#he's really scared of chimps after this

[yabakuboi]

Eddie: Hey, Steve... Steve: Mmm? Eddie, slightly buzzed: What... What are we? Steve, high out of his goddamn mind, eyes filling with tears: Dude... Dude, I don't know?? Eddie: Wha— Steve: Dustin says we're monkeys, Eddie!! MONKEYS! What does that even mean???

[ape-apocalypse]

There's been a lot of talk about Mae since Kingdom's release and she seems to be the character most people are split on, especially with the ending. After much pondering, here are my own thoughts about her, the alternate ending that almost was, and her path in upcoming movies. Spoilers ahead!

Straight to the point, I liked her character. In a lot of ways, she reminded me of Caesar. Her entire goal is focused on protecting humans no matter the cost to apes, much like what Caesar did to protect apes from humans. She has a no-nonsense determination to complete her mission and she doesn't trust apes, even Noa who she spends the majority of the film with. I watched Kingdom thinking it was odd that there was no real bond between Noa and Mae but I think that was on purpose. Though they both rely on each other to complete their individual missions and they concur that Proximus should not have access to what is in the vault, they don't fully trust each other. I know some people are upset that she brought a gun to her final meeting with Noa. Honestly, I don't blame her because they don't trust each other! 

Freya Allan revealed in a recent interview that the goodbye scene between her and the chimp was originally filmed differently. "In the scene that I shot, Mae was going there to kill him because he scares her. His intelligence scares her. Mae doesn't want to kill him, but she feels she has to... Originally, you actually see her pull the gun on Noa, but his back is turned to her. And so you think, 'Oh my God, is she about to shoot him?' Mae is crying as she's doing it... and then she doesn't. The minute he mentions Raka's name, she puts the gun down. But then in the edit, they wanted it to feel more subtle, and I honestly way prefer what they've done with it. It's so much smarter and really allows you to think more... so it becomes a very emotional goodbye, one with tragic, lingering doom."

I'm really relieved that they changed the ending. If she had actually drawn the gun on Noa, especially when his back was turned, I would have been pissed. But the ending we received, with an almost old school Western stand-off between two opponents, with them actually debating if this town - this planet - is big enough for the both of them, I think it perfectly sets up the tension between humans and apes heading into the next movie. 

Now I do wish they had done something to make her a little more sympathetic to hating the apes. There is the briefest mention that Proximus' apes killed the other humans she was traveling with but it's really glossed over. I wish when she and Noa were making the plan, Mae had mentioned the group again. Maybe that someone she cared about was killed or just how vicious the attack was and she saw terrible things. First, this would have connected Noa and Mae more because of the attack on Eagle Clan and the death of Koro, which Freya Allan confirms: "Proximus' apes killed her camp, similarly to Noa's, which is what's so bizarre about it". Second, it would have made Mae have some personal stake in the downfall of Proximus. This clearly was the intention because Allan says in defense of her character's actions, "She's gone through so much, she's lost all the people she cares about, which was a large part of how I justified everything she did." The backstory was there but a few extra lines would have made her thoughts clear and perhaps gotten more of the audience on her side. Allan elaborates that she even "...created a backstory that her parents had also gone off and tried to do the same mission, but they never came back and presumably died". I'm not sure if they were worried about the already long length of the movie that they felt the need to leave this out but I really wish they had added in even a few lines that would have allowed people to empathize with her.

Regardless of how she was portrayed in this movie, I'm already starting to theorize for the next film (with the hopes that Disney will announce its approval soon!). I think the next movie will have Mae fully on the side of the humans in her base/bunker and whoever they connected with. She completed her mission in Kingdom and there will be a new mission to recover the planet for humans that she'll be part of. She will be fully invested in it but something will change by the end of the film that will make her want peace between apes and humans. Then she'll spend the third film in the trilogy helping Noa to find a way to end bloodshed between the two species. 

There is a little part of me that wouldn't mind a female bad guy, because there hasn't been one in any of these films, even back to the originals. But honestly, I do want to see Mae and Noa reconcile and become friends and partners. Who knows, maybe Dichen Lachman's character Korina (the human in the hazmat suit who comes out to greet Mae at the end, who I adore in the TV show Dollhouse) will be the leader of the humans and the main villain of the next film, satisfying my wish for a female baddie? That would leave Mae free to have a redemption story where she helps Noa and works with him to protect apes from whatever the humans are plotting.

[bunjywunjy]

quick question regarding nurse sharks! i came across a short video of a bunch of nurse sharks from some sanctuary it looked like puppy piling around their care taker and i was wondering if that's normal behavior? he was talking to them really gently and even patting a few on their flanks, and they all just kinda. surrounded him and stayed there even after he stepped back to see if they'd break the formation? i found it adorable but like. i also think chimps smiling is adorable and we all know how dangerous that actually is.

no that's normal, nurse sharks don't care for their young the way mammals do but they DO give birth to over 20 pups at a time! and the pups just naturally school together for protection and cuddles.

they probably just see their caretaker as a safe person to be around who will scare off the larger sharks :)

[mod2amaryllis]

today's nope post: thinking about how i read someone point out the way we expect a cut to black during the star lasso experience, because that's essentially what happened with gordy. we weren't permitted to actually SEE the chimp carnage. it sets an expectation for star lasso which is horrifically shattered as we watch the people get sucked up, squeezed, screaming. that scene felt so gratuitous seeing it for the first time. i was shrinking in my seat hoping it would end. never ever saw it coming. how spectacular.

then i thought about what my husband said to me after we left the theater, and i was so so affected and scared by that scene, and he was ok. he loved it. and i started to talk about it and dissect why we had such different reactions, and he said something that shifted my brain on horror, cuz i can't always handle horror and violence on screen.

he said, "when there's something scary i just think: this was made for me to enjoy. people worked hard on it exclusively for entertainment."

and THAT'S when i really started to fixate on nope!!!! like..... you're right this is for me to enjoy!!!!

so tying that back to the disconnect between gordy's violence being hidden behind set pieces, followed by jean jacket's violence being all too explicit, it works SO FUCKING WELL GRRRRRRR gordy is rooted in reality this has happened in real life to really people. but jean jacket??? terrible and horrifying as she is, she was CREATED, she was written, she only exists for ME TO ENJOY.

it's like the movie saying, hey. spectacle is a double edged sword, and we're all addicted to it. so look at THIS look at this shit we MADE for you. like let's make art the spectacle, not people. let's create let's collaborate let's not exploit real actual people let's make the spectacle

[drunkbeefstudio]

What would an interaction between billy lenz and the grabber look like based on your head cannons?

I think Billy would try to rip his face off like a chimp, but then is mesmerized by the promise of a magic trick. Grabber, while a bit nutty, would probably be a little scared of Billy as he's quite unpredictable. After sometime of just talking I don't think they'd be all that buddy-buddy, they'd most likey annoy the Hell out of each other. Also, unrelated headcannon I made this morning: If Billy was an animal he'd be scruffy parrot. Squawking and repeating words/phrases really loudly while flying around. Ruffled green and brown feathers, likes to sit in high places, a cuddle bug for real, loves little treats.

[grendelsmilf]

i would love any and all thoughts you’d like to share on your experience with nope

okay so.

personally, I found us to be absolutely terrifying. I cannot describe the acute fear I felt while and after watching us because I have never experienced such fear in my life, before or after. something about doppelgängers unlocked the deepest possible terror within me. the thought that some eyebrowless bitch is out there waiting w scissors is the scariest thing imaginable to me, and I can’t even fully explain why. in comparison, nope did not horrify me at all. yes there were tense and upsetting scenes, but they didn’t feel personal. it was all spectacle.

getting that out of the way, I am still in the process of truly Unpacking this gigantic fucking onion, peeling back layer after layer after layer. this post has been in my drafts for nearly a week now, because there’s just so much to say about this movie and I keep adding bullet points. also uh. spoiler warning, obviously.

to get the obvious out of the way: the Monster is a camera. chekhov’s gun (the well) is also a camera. the monster’s all-consuming mouth is also its all-seeing eye. the camera is a hole you put your money (the same coins that killed otis sr) and your suffering into. and the media has no regard for the blood and sweat and tears that go into capturing that perfect shot. but, through OJ and emerald, we also see that the Gaze is not inherently evil. being Seen is just as important as refusing to be consumed by the viewers.

in the climax of the movie, OJ and emerald are both asserting their haywood legacy: OJ, of course, as the black man on the horse, and emerald as the one capturing this revolutionary footage. even the way she takes multiple shots that can be put together to create a looping clip is reminiscent of the method used to create the first motion picture. while initially emerald is set up to be the performer and OJ the behind the scenes guy, it’s important that OJ is the one on the horse, because he Knows Horses, and emerald, who is far closer to being part of Hollywood as a culture, is the one using her camera for the right reason.

jean jacket consumed the horses jupe bought for it, exploiting OJ’s life’s work to try to appease the camera/viewers/consumptive gaze/whiteness/etc. each horse gets a name, the way alistair haywood did not. jupe wants to erase the legacy of these Black horse trainers, just as he wants to erase his own trauma for the consumption of the white gaze, but the haywoods refuse to deny their roots, refuse to sacrifice any more horses, refuse to let themselves be exploited without a say in the matter. jupe gets consumed by the camera shutter monster, but OJ stares it right in the eye after half a year of keeping his head down and going about his business, and it works because he is asserting himself against this wild beast, establishing his agency instead of trying to form a bond with a creature that cannot be tamed.

his cowboy hat is as white as he wants to be. he's a phony: not a Real Cowboy (most of whom actually poc irl regardless of what the western genre would tell you), not a Real White Man, not really Chosen. the bottom of his hat resembles jean jacket too, that white underbelly and the shadow of a hole. he sees gordy in "the viewers" and he thinks they are the same, that they have a connection. he thought he had a connection with gordy, too: the exploited chimp and the exploited asian kid (being the only minority as well as a child actor?? forget it) seeing each other, reaching out. but they're on a stage, there's a cloth obscuring their gaze. they don't really see each other, because jupe refuses to see anything. that’s how he’s survived this long in the industry, after all.

also, the fact that jupe’s “aliens” have chimp bodies and camera heads is just such a fucking DETAIL. fuck, bro !!!!!!

ok so the balloons right. they're what scare the chimp (btw, gordy: scaredy cat + gory?) when they pop under the studio lights – contained in a box (or a cage), rising to new heights and then bursting under pressure, just like him. antlets says that you don't wanna climb that mountain. that it's a dream you never wake up from. it's why he sacrifices himself, on a literal mountain, for the one perfect shot, in the first place. he wants to go out on his terms, not anyone else's. the jupe balloon rises into the atmosphere, meeting jean jacket – the camera. one eye open, one eye closed, straddling the line between exploiter and exploited, predator and prey. (otis sr also had one eye open one eye closed when he died.) jean jacket sees the balloon as a threat, so he consumes it. but the pressure gets to be too much. and it bursts.

the upright shoe. is it a bad miracle? yet another coincidence that only bodes ill? jupe believes he was chosen. or is the shoe jupes memory playing tricks on him, having stared at that shoe in the display box for so long that it’s now all he can see in his mind? trauma blurs the past and present, after all.

I think there’s also an argument to be made that jean jacket is a Colonizer. quite literally an invasive species, taking up undue space in this habitat. jupe is so desperate to appease it, whereas whereas em and oj reclaim their land and their family legacy by defeating it. the difference between gordy and jean jacket is that gordy was exploited, whereas jean jacket is operating on its own terms, sucking in anything that directly acknowledges its presence. where did jean jacket come from? we don’t know, and we never will. what we do know is that it shouldn’t fucking be here!!!

I’ve seen ppl divided over this one thing so I’ll insert my 2 cents now: at first i interpreted antlers’s shot as an act of irrational selfishness, putting all of them in danger due to his own white man ego, but the more i think about it, the more generous i am inclined to be towards his decision. risky, yes, but greedy? i think it was actually a grand sacrifice, proving that he’d risk anything for his art and its legacy. he knew that jean jacket would consume him, but the camera he used would be spit back up, allowing for the chance for the photo to remain intact. ideally, his perfect, impossible shot would outlast his physical body, and he would not be a real artist if he did not give everything he had to make that happen. he had to at least try.

humans cannot conceive of any creature being higher in the food chain. we exploit animals, and we exploit each other. anyone considered “less than fully human” in any way is fair game. that’s what makes OJ’s bond with his horses in particular so beautiful, so important. it’s the direct counter to the way gordy was treated, to the way animals and people of color alike are shown to be reduced and disrespected for the sake of spectacle. and it’s why OJ, against all odds, survives.

there’s so much more I could say. I haven’t even mentioned angel! but on my first watch, these are my initial impressions. pls feel free to ask me more questions about this movie though, bc there is SO much to unpack and I cannot stop digging thru the suitcase!!!

now for some absolutely meaningless thoughts:

when keith david appeared i was like "oh shit!!! i didnt know he was in this!!!" and then he immediately died and i was like "ok well that makes sense." still, loved the cameo :)

i appreciate the elusive gay sister (cow)boy brother pairing for a change. the only other example i can think of is ayesha and hassan from we are lady parts. we need more!!

jupe is such an insane nickname to me bc it literally means “skirt” in french. yeah I just needed to say that

keke palmer was so hot in this I loved all her dykey fits her energy her akira slide ugh. mwah mwah bellissimo

fucking CW

in “conclusion” —

what are the implications of the gaze?

how do we commodify trauma?

what is the price of spectacle?

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Turtle doves; Eddie Munson x reader

*Author’s note*

Okay in light of the fact that Christmas is just one week away (and that I missed both Halloween and thanksgiving fic ideas I could’ve done), I figured now was the time to do a Christmas theme fic for this beloved metalhead who stole my heart this year. At first I was gonna do a mistletoe one but I’ve been seeing a lot of them lately but after re-watching Home alone 2 and I saw the turtledoves I thought BINGO DING DING DING DING!

Not much warning except maybe some swearing, insecure Eddie and TONS AND TONS of fluff!!! 

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@queen-paladin​

@queensdivas​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@gay-and-ready-to-cry​

_________________________________________________________

Up in Indianapolis, the city was bustling with excitement but also chaos because it was that time of the year again, Christmas time.  Hundreds among hundreds of people crammed into the stores to not only get the best deals, but also get the gift before their fellow man can.  The airports packed with families waiting for the arrival of extended family or friends.

“Eddie? Oi Eddie!” Dustin snapped Eddie out of his trance.  Eddie shook his head and looked down at his favorite (even if he thinks he’s a little shit at times) freshman member of his Hellfire club.

“What?”

“You were miles away. Thinking about (Y/n) again?” Dustin teased.  Eddie smacked the boy in the back of his head and said.

“You wish Henderson.”

“You are like bright red in the face right now.” Laughed Dustin.

“Shut your mouth Dustin. That’s your final warning.” But Dustin wasn’t wrong.  He was thinking about said girl, in fact he’s thought about her all year.

Ever since she took that study abroad program for her Animal Biology major in college, she hasn’t had much time to talk with Eddie. Letters were scarce and phone calls were even rarer.  And even though he was happy for her going all around the world studying wild animals, he wished that she wouldn’t be so far away from him all the time.

Eddie Munson and (Y/n) (L/n) had been friends since they met in the 6th grade when Eddie had his bike stolen by some asshole 8th grade jocks and (Y/n) threw sticks at them to get them to retreat. There she shared his first animal facts that chimps in the wild would throw sticks and stones at pythons to dive them away from their territory.

(Y/n) had always loved reading and learning about animals and she dreamed of one day venturing out into the world to study them and see how they behave up close.  That’s why Eddie always called her his venturous She-elf.

When she got to graduate in 84 and he didn’t, it didn’t deter their friendship.  Every weekend and holiday she visited him and would tell him all about how college has been treating her and what she’s learned that she hadn’t before.  But Eddie had been harboring a secret that not even she knew of.

Since the start of their high school years, Eddie had fallen in love with his adventurous Elf.  Not only for her looks but for her passion for what she wanted in life. Like him, she had a goal and she was reaching it, achieving it, and trying to own it.  She was indeed a darer but he feared that if he ever told her how he truly felt, he’d be holding her back.

Hell he couldn’t even graduate from High school, twice! What could he ever offer her?

“Eddie?” Dustin said trying to get his attention.  “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just wondering what stories she has for us this year.”

“Oh yeah. I hope she brought home some cool souvenirs. Like this one time when her and her family went vacationing in Nepal and she got me this really cool face mask of an elephant. I still wear it to scare Lucas every now and then.”

“Thanks for the leverage Henderson to use against him next time he ditches us for his laundry baskets game.”

“You know I still can’t believe that you and (Y/n) know each other.”

“We do have lives outside of you Henderson, the world doesn’t always revolve around you yah know.” Soon their eyes caught sight of her plane landing and Eddie’s heart started to beat a little faster than normal. As quietly as he could, he took a deep breath before exhaling and they waited a few minutes as the passengers all began to depart the terminal gate.

Soon they spotted a young woman with (h/c) hair and prescription glasses on the bridge of her nose.  She rolled out with her carryon to see two boys holding up a sign that was decorated and spelled out: WELCOME HOME LADY TAURIEL, her D&D’s character name. She smiled and came up to them and first embraced Eddie.

“Well this is a surprise, I thought I’d have to get a cab to your trailer.”

“What and leave you in this craziness by yourself? Absolutely not.” Eddie said as they parted but they both kept their arms around each other just a little bit longer.  Dustin began to notice not only the lingering embrace they were doing, but also the look in both their eyes as they looked at each other.

“So what am I (Y/n)? Chopped liver?” asked Dustin.  The two young adults separated from each other and (Y/n) shook her head.

“You would think all the times I spent babysitting you would mellow you out Henderson, but you’ve gotten an even bigger ego than when I left.” She said.

“It’s his tone right?” Eddie asked her.  Dustin grumbled as he crossed his arms.  (Y/n) shook her head laughing as she walked over to Dustin and embraced him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Eww! You know I hate it when you do that!”

“Whatever you little shit. Now let’s get the rest of my bags and back home. Being on a plane for over 24hrs is not as enjoyable as it sounds.”

“Right this way then, Lady Tauriel.” Eddie said with a gracious bow.  They went over to the baggage claim, gathered up all her bags and then headed on out to Eddie’s van to drive back to Hawkins.

It was a bit of a drive thanks to the traffic and the snow starting to fall, but they managed to reach Hawkins safe and sound.  After dropping Dustin back at his place, Eddie and (Y/n) finally arrived at his place.

“You sure it’s okay for me to stay here? Mrs. Henderson offered me one of the spare rooms over at their place.”

“As sweet as the old lady is, how could I live with myself knowing you’d be stuck with Henderson 24/7. Plus I know you do have something for him that he says he’s been dying to see.”

“True. It’s just….I don’t want to run you out of house and home.”

“You aren’t. Besides Wayne’s been asking about you, I swear he loves you more than he does me.”

“Shut up Munson, Wayne loves you with all his heart.”

“Yeah I know. Well let’s get inside before the snow really starts piling up. Weather man’s been saying it’ll be the heaviest snowfall in 10 years.”

“Even though I’ve grown up with Indiana weather, it’s nothing compared to Nepal, or Tibet, or even Antarctica ugh. Never will I go down there again, even if I wanna see the cute penguins. I’ll take the ones in South Africa.”

“There aren’t any penguins in Africa!” Eddie objected as he grabbed one of her suitcases as they both exited the car.

“There are too and I’ve got the pictures to prove it.”

“You do not.”

“I do so!” the two of them continued their playful banter as they unloaded the van and placed all her things in Eddie’s room.  “I’ve noticed you guys decided to do some indoor decorating this year.”

“Yeah. Wayne’s come into some really good money lately, and with some of the paid gigs the band and I have done, we decided why the hell not?”

“So it would seem my own personal Grinch finally found the Christmas spirit again ehh?” she teased as she poked his belly making him curl inward.

“I never lost it!”

“Mm-hmm.” She hummed skeptically.

“That’s it! C’mere!” he lunged at her, the two of them falling onto his bed and he proceeded to tickle her sides making her thrash around in laughter.  “You know I think I finally know where Henderson got his sass from. After all, you’ve known him longer than either Harrington or me. We have you to blame for his behavior.”

“Nohohoht mehehehe!”

“Yes you! Now admit it or the tickling continues.”

“I don’t…..stohahap! Please!”

“Nope. The begging and puppy dog eyes won’t work on me this time.” As (Y/n) continued laughing, a voice soon called out.

“Eddie? You better not be killing someone in there boy.” Eddie was forced to stop as his uncle had arrived home earlier than normal.  He got off of (Y/n) and said in a low, menacing yet playful tone,

“Saved by the old man. But don’t think you’re getting out of this just yet missy.” (Y/n) shoved him back to the bed and Eddie let her do it as she went out and said.

“Sorry Wayne. But if I had to be killed, death by tickles wouldn’t be too bad of a way to go.”

“Well as I live and breathe. Ms. (Y/n) (l/n) back from her time around the world.” (Y/n) smiled and walked over and asked Wayne.

“Permission to hug?”

“Permission granted ma’am.” The two of them embraced each other and after awhile he let her go.  “Bout time you got here, Eddie wouldn’t shut up about how many days left till you arrived.”

“Wayne!” Eddie groaned from his bedroom door. “Why are you home so early? Usually you don’t get off this early unless it’s a holiday and Christmas eve is 2 days away.”

“The weather son. Boss decided it’d be best for us to all head home so that we wouldn’t get snowed in.”

“Well that was nice of him. Oh speaking of which, I have a surprise for you Wayne.” (Y/n) said as she raced back into the bedroom and grabbed both her scrapbook and a neatly wrapped present.  “I was almost worried I wouldn’t be able to give this to you, or see your reaction when you’d open it.”

“Ain’t we supposed to open presents on Christmas though?” he asked her.

“Normally yes but this really isn’t a Christmas present. I saw it when I was in Tanzania and I thought one person had to have it.” Wayne took the box and unwrapped it before opening it up to reveal a beautifully hand-crafted and painted bowl.

The background was painted like the African sunrise with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background and up front and center was a large African rhino (his favorite animal).

“I know it’s not a mug but it was the closest thing I could find to a cup.”

“Don’t go saying things like that, I love it. Thank you sweetie belle.” He wrapped an arm around her bringing her in for a one armed hug.

“Don’t I get a present too (Y/n)?” asked Eddie.

“Yes but you have to wait until the Christmas eve party at Steve’s. It is still happening there, right?”

“Yeah. You know Harrington.”

“Now go easy on that boy Eddie, sure he may have started off as a jerk to yah but you two really have become good friends thanks to that kid of yours.” Eddie waved it off before going to the kitchen to find himself something to eat.  “So darling, what do you think of the decorations we got up?”

“I love it. I especially like the light up penguins over there by the tree.” She said pointing to the small decorated Christmas tree and by the nightstand stood a lit up penguin lamp.

“Eddie said you’d like it. In fact this was all his idea to begin with that we’d decorate the place special for you.”

“Oi Wayne! Since you’re here how’s about you cook dinner for once instead of having to do fend for yourself night!?” Eddie shouted trying to change the topic.  Wayne rolled his eyes getting the hint of what his nephew’s behavior meant while (Y/n) was left perplexed.

Did—did Eddie feel the same way as she did? Did she hear that right? Or is this just Eddie being Eddie? One thing’s for sure, she was gonna try and tough it out and admit her feelings for her best friend at the Christmas eve party and hope she doesn’t humiliate herself doing it.

Two days later and after clearing up the roads after the snow storm they had when she first arrived, the gang was all gathered at Steve’s place for the party.  Now this party was extra special to the group because throughout the entire party, each guest would present a tradition that was done with their families on Christmas day.

As per Robin’s family tradition, everyone had to come in wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater they could find.  And the first activity was Christmas musical chairs as per Wheeler tradition.  Mike decided to be the DJ and as Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run’ played over the speakers the rest of the gang began to circle around the chairs, and the first one to be out was Steve.

“Wait hold on that’s not fair! Munson kept stopping!”

“Just take the loss with pride Harrington.” Eddie told him. Steve rolled his eyes but took one of the chairs after everyone stood back up and the game resumed.  One by one the rest soon began to fall until the final three came down to Dustin, Eddie and (Y/n).

“Remember, third place gets this giant Hershey’s bar.” Nancy said holding out the fairly large chocolate bar.  A decent prize but it’s nothing compared to the giant family/party size M&M bag that was up for first prize.

The music started up and all three of the remaining players began to fake the other out by either pausing in front of the chairs before moving again, or trying to sit in the chairs while the music was still playing before moving on again.  The song stopped and Eddie and (Y/n) ended up being the final two.

“Aww nice try Dustin but you still get the chocolate bar.” Nancy said.

“That’s fine.” Dustin said taking (Y/n)’s chair away and as Eddie and (Y/n) stood over the final chair, they stared each other down.

“That bag of M&M’s is mine Munson.” Boasted (Y/n).

“Don’t make me laugh (L/n). You know I kill for m&m’s. The only thing you’ll be getting is the three musketeers packet.”

“Alright enough flirting you two, get to walking!” Mike groaned as he started the music back up and the two friends began to battle it out for the chair.  Once again the pair would stop in front of the chair trying to delay the other before racing around it, taunting the other to distract them from the song, until finally the song stopped and after a squabble that lasted for what felt like a minute, (Y/n) won the pot!

“Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Ha! In your face Munson I won the pot haha!” (Y/n) rejoiced as she claimed her prize, a full year supply of M&M’s while Eddie was given the three musketeers bag. Even with his wounded pride, he accepted the prize and was happy that his girl got the big prize.

The traditions continued with watching ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’ (Sinclair tradition), playing a few Christmas songs (the Munson tradition), and acting out a chapter or two from ‘A Christmas Carol’ (a Henderson tradition).  Next up was (Y/n)’s family tradition, ‘Santa Exchange’ as the gift opening was about to happen.

“Okay let’s see. This here is for Robin.” She said holding up a beautifully wrapped gold and red box with a red bow.  Robin took her present as (Y/n) grabbed the next one when another hand reached up and grabbed a snowman packaged present bag.  She looked up to see Eddie and he said,

“Figure Santa needs a little helper?”

“Santa appreciates it, thank you.” Soon the two of them worked together passing out all the presents to everyone until they were all set up in their own areas throughout the living room.  “Okay so every year my family mixes up the order in how we each open up our presents so this year I say we go from oldest to youngest. Sound good with everyone?”

“Yep. Yeah.” Everyone answered.

“Alright, but before we start that, I want everyone to take my gift to you and open it. It’s all the same thing that I had done when I was in Japan.” Everyone went through their gifts until they found (Y/n)’s gifts and they all began opening them.

When everyone opened their gifts, it was revealed to be a traditional, authentic Japanese painting of her friends.  Not only were they in the picture, but next to them was an animal she felt like was their spirit animal.

Nancy had an crane on her picture, Steve had a dog specifically the Japanese breed Akita, Dustin had a tiger, Robin had a white cat, Lucas had a phoenix, Mike was a koi fish, and Eddie had the traditional Japanese dragon.

“I found a traditional Japanese artist and in the span of the 4 months I was there with my team filming the Japanese Alps, I asked him to do this for you guys.”

“Wow (Y/n) this is—incredible.” Robin said admiring her painting.

“Easy for you to say, I’ll bet none of you are a fish.” Mike whined to which Nancy hit her brother in the arm making him exclaim in pain.

“It’s wonderful (Y/n), thank you.” Everyone else soon thanked her for her gift and she smiled as she sat back down at her area next to Eddie.

“Now that that’s out of the way, Eddie why don’t you start us off?”

“Yes!” Eddie softly cheered as he grabbed the first gift he spotted which was from Dustin.  He opened it to reveal the new Led Zeppelin cassette.  “Ha-ha! I knew you’d come through for me Henderson!”

“You’ve only been talking about it since Halloween. But I knew you’d like it, Merry Christmas Eddie.” Eddie continued to open up his gifts and he got some more cassette tapes, some new pins for his jacket, a new red flannel, and the new D&D manual book that had recently came out.

Up next was (Y/n).  She opened the first gift that was from Steve and Robin.  She unwrapped the paper before looking at the box to reveal what exactly it was before opening it.

“Oh my god, you guys.” It was the new Panasonic VHS camcorder.

“We figure you might wanna record some of your trips instead of just taking pictures. 3 hours of film this thing can do.” Steve said.

“This must’ve costed you guys a fortune. And I knew Keith don’t pay you much.”

“Worth every penny. Besides I expect some videos of tigers with that camera next time you go to India.” Robin said pointing at her.

“Alright, it’s a deal. Thanks you guys.” Seeing that camcorder made Eddie sick to his stomach.  He wasn’t rich nor did he have enough money to buy her expensive gifts, all he had was his small little surprise that he had made for her.  But he began to second guess himself, would she even like it? His stomach continued to turn in knots as she grabbed the next gift which was a new scrapbook from Nancy.

“Figured your old one was getting full so I figured it’s time for a new one. There’s also some little stencils in there so you can decorate it as you wish.” She told her.

“Aww I love it, thanks Nancy. Okay whose next?” she hovered her hand around the remaining gifts until she picked up Dustin’s.  “Henderson’s next.” She unstapled the bag and pulled out the green paper stuffed inside and pulled out a journal that read across the cover (Y/N)’s ENCYCLOPEDIA.

“My encyclopedia?” she asked him.

“Thought it would be cool to get real animal biology from a real animal biologist. Someone who actually knows the facts and doesn’t keep editing it, I swear you’re smarter than any science book that talks about animals and how they behave and operate.”

“Is this some excuse to help you with future science homework?” she teased.

“What? No, no! No way! I just wish for you to write down what all you know and what you didn’t know before about all the animals you help document and study.”

“Well that’s sweet of you Dustin, thank you. Okay Michael, you’re up next.”

“Why must you insist on calling me that?”

“Cause I know it embarrasses you. And as your former babysitter it’s my job to embarrass you.” She opened up his gift and it was a small animal calendar.  “Alright! Now I’ll be able to see what day it is. I swear those guys don’t carry calendars with them like at all. They tally the days like cavemen in their journals. Thanks Mike, really I appreciate it.”

She then went for Lucas’ present and he got her a mini-figurine that his sister made of her character Lady Tauriel.

“Now Erica would claim she made it all herself but I was the one that bought the figurine in the first place and I told her your description of her. She painted it and that’s all.”

“It’s a team Sinclair effort and I love it. Tell your sister when you see her thank you too.” She placed her D&D character back in the container before saying. “And last but not least, Eddie—” but as she reached out for it, Eddie snatched his gift back and pocketed into his leather jacket.

“Dude what the hell? You can’t just take back your gift.” Steve said.

“Shut up Harrington!”

“Eddie what’s wrong? I want to see what you got me.” She asked him.

“No you don’t. it’s not even ready.”

“Why would you give her an incomplete gift?” Mike asked.

“Hey Mike cool it, I’m sure Eddie has a good reason. Final exams were a bitch this year so I can see why he wouldn’t have time to finish his gift.” Dustin said trying to get Mike off Eddie’s back.

“It’s nothing like that Henderson, and I can defend myself thank you very much!” but his tone was harsh.

“Geez Eddie no need to snap. I know Dustin can be a bit much but there’s no need to go that far.” Said Robin.

“Will you guys just leave me alone alright!? God this is why I hate Christmas! Everyone making a deal about presents that just end up in the trash a couple weeks if not the day after Christmas!” he soon stormed out of the room and the house echoed a loud slam from the front door.

“I’ll go talk to him.” (Y/n) said as she got up and followed after him.  After putting on her coat, boots and gloves, she followed Eddie who was leaning against his van smoking with a furrowed brow.  “You’ll catch your death of cold if you stay out here like that.”

“I’m fine. Never bothered me anyway.”

“You may have everyone convinced that you’re this stone, cold metalhead but not to me. Sure you’re a metalhead but you’re not stone cold.”

“Well you wouldn’t know considering you haven’t even been here for over a year and a half!” he snapped.  It shocked (Y/n) to hear Eddie snap at her like that but as soon as he looked at her shocked expression, he sighed heavily and stomped out his cigarette.  “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“I know.” She walked up to him and took his hand between hers, not only in comfort but to warm them up.  “You wanna tell me what’s really going on in that squirrel brain of yours?”

“I don’t have a squirrel brain.”

“Yes you do. You always have a million things going through your head, and its twice as intense when you’re stressed or upset about something. So c’mon tell me. We’ve always been able to tell each other everything.” Eddie looked into her soft, gentle (e/c) and he felt his heart melt but also grow heavy into his stomach.

“Everyone else got you such amazing gifts. Gifts that’ll either help your future career or that you can personalize. Hell the Sinclair’s made your D&D character come to life, and all I got you was……this.” He took out his gift which was just a plain old small white box with a golden ribbon tied to it.

He couldn’t even look her in the eyes as he held it out to her. Once he felt her take it from his hand, he crossed his arms over his chest as his breathing grew sharper and heavier and she could see just how fast it was from the cold breath that escaped his lips and danced into the air.

She looked down at the plain white box and untied the ribbon before opening it to reveal inside two chain necklaces and attached to them were what appeared to be hand-carved wooden turtle doves.  Or that’s what they seemed to be, it was a bit mish-mashed but even with the faults in the sculpting, she knew it must’ve taken Eddie a long time to do these twice.

“They’re supposed to be turtle doves. I know they look shitty, the woodshop instructor couldn’t teach me for shit and the chain is nothing special. Just from some old chain necklaces Wayne doesn’t wear anymore so I got rid of what was on those and he helped me attach the birds to the chain.”

Tears formed in her eyes as she pulled the necklaces out of the box and held them in her palm.  She looked up at Eddie and immediately embraced him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder blades.

“What?”

“Eddie,” she released him so she could come around and cup his face which was already turning red from the cold, and even his nose was starting to go a bit red.  “This, this is the sweetest, most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me.”

“Really?” he asked insecurely.

“Really, really. And knowing that you did your best, I don’t care if the turtledoves look perfectly hand sculpted or like a woodchipper went to town on them.” They both softly laughed.  “But there is something that is wrong with this gift.” At hearing that statement, Eddie’s brief moment of happiness once again turned back to fear. He felt her take his left hand and she placed one of the turtle dove necklaces into his palm before closing it up. “You need to keep one, so that way we each have one, and that we’ll always come back to each other.”

“Each other?” he asked her.  She nodded as she slowly got closer to him whispering.

“Together forever, meleth nin.” She then took her chance and kissed her best friend/secret crush.  When she felt him tense, she feared that maybe the kiss was too much and began to pull away but it wasn’t until she felt Eddie’s arms wrap around her waist pulling her close and even lifting her up.

She was stunned but wrapped her arms tighter around Eddie’s shoulders as their kiss slowly deepened until he set her down and they separated for air.

“My Christmas wish came true this year.” She whispered lovingly.

“Agreed. I’ve only dreamed of this a thousand times since middle school. Merry Christmas Lady Tauriel.”

“Merry Christmas Lord Beren.” They smiled at each other lovingly before they hugged each other so tightly it was like their bones would pop, before they looked at each other with their noses brushing against each other’s and their lips met in another sweet kiss.

“ABOUT DAMN TIME!! I’VE BEEN SEEING YOU MAKE GOO-GOO EYES AT EACH OTHER SINCE SHE GOT HERE!!” Dustin’s voice exclaimed in the night air. Eddie rolled his eyes before bending down and grabbed a big chunk of snow and quickly raced towards Dustin.

He let out a scream before racing back inside with Eddie at his heels holding the snow patch in his hands.

“No! NO don’t you dare stuff that down my back!”

“Get over here Henderson!”

“HEY NO SNOW TRAILS IN MY HOUSE GUYS!!” (Y/n) shook her head as she went back inside and closed the door as the chaos continued with Dustin exclaiming and trying to get the snow out of his back, Steve trying to mop up the wet patch of water from said snow that had been dropped on his good carpet, and Eddie and (Y/n) sitting close to each other exchanging kisses every now and again.

[sissytobitch10seconds]

Yesterday's Today

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: Viktor wakes up in a place he doesn't recognize, which isn't exactly abnormal for him. What is abnormal is the fact that it doesn't look like any time has passed at all. Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, religious trauma, and implied past transphobia Word Count: 9,087 Ship(s): Viktor Hargreeves & Everyone

Archive link!

A/N: Another installment! Like I said last time, you don't need to have read any of the Miss Peregrine's books to understand what's happening in this fic, but it is important for you to have read the last. You can find it here! Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you all enjoy <3

A soft breeze blowing through curtains was a luxury that he had only gotten once in his entire life. It had come with a house that didn’t particularly like him or want to get to know him, but had been clean and fed him a respectable amount of food. It had never been accompanied with a whole room all to himself and the softest sheets he had ever slept on in the whole world.

He slowly woke up, becoming aware of the birds singing just outside of his window in the courtyard he could only make out through bleary eyes. Then he was aware of the warmth that had settled low in the room over him and made him all the more fond of the bed that he was cuddled up in. The mattress hugged his perpetually sore body and the sheets were draped over him without being twisted.

Groggily, Viktor pushed himself into a sitting position and then slipped his legs over the edge of the bed. He scrubbed messily at his eyes as he tried to remember everything that had happened and where he was. Half of his brain, the part that was still asleep, assumed that it was another foster home that he had been dumped at despite his fervent attempts to show that he was perfectly capable of raising himself and thus didn’t have to be passed off onto the next guardian that absolutely did not care about him.

The events trickled back to him and he began to remember his tent in the woods and being accosted by the man and his chimp. Then he was running through what had to be the most abandoned section of The City to ever exist before he took refuse in an old donut shop. When he had come out everything was different, and he had found a woman who had given him a place to sleep.

He felt well rested and comfortable despite the buzz of anxiety just beneath his skin as he remembered how scared he had been when he was running away from his attackers. He got up from the bed and walked over to the open window along one of the walls. He placed his hands down on the lacquered wood as he looked over the courtyard that he had been catching snippets of while he woke up.

It was lovely and big, like all of the backyards of every building in a city block had been combined together into one big park. There was a collection of old growth trees in every corner, one of them containing the bark and shape of some fruit trees that Viktor was vaguely able to recognize, even with how far away he was. The rest of it was coated with thin yellowing grass and dead leaves blowing across the space. He could see something that looked like an old swing set along one of the walls and a gazebo in the center of the courtyard with paths leading to it from all sides of the house.

The house itself looked like an amalgamation of buildings that had been put together even though they didn’t really go. It was a collaboration of storefronts that had since been bricked over as well as painted ladies that were added willy-nilly between them. It somehow fit together, which he hadn’t really been expecting, looking like a perfect home despite the rough-and-tumble exterior.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been sleeping for since it seemed like he had woken up at the exact same time as he had started his nap. He felt perfectly rested, which was abnormal for him. He was used to sleeping lightly so that he could hear if a creature or person was coming after him, which would have meant that he had to run to get away from whatever it was. He had slept hard and long, based on the way that he was feeling.

He trailed back into the room to check that his phone and binder were still where he had left them. He spotted another pair of clothing sitting on top of the nightstand across the bed from the one that he was checking. He didn’t know how he had managed to sleep through someone coming into his room to lay them down but he shrugged it off as well as he could. He had learned and experienced a lot of abnormal things in the last however-long it had been so he was trying to take everything in stride.

He fished his binder out of the drawer and checked it over. Despite the fact that it had been thoroughly soaked with rainwater, it had dried out and looked clean enough that he felt comfortable wearing it. He removed his shirt and tossed it onto the bed to be dealt with later only to wince when he remembered the welts that he had dug into his skin while panting and heaving for breath.

He decided to forgo the binder for that day for his own health. If he ended up having to run then he’d be grateful that he didn’t have it on anyway. Viktor kept his eyes straight ahead and purposefully did not think about the feeling of the shirt against his chest and how he might look without the compression over his breasts. 

He had been given a pair of worn but comfortable Levi jeans and a henley, which he thought was comfortably fitting for the nippy autumn air. It was just edging on too cool to keep the windows open like they were, but not cold enough that the house needed to be shut up so that it could get stuffy.

Once he had finished dressing, he folded the clothes that he had been given and made the bed. It didn’t look as good as it had when he had first gotten in it to sleep but it was at least presentable. He left the pajamas on the end of the bed since he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do with them.

Viktor walked to the doorway and grasped the handle before he realized that he should do a basic check of the people around him. He was in a new space with a lot of unknown variables, so he felt that it was important to try and pay attention to where everyone was just in case they could threaten his safety. He didn’t know what their policies on trans people were or if anyone had even figured out that fact about him. He didn’t want to take the risk, regardless.

He focused on all of the sounds that he was going to be able to hear through a closed door and found that they were traveling better than they usually did. He could hear the calm, level voice of the woman that had spoken to him about the strange new world that he had found himself in. There was arguing and the clinking of silverware on plates as someone dug them out of a cupboard. He could hear arguing floating through the open window from the other side of the room.

He let out a small breath as he finished amassing his resolve and then pushed the door open. There was no one waiting for him on the other side so the took another tentative step forward. The smell of food cooking hit him immediately afterward and he felt his stomach growl loudly, almost painfully. That brought up the question of how long he may have been sleeping again, since he usually didn’t wake up very hungry, even if he hadn’t eaten anything the night before.

The allure of having a hot cooked meal around the woman that had made him feel so stable and calm made his feet move on their own. He found himself at the end of the hallway, trailing his fingers on the midway molding along the wall to try and keep himself a little more steady. His legs felt kind of like jelly from the soreness in his muscles and how desperately hungry he was.

The house was a little dark in places, where windows with gauzy curtains weren’t letting pools of light pour into the room and across the dark brown floor. The wallpaper was a soothing green with little flower patterns in between stripes of black. The bottom of the wall was a dark wood color with a thick varnish over the top, though there were some marks on it, most likely from the group of people that lived there.

It made Viktor wonder how many other people lived in the huge mansion and how long they had been there. He reached the edge of the staircase that he had been poked up when the two teenagers that met him at the door were bringing him to the nice woman’s office. He grasped the handle as tightly as it could, as if that would save him, as he made his way down the stairs.

Once he was down there, the smell had permeated so much of the space that he wasn’t able to use that to lead him anymore. He didn’t have to worry about it for too long, though, as the door to his left opened and in piled another handful of teenagers that he had never seen before.

There was a tall girl wearing a loose maxi skirt with a button up shirt that was tied in the front so that it revealed a sliver of the skin of her stomach. She was also wearing a pair of thick sunglasses despite the autumn light being somewhat blocked by the heavy stormclouds outside. Viktor realized after a moment of squinting as subtly as he could that it was likely because she had scars marring the space above her eyes. She had a raven perched on her shoulder, though it was wispy and seemed to move to be on whatever side of her was closest to the shadows cast by the walls and the open door behind her. Her hair was cut short and styled back with gel so that it glistened in the limited light surrounding them.

The person to her left was even more scarred that she was. His chin drooped and his neck was a mass of old wounds that seemed to still be struggling to heal over. He was about as tall as the girl he was standing next to but his shoulders were slightly hunched forward, which made it harder to tell. He was wearing a plain blue and green striped polo with a pair of jeans, similar to the ones that Viktor had been given to wear. 

The next girl in the group startled Viktor so badly that he audibly gasped and took a step backwards towards the stairs. She had long blond hair that was loose over her shoulders and neck with pretty blue eyes. She was wearing a short pleated skirt that swished prettily around her legs when she moved along with a flowy white button up. The thing that had made him so afraid was the fact that she was floating a few inches above the ground, enough that she was the height of the other two despite being physically smaller than them.

“Oh, you must be the new ward that Grace was talking about,” the floating girl smiled kindly. “My name is Sloane!”

“Is this really your first loop?” the boy asked, looking Viktor up and down in a way that made the smaller teen’s skin crawl with discomfort.

“I… I think so,” he replied with a half shrug. He was struggling to remember what that word meant. He knew that the kind woman, Grace, had told him something about it and the two teenagers that had brought him to her had also mentioned it, but he couldn’t remember exactly what it was.

Before they got a chance to say anything else and continue to scare Viktor beyond all belief, the voice of the woman Viktor had met earlier rang down the hall. “Children! I can hear you down there and I know that you’re not in the dining room like you ought to be.”

They all grumbled and groaned as they began to file towards the room that they had been called to. The girl that had been floating in the air dropped securely down to the ground and then looped her arm around Viktor’s. “The rest of us have been waiting to meet you for so long! Five wouldn’t tell us anything because he’s like that and Diego and Allison can’t be trusted. Grace kept saying that we would just have to ‘wait and see’ because it wasn’t her place to talk about a newcomer before we had met you or something,” she rolled her eyes. “You were asleep for almost a full day, so we’ve been pretty antsy.”

“A whole day?” Viktor gaped. He knew that he felt rested, but some part of his brain had decided that since he was apparently in a ‘loop’ that it was impossible for any time to pass whatsoever and he had been asleep for the standard seven to nine hours that teenagers required.

“Yeah, I was honestly getting kind of worried about you,” she nodded. They were slowly making their way towards the dining room, though Viktor could tell that she was taking her time getting him there so that he didn’t get overwhelmed. He appreciated it deeply.

“Shit. I guess not sleeping for a long time is bound to make someone extra tired or something,” he shrugged awkwardly.

She giggled. “Loops also tend to have that effect on people, as does being around an ymbryne.”

He nodded like he understood what that meant. She pulled him into one of the alcoves in the long hallway that they had been slowly walking down and then pulled a little book out of her skirt pocket. “Here, these are all my notes from when I was new here. I found it the other day when I was trying to find something to do that didn’t involve waking you up or anything. I thought that it could help you.”

“Thank you,” Viktor said earnestly as he took the book from her. It was about as wide as his palm and had maybe two hundred pages of evenly lined paper neatly pressed inside. The edges were a little roughed up and one side of the red cover was sun-bleached so that it had turned an orangy pink instead. He flipped open the cover and then thumbed over the first couple of pages, his eyes flickering over the loopy, curvy words of her handwriting. A couple of phrases and words caught his attention but they had a deadline that they had to meet so he knew he couldn’t consume the whole thing all in one go.

The girl beamed at him, her eyes crinkling and almost sparkling with the joy she carried inside of her. “My name is Sloane by the way,” she stuck out her hand in a grand gesture like she hadn’t just been guiding Viktor through the halls like he was a Victorian ward just arrived at a new boarding school.

“Uh, Viktor,” he replied as he took the handshake. She then brought them back out of the alcove and they continued through the halls towards the dining room.

Just before they arrived, she turned towards him with a serious expression and said, “I want to warn you that it can get kind of rowdy and overwhelming in the beginning. Some of the others are also going to be rude to you, but I promise that it gets easier after a while. Grace will also fend them off after a while when we’re in there.”

He wasn’t sure how much harder it was going to be than some of the foster homes that he had been in. He had distinct memory of being around ten or eleven years old and seated in the middle of three teenagers that all hated each other more than Viktor thought it was possible for someone to hate something. It had been the worst dinner he had ever had, including the ones that he had found from dumpsters. 

They stepped through the doorway into the dining room. The floor was the same throughout the house, Viktor noticed, but the wallpaper changed. In the dining room it was a soothing blue with little swirling motifs dotted symmetrically in vertical lines that switched off the lower that they got, almost like it was cascading. There was a long table in the middle of the room gathered with chairs, the color for both being a light wood with grapes and flowers caved into the legs and backs.

“Welcome,” Grace looked up and Viktor and beamed kindly at him. “I was worried that I was going to have to come and collect the two of you myself. I hope that Sloane was gentle with you while bringing you here.”

“I found him in the hallway, I think that Klaus was slacking again,” she said, looking specifically at another teenager sitting at the end of the table.

Despite looking very young, his body was what Viktor would have expected from an adult. He was gangly and awkward, which most boys their age were, but the exposed part of his chest was dotted with tattoos. He had two on the palms of his hands as well, exposed to Viktor only when he put up his hands in a mock surrendering gesture. “Hey, it’s not my fault that sitting in the hallway outside of some sleeping guy’s room is really boring.”

Grace sighed and then gestured to one of the open chairs with her left hand, “You can join us here. Sloane, you know where your assigned seat is.”

“Yes, Grace,” she replied as she walked to the other side of the table from Viktor and then sat down. She was sitting across from the boy that had brought Viktor up to his room and got him the clothes when he first arrived.

It took a moment for everyone to get situated in their seats and stop talking. Once they had, Grace stood up and clapped her hands together to get their attention properly. “As you all know, we have a addition to our ranks. Everyone, this is Viktor. He’s going to be staying with us for the foreseeable future, as the rest of you have. I know that you’ve all been very curious about him but I would encourage you to give him some time to eat and adjust to the new world he’s found himself in before you begin to assault him with questions. Agreed?” she looked over her wards with the kind of critical eye that only a mother could.

There was a grumbling of discontentment but they all agreed. She smiled and then gestured to the food as she sat down. All thirteen teenagers began to dig into the platters of food around spread over the table. Viktor stared at it, completely overwhelmed and unsure that he had really been invited to eat anything. His last foster home had pulled something similar to that on him, making it seem like he could serve himself while actually wanting him to wait until they and their biological children had eaten before he got the chance to.

“It’s okay,” the boy next to him said as he slipped an apple slice onto his plate. “I know that they look scary but they’re not actually that bad.”

“What?” Viktor asked, blinking as he snapped out of the memories swirling through his head.

The other teenager was taller than Viktor with a head of black hair that was styled up into very small spikes on the front with an ungodly amount of hair gel. He was wearing a black leather jacket over the top of a white t-shirt with a pair of black jeans. His physique was still muscular but less so than many of the other boys sitting with them around the table. “They look like wild animals when they start eating but they’re not that scary. Alphonso has only ever bit Jayme over food and that’s because they’re basically attached at the hip.”

He was reassuring Viktor that he could eat, the smaller boy realized after a second. Tentatively, he reached out and grabbed the serving utensils for the more appetizing looking foods. He got about as much as he thought he was going to be acceptable for a first portion. No one was really paying attention to him, more focused on arguing with each other and sneaking bits of food off of each others plates despite their being plenty to go around on the platters.

“My name is Ben. How are you doing here? Not too overwhelmed, I hope,” the boy asked around a mouthful of food, carefully covering his mouth with his hand.

“Uh,” he answered, very eloquently. 

The person sitting on the other end of the table snapped and slammed her hand down next to Viktor’s plate. “You heard what the bird said, we can’t harass him until after we’ve had the lunch! I can see that you’re trying to get around the rules because you think that you’re special, squid boy.”

He dramatically rolled his eyes and slouched back into his chair. “I was asking his name, I doubt that’s what she meant when she said that we couldn’t accost him.”

“You are totally trying to twist the rules,” the girl snorted, puffing out her chest like she had caught him in some kind of elaborate scheme.

“What, do you want in on it or are you thinking of ratting me out?” Ben asked, cocking his head to the side.

Viktor was hungry enough that he was eating while watching them posture at each other. Usually when people started arguing, and especially when they were shouting, it totally killed his appetite. After running through the woods for hours and then sleeping for an entire day, he was too hungry for just about anything to kill his appetite.

“Lila, Ben, don’t think that I can’t see you. Please return to your meal and then you can continue fighting,” Grace called before Lila had the chance to respond.

They both looked a little put out that they had been caught by their guardian and began to snarf down their food so that they could be excused faster. The rest of the meal was a relatively silent affair as everyone just wanted to focus on eating. By the time that everyone else had finished, Viktor had eaten so much that he was sure he was going to have to sleep for another entire day just to be able to digest it.

Grace stood up and said, “Diego, Allison, please take care of the lunch dishes. Sloane, you and Viktor already seem to get along well so I’m trusting you to help him navigate the house and your fellow peculiars.”

The two children she had given the chore groaned, but Sloane beamed so wide that her cheeks had to hurt as she sprang up out of her chair and walked around the table. “We’re going to be good friends, I can tell,” she wound her arm around Viktor’s again and lead him out of the dining room while everyone else was getting ready to leave.

Viktor found himself in another one of the many rooms held in the house. It was a formal-looking sitting room with white washed walls that held more pictures that he thought possible for plaster. There were two red couches with dark wood accents across from each other along with two matching chairs facing towards the grand fireplace. There was no fire in it currently, but there was a stack of wood next to it and ash inside that signified it was used from time to time.

Sloane sat him down on one of the couches and then tucked her legs up underneath her body. It seemed to be her preferred way to sit, which might have been because she liked to wear skirts. He had only seen her in the one outfit, but he knew that back when his mother had forced him into wearing skirts he had sat a lot like that. 

They had barely been alone for three seconds before the doors to the sitting room sprang open and a group of the wards came piling into the room. They rushed over to where the other two were sitting and then took up all of the available spaces, three of them in the chairs and four sitting across from Viktor. One was sitting on the table between the couch and the chair as well, which didn’t look too sturdy. Another two came and sat on the other side of Viktor and Sloane so that their couch was full as well. There were only about three people that were missing from the group, the teleporting boy and the two that had been assigned to clean up duty.

“So, what’s your peculiar power?” a girl that Viktor had only briefly seen at lunch asked. She had long black hair that pooled over her shoulders and then stopped. Her face was a little pinched and judgemental, and there was creeping black and green veins spread over her neck. She was wearing a red crop top with a pair of tied linen jeans and her feet were bare, pulled up on the couch so that she was basically squatting on the cushion underneath her.

“Uh,” he said, again. He thought about it for the moment and then dug out the notebook that Sloane had offered him when he had first arrived. He flipped to the first page and felt his shoulders sag in relief when he noticed that it was one of the first definitions on the page. In careful handwriting he read: A peculiar ability is the thing that makes each peculiar unique. It can range from being able to make soda cans float to setting something on fire every time you sneeze. 

“I don’t know if I have one?” he tried again. He didn’t quite remember what he had been told by Grace when he had mentioned something like that before.

“You have to have one to be in a loop,” Sloane said softly, grasping his shoulder with her hand to bring him closer to her and away from the other teenager sitting on his other side. Viktor wasn’t used to being so close to other people but he had forgotten how much he craved the touch of others. He melted into her after a moment. “If normals try to cross through a loop, either if they’re really determined or being forced, then their brains go all mushy and they stop being a person. It’s actually kind of freaky.”

“It’s why I’ve never been able to bring Dave here,” the boy with the tattoos said, lolling his head back despite being balanced precariously on an end table. Now that they were no longer at the table and he wasn’t as far away as he had been, Viktor was able to get a good look at him. He had shoulder length brown hair that formed into perfect chocolate waves around his face. He had the shadow of facial hair but not enough to be called a beard. His skin was yellow undertoned and tan, but also dotted with a series of tattoos that were obscured by his clothing. He was wearing what appeared to be a pair of leather pants that had laces up the sides and a brown shirt that had a massive swooping neckline and something crude written on the front in marker.

“You’ve never been able to bring Dave here because Grace wouldn’t let you,” Ben snapped back in reply. “And he doesn’t know who you are, Klaus. He gets reset every time the loop does.”

“I know that,” the other teen replied as he playfully slapped at Ben’s shoulder.

“Okay you two, that’s enough,” someone else said. It was the girl with the bird from when he had been accosted in the hallway while trying to get to food. 

“So you’re so new to peculiardom that you don’t even know what your power is?” the girl that had spoken before asked, folding her arms over her chest moodily.

“Hey, we were all there at one point in our lives,” the heavily scarred teenager from earlier placated.

“I… There was something, I think. But I’m not sure that I’m the one that did it or if it was some kind of coincidence,” Viktor said cautiously. He looked up from where he had been pulling at the tips of his fingers to try and soothe his nerves and they were all watching him, obviously expecting a story. “I was being chased by this man who had a monkey with him and they had me cornered in an alley. It was one outside of the house, actually. But anyway, they um, they had me backed up against a wall and it was raining really hard. I could hear the thunder really loudly and then suddenly it was like there was a shockwave all around me. It blew them back and knocked them over so that I could escape. Maybe it was a trap or something leftover in the current day?”

“There’s no such thing,” another one of the teenagers objected. He was one of the ones that had been sitting up beside Grace while they ate lunch. He was much taller than Viktor, maybe by a foot and a half. He had close cropped blond hair and was wearing a gray turtleneck sweater underneath a larger bomber jacket with jeans. His shoulders and chest were much larger than the rest of his body, almost grotesquely formed into monstrous muscles underneath the layers of clothing that he was wearing. It would have been a little comical had Viktor not been so overwhelmed by everything.

“Peculiars don’t have the ability to make traps like that, at least not yet. Our best thing in the current moment is to have the ymbrynes seal us away in loops because hollows can’t get to us here,” Sloane explained.

Viktor reached towards the little booklet again so that he could get some more information about what she had just said but there was no point. The teenager that had brought Viktor up to Grace’s office when he had first arrived walked through the door and marched over to them. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl ingrained on his face. “You didn’t bring him here, did you? We’ve already had to deal with him once and we don’t want to do it again.”

“Our loop isn’t going to be raided, Diego, stop being so paranoid,” the scarred teenager rolled his eyes.

“I, uh, I don’t think that I did. I wasn’t trying to find a loop either. He had been chasing me through the whole city and the diner just seemed like a good place to hide out. I didn’t realize that I might have been putting you guys in trouble,” Viktor blurted out.

Sloane gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. “We know you didn’t, it’s okay.”

The room had lapsed into silence only for a moment before Klaus threw his arms up into the air in a grand gesture and said, “I vote that we do a show of powers!”

“I don’t want to do that,” the scarred teenager groaned as he let his head fall back against the couch.

“I think that it’s going to be fun,” the bird-girl replied with a wicked smile. She rose from where she had been sitting and began to drift towards the door, which started a chain reaction that led to everyone following after her.

“I’ll go get Five and Allison then. Meet you all outside in the courtyard!” the other teenager that was about the same height as the blond one said. He wasn’t as muscular even if his body was more sculpted than even a lot of the adult men that Viktor had seen.

Sloane helped Viktor off of the couch and hung back while everyone else walked out. She flushed when the blond man turned around and gave her a shy little wave before walking the rest of the way out of the room. “You’re really going to enjoy this, I promise.”

He kind of felt like his brain was going to explode with all of the new people that he had to meet and apparently become accustomed to in such a short amount of time. Somehow, the time travel and powers weren’t something that he was having difficulty adjusting to at all. It was like that particular bit of knowledge had always been resting dormant in the back of his mind and he only had to reach out to it for everything to click into place.

They walked through the vast halls and out into the courtyard. The blond boy that had been sitting on the same couch as them was dragging a large wooden stage over to the center of the courtyard while two of the other teenagers were setting chairs up in front of it. They were mismatched and weren’t at all in rows but it would be easy for everyone to see what was going on with how they were laid out. 

Sloane sat Viktor down on one of the chairs and then sat down next to him as the other teenagers began to fill up the seats as well. Klaus was the first to spring up onto the stage, spreading both of his hands in front of his eyes so that the words were easily readable. One of them said ‘HELLO’ and the other said ‘GOODBYE’ in solid black letters. 

“Welcome one and all to the show put on only by the wards of the lovely Grace Hummingbird herself. With any luck she may join us and show off one of her many, wonderous and unbelievable talents!” he crowed as he removed his hands from his eyes and spun around in a circle. “I am Klaus Herschberger and I will be your host today. The first person that I am calling up to display their powers, that our guest of honor may have already seen, is none other than Luther!”

“Great,” the blond flushed as he pushed himself out of his chair and walked up to the front. He stepped onto the stage with one foot and then looked over the audience. 

He sighed when he saw that Klaus was making a motion at him for him to get started with the display. When he saw that the other wasn’t going to get started without some prompting, Klaus asked, “What is your name, how old are you in loop years and physical years, and what is your ability?” 

The blond took a moment before he said, “My name is Luther, I’m thirty one but physically sixteen.” His eyes scanned over the ground in front of the stage for something that Viktor couldn’t even begin to guess. “My ability is to do this,” he leaned forward and pried a large rock out of the ground. He tossed it up into the air and then leaned forward with careful, practiced precision as he let it come crashing down onto his back.

“Don’t look away,” Sloane encouraged when Viktor gasped and tried to hide his face in her arm. She pointed to where Luther was raising back up, his shoulders rotating like he had just fallen a little bit wrong. It had ripped up the jacket and the shirt a little bit, which exposed wiry hairs and discolored skin that matched with the overblown muscles.

Sloane beamed and clapped as Luther took a fake bow, most likely to appease their ‘host’ for the event. None of the others seemed too amazed at what he could do, like this was something that they had seen a million times before. Viktor sat in his seat like he had been carved alongside it, his eyes wide with disbelief at what he had seen.

Klaus walked back onto the stage, gesturing for Luther to make his way off with a shooing motion. “Thank you, thank you! As you can see, our wonderful Luther has both enhanced strength and durability. Now I won’t bore you with showing another similar power directly afterwards, so I would like to call our very own drug dealer.”

“If you call me that again then I’m going to put snakes in your bed,” the girl with the multi-colored veins threatened as she got up and walked to the front of the stage. She grabbed Klaus’ arm before he had the chance to escape her like he was obviously trying to. “You know what, I’ve decided that I’m going to use you instead of Diego for this demonstration just for that comment.”

She turned to the audience, her eyes dark and dangerous as she introduced herself. “My name is Jayme. I’m twenty nine in loop years and seventeen in physical ones. This is my second loop. Now hold still, you little creep,” she snarled at the teenager she was holding. She made a sucking sound, tucked her tongue into her mouth and then spit on him.

The spit was black and viscous, dripping down his face slowly until it absorbed into his skin. He stood there with a slack face for a moment before he began to talk to people that weren’t there. He was turning around on the stage and shrieking with his arms above his head, his pupils clouded over with something. He came out of it only thirty seconds after he had been put under her spell and swore loudly, “Fuck you, Jayme!” 

The teenagers around Viktor were laughing wildly, but he was just confused. This was obviously something that also happened all the time and something that they did for amusement, but he couldn’t figure out what it really was. Jayme didn’t seem particularly inclined to explain it herself and jumped off of the stage to sit next to the scarred teenager again.

Sloane leaned over to Viktor around her giggles and said, “When Jayme spits on someone she can bring them into a hallucination. She can choose to make the whole thing in their head or make them act out like she did with Klaus. She can also change kind of what happens in it or let them make it themselves by rooting through their memories to find their greatest desire or something. She’s never really explained it herself but that’s what we’ve gathered from living with her for twelve years.”

Klaus hauled himself back up into a standing position and then flipped Diego off when the other teenager wolf whistled onto the stage. “You know what, for that you get to come up here, you ass.”

“Alright, fine,” Diego replied. He sprang out of his seat and walked over to the front of the stage. He turned around with a grand motion and then pulled a knife out of his belt. He flipped it through his fingers so that it made perfect circles without even nicking a tiny piece of his skin. “My name is Diego Hummingbird and I am seventeen physically but thirty in lived years. I would advise you to duck.”

Viktor’s eyes widened so that the edges of them became painful and then looked around to some of the other teenagers so that he could get a cue on what to do from them. They were all groaning and hunching down in their chairs with the exception of one. Viktor carefully slid down in his chair so that he could still see everything that was happening without being in what must have been the line of fire. 

The teenager that wasn’t afraid of the weapon was the one that had spoken with a British accent when they were all in the sitting room. She had short hair that was dyed blond with the exception of her roots. She had dark skin and was wearing a pair of tight legging-shorts with a crop top that revealed the bottom inch of her bra underneath a large pocketed jacket that went down to her mid thigh.

“You ready, baby?” Diego asked as he wrenched his arm dramatically backwards.

“You know that I am, sweetheart,” she replied with a wicked grin.

He threw the knife through the air so that it glinted in the autumn sunlight. It curved in a full circle before the girl caught it. She then walked up to the front of the stage and tossed it up into the air, where it turned and dove back into the waiting hand that Diego had above his head. “My name is Lila Pitts, I’m thirty in loop years and seventeen physically. This is my second loop and my much preferred one. My power is: Anything you can do, I can do better.”

“Don’t sing the song!” Jayme called immediately before they had a chance to do anything else.

“Hey Diego, why don’t we test out your other power, you pretentious dick?” the scarred teenagers shouted after Jayme had finished.

The others laughed, and Diego only rolled his eyes as he got off the stage. It seemed like there was a lot of history between everyone present, which made sense if they had all been living together for what had to have been more than a decade. 

Klaus walked back out into the middle of the stage once it had been cleared off. “For those of you that have yet to be trapped with these dickwads for as long as I have, Diego’s power is to curve anything he throws and to hold his breath under water indefinitely. Now, our next show of power can be from the one and only, the wonderful, the amazing, Christopher!”

There was a log, drawn out sigh from the back of the group as another one of the teenagers stood up and walked to the front of the group. He got up onto the stage and glanced towards Klaus before he looked back out to the audience, as if questioning if he was really going to be forced to participate. He was a little shorter than Luther had been with silvery looking skin and hair that had a faint glow of green underneath it. He had been sitting across from Viktor when they ate lunch, so he had already known about the strange boy but it was different to see him presented out like he currently was.

When he spoke, it was heavily accented but not the type that Viktor was going to be abe to easily place. “My name is Christopher. I am thirty in lived years and fifteen in physical. This is my first loop. I am not allowed to use the power that allows me to cause people physical pain on an order from our ymbryne.”

He then took a step further back onto the stage and focused for a moment. The air got colder in an instant, like someone had coated the edge of the building with ice. A snapping sound came from the stage, like wood splintering, as the air pulled inwards to fill a space that was occupied moments before. Directly where Christopher had been standing was a floating cube. It was about a foot across in all directions and the same kind of glowing-silvery material that the teen had been.

The cube floated, somehow just as morosley as the teenager had walked, off of the stage and floated up towards one of the windows. Klaus took up the spot that he had been in, waving his hands in the air like that would somehow warm it back up again. The further away that Christopher got, the warmer that the autumn air around them became. “I guess that’s all from him then!”

“His peculiar ability is to turn into a cube?” Viktor hissed, confused and amazed that was something someone could reasonably do.

“We think that his soul came from the old peculiars, the ones that they talk about in the Tales. Those stories are full of giants and many-winged monsters, the kinds of things that used to be worshiped as gods by pagans and feared or hunted by Christians. He can cause unbearable pain to someone with his mind, lower the temperature of a room exponentially, and turn into a cube,” Sloane explained all at once. “I think in the back of the notebook I wrote down some stuff about people’s powers but it’s mostly how to avoid getting hurt by them.”

That sent a shock of panic through him. He had been under the impression that he was going to be safe when he was staying with them, but if there was a chance that the extraordinary people around him could hurt him when he was still defenseless, he wasn't sure how true that would end up being.

By the time that he and Sloane had finished talking, the next person had been called up on stage. Klaus was standing next to the scarred teenager with a grand flourish as the man said, “My name is Alphonso, I’m twenty eight in lived years and seventeen in physical ones. My power has also been banned for the time being as I recover from my wounds and after the… incident.”

“Dick!” Diego called in reply from where he was sitting so close to Lila they looked like they were on top of each other.

“Yes, thank you peanut gallery,” Alphonso waved dismissively. “Lila described her power as ‘anything you can do, I can do better’ so I’m going to describe mine as ‘anything you do bounces off me and sticks to you’.”

He got off the stage and sat down beside Jayme, leaving an option for the next person to come up on stage. Klaus called out to Ben while making over exaggerated kissing motions, which got an eye roll from the black-clad man. “My name is Ben, I’m thirty three in lived years and sixteen in physical. My power is this,” he lifted his shirt up carefully so that his muscular stomach was exposed and then took a deep breath.

In an instant, something black and purple and swirling had opened up on his abdomen before a series of thick tentacles emerged from the portal and swam through the air. Viktor gasped and ducked back towards Sloane for protection as one of them swung through the air a little too close to comfort for him. 

Ben changed places with the next teenager, the one that was the same height as Luther but with dark skin and eyes instead of the pale skin and blue. “I’m Marcus, I’m twenty nine but physically seventeen. My power is similar to Luther’s but would take too long to demonstrate. I have super strength as well as super stamina. I can fight for upwards of six hours.”

“Lame,” Jayme ridiculed from her place in the audience.

He just smiled as he stepped of the stage and let Klaus introduce the newest person. Viktor was beginning to feel like he had been here for years, the attitudes of everyone around him so familiar that he couldn’t help but feel like he also fit into it. He had felt like that before and the rug had almost immediately been pulled from under his feet, so he was cautious to admit that to himself.

The next person on the stage was Allison, who he had already met and faced the powers of. She rumored Klaus to get through the show with less fanfare and then stomped back to her chair. She obviously had somewhere that she wanted to be and something she wanted to do that wasn’t the show of powers. Apparently, she was thirty two was already onto her third loop.

The girl with the bird took her turn next. She spread her arms out to either side of her instead of introducing herself first and huge tendrils of black smoke removed themself from her back and swirled through the air. They created a flock of ravens around her, similar to the one that had been resting on her shoulder when Viktor had first seen her. “My name is Fei. I have been in this loop the second longest and I am thirty in lived years.”

“Who’s been here the longest?” Viktor asked as he turned towards Sloane while Fei recalled the birds back into her.

“Diego,” Sloane answered. “He was the first ward that Grace ever had and she’s been raising him since he was six. Apparently he was born in Mexico and his parents were ultra-Catholic so assumed that he was the devil or something. He’s only known Grace as a mother figure which is why he calls her mom.”

Viktor winced. His parents had both been staunchly Russian Orthodox Christians and it had been difficult for him with their religious views, he couldn’t imagine what it would have been like if they had also thought that he was possessed by the devil or demons.

“Thank you for that. Now I would like to call our own little Five!” Klaus beamed.

There was a flash of blue and white as the aforementioned teenager jumped to the stage. “If you call me little again then I will kill you, understood? I’m older than all of you,” he snarled.

“Get on with it, then, old man!” Lila jeered

He flashed her a smile that made Viktor’s stomach flip. He wouldn’t say that Five had been particularly kind to him when they were dealing with each other, but he had been much kinder than he was currently being to Lila. He wondered what kind of history the two of them had, but Sloane looked just as wary so he didn’t think that it was the time to ask. “I’m the oldest out of everyone here. I’m fifty eight years old but thirteen physically. My power is to teleport. Now if we’re done with this stupid talent show, I have work that our ymbryne asked us to do.”

He stepped off the stage and while he was, the teleported again. Viktor wasn’t sure that he was ever going to get used to the sudden disappearance, to the point where he even turned around to look for Five but found he had left the courtyard altogether. “Does he ever just… teleport into locked rooms?”

On the other side of him, Marcus laughed. “All the time. We actually have a new rule that he’s not allowed to teleport into anyone else’s bedrooms or the bathrooms.”

Their attention was brought back to the stage while Viktor processed that information. “I’m not permitted to use my powers either, so I have to explain it with my wondrous words. You already know my name, but you don’t know that I am thirty four mentally and seventeen physically, which is how I’ve kept my svelte physique. My power is to listen to and summon ghosties! I’ve also been known to bring myself back form the dead from time to time, which is why I am not allowed to demonstrate it for fun.”

Klaus finished with a small bow and only Viktor clapped, all of the others obviously wearing down a little bit. Lila whistled when she heard Viktor, which eased some of the embarrassment that was burning on the tips of his ears. “Now I’m afraid that I have to steal away our lovely Viktor’s guide so that Sloane can come up here and demonstrate her wonderful power.”

“Oh, we don’t have to do that! Viktor already saw me using it when we first met,” she replied, her face taking on a lovely pink color.

“Come on, give us a show,” Fei beamed as she turned around to face the other girl.

She sighed and then rose to her feet, slowly making her way to the stage. “My name is Sloane, I’m twenty nine in lived years and seventeen in physical ones,” she introduced herself first. She carefully stepped back so that she was standing underneath the rafters part of the stage that had ratty looking black curtains hanging from either side. She focused for a moment, her eyes drifting closed, before she turned upside down.

She had already been floating as she took a step back, so it was a slow movement of first turning her sideways before her head was almost touching the ground. Her dirty blond hair flared up to brush against the wooden panels but she didn’t have to hold her shirt or skirt down as they stayed precisely where she had left them. 

Sloane then righted herself and gave a little bow while everyone clapped. She had just sat down beside Viktor again, blushing furiously after making eye contact with Luther, when Klaus walked back onto the stage. “As our newest member doesn’t know what his power is yet, we’re going to have to hold off the final act of our talent show until another day. Thank you all for coming and I expect help from our resident strong men to get the stage back where Grace likes to keep it!”

They all began to get up and put the chairs away. Marcus kindly took the ones that Sloane and Viktor had been on while she looped her arms around his shoulder. “You have to be so overwhelmed by all of this. Let’s get you back up to see Grace and the two of you can talk about if you’re going to be staying with us and if you might be in danger.”

“Why would I be in danger?” Viktor asked. “I thought that this place was safe.”

“It is, but if you don’t want to stay with us then we have to figure out a way to get the ymbryne counsel over in England to accept you on the protected list so that Reginald can’t hurt you,” Sloane explained. “It’s not a big deal, I promise. You can stay with us if you want to, Grace loves having more people to take care of. I just didn’t want to automatically assume that you were, is all.”

Viktor felt his shoulders sag a little bit. “I think I am going to stay here. It is kind of overwhelming but I haven’t felt this safe in a long time. I don’t have anything to go back to anyways.”

[psychedelic-ink]

hi sil!!! i saw that you watched nope recently too. what did you think was the scariest part? and if you have an interpretation, what did you think the movie was about? i’ve heard a couple of different takes but i’m curious if you have any too :)

oh gosh it was fucking amazing!! I already love jordan peele movies (I watched get out so many times and forced others to watch it as well) and ghhh I wanna watch nope again already

spoilers for nope under the cut!

alright for me the scariest part was probably the part where Em and Angel are in the house and JJ is just puking up all the blood onto the house and you can HEAR the screams-- I wouldn't say I'm a claustrophobic person but man seeing all those people squished together made me feel short of breath. But the part that I jumped was when the fake horse fucking landed straight into OJ's car, that scared the crap out of me dfvfd

Also the gordy arc, it wasn't scary in the sense that I shivered or jumped, it was just horrific and I loved it so much. Can you believe some people thought the Gordy arc was unnecessary?? can't relate-- and, I already had guessed while watching the movie, but it's based off of a true story of travis the chimp, allegedly but after reading about it I'm pretty sure it's based off travis (very gory stuff so beware to those who wanna check it out)

I just love how jordan peele shows horror without really showing the gore, I mean he does, but it's not a lot and it's not done for shock value (cough cough doctor stange mom take notes sam raimi) the visualization of blood dripping from the house was both beautiful and horrifying

As to what it's about, I think it's about a lot of things, the main one being criticizing of the film industry. The treatment of people of color in the industry, the treatment of animals-- I don't think there's a specific villain in the movie either. I've seen a lot of people saying that Jude is and yeah sure he's doing a very shitty and bad thing sacrificing the horses, buut I wouldn't necessarily call him a villain for it. The overall message is the important part, at least that's what I feel like. But honestly I need to watch it again to see all the hidden stuff

what about you???? what did you think????

[skyland2703]

BulkXSkull: wingfic+new AU+X-Ray+jack off+a/b/o+racovery

Heya anon!!

Wingfic: Heaven is a lovely place, Angels are separate beings from humans, they are supposed to be around in general to keep the humans on a 'righteous' path; Eugene has been an Angel for as long as he can remember, ay memories of what or who he was prior to that seemed non-existent. That was up till the point he fell in love with a fellow angel in heaven— spending days and nights with him, afraid knowing they'd fall from grace if they were ever discovered. But when they finally were, Eugene took the entire blame, was ripped of his status as an angel, his wings slashed away, his halo shattered, and he was thrown from the gates of heaven. Farkas 'Bulk' Bulkmeier never expected to find a whimpering, injured fallen angel in his front lawn the very day he got fired from another new job— fifth one that week— and despite himself, he couldn't help but take the injured creature inside and nurse him to health. He made it sure that he would protect him, for no reason other than he seemed like he needed help, and was, in general really nice to him. What follows is Eugene getting a taste of the human life with all of its incredible attractions which involve parties, drugs, cigarettes, leather, long drives and what seems like falling in love with his new roommate…

New AU: BUDDY COP AU except its not like canon and they actually get shit done and don’t turn into chimps. Bulk and Skull have been partners since the very early days in the academy when they ended up partnered together for a CPR class and they felt some sparks flying from either side. They got together really soon after, and have been together since. Always applying for the same postings, even the higher ups know that splitting these two for a case would be a crime, so they always always always get to work the cases in pairs.

But that is until they get a case involving the mysterious Kimberly Hart. Shes afraid someone is after her life, she has a feeling who it is. She wants them to protect her, and prevent whoever has ill intentions from getting her. Skull says he’ll try and do his best, and what follows is him and Bulk arresting a particular Matthew Cook for the smallest of offences, such as suspicion of pickpocketing, or trespassing on his neighbour’s lawns, because Skull is convinced Kimberly isn’t lying, and Matthew is a crook. However for every offence, he’s always found clean. Bulk dejectedly tells him that there has never been a law to prevent a crime from happening, and even if they know who the criminal is and whats on his mind, you cant arrest someone on mere suspicion of what they might or might not be about to do. Skull is furious, though. “So shes supposed to DIE to get any sort of justice?” He asks, angrily, and apparently… the answer is yes, because just as they’re arguing the news comes that her body was discovered… strangled in the back of her own car…

And that’s enough to create a rift between the two partners now isn’t it? How will they work it out? Will they ever get back together?!!

X-Ray: Bulk has stretch marks on the lower part of his belly, his thigh, inner and outer, around the side of his ass shoulders and even at the waist and knees. He was afraid of showing them to skull, because what if he thought he was ugly, but Skull doesn’t care. He loves every single line on Bulk’s body, just as much as he loves Bulk. His cock is really big though, like he redefines the term “hung like a horse” and Skull was scared he wouldnt be able to take it… bit they managed to work something out *uh wink wink*

Jack off: Bulk and Skull were best bros long before they started dating, almost since middle school. But there had always been a little something from both sides, and when puberty hit, being in such close quarters with each other left the two of them riled up with no possible chance of release. Skull would find himself locked in the bathroom, jacking off under the sink to the thoughts of his then best friend, trying to be quiet so he wasn’t heard— he didn’t know wherever was wrong or right but he did know that the way he was feeling about Bulk wasn’t the way everyone felt about their best friends. Bulk too, jacked off to the thoughts of Eugene before they got together, and when they finally did, one night, Skull couldn’t help but say “oh my god you don’t know how many times I’ve dreamt of doing this with you” and he was conscious of what he’d said the moment the words were out of his lips. And he most certainly didn’t expect the reply to be something like “yeah, yeah me too”

A/B/O: (not very good at ABO so this kept this ask from making it for a while..) Bulk is an alpha without a pack. As a kid he left his pack because of feeling out of place. He’s a big softie on the inside despite his tough exterior, and he was just wandering around when he found a tiny omega sobbing into himself, hiding behind a curb after being kicked out of his household for reasons he never actually explained— not like Bulk would ask if he wasn’t comfortable enough to share— he took the Omega (who called himself Skull) under his wing, with the promise to love and protect him for all eternity.

Recovery: At school Bulk and Skull get into enough trouble by themselves. So they’re always nursing each other with tiny first aid kits. Bulk has gotten pretty good at taking care of black eyes, and Skull is a pro at the bruises. Together they can work out an arrangement for about any sort of injury they come across on the school grounds.

That does not count for injuries occurred because they landed up in the middle of a monster fight in Angel Grove and when Skull got injured by almost getting smashed under a monster’s foot, Bulk had picked him up in his arms like a bride and run to the hospital screaming for emergency. He never left his little boy’s side throughout his recovery, bringing him soup and tiny things to nibble on, since he cant eat solid food. Bulk takes care of him like a tiny hatchling and just showers him with love, staying by his bedside all the time.

[project1939]

200 Films of 1952

Film number 166: Tarzan's Savage Fury

Release date: April 11th, 1952 

Studio: RKO 

Genre: adventure 

Director: Cy Endfield 

Producer: Sol Lesser 

Actors: Lex Barker, Dorothy Hart, Patric Knowles 

Plot Summary: Tarzan and Jane come across an orphan boy in the jungle and take him in. More excitement arrives when an Englishman claiming to be Tarzan’s cousin wants help finding a mysterious jungle tribe said to use hundreds of diamonds in their religious rituals. What is the real story, though? 

My Rating (out of five stars): **¾

I’ll admit, I had fun with this one. The only other Tarzan movie I saw was for Project 1939, and I remember enjoying that as well. But on its own terms! Both movies are just silly adventures aimed at a younger audience, so you won’t find any significant artistry or depth in them. They are an afternoon’s entertainment meant to be cranked out for the cash. You could do far worse, though. This was miles better than The Jungle or Untamed Women. (spoilers!)

The Good: 

Lex Barker. My goodness he was HAWT. Apparently, he had to get a full body wax for the role, due to the fact that Johnny Weissmuller, the original Tarzan, did. It looked great, but ouch! 

There was a clear and interesting plot that was easy to follow. 

I enjoyed all the animals- hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, zebra, chimps, monkeys, lions, panthers, parrots, snakes... you name it. And happily, none of them were shot and killed. 

It lived up to its genre name of “adventure.” 

It was also good cheesy fun. 

If most of it was shot on a set or a backlot, it wasn’t too bad.  

The house Tarzan and Jane lived in was awesomely reminiscent of the Swiss Family Robinson. 

The Bad: 

Were there deer like we have in North America in the African jungle? 

Some of the African tribes were really dehumanized- especially the warriors who were covered in bones, piercings, and war paint. They were also treated like a lot of Native Americans in film at this time- naive, easily swayed, and overly superstitious... One chief character was portrayed as being good-hearted and wise, though. 

There were some pretty violent deaths for the bad guys at the end. When the two pilots were made to crash and die, it was heartily celebrated. It felt grizzly and horrible to me. 

There was some funny rear projection used when Tarzan confronted a rhinoceros. I understand it would have been impossible to do in real life, but it was plainly obvious Tarzan was talking to a screen. 

The whole idea that Tarzan and Joey could intimidate and control a wild lion was ludicrous and dangerous to convey. It was like they were talking to a dog- “Go away lion! I’m staring you in the eye! Now go!” 

I was disappointed there were no underwater swimming scenes. Those were my favorite parts in the 1939 film. But Weissmuller was an Olympic swimmer and Barker wasn’t! 

Jane sure had perfectly set 1940s style hair and makeup for someone living deep in the African jungle! 

The title is hysterically over-blown. Tarzan’s Savage Fury? He never seems all that upset in this! Certainly not furious! He’s pretty unflappable and just gets on with vanquishing any threat. 

The Bible? Did we really need the part with the Bible? I suppose this was the height of the Red Scare, and Americans loved pounding home the idea that “We’re better than Commies cause religion!” 

And speaking of the Red Scare... the director of this film, Cy Endfield, left Hollywood after the movie’s completion. He was named as a Communist sympathizer by HUAC, and rather than be forced to testify and name names, he went to England. Cause nothing says American freedom more than being forced to flee your own country because you might be extra-legally destroyed for your political beliefs! 

[thatonesupercooltoony]

okay so theres this weird thing i do sometimes like. unwillingly where i just like-

Pleased to meet you, tumblr. Name's Francis Pumphandle, but everyone calls me "Pip". Cheese balls are one of my all-time favorite foods. I always seem to meet the most interesting people when I'm around them, too. In fact, cheese balls bring to mind the time I met Bob Barker, star of the most popular morning game show. He's an emcee, a host, and a celebrity all rolled into one. Anyway, eight months ago -- it was Tuesday the 17th, I believe -- or it might have been the 18th ... no, no, it was definitely the 17th, because it was precisely one week after my aunt Lucretia's birthday, which is the 10th. Aunt Lucretia's quite a woman. Loves to cook. She prepares a fabulous war shu a. That's a Chinese duck dish. I love Chinese food. I once went to a party where they served Chinese food and cheese balls. Now that was a Catch-22 situation. Catch-22 was a movie, you know. It was long, very long. They say the book was better, but it was a novel and I never finish reading those things. Of course, a lot of people don't read much nowadays. They watch television. I caught a program on PBS last night. A very good show on chimpanzees in the media. They had a clip of J. Fred Muggs, the chimp from the TODAY show. But it was Fred's chimpanzee girlfriend that had me stumped. I couldn't remember her name, so I looked it up. Her name was Phoebe B. Beebe.

Anyway, as I was saying, eight months ago, Tuesday the 17th, I went downtown on a nice, relaxing stroll. I love to relax. In fact, relaxing is a pastime of mine. Some people play golf. Others like tennis, horseshoes, bridge, canasta, and other such fancy hobbies. Now, another hobby enjoyed by many is knitting. My grandmother was a great knitter. Knitted this sweater I'm wearing. It's red, which is not my favorite color. I prefer mauve or mustard yellow. Now, don't get me wrong: red is okay for ties and suspenders, but with sweaters I prefer more neutral colors. But when I'm relaxing, I don't care what I wear: long pants, Bermuda shorts, T-shirts, or formal attire. You name it, anything goes. Now, on the 17th, during my relaxing stroll, I recall wearing my herringbone jacket, my Laughlin, Nevada, souvenir tie, and my charcoal gray slacks. Or was it the navy slacks? Oh, I suppose it doesn't really matter. What matters is comfort. You know, I love comfort. It goes along with that pastime of mine, relaxing.

Now, for me, there is nothing more relaxing than a nice leisurely stroll, like the one I took eight months ago on the 17th. It was a bright, sunny day, which of course is the optimum condition for relaxed strolling. And as I walked along, I found myself humming a haunting melody. I kept humming and humming and humming and humming. I couldn't get the tune out of my head. I racked my brains to come up with the title, but to no avail. You see, I'm not terribly musical. And yet, I'd always wanted to play an instrument and be like my musical hero, Leo Sayer. But who can compete with Leo? I think I was just scared that I'd fail. Well, I decided right then and there to go buy a musical instrument. So on the particular Tuesday the 17th to which I was referring, I went down to the Sixth Street Music Emporium to buy a new tambourine, a terribly soothing instrument, contrary to popular opinion. And as I was strolling along, I detected a wonderful scent in the morning air. "What could it be?" I asked myself. So I went toward that marvelous scent, distracted by its aroma from my musical mission. The odor was a mix of orchid flowers and bologna, which of course is one of the world's most under-appreciated luncheon meats. That and pimento loaf. I love a good pimento loaf and mayo sandwich -- the more pimentos, the better. Why, just the mention of pimentos makes my taste buds stand up and say, "Howdy." Now there's an interesting word: "Howdy." Is it from "How are you" or maybe "How you doing"? "Howdy"'s one of those strange words that really has no origin. I like saying "How do" more than "Howdy" -- more formal, I think. Not too flowery. But the flowery aroma of that particular morning carried me on my fragrant quest.

Now, the smell was actually less bologna and more orchid -- the beautiful flower found on the island state of Hawaii. Of course, I wasn't in Hawaii, so I needed to search out the location of the nearest orchid. So, I visited every florist shop in town. Well, to make a long story short, not a single flower shop in town had any orchids in stock, which seemed mighty curious to me. Now, as we all know, curiosity killed the cat, but since I'm not a feline, I wasn't too worried. Felines are funny creatures, don't you think? I had a cat once. It used its claws to tear my living room couch to shreds. It was a comfy couch, too. Had a sleep-away bed in it with a foam rubber mattress. Now, I bought the couch and the mattress at Levine's Department Store on Third Avenue, the very same afternoon of that relaxing stroll aforementioned. I also bought myself a lovely tambourine on that same shopping expedition. Anyway, I didn't want to pay extra for the delivery of the couch, so I decided to carry the couch home myself. It was quite cumbersome. And getting it through the store's revolving doors was a bit of a challenge. And just as I emerged onto the street, by accident I bumped into a well-dressed man with an orchid in his lapel. It was Bob Barker, and he was eating a bologna and cheese balls sandwich. Well, it's been nice chatting with you.

DEAR GOD HELP ME

[og-danny-dorito]

Hi! First time having sex with Matt headcanons? 👉👈

tried to keep it gender neutral since i wasn't sure, but let me know if there are inconsistencies. also it's like?? really fucking long?? i'm so sorry there's just something about matt that makes me chimp out i swear

𝐓𝐖: swearing, sexual content, minors do not interact

𝐂𝐖: useage of the terms "good boy/girl", virginity loss, praise kink

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲

❖ when he sits you down to have the sex conversation, he's pretty sure that you'll both be approaching it from a somewhat experienced angle

❖ but when you mention to him, albeit shyly and not without your own share of verbal stumbling, that you've never been intimate with someone like that before, it catches him off guard more than any surprise punch or kick in the gut could ever hope to

❖ he always suspected it, but he thought it was just his own propensity to view you as innocent in his own mind. now that he knows that his suspicions were confirmed though??

❖ dude. he's gonna pull ALL the stops

❖ it's not like insanely over the top or anything, but you'll know when he plans on making his mov as soon as you get home from work

❖ as soon as you walk in the door the table is set up with your favorite candle/wax melt in the center, combining itself with the smell of one of your favorite foods wafting in from the kitchen

❖ it's a little dim but not so much that you can't see, and there's music playing in the background just loud enough to not be overbearing

❖ he greets you with a grin, giving you a kiss on the forehead, and you stifle your comments about this being the one time he's here before you are since you're taken aback by how pretty the presentation of your food is

❖ the night goes on and you have dinner and settle down to watch a movie together to let the food settle a bit

❖ (off topic but you either describe it as it goes, put on the video description they have for accessibility, or have a conversation and fill the gaps of silence by listening in to the movie)

❖ you're nervous the whole time too, and even though he can't see your hands nervously fumbling in your lap, the squeeze on your shoulder and concerned look he shoots you proves that he can feel your anxiety even if he can't see it

❖ he assures you that it's okay if you don't want to do it, he still loves you anyway and if you're not interested or too scared he doesn't mind living without it or holding out if you want to put it off, but after a frantic confirmation that you do want to, you're just nervous, he smiles and asks if he can kiss you

❖ it's then that he leans in, lips slowly working your nerves and tensed muscles to relax until you're laying on your back on the couch

❖ a minute or so passes and you're already shedding your shirt before he suggest you move to the bed instead

❖ and so you do, holding his hand the whole way as he softly closes the door behind him and eases you onto the bed

❖ now this is when he really pulls all the stops? if you thought he was skilled in other things, lay back and let him give you head because it's a religious experience i swear

❖ he starts off slow so as to not overwhelm you too early, but as time progresses he grows more eager and starts loosing his self control. a little tug on his hair and a plead for him to slow down a little will get him to stop, but if you just let him go at it he'll have you seeing stars in no time

❖ he takes his time though, slowly twisting up a coil inside you with his tongue until you feel it's about to snap and he pulls back to admire his handiwork

❖ your pleas don't fall on deaf ears though, and instead he shushes you by running two fingers through your folds and asking you to suck them clean, saying something like "can you do that for me?" and rewarding you with a "good." or "good boy/girl." if you do

❖ as soon as you're ready he lines himself up with your entrance and places his hand on your hip, the other coming up to gently cup your face as he stares blankly at you

❖ "are you sure this is okay?" and upon confirmation he strokes your cheek with his thumb and says "repeat the safeword to me. the one we talked about." (you pre-discussed one a few days back)

❖ only with those two confirmations does he continue, making sure to go as slow as he can as he sinks into you with a few grunts between pauses

❖ you're impossibly tight, he notices. he has to wait there for a minute so you can loosen up some, encouraging you to breathe and relax in a calm way despite the fact that his dick is literally begging for any kind of friction

❖ it gets it's wish when you ask him to more though, and over the course of a few minutes he slowly picks up his pace and deepness of his thrusts

❖ his hands, although they stay focused on your hips most of the time, will occasionally roam up to the rest of you. without eyesight the only way he can sink in this moment is through listening and feeling you, committing every curve and divot in your skin to memory as if mapping it out

❖ as you go on you can feel the coil tightening again, your body starting to shake under the pressure of your nerves being on fire in every capacity

❖ and so matt leans down close to you, body coming to cage over yours as you near your release, proclamations of how much he loves you seeming to be the only thing you hear as spots cover your vision and your eyes screw closed

❖ he stays in as you come down from the high, letting your body recuperate before pulling out and either watching as his cum spills out of you or discarding the condom around him to somewhere else

❖ as soon as you both catch your breath he gets up and head to the bathroom, coming back with a pair of boxers on and a wet towel so he can clean you up

❖ he either ignores your weak protests that you're okay without it or you're too exhausted to protest it, eventually passing out with his arms wrapped around you and a chaste kiss placed on your forehead

❖ it's only when you wake up first and try to stand on your own, only to fall due to your legs giving out on you does he wake up, laughing a little and teasing you before helping you to walk

❖ of course he definitely held back so the pain wears off on the second day after, but don't worry! you'll be able to see just how much he can give as time passes ;)

{ 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠! }

[angelkurenai]

Imagine doing the WIRED autocomplete interview with your husband, Robert, and getting asked very often about your relationship with co-star and friend, Bradley Cooper. Only for your husband to get jealous.

“And the last one, I feel like no matter how prepared I say I am for some of these, I always end up surprised, so-” you cleared your throat and looked down at the board “Is Robert Downey Jr-” you read on the image that was the google search for your husband before pealing the sticker “The little spoon or the big spoon? This, wow!”

You both immediately burst into laughter, your husband clapping his hands and muttering “Amazing. It's amazing!”

“This contains the most popular searches right?” you spoke, looking at the crew around you and behind the cameras “I wonder who ever googled this. Who, like, woke up and said 'Hey, you know what I wanna find out today? If Robert Downey Jr is the little spoon, man! I bet that would be interesting!' why would you ever-” you shook your head with a laugh.

“Alright, first of all-” Robert spoke, a good few seconds of trying to recover from his laughing fit “Let's make something clear, shall we? We are not making fun of little spoons. Absolutely no fun. There is no shame in it, and I as a proud cuddler, cannot and will not judge big or little spoons in any way. Cuddling is fun and it makes you warm and happy, you should be proud of yourself if you are a good cuddler. However, that being said-” he put on a serious face and looked at the camera “I'm a knife.”

You looked at your husband then at the camera with a blank expression before shaking your head with a small roll of your eyes and added only three seconds after him “He's the little spoon.”

Robert couldn't help but snicker, the serious expression melting away before he nodded his head “Yes I'm the little spoon. What can you do eh?”he couldn't help his laughter “Seriously this is too embarrassing but I've stopped caring long ago.”

“I mean hey-”you laughed as you handed the cardboard in exchange for another one which you hand over to him “It could be worse, so let's not push our luck, shall we? Remember what you told me you feared to see in those questions most? Yeah, we haven't come across that yet.”

“Oh yes, how could I ever-” he said playfully, letting a small laugh before turning more serious, face completely honest – and words even more than anyone, besides you, could know – as he said to the camera “I prefer it when she tops, yes, to answer any google searches that haven't made it here yet. For reasons I can't understand but-”

You were your yelp could be described to a chimp's more than a human's but you didn't care, when you felt the heat rise up on your cheeks and your eyes widen a little in horror and more in shock and embarrassment as you exclaimed “Robert!”

“What?” all he did was laughing – or more specifically join in on the laughing of the rest of the crew around you and your probably dying from laughter and on the floor manager of yours.

“I shouldn't have- Oh I walked right into it, I shouldn't have brought that up.” you cleared your throat, shaking your head.

“Honestly, I don't understand- Why are you laughing? It's more relaxing, isn't it? I always found it better to-” he couldn't control his own laughter no matter how much he tried “Don't the gentlemen here agree?” he asked, earning more laughter but a couple nods as well “Ah there, a few brave souls, see? Better already!” he grinned at you, kissing your temple.

“Oh my- Just get on with the game, please!”

“See? She's so bossy sometimes that how can I help it if I ask to be sp-”

“Robert!” you squeaked, trying to get him back on track “I swear to you if you dare complete that sentence.” you gave him a look “Seriously, not what we're here for. Focus.”

“Alright, alright-” he cleared his throat “Back to business I suppose. Let's see what we got here-” he looked at the cardboard in his hands “Is (Y/n) (Y/l/n)... part of the MCU?” he read as he pealed the sticker.

“Well, that's a good one because you can't get a yes or no answer right away. Though we have filmed a movie, so theoretically I am part of the MCU, the movie is not out yet for my character to be really a part of the MCU. So-” you shrugged “Depending on how you see it.”

“Way I see it is the next big bad should be scared cause the strongest character of the MCU is about to join in! Plus the most cool one, would easily make even Tony fall for her!”

“He speaks as if he was even paying to me when I was saying my lines. You could see it in his eyes, the moment he saw me in my suit, he just lost all focus or grasp of reality.” you pointed out and he shrugged not innocently in the least bit.

“Eh guilty, but nobody can blame me. So-” he looked back at the cardboard “Is (Y/n) (Y/l/n)... in the movie 'The Judge'? Why, yes, actually she is. As well as the incredible mind behind the script of some of the scenes.”

“As well as the one to keep this guy on track on set, is the most important thing you're forgetting Downey.”

“That too.” he chuckled “Alright, next: Is (Y/n) (Y/l/n)... in the movie 'A Star Is Born'? Yes, yes she was. And she was incredible as always. Though I might be a bit biased seeing as I'm her number one fan. Maybe, just maybe. I don't know, I'm just sayin'.” he said with a small scoff that made you grin because he was always supportive of you without making a big deal out of it when it wasn't necessary, always caring that you knew it better than anyone that he admired you.

“Along with a wonderful cast, tough. Really it was one of the best movies I've been in, made so many friends too.”

“All in all a must watch. Ok, next one: Is (Y/n) (Y/l/n)... friends with Bradley Cooper?” he couldn't help but repress a heavy sigh that he made sure – and you knew took extra pleasure in – to be extra dramatic “More like, is (Y/n) (Y/l/n) attached to the hip with Bradley Cooper? That's the question people should be asking!”

You rolled your eyes, scoffing at your husband but it sounded more like a small laugh “You make it sound like I never spend time away from the guy!”

“Oh, I'm sorry, you actually do? I have never been witness to such a rare phenomenon. Maybe next time it happens, next time you actually spend like an hour away from him without having to text or call each other, I would very much like to be present so that I can believe it.” he said, voice full of sarcasm to the point you couldn't help but shake your head at him.

“Robert, for real-”

“No, I really mean it! I'm not being sarcastic or anything-” he looked at the cameras and people behind them “People think that Avengers Endgame is going to be the event of the decade, but I tell you if she takes a break from her friend, that will be it!”

“Alright, then, so what am I supposed to do on my free time if not spend it with my friends?” you asked in disbelief, eyes wide but a laugh leaving from your lips.

“Oh I don't know.” he shrugged innocently “Maybe, just maybe, spend some time with your husband too? Who knows how neglected he might feel after all.”

“Oh you little-” you stopped, only to narrow your eyes at him “Jealous you mean then?”

“Touche. But no.” he tsked and shrugged “Mildly neglected, slightly in need of spooning and probably a tad annoyed. But never jealous, honey, you know I don't do that. I don't really have the need to do that. I'm way above that.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, dear.” you sighed before looking back at the camera “Yes we are really good friends, if you didn't get it by now. Best buddies, I think that's what people call us; it's like every single person that knows us knows it and never questions it. And as for Robert-” you glanced at your husband with a shake of your head “He's a drama queen don't mind hi-”

“Me? I'm the drama queen? I was on IKEA with Evans last week and we saw this double king sized bed and you know what? I really started considering asking for it in case your buddy decided to join us for sleep other than breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, supper, dinner and midnight snack!” he gave you a look that underneath all the playfulness you could read all too well. The small narrow of the eyes, the lips pursing in a tight smile and then following the click of the tongue before he spoke carefully-chosen words again “How does that sound to you, honey?”

“Unnecessary, darling.” you shrugged, a smirk lifting at the corners of your lips “You could just leave the bed and there, problem solved, plenty of space!” and a small laugh did escape your lips when the smile vanished entirely from his face “Anyhow, I think what's more important here than me spending the entire day with my friend, which by the way happens only once in a while stop overreacting-” you gave him a look at which he rolled his eyes “That's important is, what the hell where you and Chris Evans doing at IKEA?”

“Hopefully, if it all went well, making history!” he was soon back to grinning before looking down at the board “Let's see this one and hope it's not- Is (Y/n) (Y/l/n)... really kissing Bradley Cooper? Really? I-”

You were quick to clasp a hand over Robert's mouth before he got to say a thing and spoke yourself “I don't know what the person searching this had in mind. As in, is that really happening? Yes, yes it was. Hard as it was for me to believe. Even before our scene I was panicking on the inside, I'm surprised I looked so cool, because let's be honest it's Bradley freaking Cooper but-”

You paused when Robert took hold of your wrist, removing your hand to speak “And your husband is Robert freaking Downey Jr!” before putting it back where it was.

“Well, yeah, but honey you've been my husband for years and he-” you stopped only for a second, noticing the way he narrowed his eyes at you dangerously but in a way that only made everyone laugh “Well, it's still Bradley Cooper. So in the essence that it happened, yes. But in the essence that it was real, obviously, no... Insert wishful sigh. It was only acting.” you tried to pretend to be sad about it, but it soon fell apart when you laughed.

Granted, it didn't help that your husband was murmuring words that were muffled and made no sense behind your hand.

“You have something to add there honey?” you giggled, pulling your hand away from him this time.

“Plenty, none of which is suitable for the net. So, I'd much rather change the topic altogether. Is (Y/n) (Y/l/n)... married to Bradley Cooper? Are you for real now?” his entire face fell as he looked at the cameras in disbelief, a perfect contrast to your laughing reaction.

“Really not a good follow up search. Who put these in order? It's too fun right now.” you giggled more when you saw Robert shake his head and throw the entire board on the back with a flick of his hand.

“Someone that needs to get fired, that's who.” Robert grumbled, arms crossing over his chest “But then probably rehired and forced to learn everything about our love story and make an epic documentary about it or something.”

“Come to think of it, these are things many people have actually searched you know?” you mumbled deep in thought.

His head snapped in your direction so fast, eyes impossibly wide, as he stared at you in disbelief and in a way that you could hardly not laugh at “Are you kidding me now? I really didn't need to be reminded you know! I mean-” he scoffed, looking around “Why does everyone seem to forget we've been married? It's been years now!”

“See, maybe, it's possible that plenty of ladies and gentlemen out there don't know if they have any chances with you and want to find out if you really are out on the market or not?” you shrugged “Wouldn't surprise me. First thing I googled a week after I met was your dating status and let me tell you I was more than glad to fill that empty space!”

“See, she knows she is smooth and that it's very distracting.”

“Thing is, is it working?” you asked with a smirk.

He chuckled but his smile fell very shortly afterward “Definitely not this time. Mr Cooper and I will need to have a word.”

[mirkwoodshewolf]

No following; Planet of the apes fanfic Chap. 9

*Author's note*

Now here is where the story plot truly takes a shine as Lin and Caesar finally stand before each other and Lin tries to get the dam up and running along with Malcolm and his team, all the while trying to hide her past from the rest of the surviving people of San Francisco.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@queen-paladin

@psychosupernatural

___________________________________________________

I woke up like clockwork at the butt-crack of dawn.  Jesus even with these pills I still can’t escape military protocol.  For once I’d like to sleep eternally without waking up.  I stretched myself out like a cat before getting up and walked over to the kitchen to see Malcolm and his family eating breakfast.

“Morning Lin.” Malcolm greeted me.

“Morning everyone.”

“How did you sleep?” asked Ellie.

“As fine as anyone can these days.” I responded.  Malcolm stood up from the table and handed me a plate filled with food rations.  “No.”

“Come on, even someone as hardcore as you needs to eat.” He told me.

“I eat breakfast, I just eat my own. I’m not taking parts of your family’s rations.”

“Everyone in the colony looks after each other. It’s how we’ve managed to survive this long. And like it or not you are a part of the colony now. Please Lin.” I looked between Malcolm and his family before hesitantly reaching out for the plate.

When suddenly the alarms started blaring throughout the entire colony.  Already we could hear people from outside people starting to race down the stairs in a panic.

“Get dressed.” I ordered as I grabbed my rifle and was the first to leave their little home.

By the main gate, the crowd was in a panicked uproar as I tried to make my way up towards the catwalk where Dreyfus stood.  Once I got to the stairway, I ran over to him and was shocked at what I saw just over the wall.

Caesar stood there riding a black stallion wearing what appeared to be war paint covering his entire body, and behind him was a whole army of apes bearing the same style of war paint as he did.  Some riding on horses, but every single one of them held a spear in hand to let all of us know they meant business.

“That’s a hell of a lot more than 80!” Dreyfus said over the alarm.  I turned to see that Malcolm had now joined up with us.

“It’s a scare tactic!” I proclaimed over the sound of the alarm.

“A what?!”

“They’re trying to intimidate us! Show us their numbers and size! If they wanted us dead they wouldn’t just be standing there! But you idiots start firing your guns and there will be bloodshed!” I then went down just as the alarms were cut off and the doors began to open.

There I was the first to walk out and keep my focus solely on Caesar.  I still can’t believe that he’s really alive, I can’t believe I had given up on him surviving the forest fires, he is after all a very special chimp.

“Lin!” I heard Dreyfus call out to me.  But I ignored him as I slowly walked closer to Caesar before I briefly paused.  Caesar kept his eyes on me before urging his horse forward and I resumed my walking until finally the two of us stood before the other.  Time and the world almost seemed to fade away as it was just the two of us.

The brief softness in his eyes as he looked at me quickly hardened as he turned his attention towards the colony and he proclaimed.

“APES!” hearing him speak made chills go up my body but it filled everyone else (besides Malcolm and the others who heard him speak yesterday) with fear.  Caesar continued, “DO NOT…WANT. WAR! BUT WILL…FIGHT! IF. WE MUST!” he then turned to a younger male chimp and gave him a nod.

The younger male got off his horse and in his hand he held Alexander’s bag that he had left behind after we got startled by Caesar and the apes.  The young male chimp had the exact same war paint as Caesar did and he did resemble Caesar a bit from when he was that age, could this be his son?

He held out the bag but as I went to grab it, he dropped it at my feet before turning around and headed back to his horse.  I reached down and grabbed Alexander’s bag before turning back to Caesar.  His eyes glaring at the colony as he proclaimed while pointing behind him.

“APE HOME!” he then pointed at the colony’s building, “HUMAN. HOME!” His eyes then turned to me, his face still stern but his eyes glaring at me not as threatening but he still wanted me to know. “Do not come back.”

I gulped harshly as I tried to keep my emotions at bay as Caesar then urged his horse and his people away.  As all the apes soon left, there was one ape that lingered behind.  From his war paint I could see the scarred side of his face and his eyes were blazing with nothing but hatred.

He remained glaring down at me growling lowly as he stayed there until almost every single ape had left before he too finally left to join the others.  I let out an exhale but I knew that this was only the calm before the storm.

And boy was I right.  The second the apes had left the city, the colony was in a panicked uproar.  Everyone crowding each other as they clamored and try to outvoice the other’s panic.

I stuck to the far back as I could so that I wouldn’t be caught up in the panicked crowd.  Now this is exactly how I remembered this building to be.  Hundreds of thousands of people in a state of mindless panic, too afraid and too stupid to allow anyone to speak to them, and now I’m just waiting for the accusations to start happening.

“EVERYBODY! PLEASE! WE ARE ALL IMMUNE!” Dreyfus called out using a megaphone.  “WE ARE ALL IMMUNE OR WE STILL WOULDN’T BE HERE!”

“HOW DID THEY FIND US!?” proclaimed one man as the crowd then roared in agreement.

“WE FOUND THEM!” Dreyfus answered.

“YOU KNEW THEY WERE OUT THERE!” proclaimed another man.

“WHAT IF THEY COME BACK!?” screamed out a woman.  The crowd all cried out agreeing with the woman, to which Dreyfus told them.

“IF THEY COME BACK—IF THEY COME BACK, THEY’LL BE SORRY THEY EVER DID!” The crowd slowly began to die down but I could still feel the paranoia in the air.  “NOW, THIS CITY MAY NOT HAVE THE MANPOWER IT ONCE DID, BUT IT HAS THE FIREPOWER. THOSE STOCKPILES LEFT BEHIND BY FEMA, THE NATIONAL GUARD, WE HAVE IT ALL. LOOK…”

Dreyfus paused for a moment to compose himself as he spoke his next speech into the megaphone.

“I KNOW WHY YOU’RE SCARED. I’M SCARED TOO, BELIEVE ME. BUT I RECOGNIZE THE TRUST YOU’VE ALL PLACED IN ME. WE’VE BEEN THROUGH HELL TOGETHER!” Trust me Dreyfus, you don’t know the first thing about hell.

Yeah San Fransisco began ground zero from when the outbreak hit, then the riots and civil unrest but that’s only a taste of what I’ve seen in the rest of the world.  They’ve been through hell, but I have seen it with my own two eyes.

“BUT YOU ALL KNOW WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST. WE’RE ALMOST OUT OF FUEL. WHICH MEANS NO MORE POWER, WHICH MEANS WE COULD SLIP BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE THAT DAM UP THERE WAS THE ANSWER. NOW WE JUST HAD NO IDEA THEY WERE UP THERE TOO.”

“SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?” exclaimed another woman as the crowd went into another uproar.

“WE FIND ANOTHER WAY…” the crowd slowly quietened down as Dreyfus continued, “BECAUSE THAT POWER….IS NOT JUST ABOUT KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON. IT’S ABOUT GIVING US THE TOOLS TO RECONNECT TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. TO FIND OUT WHO ELSE IS OUT THERE!” some people started nodding and doing hail Mary’s.  “SO THAT WE CAN START TO REBUILD…..AND RECLAIM….THE WORLD WE LOST.” With that being said, the crowd dispersed and everyone went on trying to get back to their normal routine.

Both Malcolm and I waited for Dreyfus in the hallway near his sleeping quarters.  As Dreyfus came up Malcolm said.

“That was a great speech.”

“Yeah, did you write it down first or did it just pop into your head?” I asked snidely.

“Lin not now.” Malcolm warned me.  He stood up and told Dreyfus, “There is no alternative power source. That dam is the only option.” Dreyfus slowly walked towards us before saying.

“Well, then we fight them.” I chuckled madly.  “What you think that’s funny Lin?” Dreyfus demanded.

“I think it’s hilarious. Cause this just proves why humanity lost more lives than the Simian Flu. Humans are always so quick to violence. Intelligent thinking, that’s just a bunch of egotistical bullshit. Just because someone has bigger balls than you, you think it’s alright to start a war.”

“They’re animals Lin. They may have the numbers but we have the fire power, just as I said.”

“Yeah but you underestimate your opponents and they’ll find your weakness. Apes were already smarter than humans before given the drug, now they’re beyond intelligent. If you want a war, you’ll fight without my help.”

“Then what else would you suggest? We’re two weeks from running out of fuel, maybe three tops. And once that happens, I won’t be able to go out there with a bullhorn and calm everybody down.” He said as he walked up to me, the two of us standing almost chest to chest with each other.  But I held my stance as I had my arms crossed. 

He then turned to Malcolm and walked over to him and stood across from him saying.

“We need that power to get the radio transmitter working. It’s our only chance of reaching the outside world. We have to find other survivors.”

“Yeah, there’s not that many of us left. We can’t afford any more casualties.” Malcolm agreed.  Hate to tell yah boys but you won’t find much luck in the outside world.  The places I have seen, they’ve been wiped out completely of any chance of human contact.

As the two of them went on about how they founded the colony together, I stepped aside and took some deep breaths.  This whole world created because my uncle wanted to save my grandpa’s life.  To give him a second chance…..sometimes I wonder if it’s a blessing or a curse. And if any of these guys find out that I’m directly related to the man who caused all this…..God help me.

“Let me go back up there.” I then stated.  The two men stopped and looked at me.  I turned back to them and I continued, “I can go up there and talk to him. Just give me a few days and….”

“And what if it backfires? What if he gets violent? I mean, how do you know that he’ll even understand you?”

“War is the last thing he wants, or don’t you remember what he just said? The apes don’t want war, but if you give them a reason to, they will. They could’ve ambushed us and slaughtered us all in the dead of night, they didn’t. They could’ve started the war right there at our doorstep, but they didn’t. Shall I go on?” Dreyfus was beyond words then Malcolm said.

“I’ll go too.” I gave him a harsh glare but he said, “I don’t doubt you Lin but you’ll need a team of workers and one in particular who knows how the dam works.” I let out a groan at the mention of Carver’s name.  He turned to Dreyfus and said, “Give us three days, if we don’t get the dam working in three days, we’ll do it your way.” Dreyfus took a long pause to ponder and gather his thoughts.

“I’m gonna take some men up to Fort Point, I’m gonna go through the armor, I’m gonna see what’s still working. Three days. You’re not back here in three days, we’re going up there and we’re gonna kill every last one of them.”

 My heart clenched and my blood boiled but I kept my emotions down.  I couldn’t risk exposing the truth now.

“Deal.” Malcolm said as the two men turned to me.

“Agreed. I’ll tell Kemp and Foster, you can talk to trigger-happy douchebag.” I said heading back down the stairs to find Foster and Kemp to let them know what was going on.

I managed to the two lug heads and I informed them of what Dreyfus and Malcolm had decided to do.  I helped them load the trucks and soon the rest of the team came along, including Ellie and Alexander.  Normally I’d try to convince Malcolm to leave his kid behind cause I can’t guarantee his safety, but truthfully he’s better at his dad’s side with the apes than staying here with a bunch of triggered, paranoid humans.

Once we got the trucks all packed up once again with the supplies we needed, as well as camping gear Carver took the driver’s seat and he led us on the drive back to the Redwoods.

As we drove along, the weather suddenly shifted from cloudy to rainy once again.  The rain was hard and heavy and without human interference to keep Mother Nature at bay, it practically made it impossible to navigate the winding roads but somehow Carver actually managed to get us back to the main entrance of the red woods.

“No one gets out of the trucks. No one.” I said after Carver cut off the engine. “If I’m not back in two hours….”

“I’m coming in after you.” Malcolm interrupted me.

“No. You all will head back to the city.”

“Lin.”

“I mean it Malcolm. I’m not letting anyone else get hurt. No one back at the colony would care if I got lost. But if any of you get hurt, Dreyfus wouldn’t hesitate to go back on his word. You all go back to the city and not say a word to anyone. Promise?” Malcolm and I had a hard staring contest at each other before he relented.

“Alright.” I pulled up my poncho hood and opened the car door before leaving and headed up the trail.

The mud was extra slippery and the rain felt like being pelted by paintballs.  But I pushed on and followed the same road path until I came to the trail where we first came across the apes yesterday.  I heard a rustle of a bush and I quickly turned before slowly taking out my sniper rifle.

I heard the rustle again and I slowly raised my gun up, my eye resting over the scope but soon a familiar white figure came out from the bushes.

“Kiba.” I said setting the gun down.  His piercing yellow eyes stared at me and he let out a huff.  “Are the others alright? The apes didn’t find you did they?” his ear twitched as he continued to stare at me.  “All these years of talking to Caesar make me forget that you can’t sign, let alone talk. Now I don’t know if you can really understand me, but I understand. It was the apes that got to you and Tsume that day, wasn’t it? Do you remember where their home was?”

Kiba’s eyes remained fixated on me before he hopped off the boulder and walked ahead.  He stopped and turned to look back at me and he let out a grunt.  I picked up my gun and followed behind the large white wolf.

He took me further up steep hills and sharp down drops and when I began to see all the animal skulls decorated above the trees, I had a feeling in my stomach that I was close.  Kiba then stopped and growled anxiously, his head down as his eyes stared straight ahead.  His body stiff and his fur began riling up on end even through the rain.

“Okay, I won’t let you walk any further, I’ll take it from here. Go rejoin the others.” Kiba looked up at me and I gave him a head gesture to go back.  He let out a huffed bark before heading off back into the woods.  I looked back at the animal skulls.  Some hanging off of tree branches or trunks, other tied by string almost as if they were decorations.  “While we’ve done reefs, flags, and banners for decorations, apparently apes prefer the elephant graveyard look as part of their exterior design.”

I followed the animal skulls until I came up to a small pathway, and the second I turned into it, I was greeted by desolate fortress.  When the military had burned the Redwoods all those years ago, they didn’t start at the very entrance of the forest, no they went for the heart of it in hopes that it would cut off any escape routes the apes could take.

But through this desolation they survived and now they’ve turned it into a fortress of wood and mud with a large gateway entry up ahead of the muddy pathway.  Some of the wood had been sharpened like spears and were pointed outward as a warning to any and all that may enter. 

“I would make a King Kong joke right about now but A) it’s not the time, and B) the fact I’m literally about to walk into the World of apes, isn’t something to joke about.” I said to myself as I pushed onward and walked towards the gateway.

As I walked under the bridge, my heart was racing and a hundred thoughts were going through my head.  There’s no way this place is just left here unguarded.  There had to be something waiting for me, a boobytrap, a guard, or an ambush.  Something.  There’s no way Caesar would just leave this place unguarded, especially now.

The sound of soft clanking suddenly caught my attention and I slowly closed my eyes as I felt my body tighten up.  Ever so slowly I turned around and opened my eyes to reveal a large, silverback gorilla coming out from the side of the fortress wall.

He growled lowly as he stood over me, showing me his dominance and size over me.  I raised my hands in surrender as I said.

“Please, I need to speak with Caesar.” I said while remembering to not make direct eye contact.  Caroline taught me that unlike chimps, direct eye contact to gorillas is a sign of a challenge, so it’s always best to not make direct eye contact with them.  The silverback continued to stare me down until it let out a loud roar.

I let out a yelp as I crouched down trying to make myself as small as possible but I looked up and soon saw more gorillas coming out from each side of the fortress.  I soon found myself surrounded by about 5 maybe seven silverbacks and the one who let out the call huffed at the others.

I bit my lip trying to suppress any sound as I buried myself into the mud and tried to stay as still as I could (even though my body was shaking with absolute fear).  I heard some of them sniffing at me, huffing and grunting as they spoke to each other before I felt a tug at my ankles.  I was at first dragged aways before two more gorillas grabbed me by the arms and they began to carry me further into the Ape Fortress.

I could only look above me as chimps and bonobos swung and leapt over the roof over me, chattering and shrieking frantically.  Letting everyone in the troop know that a human had entered their home.  Maybe this was a mistake, any of these apes could easily kill me, hell I could’ve been ripped apart by the silverbacks just earlier but being beaten to death by thousands of apes did not sound like a way I’d want to go out.

After what felt like an eternity, I was soon dropped to the ground before being pulled up by my poncho.  I kept my hands above my head as I now stood before an army of chimps and bonobos.

A moment ago it had been an uproar of apes sounding out the alarm of my arrival, but the second I was forced to stand up an eerie silence now hung in the air.  All the apes glared at me, especially a scarred bonobo that looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t remember.

He slowly came up to me as he stood on the opposite side of me where the silverback who first saw me stood at my left side.  Cautiously I walked forward, keeping my arms raised in surrender as the apes all crowded around me but allowed me passage.

I tried to put my focus onto the various nests and buildings that had been built within the fortress.  Caesar had built such a home for these apes, that I couldn’t be any prouder, and I know the rest of the family would’ve been proud too, especially uncle Will.  And speaking of which, at the top of a large stone platform, Caesar soon stood on top of it, his posture tall and firm as he looked down at me.

When I was now at the stone’s platform, the scarred bonobo and the silverback pushed me into the mud by my shoulders as I let out a grunt.

“Please, please.” I spoke up.  I looked up at Caesar and he looked down at me, a hint of disappointment in his green eyes.  “I know Caesar, I know. No following. But I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.” I made sure to stay on my knees, not to make any sudden movements and kept my hands on behind my head now.  “Just hear me out.” I asked him.  “They’re scared Caesar, the people at the colony are scared and almost losing hope. But there’s something here, something in your part of the woods that the colony needs.”

“HUMAN LIES!!” the bonobo to my right exclaimed which caused the apes to uproar.

“NO! NO! I’m not lying!” I tried to tell them.  I turned back to Caesar and pleaded, “You know I would never lie to you, when have I ever lied to you? Please believe me!” the apes continued to cry out but Caesar remained stoic on top of his rock as he looked down at all of us.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the spear that the bonobo had, he now flipped over and had the spear part of it pointed directly at me ready to skewer me if Caesar gave the command.  Tears filled my eyes as I mouthed out another please to Caesar, desperate for him to see reason.

He held up his hand and all went silent once again.  I couldn’t hear anything but the sound of my heart racing in my ears.  But soon Caesar spoke.

“Show….me.” a strong wave of relief came over me after he had said that.  But my relief soon turned to fear was I heard a growl from behind me and from my peripheral vision I saw the spear ready to skewer my like a wild boar. “NO!!!!” Caesar cried in an uproar.

He jumped from the platform and took the spear away from the bonobo.  The two of them staring each other down before the bonobo relented.  Caesar turned back to face me, he slowly extended his hand out and gently grabbed my arm and helped me stand up.

“Show. Me.” He said again.  I nodded then Caesar signed out. ‘Ape Council, follow her.’ Caesar then turned to me and gave me a nod.  I then walked out and the selected few apes followed behind Caesar and I.

Following Carver’s directions, I took them deeper into the woods until we came to the river where a small beach-like area rested along the mountains and just across the river was the dam.  Of course I would’ve preferred if he had told me that we had to walk across a wet, narrowed log path to get to the dam but that’s Carver for yah.

I took a deep breath and slowly took a step onto the logs.  Already my foot started to slip as the log also began wobbling beneath my foot.  I got lower and tried to climb on top like an ape but all that did was make me fall off and land on the other logs.

“Goddamn that hurts.” I groaned.  I got up and saw as all the apes were now just staring at me.  I got up brushing off the pain and said, “It’s right across the lake. It’s the only safe way to cross.” I tried again but my muddy hand once again forced me to slip and I landed this time face first into the logs.  “Oh Carver I’m going to kick your ass.” I groaned softly.

I got up again but before I could try again, Caesar stopped me and I turned to him saying.

“No, no I can do this. I swear this time I’ll get it.” I glared at the logs and proceeded to walk up them once again, I got a bit further but just when I thought I could safely stand up, the log shifted and I went rolling down the logs and into the river.

I breached with a gasp as I rubbed my face of the runny mud.  Is this my karma? Cause if it is, this is beyond embarrassing.  It’d be bad enough if Malcolm or any of the others saw me but I’m humiliating myself in front of Caesar and his people.  I swam back to shore before walking along the pebbled shore and I let out a sharp sigh and extended my arms out in surrender.

“I got wet.” I heard what sounded like a mixture of a chuff and a laugh from the scarred bonobo as Caesar came up to me.  “Once again you beat me in the art of balance. I never did get better at it. But I swear to you there’s no other way to get to the dam other than this way. However I wasn’t told just how’d we cross it, I thought there’d be like a more modern bridge to get us there but nooo.” Caesar looked at me pitifully before grunting out.

“Luca.” The silverback gorilla who I met at the entrance of the gate came forward and Caesar signed to him. ‘Carry her.’ Luca grunted in annoyance but one look from Caesar and Luca trudged up to me.  He let out a few grunts before picking me up and placing me on his back.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he now climbed up the logs and successfully walked across them, followed by the others.  I buried my face into Luca’s fur ashamed and said to him.

“I’m so sorry.” Luca didn’t respond as he continued to walk across the bridge.  Finally we reached the end of the bridge and arrived at the entrance to the dam.  Luca set me down and I went up to the metal door and muttered. “Alright, military strength don’t fail me now.” I grabbed a hold of the metal handle and pushed it downward before forcing the door open.

Letting out a few grunts as I pushed the door with all my might until finally it cracked open with a loud screech.  I smirked and pushed the door further inward until the door was fully opened.

“Holy shit. The cowardly bastard was right.” I muttered.  I turned to Caesar and said, “Follow me.” I entered inside and walked down the staircase where the main controls were as I explained, “This is what we used to call a ‘small hydro.’ It was built to service areas to the north of here, but we’ve been working to reroute the power lines to the city. The city used to run on nuclear power but that all burned out years ago, so we’ve been using diesel generators and gasifiers. But if we can just get this dam working, then we have a shot at restoring limited power.”

Caesar and the rest of the apes merely looked at me.  I came down from the main control panels and stood before Caesar.

“I made a fool of myself out there trying to walk the bridge, please tell me I made at least some sense in explaining all that.”

“The….lights.” Caesar said to me.  I smiled a true genuine smile for what felt like—an eternity as I nodded to him.

“Yes. Yes the city lights.” I looked back at all the apes before diverting my attention back to Caesar. “This is your home, I know that. And we don’t want to take any of it away from you. And I know it’s been a decade since we last saw one another, but I swear to you, on my life, that if you allow us to work here—”

“You…brought others?” the scarred bonobo sneered as he walked over to me.  But Caesar kept both him and the other two apes that stood behind the bonobo at bay.

“Only a few.” I said looking at him, trying to show him that I wasn’t afraid of his intimidation tactics anymore.  I turned back to Caesar and continued my statement, “If you allow us to work here, we’ll leave. Good or bad outcome we’ll leave your home and never come back. No following.” I then did something that surprised the apes.

I got down to my knees and extended my right hand into the supplicating gesture that Caesar used to do for us.  I heard the apes all gibbering and hooting in awe.  I didn’t look up at Caesar, I wanted him to know that he was in control of the decision and that I wouldn’t try to suade him with a look in my eyes.

“No…guns.” I heard him say.  I looked up at him and repeated.

“No guns?”

“No….guns.” he said in a more firmer tone.  I nodded and repeated this time in understandment.

“No guns.” I bowed my head again and this time I felt his fingers brush across my palm, accepting my gesture and the deal.

I stood up and with one arm raised up, but with my free hand I remove my rifle strap from my chest.  Ever so slowly I took it off my shoulders and made sure to not grab it with my other hand.  I then held out the rifle to him and he looked at me.

“You said no guns.” He then took my rifle out of my hand and handed it to a balding chimpanzee who let out a few grunts of anger as he stared at my sniper rifle.  “Thank you.”

[numbaoneflaya]

4, 9, 32, 46, 49 for Jilly ; 1, 3, 9, 16, 39 for Ciggy ; 4, 16, 17, 19, 27 for Thurwen ; 4, 11, 20, 41, 50 for Suds :)

This only took me 47 years to finish and im bleeding and crawling up a mountain as i post this

Jilly

4: Answered!

9: What is your character's trigger point? What makes them angry, sad or makes them go off?

-Things that make her immediately angry are cruelty to children and animals and otherwise people who can't defend themselves. What makes her go off is either those or someone being rude to her friends or her man. Shes probably not gonna start a fight for those things though, just get a little bit jilly bitchy and not be as enthusiastic or nice to someone doing that. Everyone gangsta til jilly goes “HIII! :DD!” to the people next to you and then “:| …hey.” to you. Equivalent to her version of a punch in the face.

32: Your character is having a prom night/debs. What kind of outfit do they wear?

-probably how jilly figures out heelies and ballgowns don't mix well. Goes all out with a thrift shop dress one of the huge frilly ones w no sleeves that are a lil ugly. Wears heelies bcs she wants to “glide around the room like a princess”, ends up getting her wheels stuck in the fabric every 12 seconds and busting ass on the dance floor the whole night until she says fuck it and goes barefoot. Also wears a tiara.

46: Does your character believe in anything? Religion? Superstition?

-Christian bcs she was raised that way and then realizes shes probably atheist when shes like 18 and moved out. Agnostic for the most part, but after she starts dealing w having ciggys ghost around and basil and co having gone to the river, shes kinda rethinking things. A little bit superstitious and wont do things like walk under ladders or break mirrors.

49: What is your character's biggest fear? Most irrational?

-hmmm.. Biggest fears are probably being abandoned and left behind by her friends and vince, realizing that they were only pretending to like her out of pity the whole time and were gossiping about her while not in the room, one or all of them being killed, etc. Also still kinda afraid that vincent is gonna eat her and put her back in the basement. Kinda scared that hell is real and shes going there. Scared that shes gonna go werewolf nuts one day and eat her friends. Scared that a hidden snake is in the toilet and is gonna bite her vagina when shes least expecting it

Ciggy

1: What is your character's reaction to a minor inconvenience? Such as getting their jumper caught on a door handle?

Generally does not let little things bother him. Likely to shrug and laugh it off unless he's having a shitty day or going through withdrawals, and then he'll start mumbling curses and kicking the couch, stubbing his toe in the process and making things worse.

3: What does their safe space look like?

Hmmm… idk if he has one? :/ maybe in his old best friend Bud’s RV. He spent a lot of time there and it was the only place he consistently kept clothes and a toothbrush after he got kicked out of school/his moms. Guy never stays in one place very long and does a lot of couch hopping, so he doesn't really have any one place he can call his own.

9: What is your character's trigger point? What makes them angry, sad or makes them go off?

Hes pretty chill most of the time! Almost nothing gets to him. Hes learned to joke about pretty much all of the stuff that bothers him and laugh most things off. One thing though most likely to set him off and make him enter chimp rage mode 0-100 is insulting his ex gf or his daughter. Then it's fighting time, which he'll probably lose bcs he's kinda scrawny and doesn't exercise and also is dead.

16: What do they look for in a friend? A love interest?

-Anyone who can keep up with him at a party is a friend in his book. He's drawn to wild people and also people that are maybe not so good for him because he has a pension for self destruction. Likes loud and exuberant folk and also kind people, and anyone willing to let him crash on their couch. Romantic/sexual wise hes into dominant people and people who look like they could snap him in two or step on him.

39:What's your character's guilty pleasure?

-hmm he's not really guilty about any of his pleasures. He's pretty outspoken about things even if at times he shouldn't be. Voted most likely to talk loudly in a restaurant abt wanting a mommydom gf. Even things he's kind of embarrassed about like watching kids cartoons or still reading goosebumps books, if someone attempted to make fun of him for it he'd just go along with it like yes i am cringe. But your still blonde

Thurwen

4: What do they consider to be an unforgivable action? Why?

-The obvious- rape, torture/cruelty/murder without a reason, harming children, selling people into slavery/being a slaver, etc. Also being orlesian.

16: What do they look for in a friend? A love interest?

- She makes friends easier with extroverts since shes naturally a little reclusive meeting people, its easier for her to get comfortable with someone if theyr friendly and jovial. Most likely to befriend other warriors,as shes made a lot of her friendships by getting into fights with people and beating the shit out of them. She likes people with strong morals or convictions of any kind, who arent afraid to argue with her despite the fact that shes scary. A part of her also is drawn naturally to people she finds needing protection in some way, like the way if you see a kitten on the sidewalk ur kinda like aw damn guess i gotta take care of you too now :/

17: Who are they soft for? Do they find being soft easy or difficult?

-If you asked her this shed say “im soft for nothing, my cock hard 24/7.” Really she's soft on her family, animals, kids and friends. Also soft for old sad romance stories. Finds being soft VERY difficult and will deny all allegations of softness, possibly with biting involved. It can be very whiplash inducing to see her bash some guys brains in with her boot and rip someones throat out, to walking in on her 2 minutes later oh so gently cooing at and giving kissies to her Mabari bcs he got his paws wet in the rain and is whining at her.

19: What does your character consider to be their lowest point?

-probably the few years after her mom died. I mean yeah her ruined wedding sucked, ostagar battle sucked, the blight sucked, etc, but at least for those things she had enough sense of self worked out plus other people to share the burdens with to be able to work through it. By the time her mom died all her closest friends had died/left/taken away. It was the angriest time in her life, she spent a lot of it alone and training with a sword and fighting with anyone and everyone. It also made her more unpopular in the alienage bcs of all the fights she started/got in. She doesn't really like to look back on those years.

27: What are their opinions on children? Do they view children as sweet angels or evil crotch goblins?

-Thurwen loves kids, though will act like she doesn't. Surprisingly capable at babysitting, though she may teach the child how to use a sword. Even though she's not that tall she still crouches down to talk to them to be more eye level. She thinks kids are hilarious bcs they have no filter and say/do whatever. Really good at talking with them in a way that doesn't dismiss how young they are but also doesn't make them feel infantilized, because she had a tough childhood and adults talking to her like she didnt know anything always pissed her off so fuckin bad. Kids are drawn to her naturally, especially bcs she likes telling them stories and giving them honey treats. And also bcs shes the hero of ferelden and any kid that hears that is running at her for stories immediately.

Suds :)

4: What do they consider to be an unforgivable action? Why?

-much the same as Thurwens, except plus a couple of things that happen when one is an immortal being. One thing he's seen is worshipers sacrifice innocents, virgins etc to him. He does not like that one bit and usually ends up saving the sacrifices while killing all the worshipers. He's also seen people attempt to steal immortality through sacrificing their most trustworthied to the emptiness of the inbetween (or to pretty much anything, but mostly the sacrifice is in vain bcs they have no idea what power they are trying to compel) He is for the most part very forgiving. Perhaps more forgiving than he should be, because in numerous cases if he'd just been more coldhearted and iron willed then many foul events would not have transpired. Yes he blames himself.

11: Do they enjoy pranks or do they hate them? Are they likely to fall for a prank?

-I know i say many of my ocs are prank masters and know all the tricks in the book, but this is the guy that wrote the book. He is the ink and paper of which it was written as well. He loves pranks- trickery, guile, everything. His favorites are the light hearted ones where everyone laughs and nobody is hurt. But as every God has two sides to their coin, he also on occasion enjoys pranks against those he sees as unworthy of life- where someone ends up falling into a pit of spikes or poisons themselves through foolery. Least unlikely to fall to a prank, but eggs it on as much as possible. Would be very excited at the prospect of people trying to prank him, though he will do his best to turn it against them (in a non lethal way).

20: Does your character have a comfort item?

-not an item, but his bee swarm hes kept for centuries is very grounding for him. Bees have a communal memory, and theres no feeling quite like being enveloped by them. The bees sense when hes distubed by something and will often flock to him no matter how far he is from them in his garden. Besides the bees.. He used to have a comfort item. Felix made it for him when they were very young, a bright green vibrant necklace with gold metal encasing it. He would stim with it constantly and when he held it in his hand it was a bright warmth. He doesn't have it anymore :/

41: Your character has been punched into the face. What's their reaction?

-LMAO if suds is punched in the face it's because he saw it coming and decided to stay in the way. Punching a god in the face just feels… OFF in a way where it's not quite the same feeling as punching a mortal. His nose doesn't bleed and he's still smiling when they withdraw their fist and start nursing it to their chest, because punching a god in the face is like punching metal. At Least when their not pretending to be mortals. If someone punches him in the face its likely because he stepped in while they were about to do something bad. And hes going to still keep smiling, ask if this is the course of action they would like to take. Ask twice, three times. Then they can either run away or die at this point, though he will make it as quick as possible for them if they choose the latter.

50: How does your sleep at night? Are they a heavy or light sleeper? Do they dream or have nightmares? Do they find it easy to sleep or are they more a night owl?

-Suds likes to sleep a lot. If left to his own devices he could probably comfortably sleep around 17 hours straight every day. Of course this is partially because he doesnt get as much rest as others from sleep on account as hes both a dreamer and a god, so sleep is both spent hearing prayers and traveling the world/universes. When he was mortal he could rest more easily despite still being a dreamer, but now he finds it very hard to get restful uninterrupted sleep because of how many people are crying out to him and how many beings in the realm of sleep try and test him/attack him. Its been a long long long long time since he was able to have a sleep for himself with no dreams, no nightmares, no prayers and no demons.