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bestworstcase · 5 years

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in the wake of once a handmaiden i’ve seen a few posts drawing comparisons between the final shot of cass in the ruined throne room and either (1) varian at the end of queen for a day or (2) varian and the saporians in the throne room mid-rapunzel’s return. which... sure, i guess, but to me both of those feel a bit superficial, as parallels go. they’re like the “hu hu hu gothel said ‘now i’m the bad guy’ and so did cass (but the context and meaning is completely different)!” of comparing varian’s villain arc to cassandra’s SO INSTEAD!—

the plot of handmaiden is best understood, imo, as kind of moral argument between cassandra and zhan tiri. cassandra’s side of the argument is “i am not a bad person; i did bad things, but i can fix it.” zhan tiri’s side of the argument is “you can try to fix it, but you will fail, because just like me, you are a bad person.” cass pursues a convoluted plan to “fix” things that involves very low risk to her (and also in no way addresses the bad things she has actually done) because she is, deep down, afraid that zhan tiri is right. all zhan tiri has to do is coax that fear to the surface, then gently place her thumb on the scale to ensure that the fear becomes reality, to make cassandra snap, thus “winning” the argument.

when cassandra exclaims “zhan tiri was right!” after breaking free from the amber, she’s talking about the existence of project obsidian, but subtextually, she’s also talking about this argument. that’s is why the next thing out of cassandra’s mouth is “you want me to be the bad guy? fine. i’m the bad guy.” using zhan tiri’s potion against rapunzel and taking over corona is cass lashing out in rage, yes, but it also has an edge of defeat: zhan tiri is right, cass is a bad person.

thus, this final shot with her in the destroyed throne room of corona is not a triumphant moment; it’s grim, and dark, and she sits heavily and hunched over in her stolen throne. this is cass at what i would argue is her lowest, most miserable moment thus far. here, cassandra has achieved everything she’s worked for this entire season: she has total control over the moonstone’s power, she has usurped rapunzel’s destiny, brought corona to its knees, and claimed her throne. she has her power. she’s won—but she’s still angry, still hurting, still lost, and now that she knows who her “friend” is, she’s beginning to understand the ways she’s been (figuratively) imprisoned and (literally) manipulated and thus controlled, and the worst part? she has wholly accepted that she is a bad person, that she can’t escape from being a bad person, and the only thing left for her to do is embrace it no matter how awful it makes her feel.

she has never been more powerful, or more trapped.

NOW LET’S TALK PARALLELS!

in this scene at the end of tangled: before ever after, rapunzel faces her father’s wrath and disappointment. her coronation was crashed by a group of criminals who wanted to kidnap everyone in attendance, including her father, and rapunzel beat them soundly and saved everybody. instead of celebrating her accomplishments, however, all frederic can see is the danger she is in: because her famous magical hair is returned, and because she threw herself into a high-stakes battle against his express commands. he demands an explanation that she can’t offer fully (because she has to lie about cassandra’s involvement in the black rock adventure, in order to protect her friend from being forcibly sent to a convent), then doubles down on “protecting” her by controlling where she goes and what she does, literally imprisoning her in her own home.

like cass at the end of handmaiden, rapunzel’s victory earlier in the day should have been a moment of triumph, as a culmination of everything she longed for at the beginning of BEA: freedom, excitement, the ability to live according to her personal values and truths. instead, it’s soured and becomes a source of misery.

and, just as cass’s hollow victory at the end of handmaiden is visually represented by the framing, so too is rapunzel’s. in both shots, the throne room is in ruins and looks dark, cold, and unwelcoming, and cass and rapunzel are both dwarfed by the enormity of the room. but there are also a few key differences:

in the handmaiden shot, the camera looks straight into the throne room, making the set symmetrical save for where the black rocks and rubble have disrupted the order of the room, and cassandra is positioned in the exact center. this emphasizes the power cassandra has over this situation. fundamentally, this misery is something she did to herself. zhan tiri has never forced her to do anything; manipulated situations, twisted facts, and blatantly lied to persuade her, yes, but even so, every step cassandra has taken along the road to razing corona is one she took of her own volition. she isn’t intrinsically bad; she does have a choice.

whereas in the BEA shot, the camera is set at a slight angle and places the tiara in the center of the shot such that it separates rapunzel from frederic. rapunzel isn’t trapped by her own hopelessness, as cassandra is; frederic’s authority is real, and the conflict between them hinges on his overprotectiveness and the expectations and responsibilities of rule, both represented by the tiara (this symbolism continues through the rest of the scene; when fred confines rapunzel to corona and orders her not to speak to the black rocks to anyone, he hands her the tiara. it’s a physical symbol of the weight of his authority). while the handmaiden shot establishes that cass is sitting in a deep, dark pit of her own making, the BEA shot shows the precarious balance of rapunzel’s relationship with her father, the authority he has over her, and foreshadows his role as the major antagonist of the season.*

(*varian is the villain of season one, but fred is the antagonist in the sense that he is the primary obstacle preventing rapunzel, the protagonist, from achieving her goals.)

further, the BEA shot is much brighter than the handmaiden shot, with lots of moonlight pouring in through the windows and the side door and the polished floor reflecting it back while in the handmaiden shot, the entire room is in shadow save for a tiny beam of moonlight filtering through a broken window pane. the comparative brightness of the BEA shot reflects the comparatively lower stakes (rapunzel is being confined against her will, but the kingdom is not in immediate danger, and rapunzel has friends/allies whom she can rely on for emotional comfort, whereas in handmaiden the kingdom is literally in ruins and cassandra has driven away everybody but her emotional support demon). at the same time, the handmaiden shot is not entirely without hope: that last, lonely beam of light falls through the window and lands directly on cass, symbolizing that she is not past the point of no return.

lastly, comparing these two shots side by side is interesting because they can represent the broader conflict between rapunzel and cassandra. rapunzel struggles against external forces that seek to confine her or steer her in directions she doesn’t want to go, and most of the time she comes out victorious (by the end of s1, the clash with her father set up in the BEA shot is resolved with him encouraging her to leave corona and find her destiny). in contrast, cassandra’s struggle has always been internal: she is fighting her self-doubt, her fear of abandonment, her inability to believe that she is loved, her discontent with her station, and her tragedy is that she keeps trying to fix this internal problem with external solutions, and failing because she is applying a bandaid to a hemorrhage. and the end result is that she is left like this: sitting on a broken throne, in the ruins of a palace, in the dark, completely alone, with nothing.

BUT WE’RE NOT DONE YET!

let’s talk about varian.

varian’s villain arc and eventual redemption gets compared to cassandra’s a lot, and that makes sense because there are some obvious similarities. they’re both friends of rapunzel who eventually become frustrated with her, blame her for their problems, and lash out violently out of anger. however, i would argue that in spite of this, they are much more different than they are similar, and to talk about why we’re going to talk about the real parallel between varian and the handmaiden shot. and that’s this:

this shot, when varian is being dragged away by the guards in the middle of queen for a day, does not take place in corona’s throne room, but it has the exact same visual symbolism as both the handmaiden and BEA shots. varian is made insignificantly small in the enormous but somehow still claustrophobic halls of the palace, and the lighting is dark and cold to reflect the emotional mood of the scene. he is rendered powerless visually (he’s minuscule compared to rapunzel, who occupies fully a third of the shot and is the character with all the power in this scene) as well as literally (because he is being dragged away by two guards who are twice his size).

and, like both cass and rapunzel in the handmaiden and BEA shots, a moment that should have been triumphant for varian—he finally made it to the palace after a grueling journey through a deadly snowstorm, and he found the one person who might be able to save his father!—goes horribly wrong, and he’s reduced to begging frantically for rapunzel’s help while the guards drag him away from her and, back home, his father dies.*

(*of course, quirin does not actually die, but varian has no way of knowing that a year and a half from now, rapunzel will be able to safely release his father from the amber. for purposes of this analysis, quirin is effectively dead.)

ANYHOW. the key difference between this shot and the handmaiden shot is that for varian, this moment of powerlessness is a) not in any way his fault and b) happening at the very beginning of varian’s descent into villainy, rather than at the end or very close to the end.

this scene sets the rest of varian’s villain arc in motion. his agency is taken from him at a critical moment, preventing him from fixing a horrible mistake that cost his father’s life. instead of collapsing and being eaten alive by his own guilt, varian funnels his anguish into rage directed at rapunzel, who is easier to blame than himself (especially because he is fourteen and doesn’t grasp that rapunzel did make the correct choice when she refused to leave corona). this blame and anger is exacerbated by rapunzel’s inaction after the storm; in failing to check up on him, she leaves varian to fester in resentment until he finally just snaps.

like rapunzel in the BEA shot, varian is up against an external force (rapunzel) preventing him from achieving his goal of saving his father, and his villain arc is a kind of counterpoint to rapunzel’s s1 struggle against her father; they both fight back against their antagonists, she against fred and he against her, but varian does so in a violent, destructive way and thus ultimately fails to achieve his goal; rapunzel by comparison fights back by asserting her independence and relying on her friends/allies to help her, and ultimately achieves her goal by persuading fred to see her as a capable individual rather than an object to be guarded.

like cass, varian lacks rapunzel’s extensive support network; he spends his villain arc alone, stewing in his resentment and guilt, spiraling deeper and deeper until he is unrecognizable as the innocent boy he used to be.

unlike cass, however, varian has a clearly-defined, straightforward external goal: he wants to free his father and punish rapunzel for her inaction. as i discussed earlier, cassandra by contrast is trying to fix an internal problem with external measures, which is why her villain arc is so much messier and more complicated than varian’s, and why it has been driven partly by cassandra falling victim to the manipulations of a demon who keeps passing her concrete goals to pursue with the promise that achieving them will fix her problem.

and this is why varian’s handmaiden parallel happens at the beginning of his villain arc while the handmaiden shot occurs at the end or very close to the end of cassandra’s: the QfaD shot is varian’s inciting incident, but the handmaiden shot is cassandra’s end result.

in the QfaD and BEA shots, varian and rapunzel both have choices taken from them, and everything they do from this point onwards is driven by their drive to fix that injustice. but in the handmaiden shot, cassandra has given up on her ability to choose, and this comes at the end of a long, self-destructive road. unlike varian, whose villain arc hinges on an external problem with an obvious, clear-cut solution (save his father), cassandra’s villain arc hinges on an internal problem (she is unhappy, anxious, and hurting) with no real answer, and because she is unable to seek comfort from her friends (who have spent a year not treating her well in general) and rapunzel specifically (because rapunzel doesn’t hear her when she voices her pain, and because a lot of her pain is connected to or outright caused* by rapunzel), she clings to the first source of emotional validation and comfort she encounters—which happens to be an ancient, evil being who’s really just using cass as a means to an end, and who keeps telling cass, “if you do this bad thing, you will fulfill your destiny (and your pain will stop).” and cass, because she doesn’t know how to fix her problem, and because zhan tiri starts with small, palatable ideas like stealing the moonstone, swallows this hook, line, and sinker.

(*to be completely clear, the pain rapunzel caused stems from their argument in the great tree, cassandra’s subsequent horrific injury, and the way rapunzel blamed cass for everything that went wrong in the tree. i am not talking about gothel’s abandonment.)

all of which is a somewhat long-winded way of saying varian’s villain arc and cassandra’s villain arc are not really comparable, because varian’s involves him turning to extreme, violent, desperate measures to save his father, while cassandra’s involves a self-destructive downward spiral exacerbated by the machinations of a demon, and the timing of when these parallel shots in QfaD and handmaiden occur in their respective villain arcs perfectly encapsulates that difference.

#rta #tts #cassandra #rapunzel #varian #tldr i rant about visual symbolism and framing and character arcs #for ... a long ... long time.#tts spoilers

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birdyisanightingale · 4 years

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THT S4 Predictions: Brazil Trailer

Back by popular demand, I’m going to be doing a comprehensive set of predictions based on the Brazilian S4 trailer which has additional footage to the main one. If you want to watch it, here’s the link: https://www.handmaidsbrasil.com/2020/12/exclusivo-assista-ao-novo-teaser-legendado-da-quarta-temporada-de-tht.html

SPOILER ALERT!! Please be aware that if you keep reading there will be major S3 spoilers and potentially some S4 ones too!!

First up, we appear to have some sort of scene where June has been captured by eyes (or someone posing as the eyes - I’ll come back to this) . I think this must be at least an episode or so in because she seems to be walking fine and she doesn’t have any obvious injuries (she was basically dead at the end of S3). Another good sign is that she appears to be alone, so if she has indeed been taken by the eyes, they haven’t managed to capture all of the ‘magnificent seven’ (this is the new term being given to the fugitive handmaids from the end of the S3 Finale).

However, considering the remote location, it looks likely that this scene may be an attempted execution of June. I know what you’re thinking, this is Gilead - if they want to kill you they won’t bother making it private, they’ll make an example out of you and leave you hanging on a wall until you rot. But think about it - at this point, killing June will not be an example, the resistance in all its different forms has gotten too big for that. If they kill June now, they will only be creating a martyr, and the only way to avoid that is to kill her secretly and get rid of all the evidence so no one knows if she’s dead or missing or maybe even escaped to Canada without telling anyone - a great way to crack a resistance is to take away the element of trust! Anyway that’s why they’d make her execution a quiet affair.

But here’s why I think it was only made to look like the yes have taken her. Judging from the location and costumes (although admittedly costume variety is particularly limited in this show), while this is later in the trailer, it looks like a continuation of the same scene. It looks almost like Nick knew that June was in a situation where either he intervened or she was captured (or worse) for real. He obviously still has to make it look somewhat legit because he’s a commander now and he needs to keep good standing to be able to help June and Mayday (not to mention, staying off the wall).

I think this element of Nick being an asset to Mayday will be explored quite a lot this season, and beyond. Nick’s character development is particularly interesting because we’ve almost had a different Nick every season, but the writers are still finding new ways to surprise us with new dimensions to his character. In S1 we had ‘Nick the Eye’ who was battling this sense of duty and obligation that he had never bothered to question whether he agreed with his orders or not, with finally finding a reason to question those orders - June. Then in S2 when he’d finally gotten to a point where he’d chosen June over duty, we saw ‘Nick the husband’. We know from his flashbacks that he had a religious background before Gilead so he’s had ‘the sanctity of marriage’ instilled in him from a young age. So he’s somehow trying to reconcile his new role as a husband with his love for another woman who’s carrying his baby. And then we get the (admittedly infrequent) S3 ‘Nick the Soldier’ who we know absolutely nothing about, and how dominate that side of him is. Not dominant enough and Nick won’t have enough influence to be useful to Mayday, too dominant and he could potentially betray Mayday... we’ll have to wait and see...

“You can’t save her; some women don’t want to be saved.” Oof, literal chills. I’m really looking forward to this character dynamic. Both are commanders, both helped to create Gilead and regret it, and both have a connection to June. I know this is scene is talking about Nick wanting to save June and probably get her to Canada, but I can’t help thinking that the writers specifically wrote this line to have an underlying tone about Eleanor as her death will still be very fresh for Lawrence.

This isn’t a prediction so much as a musing but I really hope there gets to be some sort of interaction between June and Lawrence about the circumstances of her suicide. Every time I watch the funeral scene where June and Lawrence just look at each other, I get more and more sure that Lawrence knows that something else happened that she’s not saying - he’s a smart man, after all.

Maybe this scene is a continuation of the ‘secluded forest/potential eyes’ scene. He could have asked her to stop “playing handmaid commander” (I believe this was a direct quote from S2, tell me if I’m wrong) and go with him to Canada and she refuses, hence why he goes to see Lawrence. That would fit the potential timeline as Lawrence would have to have been released from the interrogation scenes we saw in the main trailer, and we’ve established that the forest seven must be at least a few episodes in.

Speaking of rebel handmaid shenanigans, this looks fun! June is heard saying “Where we’re going isn’t safe.” and Mrs. Keyes (Mckenna Grace) replies “It’s not safe anywhere!”. I mean, straight off the bat, it looks like we’re going to get one hell of a performance from Mckenna Grace who seems insanely talented for 14! We’ve had it teased to us by different producers and show runners that Mrs. Keyes will be the confident teenage wife of a commander, who helps to facilitate the resistance. And, I mean being a child bride is horrifying so I can understand why she’s willing to help!

As where they’re actually going, I’m thinking that it’s got to be another ‘attack’ by Mayday. What that will look like is hard to say - another Lillie Fuller style bomb seems unlikely since the bomb-maker was moved and it doesn’t really seem like June’s style anyway (she’d rather go for the targeted kill without Handmaid/Martha casualties), and all remaining kids in Gilead will be under heavy security after the S3 Finale. My money would be on a plan to get out Handmaids/Marthas - in the originally trailer we hear June saying “These women deserve to be helped” which supports that theory. I think her efforts will particularly focus on handmaids since a lot of the kids they got out were kids of handmaids before Gilead so she’ll want them to be reunited where it’s safe to do so.

Right - my guess is that this scene must be following whatever Mayday attempted (successful or not...). Remember in S2 when June was looking at all the Marthas who had been hanged and she said that they had been hanged for being heretics and not for being part of resistance because officially there was no resistance because there was nothing to resist? I think what we’re seeing is June has been caught and she’s being given one of the hanging bags with the symbols on to say why they were hung, pre-execution (which I assume June will somehow survive - my guess would be Nick gets her out before the execution). June’s bag has a cross because she’ll be hung for being a heretic, because officially there is no resistance - although this seems like a bit of a stretch of a story even for Gilead considering what Mayday just pulled off. It’ll be interesting to see the story that Gilead do use to explain what happened.

Another thing I just want to quickly touch on is the costume - mustard yellow with a red strip. It’s a bit out there but I’m putting my money on ‘death row uniform’ - here’s why: the colours of the uniforms all have biblical connotations e.g. the wives where blue because it symbolises the purity of the Virgin Mary, handmaids wear read to symbolise Mary Magdalene who is a redeemed sinner etc. In Revelation (final book of the bible that talks of the end of the world and second coming etc.) the four horsemen (bringers of the end of the world) are described as being yellow as sulphur and red as fire. So the colours yellow and red would symbolise ‘the end’ i.e. a salvaging/execution. This is purely speculation so make sure to comment your thoughts!

Now the opinion you’re probably all here for - Hannah. In the shots shown in the trailer, she can be seen in some sort of glass prison with a doll, and she draws an eye in the dust. There’s been a lot of speculation about the context of this scene with the overriding theory being that this scene is a dream. In some ways this makes sense: June is in the yellow costume but she doesn’t have the same injuries shown in the other footage where she’s wearing this costume (although this could just be that this scene is slightly before that scene), the idea of a glass prison doesn’t really make sense in relation to what all the other cells look like that we’ve seen, the eye that Hannah draws is just way too precise for a drawing done with dust let alone a drawing done by a child, the idea of Hannah drawing an eye is also a strange drawing for a child whereas June would dream that because of the connotations to Gilead spies and ‘under his eye’. Not to mention it makes sense that June would be dreaming about Hannah being trapped as she’s been spending time with Mrs. Keyes who is a child bride close to Hannah’s age.

In all honesty, I don’t really know what I believe. I think that placing Hannah in a glass prison and allowing June to see her and be centimetres away but not be able to get to her is a very Gilead style power trip. Gilead officials know that the only reason that she’s still in Gilead is because of Hannah so it makes sense for them to hold her in a place that is blatantly obvious to June so she can be used as leverage in stopping an on-coming attack. Gilead pretend to be all about protecting children but we all know they’re not above cutting off a limb or two - as long as she still has a working uterus. So if this isn’t a dream and Hannah is being used as leverage, this puts a spanner in the works on my death row theory because you only keep leverage on someone if you need them for something and they won’t kill her if they still need her for something. There’s a number of things that could be - stopping an on-coming attack, intel on Mayday and the Martha network, maybe they’re blackmailing her to tell Luke to stand down on trying to get Fred and Serena convicted?

Anyway.... that was A LOT. Please reply to this post with any ideas you have or to prove me wrong - this is all we have till S4 drops!

Blessed be the fruit loops, bitches x

#thtedit #thehandmaidstaleedit #the handmaids tale spoilers #the handmaid's tale #hannah tht #moira tht #janine tht #June Osborne #nick x june #nick blaine #june tht #predictions #spoiler #thehandmaidstaleonhulu #blessed be the squad #blessed be the fruit loops #under his eye #nolite te bastardes carborundorum #mckenna grace

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sarcastically-defensive17 · 4 years

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Hey, so I really like your work so I have a request 👀 maybe you could write Luke and reader being best friends but both having deeper feelings, they're roommates but they fight over Luke's gf bc he says that she needs to move out bc his girlfriend wants to move in and she doesn't like reader so she ends up leaving and running with Crystal but she asks to not tell anyone (except Mike for obvious reasons) that she's there and Luke is really worried but he and reader end up together, pretty please

I LOVE THIS REQUEST!! Sorry if I didn’t do it justice, but I hope you like it!

Also I’m so sorry that the layout went weird! I posted it from my computer and now it looks odd on the phone!

Original story by sarcastically-defensive17

Love? Love. - L. Hemmings

"If she gets those fake blonde extensions wrapped around my straightener one more time, Lucas, I will rip them out myself."

He simply sighed, focusing more of his attention on his phone rather than his best friend.

Y/N and Luke has been best friends since they were 17. They kindled their friendship on the very last day of year 12, such as she did with Calum and Michael.

Since that day, as they sat in the barren English Room and discussed everything and anything that came to mind, her and Luke had been inseparable.

She was the Bucky to his Steve, the Yang to his Yin, the regular sized human to his giant stature.

Well, until Suzanna stepped into the picture.

She is 5"7, coated in fake tan that was applied by somebody with the vision of Stevie Wonder and fake blonde extensions that accentuate how beautiful she would be, if she toned down the Geordie Shore look.

Y/N couldn't help but wonder if her personality would be able to shine brightly through the thick foundation, if she had one, that is.

"Thank you for pretending to listen to me, I appreciate it so much," she rolled her eyes.

For the past few weeks the air in the house had been incredibly tense.

"Y/N?" He asked, his voice hesitant. "Can I talk to you about something?"

She couldn't stop her eyes from lighting up. This was the calmest her and luke had been with each other in almost a week, and she would take any chance to talk to him in a civilized manner.

To be honest, the idea of talking to him did nothing to quell the overflowing feelings she had for the man.

"Is that even a question? You can always talk to me, Lu," she sat opposite to him on the lounge, pulling her legs up underneath her.

He was nervous. That was obvious in the way he raked his fingers through his blonde curls. Suzanna constantly hounded at him to cut his hair but Y/N knew how much he loved his hair.

She couldn't deny that she adored the ringlets that decorated his soft locks.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a little bit," he rung his hands together, spinning rings on his fingers. "I, um, I'm gonna need you to move out."

He mumbled the last few words, sighing softly when she asked him to repeat it. It's safe to say, she was at a loss of words.

"You - you want me to move out? Why?" Her eyebrow was cocked, and she tilted her head to the side slightly.

Luke couldn't help but admire how much she resembled a puppy dog. He always found her to be a mix of adorable and purely beautiful. Which is part of the reason he forced himself to say yes when Suzanna asked to take a larger step in their relationship.

He had spent so much time fighting his feelings for Y/N. Suzanna helped, but he still needed to force himself to deny his feelings in favour of the smaller ones he had for his girlfriend.

He was cruel, he knew it.

"Suzanna and I were talking, and we’re ready to move in together. And she couldn't move in here because of-"

"Because of what? Because I can't stand the woman that has cheated on you multiple times?" Y/N was angry, that much she knew. She couldn't believe the audacity. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Well I would love nothing more than for my girlfriend and my best friend to get along but you make it so difficult for Suzanna to get to know you," he snapped pinching the bridge of his nose between his long fingers.

"I gave her a chance before she slept with one of your mates, Luke. As far as I'm concerned, you should have gotten rid of her months ago when she did it a second time."

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" His eyes were narrowed and the blue orbs held the same lack of patience she had seen a lot over the past week.

She opened her mouth to retort but couldn't find the words to say. Truthfully, she was shattered when Luke told her about his relationship, but she decided to be the bigger person and let go of the idea that Luke could be hers. Their friendship has lasted too long for that to be a possibility.

Luke's comment set her off.

"Oh so I am meant to happy for you, with the Geordie Barbie who fucks another guy regularly, but you couldn't be happy for me with Daniel?"

"Daniel was an asshole!"

"And so is Suzanna!"

They were both on their feet now, staring each other down with a ferocity they hadn't seen since an argument in their teenage years.

Sure, Daniel was a bit of an asshole, but Luke knew he was in the wrong for hating the man so fiercely. The moment he had finally worked up the nerve to ask Y/N on a date - a real date - Daniel swept in and the two were together for almost a year until he started getting more controlling.

The last straw was when Daniel flipped because of the close relationship Y/N and Luke shared and Luke threw a punch at him.

"You're jealous," Luke scoffed, his blue eyes aimed anywhere but at her for he knew his anger was unwarranted but he couldn't bare to face the truth about his relationship.

"Excuse me?" She cocked a brow again and he had to glance away quickly as his eyes fell on her for a second.

"You are jealous that I can keep somebody around and you haven't been able to keep anybody around for almost a year." His brows were pinched tight together and he squared his shoulders.

It was easy for Y/N to notice the slight hunch in his posture, a symbol that he was immediately guilt stricken by his words.

"Oh, I'm so sorry that I can't settle for somebody who doesn't deserve me," she barked out a sarcastic laugh, slamming her hand on the bench to grab her keys.

Luke opened his mouth to retort, but she fixed him with a glare so angry that he physically recoiled.

She slipped her vans on at the door, grabbing her bag off of the hook where she organized all of her daily belongings. She was meticulous and Luke had always admired how neat she was compared to his disorganized chaos.

"You wanted me gone? I'm going. Don't bother contacting me til you wake up to yourself," she stomped towards the door, pausing as she pulled the wood open. "I'll have my stuff gone by the end of the week. Tell Barbie to keep my straightener. God knows she fucked it anyways."

The door slammed behind her and the entire house instantly felt as if the warmth was gone.

She went straight to Crystal's house. The woman was packing for the impending move to a new house; one which her and Michael would share.

"So he wants you to move out so that thing can move in?" Her voice was laced with disgust.

All of them despise Suzanna. The woman had hurt Luke more times than they could count, she blatantly ignores or insults both Y/N and Crystal for fear of any sort of threat in her relationship, yet she regularly cheats on him.

Go figure.

Y/N made a noise of agreement around her glass of wine. The minute she had stepped in the door Crystal had phoned Micheal and ordered a Girls Night, to which Y/N profusely demanded that she would make it up to the couple whose date night she disturbed.

"He better hope I don't get my hands on him, Y/N."

"It's not worth it Crys," she sighed, swirling the contents of her glass in a circle. "I've been basically invisible in that house since the Barbie started coming around."

Crystal pulled the girl into a hug. Not many knew of her hidden feelings for Luke, but Crystal figured it out after a week of knowing the pair.

"I'll cut her extensions and glue them to Luke's eyebrows."

<><><><><><>

Exactly a month had passed. Y/N had ordered Crystal and Michael to not speak a word of where she was because she didn't want to see Luke. Instead, she found a small apartment to live in, while she gathered her wits to find a better place.

She knew it was petty, but she didn't have the care to feel guilty.

Luke on the other hand, was going insane and harbored so much regret surrounding his decision that he couldn't bare to think straight.

Moving in with Suzanna did nothing to make the home feel less empty. Y/N had made sure to collect the rest of her things while Luke was out.

She knew his schedule inside and out and used it to her advantage.

Luke wanted nothing more than to see her face. To hear her voice. The time apart made him realize just how deep his feelings went. The same feelings he had spent many years attempting to bury.

Now his only fear was that he would never get the chance to tell the woman how much he needs her in his life.

That, and how he would manage to get rid of the woman who he had caught sneaking out of their house at all hours of the night.

He didn't know what to expect when he entered his house to hear pornographic moans echoing from the bedroom.

He didn't feel angry. He didn't feel sad. He didn't even feel betrayed.

In fact, he couldn't contain his laughter. After all, catching her in the act of cheating on him simply opened the window for him to break up with her without the guilt.

He simply walked towards their bedroom door, which was ajar, and entered with no hesitation.

He was met with the sight of a bare assed male and a moaning Suzanna.

"I'm breaking up with you," he had a wide smile on his face, already planning his next actions with severe determination. He pulled his long curls into a small bun at the back of his head, “Please get out by tomorrow?"

He didn't leave room for her to argue, instead choosing to snatch his keys off of the bench and exit the house while Suzanna called him from behind.

The minute his backside hit the seat of his Jeep, he had the key turned in the ignition and he was dialing Crystal's phone number.

If anybody knew how to get in contact with Y/N, it would be the woman she had the closest bond to.

"What do you want, Luke?"

"Is Y/N at your house?" He asked quickly.

He was met with silence for a moment. He knew that Crystal knew where she was, but he also knew Crystal would most likely be reluctant.

"Why should I tell you? Want to go kick her out of her own house again?" He heard the malice in her voice.

It was obvious that after a month the pain would still linger. He deserved to be spoken to in such a way.

He knew he had a lot to make up for.

A deep sigh sounded through the receiver, and Crystal took another moment to reply.

"She is going to kill me for this, but I swear, you better be taking your breadstick ass over to apologise or I will kill you myself," she recited the address for an apartment not far from where Crystal and Michael now lived, and hung the phone up without another word.

He arrived at the apartment block soon after, and rushed up the stairs - not having the patience to wait for the elevator.

Number 304 shone brightly in his vision, and his heart tugged at the thought of seeing Y/N again.

He knocked with such urgency that caused the girl inside to jump out of her seat.

The door swung open and before she could close it in his face a converse covered foot was wedged between the door and the frame.

He cringed at the pain but refused to move it.

"What do you want?" Her voice was hard, and his stomach lurched at the sound. Even if she was mad, she still sounded more melodic that he ever could.

He chose to jump straight to the point, not wanting to leave room for her to reject him before he could confess.

"I have been in love with you since a few months after we met. I realised it when we were at your house, and you were doting over your baby cousin," His eyes were basically smiling, as he retrieved the fond memory. "Since that moment, I have done my best to push down how I feel about you, but I am sick of hiding it. I just broke up with Suzanna. I walked in on her with another guy, but I can't do this without you. I can't go back to that house for another minute without you there."

She was at a loss for words. He spoke so fast that it took a moment to piece his sentences together, and when she did, she couldn't help the confused look that coated her features.

"You- what?"

"I broke up with Suzanna," he had a wide smile on his face that she couldn't comprehend.

"Finally?"

"Yes. And, I have been in love with you since we were 18."

"Are you sure?" She cocked her head again.

The action made his stomach erupt in butterflies. He truly adored how she could look so cute through a simple gesture.

Y/N was genuinely confused. She knew how she felt about Luke. The month apart from him hadn't done anything to stop those feelings.

She truly had feelings stronger for him than she had for any of her past relationships. If she were to think about it, she would even say that she loved him.

"How could I not be sure?" He pinched his brows together in confusion. He grabbed both of her hands in his, leading her into the house and to the lounge where they both slumped down.

She stammered, "Where did this even come from? How?-"

He moved his hands to the side of her face, framing her confused expression.

She didn't know how to feel. For so long, Y/N had longed for Luke to notice her in such a way, and now that he is admitting that he has felt the same way about her that she had about him for so long, she was truly at a loss of words.

His eyes were full of pent up emotion. He didn't necessarily look sad, but he looked the most apologetic she had ever seen him, and she had been there through many emotions with the man,"Y/N, I'm sorry. Not just for what happened last month, but for everything I have done. I'm sorry I couldn't work up the courage to confess to you so many years ago, I'm sorry I let my jealousy ruin your relationship with Daniel, I am sorry I wasted time with other girls just to try and deny how much I truly adore you, and I am sorry that I ever thought I would be happy choosing anybody over you. I can't stand to live without you, and even if you have zero feelings for me in the same way I feel for you, would you please come back-"

She pulled his hands from her face and put her own on his before crushing her lips against his in an urgent moment of passion.

The contact was full of so much emotion, and it was the most loving kiss she had experienced from any of those who she had kissed.

It was intimate, but not rushed. Simply lips against lips; no pushing to move it deeper.

They pulled back after an unknown time, and she bumped her nose against his.

"I can't tell you how long I have wanted to do that for," she told him, feeling most of her anger melt away along with her confusion.

Instead, they both felt a love that they hadn't felt before.

"Come back, please?" He was ready to beg. Hell, he was ready to not go back to that house until she was ready to go with him.

"My name's still on the lease, you can bet your thick ass I'm coming back. But if I see one blonde hair extension, I will go on the warpath," she smirked at him, staring at his plump lips.

"I'll make sure it's spotless for your return," Luke beamed at her, feeling his nerves both escape his body and ignite at her touch.

"Good. Now get back over here and kiss me some more."

#luke hemmings #luke hemmings x reader #5sos #5 seconds of summer #crystal leigh #michael clifford #calum hood #Ashton irwin

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deejadabbles · 4 years

Text

Spells of Defiance (Atem x Reader x Yugi) Chapter 6

Six: Speakeasies

One //// Two //// Three //// Four //// Five //// Six //// Seven //// [Eight coming soon]

Summary: The Circle of Magicians protects the world from rogue, murderous fey. The police who keep bloodsuckers and flesh-eaters in check. You’ve hunted vampires for years, earning a reputation as one of the best magicians in that field; but what happens when an encounter with a particular vampire makes your already fragile loyalties split?

Supernatural/Demon Hunter AU. Vampire!Atem x Reader x Incubus!Yugi (yes, a polyamorous relationship). Warnings for cursing, vulgar language, violence, and some sexual themes.

A.N. Sorry it took so long to get the next chapter done, I had some personal stuff go down in my life a couple months ago and it took me a long time to get back in a decent mental state. I hope I make up for that with this long chapter. I also hope everyone and their loved ones are doing well during all the crazy stuff that’s happening right now, stay safe, and stay strong <3

“So who exactly is this Peggy guy?”

You almost wanted to snort in laughter at Joey’s nickname, and if it wasn’t for the knot in your stomach, you probably would have. “Pegasus, his name is Pegasus. And to answer your question, he’s a very prominent vampire in Domino. He owns a club that’s exclusive for highbrow fey and he’s been here for a good century or two.”

“And the circle just ignores his existence?” Atem asked.

Though his tone was devoid of anything accusatory (at least towards you) you still felt an uncomfortable tingle at the back of your neck at his words.

“Not exactly,” you finally answered, “They have an...understanding with Pegasus. He’s supposed to give the circle information on his patrons if they’re doing anything wrong, but we all know he doesn’t, unless it’s something really big that’ll earn him favors from the Circle. Everyone also knows he has some shady dealings, and he toes the line of the Circle’s laws a lot. Still, he doesn’t go around blatantly killing humans or causing havoc, so they mostly leave him be. I guess you could say he’s a bit like a mob boss.”

Atem only answered with a sigh and looked away. Again that uncomfortable tingle crawled across your neck. Atem’s mood was still low from what little you had found at Marik’s last hideout. It was obvious that the place had been abandoned days and days ago, but you still felt an almost painful twinge of guilt in your stomach when you saw how much it pained Atem to have him slip away again.

You took the lapse in silence to look up at the sky, examining the clouds collecting overhead. The four of you were walking down the busy streets of downtown, the upscale, higher end of downtown with lots of private boutiques and day spas. The sun was just starting to set now, it was a good time to hit Pegasus’ club, less patrons to cause trouble, but enough that Pegasus would be less willing to cause some himself. Can’t look bad in front of the customers, after all.

“Do magicians come to his club often?” Yugi asked suddenly, and when you turned to look at him, you could see the worry in his lavender eyes.

You managed a small smile at him. “Don’t worry, Yugi, he rarely gets visits from the Circle. In fact, I’m one of the few magicians he’ll talk to...he’s a bit of a primadonna and usually demands to see ‘his favorites’ from the Circle only.”

“And how exactly did you become a favorite?” Joey asked, and you tried not to take the bite in his tone personally.

“When I was young and training under an older magician, my instructor and I got called to his club to arrest some trouble makers tearing the place up. In that particular moment he didn’t much care who from the Circle came to help him, but apparently he liked my…. spunk and started requesting me personally when dealing with the Circle.”

Joey gave a grunt of understanding but was obviously still unconvinced that this was a good idea with the way he averted his eyes to stare blankly ahead. Again the silence between you and the others caused you to get lost in your thoughts for a moment, mostly focusing on how all of this may go down. Atem wasn’t going to like what you were planned to suggest once you got there, but he would just have to learn to take his overprotectiveness and-

You sighed and mentally scolded yourself for the harsh thought. Atem’s protectiveness wasn’t him thinking you were weak, he just wanted to keep you safe. He and Yugi both cared about you. The feeling that rose in your chest at the thought made your fists clench. It wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling, per se, but it wasn’t familiar to you and the fact that it had crept up more and more around the boys made you want to stuff it back down to wherever it had come from.

In fact, you had to do exactly that now, seeing as how the club was in sight. You stopped in your track and waited for the boys to turn to face you with questioning looks before you spoke up.

“Alright, this is the place,” you said, waving at the well-kempt brick building.

It had large windows beside the ornate double oak doors but said windows were covered by thick, red velvet curtains. There was no sign on the building, leaving the passing humans to only stare and wonder what the place was, if they took notice at all.

Though he didn’t want to be too flashy and have humans constantly knocking on his club's door, Pegasus still left his own posh mark on the exterior. The fire escape stairs were painted bright red and had vines twisted around it, growing flowers that would bloom when the sunset; a symbol to indicate just who his particular clientele were. Then, on the roof, he had added on more brick additions to the building, a short tower on each corner, his personal living quarters and studios if you remembered right. The whole place looked like he was trying to make his own English castle in downtown Domino.

You sighed and looked back at the boys, “Listen, I’m going to need to go in and see Pegasus alone.”

“What?” Atem’s tone was flat and, given the setting sun, he actually took off his sunglasses so you could fully see the displeased look in his crimson eyes.

“I know you don’t like the idea, but he’ll get suspicious if I walk in with three random fey. As it is, he’s one of my contacts that the circle knows about, so I’m already having to hide this,” you flashed your palm, the pink scar of your magician’s seal, at them, “from him to avoid suspicion. I’ll get more info out of him if I’m alone.”

You saw Atem bite his tongue, quite literally, and seem to contemplate what to respond with. In the end, he closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “As you wish. But I want the rest of us to stay close so that if anything happens, we can help.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll signal you if I need help,” you assured, relief flooding you as another argument was avoided.

“How will you signal us?” Joey asked, crossing his arms, “An’ just for the record, I’m not a fan of waiting.”

You actually smirked at him before looking back at the brick building for a moment. “If you three stay here you’ll be able to see when I give you the signal,” you actually winked as you turned back to them, “you’ll know it, trust me.” With that, you turned on your heel and started walking towards the door. “I won’t be long, just hold tight.”

“Be careful,” Atem called after you, apparently having to act on at least some of his protector instincts.

You almost managed to look over your shoulder and give him an assuring smile, but seeing the doors to Pegasus’ club made a begrudging air fall back on your shoulders.

Then, still about a dozen feet from said doors, you heard Yugi call out to you. Surprised, considering how quiet he had been since leaving Marik’s old hideout, you turned to him, brows furrowed. He was jogging after you, putting some distance between himself and the other two and he stopped right in front of you.

He looked a bit nervous himself and his tone was low as he said, “I just wanted to check on you before you went in. Ever since you started talking about coming here you’ve just...you’ve had this...anxiety around you. Are you okay?”

That unfamiliar sensation started in your chest again, especially with how sweet Yugi’s eyes were on you. Sometimes you forgot that incubi could sense more than just lustful emotions, that they were full empaths.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll be okay, Yugi,” you answered lamely, then continued since you knew that wouldn’t satisfy him. “It’s just that Pegasus has always kind of creeped me out, that’s all.”

You felt stupid for saying it, out of all the things you had seen (and done) in your years, it shouldn’t be easy to make your skin crawl. Then again, the fact that he kept his dead wife’s body preserved with magic and had it displayed in a glass coffin Snow White style was bound to creep most people out.

Yugi’s eyes narrowed a bit at your omission and you were glad you left out the dead wife detail. “Does he try anything with you when you go to see him? I can make us invisible, like I did at the Sanctuary, so we can go in with you. I’ll make sure that creep doesn’t-”

“Yugi.” He stopped his almost-rant at your firm word, though you couldn’t help but inwardly smile at Yugi wanting to defend your ‘honor’. “I’ll be fine, I promise. And I swear if I need your guy’s help, I’ll ask for it.”

The sweet incubus sighed, then reached out and took your hand, holding it just long enough to give it an affectionate squeeze. “We’ll be right here.”

You almost had the chance to squeeze his hand back before he pulled away, though you had to ignore the urge to ask yourself why you wanted to hold it just a moment longer. With another breath, you turned away and walked the last few feet to Pegasus’ club.

You knocked on the ornately painted doors thrice, slow and steady just like Pegasus had told you to all those years ago when he first requested your presence. The eye-level slat in the door opened to reveal a pair of yellow irises that seemed to glow in the dying daylight. You kept your face blank as you stared back at him and waited. A grunt and an “oh, it’s you” later, and the slat was shut with a snap, the door opening a second after.

“Good to see you again too, Saru,” you mumbled as you stepped inside.

The large henchman shut the door behind you and Pegasus’ haven for posh fey was splayed out before you. The whole place was bedecked in lush reds, thick carpet with simple but old designs, curtains and drapes covering the walls and hanging from the ceiling, blocking out the outside world and its troubles. A set of three steps in front of the door led to the main area where guests sat. Dozens of finely carved tables with matching chairs, leather settees, and armchairs filled the main room, with wide enough paths for people to walk through without feeling crowded.

Then there were the private booths. Vases on pillar-shaped stands as well as fine art lined the walls between each booth notched into the walls. Some had curtains drawn over them for privacy, others sat with them wide open. Only a dozen or so people occupied the venue now, not including the string band playing on the stage to the right. A rather quiet night it seemed.

As you stepped inside you tried to ignore the silhouette of a woman dancing behind one of the curtained-off booths, two patrons watching her from their seats behind the red cloth. More so was it hard to ignore the young man sitting on a vampire’s lap, baring his neck to the older man’s fangs with eyes half-lidded and smile wide, euphoric even.

Some of the other patrons actually took notice of you as you marched across the room to the lavishly painted pocket doors on the other side. A man from one of the booths watched you like a hawk, stirring his amber-colored drink with his finger and not bothering to hide the suspicion in his single eye. A woman with delicate-looking wings smiled at you as you passed, trying to make eye contact with you so she might compel you to join her seat by the fireplace. Other eyes, vampire, cyclops, nymph, and otherwise burned into you from all sides but you ignored them, keeping sights on the silver haired man guarding the double doors that cordoned off Pegasus’ private room.

“I need to speak with his royal highness,” you said, dropping mood evident in your flat tone.

This henchman always wore his thick sunglasses even inside, but you could tell he was glaring down at you behind them. “Master Pegasus is entertaining a guest at the moment,” he snapped, obviously forgetting that Peggy himself had ordered his staff to treat you kindly whenever you stopped by. He must have remembered those instructions now, because he put on a mocking smile, showing his fangs as he waved at the table beside the vampire feasting on the young man, “Please, have a seat and I’ll call you over when he’s free.”

You felt a sneer take over your face as you took a step closer to the man, he was taller than you, but height didn’t mean jack when he had seen what you were capable of. “I don’t think your boss wants me to sit down. Because if I do, I might have time to start asking that vampire if he has a legal contract to suck on that human. Or how about the succubus feasting on the two men in the corner booth?”

The man sniffed, nose wrinkling as if a rotten smell was shoved under his flaring nostrils. “I assure you, all of our patrons practice legal feeding.”

“Hm, that may be, but a magician going around asking questions and ruining their night is still bad for business.”

Looking downright livid now, he opened his mouth to say something biting in reply, but was cut off by a drawling voice coming out from the crack between the doors behind him.

“Oh let her in you fool. You know I love it when my sweet magician girl visits me!”

The overly sweet croon in his tone made your scowl deepen, even as the head suit slid the door open with a grumbled, “Yes sir”.

Pegasus had changed his private room a bit since you last visited him. Instead of the long dining table, he sat at a smaller round one covered in a beautiful white silk cloth. The china dishes, crystal wine glasses, chandelier, and candelabra centerpiece were all the same though.

“It’s so good to see you again, my sweet!” Pegasus all but cheered, a smile turning his lips as he swirled his wine glass full of red thick liquid that smelled of iron. He was wearing one of his favorite red suits trimmed in white lace and his long curtains of silver hair were styled to perfection. “To what do I owe this pleasure? What do you need from dear old Pegasus?” he asked before taking a sip of his drink.

A scan of the empty chairs around the table told you that Peggy’s right-hand man had lied when saying that he was entertaining someone, as the only other souls in the large room were his two bodyguards.

“I came to ask for information,” you said, crossing your arms as you looked down at him.

The vampire chuckled, the sound deep and dangerous as he set his glass down and looked at you through his long lashes. “Now now, my dear, there’s no need to take that impatient tone with me. You know I’m always willing to help you when I can. So long as you pay my entry fee, of course.” With that, Pegasus held out his hand, palm up and looking delicate as it waited.

Your body tensed at the gesture, even though you had been expecting it. Aside from his all-around creep factor, and the fact that you hated owing him favors, this was the main reason you hated crawling to Pegasus.

Trying to resist the urge to sigh, you skirted the table and approached him. You placed your left hand in his, wrist up and veins vulnerable. He pulled you closer as he gripped your wrist and leaned his face into the warm skin.

“No need to be nervous, my sweet,” Pegasus practically purred, “you know I’m always a perfect gentleman.”

The way he ran his nose along the veins made your stomach crawl and heave; you were glad he couldn’t see (or didn’t care about) the sickened look on your face.

“Oh my,” he said with a tisk tisk sound, then flickered his eyes up to yours, not leaning away from your wrist in the slightest. “You’ve been cheating on me, my sweet little magician. I can smell another vampire in your veins.”

The memory of Atem feeding from you made a different heat crawl up your neck, but it mixed with another sick feeling as you envisioned Atem seeing you like this. It was a good thing you had made him and Yugi stay outside, or Pegasus would probably be on the ground by now.

“I’ve never said we were exclusive, Pegasus,” you said, hiding the shamed embarrassment behind quips. Besides, it paid to play along with his sick little games.

He chuckled at that, “Right you are, my dear.” Without another word, he sank his fangs into your wrist.

You tried not to flinch as the curative on his fangs flooded your nerves. Even with the numbing effect they provided, it was still uncomfortable to feel him tearing into your skin. Though he feigned kindness and worry, his fangs had none of the gentle care that Atem’s did, none of the soothing thumb strokes or caution to not dig in too deep, just enough to draw what was needed. Pegasus’ treatment was all mock gentleness; a sickly sweet whisper while sharp nails dug into bruised skin.

He never took much, thank god, but the moment still seemed to crawl by before he was retracting his fangs. He gave a satisfied, dramatic sigh, “My dear, your blood simply gets better and better every time you come to see me, like a finely crafted wine.” He chuckled at his own comparison as he pulled the white handkerchief from his breast pocket.

Though his puncture marks were already closing, blood has still dripped out from the wound and he dapped at your wrist, again with that mocking care. You supposed he thought licking blood from your skin was too uncouth or savage-like because this was his usual routine.

The moment his grip on you slackened at all, you pulled free of his grasp, “Now that I’ve given you your usual payment, I have some questions to ask you,” the attempt to keep any snap or malic free from your tone failed, but Pegasus didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Of course my dear, always happy to help!” He waved at the seat across from him at the round table, “But I must insist that you take a seat, I do hate seeing you stand the whole time.” He snapped his fingers at the guard on his left, “Get our guest a glass of wine!”

Again, knowing it paid to play his game, you skirted the table back to the side of the room nearest the door and took the seat there. Now that the worst part of visiting the vampire lord was over, you made yourself look at ease as you leaned back, arm propped up against the ornately carved chair. A third vampire guard came into the room from the door to the right of Pegasus, carrying a dusty bottle of red wine. He poured it into the crystal glass in front of you, but you paid the alcohol no mind, instead looking the newcomer over. He was young, or at least, young when he was turned, but likely hadn’t been a vampire long judging by the way he held himself. Marik wasn’t the only one who tried to turn the humans he drained in order to get more servants. You had always had your suspicions that such a practice was a reason Pegasus turned on his clients to get in the Circle’s favor. They were all too willing to turn a blind eye to the occasional human going ‘missing’ if it meant having a good informant.

“He’s new,” you commented as the man leaned back but did not leave the room.

Pegasus ignored your observation. “So my dear, what is it that you need from me? I promise I’ll help in any way I can.”

“I heard that the cult leader Marik has given you some trouble recently. Tell me about it.”

The vampire hummed as he took another drink of the thick liquid in his glass. He waited a beat after he was done, closing his eyes and holding his hand to his chin. “Ah yes, that loathsome little nat. His thugs thought it would be funny to terrorize one of my other clubs. Tore the place up rather well too, before my men could deal with them.” He opened his eyes again and held your gaze, “If you’re wondering why I didn’t call the Circle for help, I assure you such thuggish heathens were nothing to worry about.”

“That’s not what I’m wondering,” you clarified, though you were sure an illegal dealing or two at said club was the real reason. “I want you to tell me everything you know about Marik. I’m sure after that you must know something about him...or maybe his right-hand vampire?”

Again Pegasus waited a moment to respond, then, he nodded at the man on his right. “Go fetch Kemo, he might be able to tell her a thing or two about the incident,” he turned his sights back on you, “As for myself, well, I’m sure I don’t know any more than the Circle does about this Marik boy. He’s a roach, but he’s good at evading capture like one too.” He tapped his chin then, and it actively came to mind how much he was drawing this out. Then again, Pegasus always was a showman. “But since you mentioned his right hand, there is something I can tell you. After the incident, Marik sent one of his followers here to tell me that he hadn’t ordered his thugs to attack my establishment and that he had dealt with them thoroughly. I was shocked to say the least, I assumed someone as chaotic as this Marik wouldn’t care about smoothing things over, but perhaps he simply didn’t want to risk me going after his followers in retaliation.”

“What did this follower he send look like?” you asked, trying not to seem too eager.

“Oh he was a strapping young vampire,” Pegasus crooned, “very tall and muscular, with tan skin and dark hair. The most distinguishing factor, however, was the tattoo on his face.” Another long drink taken after the statement almost made you growl impatiently. “If the design being on his face wasn’t odd enough, the fact that it was of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs makes it all the more strange.”

So, Marik’s right-hand man was someone from, or at least interested in, Egypt. Interesting. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him or anything he said to you while he was here?”

Again, Pegasus took his sweet time answering, and as he did, Kemo, as well as two other bodyguards, came into the room. The fact that they, as well as the guard who had poured your drink, were now filling the room did not go unnoticed by you.

“Besides his surprisingly calm demeanor, no, I’m afraid there isn’t,” the vampire gave a bit of a dramatic sigh. “I’m sorry my dear, but surely that distinguishing factor will help you…” his eyes narrowed on you then, shifting from that drama queen act to the dangerous man you knew he was underneath. “I’m sure the Circle will appreciate the information, be sure to give it to them when you return. In the meantime, please, drink. You haven’t touched your wine.”

The familiar burn of adrenaline was starting in your veins now, but all the same, you sighed. You didn’t exactly relish making a mess. “You know I don’t drink while working, Pegasus. And besides that, did you really think I wouldn’t notice your goons closing in?”

He chuckled darkly in response, “I don’t make a habit out of underestimating you, my dear, but I’m afraid it’s too late. Other magicians are already on their way here, you best just wait for them. And please, don’t take this personally. As much as I adore your visits, turning a traitor over to the Circle will earn me quite a large favor with them. It’s just business, after all.”

Again you sighed, staying in our laid back position despite the fact that two more goons stepped into the room. “It’s your funeral, Pegasus,” your eyes drifted to the young vampire, who still held the wine bottle and seemed to be sweating bullets. “You really should have stayed home from work today, kid.”

With that your leg came up swift and hard, launching the table and its contents into the air as you sprang up. Your full wine glass was halfway back down when you grabbed it, smashed the end on your chair, and stabbed the remaining stem into the neck of the first vampire that made to grab you.

Yugi tried to keep his eyes on something that would distract him, like observing the old building before them, but the sound of his boyfriend’s pacing feet was too much to ignore.

“Atem, will you please calm down,” Yugi sighed, turning to face the agitated vampire.

Joey, who was leaning against the brick wall of the closed beauty shop next door, stretched his arms over his head. “Yug is right, stressin’ won’t get you anywhere.”

“She’s been in there too long. What if she’s hurt? Gods know what that man could be doing to her.”

“She wouldn’t have gone in if she didn’t at least trust this Pegasus guy a little,” Yugi countered. “Besides, she told us she would give us a signal if she needed help, she isn’t stupid.”

Atem halted his pacing and clenched his fists. “I know. But that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about her. Besides, how will we even know what-”

His words were cut off by the sound of shattering glass. They spun around, towards the large windows of the building and saw a man crashing through the glass. A wine bottle flew from his hand, clattering and clinking against the concrete as he landed hard. If there was any question on who this man was, it was answered when he sprang to his feet, raw flesh of his face already healing, and started running down the alley, yelling about how the pay wasn’t worth “this”.

“I guess that’s the signal,” Joey shrugged before the four of them descended on the new opening into the club, two well-dressed patrons running out as they did.

The sounds of a fight grew louder and the moment they came to the opening, Yugi almost had to do a double-take. Across the room two doors hung broken on their hinges, revealing an ornate dining room with more shattered glass and an upturned dining table. There in the middle of it all was you fighting off three- no, four (five?) fey clad in suits.

One made to grab you but you dodged and grabbed the back of his jacket, pulling it down to help hinder his arms as you set the fabric on fire. The man cried out as you kicked him, sending his now aflame body into one of his comrades. Without missing a beat you sidestepped another punch with grace, silver flashing in your hand as you came up and slashed the blade of your dagger across the vampire’s neck.

“Eh, you sure she actually needs help?” Joey asked, though he was immediately answered as Atem charged in with a growl of anger.

A vampire that had been hanging back tried to get a jump on your turned back, but Atem grabbed him by the arm and sent him flying across the decadent red room. That’s when Yugi spotted a door to their right burst open and even more minions came charging in. Not just vampires this time, one was a troll of sorts, another some minor race of demon, and a third who must have been a werewolf because he sniffed the air and turned excited eyes on Joey, canine teeth flashing.

In response, his old friend growled and descended on the newcomers, extended claws clashing with the other wolf.

Though you seemed to have confidence in him and Yugi was not above defending himself, he still wasn’t one for much violence. And if he was being honest with himself, Yugi wasn’t sure how much help he could be in the current chaos. The few patrons who hadn’t fled as soon as the window was open now ran past Yugi in varying stages of terror, or at least with a despondent air of ‘nope’. All except one, a nymph by a fireplace who sat reclined in her chair, calmly sipping her drink as if this was simply a mildly entertaining interactive play.

Yugi’s attention was snapped from the nymph as he caught sight of the troll stomping towards the room where you and Atem were fighting back to back. Mind working fast, Yugi’s wings flared and launched him into the air, courtesy of the building’s high ceilings. As he flew towards you he snatched a thick golden rope from the ground, a curtain accent that had been tossed to the floor in the mayhem.

He saw Atem punch another vampire in the gut, quickly grab the back of his jacket, and toss the man to you. Your hand met with the vampire’s face with a burning grasp, instantly rendering the man helpless as he howled in pain and tried to extinguish the flames across his skin.

Not a moment later however, did the troll make himself known by grunting in disapproval and raising his fists- with both you and Atem within his long reach. Atem made to grab you, likely to pull you out of harm's way but Yugi got their first. With the troll’s arms still lifted for a strike, Yugi flew past, lassoing the fancy rope around the attacker’s wrists.

Just as swiftly, Yugi’s wings carried him down and between the troll’s legs (at least his small size was good for one thing). The troll grunted as his arms were pulled back by the lead of rope now trailing between his own legs.

Yugi landed in front of you and Atem, extended the now short end of the rope and said, “Pull!”

The strength of all three of you combined was enough to pull the giant off balance and he came tumbling down with an earth-shaking thud . You took over from there, pulling a small pouch of something from your jacket and tossing it at the troll. With the flash of a spell, the pouch burst into a fine powder that fell onto the struggling heap of a giant, who quickly ceased all movement.

“My my, bravo!” Called a bright, though almost drawling, voice.

Yugi turned and finally noticed someone else that was apparently completely at home in the chaos. A silver-haired man sat in a fine-looking chair by the upturned table, lazily sipping from a crystal wine glass.

He flashed Yugi an interested smile, “And who might this handsome, young incubus be? Sexy demons, vampires, and werewolves, my my you do keep interesting company these days, my dear magician girl.”

“We need to get out of here,” you snapped, ignoring who Yugi assumed was Pegasus. “He’s sent word to the Circle and they’ll be here any minute.”

“They’re trying to block our only exit,” Atem hissed and Yugi turned to see that he was right, the few remaining lackies that Joey wasn’t fighting off were now blocking the large open window.

“Yugi, if I clear your way do you think you can grab Joey and fly out of here?” you asked.

“What about you and Atem?” he almost snapped back in worry.

“I think I can teleport us out, but Pegasus has seals up that make that difficult, otherwise I’d just teleport all four of us out. I think I can manage with just me and Atem though.”

“So, Yugi, Atem, and Joey,” Pegasus crooned from his seat, “Interesting, I’ll have to keep an eye on all four of you then!”

Obviously the boss had no intentions of getting his hands dirty by trying to stop their group, so Yugi took your lead and ignored him, instead nodding to your plan. That was all the confirmation you needed because you turned to the fey blocking the exit with raised hands.

“Get ready.”

A moment later you pulled your arms back, only to thrust them forward with a shout! Yugi felt an invisible force brush past him, but the few bodyguards by the window got more than a passing breeze. Instead, they were all thrown off their feet, some colliding with the wall, one flying through the broken window, and another flung across the room.

Yugi knew he had to move fast so, though it felt wrong to leave you and Atem behind, he put his trust in you and launched back into the air. Joey had already overpowered the goons he descended on and was looking about the room to figure out what to do next when Yugi called out to him. Joey’s eyes darted up to meet his and the moment Yugi extended his hand, the wolf understood.

The incubus grabbed the hand he held out and flew for the window, heart racing when he saw that some of the henchmen were already getting back to their feet. Joey took care of that however and delivered a swift kick to the head of the demon that made to snatch them out of the air.

The moment they cleared the jagged glass, Yugi shot upward towards the dark sky like a bullet. Once high enough Yugi slowed his ascent and hovered in the air with steady wing beats as he looked down at the ground, searching for any sign of you and Atem, or Circle mages closing in.

“Please be okay,” he whispered to himself.

“Come on!” your call drew Atem’s attention even before you grabbed his hand.

Turning, you tried to make a break for the nearest door, so that you might have some distance between yourself and Pegasus’ henchmen, but the ones by the window were already rising to their feet again. The demon looked absolutely livid as blood from a freshly broken nose streamed down his face. He locked eyes on you and Atem just as you turned to run.

“No!”

Arms wrapped around your waist and with a firm strength, you were thrown to the side. Atem held tight to you as you both crashed through french-style sliding doors, bodies hitting the wood as you collided with the ground.

You shook your head to halt the dizzying sensation, as well as the ache echoing through your body at the hard impact. With a quick glance at Pegasus’ dining room, you saw the burning residue of acid eating away at the wall sconce that likely would have been your head had Atem not thrown you out of the way. Huh, first time you had ever met an acid-spitting demon before.

“Gotta move,” you grunted, pain making the words lame as you tried to jump to your feet.

It would have been impossible with Atem still holding onto you had he not moved at the same time. Again you grabbed his arm as they slid from your waist and you bolted down the narrow hallway you had fallen into. Using the same spell that had knocked the cronies off their feet, you blew open the other door at the end of the hallway, and the moment you were on the other side, Atem slammed it back shut.

With a jerk on the arm you were holding, you made Atem face you. “This is going to be uncomfortable,” you warned before grabbing his other hand and closing your eyes.

Pegasus’ seals were weak, but they still made the task of teleporting out of the building quite taxing on your already depleted energy. With careful patience, you pushed through the blockages, feeling for the weak spot in the magic, like a light breaking through rubble. The moment you found it you cast your spell and the both of you were zapped out of Pegasus’ reach.

Now, to be technical, you weren’t exactly sure what it felt like to be shrunken down and stuffed into a tube that was still two sizes too small for your body, but, if you had to take a guess, you would assume the sensation was similar to the turmoil of teleporting. The fact that you had to push past the vampire’s seals only made the uncomfortable journey twice as torturous. A second later you found yourself stumbling across tarry ground, ankles aching from the hard, sudden contact. Unfortunately, Atem had less experience with the sensation than you did and tumbled to the ground, his still firm grip on you taking you down with him.

You lay there for a moment as you caught your breath, but Atem quickly sat up on his elbow and looked you over. “Are you alright?”

“F-fine,” you panted, “told you I’d let you know when things went south.”

He let out a huff of laughter, “Indeed.”

After waiting a beat, he got to his feet and held his hand out to you. You took the offer and let him pull you to your feet as his eyes scanned your new surroundings. You had landed them on the roof of a bookshop/apartment a good block and a half from Pegasus’ club. Close enough to regroup with Yugi and Joey, but far enough that you could hopefully avoid being spotted by any approaching magicians.

Speaking of, before Atem was even done scanning the rooftop, you heard your name called through the air, succeeded by Atem’s name a beat later. You both looked up to see Yugi soaring through the air, Joey dangling from his hands. The moment he was over the roof, Joey let go and stuck his landing, Yugi dropping down right beside him.

“Are you two okay?” the incubus asked, eyes looking over your face. You realized there might be a fresh bruise or two forming there, judging by the concern on his face and the pain that was getting harder to ignore as the rush of the fight fizzled out.

“I’m fine,” you assured, the words sounding more flat than you meant as you looked over at Atem. Of course he was fine, any injury sustained in there, against other vampires, would have healed by now.

“So, you find out anything before Peggy ratted you out to the circle?” Joey asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

You nodded, “Pegasus likes to talk, and he was doing just that while trying to stall me, hoping I wouldn’t notice. He said that he actually met with one of Marik’s followers, who he assumed is close to Marik. Even gave me an accurate description we may be able to use.”

“And you believe he was actually telling the truth?” Atem asked, “He could have made up anything to keep your attention.”

“True, but, I don’t think he was lying. I’ve seen him lie before and he knows I’m trained to sense deception. He would have tipped his hand to me quicker if he risked lying.” You let out a sigh, trying to remind yourself that, though both leads had turned into trials that day, you were at least getting small pieces of the Marik puzzle. “Anyway, we need to get moving, the Circle’s Magicians are likely already here and it won’t take them long to start searching the area for us.”

“Do you want to head back home?” Yugi asked as you all made your way to the fire escape.

You hesitated for a moment. The night was still young, and, given how agitated Atem still seemed, it might be nice to get at least one inch closer in your search. “Actually, if you’re up for it, there’s one more place I want to hit up. But I promise it’s less likely to end in a fight.”

As you started down the grated steps, Atem looked over his shoulder and quirked an eyebrow at you. “A more trusted informant? Or just a less violent one?”

“Neither, really. You remember me saying I have a friend who owns a bar?”

Clubs and bars that catered to all brands of fey were scattered across the city, more commonly than one might think. Much like Pegasus’ haven, they mostly hid in plain sight, relying on word of mouth to gather patrons and a bouncer at the door to keep any unsuspecting humans from wandering in. They also did their best to keep under the radar of the Circle, thanks to common dealings that were less than legal. You supposed in many ways, they could be compared to the speakeasies of the prohibition era.

Thankfully, Mai’s place had no such reputation and she always made sure her patrons took their questionable acts elsewhere. That, paired with the fact that Mai had far more loyalty to you than the Circle, made you pretty confident that her pub was more than safe from unwanted magician company.

“I texted the address to Anzu, she says she’ll be here soon,” Yugi said, stuffing his phone back in his pocket as your small group walked. After telling him that Mai would probably insist on all of you eating there, he had wanted to invite Anzu to join them, not only to update her on what the four of you had found out, but likely just to have a friendly meal together. End the day on a happier note, so to speak.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a burger or two!” Joey yawned as he stretched his arms over his head.

“Don’t worry, Mai’s cook makes some good burgers,” you assured lightly, even as your well-trained eyes kept alert on the darkened streets. “Not as good as Yugi’s but…” you shrugged as you trailed off, but did not miss the way Yugi gave a small, proud smile as he averted his eyes to the ground.

Though the night was young there weren’t many wanderers in this part of the city. It wasn’t a high-end neighborhood in the slightest, but it wasn’t a city slum like where Bonz lived, instead hovering somewhere safely in the middle. The low traffic streets also made putting your nerves at ease simpler. Knowing that you and your companions had escaped capture from the Circle so easily had put you on edge and it was hard to calm that down. Though you had been careful to take every precaution while sneaking away from Pegasus’ domain, it still felt too...simple. Too lucky.

You nearly jumped when you felt a gentle hand on your back and turned to meet Atem’s eyes. They were full of concern as he said, “What’s wrong?”

You looked back for a moment, then averted your gaze. “Nothing. Just on edge.” Thankfully, the turn that would lead to your destination was within reach a beat later. “Mai’s place is just around this corner.”

Atem’s eyes glanced in the direction you were pointing but obviously knew that you were just trying to change the subject as he didn’t seem satisfied with your answer. Still, he let the topic drop, at least for now, as you picked up the pace just a bit and turned the corner.

It was a wide alleyway, almost completely devoid of any trash or litter thanks to Mai’s perfectionism and desire to look like a respectable establishment. The only indicator that there was an establishment there at all, was the modified neon sign hanging above a stairway that dipped into the ground, leading to the basement level. The sign, that almost looked more fitting to psychic's shop, read ‘Harpie’s Fortune’ with a mystic eye placed between the two words.

The boys followed as you jogged down the stairs and you four barely fit at the bottom, having to wait a moment as you knocked on the door. A more pleasant face than the one at Pegasus’s club met you when the door’s window slid open.

“Hey, Honda, I need to speak to Mai,” you informed, almost interrupted by a loud growl coming from Joey’s stomach. “...And I need to get my friends some food.”

You almost laughed with the amendment, but the bouncer actually did as he unlocked the door. “Sure thing!” Honda, a tall muscly gorgon demon, swung the door open and stepped aside, waving the four of you in. “You should take the booth at the back, I’ll let Mai know you’re here.”

“Thanks, Honda. We have another friend coming, cute brunette named Anzu-”

“Oh, yeah, I know her! She’s a regular on ladies night,” the gorgon cut in, “I’ll show her to your table when she gets here,” his assurance was paired with a flash of a smile, one that almost hid his fangs and you actually returned it as you and your friends stepped inside.

When he shut the door behind Joey, Honda started skirting his way around the tables to the back room where Mai’s office was. It wasn’t a lavish, decadent place like the one downtown, but the pub had a laid back, relaxed air. A simple but clean (Mai’s work, once again) bar complete with a line of stools that were almost always packed. Tables filled the center of the room, plain wood and metal but comfortable enough for an after-work drink. Booths with faded red upholstery and more wooden tables lined the walls for maximum occupancy. Top it off with a few TVs hung high, some cityscape pictures on the brick walls and good- though greasy, food and you had yourself a cozy bar for folks who were just looking to relax.

It wasn’t a horribly busy night, only half or so of the seats filled, but it was packed enough for Mai’s liking for sure. Usually you opted to sit at the bar where Mai would easily spot you...and decipher your mood from afar in order to whip up a drink accordingly- but that was beside the point. Tonight however, you took Honda’s advice and wove towards a booth in the corner, one of the longer ones that would accommodate your group as well as give privacy.

An oni demon leaning against the bar called your name in a passing greeting, flexing his arm before laughing to himself. When Joey turned to you with an interested eyebrow raise you scratched the back of your neck. “It’s a reference to the time I beat him in an arm wrestling match. Got the whole bar into a debate on whether or not magic should be allowed to counter his natural strength,” you explained, in a light tone.

“Hope it didn’t end in a bar fight,” Yugi said, clearly amused.

“Nah, he was actually a good sport about it. Believe me, if he wasn’t Mai would have made him regret it.”

You almost went on, recalling the very few other times you had actually been sociable at the bar, but Atem chose that moment to cut in, his eyes scanning the venue with a wary kind of caution.

“There are humans here.”

Indeed, a quick once over of the place revealed, to a keen eye, that there were at least four humans scattered around. One was curled up in the arms of a dryad, the couple lounging in a booth, looking sleepy but perfectly content as they cuddled. Another was playing a hand of poker with a pair of werewolves, a siren, and a vampire, complaining that he was losing hand-over-fist with a teasing and jovial air. Two others were sitting at the bar with three female demons of varying races, dressed as if starting a night out on the town.

“Yup,” you said in answer. “Most clubs like this aren’t safe for humans to visit, but Mai makes sure that humans who know about the fey world are welcomed here and aren’t given any trouble. Makes it a particularly popular spot for...I guess you’d call them, interracial couples?” Your eyes lingered on the couple in the booth, as the dryad leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste kiss on her girlfriend’s forehead.

Atem followed your gaze and for a second you thought he might smile at the tender scene, but a stony look remained firm on his face. “There was a human at Pegasus’s club as well,” he started in a flat tone, slowing his pace as you neared the corner booth. “He was with an older vampire and looked half dazed. Does Mai condone vampires and other monsters entrapping unsuspecting humans?”

The bite in his tone actually stung a little, though it was hard to decipher if it was directed at you or not. “No, she doesn’t. The few times she’s seen a...suspicious couple, she’s always called me to look into it.”

A thought crossed your mind with that. It wouldn’t surprise you if Atem was truly mad over how such partnerships were handled by the circle, considering the one at Peggy’s club likely wouldn’t even receive a slap on the wrist for his questionable partnership with the dazed human. It wasn’t illegal for a vampire or other fey to feed on humans, so long as said human signed a contract with the fey, consenting to anything that might be done to them and so long as it didn’t end in a dead human. Unfortunately, whether the human was in a healthy enough state to sign that contract was usually a sticky gray area. Drug addicts and the mentally unsound were often targeted for toxic or downright abusive pairings.

You were about to say something more on the topic, especially since Yugi was looking uneasy at the darkening mood, but just as you opened your mouth, something grabbed your arm and pulled you back. Some one , you amended, as a familiar voice called your name, and you were pulled into a leather and lace-clad chest.

“You haven’t visited little o’ me in forever,” Mai said, tone cheerful as she continued to embrace you with surprising strength. “And you brought friends!”

“Hi, Mai,” you greeted, tone a little awkward as you reached up and patted her on the back, the other arm hanging by your side uselessly.

After another squeeze she released you, letting you get a healthy amount of air back in your lungs. Mai was as stunning as ever, blonde curls styled to perfection, makeup bold but suited to her daring nature, and corset top matching perfectly with her ripped jeans and lace-up boots. When you turned to introduce the boys to her, you saw that Joey was staring, wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape at your friend.

You flashed him a knowing smirk before moving the moment along, “Mai, this is Joey, Yugi, and Atem.”

“Oooh,” Mai cooed, “Look at you, running with wolves, vampires, and cute little incubi.” She winked over at you when Yugi blushed at the comment, but quickly added, “Welcome to Harpie’s Fortune boys, if my favorite mage says you’re good, then you’re welcome here.” She put a hand on your back then and started guiding you the last few feet to the corner booth, her tone lowering as she addressed you. “But something tells me you aren’t here for a drink or two. You’ve got that look in your eye, girly.”

“You know me too well,” you signed as you started scooting into the seat.

Before she could answer, Mai’s attention snapped back to the middle of the room and she raised her hand in a wave. “Anzu! It’s not often you drop by on a night that isn’t ladies night.”

“Hey, Mai,” the white witch greeted as she neared your table. She had gotten there quick. “I’m actually here with these guys tonight.”

“Oh?” Mai flashed her eyes back to you, “You never told me you knew Anzu.”

“We just met today actucally, through them,” you waved your hand at Yugi and Atem, who had taken the two spaces beside you, leaving Joey and Anzu to sit on the other side.

“Hm, small city then.”

When the five of you had settled down in the booth, Mai waved over her waitress and told your group to order so you could get down to business. After placing your order the waitress scurried off to the kitchen and Mai grabbed a chair from the empty neighboring table, scooting it to the head of your booth and plopping down.

“Now, what can I help you with, hm?” the blond asked.

Everyone else leaned in, considering you hadn’t relayed exactly what Pegasus had told you, and Anzu was a bit behind on everything that had been uncovered that day.

“I may have a lead on Marik,” you started, tone low enough not to carry far. “Rumor is that his followers have been picking up humans off the streets and something we found today says that he drains all of them not only for food but also in an effort to turn them so he can gain followers.

Mai sighed, “Thank explains how he’s kept his body dumps down to a minimum. And the cops around here write their deaths off as overdoses or muggings gone wrong. Still no idea where he picks these poor souls up?”

“Not really, but I think I have a description of one of his closer cronies, one that might be doing a lot of the victim picking. We’re hoping that if we find him, we’ll find Marik. Have you seen or heard of a vampire hanging around, tall, well built, tan skin, and tattoos of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on his face?”

Mai raised an eyebrow, “That’s a rather distinct man right there, and unfortunately, no, I haven’t seen or heard of anyone fitting that description. But now that I know you’re looking, I’ll keep an eye out, Honda will, too.” She leaned back in her chair, actually looking a bit concerned now. “I’ll ask some of my regulars if they’ve seen any vamps creeping on humans. Usually they mention that stuff to me anyway because they know I’ll pass it on to you, but, you never know.”

You nodded and despite the fact that your lead had come to a halt, you were hopeful. You knew that Mai’s personal history with ‘creepy’ vampires would make her take this threat and her promise seriously. “Thanks, we’d appreciate that.”

Mai nodded, then got up from her seat. “No problem. There’s something else I needed to talk to you about, though.”

She waved her hand as she started towards the bar and, after casting a look to the others at the booth, moved to get up and followed her. Atem and Yugi had to move out of your way and Yugi looked as though he wanted to ask what was up. In contrast, Atem’s eyes narrowed a little and you wondered if he had wanted to say something regarding your leads before Mai left, but you figured that Mai had purposely cut the conversation short with that in mind.

Through the crowds you wove, until Mai slipped behind the bar, leaving you to lean against the support beam nearby. She took a folded up piece of notepaper out from under the old landline phone and returned to you.

“About an hour ago, that creepy ghoul contact of yours called. He said to tell you that he has some info you’d want to hear and to meet him at the old parkway apartment building.” She handed you the paper, with the address and date scrawled across it in Mai’s neat handwriting. “I didn’t want to mention it in front of your friends,” she continued, arms crossed. “Didn’t know how much they were meant to know or...” her voice trailed off then, an odd occurrence for the confident Mai who always had something to say.

You looked up and met her eyes, wondering if she was recalling the last time a creeper vampire picked a human up off the streets. “Thanks, Mai. With any luck, he’ll have something that’ll help us catch Marik. And don’t worry, we will catch him.”

That confident smile was back on Mai’s face in an instant, though you couldn’t tell if it was her typical mask or not. “I’m not worried, there’s a reason you’re the only magician I trust, you know.”

“And as for them,” you threw a look back at the booth where your new friends were still seated, “Anything you want to pass on to me, you can tell them. Especially Yugi and Atem.”

Mai got a very...interested look on her face then. “Ooh, what’s this? My girl saying things like ‘we’ and sharing all her secret contacts with friends. And here I always thought you were a lone wolf type!”

A sudden nervous air filled your chest and you found yourself looking away. “They’re just helping me with the Marik case, that’s all.”

When Mai gave an unconvinced hum you scoffed and turned to walk back to your booth without another word, hearing her chuckle to herself as you went. It didn’t take long to reach the table and scoot back into your spot beside Yugi and Atem, taking in their curious but silent gazes.

“She had a message for me from Bonz, I’ll be meeting him tomorrow night for some information.”

Yugi smiled, hopeful and positive, “That’s good, maybe with what we found out tonight, it’ll be something good!”

“Maybe…” you trailed off, looking at the pressed wood of the table with unfocused eyes as you thought.

After a minute, Atem’s deep voice brought you out of said musings. “You didn’t mention that Mai herself is a human. I’m surprised she would own a place like this.”

You almost smirked at that. Most were shocked, to say the least when they saw a young human girl catering to demons and mythical creatures. “Yup. There’s a reason she’s so serious about making sure humans are safe here, and that none of her customers cause any trouble.”

“Speaking of,” Anzu said with an annoyed huff, and nodded her head back towards the bar.

When you all turned that direction, you saw that a minotaur was jumping up from his barstool and glowering down at one of the wolves who had been playing poker just minutes ago.

“How about I beat in that muzzle of yours, mutt!” the minotaur snarled as the werewolf looked up at him with a bored expression.

“Hey!” Mai’s firm and icy voice cut above the shorter man’s snapping comeback and she leaned against the bar, glaring at the two patrons. “You both know the rules, take it outside, or can it all together!”

“I don’t take orders from scrawny ass humans like you,” the minotaur barely gave Mai a glance as he growled, which only served to anger the blonde even more.

“That’s it, out you go, walking or tossed out, I don’t care which.”

When the beast actually turned his attention fully on Mai, Joey and Atem both jumped up from their seats. “She’s gonna get herself killed!” Joey hissed.

You gave your new friend’s shin a firm kick and Atem an almost disinterested look. “Sit down, Mai can handle herself. She doesn’t need any knights to swoop in and save her. And even if she did, about a dozen others would beat you to it.”

Indeed, more than ten other patrons had gotten to their feet at the sign of a brewing fight, but they, much like Honda by the door, waited, hanging back and only ready to step in if needed. Cultivate the right kind of customers, and you get the right kind of loyalty.

Just as you said, though, Mai was seasoned at dealing with troublemakers three times her size and strength. The moment the minotaur started spewing a threat at her directly, she rolled her eyes and pulled something out from under the bar.

Mai hefted the giant and already loaded crossbow in her hands, aiming it right at the aggressor's throat. “Because I really don’t like cleaning blood off my bar I’ll say it one more time. Out. Now. Or my iron-tipped friend here will give you a new piercing to go with that gaudy nose ring.”

With a new wariness to his gaze, the minotaur eyed the tip of the arrow, cautious considering his kind were quite vulnerable to iron. Then he let out a snarl through his nose and gave the werewolf a hard shove to move out of his way as he turned. “Eh you ain’t worth killing, this place is trash anyway.”

Mai kept her weapon trained on the man’s back as Honda opened the door and waved him out with a mocking gesture. Just like that, the crisis was averted, like usual and everyone settled back down to their drinks and food as if nothing had happened. When Joey and Atem gave each other confused looks you actually let out a laugh, which Anzu and Yugi quickly joined.

Oh yes, Mai could take care of herself indeed.

***

“So, if my understanding is correct, you and your entire staff could not hold her for the twelve minutes it took us to get here?”

“Well there’s no need to be so snarky,” Pegasus sighed, eyeing the tall magician with a mane of long flowing hair to rival his own.

The vampire’s staff (or at least the few who could still walk) had barely started sweeping up the mess you had left behind. Windows and doors busted, tables left charred and upturned, glass everywhere- to put it short, the vampire lord’s club, was a mess.

“You underestimated her, did you?” Mana asked in a singsong tone. Then, when she saw a vampire who was healing from a nasty gash in his throat help a troll untangle himself from a fancy rope, she actually giggled.

Mahad threw her a scolding look and she quickly stifled her laughter, straightening her posture to something more professional. “Is there anything else you can tell us?” Mahad asked the vampire.

“Yes, she was with three young fey, they helped her best my bodyguards.” He cast a look around his demolished dining room. “Though I’m certain she would have managed to escape without them. Your kind trained her well.”

Mahad narrowed his eyes at the smiling tone in the vampire’s last words and found himself wondering if Pegasus really had tried his hardest to detain you. The old vampire had always been a bit...chaotic, and it wouldn’t surprise Mahad if he only half tried to capture you, just to see how the rest played out for his own amusement.

“Yes, they did train her well,” Mahad answered.

“Good thing they trained me even better,” came a new voice brimming with condescension.

The magicians and vampire turned to see two more men approaching through the broken dining room doors. Mahad felt an anxious heat crawl across his skin as the newcomers examined the scene.

“What are you two doing here?” Mana snapped at them.

The cocky one of the two, the one who had spoken, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and leisurely lit one before answering. “We’re here to take over the hunt, of course.” He took a long drag, then blew the smoke out in a long breath, aiming it straight for Mana’s displeased face. “Council says you two are too...friendly with the target,” a nasty smile crossed his lip then, “so we’re going to hunt her down instead.”

Before Mana or Mahad could reply, Pegasus let out a loud, bellowing laugh. “You two? You’ve got to be kidding me!” As if for dramatic effect, the vampire pressed his hand to his forehead, still laughing, “Oh, she’s going to eat you two boys alive!”

“Shut it, prissy boy!” the cocky magician snapped, sadistic smirk now twisted into a scowl.

“Young man, do you realize how many vampires and demons of all variety I employ, hm?” Pegasus said in a mocking tone.

“Oh, we know,” the second of the two finally spoke, “that’s why they sent us- well, me at least,” he threw a raised eyebrow at his partner before shrugging. Then, his eyes scanned a scorched wall as he let out a low whistle of appreciation. “Knew she wouldn’t have trouble escaping, tore the place up pretty good too.” He gave an admiring sigh, tucking a stray strand of dark hair behind his ear. “Such a badass, I swear I’m in love with that girl.”

“You shut it too, pretty boy,” his partner growled, then turned back to Mahad and Mana. “The Council's put us in charge of this, so just stay the hell outta my way, got it?”

Mana bristled at the demand, fists clenching as she made to step forward- but Mahad extended a hand to stop her. She didn’t miss the way her master’s jaw clenched as he replied to the two men.

“If that is what the Council wishes, then we will not argue,” Mahad said in a tone devoid of any emotion. “Do you wish to hear what we’ve already found?”

The cocky one’s smirk was back as he took another drag of his cigarette. “Don’t bother.” He stepped away then, purposely turning his back on the master and apprentice as he unsheathed his silver dagger and ran his thumb along the flat of the blade. “We’ve got other ways of hunting her down.”

#atem x reader #yugi x reader #yami x reader #atem x reader x yugi #yugi x reader x yami #poly relationship #poly reader insert #polyamorous #series: spells of defiance

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archer3-13 · 5 years

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FEH Villains Ranked

from best to worst, excluding book 4 cause its still ongoing

lif: genuinely surprised me by being an alfonse with pathos. well he started book 3 as a kinda generic number 2 type, the revelation of his identity as alfonse (though rather obvious at that point) as well as his goal of essentially destroying other worlds as a penance to restore his own is both suitably threatening and tragic. Creating that sense of pathos i mentioned that works so well for him, especially when hes shown to still be a kind person at heart thats been pushed into such horrific actions because of the devastation he had to endure. Especially when you consider that hes carrying the weapon that could kill hel with him which, although kinda lazy that he just has it, is a) a hel of a lot less contrived then anything book 2 pulled off and b) further deepens that sense of pathos when we consider that not only is it a memento of ‘player san’ and presumably everyone else hes lost but that it can also represent, in a way, a symbol of his own failure of will and bowing the knee to hel. Him prioritizing his own happiness and fulfillment in the form of hel resurrecting his world over the good of the ‘fe multiverse’. Point being, its a complexity of character that I honestly wish we got to see more of, and one I really wasn’t expecting from fe heroes given its track record. you’ll see what i mean down the road.

hel: well not terribly complex in motivation, she basically just wants to kill everything to increase her own power, she gets points for a strong presentation and utilization within the story book 3 creates. The limitations on her insta death power being kinda silly aside, though gustavs gambit to circumvent that i honestly really like more so then alfonses rules lawyering, the overhanging presence she has in the lives of book 3′s characters works really well and the pressure to defeat her because of her effectively endless legions works better as an overhanging threat anyways. When I say presentation though I mean more so in how her words, actions, and motivation intersect because well her words on the face of it have the usual villain posturing, her motivation and actions (such as her relation to eir and her generals, and the world she rules over and created) creates an interesting intersection where one can argue that her posturing words are empty of any true feeling. Shes cold and lifeless like the dead she rules and the world she creates, those around her are simply tools to an end but hardly in a cackling manner and more so in the unthinking manner one treats a toothpick. she gets angry or shocked but even then its in a muted manner, almost performing the emotions rather then truly feeling them. Hel lives in an unchanging world, a stillness brought on by the finality of death, and in a way one can argue that its her unspoken desire to spread that stillness, that perfect unchanging world she controls, to every world. Like lif, its a degree of complexity that I wish we got to see more of, especially in her case, and its something i honestly wasnt expecting from heroes.

helbindi: solely because the man goes through a lot of shit, and is an effective portrayal of a sympathetic villain. Hes effectively a camus if a camus was foul mouthed and more thuggish and that works for him, and is rather endearing in its own way when he acts concerned for his little sister and does the ‘im a thug who hugs kittens when no ones looking’ routine which i like when its done well. point being, he could have been a generic thug but hes a lot more interesting for not being one. However, his general pointlessness to the story, aside from giving us an indication that shock of shocks surtrs a shitty king and an excuse to escort ylgir around places who also does jack shit in the story... heroes is always going to suffer from having to compress its story telling but that fact they waste so much time with helbindi and ylgir and hrud when so much of what they do is either unnecessary to the story or themes present in book 2 or could have been given to other characters and make those characters better for it... helbindi gets to be up here for sympathy points and favoritism, but i am stretching here for ya mate.

thrasir: stronger character wise then helbindi, an interesting relation to lif of enemies turned into close friends over a shared trauma and servitude, plays into some of the same strengths of hel and lif that make them so engaging, yadda, yadda, yadda. So why is she below helbindi? because she doesnt get to do anything, and only starts to get interesting right before her death. If she had been given a bigger role comparable to lif, or just more time to stew in her own motivations she’d easily surpass helbindi. its also not helped that thrasirs own desire to resurrect her brother is similar to veronicas pre established selfishness, which isnt as strong a contrast as lifs selfishness and guilt against alfonses character. Her relation to lif does hint at a stronger sense of kidness and morality instilled within her because of that relation, which is interesting and would make a strong contrast against veronica, but again we get like five seconds of it before shes killed off and then a little more of it again at the end. Deserved more time on screen then she got, and would have probably been number 2 here if she had gotten it.

veronica: bratty child becomes evil sorcerer emperor, more at 11. I like the concept of veronica, its something fes never really touched on much aside from maybe a little bit with julius with his more childish antics. Veronica however cranks that up a lot more, shes impatient and gets bored easily, she wants more friends but in a selfish ‘friend is someone who does everything I want right?’ way, shes emblas ruler and she has the emotional maturity of an evil 10 year old and i just kinda like it. Especially since she tempers it with an air of sophistication and intelligence, much like the classic evil sorcerers fe loves to utilize in villain roles, and it helps balance out the bratty child from being too annoying in the villain role. It helps lend a sense of her trying to present herself as a grown up for the respect and authority that brings, well simultaneously maintain all the perks of being a kid who gets everything she wants. It’s a shame then that the narrative keeps sidelining her, either by focusing on other villains, her god damn brother getting in the fucking way, or with the overhanging implications of magic dragon possession being the root cause of her behavior. I can forgive the magic dragon possession though since that is an fe staple and could works towards more interesting character aspects rather then undercutting her. Regardless, she sure is great when things are actually about her, and i really wish things would get back to being about her.

Laegjarn: solely here because she loves her sister, shes rather flat as a character otherwise. It would have been one thing if she displayed a sense of brutality instilled in her by a childhood being raised by surtr, only dropping the shell when it came to her sister and reigning herself in for the sake of that one familial bond she treasures... instead shes just kinda nice and loves her sister, and yet still works for surtr for some fucking reason. @agoddamn and @ezralahm mention an aspect of learned helplessness to xanders character in fates that people tend to gloss over (heaven knows why, cause its fairly in your face even in the english translation), and that should be something that comes across in laegjarn, but its doesnt really. not as much as it should anyways. Another victim of book 2′s pointless writing.

loki: evil sexy lady with big boobies and a one leg cutout tights pants thing. heres someone who can transform into anyone, and yet she never really does anything with it. oh she does ‘things’, just not things that have much point to them, or really feel like they fit into some larger scheme. she’d be right at home as a recurring villain in an episodic story, coming up with some inane scheme for todays episode that gets foiled and she gets sent ‘blasting off again’. I dont necessarily hate the sexy seductress character, the noire bombshells and the like, they can be fun when done well. loki just doesnt do it well, coming off as more grating and annoying then tempting honestly, and as a villain she lacks anykind of actual menace. My feelings on her are similar to my feelings on aversa honestly, heres someone who should be so cool and threatening, a real menace to the heroes using their skills and abilities behind the scenes to move threats against the heroes, never taking to the field unless they can benefit from it and have an assured chance of victory or safety... but then they never actually do anything, as any of the actions possibly attributable to them either happen offscreen or probably would have happened without them doing anything. Loki and aversa could have stayed home twiddling their thumbs and nothing would change, and thats the real shame about them. Doesn’t help they aren’t particularly fun or entertaining as villains either due to lackluster writing.

surtr: garon 2.0, but with even less complexity. Well garon may have been a blatantly evil prick, he at least had backstory that provoked some degree of complexity and even sympathy, both to him and those hurt by his evil dragon possession personality change. Surtr lacks even that, acting more like a petty thug given way to much power then an imposing ruler. He garon without the backstory complexity, and in a way hes walhart without the air of regality and charisma that helped elevate walhart from being god awful in his own right. And well it could have been interesting if the story made any attempts to comment on that or work it into a central story theme or flow of some sort, it doesnt really do that and instead treats him as if he has and indeed deserves the same credibility and impression walhart or garon or any of the other fire emblem emperor kings have left. But the game doesnt ever actually work for that with him. Hes the emeperor, so he automatically deserves respect as a villain. and thats... so typical of book 2′s writing.

laevatein: shes boring as sin, even with her relation to her sister and the tragedy of losing her. Like her sister, she would have benefited from an impression of learned helplessness but the game never really bothers with it. moving on because i can barely give a shit about her.

bruno: this mother fucker... an annoying detraction that overtakes veronicas spotlight and screentime, an excuse for alfonse wangst that never really lands, pointless and useless... the benefit of book 2 and 3 so far has been his reduced importance, but i fully expect him to come roaring back to steal veronicas position once the story shifts back to an area she should be the focus of. the only thing he has going for him is the sense of a camus struggling with dragon possession but thats more so used for alfonse wangst then it is for anything constructive. What do i mean by alfonse wangst? I mean angst that really serves no narrative purpose then for the sake of unnecessary melodrama, as opposed to informing us anything about the characters or themes of the story. he makes veronica look worse, his drama with alfonse is a waste of time, and he really provides nothing else then a recurring boss fight and get out of jail free card for the story. I’m putting him below laevatein because well i dont give much of a shit about her, she atleast doesnt actively annoy me and still had the potential for something. Bruno however? the story would be better off without him. So fuck him.

#fire emblem #fire emblem heroes

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thattimdrakeguy · 5 years

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hey so what did you mean by damian and jons "relationship not working" if he was in character?

I just don’t feel like under normal circumstances that Damian and Jon would become friends.

Damian has had friends before, but I never read anything with Colin to vouch for how that’d go, but in the build up to Super Sons, Damian kidnaps and scares the crap out of Jon. He clearly doesn’t like Jon at all, that is the whole dynamic for those first few issues, but then they act like in the first issue of Super Sons that Damian would follow Jon around all day.

The build up was already terribly written. They completely ignore how Jon would most likely absolutely refuse to be near Damian after all of that, but then Superman and Batman make them work together, which feels like such bad parenting. Superman is a good dude, why in the world would Superman let his own son be near someone who just kidnapped him? There’s the idea that they’re going to be Superman and Batman some day so they have to work together, but wouldn’t it make more sense for Damian to work out his personal problems first? It’s not like Jon wouldn’t hang out with Damian if Damian wasn’t a horrifying personality.

They go from hating each other to being okay with each other instantly by the time the first Super Sons issue came out. A bit of fighting, but like, they’re hanging out. That’s such a huge stretch that I have no idea why people considered it good writing.

It’s like the writers knew they wouldn’t work, but they really wanted them to be friends, so they just broke their character to make it happen.

Jon may have super powers to fend off Damian, but as a personality they probably wouldn’t get along for Jon to be okay being near Damian.

Damian stalked him for a whole day and broke into Jon’s house.

Jon already had a possibly traumatizing day when he got kidnapped by Damian. So why would he be okay with Damian stalking him and breaking into his house to confront him in his room?

So the whole relationship makes no sense.

There’s suppose to be this whole “oh Damian’s growing as a person”, but there’s nothing worth-wild to make that happen. It just suddenly happens. Damian goes from hating Jon, and Jon being terrified of him, to them getting along and having adventures.

Damian suddenly getting along with Jon enough to do stuff isn’t what character development is.

It’s ignoring his actual character. It ignores dynamics. It ignores the story. It ignores logic.

Character development has to work and make sense and feel logical for a character for it to function properly.

Suddenly making a character do an out of character thing, that’s out of character because it’s a nicer thing, isn’t what character development is.

It’s what bad writing is.

They forced it because they didn’t want to admit it was a really dumb idea to put these two characters together like they’re good friends.

If I can recall right they had the most forced page and obvious symbolism in existence were they’re like “do you think we’d get along” while in the shape of yin and yang, and right away it just feels wrong. They just hated each other, through out the whole forced adventure they hated each other, and now they’re pretending that maybe deep down they get along when it clearly wasn’t the case before. Damian wouldn’t kidnap Jon if he thought he was okay, and there was nothing to really change his mind, because Damian is a naturally stubborn character regardless. Jon got kidnapped and threatened by Damian, he has no real reason to assume that “yeah I could be friends with this guy”. Damian put Jon through the same experience Jon would go through with a super villain”. Realistically, the kid would be horrified of Damian.

Then they just ignore that moment anyway, because Damian’s still doing scary stuff, but Jon just ignores all of it for plot convenience, cuz realistically these two characters shouldn’t get along at all. If they cared about actually using logic, then they’d realize Jon wouldn’t hang out with a terrifying person that does terrifying things all the time.

Perhaps they were trying to do an opposite attracts thing like Tim and Kon, like how Tim was the orderly, rule-abiding, geek, and Conner was the rebellious, rule breaking, cool dude, but that works a bit more, because when Young Justice happened Tim almost felt obligated to lead the team because compared to them he was the only one that really could. They didn’t become friends immediately, that wouldn’t work at all. Why would Tim hang out with Conner in the beginning? They butted heads all the time. They just actually grew as people and learned to trust each other after trying to work together as a team, it was beautiful.

There could be some kind of similar thing they were trying with the Super Sons. Maybe Damian feels an obligation to keep Jon in-control, but isn’t that what Jon’s dad and mom is for? Jon already has someone to do that for him. Damian isn’t exactly orderly himself. Damian is the rule breaker. That doesn’t work.

So you have a farm boy who was kidnapped and threatened by a borderline anti-social guy. The farm boy has no reason to want to hang out with the borderline anti-social guy. The borderline anti-social guy has made it quite clear he does not want to hang out with the farm boy, and he adamantly dislikes the farm boy.

Their personalities conflict in ways that make it so it doesn’t work.

They have to break their characters to put them together.

Nothing that made Tim and Conner work was there with Damian and Jon. The opposites attract thing isn’t there for Damian and Jon to work. They just shoved them together because they were written by the same writer a lot, and they were around the same age, that’s literally about it.

At a very basic, subatomic level, their whole entire relationship is nothing but contrived, because there’s nothing their that works if they were actually in-character during their interactions.

If they were trying to pull something about how Damian’s secretly lonely and wanted friends, that’s already pretty out of character, but it’s possibly a thing that could work, but Damian has no reason to want Jon as a friend besides Batman wanting him to get along with him. That doesn’t sound like a reason Damian would have. He blatantly could care less about Jon, and then suddenly he does. I’m also pretty dang sure him being lonely is why he reformed the Teen Titans. Further showing he doesn’t have an actual reason to want to hang out with Jon if that’s what that was.

There’s better odds that if Damian was going to get a friend, that he would find someone more similar to him. I can’t imagine Damian wants to fight all the time.

If Damian agreed that he should get along with Jon because he agrees a Batman must get along with their Superman, I could see that working more on a partnership way in the future, but I could not still see Damian wanting to hang out with Jon or Jon hang out with Damian in a buddy-buddy sort of way. They’d work together because by then Damian would hopefully grow to be more professional, most likely fueled by the pride of the ideal of being Batman. Since their personalities clash so much though, they have no reason to become buddy-buddy on a personal level. Especially not after what Damian did to Jon.

Besides that, the way they wrote the beginning, Damian clearly didn’t care about having to work with him. He was upset he had to. To suddenly change that over the course of an issue is rushed.

If they wanted to take the time to allow them to begrudgingly get along on a professional level even though they obviously don’t want to, sure, but as far as on a personal level, their personalities just don’t allow it. I’m not sure if Jon would realistically go along with anything Damian says since Jon’s such a good kid, but I don’t know a lot about how rebellious Jon is to say a lot about that, but he seems to be a loyal, rule abiding, kid.

For them to right away become buddy buddy after two issues just doesn’t work for me. Jon had an experience that was like being kidnapped by a super villain. The second he knew Damian was stalking him all day, Jon would probably do something about it. He wouldn’t be mostly okay with it, let alone go with Damian because Damian broke into his house. That’s insane.

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doyouevenshipbr0 · 5 years

Text

gruvia fic: a song of ice and water

chapter 2

author's note: ok so. game of thr*nes AU. we'll see how it goes...???? idk rn im into it lmao. ok enjoyyyy<333

The dinner hall of Winterfell was bustling with people, all gathering to greet Juvia of Riverrun. The people of the north were known to be a little more on the wild side, so the party was rambunctious to say the least, and thankfully no one could hear the relentless rain outside due to all the noise.

Gray watched at the head table as his people laughed, drank, and ate to their heart's content. He felt a swell of pride as he gazed upon them. He knew they were technically not his yet, but they would be one day, and that was more than enough for him.

He looked over at his bride-to-be with reluctance, and felt slightly guilty from feeling disdain for her. Just as he looked with content among his people, he wished he could be fighting for them. He was sure she didn't want to be there just as much as him, but still, he couldn't help it.

Gray looked down at her plate and saw it was hardly touched, and she was staring out into the crowd of people with numbness in her eyes.

"Do you not like the food?" Gray asked. "We prepared lots of fish tonight, since it's a staple cuisine of The Riverlands."

Juvia jumped a bit, seeming to break from a daze. "Forgive me, My Lord. Juvia just feels a bit sick from all the traveling. Not very hungry." She forced a smile.

Gray curiously raised his brow, hearing her speak in the third person. "You can call me Gray."

"Oh." She blushed. "Alright, Gray." Her words seemed so empty and lifeless.

"Winterfell is beautiful." She said after a brief pause. "Juvia took a small walk through the courtyard."

"Why do you speak in third person?" Gray said crassly.

"My apologies, Gray. It's a childhood habit that seemed to stick." She apologized, as insincere as ever. Her face showed no emotion, just as her words, and she had yet to make eye contact with Gray.

He exhaled and stood from the table, quickly fed up. "Right, well, there's no use in forcing this god-awful small talk. Excuse me, Lady Juvia." Gray sarcastically bowed, rolled his eyes, and walked away, leaving Juvia wide-eyed, and it was the first bit of sincere emotion she'd shown since arriving at Winterfell.

Gray found a table nearby where Lyon sat. "Good gods, man, talking to her is lile pulling teeth." Gray slumped over in a seat and took a hefty swig of Lyon's wine.

Lyon looked at him with precarious eyes. "Uh, I don't think the Lord of Winterfell is supposed to leave the head table during the feast."

"The 'Lord of Winterfill' can do whatever the hell he wants." Gray growled.

"You won't be a very good lord with that attitude." Lyon snorted.

"Oh, quit the teasing, Lyon, I'm dying over there!" Gray shoved his head in between his hands. "It's blatantly obvious that neither of us want to be here with each other!"

"You've known her for six hours. Five of which you spent separately. I don't think you're exactly giving this a fair shot." Lyon tried his best to be a voice of reason.

"Maybe, but how am I supposed to give it a fair shot when we're practically destined to hate each other." He said, desperately.

"I'm sorry, do we have different definitions of 'marriage'? It's a symbol of love."

"Yeah, not arranged marriages. Those never go well, and history is to show for that." Gray combed the oils out of his hair with his fingers, bringing it back to its normal messy texture.

"So you've known her for an evening and you already hate her?" Lyon asked, trying his best to get Gray to see how dramatic he was being.

"Ergh!" Gray grunted with frustration. "No, I don't hate her! But I wouldn't say I like her either. Her father's the reason I'm stuck in this castle in the first place."

"Well, it's a good thing you're not marrying her father, then." Lyon gave a smug smirk.

"Quit being a smartass." Gray spat.

"Look," Lyon got lower to the table to match Gray. "Instead of sulking over here and throwing yourself a pity party, why don't you just give her a chance. You don't have to fall in love with her. No one's expecting that of you, trust me. But you can at least get along with one another. Maybe even become friends. Just make the best of what you have."

Gray paused to take in Lyon's words, but they didn't seem to work all that much. "I didn't really come over here for advice, ya know. Just wanted to steal your booze." Gray swiped Lyon's cup, downing the rest of the wine.

"You ass." Lyon rolled his eyes.

"That's Lord Ass, to you." Gray stood from the table.

"Whatever. Go back and talk with your beautiful bride before I snatch her up for myself." Lyon smirked.

Gray hit his arm before walking away. "Shut up."

As he made his way back to the table, he noticed Juvia wasn't there anymore. He stopped in his stride and curiously looked around the room, wondering where she could have possibly gone.

Juvia could have sworn the servant told her to make the first left- or- was it the second? Everything in that damned castle looked exactly the same, and it was all so big. She would be lucky if she didn't pee herself before finding a bathroom.

"Well, well, if it isn't The Rain Woman." Three guards made their way out from one of the halls.

"Good evening, My Lords." Juvia nodded. "Could one of you please escort me to a bathroom? Juvia's seemed to have lost her way." She forced another sweet grin, hoping to get kindness in return.

"You're to be the next Lady of Winterfell and you can't even find yourself a chamber pot?" The guards got closer, and she could smell wine masking them.

Juvia hummed a false chuckle. "Pardon, My Lords. Juvia just hasn't become familiar with the castle yet."

"Ya' know,'" The third guard spoke. "Winterfell doesn't get much rain."

Juvia was finding herself against a wall.

"You're right, Clayton." The first said. "So how the fuck is this place supposed to handle constant rain, 24/7?"

"Well," Juvia cleared her throat, trying her best to not let her nervousness show. "Riverrun adjusted just fine to it."

"I'm sure, My Lady, but Winterfell isn't known for bein' wet like where you're from." They were all closing in.

"So how are we supposed to get anything done with you floodin' this damn place? Everything will be thrown into chaos with you around." They were clearly not happy with Juvia being there.

"Sers," Juvia used her magic, and engulfed her hands in water, ready to use them as weapons, and they backed up a bit. "Juvia just wants to find the bathroom, and return to the feast. Juvia does not want any trouble." Her eyes were fierce, and she was ready for a fight if it was to happen.

"We know you're a fearsome little lady, but you're not in The Riverlands anymore. Soldiers of Winterfell won't go so easy on 'ya." All three guards propped up their hands, and used their magic to make swords of ice.

"Lord Fullbuster will not be happy if he finds his future wife hurt." Juvia said through gritted teeth.

"But, My Lady, he doesn't even want ya' here in the first place." The guard chuckled. "He wants to be fighting in the war, as he should. If anything, we'd be doing him a favor."

One of the guards swung his sword down at her, and Juvia had her arms more than ready to block it, but she felt a quick gust, and in the blink of an eye, Gray was standing in front of her, blocking the sword with his arm that was coated in ice.

"I'll be the one deciding whether I want her here or not. That's none of your concern." His eyes pierced right through the guard.

"My Lord-"

"And actually, come to think of it, I don't recall ordering any of my men to kill my wife." The guard finally put down his sword, and Gray's arm returned back to skin.

"She's a hindrance, My Lord! You know that just as much as me!"

"You know what I know? I know that an attempt to murder is not only a crime, but an attempt to muder a noblewoman, let alone a future noblewoman of Winterfell, is treason." His voice was just as sharp as his ice.

"My Lord-"

"And during times of war, I certainly don't want any traitors lurking in my castle." Juvia at that point had just realized Gray was using his free arm to shield her, and that arm remained there after all this time.

"Guards! Guards!" Gray shouted, and six men from other halls of the castle approached. "Throw these men into cells. I'll decide what to do with that after council with my advisors." Gray said simply. He wrapped an arm around Juvia and guided her away from the scene.

"Lord Fullbuster, wait! Please!" All the guards shouted, but Gray and Juvia could hear the sounds of them being taken away in the distance.

Once they turned another corner, Gray stopped and placed his hands on Juvia's shoulders, looking at her intently. "Are you hurt?"

"N-no, Gray-sama." Juvia's eyes were still wide. Not from the ambush, but for Gray's intervention.

"Gray-sama?" He questioned. "I told you, you don't have to call me any formalities."

"J-Juvia knows, but, well, it's out of respect. It feels right." She couldn't help a blush spread on her cheeks.

Gray shrugged. "If you say so." He began walking again, and Juvia followed right behind. "Anyway, I'm sorry." Gray muttered.

"You don't need to apologize. It's not your fault. Plus, Juvia could have certainly handled them, anyway."

"Yeah, I know. I've heard all the stories. It's just-- I dunno'-- I just wanted to help you. Didn't feel right to let you take them all on your own when I was right there and could easily put an end to it." He explained, piecing together his thought process.

Juvia couldn't help but stammer in her tracks a bit. No one ever really stood up for her before. At Riverrun, people always tried their best to steer clear of her. Everyone thought she was cursed, due to her rain, and she acquired the name "Rain Woman." She was like some urban legend, like it was a sin to even say her name. It wasn't her fault she was born with this dreaded curse, and she hated that it defined her life.

No one bothered to try to get close to her, not even her father. In her alone time, all she could do was train, so that was what she did. People knew she was strong, but what they didn't know was how lonely she always was, and how much she yearned for someone's care an affection.

"W-well," She blushed. "Thank you, Gray-sama."

Gray just responded with a shrug, but that was more than enough for Juvia.

As they were about to enter the feast once again, they passed a window, and it was quiet. Juvia never heard quiet like this before in her life. Was something wrong? Were her ears playing some sort of trick on her? She immediately stopped once they were at the window. It was dark, but still, what she was seeing and hearing was indisputable.

"What's wrong?" Gray realized she'd stopped and turned around.

"The rain." Her voice was airy, as the wind had just been completely knocked out if her. After the inital stun, and once she processed what she was about to stay, tears rushed to her eyes. It was silent. The outside world was silent. It was the best noise she'd ever heard in her life. She turned to Gray, teary-eyed and shocked.

She felt her throat close as thr words tried to come out, almost like her body was telling her to stop because it was too good to be true. Finally, she found her voice, even though it was almost a whisper.

"It stopped."

#doyouevenshipbr0 #gray x juvia #gruvia #juvia x gray #gruvia fanfic #fanfiction #gruvia fanfiction #fanfic #gruvia drabble #fairy tail #juvia #juvia lockser

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wakraya · 6 years

Text

Okay I’m going to try not to actively engage in Lanquecourse this time around. I’ll respond to stuff from time to time I’m sure because hoo boy there is a LOT to unpack, but now that it’s morning, after the shock of everything yesterday, I have a few things to say.

vV Obvious Friendsim Spoilers! Lanque’s Route! Vv

First of all, let me say, I was worried about Lanque, and I was worried about him in many ways. He was one of the most awaited characters, he is trans, there was already discourse about him, basically he was just a ticking time bomb that could disappoint in many, many ways. I worried that the Fandom backlash from last time would make the Writers write him extremely safely, I worried that the writers would try to include something explicit about him being trans that could fall flat with the fans, I worried that if he wasn’t perfect in every way there would be more discourse. But honestly?

What they did for him exceeded any and all expectations of him. They could’ve gone many ways developing him, they could’ve done this in many ways, but what they opted to do was do meta commentary on exactly the things I was worried about him and his route.

I would’ve liked some comment about him being trans, yeah, but what we got was an immensely interesting commentary on Fandom Reaction to Lanque, Fandom Purity, and the general absurdity of the Friendsims and a few Homestuck/Hiveswap themes, while also having genuinely entertaining stuff and character development.

First of all, the Valid Route. Already at that point the 4th Wall had been shattered to pieces, and we had literally gotten an in-setting 18+ warning. Deciding to not delve into the more crude themes led us to a poetry session with a very kind and gentle Lanque- Now first of all, while this one is OBVIOUSLY a reference to character woobification and purity stuff, I don’t think it’s ALSO 100% untrue. Lanque is stated to be an occasional poet, and while his gentle demeanor makes us empathize with him more here, his poem is long-winded and melodramatic and you can bet your ass Lanque does write that kind of monology stuff. The Flower Crown was fantastic, as many people have pointed out, with stuff like, True Crime Fandom putting it on serial killers and generally downplaying unsavory traits of characters to make them softer and more Fandom-friendly, it becomes a symbol of the softness the route portrays him with. He becomes the ‘perfect baby’ a lot of people seemed to want him to be, 100% unproblematic, and it’s really a fantastic but harmless jab at that kind of stuff. Sure, it’s making fun of it, but it’s also 100% going along with it as a good ending and development for Lynera, honestly. It’s his ‘gentle side’ as the achievement puts it. It’s played up for the route with the purpose of Fandom Commentary, but it’s still part of him.

Lynera too, hoo boy, that moment when you ask her if she likes Lanque and she responds to it like “No! I liked a girl before, it’d be problematic if I did, lol.” A lot of people are salty about this, and I can understand that, but that’s honestly such a raw take against bi erasure and militant pushing of some headcanons by some people. Like, if you headcanon some characters as gay or lesbian and even if you see some attraction as forced heteronormativity and don’t feel they count, that’s a 100% valid take and it’s exactly how I feel about Rose. But also there’s been huge amounts of discourse and, as per usual these days, bullying and death threats loaded from that kind of forceful headcanoning, and having Lynera drop that line instantly killed me. Ultimately, the route ends up in a ‘Valid’ end, and, even with how meta it is and how it toys with these themes, it’s still totally valid to unironically like this route.

But the other one. Oh my stars the other one.

First, starting with Ardata preempting the discourse and laughing about not mentioning the party is too problematic in social media was fucking amazing, and alongside the commentary by Hussie about how talk about controversial topics are part of the experience, it makes me feel less “Oh god why” about this Discourse, and more strongly about how this is... Very much exactly what the Team expected would happen with this route. It’s like, embracing the train wreck.

So let’s cut the chase.

Lanque is sexual and crude and a total asshole. I’ve seen a lot of people confused about the two Lanques and how it seems like another Fozzer thing, but as I mentioned before, the Soft Lanque route is very much meta-commentary. Some of it may be true to his nature, what with him playing with Wanshi and writing poetry, but THIS seems to be the facade to puts on when he’s out partying and seems to embrace more canonically. Casanova, go-getter, pushy, Marvus was apparently written to be ‘that one hookup you regret’ but honestly Lanque is that 100x times.

He calls out Lynera and makes her cry, he gets uncomfortably grindy with you and offers you drugs, there’s no sugarcoating it, he’s nasty, but also, he does cede when you refuse the drugs, and he does ask you about the kiss and sex. Like, he’s pushy and bad, like Kevin from SU, but he’s also not a scumbag that would force you or trick you. He’s very blatantly there to have sex, and he’s there to have sex because as a Jade he’ll be forced not to once he goes off-planet.

He’s a lot like Daraya in that aspect, except instead of taking nihilism to protect himself, he’s thotting it up in a big party trying to experience something he’ll be forbidden from soon enough.

And I think that’s the beautiful part of it. He’s very sexual and forward, but there’s a clear reason for it, and in the Good End we see him cede and be like, a bit more chill. He also doesn’t attack Bronya back or get angry with you at any point even if he does tease around a lot. Sexual, but not violently so, and I can really appreciate that.

He’s not trans representation- In the fact that he’s not necessarily someone pleasant most people will project themselves onto and be happy, but maybe that is why I like it so much? Because he’s his character first. I would have loved some allusion to trans stuff, but with the rest of the tone of the Friendsim I’m also kind of glad there wasn’t, because I feel it would’ve only fanned the flames, fallen flat somehow. He’s not trans representation, but he is a trans character. It’s just a character who also happens to be trans, and with how Alternia is about gender and sexuality stuff, it also makes sense that there wouldn’t be much of a fuss about it?

He’s also the only confirmed trans guy, yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only trans character. After all, as I mentioned before, Stelsa is Jewish because Cohen didn’t want just Xultan Matzos to be Jewish. That pretty much guarantees there are more characters that are trans we just have not been told about. I do have a big headcanon that Xefros is trans, and if that does turn out to be canon, the main Troll of Hiveswap would be great trans rep! I’d love that. I feel we’re just in too much of an isolated bubble regarding the other characters that will take a part in Hiveswap and the writers’ intent to really get militantly mad that the ‘only trans rep is an awful dude’.

So yeah. This entire route? It was very crude, it gave no fucks and went all meta on us to make commentary about a lot of topics. And I like it precisely because of that.

Oh also the comment making fun of how the Homestuck Characters are all #FFFFFF, both teasing the fact it feels a bit like a cop-out while fully embracing the representation that comes with it, and the bishie Lanque sexy times skip picture?

I stand this was very interestingly handled, and I have no fear in saying the writers have done an astonishing job at mixing actual plot stuff, meta elements, and social commentary about the Fandom, Homestuck and itself, in a way I think was completely successful.

EDIT: I was talking about trans guys and trans girls specifically, but it’s true, Cirava and Charun do fall under the trans umbrella. They may not be specific rep for trans men, and we have yet to have a confirmed trans girl, but there’s them and they’re both great. So Lanque is not the only confirmed non-cis rep.

^ Spoilers End Here! ^

#Homestuck #Hiveswap #Friendsim #Lanque Bombyx #Spoilers #Discourse

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gdelgiproducer · 5 years

Note

What’s been your favorite staged version of JCS? (Non-concert)

First, a list of the staged (non-concert) versions of JCS I’ve seen: two high school productions (about which you’ll hear nothing in this post; it’s unfair to judge them in competition with pros), the closing performance of the 2000 Broadway revival, two performances of the national tour that followed said revival (one of which featured Carl Anderson as Judas and Barry Dennen – Pilate on the original album, Broadway, and in the 1973 film – as Herod), and four performances of a national tour initially billed as Ted Neeley’s “farewell” engagement in the role of Jesus. In total, discounting the number of performances of each, five productions, only three of which we will consider here.

The 2000 Broadway revival had basically all the problems of the video of the same production: I’m sure Gale Edwards is a fine director of other shows, but she missed the boat with this particular iteration of JCS. (Not having seen her original production at the Lyceum Theatre in 1996, which unfortunately never left that venue and was reportedly far better than the one that went wide, I can only comment on this version.) Her direction and the production design that accompanied it were full of the kinds of blatant, offensively obvious attempts at symbolism and subtlety that appeal only to pseudo-intellectual theater kids. In real life, there’s no such thing as obvious good vs. obvious evil (things just ain’t black and white, people), and any attempt to portray this concept on stage or in a film usually results in a hokey “comic book” product, which is kind of what the 2000 production was.

The first thing Edwards did was draw her line in the sand. “These are the good guys, and these are the bad guys.” The overall production design played into this ‘line in the sand’ feel as well, being so plain in its intentions as to almost beat you over the head with them. There may have been some good concepts mixed in, but for a show that runs on moral ambiguity, they were very poorly executed and did damage to the piece. Some examples:

Annas and Caiaphas were devoutly “evil,” seemingly designed to inspire fear. It’s easy to see good as so very good, and bad as so very bad; to want to have the evil in a nice little box. But it’s not that simple. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard (and now you know where my Star Trek loyalties lie, curse you!) once said, “…villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those that clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged.” Evil isn’t always a clear and recognizable stereotype. Evil could be lurking inside anyone, maybe even in you, and you would never know. People aren’t inherently evil. Like good, it’s a role they grow and live into. And since history is basically a story of the developments and actions of humans over the ages, maybe it’s a mistake to view the characters who’ve played their parts in it so one-dimensionally. It doesn’t dismiss the evil they did, but it does allow one to understand that this potential to be good or to be evil is in everyone, and that it’s not always as simple as just doing the right thing.

Judas was an almost thoroughly unlikable prick (though Tony Vincent played him a tiny bit more sympathetically than Jerome Pradon in the video); in beating Jesus over the head with his cynicism and curt remarks, any sense of a fully three dimensional person was lost, leaving us with a total, utter dickhead. If the audience is to truly feel for Judas, and appreciate his fall, it’s imperative for them to see his positive relationship with Jesus. More importantly, it has to be readily apparent. It shouldn’t be the audience’s responsibility to assume as much. I never once saw any love, or even a hint of friendship, between Jesus and Judas in the 2000 production. Judas’ interactions with Jesus were a constant barrage of either completely in-your-face aggression, or more restrained (but still fully palpable) aggression. No hint of a conflict in him, or at least none the audience could see, and what use is a conflict or emotion if the audience isn’t privy to it?

And when not telegraphing an ultra-specific view of the story’s events, everything else about the design would’ve left a first-time viewer befogged. Young me liked the industrial, post-apocalyptic, pseudo-Gotham City atmosphere of the set. Older me still likes it (though I am firm in my opinion it works best on stage), but realizes what a mess the rest of it was. We’ve got Jesus and the apostles straight out of Rent, Roman guards that looked (with the choice of riot gear) like an army of Darth Vader clones with nightsticks substituting for light sabers, priests that practically stepped off the screen from The Matrix, a Pilate in generic neo-Nazi regalia, a Herod with showgirls and chorus boys that seemed to have visited from a flash-and-trash third-rate Vegas spectacular, a Temple full of ethnic stereotypes and a mish-mosh of dime-store criminals, and a creepy mob with a striking resemblance to The Addams Family that only popped up in the show’s darker moments. Lots of interesting ideas which might work (operative word being “might”) decently in productions of their own, all tossed in to spice up a rather bland soup. The solution to having a bunch of conflicting ideas is not to throw all of them at the wall at once; you look for a pattern to present itself, and follow it. If no pattern emerges from the ideas you have, it’s a sign you should start over.

You can see what my basic issue was: where other productions at least explored motivation, examining possibilities and presenting conflicting viewpoints for consideration, the 2000 production (when not utterly confused in its storytelling thanks to conflicting design) blatantly stated what it thought the motivation was without any room for interpretation – this is who they are, what they did, why they did it, so switch off your brain and accept what we put in front of you. Which, to me, is the total opposite of what JCS is about; it didn’t get famous for espousing that view, but for going totally against the grain of that.

The national tour at least had Carl and Barry to recommend for it the first time around, but for all the mistakes it corrected about the 2000 revival (swapping out the shady market in the Temple for a scene where stockbrokers worshiped the almighty dollar, with an electronic ticker broadcasting then-topical references to Enron, ImClone, and Viagra, among others, was a fun twist, and, for me, Barry Dennen gave the definitive performance of Herod), it introduced some confusing new ones as well:

For one, Carl – and, later, his replacement, Lawrence Clayton – looked twice the age of the other actors onstage. Granted, Christ was only 33 when this happened, but next to both Carl and Clayton, Eric Kunze (I thankfully never caught his predecessor) looked almost like a teenager. When Ted and Carl did the show in the Nineties and both were in their fifties, they were past the correct ages for their characters, but it worked – in addition to their being terrific performers and friends in real life whose chemistry was reflected onstage – because they were around the same age, so it wasn’t so glaring. Without that dynamic, the way Jesus and Judas looked together just seemed weird, and it didn’t help anyone accept their relationship.

Speaking of looking weird together, the performer playing Caiaphas – who was bald, and so unfortunately resembled a member of the Blue Man Group thanks to the color of lighting frequently focused on the priests – was enormously big and tall, while the actor in the role of Annas was extremely short. Basically, Big Guy, Little Guy in action. Every time I saw them onstage, I had to stifle the urge to laugh out loud. I’ve written a great deal about how Caiaphas and Annas are not (supposed to be) the show’s villains, but that’s still not the reaction I should have to them.

The relentlessness of pace was ridiculous. It was so fast that the show, which started at 1:40 PM, was down by 3:30 PM – and that included a 20-minute intermission. What time does that leave for any moments to be taken at all? A scene barely even ended before the next began. At the end of the Temple scene, Jesus threw all the lepers out, rolled over, and there was Mary singing the “Everything’s Alright” reprise already. How about a second to breathe for Mary to get there? Nope. How about giving Judas and Jesus two seconds’ break in the betrayal scene at Gethsemane? The guards were already grabbing Christ the minute he was kissed. I was so absolutely exhausted towards the end of the show that I was tempted to holler at the stage to please slow down for a minute. The pace didn’t allow for any moment in the show to be completed, if it was ever begun; it was just too fast to really take advantage of subtle touches and moments the actors could’ve had, and as a result, I think they were unable to build even a general emotional connection, because one certainly didn’t come across.

The cast was uniformly talented singing-wise, with excellent ranges and very accomplished voices. (In fact, the second time around, the woman understudying Mary, Darlesia Cearcy, walked away with the whole show in my opinion, and I am incredibly glad to have seen her career take off since then.) But, in addition to some being more concerned with singing the notes on the page just because they were there than imbuing them with emotion and motivation, the cast was undercut by the choices that production made with the music. For one, there’s a huge difference between singing “words and notes” and singing “lyrics and phrases.” When you have a phrase like “Ah, gentlemen, you know why we are here / We’ve not much time, and quite a problem here…” you sing the sentence, and if sometimes a word needs to be spoken, you do that. You don’t make sure you hit every single note by treating each like a “money note” (which you hit and hold as long as you can to make sure everyone hears it), dragging out the tempo to hang on to each note as long as you can. Generally, the actors were so busy making sure every note was sung – and worse, sung like a money note – that they missed the point of singing a phrase, and how to use one to their advantage. Caiaphas and Pilate were particularly egregious offenders. (I’ve never understood some of these conductors who are so concerned that every note written has to be sung. The result suffers from it.)

And then there’s Ted’s production. Of the three, it’s the one I liked the most, but that’s not saying much when it was better by default.

The production design was stripped-down, the set basically limited to a bridge, some steps, a stage deck with some levels, and a couple of drops (and a noose) that were “flown in.” The costumes were simple, the sound was very well-balanced, and the lighting was the icing on the cake. Combined, the story they told was clear.

The music sounded very full, considering the pit consisted of a five-piece band relying in part on orchestral samples.

Ted, for being of advanced age, was in terrific form vocally, if his acting fell back a little much on huge, obvious, emotive gestures and choices. (I love him and all, but his attempts at acting were kind of like a “Mr. Jesus” pageant, striking all the appropriate Renaissance poses. The film, through editing and close-ups, allows him a subtlety he just ain’t got onstage.)

And there were some beautiful stage pictures; for example, there was a drop with an image of a coin with Caesar’s head on it in the Temple scene, and it fell on the crowd when Jesus cleared out the riff-raff. In the leper sequence that followed, the chorus’ heads popped out of holes in the cloth, under which they undulated, pulsing to the beat, and rather than being treated as a literal mob scene, the sequence had a very dream-like effect, a mass of lost souls reaching out to Christ. It was rather like a Blake painting, with a creepy vibe in a different manner from the typical “physically overwhelm him” approach. He didn’t interact with them, didn’t even turn to look at them, until finally he whipped around with a banishing thrust of his arm, hollering “Heal yourselves!” Sometimes it was over-acted with annoying character voices (remember, I saw this four times), but when it wasn’t, the effect was chilling.

My main beef with the show was, oddly enough, on a similar line to my beef with Gale Edwards’ production: it drew lines in the sand. But in this case, it drew them with respect to Jesus’ divinity.

As written, JCS deals with Jesus as if he were only a man, and not the Son of God. The show never suggests that Jesus isn’t divine, but neither does it reinforce the view that he is. Portrayed in detail in JCS is the mostly-unexplored human side: ecstasy and depression, trial and error, success and regret. He agonizes over his fate, is often unsure of his divinity, and rails at God. Not so in this production. Aside from “The Temple” and “Gethsemane,” there was never any room for doubt that Jesus was the mystical, magic man portrayed in the Gospels.

At the top of the show, after a fight between his followers and the Romans during the overture (a popular staging choice I’m not a real fan of, but you’ve got to do something during that moment in a fully staged version, and I understand why it’s an easy choice to make for exposition purposes), Jesus made his majestic entrance, spotlit in robes that looked whiter than Clorox bleach could produce, and raised a man from the dead. Well, where’s the room for Judas to doubt? Clearly “this talk of God is true,” we just saw it! If this guy is actually capable of performing miracles, and more than that specializes in necromancy, good luck telling him that fame has gone to his head at the expense of the message and he’s losing sight of the consequences! Try explaining to anyone that that person is “just a man”!

If that weren’t enough, Jesus went on to have a constant connection with God throughout the show, speaking to a spotlight that focused only on him and often served to distract him from anything else happening onstage, and at the end, during “John 19:41,” his body separated from the cross, which fell back into the stage, and he ascended to heaven.

Now, though the former was admittedly played to excess (some reviewers unkindly compared Neeley to a homeless man with Bluetooth), there are arguments to be made in favor of both of these choices: a Jesus who constantly seeks a connection with God that isn’t reciprocated, searching for guidance or at least a friggin’ clue, is great foreshadowing for his eruption – and acceptance – in “Gethsemane.” As for the ascension, depending on how it’s staged, there’s room for argument that it could be interpreted more metaphorically than literally, as the moment when Jesus’ spirit is born, as Carl Anderson once put it (meaning, to me, that his message is given life and strength when his body fails him). But this production didn’t have that level of shading and layers to it, and coupled with the resurrection at the start, it defeated the rest of the story.

None of ‘em’s perfect, and I don’t think I could create the perfect one. Thus, concert.

#AMA

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tinkdw · 6 years

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14x01: watching notes / mini meta

This episode is just like one long tick list of previous meta and I love it even if the actual ep itself was slightly bland with a few niggles, the thematics are so exciting for what it means for the show overall and the characters we love. Here’s my watching notes / mini meta short versions of the themes, (previous longer meta’s on each theme are linked with x or underlined sentences). Here we go!

I called the Angel wings, yay!

Opening song: shot down in flames by AC/DC. A song about unrequieted romantic feelings. Lmao. OK, good start...

- Dean screaming at Sam “all I see is everything we’ve lost” - cuts to just Cas dying. OK. Thanks for clarifying that meta from last year up for us Dabb ;)

- That freeze frame tho. Even shortened it’s still terrible. Stawp.

- Cut to Sam in the car, this is like the one with Rowena where it went from the opening song to her in the car and I love it, please do more. Oh, bonus if we can get one where Dean does it and he looks at the camera like he’s on the office and switches it from something rocky to, like, Miley Cyrus :p

- The point of the Jamil scene, whilst in itself it is divisive and has offended some viewers (and I do not condone that but I write meta so here is the meta), was clear re: Michael. Showing that Michael essentially is that asshole who doesn’t care how much you redeemed yourself and now are trying to do good but says you want selfish things and remembers that one time you did something wrong 8 years ago and won’t let you get past it. He also enjoys putting words in others’ mouths and judging them from above because he somehow thinks he is some all knowing, all judging clever clogs (and better than Gabriel, pfft he doesn’t even know our Gabriel but just assumes he’s better, ok then...). He’s a self absorbed, self assured, arrogant, genocidal, doesn’t give a shit about humanity wanker with a chip on his shoulder having inherited some power from his daddy he doesn’t know what to do with and has only shown so far that he can balls it up royally but somehow thinks this time, this time it'll work cos he’s oh so intelligent and right. Oh look, Michael is Trump.

- “A better world”. Well I’ve talked about that a lot previously, how this links to the other extreme end of the MoL, essentially we have the MoL at one end telling us the world can only be better if you remove anything supernatural and Michael at the other saying it can only be better if you remove anything natural. Longer meta on these and how they also link to John and the season 1 onwards black/white to grey area progression here: x and x Dabb is really hammering home the grey area / balance themes in the middle for endgame and I love him for it.

- DEAD MANS BLOOD BULLETS what a great idea! I’ve not seen anyone comment on this yet but honestly, this is up there with salt hoolahoops and exorcisms saved on your phone ;)

- Sam “chief” Winchester. I’m living. I mean let the dude take a nap but the concept and symbolism of him as the leader, taking charge of the hunters and the bunker, Mary as his lieutenant, everyone looking up to him with respect because of what he has done and who he is rather than out of fear or duty... I can’t express just how much I love this and am grateful it’s as blatant as it is.

- Castiel gets kidnapped and used as “bait” (yes there’s like 5 layers of symbolism here and I hate/love it) and the whole thing with Sam telling them there’ll be no king of Hell goes down in Detroit. Yeah sure tell me Dabb doesn’t care about mirrors and previous canon references, parallels and subversions ;)

- I just can’t even with Sassy!Cas *rolls eyes* *uses “GOD” as a blatant blasphemy* is just so human, being so done when Kip makes his stupid OTT grand entrance whilst Cas is calmly sat in front of the fire pit and then tells him he’ll burn him to ash. YES MY SON.

- “Joined at the... (Dick)”. Yes Kip I get you, everyone does, literally everyone thinks they’re boning, cos duh, but you see they could actually have an ounce of happiness within the chaos if they weren’t so bloody miscommunicative and self hating that they haven’t even admitted their feelings let alone touched each other yet below the shoulder. But yes, please, do join the hoards of characters on the show who assume they are a couple.

*Tink stares into the camera*

- The less said about Michael’s puny ass winged ‘twuform’ the better. Yes it looks like a pigeon with disproportionally tiny wings, yes it looks like Dean bent his halo (lolz) but aside from the humour there’s nothing good about this.

- Michael: Dean said yes for love. Ah yes. The power of love. I love to be reminded that this whole show’s premise since the pilot is love. Thanks Satan.

- Michael thinks Anael is everything Cas is. “The rebel, the Angel who doesn’t like playing by Heaven’s rules” I mean jeez, like a hammer to the face much! Well, Danneel said she did want to play Castiel so ;) x and x

- Tbh I also got massive self reflection vibes here off the next part on performing!Dean and I just love how all this comes out of Dean’s own mouth, it’s just so symbolic. Every time Michael says something it seems to be a reflection on John or Dean or daddy issues of some sort.

Re: Performing!Dean: “You pretend to care about these things... pretty things, but that’s all it is, pretending. These trinkets, they don’t make you happy they just pass the time, they’re not what you really want”. *Tink stares at all of the meta on Performing!Dean repression by overcompensating, especially with sex to pass the time and try to alleviate his mood with women, especially since season 7, every time Cas is gone and he’s pining*.

- What do you really want? This basically works for both Dean and Cas (and Sam too to be fair but he’s not been mirrored previously so I’m going with the symbolism here being most relevant to Cas mirror Anael and Dean whose literally saying it through a veil): “love, to belong, to have a place a home a family... it’s very very human”.

- *Cough* blatant easy link and exposition of endgame Human!Cas and Nonperforming!Dean. *sends Dabb a giant fruit and donut basket*

- Cleary the theme of season 14 is “what do you want” just as season 13′s was “who are you”. Excellently linked themes.

- Sam is just going around all episode fixing other peoples issues and taking no time for himself, he needs a friend and a nap.

- Jack is actually not doing badly considering and I’m so happy they made him sad and angsty without being an annoying whiney teenager (I do have an issue with how Claire was made into this and am annoyed with the m/f difference but sigh, clearly they were trying to do something better with WS. Sigh again).

- I actually kinda loved the Sam / Nick scene. Since it was clear Mark P was coming back (literally why Satan) I made peace with it and expected Nick and I hope they continue with it as well as I think it started. Mark’s little gestures of itching and wincing really helped with the overall feel here so through gritted teeth I say kudos. Jared steals the show though at his own minute facial expressions and the deep meaning of this scene for him, I’m sure he enjoyed acting this immensely as he’s always cared a lot for the Sam/Lucifer storyline and it’s closure. Obviously it’s got implications for Michael!Dean so let’s see what happens. Sam was amazing obviously, man, I just... really hope Bucklemming don’t fuck this up as Nick’s likely their play thing. Fingers crossed, it’s off to a good start.

- If they really do follow through on this really cack-handed obvious “we can kill Michael by stabbing Dean and save Dean” story then I’ll be really fucking disappointed. This is lazy and too obvious, it also negates all the possibility for the Dean/John mirror from 2x01 with John angry at them for not killing him to kill Azazel and thus leading into Dean’s blatantly exposed self worth arc throughout the season while he struggles to feel worthy of being alive at the potential expense of the world, with his family telling him he does deserve to be saved (>...>). I mean... I just can’t really get my head around this not happening? Or it being so frankly badly written if it is? It feels more like a red herring to me, like, a giant red herring. If it doesn’t happen like this and they just stab Michael with the shittyretconblade then I’ll be shocked. Though I’ll be less shocked if it’s in the Bucklemming episode and I’ll attribute this to their shitty writing and Dabb really having zero fucking says in his own show anymore and the whole thing going downhill moving forwards. So either way it’s bad. So fingers, toes and everything crossed this isn’t what happens.

- The fact that Cas knew Sam would come save him gives me so many happy feels whereas I feel only a few seasons ago he would have said he’s not worth saving / why would Sam bother. He trusts Sam and he believes Sam loves him. Happy Tink.

- “He just told you he’s a demon?” “Yep”. I love Sassy! Sam.

- Bait. It’s kind of what you’re for isn’t it? I just... That was so hilariously triple, quadruple, whatever, entendre... bait for the audience, bait for the Winchesters, bait associated with fish as Castiel usually is, just, it made me laugh out loud and @bluestar86 looked at me like I’d gone nuts but I loved the cleverness of it. Though also fuck you Cas is more than bait ;) I mean Dabb knows that he loves Cas he’s being tongue in cheek but yeah, this made me chuckle big time.

- Michael has been to see Kip and it again hopefully will be a continuation of the theme of Michael being so black and white he turns grey people black or white. I’d love to see an opposite where his asking this question of what do you want actually makes someone choose to do the right thing.

- Mary “I have to think about the good Sam, because if I don’t I’ll just drown in the bad, for Dean’s sake I can’t do that, we can’t do that”. Wow. Mary ploughing on, seemingly cold to others until she’s probed, revealing her internal emotional struggle, forever threatening to overflow and the actual drive for her actions that in full circle are what makes her come across as uncaring. If this isn’t Mary’s whole arc since her resurrection in one sentence. If it ain’t also a massive TFW mirror. IN ONE SENTENCE. GOD I LOVE ANDREW DABB OK?!

- Bobby re-emphasising the family theme to Jack in the impala, reminiscent of Jack telling the Winchester’s they are his family in the impala last season.

- Equating Sam to Beyoncé for his glorious physique, hair and overall legend / icon status is just A. Brilliantly hilarious and reminding us how great Sam is but also B. So cool to give zero shits that Beyoncé is a woman and is just as capable of being a role model for a guy. Kudos Dabb. C. I just imagine Cas looking on like but I’m Beyoncé! ;)

- The fight scene is just too embarrassing, that knife flip between Mary and Sam is so 80’s bionic man and more wires like, my dudes, my guys, stawwwwwwp. I’m also annoyed tbh that Maggie is for some reason a young, relatively helpless and hapless girl rather than being an AU survivor and hunter. Like, why even bring her from the off no questions asked while questioning Jack, if she’s so helpless she’s hiding and gormless to the point Mary had to actually ask her if she knows how to stab someone. This is weird and I hope they’re going to show her developing cos urgh. wtf.

- Cas is “still breathing” after fighting like a human and being all bloodied up like a human without healing himself. straight into the #human!cas tag.

- Callbacks to Crowley and as @bluestar86 said Kip just reminds us of another demon dude from 14x08 and this is totally true, “Barthamus call me Bart" and “Kipling call me Kip”. What’s next, “Judas call me J”?.

- Sam’s “enough!”

is the best moment of this episode hands down and I am excite for this symbolism for his character growth. I don’t personally think this is at all him declaring he’s King or Regent, he’s just asserting his very puny human authority, albeit as the one time could have been ruler but he isn’t and doesn’t want to be, and regardless the demons fear him for who he is as Sam Winchester not as a potential king.

BOOM> Sam Fucking Winchester amiright?!

He’s feared by demons because of who he chooses to be as a person and he’s respected by humans for who he chooses to be.

It’s a total mirror opposite.

It’s a bookend.

I LOVE it.

DAMN DABB.

- Cas supporting Sam, the only one who really asks how he is, is such brother / best friend goals. Sam being honest about his feelings and the opposite mirror of Cas deflecting from his own when Sam asks how he is in return is painful. Please Cas, tell us what you want.

- “Sunshine”. OK but literally the whole point of that scene was Bobby calling Mary sunshine while flirting with beer bottles. Nothing else happened. It’s like Dabb is literally wielding a Destiel subtext hammer and bashing it into canon in new and interesting ways every moment he can at this point when they’re not even in the episode or scene. I’m reminded of David/Violet. I wanted Mary/Bobby Destiel parallels and we got it in episode 1. Excellent.

- Cas and Jack have their deeply meaningful mirroring scene about feeling human whilst both sporting mirroring injuries from mirrored wounds and both being punched in the face. (Dabb loves mirrors so much I may send him a fruit and donut basket with a great big mirror inside too for shits and giggles).

Cas and Jack’s scene is yet more exposition that neither are valid due to their powers but valid and loved for who they are.

Just as Sam is feared by demons and respected by humans for who he is not due to any demon blood or destiny.

Just as Dean is loved and will be saved by his family because of who he is not how useful he is as a tool.

I’m reminded of my tag #season who we are 13 because that was so set up in that season from Dabb’s own premiere, showing just how much he does hark back and have a clear and consistent thematic overview of his story.

You may by this point see why I’m quite so done with the Dabb bashing on SM this week? How it’s totally inconsistent with the actual canon of the show? That he clearly knows exactly what he’s doing thematically even if he’s not so hot on small details and Bucklemming/Singer take turns dumping a turd into his and the others writers’ pot of gold every now and again? Yeah, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

- LET SAM SLEEP 2k19!!!

#spn 14x01 #tinks meta #watching notes #supernatural #destiel #supernatural meta #dean winchester #sam winchester #sam fucking winchester #castiel #mary fucking winchester #mary winchester #im an idiot and forgot to put a cut in sorry everyone!

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