own world.” She tilted her head, looking around. The living room was getting more festive, but it missed at least half the holly. “Didn’t you guys finish while we were gone?”

“We were going to, then something came up and we can’t really continue until Zane comes back to the shop… Kai accidentally set the tree on fire while you two were gone.” Her loud facepalm spoke louder than any of them. “I think Wu is still giving him an earful as he did with Jay as we speak … and before you ask Lloyd, Jay made a mess before Kai. So I still won the bet.”

“Aww, for once that I actually need Hot Shot to cause a mess!” The green ninja came out of the kitchen, the kettle starting to heat up into the kitchen, pout clearly in sight. For being their brave leader and the strongest ninja of all, he was still kind of a kid – although in all honesty, weren’t they all? “Anyway, what got you so into it that you forgot how to hear?” He walked until he was behind the couch, leaning over the master of earth’s shoulder and smiling. “Hey, that’s pretty cool! I didn’t know you could draw!” His surprised tone came out sincerely, especially since it felt like forever since they had found each other in this weird family. Finding new details was always a shock.

Nya scooted closer as well, smiling at the familiar shading of the chicken drawn onto the paper, with the real one sleeping over a pillow in front of the tv.

“You still have a nice touch. I haven’t seen you do it ever since it was just the four of you in action, and this little evil brat was in some random snake prison.” Lloyd mouthed an ‘oohhh’ of understand as why he didn’t remember. “To be more specific, I’m pretty sure it was back when instead of listening to my research about the Serpentine, you guys have tried to poison me with perfume.” Good thing no villain knew about her little Achilles hill.

Cole snorted, pressing his eraser on the corner of the paper.

“You were telling complicated stuff to that airhead that is your brother, to the guy that was lookin at your in awe while trying his hardest to ask you out, and to a nindroid. A robot. You can’t really blame us.”

“What’s your excuse then?” The master of earth raised his piece.

“I’m pretty freaking good at this.” Nya snorted. Again, no arguments here. “You know… I’ve been thinking about those times. And it’s not like it was easier, but I guess we didn’t really know how much things could become complicated and return back then.” Cole looked over the drawing, shrugging. “But I’m in vein of taking something back from there, exactly because we don’t know when we could get called into action again. It’s little, but it’s still mine… I felt silly like that this morning.” He grinned of that introverted nature that, despite years, was still a part of him.

And it was okay. It was great even. Nya gave him a shoulder.

“Hey, it’s not silly, it’s good.”

“Yeah! All of us should do something other than fighting.” Lloyd chimed in, dropping next to Cole on the other side, smiling. “Like for example, even though it’s been a pretty shady part of my life, I kinda miss PE back at Darkley’s. Moving just for the sake of moving. We should play sometimes, not because of training, it could be fun… or Nya could annihilate us, whichever comes first.”

“I’m not that competit-” The master of water blinked twice, shaken by the quickest flashback of her life. “… no wait scratch that, I totally am.”

Cole snickered, tapping the notebook with his pencil.

“Besides having as a golden rule to never put the blacksmith brothers against each other-” It could be the time Ninjago actually managed to get completely destroyed for good. “I would be down for that, why not? No sparring or anything, just a friendly match of whatever. I didn’t even get to do that as a kid, dad would always say that I could risk putting muscles where a dancer didn’t need them…” He flexed one arm, the massive hill pulling up the drawing onto the sleeve. He grinned with satisfaction. “How about football? I’ve always wanted to try football!” Oh for whatever reason other than having the strength to tackle a mountain?

“Absolutely!” Lloyd nodded eagerly. “Let’s do it! Oh, and soccer too, Brad and I used to try that a lot when we were kids!” He seemed to absolutely glow and the perspective, and it was kinda sad that such a simple reality represented an actual opportunity for him.

Before Nya could get lost into more self-deprecating depressive thoughts, and the fact that not even one of them had a normal childhood except maybe for Jay – and considering the still not so clear Cliff Gordon erased reality affair that was still up to discussion –, there was a loud whistle coming from the kitchen. The green ninja immediately sprouted into action, sprinting towards the sound. As soon as Cole decided to put down his drawing, seeing as the chicken had woken up to go bother someone – bet on Kai –, the blondie came back with three steaming mugs, giving to them all.

The master of water held up hers – a blue one with a storm cloud on it saying ‘Too tide to talk’ –, smiling at the distinct bitter scent of black cocoa. They knew each other tastes way too well.

“Sounds good to me. I also fancy basketball, so I’m down for that.”

“Nice! Mm, but how about other hobbies? Nya?” Cole took his time to take a generous sip from his mug that was literally dripping because of the amount of marshmallow – covering slightly the orange surface with ‘I’m a grounded person, like my coffee’ written on it –, while the gray ninja frowned a little. “Anything you would like to regain? You never really stopped with engineering so I’m guessing that’s out of the way.”

“Yeah, but,” She hummed, tracing the warm cup with her fingers. “That wasn’t a hobby or something I liked to do, not at first at least. It was just like Samurai X, a way to show you guys I could do what you did, even better. It grew on me, but it’s kinda work too, I’m proud of it but nowhere near as passionate as Jay or Cyrus Borg could be.” It was all about her tendency of holding onto the things she excelled at after all, the one obstacle that had almost cost her the true potential of her element. Despite her steps forward, putting a difference between liking to be good at something and liking it was still a little complicated. Then again… “… maybe painting?”

Cole grinned in surprise, Lloyd raised his head from his cup showing an impressive chocolate mustache – along with that black mug saying ‘It’s morning so you green and bear it’… and yes those mugs were all Jay’s presents.

“Whoa, where did that come from?”

“Yeah no offence, but you never stroke me as the artistic type.”

“None taken, it’s not exactly something that I feel it belongs to me, but maybe that’s why I used to like it. Because it was so far I didn’t have to think too much about it.” Nya smiled, taking another sip. “Remember the second Steep of Wisdom Wu opened in the middle of Ninjago City? To attract more customers I decided to work on a mural, right on the side. I don’t even know why, I just bought paint, brushes and a suit and started.”

“Oohh, I remember the one!” Lloyd snapped his fingers, the marshmallow in his cocoa shaking in the movement. “It was the one with the big majestic Wu serving the customer, I thought he hired an artist for it! That was cool!”

“You’re not saying it just because you’re my little brother, right?”

“Oh no, if it was ugly I would make a manifest all about it exactly because I’m your little brother. Brotherly code, smack talk every time it’s possible.” And then he fist bumped with his earthly brother nearby, wearing that same stupid grin. “But seriously, you were good at it. We finally have some free time to our hands, maybe it could be a good time for a new work. We still need the mural of that Day of the Departed where Cole turned back human after all, since those monks decided they had ‘lost the harmony of the inspiration’.” No one had been happy with leaving that important adventure behind – too bad they were in a monastery, a place of peace.

Cole hummed mindlessly, munching a marshmallow.

“Tell you what, how about we buy drawing and painting materials together for Christmas shopping?” He chugged down his drink, releasing a very satisfied sigh before leaning his back softly over the couch. “It’s usually Zane or Pix, we could take over for once and no, don’t give me that look water lily, it’s not for buying an extra cake and yes, do give me that look greenie, if you come along we’re so escaping and get to the sweet shop.” And there it came, another fist bump.

She had signed up for this.

She had signed up for this the moment she had let herself being overtaken by a bunch of skeletons, a past hit on her pride that to this day made her want to take a bone and break it in halves every time she thought about it – sports were going to be massacres, she was kinda looking forwards to it.

“I’m bringing leashes for you two vampires with sweet teeth, but it’s not a bad idea. And I like the mall in this period, it could even bring some inspiration as to what to paint.”

“How did you decide the first time?”

“I just thought of a simple design to get more clients.” Nya finished her drink, giving her eyes to a very curious looking blonde, thinking that it had been so long. It had always been so long, every single time she reevoked a part of her life, even though she was still so young. It was that eventful. “I worked on that project all day… but after it melted under the sun, it got ruined because of the wind and a lightning decided to strike it right in the middle, I just splashed it with all the colors I had and spinjitzued the heck out of it.”

“… rage, the mark of an artist.” Lloyd snickered, then he froze, suddenly beaming at the two. “Hey, why don’t you two work on something together? Cole makes the drawing and you paint it, it could be like a Christmas gift or something!”

Nya popped her mouth opened. How did they never think of that? How did they never while they had been battling villain after villain after villain after- Oh, there was the answer.

She turned to the master of earth, who looked just as engaged with the idea, if not more.

“Heck yeah, let’s do it! I can sketch a few ideas!”

“I do have colors I never got to try last time…”

“And I know mom got a few old frames that didn’t get accepted by the museum, I’m sure we can find a good one for this.” Lloyd grinned, scratching his cheek. “It’s almost weird putting up a plan for something other than defeating evilness…”

“Maybe, doesn’t make it any less good.” Cole winked at the two of them, looking inspired. And it was so good to see her brothers so high-spirited, and being happy with them. “… aha, I got one!” The master of earth hurried to the notebook, scrabbling quickly while the green ninja leaned his chin over his shoulder to see better, and the master of water did the same with her elbow on the other side. There was no other noise besides the pencil moving, and the suddenly more vivid voice of the rest of their family not too far away.

Peace was an abstract concept, it was in her life at least. But at least this moment, this situation, this instant, for Nya this was hers. And she wanted to make the most of it.

“… is that Jay getting entangled into the Christmas lights while doing spinjitzu?”

“Yeah? Is that the ‘should I punch you now or later for stupidity’ frown?”

“Nah, it’s the ‘what shade of color better depict bad life decisions’ frown.”

#ninjago #ninjago secret santa 2020 #ninjago cole #ninjago lloyd #ninjago nya #lloyd garmadon #cole bucket #cole brookstone #nya smith #ninjago fic #fanfiction #christmas fic

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best-enemies · 3 years

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I have to write an actual review on Gallifrey TW4 for the podcast I’m in but I have a writer’s block, so here are some of my thoughts on the box because I need to yell about it somewhere and my friends are pissed that I keep yelling on twitter. Spoilers ahead!

Don’t expect anything coherent to come out of this post I’m just going to throw stuff in this post and if you get it you get it lol. It’s not like I have fully recovered from the blow anyway...

Deception is a great introdution to the box and probably one of the best Gallifrey audios. I hate it when the OT4 gets separated (and that it happens all the time!), and in this case it happens between Narvin and Leela. However, it’s always great to see Leela working on her own and interacting with other people. When she tried to save those people from the resistance, the way she dealt with the situation even when she felt lost because she couldn’t trust her senses - a tool Leela values a lot as a warrior and a hunter - was absolutely incredible and it reminded me (not that I could ever forget that) of how much I love and admire her.

Listening to them being inside the distortion field felt like a really bad trip

All I could think throughout the box and not just Deception is that Leela had a crush on Eris and man I can’t blame her at all not only he was a great guy he’s really good looking and I got a crush on him too akshdashdkjaks

I don’t think I say this enough, but I really like Livia. She’s not evil, she just makes a lot of bad choices and she has this problem of being too much on the fence, which is not the characteristic of a true leader. She was never one. But still, even if I don’t remember the content of the earlier audios she’s in I’ve always liked her. And I liked that she finally chose a side in the end. I mean, she did when she helped the resistance, and that was a good beginning.

Also can I interest you with my headcanon that she was Romana’s girlfriend at the Academy and they broke up? Lol Anyways, when she heard that Romana had “died” she was shocked and later on complimented her as a person and I kind of wish we saw more of them on good terms

Now, on Dissolution: I love Narvin. That’s pretty much it lol. Before starting Gallifrey my friend gave me a spoiler which was basically, “you’re gonna love Narvin”. Well, at first I really liked his voice - it was funny and cute and voices are an important thing to me. Of course, even if he seemed funny to me, unfortunately he was a total xenophobic asshole. He had convictions, he had layers which made him very interesting, but still, an asshole. Which makes me really proud to see how far he has come, how much he’s grown. When he joined Romana’s side I soon realized that my friend was right; Narvin had one of the best redemption arcs I’ve ever seen. He went from Romana’s political rival, if I could put it that way, to one of her most trusted allies and best friends. And he found out that he could still fight for and protect his home, but using the right tools, doing it the right way. Dissolution showed that contrast between the old Narvin and what he wanted and the new Narvin, and honestly? I could almost call this episode a moment of relief amongst the chaos. Narvin has become one of my favorite characters in the Whoniverse and one of my all time favorites as well.

Alright... now we get to Beyond *deep breaths*. So let’s start from the beginning, shall we? I spent months since listening to Unity living in a total hell not knowing if Romana was alive or not. I couldn’t believe that that was her ending, that she wouldn’t show up again for their last hurrah, and that my favorite companion ever was gone forever. But then, BF announced the cover, and the description for the episodes, and her name came up, and I could finally breath. My friend and I started theorizing that maybe Braxiatel had dematerialized the TARDIS around her and saved her in the last second - which is kind of what happened, I mean, the description said he wasn’t ready to give up on her! So they go to that place called Beyond, and shit happens. Those ravenous bitches were there eating people and shit. They even ate Narvin - I almost started crying in the middle of the bus, telling myself he wasn’t our Narvin, but he was a Narvin and it still hurt. I wanted to fight those ravenous myself. And not just that, Romana went through hell watching Leela die in front of her, and her reaction was really heartbreaking.

Aaand that kind of brings me to a point here, something that bothered me. Romana and Brax, as always, spent the audio bickering a little, but they had their moments as well. Like when Brax says that it’s good to see her smile again, when he says (sorry I don’t remember it word by word) something like, she couldn’t die and that she’s supposed to be the best of the Time Lords, when she calls him her friend, and when she asks with a soft voice if he’s coming back to Gallifrey. And it was sweet. Like, they have a lot of issues, but they also have good feelings towards each other. Despite everything they care about each other, and it shows. Which is why I got really confused about Romana’s reaction when Brax was eaten by the ravenous. I remember I even thought she wasn’t around when it happened, that he had left and was somewhere else (I have a little difficulty paying attention), but then my friend said she was. So I was like... wait, she saw her friend, whom she’s known for most of her life (and more than she can even remember) die in a truly horrible way and didn’t even react to that? I’m not blaming Romana, I think this is really out of character for her. She may have difficulty expressing her feelings but she would never, ever react so coldly to the death of a friend.

Now, on Brax’s death... I was really devastated. At first, as always I got confused and thought the older Brax was an older version of him, somehow. Even if he died, I was like, this is confusing, but it’s Brax? So I was weary, but still, I thought “well at least he’s safe now, on another universe in the Beyond”. But then my friend said “no, that’s an alternative Brax, the one we know is dead”. And that’s when I felt my stomach drop. IT HURT SO BAD. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know everything about Brax, or about the depth of his character, I’m still very early on the Benny audios and only have listened to him on Gally and a few audios here and there. People who have more knowledge on him say that the way he was written wasn’t really accurate, and that can be true, but I won’t get into that because I don’t know for myself. Still, Brax is one of the best and most interesting characters I’ve ever known. I loved him from the beginning. I got mad at him so many times during the series, felt as betrayed as Romana did, heard about a lot of dark shit he’s done, but still I could never hate him. I got a little bit too attached to him, which is why his death felt absurd and unnecessarily cruel. I don’t think for a moment that Brax deserved that, as I said I don’t know everything about him but something in my heart tells me that things could’ve gone another way. I knew he could die in the finale but not like this. And it’s a bit hard to put into words how much I hate the ending he got and how much I’ll miss him. I just hope he comes back, I mean, he always does, BF writers need to figure something out I don’t even care lol

I had to edit the post because my dumb ass forgot about one of my favorite and at the same time one of the most bittersweet moments of Beyond: Brax asking about the Doctor and saying leaving Gallifrey was a “family thing”. I love them and there isn’t enough stuff out there from the Lungbarrow siblings for me. He talks so fondly of the Doctor and now all I think about is that he never mentioned him in the series but thought of him on the last hours of his life... brb I’m gonna go cry in the bathroom

Oh god. Okay, Homecoming. I’ll start on a light note and say some stuff about Hot Rassilon: Richard Armitage nailed it. I’ve always liked him as an actor and I got thrilled when he was announced. His voice is like, the one I want to hear when I get my name called up in Heaven - or Hell, which is where I’m going - and his speeches were really powerful. Still, I wish they could’ve given him more to do. Of course, I understand that this is where they wanted to go with him - Hot Rassilon going batshit crazy and calling himself a god and coming up with some stupid fanfiction about the Time Lords becoming gods of everything, yada yada. I loved his interactions with the Dalek Emperor, the first thing I thought (besides the fact that it was really funny) was that it showed two despots with a god complex playing chess with the universe and discarding their people as garbage, fighting for their own personal power and not for the collective. Of course, I don’t expect the Daleks to care about each other - they want to spread throughout the galaxies and gain absolute power, not bring social well-being to their own. But that should apply to the Time Lord Society, and we see that Hot Rassilon doens’t give a flying fuck about that.

I feel like I should reinforce the fact that I actually hate Rassilon. I call him hot but I hate him. I can do both

Once again, I need to point out the emotional moments between the galligang. It all felt so off. As someone pointed out here (sorry, I saw the post but don’t recall who said it now): it’s a war and there’s little time for grief, however, it’s not like they’re just grieving the loss of a group of people they’re not familiar with. The galligang are the closest thing they have to a family with each other. They’ve been through all sorts of things together, created a deep bond and have crossed the universe to find each other. And then, that Dalek ship blows up, with Narvin still in it, and... nothing. Leela even asked Romana if they could’ve done something and she says if the bracelet thingy had been working he would’ve come back already. And that’s it. At first I didn’t even understand, I was like “wait, he was really still inside the ship? And it blew up?”, because once again, I couldn’t tell from the way they reacted, I was only sure when they had that exchange. And of course, I started sobbing, because my favorite character was dead. I guess the writers wanted to focus on the war and political aspects and shit but did they forget that Gallifrey was about these three specific people and that their relationship was the core of the series, not just the politics?

Okay, moving on. Leela and Romana once again end up on Gallifrey and run into Hot Rassilon. Did I mention I found him a bit scary? Well, I did mark me down as scared & horny.

Aaaaaand he decides to lock Romana up in a pocket universe. It surprised me, because I thought he would execute her. I find that he wanted to do that because Romana was the president who wanted to take Gallifrey into the future, to make it a prosperous and advanced society who left all their fears of the unknown and prejudices behind. And now he locked her up in the past. Get it? I don’t know, maybe that’s just me, but this was the first thing I thought. But I cannot even begin to tell you all how RELIEVED I am that she’s alive, and that there could be a possibility - even if a very tiny one - that she could escape. It’s Doctor Who, so everything is possible. EDIT: Now I’m sad because Leela will die after the end of the Time War and Romana will know about that, and all her friends are gone, and she believes the Doctor isn’t the man she once knew so she can’t rely on him, and she’s alone, and I’m FUMING because I’m still processing the whole thing and I hadn’t realized that. She’s totally alone and now I’m crying once again. I HATE IT HERE

As for Leela, I want to see what’s next for her. I haven’t gotten into the other Time War stuff yet, this is my first introduction to the actual thing, but I heard that she’s gonna fight alongside the War Doctor and might be on the War Doctor Begins boxset. But man listening to her and Romana having to depart like that broke my heart. And now I know that she’ll be protecting Gallifrey because of Romana, because Romana represents the best in Gallifrey.

*Phew* okay, that was a lot. I don’t even know if I covered everything, but I managed to make more sense than I thought I would at the beginning of this post. I don’t know man I’ve been crying for hours, went to sleep at 2am crying because of Narvin and Brax and woke up at 7am and my first thought was them, dying again... I don’t even know anymore, I guess I’ll either focus on uni and my job or curl up into a ball and cry for the rest of my life lolololol

Now I want to write a post with my theories on how the entire galligang is alive and in the epilogue in my head they have reunited and are all living together happily. Maybe it’ll be my next post.

#gallifrey spoilers

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