#i hate to see the entire plot go down the drain just to justify the main character

[multifunctionalnitroglycerin]

I haven't yet watched the second season of Blood of Zeus, and honestly, I am a bit scared to do so.

Not because I expect it to be any accurate retelling or anything, far from it. It was fun exploring a different course and not sticking to the mythos and not pretending to stick to the mythos.

I am not watching it for the plot and all its at times glaring insufficiencies, but for the art style and character designs, which are in many cases superb ( yes, I want a curvaceous Aphrodite that is vengeful and can sure as heck yield a sword, yes I want an Ares that isn't half naked and wears armor and a helmet ( no talks abt accuracy here I am not out to get them) a Demeter that looks like everyone's aunt that will force you to eat some more, has a green thumb and a heck of a temper, and frankly one of my favorite Athena designs in modern animated media )

What I do worry about, however, is the plot. Which yeah is all fun and games as far as myths themselves go, but even from the trailer I see Heron suffering main character and plot armor syndrome and I am a bit less than enthused.

S1 was bad enough with Zeus playing favorites among his bastard children, and being like, you are not a mortal you are my son.

Ehhmm sir, what are Apollo and Hermes and Ares then?

And they are present in the scene. So either Zeus is supposed to be an even more huge prick, clearly favoring his mortal offpsirng from the immortal ones. Who have backed him up. In several occasions in the show. Or well, plot.

And then we have the trailer with Heron fist fighting Ares I think, and getting 4 solid hits in. Which okay fun if you like Heron, but my dudes. You won't win a fist fight against the God of War. But he is the son of Zeus! And so is half the Pantheon.

And I am afraid we are going to overlook many 'logical' things, and nerf a lot of gods to make Heron seem as idk the rightful heir to the throne of Olympus or idk and yeah... it ll take a lot from the show.

Because wether we like it or not, Heron is a demigod. Not a God. And he has lived only a handful of years in comparison to the rest. I have trouble thinking that any of the gods would back down from taking the lead and giving it to Heron. Who will? Athena? Ares? Poseidon? Hera?

Especially in a time of unrest. Where supposedly Hades is behind the coup and wants to take over Olympus. Well, buddy, I wouldn't want to be stuck down there and constantly being a footnote, either. I can understand why he snapped within the premises for the show.

And it introduces an interesting theme. Civil War among the gods. Not the first time it has happened, but it has the potential to be interesting. I want to see them struggle, and fight while trying to organize a sort of defense against Hades and Persephone. I want Athena and Ares to fight over how to station their forces and who should lead them. I want to see the power struggle between the Queen of Olympus, the King's brother, and his first son. The power vacuum is delicious.

And I definitely want to see more of Apollo and Artemis and Hermes. Who I feel will more readily accept Heron among their ranks. On principle of their personalities in tandem with their status.

Anyway, bottom line I don't want to see an overpowered Heron for example and an Artemis that misses 3 shots out of 5, and Ares that can barely hold his own, a Hermes thats like a Flash lookalike, a himbo Apollo with little functionality and a goddess of battle strategy that cannot do battle strategy, all for the purpose of making the main character look better.

I might be going off a mile here, but I have learned to expect the worst usually, so forgive me. I d very much prefer to be pleasantly surprised, so fingers crossed for that.

[yeeyee-alumni]

Ellie’s (lack of a) character arc & why the result is an unsatisfying story

Let’s state the obvious: Ellie does not have a character arc in The Last of Us Part 2. A character arc is defined as a gradual transformation or inner journey of a character in response to changing developments in the story. And you may argue that Ellie from the beginning of the game is not the same as the one at the end of the game, and I would agree with you. She went from a woman consumed by revenge (not really but we will stick with that for now) to a woman able to forgive her aggressor and move on. However, there are problems with this supposed inner change on multiple levels. a) the change is not gradual b) the change comes out of nowhere c) the change is not informed by anything I don’t think there’s any need to thoroughly explain the first statement. Ellie has the same goal from the beginning to the very last second before attaining her goal. At no point in the story is she self-reflective, questions her methods, there’s no moral dilemma for her, no inner conflict, no doubt that causes her to put her own actions into a new perspective and possibly change her motivation. From beginning to end she believes to be 100% justified in her goal to kill Abby. Subsequently, if Ellie were actually consumed by revenge, the only logical conclusion to her story would be for her to eventually drown Abby.

Which neatly leads me to the next point: her change comes out of nowhere. The decision to let Abby go, as is implied by the narrative, is triggered by a random, arbitrary flashback of Joel. First of all, the timing here is outright comical. For what reason is she having this specific flashback at this very moment? Sounds like contrived, convenient bs to me to give the appearance that her decision is informed by something (which it isn’t, and we'll get to that in a moment). Second of all, getting a flashback to the most important person in your life that has been brutally murdered in front of you, seeing an image of what could have been and what was unjustly taken from you, is not gonna inspire you to forgive your aggressor. If anything, it would make you more determined and sadistic. And third of all, I hear you all yelling "but it was a flashback to their conversation about forgiveness and that inspired her to forgive Abby." And I have multiple qualms regarding this line of thinking. Number one, forgiving the person you love most in this world for having lied to you cannot be compared to forgiving the person who brutally took said person from you. This actually further accentuates my previous point, this is the person that robbed you of your opportunity for reconciliation. Implying that Ellie's thought process here is „I wanted to forgive Joel, but this person robbed me of any opportunity to, so I have to forgive her” is muddled, nonsensical and quite frankly unrealistic. And number two, is the implication here that this is the first time Ellie has thought back to that conversation? That’s a whole new level of nonsense. She will have reflected on all moments with Joel, including this one, and yet at no point prior to this moment had she considered even the possibility of forgiveness, as I have illustrated earlier. So why now? Very obviously to get a payoff, which was neither set up nor properly developed. And moving on to my last point: it is not informed by anything. I know a lot of players didn’t want Ellie to kill Abby, and even I felt that way at first, albeit presumably for entirely different reasons (I was so drained and removed from the narrative by that point that I only thought to myself "just go home, you psychos"). But upon reflection, I concluded that that would have been an unsatisfying conclusion narratively speaking. Nevertheless, Abby seems to have grown dear to many players. After all, they have spent several hours with her, they have seen her struggle, overcome her obstacles, fight for what she believes to be right. Their feelings towards Abby are informed by the person they have seen her to be and by the experiences they went through with her. Yet Ellie is missing all of that context. She has not been with us throughout our three days in Seattle, she doesn’t know Abby outside of her having horrifically killed Joel and she has not gained any new information that would lead her to change her opinion about her. And so, we have another example of the story making characters do things that are not informed by anything, for the sake of a poor payoff. And since we're talking about characters acting nonsensically, let's talk about the roughly three minutes leading up to Ellie nearly drowning Abby, shall we? Ellie approaches the beach absolutely determined to find and kill Abby (repeatedly murmuring Abby’s name to herself). Yet when she reaches the pillars, she cuts Abby down, letting her free Lev and follows them to the boats, indicating that Ellie has changed her mind, showing pity/empathy upon seeing Abby a mere shadow of her former self. And yet again, we have Ellie acting in a way she never has before. She didn’t have pity for Nora who was coughing her lungs out, or for Jordan who had advocated for letting her live, or for any other innocent WLF or Seraphite that came in between her and killing Abby. But the one person she holds a grudge against to the point of killing hundreds of innocent people without batting an eye, that is the person she is suddenly capable of feeling pity/empathy for? Is it really that surprising that Ellie's actions here feel forced, uncharacteristic, and illogical? But it actually gets worse. In an additional display of Druckmann not knowing how humans work, we have Ellie putting her backpack with all her gear in the boat, looking at her bloody hand and then remembering "Oh yeah, that's the woman who killed Joel. I almost forgot.” And at this point in my playthrough I was laughing out loud. And so, we have Ellie all of sudden determined to kill Abby again, so much so that she is willing to threaten an innocent child’s life (this by the way was the final nail in the coffin for me, they thoroughly obliterated Ellie’s character throughout the entire game, but this goes against the very core of her being). And we know the rest, they fight, Ellie nearly kills Abby but eventually lets her go. To summarize what happened in the three minutes before our big emotional payoff to our 25 hour-long journey of playing this epitome of misery porn: Ellie has 3 - count them 3!!! - changes of heart. Her motivation does a perfect 180 almost every minute. This is not how people work! That’s lazy, contrived beyond believe, and borderline comical levels of writing, because Druckmann prioritized having a final boss battle on a beach over organic, coherent, and logical storytelling (but I guess it was worth it for the goddamn visuals). However, what’s most infuriating is that there are such easy fixes if one only thinks about it for more than two minutes that could erase nearly all for the major issues I just illustrated while maintaining the plot points of the two fighting on a beach and Ellie letting Abby go. If we have Ellie walk to the beach immediately, finding Abby there untying the boat (Lev nearly passed out in the boat, Ellie not seeing him) and she then attacks Abby, immediately we have erased two of Ellie’s changes of heart, she remains consistent in her goals/motivation, not jumping back and forth between two extremes. The two women fight much like we see it in the game, and then as Ellie is about to finish it, we hear Lev calling out to Abby. And there we have our motivation for Ellie to not kill her. Not because she gets a random, convenient flashback, not because she forgives Abby (Abby has done nothing to earn Ellie’s forgiveness), not because Abby has earned her redemption, but because Ellie cannot find it in her to put an innocent child through the pain Abby has put her through. Because at the end of the day, Ellie’s hatred for Abby does not outweigh her capacity for compassion and empathy for those deserving of it (a core characteristic of hers that was established in the first game). Because Ellie would rather let an individual live that is undeserving of it than cause the same pain she was put through to an innocent child that is undeserving of it. Granted, if we were to go with this ending, we would still have to build towards it properly and therefore would have to tweak the rest of the game, mainly by showing Ellie being self-reflective, merciful towards innocents, and even doubtful about her goals at times to make her final decision informed by prior developments in order to have the character arc actually be a gradual transformation leading to a logical conclusion. I have been a writer for nearly 4 years now, which means I am in no way an expert, or the most creatively talented person around and yet I would argue that this ending would be much more satisfying to most players than the alternative we were presented with. Because as it stands, none of our actions or decisions (and yes that is something important to consider when we are working within the medium of video games), or Ellie’s for that matter, lead up to this conclusion. The conclusion to this story, the final moment, the big emotional payoff hinges on a random flashback, not on any other developments that previously occurred in the story. Subsequently rendering all of the 25 hours entirely pointless, none of it had an influence on the finale, none of it mattered narratively speaking. So, is it even a surprise that many found this to be dissatisfying? I noticed a few people who are fond of Abby accusing people feeling differently of having too much of an emotional bias or even going as far as to say they are less emotionally intelligent. This is problematic for two reasons, a) different people have different reasons for disliking Ellie’s final choice. Some still hate Abby as much as in the beginning, others feel drained and indifferent, and others still feel similarly to how I feel in that it’s mainly narratively dissatisfying. And b) the same story can have a different effect on any amount of people (otherwise, we would have settled the discussion about what the greatest movie all of time is long ago). My point being, that no matter how you feel about this particular story you are 100% justified in feeling this way, and yes that includes people that by the end of the game still hate Abby just as much as they did the moment she bashed Joel’s skull in. That does not necessarily have to be personal bias, more often than not it’s the ability to see through the storytelling techniques used, rendering them mostly ineffective for these people (and I include myself in this). I wanted Ellie to kill Abby not because I was unable to empathize with her or couldn’t see past my own personal bias, but because that would have been the logical, narratively satisfying conclusion to this specific story.

[phoebehalliwell]

how would you rank the seasons from least to most favourite?

alright okay right off the bat worst season season 7. for starters i think this season has no staying power i mean like since i’ve been running this blog 4 so long now my knowledge of charmed is encyclopedic and insanely vast more than like it ever need be but for the longest time. i could not remember season 7. like wtf even happened there?? evidently leo became human??? cole returned? the avatars??? like all of it was just. it’s not even necessarily forgettable it’s just i straight up could not remember it for the longest time. and i’ve said it before the concept of utopia was way to advanced for a show like charmed to tackle i am not watching charmed for moral philosophy i am watching bc i love these girls ♥ hee hee hoo hoo magic adventure ✨ tho if i am to offer a single comment on utopia: it’s awfully rich for a show to go on about destiny and fate and then take a stand against utopia in the name of free will. but w/e. i don’t like leo in the avatars i don’t like his dynamic with piper in this season i don’t like whatever phoebe’s doing this season there’s like leslie?? maybe there’s someone else? boring & flavorless they should have been setting up her endgame instead of puttering around. and kyle. zoo wee mama. could have been a great antihero. morally gray. duplicitous. self serving. but no. they gave him all those traits and called him hero/love interest. s7 left a lot to be desired out of the characters and their relationships also gave us phat L’s such as the charmed ones are werewolves don’t worry about it and feminism peaked with naked women. shout out to zankou: demon, dilf, dub & the noir episode.

you know what? fuck it i’ll say it second worse season 5 genuinely fuck season five. this is probably a Very Specific beef 2 me But. i hate what they did to the charmed universe. this was the season that marked the transition of charmed from supernatural drama to campy soap which like. i love camp! i do! but fr. fuck this season and what it did to the worldbuilding. the early season have Such A Vibe to them man with warlocks and witches and just a couple niche monsters from assorted lore that the show took and made their own. season five opens with mermaids goes directly into fairytales then gives us superheros whatever the fuck was going on in that mummy episode the sandman leprechauns and nymphs. and i hate it for that. it takes away from this urban fantasy things that go bump in the night what lurks in the shadows of the back alleys of san francisco in favor of the ugliest cinderella dress ever put to television and an onslaught of horrible irish accents for a full episode. other issues with season five: cole’s still here? why? they don’t know and neither will you! we’re not redeeming him! phoebe’s not getting back together with him! yes he died we just refuse to let him go! the cherry on top of course being a cole-centric 100th episode. shout out to. hmm. lemme think about what i actually liked about this season. i like jason dean as a love interest i don’t remember what he did in s5 but i know he was there. the season finale i’ve talked about how stupid & shitty it was but idc i still love that episode and then shout out to bacarra the only original villain this season that was a proper serve. the crone gets second place.

next on this come on we all saw it coming season 8. it’s a bad season! and i get bts there was a whole lot happening budget cuts missing actor etc. but it goes beyond that. it was a bad season. billie and christie were bad. and i’ve said this before but billie in herself is not an inherently bad character. she was just the literal worst for the show. she was a dollar store buffy blonde confident cocky skilled and ready 2 fight evil But. we are not following her like we followed buffy we are following her mentors. it’s like if we had a show called giles that aired for seven seasons And Then buffy showed up. billie was insanely irritating to watch from our perspective and in general wasn’t like. well written. attempts to humanize her / give her more depth often fell flat. and then christy. oh nelly. oh my god. barely a character. not well acted but hey it would have been a miracle if she was. negatives include dumain who was a mess omg bringing back the triad bringing back the source billie & christy obvi and also involving homeland security. which is season 7′s fault which is why it’s the worst. dubs on the other hand include both coop and henry i really liked them the shoehorned love interests weren’t great but i like their characters i though the way the got rid of leo to save on the budget was really creative and gave us a great piper episode and of course the sugary sweet finale i love it i do what can i say.

yet another controversial choice aptly coming in fourth is season 4. i respect what season 4 set out to do. i think it was a good idea. long form narratives, keeping a darker tone, focusing on character-driven drama and growth. too bad it fucking failed miserably at all of this. cole as the source and phoebe as the queen of hell was just so so botched. they had a very unique opportunity following the death of prue to explore these characters and what it means to them to be charmed, to be witches. they saved the world but the cost is insanely high. they’ve lost an older sister. they’ve gained a new sister. how do you even begin to cope with all this? episodes such as hell hath no fury and brain drain fuck so hard because they work with exactly that. had the whole season been like those episode season four would sit at number one with flying colors absolutely no competition. but alas. we can’t have nice things. the show got so bogged down with phoebe & cole, in a way that was just so, so messy. for starters, whether you loved cole or hated him before, we can all agree source!cole sucked. he was such a strong 180 from what we had seen that the show had to make the source some type of possession to justify half the shit they were trying to pull. and then to pit phoebe and paige against one another over a man was just. disgusting. and the ending of course felt rushed because it was! they wrapped up that entire issue in a nice little bow much faster than they reasonably should have been able to. it could have been a great season. it was definitely not. shout out to the seer an iconic mastermind on barbas levels, as previously stated brain drain and hell hath no fury Specific shout out to piper’s scene at prue’s grave shout out to paige as a character i like what they did with her and um. yeah that’s it.

okay we’re exiting the shit tier in favorite of the good tier welcome to the upper half. kicking us off is season 6. season 6 did what season 4 could not in that it gave us a long form plot that still left plenty of room for like. normal demon of the week episodes. i love phoebe early in this season with her faboo haircut her brand new empathy power and her relationship with jason dean. obvious strikes against for whatever the fuck that baby crazy stint was and also the mata hari episode. yikes. i love paige’s hair color in this season nothing paige as a character necessarily stands out to me however i like how they seem to have hit the blend of work-magic with paige where she wants a life and career outside of magic however she still loves the craft and embraces is with an open heart and mind. season six also gives us chris who was a very fun male lead imo we really didn’t have many like him he’s bitchy. he whines and bitches a lot he’s got an agenda he’s a bit secretive but at the end of the day he just wants a family i like him. i like the character growth we see out of piper i like seeing her try to move on from leo i love seeing her get back together with leo i like her dynamic with chris and her fears about motherhood. i also liked richard but that one takes a lot of justification. L’s are witchstock hyde school reunion used karma off the top of my head also the paige/richard/addiction plotline was so tone deaf. also the girls were mean to darryl : ( he deserved so much better. dubs were chris as a character, tbh the episode little monsters, phoebe with empathy specifically saying i love you too to jason i could write a dissertation on that line alone also the courtship of wyatt’s father and i thought the reveals of evil wyatt and chris being piper and leo’s son were both fun and interesting plot twists.

coming in third is actually season 2 a season i really do love it’s just. it lacks structure. imo there is a lot to love about season 2 morality bites and pardon my past are both delightful time travel episodes we get jack sheridan and bane jessup two of my personal favorite prue love interests we get p3 h2o and a great prue plotline regarding the death of patty we get the super cute cupid episode it’s a great. collection of episodes. it’s not a great season. there’s just imo not a strong enough thread connecting the stories together it’s mainly held together by having the same characters in it over and over again i really liked dan personally but like. i knew we were wasting time there. he was just an obstacle. a super cute loving and caring obstacle who’s great with kids but lbr piper and leo were always endgame. wasting our time on dan was stupid. i do love the sister dynamics in season two “gotta hand it to those pesky little demons they sure have brought us closer together” but again. this season could have benefitted from a rex and hannah type or even like a cole or zankou. this season is less of a season and more of just like a handful of episodes, and while there are some fat dubs, there are also some definite swings & misses. shout out to the time travel episodes the prue centric episodes phoebe’s character growth and maturity throughout this season (e.g. her going back to college) and i also think the fashion got a lot more fun this season.

second place i’m saying season one season one was a really strong start and gave us these really compelling characters with interesting relationships between one another But. a lot of it just kinda falls flat. and credit where credit is due it was a brand new show getting its feet under it but the fourth sister feats of clay which prue is it anyway they just simply aren’t dubs imo. also i don’t like that 70′s episode bc again i am an asshole concerned about The Lore i can’t believe one bitch ass warlock caused the Charmed Ones to grow up without powers. it just really bugs me. all in all the plots as a whole like aren’t great imo they’re nothing to write home about (save for from fear to eternity) it’s really the characters that make this season so goddamn good.

first place congratulations to the one the only season three. this is just because it kinda hits all my requirements in that it has some banger one offs (e.g. all halliwell’s eve, the good, the bad, and the cursed) it has an overarching plot at the exact same time as the source becomes more prominent and obvi cole is also there with murderous intent i like the character growth we see especially from prue i like piper and leo finally get married overall i really like the aesthetic of this season that blends a darker urban fantasy tone with still some charmed fashion and whimsy. strikes against tbh phoebe and cole’s relationship i am insanely picky with my enemies to lovers and the do not come remotely close to cutting the mustard in fact they are almost immediately disqualified however from afar i can see and respect The Drama. shout out to recasting victor prue with pistols death as a character and shannen directing episodes

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2020

#115 - Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami

Around the Year in 52 Books: A book related to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Keep It Simple version: set in Japan)

The Reading Frenzy: Read a book set on an island

Mount TBR: 103/150

Rating: 2/5 stars

There were glimmers of brilliance scattered throughout this novel, moments of emotion I connected to. I have been depressed in my life; I have been alone; I have questioned my worth as a person because of my mental illness.

But if the character I was most interested in, who I most sympathized with, was Naoko, who quite obviously was never going to survive this story, then I don't think this book was written for me.

This work is deeply misogynistic, but what I'm having trouble with is separating the misogyny that's realistic/expected for the time and place, and thus appropriate for the story as a work of historical fiction, from the misogyny that's a part of the author's worldview. Yes, this book has a male protagonist, Toru, surrounded by complex female characters who are all important to him in some way and drive the plot forward. Generally that's a good thing, but here, all of the women are portrayed as badly damaged. Naoko is beautiful and pure(ish) and lovable, but also struggling with an unnamed but obviously complex mental illness that isolates her from Toru. Midori is cute and fun and much more available (despite having an offscreen boyfriend for most of the book) but also emotionally manipulative and sometimes downright abusive. Reiko generally functions as the wise mentor character, as much as possible while still acknowledging that she has her own issues, but then at the very end she's out of the care facility and sexually available to Toru, in a scene that I both saw coming from miles away and yet still can't quite believe actually happened.

When you boil this story down to its bones, Toru himself might not view all women in terms of their sexual availability; he tires of meaningless sex with random women quickly, he decides to wait for Naoko and thus refuses Midori at first, and with Midori herself, they're friends long before sex enters the picture. So Toru doesn't fare too badly with me for his treatment of women, and the mistakes he makes along the way are understandable given his circumstances. He learns; he grows.

But I can't help feeling that author sees women that way, because ultimately if there's a named woman in this book, she's got to perform a sexual act with the protagonist at some point. Maybe they serve another purpose in the story (Naoko being symbolic of Toru's past, Reiko as the mentor, Midori as the future or at least its possibilities) but none of them escape the need to be sexually available to the protagonist to justify their place in the story. Reiko bothers me most in this context--I can understand why Naoko and Midori are viewed in terms of sex, they're the two spokes of the past-future false love triangle. But why did Toru need to sleep with Reiko? It doesn't further his arc, he would have "chosen" Midori in the end anyway. It doesn't further hers, because if it does then that means sex made her a "real" person again after her long isolation and that's just gross, thanks I hate it.

I almost put this book down long before any of this twisted sex-death dynamic came to light, because there's a short list of famous works that are always red flags to me when I see them referenced, and The Great Gatsby is front and center here early on. If a creator draws on that (or a few other select titles) I'm almost guaranteed not to enjoy the work they made because there's a fundamental disconnect between what they value and think is good, and what I value and think is good. I kept going in this case because it was clear that reading literature was part of Toru's characterization as the young college student, and it didn't necessarily predict that the entire work was going to be tainted by association. And since it's been a long time since I was forced to pick apart Gatsby sentence by sentence for my high school English class, I don't immediately see parallels between the stories that make any sense--this isn't derivative of the classic or leaning on it thematically. Yet in the end, I'm wishing I had paid attention to that red flag, because ultimately I'm drained by this and honestly believe that I would be better off not having read it, despite those brief flashes of brilliance and connection I had.

This is a depressing work dealing with heavy topics in such a way that I didn't gain any catharsis from it. It takes a rather grim view of mental health, despite individual characters doing their best to heal or stay strong in the face of illness; Naoko's suicide was both predictable and inevitable. The lack of resolution in the ending leaves me unsettled in a way I don't enjoy.

[jordan202]

15x12 and 15x13

For those of you who haven’t watched the episode, don’t click on the read now because this post has spoilers!

Alright guys, sorry its taken me so long,  I wanted to write a proper review, but unfortunately since I don’t have a lot of free time these days and I have only now caught up with the episodes, I’m going to sum up what I think and reflect about what’s coming ahead.

First off, during episode 12 I thought that while everyone made mistakes (justifiable mistakes), Amelia had overreacted. Now in this week’s episode, Owen is the one who went out of line.

I mean, last week we found out about Betty’s lie and I can totally see how Amelia could be comprehensive and forgiving of Betty in a way that no one else could (because Amelia has been in Betty’s position) but I also understood exactly how deceived and conned Owen must have felt. I was just as outraged as him and never even liked Betty as much as he does.

Owen embarked in a situation with the best intention and has been giving his best to help, but found out that this kid he’s been so supportive of has blatantly been lying to his face for months (congratulations, Grey’s, you’ve managed to make Bratty Betty into Nightmare Betty). Not only that, but her lies completely changed the elements in the context because now, apparently Betty’s parents weren’t the two monsters who had neglected her as she’d led Omelia to believe (and as a consequence, get involved, think they could actually eventually adopt Leo, etc). Betty’s mom and dad actually seemed to be worried parents, who weren’t even aware they had a grandson.

It was as if the ground Owen had been building his life on for the past few months had suddenly crashed beneath his feet so I understood what was happening when he made some insensitive comments last week. That was okay thought, because he immediately apologized after realizing he’d hurt Amelia’s feelings, and even acted all sweet later by giving her flowers, acknowledging he wasn’t very nice, etc. At the moment of the fight, when Amelia’s first impulse was to once again run to Meredith’s, I had to roll my eyes because I thought we were past that. I understand she was hurt because his comments hit a nerve, but by now, I expected her to see what was driving him and empathize with his fear and frustration. But she seems to have stayed (judging by the initial developments of 15x13 Omelia got over that fight), which is already a huge step, and the only thing missing for me was Amelia acknowledging that she knows Owen’s bad reaction aren’t a personal attack against her, but rather the result of his fears, anxiety and insecurity, feelings he is finally allowing to show. At the time I thought, “okay, we are going to see that next week when the threat to lose Leo becomes more imminent.”

Having said that, we got to episode 13 and Betty’s parents finally made an appearance. Like I expected, they actually seem to be good people (or at least they seem to mean well). And soon enough, we were faced with the situation that probably didn’t surprise anyone: They want to take Leo.

I honestly don’t know what Owen was thinking, so my best guess is that he wasn’t thinking, only feeling. Even though he kind of has a point about Amelia’s addiction possibly getting in the way of him getting Leo, I don’t see how he could have held that against her. One, when she shared that, she had the best intention which was to comfort Betty’s mom by providing a perspective that no one else could have. And two, when on Earth would Amelia ever expect that Owen wants to fight a battle he has no chance of winning? There is absolutely no chance that any judge would ever give Owen the custody of a child whose biological grandparents only haven’t taken because they didn’t know about his existence, and are more than willing to provide and take care of him in what seems to be a stable household. Owen stands no chance, and I think deep down he knows that and is just in denial. That’s why I said he wasn’t thinking. His tendency of lashing out at the people who are the closest to him and only mean well whenever he is hurt is getting kind of exhausting and repetitive. I thought we were over that. Or least, that it’d gotten better. When he acts like that, especially when he neglects Amelia’s feelings or the fact that this hits her too personally, it only makes him look like a dick.

But I also know that Owen hates disappointing people and whenever he comes to sense and realizes the damages he causes, he is not one to shy away from the consequences and the guilt. So I think he is going to come around. Although I am bothered by the way he lashed out at Amelia in their final scene together, I am sure that he is going to realize what he’s done and apologize, because at least he’s very good at that too. He’s forgiven Amelia many times when she was awful to him, now there is a chance for her to do the same. But I confess this dance they do is getting a little exhausting. No one wants to see a couple that lashes out at each other every three episodes and whose every argument or fight seems to be about a problem that they caused to themselves and could have been avoided in the first place.

I was never a fan of the Betty/Leo storyline (and I keep repeating that every week, I know, it’s just that I really don’t like it) but as the episodes progress this season, I see that my point is more valid than ever. While it is interesting that Betty’s addiction allows Amelia to draw parallels with her own life and adolescence, I confess I am a little over that considering we have seen it a few times already. I mean, in Private Practice we had one entire season devoted to it, basically.  And while recovering from addiction is a lifelong process, Amelia is so much more than her addiction. So I wish they would explore other layers of her life and her personality (for instance, when will we get to her desire to be a mother and thattrauma?), without necessarily going back to her substance abuse issue every single time. Moreover, I’d really like for Owen and Amelia to be about the two of them, and not about these outside elements that seem to cause friction for them (Leo, Betty, Teddy, etc). I guess the premise “Leo is mine, Betty is yours,” has never been truer because lately this storyline has done nothing but have Owen and Amelia antagonize each other.

But just because the plot lately has been crap (and don’t even get me started on how CRAZIER this storyline has become when they completely rewrote Betty’s background story – wtf was that?) it doesn’t mean that things are going down the drain.

(Owen when he sees Betty’s parents coming for Leo lol)  My prediction is that in the near future, Owen will realize that while he has been criticizing Betty and (IMO rightfully) accusing her of not acting like a parent, he sort of has been doing the same ever since he found out about the truth because he didn’t put what’s best for Leo ahead of what he wants. And he will come around. Owen has many, many defects and he can be so annoying sometimes (there were at least three different moments last episode where I wanted to throw something at him) but if there is one thing he is good at is doing what’s right for people, regardless of how it affects him. I think it’s likely that in the upcoming episode whatever happens with Betty (be it an accident, overdose or both) and her final outcome (rechecking on rehab, dying or going with her parents,…), he is going to realize that the best thing for Leo is to be with his family, so instead of fighting the Nelson (Dicksons? Lol) he is willingly going to give Leo back and accept that not only this is a battle he can’t win, but also one he shouldn’t even be fighting in the first place.

As for Amelia, I believe everyone is convinced that the outcome of Betty’s storyline is what’s eventually going to lead to her special episode, and hopefully it will be a good one. It’s going to be great to spend one hour inside her head and also getting to know more about her family. I have expectations that this episode could be a real step forward for her. And I think that while Owen will be in it, the hour will focus more on Amelia herself than on their relationship.

I am positive that while this Betty/Leo storyline sucks and just like Teddy’s baby is completely unnecessary, at least its demise ultimately has potential to bring Omelia closer. I don’t think they are going to break up or separate, but I suppose the absence of Leo and Betty in the house is going to make them question what happens now and that’s the moment I am looking forward to the most, because it’s exactly when they have to make a choice to be together without any outside elements weighing in the equation. I am not saying Owen and Amelia only got together because of the kids, if there weren’t any feelings there they wouldn’t have lasted this long or kept coming back to each other, but for once it’s going to be nice to have the focus on them, and just them. Soon enough Teddy will deliver the baby, or complications with her pregnancy are going to arise and then there’s more drama outside of the Omelia bubble for them to deal with. I just wish they would have a good run of being together, not hurting each other and going through altercations together rather than being torn apart every time something comes their way. I strongly believe they have the potential to do that, and even when they fight or disagree on something, it doesn’t have to be the way it has been lately. The thing that captivated most of us about Omelia in the first place is how they are both very scarred, complicated people who have dealt with so much, and because they’ve dealt with so much, they are capable of being there for each other, accept each other and embrace each other with the empathy and consideration that no one else ever could before. They are a great couple and I think they ultimately have a lot more to gain together than apart.

Alright, these are my thoughts/predictions/feelings. Anyone else who wants to weigh in is welcome. I was going to make a post (more like a rant lol) of how this storyline with Betty and Leo is insane (and borderline illegal) but I have to go training right now, so maybe later if anyone is interested.

Keep up with the good work guys, you guys are amazing. Don’t ever leave the boat, this ship is still sailing! Smoothly ! alright I see you all later

[zeciex]

Obsidian & Angelite Chapter 16 Part II

Oya has spend centuries bound to one single plot of land when one day a stranger with a voice of velvet and presence that can only be described as dark and outmost interesting. He comes with an offer she can’t refuse and suddenly her entire world changes, both for better and worse.

But what does Langdon need of her? And how can she use him to get what she want? Maybe they’re bound by something bigger than fate.

Warning: Dark themes, smut, penetrative sex, creampie 

A/N: Since tumblr kills everything with links, I’ll reblog this post with the links to previous chapters and archive link

Oya had returned to the library the moment Gallant had finished his interview. As soon as he stepped in he was bombarded with endless questions to which he all explained the basic rules for the interview and some of the questions. Apparently, Michael had struck quite a nerve, Gallant seemed positively distort, unsure what to do with himself until he found the way to mask his exposed soul with what he did best. He began speaking of the sexual tension, how Michael had made a hit on his… ‘gay-dar’ or whatever he called it, to where Coco began to prompt that he couldn’t possibly be gay if anything he was bi.

By then Oya had lost interest in the direct conversation and instead seethered in her own sexual frustration and blatant jealousy. In this expiration she walked with intent through the halls, her purple skirts basking around her as she stormed up the steps, only to halt when she saw two hunched over shadows tip through the hall.

The anger evaporated and turned into curiosity. She stepped behind a pillar, hidden from the two teenagers clearly lurking eyes. They snuck into what she expected to be Michael's room, closing the door after them. So they were spying on him… It was laughable with the knowledge she held. If they found anything it wasn’t my mistake, it was with full intent.

He’d been here for a day and there was already anarchy in the air. Oya made a face between impressed and glee before continuing on her way, a little less angry than before. This was going to be fun.

The teens weren’t the only ones that had been up to mischief or so it would seem when the day after Oya watched Gallant be dragged away in his undies with a bothered expression upon his face that was slightly concerning given the severity of the action. Whatever he had done he looked pleased with himself and Oya could only imagine what’d he’d been up to. Which she did with a frown on her face.

Alas, she breathed out to calm herself and rolled her neck again before passing through the hall to her room.

It wasn’t before Oya was sitting in the library ignoring the stupid conversation between what Coco labelled the other team as the old people and her own team of ‘youths’ over who had it the hardest, that she was to see Gallant again. This time there was something unhinged in the way he held himself, eyes distant and still there with obscure anger. She leaned forward and sipped at the water waiting to watch the show unfold.

If she weren’t the goddess of the underworld she’d be the goddess of chaos, strife and mischief.

Evie stopped fanning herself, eyes widening at the sight of her grandson. The air shifted to one more tense and severe, with everyone but her holding their breaths waiting for what was to come. Gallant picked up a glass of sparkling water with a childish pout on his lips.

He breathed out harshly before speaking. “Surprised to see me breathing, Nana?” Now his eyes were set ablaze, his anger unquenchable. “They usually shoot people for fucking...or,” He made a face at his ‘Nana’ looking mildly manic. “Did you not remember that when you turned me in?”

Evie smiled at her grandson, though there was no love there, indifferently shaking her head. “No hard feelings, darling. I wanna live and the only way to achieve that is to get rid of these 10 little Indians who stand between me and the golden ticket out of here.”

“Umm, we’re sitting right here,” Coco intervened offended.

“I knew you were a bitch but I underestimated how big of a bitch you were…” Oya commented earning an agreeable ‘Yeah!’ from Coco and Dinah. In all honesty, she didn’t know whether to be impressed or not by how cunning Evie really was. She set her own grandson up, watched as he’d fall and find his death to be entirely justifiable. If it weren't for how much Oya hated Evie she’d think there’d be a slight chance of her joining the Sanctuary.

“It is not my fault you can’t control carnal urges,” Evie threw at her flesh and blood, trying to justify her behaviour. This was the signal, it was kill or be killed. This was battle royal, what would you do to survive?

“YOU have LIVED!” Gallant shouted pointing violently at his grandmother. “I haven't.”

“Oh yes, you have! You have crammed 10 lifetimes of failures and screw-ups into your 30 years!” Evie rose to challenge Gallant with her own raised voice. Call it a byproduct of having been locked up with them for a year but Oya felt a pang of sympathy for the man who was standing up to his bitch of a grandmother. She wondered if he’d smash the glass on the table and jab it into her wrinkly neck. Gallant wasn’t bad, he was lost and had always been.

Where Michael might have been cruel or indifferent, Oya could be much softer, it all depended on the person.

“Am I the only one who makes mistakes?” Gallant blatantly asked to the room, holding his hands up. “Hmm?”

“No, but I’m always the one that has to clean up after you. Let me see 3 expensive rehabs on my dime, fancy lawyers to keep you out of prison. When your grandfather rejected you because of your perverted lifestyle-,”

“Gay’s have been around much longer than you’re propaganda history books tell you so shove that ‘perverted lifestyle’ up your cobweb cunt,” Oya defended with deep annoyance. She always did hate how humans disenfranchised everything they didn’t perceive as natural and made it so it was permanent, especially when it came to sexuality when it is so clearly fluid and more nuanced than black and white. They did the same with cultures and skin colours, and she had seen it all with her own eyes.

“As I was saying,” Evie dismissed Oya’s comment with a scoff. “ your ‘perverted lifestyle’ I took you in! And what did I get back?” Gallant turned away from her attack, swallowing the water with clear discomfort. “Yes, you went and you bankrupted 2 salons and then you snorted the third one up your nose.”

Evie turned to the room not a hint of regret on her face. “I deserve to live. I am the bridge between the past and the future. I mean when those poor survivors arrive what do they know about culture and music, and art? And I will be there to tell them all about it.”

“You’re a rich old white hag 99% of your ‘culture’ is stolen,” Oya mumbled under her breath catching an approving glimpse of Dinah.

“One lifetime of me is worth 50 of yours! Humanity may be in a sorry state,” she stared Gallant up and down with a diminishing look. “It deserves better than you.”

With a shaky breath, Gallant drew in a breath before speaking. “I should have put you in that motion picture home years ago. The only thing I ever wanted from you was for you to love me and accept me. Why couldn’t you just give me that?”

“Sorry, darling, it’s just not in my nature,” she spoke without regret. It was like watching a painting fading, the colours drained out of Gallant with his last hope of love. Evie patted her grandson on the cheek before leaving, knowing she had devastated him.

What she didn’t think were that with every last hope of love stripped away, with the betrayal and disappointment she had caused her grandson, she had also made an adequate enemy. Gallant was now a hairpin trigger and she had a target on her back. It wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge and knowing Michael, he’d see to that it’d happen.

Disappointment and betrayal make the perfect enemy. In Evie's desperation for survival, she may very well have caused her own downfall.

“Well it's a good thing you convinced me to bring your nana,” Coco commented with no feel for the tension in the room. Either that or she didn’t care. Gallant ended up falling to the cushions between Oya and Coco who so rudely rose up biting that he should sit on the other couch. He sank until his head rested against the back of the couch, eyes empty and breath still.

“I didn’t know you were gay,” Coco spoke loudly and looked at Oya.

“I’m not,” she shrugged. “Sexuality is fluid. I’m not gay or straight, I’m just…” Oya made a hand gesture that was meant to mean ‘something’. A headache was forming just behind her eyes making her pinch the bridge of her nose frowning.

“That’s a shame,” Coco blabbers.

“Why?”

“Because that means you’d be willing to fuck your way into the Sanctuary.”

She isn't wrong on that one. Oya doubted that if it stood between fucking for survival and death that anyone would choose to fuck regardless of their preferences. It was just funny how Coco thought she’d stand a chance when Michael so clearly wasn’t interested in anything more than playing cat and mouse.

But the statement brought back the nib of jealousy and possessiveness both of which were irrational and if Michael were to know of it there’d be endless teasing.

“We can count Gallant out, he already tried it.”

“He’s right there and he still breathes,” Dinah commented at the distasteful words. “I’d say he’s ahead of all of us.”

“He’s the only one who’s been interviewed,” Coco barked in her usual tone of voice. “It’ll all change when the rest of us is called in. Gallant can’t be the only one Langdon chooses and he most definitely will not be on the radar if I get my chance.”

“We don’t know if it was Langdon he fucked,” Oya injected. Coco waved her hand dismissively before striking up a less intelligent conversation with Mallory. In sympathy, Oya patted Gallant on the head before leaving.

Whomever Gallant fucked remained a mystery, though Oya had her suspicions, much clearer than her co-inhabitants, but Gallant proved not to be the only one who let the desire run wild.

Through Mallory, she found out that Timothy and Emily had both been dragged away by Venables henchmen followed by the ruler herself. Their salvation came in the form of Michael who shaved them from the bullets that were going to be planted in between their eyes. Why Michael choose to save them remained a mystery but she had the suspicion that he was setting up something bigger and if anything he was just toying with them.

Soon others were called into Michael’s appointed office Oya awaited her call in the library sitting among the other residents awaiting the news of each person's interview.

There was an unease creeping under her skin, her heart beating faster each time a resident entered the room. Each had a different reaction to the interview, Mallory being the one that seemed the most jarred, while others came back sexually frustrated.

“Oya Jeon,” the voice travelled from behind the slide doors, sending a shiver down her spine and straining her heart. She drew in a deep breath and entered the room with her back held straight and head held high, hands calmly connected in front of her.

He was sitting behind the desk, eyes studying papers that couldn’t possibly be hers with disinterested eyes and waved his hand as he spoke to motion her towards the chairs. “Please take a seat.”

“I’d prefer to stand,” Oya spoke cooly, feeling the wave of emotion collide with her body. The anger was the most prominent feeling and the one easiest explained. When it burned hot it burned blinding hot and at this moment she settled for anger and pushed any other feeling away.

Michael looked up through his lashes, blue eyes catching the orange flicker and darkening. Oya listened to the doors being closed behind her. The trap snapped shot. She masked herself perfectly with a cool expression one to rival his own. Then a Cheshire smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, eyes swallowed up by his pupils. Slowly he stood, body stretching out before her and suddenly it was as if she was seeing him for the first time in… well, a year. The hair had grown well past his collar, all the way down to his collarbone, with soft waves that fell down around his face. He looked older somehow, his features sharper and eyes more calculating. With a predatory stalk, he walked nonchalantly towards her.

“Stop.” Her voice was firm. She glanced towards the door with a lingering question.

“No,” Michael spoke with a charming drawl. “They can’t hear us.”

Her eyes turned towards him once more, eyes burning holes in him. The only thing that could be heard was the crackling fire, the orange flames licking at the air and sending waves of warmth out into the otherwise cold room. There wasn’t a way to be sure if the room would have frozen over or been set ablaze had it not been for her powers being locked away.

Michael raised a brow at her.

“You lied to me,” she broke the silence, voice stern and unflinching. “You left me here with these people! Do you have any clue as to how fucking excruciating it’s been? And for what? For spying on them?” Her voice began to waver and it broke towards the end when Michael took a single elaborate step towards her. She held her hand up and stepped back. “Stop.”

Michael’s head fell to the side, eyes eating up every micro-expression she made and caught on to when her voice wavered with emotion. He remained silent and she wasn’t really sure as to why.

“That old hag Evie is quite possibly the most insufferable person I’ve ever met, Coco is impossibly shallow and superficial and I’m not sure if the obnoxiousness is to hide something else. Then there’s Gallant whom I’m pretty sure you’ve got all figured out by now. Dinah is elusive but quite possibly the one candidate to put a bet on. Mallory is the only interesting grey solely because her whole character seems to make herself impossibly small all the while glimpses of something else shines through. Dinah’s son is just whiny and annoying. Then there’s your choice to lead this outpost!” Her voice grew louder as she was allowed to revel in the fire of her anger, letting it all out in angry sneers and elaborate arm movements ending in aggressive pointing. Michael allowed all of it. He didn’t stop her, never attempted to. “Mrs. Venable… Why do I continue? You already know all of this, you already made up your mind about them.”

Oya was breathing heavy, eyes wild and bitter. She could feel the confining embrace of the corset straining at her ribs and thereby her lungs. With each breath she took the shadows dug into the skin of her shoulders, edging out her collarbones that had become more prominent at the lack of proper food. The fire dimmed, if only a little, quenched by the feeling of hurt.

“You abandoned me here with them,” she expressed and swung her palm through the air, the sound of it smacking against skin ricocheting through the room before the stinging set in. There was a flicker of something wicked in his eyes, an entertained tug to the corner of his lips before he brushed it away with a swipe of his thumb. His cheek burned red and so did her hand. He pressed forward and Oya took another step back swinging the other hand only for it to get caught in a firm grip. Weakly she tried to pull it to her but Michael refused to let go, his grip as iron and yet without the promise of a nasty bruise. Oya spoke again with a wavering voice trying to retain the flicker of rage that had started to slip away. “I-I thought something had happened. I thought you were dead.”

“No,” Michael countered, eyes never leaving hers, ever-changing. At this she was speechless, gaping at him with wide eyes. No? What does he mean ‘no’?

“No? No?!” She pulled her arm to her and almost stumbled when he let go.

Her eyes caught the sight of his tongue darting out to wetten his lips before he spoke again. “If I were dead you’d know.” He began stalking towards her. With each step he took, she took one backwards.

She would have thrown poison at him, spoken with violence that maybe it would have been better if he were dead because then he had an excuse to abandon her here. Instead opened and closed her hand, palm still stinging from her attack but also with a need to be swung once more. With clenched jaws and a pointed glare she spoke. “Tell me, Michael, did you fuck him?”

His lips parted to draw in a breath, the corners of his mouth pulling upwards in the most wicked way all the while his eyes drowned in mischief. His head tilted a little before he purred. “Would it bother you if I did?”

The question hummed inside her mind, tickled and grew. With another step backwards she felt the wall stop any attempt of retreat, efficiently trapping her between it and him. Michael only stopped when the tip of his pointed boots touched the skirt of her dress, all too close for her liking and not close enough. Oya realised something when she searched his eyes, read his face, almost leaned into his presence and the warmth he radiated. He was like a playful cat but far more dangerous.

The realisation was quick, the humming inside her mind stilled and soothed the sliver of jealousy that had set root within her by the lusting humans that wanted nothing more than to sink their teeth into him. It should be them that was afraid if Michael were to sink his fangs into them. But it wouldn’t of one very simple reason, it’d give them exactly what they want and there’d be no satisfaction in that. He wouldn’t just let anyone touch him. Even though Michael were the embodiment of sensuality he found no interest in sex, not with anyone but her. Sensuality was a weapon turned towards everyone else.

“No,” she drawled just like he so often did. He pursed his lips tilting his head to the other side. “You could fuck him -you could fuck any of them if you so desire.” Michael blinked at her intrigued. “But you won’t… and even if you did, I know I’m the only one you’d ever find ease with.”

“Have you thought about it a lot?” His voice was a low rumbling thunder that sends electricity throughout her system. Then she felt it, a tug at her skirt that ever so slowly hitched higher. Never did his eyes leave hers.

Her heart drummed against her fragile ribs, adrenaline spiking her system and enhancing her senses. His scent engulfed her, the familiar spice pricking at at her tongue that made her mouth water. Her red lips were parted, soft breaths filling her lungs. More than ever before were the restraints of the corset present, she felt that with each breath she filled out the confined only to feel it loosen when it left her again. She was wet, she’d lie if she said she wasn’t wet the moment she stepped into the room but now the ache became more prominent.

It had been 18 months since she was last touched, her body ached and longed for his touch, it would revel in it. For 18 months she had tried to subdue the growing want for him.

“Tell me, Love,” he purred, hitching her skirt up higher. Even though the Victorian knickers she felt the heat of his fingers burning through the fabric. The first touch was light as air, trailing up her thigh ever so slowly.

“I-I’ve been here for 18 months, of course, I’ve thought about it,” she stammered wrapping her fingers around his scorching wrist forcing him to stop. It was getting increasingly harder to think, to keep up all the pent up rage she had been building. The castle of anger she had built around herself came tumbling down with one blow from the big bad wolf.

“All those long nights,” he continued voice lowering. His hand began to move again and she felt herself weaken her grip. “Did you touch yourself?”

“Yes,” she breathed licking her lips while his eyes darted to his.

“Did you think of me?”

“Yes.” Her knees felt weak as if they could give in any moment. Fire burned on her skin, his fingers leaving a trail up her thigh, slowly inching towards where she needed him the most. He was playing with her but unlike the other inhabitants, she was the only one to taste victory. He could leave her, just stop all of it and it would be entirely within his character, it’d be cruel and merciless, but it would also make for great sex later on.

But the thing was, she wasn’t the only one who had gone without the touch of someone else. She wasn’t the only one who felt the desire burn through her veins. And by far she wasn’t the only one affected by the presence of the other.

Michael’s pupils were dilated, blown out of proportions and swallowing up the blue of his gaze. Even though his breathing was normal he felt the air strain in his lungs. When she let him go completely he let his fingers travel to her mount and watched as her head fell back against the wall, lips parted in a silent breath and eyes fluttering. He marvelled at the sight of her, the shimmer of her lips, the flush colour building under her skin, her black eyes reflecting the fire. Under his touch she pushed her hips forward greedy for more, it made a chuckle form in the back of his throat.

“Did you miss me?” The question was light but it was like having thrown a bucket of water over you. Oya stilled, body tense and heart galloping all the while skipping beats. It felt as if she would surrender her anger to him, forfeit the grudge that had been building up in her, to give him her bitterness of being lied to and left for what felt like an eternity. Honestly, she’d have taken her little plot of land in Korea over this outpost any day.

“I can’t forgive you,” she began quietly. She reached for him, cubing his cheek and felt that he leaned into her touch just a little. “And I will make you pay for it.” She licked her lips before continuing, eyes softening with affection. “But I did miss you.”

“I’m sure you’ll make me pay in all sort of ways,” he rumbled pressing into her.

Their lips met briefly, her lips chasing his only to part in a low moan as his fingers circled her clit. The fabric stuck to her uncomfortably, cool everywhere but where his fingers touched. The ache pulsated between her legs, begging for her to just spread them right then and there so he could get between them.

“You’ve been playing a lot of games,” she purred, fingers hooking into the smooth fabric of his jacket, pulling him to her. “It’s been very entertaining to watch unfold.”

“There’s more to come,” he said, lips brushing over her jaw, nibbling at the skin of her neck. His fingers travelled downwards, pushing shallowly into her. She could have unravelled right then and there, it had been long since she came finding it difficult to bring herself to the edge and over.

Michael removed his hand, the skirt falling to the floor now that nothing was blocking it. Oya almost broke out in protest, no not protest more like sobs. A whine managed to escape her quickly shut lips. Michael merely grins at her, taking her hand and guided her through the room. With one tug she swung around, hands harshly placed on the wooden desk in an attempt not to fall straight on her face. Her nails scrapped over the wood when she balled her hands into fists, biting her lips as the skirts were thrown up over her ass, his hands gripping at her hips.

Michael knocked at her heels in a silent order, making her spread her legs more. Then she felt it, his large hand going from her hip to run down her ass, gripping it tightly. She held back a moan, melting further into the stance. Once, twice, thrice he ran his hand up and down her ass feeling her up before his fingers brushed against the wet cloth.

“Have you thought of me?” She found herself asking before she could stop the words from spilling out through her lips. With her back turned to him she didn’t see how his head fell back, bottom lip caught viciously between his teeth, but she did hear the ragged breath he took before answering.

“Yes.”

“Did you touch yourself?”

“No,” he answered. Confusion made its way onto her face, fisted hands turning into flat palms. She didn’t know whether to take offence or not. Or maybe she should be impressed by his restraint. She herself couldn’t exhibit the same level of it. He did have a lot to do after the end of the world, maybe the time wasn't there. But by god the vision of Michael’s firm and slender fingers wrapped around his cock with the look of desire plastered all over his face, with his perfect lips parted in soft gasps, eyes sultry and half-lidded.

“Oh?”

“I would much rather wait,” he drawled. The air hit her hot wet core as soon as the fabric was tugged down. In the candlelight, she must be glistening. He ran his palm over her mount, fingers wrapping around her swollen clit and pinched. A feeble weak sound escaped her throat, knees buckling a little. Michael dipped a finger into her and curled it, her walls beckoned him further, convulsing around him trying to get more stimulation. Then he added another finger and began to scissor them, each brush drawing out hitched breaths from her, arms beginning to tremble.

The other hand that remained placed on her hip pulled her backwards all the while bending her further over the table. If anyone walked in there would be no doubt as to what was going on with Oya lying bend over the desk, legs parted and ass bare to the world. When he moved his thumb to her clit she let out a moan, feeling just how slick she really was.

With little shame she pushed herself back onto his fingers, efficiently fucking herself. The feeling almost brought tears to her eyes. “Fuck,” she breathed.

For a moment Michael admired the view, the sight of his finger slipping in and out of her pussy with a frivolous need. He swallowed at the sight before adding a third finger, stretching her out further. “It’s almost pathetic your need to be fucked, it’s so human.”

“And you made me this way,” she bit back at him, eyes fluttering when he twisted his fingers while pushed at her clit almost too hard. “Fuck, Michael. Please, I’m ready.”

His fingers left her, her walls clenching around the emptiness. She imagined he’d use her juices to cover himself, pumping his fist a few times before gliding the head of his cock up and down her folds. The feeling was enough to make her mewl. In one upstroke, he caught on her opening and shallowly dipped in making both of them hitch their breaths in unison.

She couldn’t take the anticipation any longer and caved. “Please, Jagi-ya .”

Michael pressed into in one slow fluid motion. His fingers dug into her hips with steel and iron, without a doubt leaving bruises there for later inspection. Oya couldn’t withhold the moan that tore through her throat, nails digging into the wood as Michael pulled out and re-entered with a harder thrust. She could hear it, the low grumble from deep within his chest making its way up through his throat.

“If it wasn’t because you have to remain in the shadows, I’d fuck you until you couldn’t walk,” he grunted speeding up. With each thrust came a wave of pleasure. The feeling brought tears to her eyes, the delicious stretch and the full feeling better than she had imagined for months now. His words almost made her cum right then and there.

“I’m su-sure,” she agreed. For a moment she was afraid that cumming once would be enough after having repressed the aching need for weeks now. Not even when she was bound in Korea would there have gone as much time by before she had to satisfy herself. Then a savage smirk formed on her lips and she clenched around him as much as she possibly could, almost breaking her trail of thought. “But when all this is over it -it is you who won’t be able to walk. I’ll turn your b-bones into that gross jelly they feed us here. S-see what world you’d build when you’re bound to the f-ucking bed, Jagi-ya .” The last word was said in an extra sweet tone.

Michaels strong hand wrapped tightly around her throat, forcing her backwards to him. Her back was arched. The grip was tight enough to make her feel her own pulse but not tight enough to do any form of damage. His breath was in her ear, lips grazing over the shell of her ear. She could hear the smirk in his voice. “I could make you go out there with cum leaking out of you.” He snapped his hips to her making her eyes roll back in pleasure. “Or maybe have your breath smell of cum.” His grip tightened as he snapped his hips to hers, the lewd sound of flesh hitting flesh filling her ears with a low hum of her own pulse. “But I can be nice.” Now his voice was dripping with sweet sweet poison. “So very nice.” She could feel herself clench around him, the wave of hot white pleasure washing over her with vengeance. One hand found its way from the desk to Michael’s fine jacket, clutching the fabric violently as her breath was caught in her lungs. “I’ll let you choose.”

“C-come inside me,” she croaked out, voice dampened by his tight fingers. She heard him take a strained deep breath, she could almost feel him bite his lip and he tried to concentrate.

“How lascivious of you, Love,” Michael moaned thrusting into her one last time, burying himself deep before spreading his seed. The warmth was familiar, it was strangely obscene, but it felt… missed. She didn’t know whether it was him buried deep within her or the feeling of his seed she missed, most likely the former. Michael released his grip on her, Oya falling forward with a relieved breath, hands firmly planted on the desk’s cool surface. She felt him withdrawal, felt the movement of his seed.

Oya swallowed before letting out a breath, slowly beginning to redress herself, putting on the Victorian knickers that she’d have to wash herself to remove the cum stains guaranteed to happen. Cum stains she could handle, what she couldn’t handle was her breath smelling of it when she was to face the other inhabitants.

“You’re enjoying the humiliation of me going out there, asshole,” she said lightly with a faint smile on her face. Of course, he did, he enjoyed toying with people and she was no different, though with his way of toying with her were only between the two of them. The embarrassment came from both of them knowing.

Michael tugged up his pants, fixing the slick fabric to a point where it looked utterly perfect, while she fought with the barbaric ruffles of her dress to make it sit properly. He had the devil on his shoulder, that’s how he managed to look completely perfect while she lacked her own little devil. He was cheating . With a huff, she pulled of the purple fabric and swore that whenever she got out of here she’d never wear purple ever again. Fuck purple and fuck Venable for making them wear it.

Michal sank into the chair behind the desk, palms flat on the surface like hers had been. He watched her as she prepared to fall into the role of Oya Jeon once more. She brushed her tied up hair back in place, the loose strands fastened by tying them into the elaborate hairdo Gallant had managed to give her. Of course, Coco never allowed him to let Oya outshine herself.

Now that everything was in place, she let their eyes meet. “So, do I meet the requirements of the sanctuary?”

Michael tried to repress the smile on his lips, forcing it into seriousness. “You will know in time.”

“Did you miss me?” They looked at each other silently for a moment before Michael went to answer in a smooth drawl.

“Yes.” The answer made her heart flutter. The orange flames caught his blue eyes with warmth. Then the warmth seeped out and he fell back into the role of Michael Langdon, the one mean to pick and choose who to save and who to kill. Oya let herself find the mask she had worn, let his presence affect her negatively to a degree as a cover for what really happened. She brushed her hands over the material of her dress, collecting her hands there and waited.

“You may leave now,” Michael said with indifference, waving his hand towards the door and turned his attention to the papers in front of him. Oya rose from her chair, slipping out of the room and was met with curious stares that picked at every seam of her being to see if they could catch something beneath her blank expression. Oya decided to lean up of the others accounts of what questions he asked, how he had acted and made it convincing by the jaded tremor in her voice.

“Did you hear?” Coco asked after the endless questioning. Oya shook her head with a weary frown. The blond woman licked her lips and inched closer, a smile unmistakable smile on her lips. “The old hag died in her sleep! No more listening to her endless stories.”

This surprised Oya. She thought the bitch would never bite the dust… Unknowingly, her eyes travelled to Michael’s closed doors. Nothing happened in the bunker that he wasn't aware off, nothing happened without him pulling a string. For a moment Oya wondered just how intricate a web Michael had spun, just how deep the game was and if she were a mere piece or puppet.

“These past several months have been difficult for all of us. And perhaps in my efforts to keep us safe, punitive measures have been taken too far. I believe now what we need is a moment of celebration. Comradery. Which is why, this weekend, as a gesture of goodwill we will have a Halloween soiree,” Mrs Venable voiced out loud with a smile on her darkened lips. Coco and Gallant looked at each other in excitement, one seemingly shared with most inhabitants, if not with a mixture of surprise and suspicion.

Oya was the ladder, finding the sudden need to celebrate perplexing, to say the least. For months it had been the same. No holiday celebrated, no birthdays, no celebration of any kind, just the same disgusting jelly, the same vitamin water, the same music over and over. The sudden change was worrying. Not only that but earlier the grounds had once more been breached and no word of what it was had yet been told. It all smelled fishy, or so the Americans tend to say. She couldn’t help but feel strings were being pulled, and she knew exactly who was the puppetmaster. This celebration was not the work of Mrs. Venable, though she might not know it.

“It will be in the style of a Victorian masquerade ball,” Mrs. Venable continued.

“If only my Nana were here to enjoy it with me,” Gallant muttered, the sudden excitement turned into something solemn and dark.

“We’ve all lost track of time a bit. And this festive occasion is the perfect opportunity to remedy this. And I encourage you all to use your imaginations,” Mrs. Venables voice rose with festiveness. “To create what I am sure will be exquisite costumes.” Now her voice fell into the same old track, stern and cold. “Attendance is mandatory.”

With that everyone was allowed to leave, most hurrying to make their costumes. Oya adopted the same vigilance and glee the others held while maintaining the slightest sliver of scepticism. Dinah held the same look in her eyes, the gleam of knowing something the others didn’t, knowing something similar to Oya’s own knowledge. The two women looked at each other, their masks off to reveal both of them being wary, before plastering a polite smile on their lips to maintain the mask once more.

“I know we’ve only just been told of this but do you have any idea what you’ll wear?” Dinah asked, taking Oya’s arm in her own as the two of them headed towards their quarters.

“No,” Oya answered frankly. “I have the six same dresses in my closet that I’ve always had and have no idea how to transform them into something new. It’s not like we’ve got a lot of wardrobe choice nor any excess material to work with.”

“I find it odd that they chose Halloween of all holidays, though I suppose it falls into Mrs. Venables taste,” Dinah shrugged and chuckled at her last sentence.

“Victorian masquerade! Couldn’t she just have called it Masquerade? We’re already in the Victorian,” Oya gestured to the tight garments with puffy skirts. She had lived through the times where victorian was the fashion, she had pale strangers come to her for her abilities, wishing remedies or blessings or curses. She had seen the fashion first hand even without leaving Korea and her plot of land. She had lived through many fashions, many invasions and occupations trying to take the land from the ones living there. Hell, she had seen kingdoms rise and fall, both her own and the in the world around her.

“True,” Dinah agreed. “Admittingly I do look forward to the celebration, we have to take what we can, right? And by the looks of it Mrs. Venable has something in store for us.”

“She sure does,” Oya grumbled, eyes flicking over the firepit in the middle of the room as they passed through the hall and up the stairs. The flames danced with gleeful abandon, the shadows following suit on the walls. Sometimes she had through to put her hand in the flames just to feel the pain but she didn’t.

“Do you think Mr. Langdon will join us?”

“Mr. Langdon?” Oya looked puzzled at Dinah who smiled kindly to her, her dark eyes catching the flames, lips thick and pretty. Dinah was a beauty but she was also that ever so positive talk show host through and through. Sometimes it was too much. Enough to make Oya want to strangle her. But there had always been something else, something hidden, a dark tint.

“Yes, the party would be the perfect time to tell us who’ll join him at the Sanctuary.” Dinah let go of Oya’s arm having reached her door. She brushed her fingers over her purple dress nervously, with hope and something else in her eyes.

“It is a possibility,” Oya commented meekly, not able to agree or disagree. It seemed to be enough for the darker woman, she smiled at Oya as she headed into her room and closed the door behind her. Now Oya was left alone in the hall, the cold creeping along the stone walls, nibbling at any exposed skin. She let out a breath and rolled her neck, heading towards her own room. The door closed and locked behind her with a soft click. Oya trotted to the bed, sinking down onto it with a huff before ripping the leather laces up from her boots, kicking the leather off with a sigh of relief. Those boots might look good but by the gods were they confining and painful. For a little while, she sat and massaged her feet dreaming of planting them on the soft soil, letting her toes dig into the ground as she walked through the garden. She missed it, having something to do, letting things grow and expand. She missed lifeunrestricted but knew it wouldn’t come for many years to come. There was also a bigger part of her that missed her powers, how they flowed through her, how they could twist and curl, how it was mischievous and playful. Michael had them, somewhere.

Oya took of the dress and kicked it across the floor with venom before attacking the corset hidden beneath, that which was thrown through the air and into the wall with just as much venom. “You better have tons of airy clothe in the Sanctuary and much prettier because if I’m forced to wear something like this again, every fucking day, I’ll castrate you.” She threatened the empty room, trotting through it and into the shower. The warm water relaxed the tension in her shoulders while she washed the sex off of her, fingers splashing water between her legs while the dirty imagery of her interview played in her head. He had looked better than ever, more mature and grown somehow, his edges refined and perfect. In the 13 months, she had been nothing but human he had grown to be the master in a lot of things, he had found himself, or rather, he rested in himself. The confidence had always been there but now it was matured. There was still a vulnerability to him but she hadn’t yet seen it fully, just caught glimpses. She supposed it was to keep level headed, being apart so long and with such difference in power and environment would have changed anyone.

But they were still connected, she felt it in that room. Oya had been herself for the first time in months and the relief of that was hard to hide. When she’d get her powers back she could finally breathe again, she knew it.

Oya turned off the water and exited the shower to find a note written on the foggy mirror. Come to my room. She wiped the surface clean, revealing her reflection beneath. Her features were sharper and more edged out due to the lack of food. Although she had always been on the thin side, visible collarbones and ribs, they were now edged into her like a crude statue, showing just how little they got. She couldn’t wait to soften her look, not feel so fragile and delicate. Oya dried her hair and braided it into a long thick braid, then twisting it into a bun held together with what once was a decorative letter opener, forced between the strands. She threw the towel over the side of the tub, one much smaller than what she had grown used to, before entering her room naked and clean. A dress had been neatly placed upon the covers of her bed, it’s look a mix between Victorian and something along the lines of traditional Korean hanbok. The fabric was much softer than the other dresses in her closet, it was without ruffles and strange textures that was nothing more than a terrible fashion choice. No, it was cut cleaner, with lone soft lines, a neck dipping an inch or two lower than what she was used to, with black see-through puffy sleeves.

She drew in a breath and began dressing, the Knicks, the underskirts, the corset and then finally the dress. It fitted her perfectly and she shouldn’t have expected anything less, it was after all Michael who had left the dress there. It was a plum purple that managed not to make her want to throw it in the pyre.

The door was unlocked, daring anyone to enter, with only a few brave or stupid enough to accept that challenge. Oya entered the room, locking the door behind her. She had made sure the shadows had hidden her form as she moved through the halls, no eyes catching sight of her.

The room was like any other, though it was a bit smaller. It had the same furniture, the same bedsheets, the same dark aesthetic. The candles flickered upon her entry, shadows dancing on the walls. Michael silently entered too, a towel wrapped around his lower body while his hair was tied up loosely to escape the water he had just exited.

Oya clenched her jaw at the sight, eyes following his every movement as he stalked through the room, throwing the damp towel he used to dry his upper body with onto the bed.

“If anyone were to have seen me...” She said calmly walking to the wardrobe to pull out one of his black shirts. By the time she turned around, Michael was hitching up his pants.

“They didn’t, although it would have made quite the tale,” he drawled, zipping up his pants. Oya nuzzled the soft fabric of his shirt between her fingers as she waited for Michael to be ready for it.

“What have you been planing? You’ve been puppeteering, I know you have.”

A smirk tugged at his lips, eyes bright blue with mischief. “Now, it wouldn’t be much fun if I told you.” With her help, he slit his arms into the shirt. Her hands trifled over his shoulders, fingers brushing against him as she came around to face him.

“You’ve made your decisions then?” Oya asked and began to button up his shirt, fingers working nimble.

“Yes, I will be making the final draft during the festivities,” he answered her with a slick smile. Oya pursed her lips at him, brows furrowing together in a frown. There was the slightest touch, a simple brush of his fingers against the fabric of her dress. She paid no mind and looked up at him, buttoning yet another button. “You will not be joining us?”

“As much fun that may entrail I still have work to do and I’m sure Mrs. Venable wouldn’t mind my lack of presence.”

“Paperwork even after the apocalypse,” Oya grumbled discontent with that matter. She was now half way up his chest. With a flash of her displeasure shining through her eyes Michael chuckled. “And the witches? They were the reason why we’re here after all, what of them?”

“A few survived the blast, that I’m sure of.” he breathed with a low voice, fingers dancing through the air to motion ‘somewhere out there’. Oya buttoned the last one, prushing her hands over the fabric and ran her eyes up and down to see if she had missed one or it the shirt was crooked.

“How so?”

Michael smiled entertained and began to fidget with the cufflinks. “Haven’t you felt them?”

“I’ve felt a lot of things, Michael, and most of it were pure and utter rage for you, ” she poked him right in the chest in the most childish manner. What was he expecting? That her hair would stand on the back of her neck? A tingle under her skin? Goosebumps? “I’m human, unless it’s in my face and obvious I won’t notice a thing.”

“Dinah Stevens was the voodoo queen of New Orleans before she became a talk show host and Mallory...Mallory is something ,” Michael informed with vague interest in what he was actually saying. Oya narrowed her eyes at him, folding her arms over her chest and made a displeased motion with her mouth. Voodoo queen? Dinah didn’t seem all that powerful and she certainly wasn’t a threat, but it did make sense why the mask of positivity sometimes cracked to reveal someone more clever and cunning underneath. But Mallory, she surprised her in a way Dinah didn’t, mostly because of the way Michael said her name.

“Is she something to be worried about?”

This seemed to draw attention from him, his eyes flashing up at hers. Michael breathed in between his teeth and tilted his head. “No, not that it mattered if she was.”

“Because you’re going to kill them.”

“Actually,” Michael began, a devilish smirk growing on his lips. “I’m not the one to kill them.”

“Venable is,” she finished with an eye roll of his dramatics. There was no reason to get blood on his hands when all he had to do was pull a few strings to watch the whole outpost unravel. And that’s what he wanted, he wanted the humans to be the cause of their own destruction, he simply laid out the tools and waited for them to choose. “I don’t know whether to think it’s going to be a dull party if everyone dies or if its ‘a total banger’ as Gallant would phrase it.”

Oya walked to the closet and picked out a black jacket, helping him in it with ease. Michael released his hair from the small bun, letting it wave down over his shoulders, perfect as always. She was fixing his collar when suddenly he pulled an apple out of thin air, the red fruit catching the light of the candles. Oya paused, eyes growing at the sight of something fresh, it’s sweet smell engulfing her and made her mouth water. Then she looked past it, to the mischievous smirk of her counterpart and withdrew from reach with narrowed eyes filled with suspicion.

“Is it poisoned?” Now she knew of the lure Snow White couldn’t resist, the lure Eve couldn’t resist.

“Not this one no,” Michael answered her, taking her hand and placing the fruit in her palm. He could clearly see the hunger in her, the starvation that had cast shadows over her form and edged out her bones. There were no doubt that he admired her, if she wasn’t so transfixed on whether to believe him and sink her teeth into the apple or to throw it at his head, she’d have seen the abortion shine through the cheeky smirk. He admired her persistence.

“But the rest is,” she concluded and fished out the knife hidden in Michaels jacket. The blade cut through the fruit with incredible ease and she quickly ate the piece  eyes fluttering at the taste. “I suppose this is a nod to the forbidden fruit.”

Michael took hold of her jaw lightly, bringing her sweetened lips to his only to find the touch of her fingers on his lips as she withdrew. Oya tsked and shook her head, rivaling his own playfulness. “I spend too long on this makeup for you to ruin before the party.”

“And I, who gave you a most precious gift! You wound me,” he fauxed hurt, hand on his heart as if to underline what he said. Oya chuckled at him, enjoying the playfulness she had missed so much, the ease of his presence.

“What of the rest of the witches?” The seriousness returned.

“They could have died in the blast although I’m sure they’re out there somewhere. They’re like cockroaches,” Michael said with such an ease it filled her with confidence. If it wasn’t for the makeup or the apple currently being enjoyed to the fullest, she’d have kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

When the apple was carved to the core, Michael took it from her thin fingers discarding the remainder in the fire. Oya placed the knife on the mantle before coming up behind Michael, wrapping her arms around him and pressed into his warmth. His scent was intoxicating.

“We’ll find them. One way or another we will find them and then destroy them,” she assured him and tightened her grip to emphasize. Although she couldn’t see him, a rumble tingled through his back and into her. He turned to her, her hands working around his movements and landing on his chest as he came to face her.

“I think it’s time you wear this,” he said and held up a stone black as obsidian framed by silver so that it hangs as a pendant from a chain. It was beautiful. Oya touched the stone and felt a tingle at her fingertips, warmth radiating off what should have been cold. She recognized it instantly.

Michael opened the chain and led the parts around her neck, the black stone standing out against her otherwise pale skin, lacking the touch of the sun and health of nourishment. It almost hummed against her chest. Was it as alive for him as it was for her? Michael’s hands came to rest against her neck, fingers tracing soft patterns on her skin while he angled his head towards her. “You will know when it’s time to break it.”

“Thank you,” she breathed softly feeling closer to freedom than what she had felt in a long time.

Everyone had on their finest attire and masks placed upon faces. Oya watched as they were all drawn to the perfect red apples that had been rolled in like fine dining to be placed in the small tub of water. They had all drawn in a breath of the sweet smell, mouths watering. She had watched them with amusement and played her part as well. Gallant was right about the symbolism… Something that’d soon turn to irony.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Mrs. Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt,” Mallory introduced from above in the most expanced way possible clearly tired of Coco’s bullshit. Coco stepped out onto the balcony, lips painted in a heart shape and hair rising so far up from her head it reminded her of the elaborate headpieces back in Korea once upon a time. She stood as Marie Antoinette, or a watered down version anyway. The hair was impressive, even she had to admit that.

“Mhm! Can we clap please, thank you!” Gallant implored for people to clap at his masterpiece, clapping his own hands in the face of others to push their own actions. Oya joined in, eyes following the girl down the stairs.

“You did that?” Mrs. Mead asked in astonishment.

“Without a blow dryer sometimes I even astonish myself,” Gallant beamed with confidence. Clack, clack, clack, the erie sound of Mrs. Venables cain beating against the tiles travelled through the hall and into the library. It was a clear indicator of what came next. The claps slowly died out but Coco didn’t realise the shadow that had fallen upon her, not before Mrs. Venable leaned in beside her ear and said ‘boo’. Coco jumped in chock, the light teasing air within the room now tense with the usual kind of cold that followed Venable everywhere. Intimidation was the perfume she wore.  

“Tonight is all hallows eve,” Mrs. Venable began after Coco had scuttered away like a small mouse, the longing for the spotlight already showing upon her face. Oya breathed in, quietly moving into the shadows.  “-Which marks the beginning of the dark half of the year, when the boundary between this world and the other thins, and lost souls pierce the firmament desperate to find their way home. It is a night to remember the dead and there have been far too many to mourn.” A chilled quiet formed within the room, the losses heavy on their souls. Oya couldn’t count herself a mourner, she had lost far too many and the people that had been alive not long ago, were all mere spectres, mere thoughts.

“But also to celebrate,” Mrs. Venable continued with a smile on her lips. “That we have yet to join them.” The tap of her cain began anwe, Venable passing through the room with the air of superiority surrounding her, shoulders almost razor sharp with the edge she had on them. “We delight in the small things, that were once taken for granted. To eat, to drink, music and dance. Everyone! -and I mean everyone, should savour this night as if it were their last.”

Oya wanted to burst out laughing or quite maybe just yell. Venables whole speech was littered with cues and indications, like any villainous speech. The idea of throwing one of the candles at the redhead crossed her mind, but she remained quiet, the itching in her fingers never subsiding. It was a speech Michael would have liked, just for the fact that he knew exactly what was going on. He’d love the irony, appreciate it even. In this instance, she didn’t.

The music began, a new song and slowly the room began to move, bodies dancing throughout the space. Oya herself began to sway, taking a glass of sparkling water that quite honestly tasted like ass. Timothy and Emily swayed together, eyes connected in loving gaze. It was nice, she had to admit that, regardless of the end in sight.

“It is bewildering is it not?” Mrs. Venable said approaching Oya, whom eyed her over the rim of her glass nothing how revived the woman before her had become by the decision to play god with her own garden of Eden. Venable would present herself as God and the snake lureing starved humans to their own ruin. Poetic. “What little it takes to change everything, something so simple as apples.”

“I believe the promise of hope is what brings this change,” Oya voiced, fingers tapping with the rhythm on the glass. Venables eyebrows rose slightly, dark eyes fiery.

“Hope?”

“Hope is the smallest of things, it’s almost impossible to get rid of and it brings the biggest of change with it. Hope, want, desire, they all set root and grow.”

“And Mr. Langdon brought all of this? Hope? Want? Desire ?” The way she says the word, like it burns her mouth and leaves nothing but ash. Venable had always been opposed to desire, it was so easy to see in the way she gripped at control that desire was the fundamental of which the world was brought to ruin. That desire was the thing that made everyone who possessed it no better than rats. They were beneath her, those who were controlled by it and she was so far above because she was in control.

“Mr. Langdon brought many things, didn’t he?” Oya asked, following Venable through the room. They walked slowly, with sure steps although Oya trailed a few inches behind letting Venable control the pace. There was no need to look at the taller woman, she already knew the look of loathing upon her face mixed with the knowledge that she was soon to be rid of the thing she found so displeasing. “There’s been desire.” Oya said looking out into the room. “There’s been want.” They passed Mrs. Mead by the radio. “There’s been hope…All of this brings chaos of course, and this unabided is what brought the world to its knees, isn’t it?”

Mrs. Venable looked slightly surprised halting. “The old world was built on desire and the constant need to fulfill it. There was no control. People just did whatever they wanted. They were without discipline and those who was supposed to be the authority disregarded rules and mismanaged entire countries.”

“The world was ended because of men like him.” Venable looked over Oya with contemplation the younger girl giving no nod to her own thoughts. She wasn’t sure if Oya was taunting her, if the girl had some sort of knowledge and was now just toying with her or if she revealed for the first time her true thoughts. To her Oya had always been dubious, her intentions had always been unclear, she was a mystery that presented herself as simply another body that inhabited the place and her file had revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

Then Oya continued. “So why should we follow him?”

“I am not sure what you are saying, Miss Jeon,” Venable said ambiguously. “Do you not believe in the Sanctuary? Or do you not believe you’ll get in?”

“I am as sure as my position as any,” Oya said. “But these days it’s hard to know who to trust.”

“Indeed, which is why it makes me question your intentions. You’ve never been interested in the politics of this place, while the others have thrown their childish fits you’ve remained quiet. Now, however, you’ve decided to voice your views. You say men like him were the cause of the apocalypse and yet you’re willing to put your life in his hands?” Venable shook her head, eyes dark with fiery teeth ready to sink into any weakness presented. It was admirable what she was willing to do to be the queen, paving the way to her kingdom with the corpses of those who got in her way.

“For survival, I’d do anything. Wouldn’t you ?” Oya answered with a tone Michael would have been proud of, the same nonchalant mocking he had mastered so well. Venables eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that why we’re here?”

Oya send Venable a sweet innocent smile before turning around and joining Gallant and Coco on the dance floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Venable return to where Mrs. Mead was, the two clearly sharing a few unknown words. If Michael had been there he would have been proud.

Mrs. Venable was a fox in sheep's clothing but there were other bigger and more dangerous creatures mimicking sheep as well.

A dark tall figure entered and began dancing with Coco. It wasn’t Michael that she was sure of but it could be one of this tricks, Oya simply shrugged and joined Dinah by the fire, chatting together as the mood began to brighten even further. It wasn’t before Coco’s disappearance down dim lit hall that Oya excused herself, disappearing as well. She had done her part, she had shown her face and now was the time to withdraw into the shadows while the attention was elsewhere.

“Let’s begin the bobbing for apples!” Mrs. Mead voiced out loud, turning down the music and gathered with the others around the small body of water. Oya looked over her shoulder one last time before walking to her own room.

Death had been invited in with open arms, a feast was thrown as a welcome and now was the time kiss death on the lips and take his hand for the festivities were for a goodbye and another world awaited.

When the door opened and Mrs. Venable and Mrs. Mead entered, Oya stood by Michael, she had one hand that rested on his shoulder in a familiar touch. Already she could feel the hardened glare of Mrs. Venable, the eyes that cut like glass and pricked at her back. The cane tapped at the floor, one after another until it came to a rest and then the door clicked closed.

“Ladies I’m a little busy right now formulating my selections,” Michael voiced with a nonchalance Oya couldn’t match. She was after all human and her body reacted to the threat of these people by sending a spike of adrenaline through her body even though her mind knew that Michael wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“This won’t take long,” Venable said with a cold venom. Oya turned to face her, mild entertainment showing on her face. Venable’s eyes cracked to her the hostility almost unnerving. Michael shut the laptop gently, turning towards the intruders with the same nonchalance that he had spoken with.

“What’s this?” Michael asked with faux obliviousness, one that tugged at the corners of Oya’s mouth as Venable narrowed her eyes at him. The cane clicked as she came closer, invading the space of the two.

With one last click of her cane Venable answered with a victorious smirk. “We’re making the selections now, Mr. Langdon.” Her eyes traveled to Oya with sharp accuracy, the anger towards the other woman apparent. “I see you really would do anything for survival, Miss Jeon. I will admit, I am a little disappointed by your choice, you were after all supposed to be the smart one…. But you’ve made your choice.”

“And so have you,” Oya responded in a tone equal to Venables.

Venable drew in an unbothered but still strained breath before speaking, her eyes once more on Michael, who remained in his mask of faux confusion and obviousness. It was so apparent that it was faked. “And I’m afraid neither of you made the cut.”

Oya and Michael looked at each other and burst into chuckles that was neither warm or friendly but rather mocking. It was hard to keep the chuckle in when faced with someone who thought they were the puppeteer when in reality they had as many strings as the ones they thought they controlled. Venables power had been as superficial as Michael’s confusion.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to let you have your moment but I just couldn’t hold it in,” Michael said carelessly. He could be looking down the barrel of a gun and know it’d not be enough to take him down. Venable thought herself superior in the face of a god. That was better entertainment than what she had seen the last year. Still the arrogant smirk remained on her dark lips.

“You think this is funny?”

“I think I’m impressed, Mrs. Venable,” Michael answered. “I wasn’t sure you had it in you.” Stretching his body to the fullest of his height, Michael stood. He glanced at Oya before returning his eyes towards the enemy. “You passed the test. You’re perfect for the sanctuary.”

The woman behind him made a face of disagreement but remained silent. If Michael wanted her to go with them, then she’d accept it but that didn't mean she’d like it. Maybe he’d forgive her for killing Venable because that certainly would be the case if Oya had to live with that wretched woman for the rest of her human life. But of course, the woman she knew would never agree to fall in like under the heel of a man like Michael, any man actually.

“Mrs. Mead,” Venable breathed with annoyance. The smaller woman with ink hair and paper-pale skin fished a gun out from under her jacket, the sound of it clicking following quickly after. With her human body, Oya reacted to the sound, a wave of goosebumps washing over her. Unconsciously she stepped behind Michael, fingers gripping the fabric of his jacket, the motion of it without a doubt known to Michael. She knew he felt her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Michael warned and by doing so extending another chance for survival. He wouldn’t give another one. Venable’s smirk grew, the fire in her eyes burning bright by the victorious end in sight.

Michael tilted his head towards Mrs. Mead, brows rising in anticipation. By this show of what some would call carelessness but in reality a certainty, Oya felt a boost of confidence. It was strange to watch Mrs. Mead with her ghosty blank expressions as if a million thoughts were going through her head.

The delay became too much and Venable’s delight turned to impatience. “Mrs. Mead.” Venable turned to glare at her companion but found that the gun was now pointed at her. Before she could register it went off, the expression of her face changing to surprise and then betrayal. One Oya recognized all too well. The sound of the shot resonated through the room and ran a cold finger down her spine. The air smelled and tasted metallic, a small gush of blood exploded into it.

Oya couldn’t help but breathe relieved, the joy of seeing Venable fall from her pedestal to lie on the ground among all those she had killed. If she believed in karma this would be it. But there were also surprised bubbling within by the reveal that Mrs. Mead had been the one among all of them to protect her. That she hadn’t seen coming.

Mrs. Mead, however, looked as shocked as Venable, her actions a complete surprise to herself. She shook at it, body trembling while she watched the woman she had thought she was to protect now lying dying on the ground, gasping for air as she drowned in her own blood.”I don’t know why I did that. I was always so loyal to her.”

Oya felt sympathy for the woman but remained standing in silence while Michael crouched down to look Venable in the eyes as life left her. Rarely had she felt pleasure to watch life leave a person but a few occasions changed that.

“It’s alright,” Michael said with a calm voice. “You were obeying command. Like you’re programed to do. My commands.”

Oya stepped up to him, placing a hand on his back as he stood and looked at Mrs. Mead, satisfaction shining through his eyes and the corners of his mouth turned into a delighted smile. “Did you enjoy executing the poisonous apples plan as much as I enjoyed coming up with it?”

Mrs. Mead was at a loss of words for a moment. You could see everything going through her head, how disoriented her thoughts were. Her body was frozen in time, still pointing the gun as if Venable was still standing. “You wanted everyone dead?”

“I’ve never been a fan of getting my hands dirty,” Michael explained with a drawl. “Learned that from my father.”

Oya looked down at Venables dead body, the bullet torn through clothing and skin as if it were the same and left a bloody gaping wound in her chest. From the looks of it it had tron through her chest plate and into her lung. There were no blood splatter nor any bullet hole behind her, so the bullet was still inside of her. Either she drowned in her own blood or her heart gave in. By the time Oya looked up, Mrs. Mead was trembling even more, bottom lip quivering and tears streaking down her pale cheeks.

“-Always more fun to entice men and women to dirty deeds. Confirms what I’ve always believed.”

“W-wa-what do y-you believe?”

“That all people, if given the right pressures or stimulus are evil motherfuckers,” Michael continued. Oya made a face and pursed her lips. Whether there was a flaw in Michael’s belief or not, were not hers to dispute. To her humans was oblivious little creatures capable of great monstrosity or kindness, each holding their own value. Humanity was flawed and just maybe a new set of rules, a new world, could make up for that flaw. In chaos, there were always the greatest fun.

“I-I’m having trouble with this,” Mrs. Mead stammered. “I know, I’m just a machine-,”

“Never say that!” Michael broke, the tremor in his voice indicating how emotional he was in this moment. It cut into her, the sudden realisation that this woman was more important to him that she initially thought. “You’re not just a machine. Not to me. When I tasked the Cooperative’s R&D department to have you constructed…” Oya put a hand on the small of his back, coming up to stand beside him. Michael glanced at her and revealed the tears in his eyes, the pain and sadness in the blue. “I gave them a prototype to model.”

“A prototype?”

“Someone from my childhood,” Michael said gently. “This one very dear to me.”

It was like she was watching the sun rise for the first time. Pure and adulterated realisation shining through every ounce of her. It looked like a door had opened and all that was hidden behind it washed over her.  

Oya couldn’t help but feel a strange sadness at the bottom of her stomach. This woman was created in the image of someone else, someone human and she had been lost to him. This woman was made out of his pain and sorrow and loneliness to replace the one he had lost. But in the end, to Oya at least, a robot could never replace a human.

“The beautiful boy,” Mrs. Mead said calmly.

“That was me,” Michael said back, voice barely above a whisper and breaking. “But I had to keep the most important part of you hidden from your mind.”

“Why?”

“To protect you,” Michael answered. “And the plan. But now it’s time to remember it all. I lost you and I couldn’t bear it. I can’t imagine a new world without you by my side. One of two women who ever really understood me.”

There were no other way to explain it other than pure happiness showing upon her face. “Who ever really loved you.”

Michael embraced the woman, hugging her tightly. The sight moved Oya, her heart swelling in her chest. He looked like a child, a boy who was finally hugged by their absent parent that had returned to them. She had seen the boy in him before, seen the loneliness and heartbreak. If a simple thing like a rose or an embrace could bring this sort of happiness, belonging, she’d shower him in it. For all he had gone through he deserved better.

Michael sat Mrs. Mead down and told her about the woman in which image she was created. The conversation was intimate, between the two, mother and child, and Oya felt strangely out of place. She watched as the two were hunched together, the aura around them thick and warm. Standing back she wrapped her arms around herself and looked away while nibbling at her bottom lip.

“...Who better than the one person who I never stopped trusting,” Michael said with a gentle drawl. “Or loving.”

Mrs. Mead smiled, eyes sparkling with artificial life, with joy and prosperous love. Truly, it was like she was looking at her son, with the same proud eyes mothers had when their child achieved greatness. An oddly jealous ache settling in her heart. The woman stood and Michael with her, she took his hands with a gratified smile upon her lips.

“Mrs. Mead, I do believe you’re glowing,” Michael smiled at her.

“For the first time I feel like I know my place in the world,” she said. At this Oya smiled, knowing exactly what that felt like. She walked to Michael, wrapping her arm around his and smiled at the both of them.

“Oya,” Mrs. Mead said and looked at Oya who’s eyes widened a little unsure what to expect. The woman simply smiled and brushed a hand down her arm and squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here,” She answered. Michael smiled down at Oya only for his smile to stifle, slowly turning into a frown as his eyes unfocused out into the room. The air changed, electricity filling it up making the hairs on her body stand. Not even the candles and fireplace managed to warm the air that seemed to be forever chilled.

“What is it?” Mrs. Mead asked.

“A powerful presence,” Michael answered.

“What do you mean everyone is dead.”

“Not anymore.”

[balerios-blog]

Season 4 , Ep 8 thoughts

Before I begin I want to say that the issues that I have is with the writing and what I feel is an extremely poor direction the show as a whole has been through for quite some time now. I do not like Game of Thrones as a show, but I do not have issues with those who choose to portray their muse based on show events. I am going to handle it is based on characters (Jon, Sansa, Daenerys, Missandei, Jaime, Brienne and Cersei):

Brienne: Definitely deserve better treatment than what she received and I do not think I can properly put into words how angry I am for her.  

Jaime: My issue with Jaime and his behavior last night is his actions contradicts this ‘redemption arc’, which is extremely confusing. What he did to Brienne is typical fuck boy shit and I am not happy with it. Killing Cersei better be worth the pain he caused Brienne.

Cersei: My main issue with Cersei as a character on this show is how her behavior is always justified, but Dany is labeled as ‘mad’ or ‘power hungry’ for doing the same thing Cersei is. The double standard is unacceptable and for the last eight seasons I have been wondering where is all the ‘mad queen’ energy for Cersei? I want to touch her treatment of Missandei, but I am going to save that.

Sansa: Up until this season, I really have not paid Sansa much attention. My main issue with Sansa and how she is being written is how volatile she is. This post pretty much sums up how feelings with Sansa and I find her behavior to be unacceptable. Jon told her something (which I will get to because he should have kept his fucking mouth shut like Daenerys told him to) and instead of keeping her brother’s confidence, the FIRST thing she did was run and tell Varys and Tyrion. Her behavior only confirm what Dany was trying to warn Jon about in the first place. She has made it VERY clear to me that her only intention is to ensure Dany does not sit on the Iron Throne; her exact reason for being so hostile to Dany honestly have NO IDEA AND SOMEONE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN IT TO ME! Sansa and Dany have similar stories and considering how Cersei is a common enemy to them, being an ally would have made more sense.

Jon Aegon: I have no fucking clue what is up with Aegon Stargaryen. His behavior, how he is treating Dany is so extremely frustrating and hurtful to watch. He turned his back to her, ignored her plea of keeping his secret and now it clear he has decided to abandon Daenerys all together. For Jon to do this considering how much Dany has lost and sacrifice for him makes my blood boil. In addition, the question I need someone to answer for me is what was his intention of telling Sansa and Arya when he DOES NOT WANT THE IRONE THRONE? JON DOES NOT WANT THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, SO WHY TAKE THAT AWAY FROM DAENERYS I CANNOT UNDERSTAND. In addition, his treatment of Ghost was so heart breaking, and for D&D deciding to throw away Jon’s characterization and give him something he does not even want is ridiculous. I am not expecting much from Jon next week.

Daenerys: As someone who has fought Show! Dany’s characterization since the very beginning, having such a change of heart is crazy. The last two seasons Daenerys has soften and let her guard down. She surrounded herself my people she believed were good council and would help her achieve her life’s goal of taking back the Iron Throne. Her plan was set and everything was going, as she wanted – until she met Jon. Meeting Jon changed a lot for Dany; she put her war on Cersei on hold and followed Jon back to The North with Drogon, Rhaegal (Visierion died as she saved Jon from the Night King and the White Walkers) and her armies to fight in what she believed was right. She did not want to just save the North; to save Westeros from the NK and protect her people. When she arrived to Winterfell Daenerys was met with such hostilities and mistrust from everyone; Sansa using any chance she had to be snarky to Daenerys as if she did something to her. Dany wanted to prove she was not her father, she wanted to help the people and you would think after losing the Dothraki, a vast portion of the Unsullied and her most trusted and beloved advisor that would have been enough.

But of fucking course, it was not.

Instead of thanking Daenerys for the sacrifices she had made for the North, she was met with even more disrespect and isolation. While Tormund was praising Jon for riding on Rhaegal (like he wasn’t beyond the wall with Jon and she also said his fucking life), all I could think of was where was Dany’s congratulations when she was the reason her dragons were present in the first place? I cannot even imagine how alone she must have felt and the only person who knew how to comfort her was gone. She BEGGED Aegon not to say anything to anyone about his true identify and what did he do? After everything Daenerys has loss for him, Aegon decides to betray her trust to people HE KNOWS are plotting against her. She tells him she loves him and he has nothing to say to her. The North as a whole made it very clear they had no interest in helping her and so Dany went out on her own and once again lost. Missandei and Rhaegal were losses I do not think Dany will be able to recover from. Their deaths will culminate for Dany not taking any more shit and more importantly, being so angry with herself because she knew she should have followed her gut. She should not have given Tyrion so many chances, not to trust Varys and of course to follow Jon to the North. Dany should have went directly to the Red Keep the moment she came to Westeros and everything would have been over. However, of course she cannot do anything without being called the “Mad Queen’ or threating to be too consume with power. D&D have zero clue how to properly write female characters; a woman in power should not be perceived as negative. A woman should not have to experience tragedy and be the stepping-stone for a man to achieve his purpose. It is this kind of misogynistic writing that has repelled me from the show for so long and I HATE how this is it ends for Daenerys. It is not fair her entire series arc is just being used to propel Aegon forward; I am so angry by this.

Missandei: My heart is so heavy still for my beautiful butterfly daughter. I knew that she was going to die, but the brutality of it has made so angry I doubt I will watch another episode of this show. As a woman of color myself, I can identify with how Missandei felt during her time in the North. To see people they do not look like you do is always uncomfortable, but from a young age, we are taught to make the best any situation. However, to be treated so horribly, to have people look down upon you because you are different is so damn hurtful Missandei was uncomfortable and clearly separated from Daenerys for the majority of their time in the North. During the battle of Winterfell being in the catacombs with said people and having to listen to someone JUDGE the person you know has given up everything to be there is frustrating.

Especially when it is someone, you believe in and know that their efforts are being completely disregarded.

She believes in her Queen, Missandei knew if she wanted to leave and no longer be by Dany’s side, she would have let her go without any questions. This loyalty and love for Dany is what ultimately leads to Missandei’s death; a prisoner in chains to a woman who viciously murdered her just prove a fucking point. D&D did not consider Missandei as a WOC who spent the majority of her life in slavery would be HUMLIATED by dying in chains. She did not deserve to die; they did not need to kill her so savagely for the shock factor. People gave Daenerys so much shit for killing the Tarlys, but I have not seen the same energy for Cersei who killed someone completely innocent.

Overall, I am drained from the inconsistencies and shit characterization from D&D. The sad thing is my expectations were so low for this season and for them not even to hit par says a lot. I am so done with a show I cannot even began to describe. I just want everyone to die and I hope Daenerys burns KH to the fucking ground.

Fuck everything at this point.

[manifestoonmoralmanlove]

Soulless Riffing: Brainless Ch.10 + 11.

I got a supernatural action/romance book series as a gift that’s just riddled with stuff that I hate….and as a steampunk Victorian London action romance story filled with werewolves and vampires…it’s yeah gonna be easy to poke fun at.

I just want to say, it’s totally cool if you like this story or ones like it!  It’s certainly a better caliber than a lot of what I make fun of…however…I can’t help but want to make fun of it.

Over here for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7+8th, and 9th.

Chapter 10 is short so I threw in 11 too! SO FUCK IT HERE GOES!

Chapter 10

So this zombie bursts in to attack Alexia and Lord Akeldama.  The zombie’s clever plan is to just start…pouring chloroform on the floor. I don’t think that’s how that works but lol ok whatever. Immediately the super powerful vampire is out cold.  They talk about how gaudy and huge Lord Akeldama’s house is, so I totally pictured the zombie kicking the door open, pouring it, and even though he’s still like 50 feet away he’s out like a light.

So my head canon for this is the zombie is like, “Well they’re obviously going to get away! Why bother!?” So he just pours out a medicine bottle’s worth of chloroform out of annoyed futility. Lord Akeldama since he’s such a DANDY thinks the zombie poured some kind of staining liquid like wine all over his centuries old, priceless Turkish rug.  He’s so mortified that his favorite rug is ruined and feints on the spot.

Now this scenario makes sense, YOU’RE WELCOME!

Alexia is able to hit the zombie in the head 3 times before she realizes that’s not working and the fumes OVERCOME HER! YES SHE LITERALLY GETS THE VAPORS!

THANK FUCK! FOR ACTUAL DRAMA!

When she wakes up she’s being dragged bound and gagged into the Hypocras Club for scientists.  She overhears some shady biz about how they want to experiment on Lord Akledama.  She also notices an obnoxiously prominent octopus motif in the place.  It might as well read,

“Alexia turned the octopus-shaped knob, of the octopus-shaped door, to reveal an octopus-shaped hallway, with live octopuses hanging from the wall all wondering where they got such a bad rep from.”

The two of them get thrown in a cell and are able to undo their gags.  The less cool version of Blackadder’s Prince George (Lord Akeldama) explains that the zombie-thing is an automaton or basically a fleshy robot/golem.  He also explains that the robot can only be undone if you speak the magic word. Looks as if safe words work much better in this universe than they ever did in 50 shades!

 ALSO JUST KIDDING CAUSE THERE’S ANOTHER WAY TO STOP IT BUT WON’T BE REVEALED UNTIL IT’S A SUPER TENSE MOMENT! HARDY HAR HAR!

But we actually get a genuinely good scene after this where Lord Akledama talks about the fact they both may die.  He says that, if it’s possible, he wants Alexia to hold his hand so he can see the sun one last time.  It’s cheesy, and probably not going to be applicable in the situation they’re in, but it’s really sweet and sad and I like it.  The baddies then come back to drag Akledama out of the cell, presumably to be tortured to death.

NO! I WAS JUST STARTING TO ACTUALLY LIKE HIM!

Say something Nice Faps:

Actual plot

No or little mention of the dumbass ship

Akledama wanting to see the sun.

Chapter 11

So Alexia is not having the best time in the cell by herself but eventually she hears voices. We have super unsubtle exposition that boils down to.

“So yeah we’re torturing werewolves and vampires, so we can figure out how to genocide them REAL GOOD!”

Hoo boy listen. The only other racist thing against vampires/werewolves we have seen in action is a woman talk briefly about how untoward it is that a business is catering to THOSE kinds of people. I will not count all the vague times Alexia alludes to them being oppressed with no concrete examples.

Going from, Bad person is annoyed they may have to glance at a vampire while at a cafe, to inhuman experiments meant to further genocide is AT BEST a huge jump and at worse flat out feels entirely separate from the setting created.

Fun Fact: Racism isn’t a child predator who hides in the shadows and pops out when you need a scapegoat.  Racism is fucking everywhere effecting everything.

Don’t try to add racism allusions in your story if you can’t grasp that fundamental concept.

Faps, nobody picked up steampunk werewolf fucker for commentary on race. And besides the inability to grasp the complexity of racism is going to seem quaint next to some of the dumb writing bullshit coming up next.

So during this conversation this mysterious bad man also states, “We have a random human in this cell, cause she was there lol.”

“Can I see her?”

“Lol why not!?”

So we open up the cell to meet the big baddie Siemons, whom, I’m probably just going to refer to as childish evilguy nicknames for awhile cause his characterization is as on the nose as you can get.  Like no joke, whenever they mention him smiling it’s, “He smiles psychotically.” 

The guy, Mr. bigbad was talking to turns out to be #1 Stud MacDougall!

GASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSP

Actually I totally called this cause she mentions 3 times during their short conversation that she recognizes the 2nd voice, it would be most DRAMATIC, and cause I have money down that he’s secretly a bad, bad man so Alexia doesn’t feel bad about not fucking a fatty. She’s not shallow; he’s just a bad person you see.

BUT, to this story’s credit MacDougall is AGHAST to find Alexia in there, goes to her side, and demands she be set free at once.

Evilbaddy Von Octo-dump is like, “Oh! She’s Alexia the Soulless who can stop supernatural powers! We inexplicably did not put 2 and 2 together despite being super smart Nazi-scientists.  I mean we very obviously tried to kidnap her 3 separate times, and stole her records for more info. But we weren’t actually interested in kidnapping her. We just tried to get a vampire and took her along for the lulz!”  Why even put in the effort to say they weren’t after her? This is stupid!

MacDougall, despite studying the supernatural FOR A LIVING, has never heard of the Soulless phenomenon and like…

FUCK HOW AND WHY AND ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

The author states explicitly that all the supernaturals in England not only are aware of the Soulless but are informed of the identity of every single Soulless.  How would normies NOT know? Vampires and werewolves hang with humans all the time, and it makes no sense why the Soulless would be hidden information from the general public.  Soulless can pose a threat to the supernatural not regular boring humans, there’s no reason to believe that the average citizen is going to be upset at this knowledge at all.

This wouldn’t even, so far, cause any plot inconsistencies if everybody knew.  I think the rub here is that we have to justify her family not knowing so the reveal would make them upset, but we’ll see how important that plot point actually is.  Honestly, I fear the author is just so used to supernatural media where SOMETHING is hidden from the general population she felt compelled to do the same.

MacDougall convinces Meaniemollusk NaziStink to take off her restraints and try to get her on their side. They allow her to clean up and change. Alexia takes advantage of this to go to the Octopus shaped mirror, break off an octopus-shaped shard, cover it in octo-cloth, and hide it in her octo-bosum.

Alexia tries to play dumb and meek in order to appease Squidlly MurderMan.  He tells her he plans to kill all Vampires and Werewolves.  She points out that they’re scientists with a political agenda and apparently that’s her breaking her bimbo character and the gig is up.

OKAY?????????????????

They then take her to another cell.  On the way there she hears Lord Akeldama’s blood-curling torture screams, but she doesn’t seem all that upset.  I mean she probably doesn’t want to appear outwardly upset to blow the gig even more, but we don’t really have much internal monologue about how worried she is.

So that’s cool.

They want to test her soulsucking ability and she lies saying it takes an hour. (Which is hard to believe, isn’t soulless supposed to be common knowledge in England, and also they stole all the notes anyway they probably know.)  They also OUTRIGHT SAY they’re planning on killing her anyway but it would be rad if she was cool about it. They say they’re going to murder/test it by putting her in a cell with a rabid werewolf to SEE WHAT HAPPENS!? (She’d probably die but lol turns out it’s Lord Maccon aren’t we all shocked.) But like let’s break this whole mess down.

1.)    You uhhh consider LYING that you won’t kill her if she cooperates. That tends to encourage people to cooperate. YOU ARE BAD PEOPLE AFTERALL AND BAD PEOPLE LIE!

2.)    HOW FUCKING INCOMPREHENSIBLY DUMB ARE THESE FUCKING SCIENTISTS!?  You UHH MAYBE consider you could learn a fuck-load from experiments where a person can turn off a supernaturals’ ability at will? PERHAPS it’ll be easier to genocide them if they’re not super-fast, super strong, immortal AND can heal real fast????? WHAT COLOSSAL FATHEADS ARE RUNNING THIS JOINT!? AUTHOR? YOU CAN HAVE THEM BE SUPER EVIL AND BAD WITHOUT THEM IMMEDIATELY TRYING TO KILL PROTAG? YANNO?

Also throwing her in a locked room with a PEAK werewolf, even if they never believed it took that long, is basically instant-death for her.  She’s kinda arrogant when it comes to self-defense but even she’s like, “I’d be super lucky if I even reach the point of having the shit kicked out of me before I can turn him completely enough for them to not be a threat.”

So they take the antidote to the supposed poison they want to snuff out and just dump it down the drain.

BUT GOLLY I’M SURE LOOKING FORWARD TO THOSE OVERGROWN CHILDREN ALMOST FUCKING IN THAT CELL! THAT’S GONNA BE SWELL!

Say something Nice Faps:

No shitty Maccon/Alexia verbal sparring

MacDougall does try to not get her killed. I mean he just shouts dramatically.  Not that I’m asking him to fall right on a sword but it does seem a bit tepid. But like for a woman who gleefully and regularly puts herself in danger? Maybe that’s the response that’s appropriate.

Also the author never really says MacDougall is down to clown with Murder Bigots.  So I guess what I’m trying to say is I’d still fuck MacDougall apart.

[condemnthem]

this is another testimony of ludo. this he mixes ic with ooc again and displays his control complex.

My issues with him started when I joined [group] in 2018. I believe it was around November or December.

I joined as a male character, and I had been off of roleplay for 3-4 years, so I came back hoping for a clean slate. Which I was given by [owner] and [group]. When I joined my name was [my male character]. The character was meant to me an insufferable cocky “fuck boy” or sorts and that’s exactly what he was. At that time, Ludo was named Cyril and he was among the first few chopping at the bit to be my friend. I didn’t know any better, I really didn’t know anyone’s writers or anything and that’s how I wanted it. We were fast friends.

Right away things were super weird because he’d get possessive over friendship and be angry if I'd be friends with others, and I didn’t understand the dynamics at the time either. He became obsessive with [my male character] and would go in and out of character with it. Would yell at me for [my male character] doing [my male character] things and then would go back into character. I just let it go for a bit but then it escalated when I became friends with someone Cyril was romantically interested in.

He got hard to manage at that point but I still didn’t want any drama because I had just come back. So I tried to be friends with both of them. Cyril constantly got jealous of the other friendship and made me feel bad a lot for it. Things shifted when Cyril told [my male character] he had feelings for him. [my male character] was a homophobic prick and made a post about his best guy friend liking him. (Maybe not my bad choice for my character at the time considering who the other person was, but I didn’t understand at that time that he would make an ic thing ooc)

At this point he began to blur the line more and speak about me ic and ooc to anyone who would listen, making it unclear if it was ic or ooc. Then [member a] came into the picture. He liked her, A LOT. She was the first person (allegedly) that he had feelings for since the aforementioned friend, so I encouraged Cyril and [member a] to get together. [member a], instead, initially expressed interest in my then character and she told Cyril the same. Cyril came to me out of character and begged me to let him have her. It was super uncomfortable for me. But, my character had zero intentions of ever settling down, and I didn’t want any ooc drama or negativity so again, I obliged.

After that, he began writing about my character in events. It’s like his character's commentary about my character but the commentary never made sense for my character or what was happening, it read like personal attacks. Although he was still pretending to be my “best friend.” Things escalated when I switched to [my female character] and my character got involved with the friend from before.

His negative feelings about me ooc only seemed to become more negative. My character cheated. Cyril immediately changed to a female character and tried to get with him. He promised he wasn’t switching for the LI but later confessed he had. I specifically remember being given permission to bring up OOC things he was saying about me to his female character at the time, Nadia I believe her name was, so I did. She admitted to saying everything. That she didn’t care for me, my characters, and she had feelings for him. I didn’t deserve him. That sort of thing. At this time, she began to obsessively shit talk to me to several members/mutual friends, again blurring lines between ooc and ic.

He hated me from the get go because he felt like everyone always liked me and I got everyone he always wanted. That’s what he told me.

That ^^ becomes important because [my female character] slept with [member b] (his later LI.)

I then, for reasons irrelevant to this, became [my other female oc]. My new character had a short lived affair with [member b]. (both were single) It was wrong of [my other female oc] and wrong of [member b]. I’m not proud of what my character did but, again, I am not my character. I would never personally do anything like that. I eventually told Damien because I felt bad for him and didn’t think [member b] would. To be clear, I didn’t tell him so [member b] would end up with me, I wanted [member b] out of that relationship. It wasn’t healthy. Several times, and multiple people can attest to this, [member b] expressed negative things to me about how he was feeling. Damien was draining for him.

I became a moderator around this same time. I don’t know dates.

So I could read and see all of the things being sent to the confessions tumblr.

The tumblr became flooded with negative things about my character but other things felt ooc. They were incredibly mean. My character became involved, mildly, with a friend of Damien’s. [member c].

Everything was fine, to my knowledge, I was apprehensive because they were close. He assured me that it wouldn’t be an issue but abruptly ended the fling because I didn’t want to apologize to damien.

After this point it’s all a blur, there was a lot of ooc things being said about me and ic things and it was all taxing and confusing. The day Damien got cut, he told me point blank that [member c] never liked me and it was a plan to hurt me but.. the way he worded insinuated it was all [member c] and a third party who doesn’t matter.

I just wanted it to be clear that he has had an ooc problem with me for about two years. And all of my characters.

Not because of my characters choices but because my characters always seemed to be wanted by other characters he wants.

I’ve personally seen him attack every single person I love in [group].

He tried to tell people that I had a second page to get points, which I would never do. I’m a moderator and I don’t have the energy for multiple pages unlike him.

And he used to message me random selfies like in the ic chat. And then say it was an accident. He would post mean status’ and @ me. And after I saw he’d delete it before I could go to the moderators for help. I had to actually go to the mods at the time of him sending me random selfies, and he tried to tell them it was my fault he was sending random real life selfies???

It baffles me that he thinks he has been bullied and all his actions are justified. I have never once received an apology for any of this from him.

For this entire like two years. He has trashed me and my characters and started all kinds of drama and for what? He has personally victimized me on multiple occasions and somehow I still ended the bad guy. Surprise, he did this to [owner], to [member b], to anyone else who he couldn’t get what he wanted from. Who he COULDN'T emotionally manipulate.

What he did to me isn’t nearly as awful as what he did to others but those screenshots? The ones of him wanting to break down my personal mental health? That’s not okay. I am a human being and I am sincerely a good person. I would do anything for every single member in [group]. And I have time and time again. I love people. I see the good in people even when I shouldn’t. I didn’t deserve him plotting to damage my mental health because of things my characters did. He can’t separate anything and it scares me for others.

I don’t know what damage he is capable of doing to another human being.

i am so so sorry you had to deal with all of this, and i’m honestly tired of seeing how much damage he’s done. i’m just glad we’re doing this, so him and people like him will think twice when putting people through this. thank you so much for coming forward. everything you can say helps expose this vile person.

[thefictionalmultiverse]

Yuru Yuri/Pokemon AU

Ya know I'm probably not the first to think of this concept, but I'm gonna bring it to life anyways because this is the Internet and people do whatever the hell they want all the time. In this I'll be putting down a certain Yuru Yuri character that I think would be a certain Pokemon and what moves, abilities, natures, and items they would have, I'll also put down why they're that Pokemon. Alright, here we go: Kyoko Toshino as a Shiny Kommo-o: The reason for this is because I named my Kommo-o from Pokemon Moon after Kyoko herself. And the reason she's a shiny is because the color palette matches her personality. Also, her personality does match the fierce tenacious nature of dragons from folklore. Kommo-o also likes to dance just like Kyoko likes to do. Kyoko's moves would be: Clanging Scales, Sky Uppercut, Flash Cannon, and Dragon Dance Kyoko's ability would be: Bulletproof Kyoko's item would be: Roseli Berry Kyoko's nature would be: Impish Sakurako Oomuro as a Shiny Salazzle: The reason for this one is also because I named my Salazzle from Pokemon Moon after Sakurako herself. The reason she's a shiny is because the white pallet matches her personality more than the black pallet. Her personality also matches the sly, mischievous, sneaky, and scheming habits of Salazzle. Sakurako's moves would be: Flamethrower, Dragon Pulse, Toxic, and Nasty Plot Sakurako's ability would be: Corrosion Sakurako's item would be: Shuca Berry Sakurako's nature would be: Impish Ayano Sugiura as a Tsareena: Tsareena has a high class nature and it looks like it tries its best to seem proper and neat much like Ayano. They also both seem to have a bit of an attitude and don't take most things so nonchalant. Also, if I ever get Pokemon Sun then I'll probably name my Tsareena after her. Ayano's moves would be: Trop Kick, Acrobatics, High Jump Kick, and Synthesis Ayano's ability would be: Leaf Guard Ayano's item would be: Sitrus Berry Ayano's nature would be: Bashful Himawari Furutani as a Shiny Palossand: I made Himawari a Palossand because she has been shown to be really strong (possibly one of the strongest characters in Yuru Yuri), and Palossand is a strong Pokemon competitively. She also appears to be somewhat negative at times and Palossand feeds on negativity, I know that's not a strong reason but its something. Also, if I ever get Pokemon Sun the I'll probably name my Palossand after her. And the reason she's a shiny is because the black color palette suits her more than the yellowish color palette. Himawari's moves would be: Earthquake, Giga Drain, Psychic, and Shadow Ball Himawari's ability would be: Water Compaction Himawari's item would be: Assault Vest Himawari's nature would be: Modest Chitose Ikeda as a Meowstic: I mostly made Chitose a Meowstic because of her shtick of taking off her glasses and seeing sexy imagery and Meowstic is a Psychic type that sees the future and other stuff with its mind, I think if she were a Meowstic then she would do other stuff with her mental powers than just seeing sexy imagery. If you know what I mean! Chitose's moves would be: Shadow Ball, Psychic, Protect, and Heal Bell Chitose's ability would be: Keen Eye Chitose's item would be: Mental Herb Chitose's nature would be: Gentle Akari Akaza as a Shiny Delcatty: Akari's a Delcatty because its a Normal Type, that's the only reason I could come up with. I can't think of any other reason because its Akari, I could have put any other Normal type for someone like her. She's more than average, forgettable, boring, dull, and is sometimes even more invisible than "The Invisible Man"! Even the universe knows this and is constantly trying to make her vanish, thank god! Okay, maybe I'm being a little mean to her, but I just couldn't help myself. Also, she's a shiny because shiny Delcatty's color palette is red just like Akari's hair. Just a heads up, I purposely made Akari's moves, item, and ability bad because well, its Akari. Akari's moves would be: Protect, Heal Bell, Swift, and Sing Akari's ability would be: Normalize Akari's item would be: Nomel Berry Akari's nature would be: Docile Yui Funami as a Pangoro: Both Yui and Pangoro have violent temperaments and are very aggressive at times. She sometimes gives a menacing dark glare at people she's annoyed with like Pangoro in the anime, which is good reasoning for the Dark typing. And she's been shown to be strong (probably not as strong as Himawari but still strong), putting the Fighting typing to good use as well. Also, Yui has panda hoodie pajama's, I'm pretty sure you're all thinking about that being the reason right. Yui's moves would be: Bullet Punch, Ice Punch, Drain Punch, and Knock Off Yui's ability would be: Iron Fist Yui's item would be: Focus Sash Yui's nature would be: Serious Chinatsu Yoshikawa as a Sylveon: How could I not make Chinatsu a Sylveon, they're both so cute, adorable, pink, cuddly, two-faced, deceitful, twisted, creepy, scary, hateful, cynical, sinister, dark, wicked, malicious, vicious, mischiveaous, cruel, spiteful, EVIL, DEMONIC, DEVILISH, DIABOLICAL, FRIGHTING, TERRIFYING, HORRIFIC DEMON SPAWN THINGS OF HELL!!!!!! KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM WITH FIIIIIIRRRRRRE, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Okay in all seriousness, Sylveon uses its ribbon like feelers to distract its prey and put it in a state of calmness and a false sense of safety and security. But that's all a trick because when the prey is fully at this state is when Sylveon chooses to pounce, attack, and kill its prey (this information is unsurprisingly from the Sun and Moon Pokedex entries, god are all those entries creepy). And while I'm not saying Chinatsu is horrible (hell, she's had nice and funny moments before), I just think there are moments where she's been shown to be deceitful, two-faced, horrifying, or evil just like Sylveon. Also, it's pretty funny to think of something cute and pink really being an evil and scary creature, and both Sylveon and Chinatsu fit this category because I'll admit I'm a little scared of them. Chinatsu's moves would be: Dazzling Gleam, Moonblast, Shadow Ball, and Wish Chinatsu's ability would be: Cute Charm Chinatsu's item would be: Lum Berry Chinatsu's nature would be: Naughty Chizuru Ikeda as a Meowstic: Both of them have cold, expressionless, emotionless faces that people seem to adore, seems like a justifiable reason to me. Also, since Chitose is a Meowstic then it would only make sense to make Chizuru a Meowstic as well since they're related. Chizuru's moves would be: Shadow Ball, Psychic, Power-Up Punch, and Dark Pulse Chizuru's ability would be: Keen Eye Chizuru's item would be: Mental Herb Chizuru's nature would be: Serious Rise Matsumoto as a Froslass: Both have an elegant design to them and Froslass looks like she's somewhat of a quiet Pokemon like Rise is a quiet person. Rise's moves would be: Blizzard, Destiny Bond, Psychic, and Pain Split Rise's ability would be: Cursed Body Rise's item would be: Icium Z Rise's nature would be: Quiet Nana Nishigaki as a Shiny Gardevoir: Nana is very intelligent and has done most things that shouldn't be logically possible in the series she's in, like building a giant god damn robot to kill her students (yeah I still remember that). Gardevoir is very intelligent as well and has done things that shouldn't be logically possible in the series its in as well, like making a mini god damn black hole that doesn't somehow suck up the entire freaking planet with it (yeah explain that). Also, they both have hair that goes down the side and covers their right eye. The reason she's a shiny is because I think the blue suits her more than the green. Nana's moves would be: Moonblast, Psychic, Thunder Punch, and Light Screen Nana's ability would be: Trace Nana's item would be: Gardevoirite Nana's nature would be: Bold (Warning, from here on I'm gonna give mostly minimal reasonings due to me not knowing enough about these characters) Mari Funami as a Pancham: Pancham is categorized as "The Playful Pokemon", and Mari is a playful child so that's a good comparison right, right?! Also, Yui's a Pangoro so it only makes sense that Mari's a Pancham since they're related! Mari's moves would be: Hidden Power (Dark), Tackle, Karate Chop, and Double Team Mari's ability would be: Scrappy Mari's item would be: Eviolite Mari's nature would be: Jolly Kaede Furutani as a Sandygast: I know these 2 are like polar opposites but Sandygast is born partially from children who playfully build sandcastles and Kaede is a playful child, I hope that's a good enough reason for you. Also, she's related to Himawari and she's a Palossand, so it only makes sense that Kaede's a Sandygast! Kaede's moves would be: Hidden Power (Ghost), Bulldoze, Double Team, and Tackle Kaede's ability would be: Sand Veil Kaede's item would be: Eviolite Kaede's nature would be: Jolly Tomoko Yoshikawa as an Espeon: Espeon is known as "The Sun Pokemon" and Tomoko has a sunny personality, and Tomoko is loyal to her loved ones just like Espeon is. Also, she's related to Chinatsu and she's an Eevee evolution, so it only makes sense that Tomoko's an Eevee evolution as well. Tomoko's moves would be: Shadow Ball, Psychic, Signal Beam, and Heal Bell Tomoko's ability would be: Magic Bounce Tomoko's item would be: Kasib Berry Tomoko's nature would be: Gentle Akane Akaza as a Shiny Delcatty: Delcatty is sweet to its trainer, Akane is sweet to her sister (a little too sweet). She's a shiny since the color palette matches her hair. Also, she's related to Akari and she's a Delcatty, so it only makes sense that Akane's a Delcatty as well. Akane's moves would be: Blizzard, Play Rough, Heal Bell, and Giga Impact Akane's ability would be: Normalize Akane's item would be: Normalium Z Akane's nature would be: Modest Hanako Oomuro as a Salandit: They're both cheeky little menaces (mostly Hanako in my opinion)! Also, she's related to Sakurako so it only makes sense that she's a Salandit. Hanako's moves would be: Flame Burst, Poison Gas, Double Slap, and Dragon Rage Hanako's ability would be: Oblivious Hanako's item would be: Power Herb Hanako's nature would be: Serious Nadeshiko Oomuro as a Salazzle: They're both manipulative creatures who have harems, simple as that! Okay I'm not saying that Nadeshiko's friends are her harem, but since Namori won't tell us which ones her girlfriend then I have absolutely no other choice then to think her friends are all in love with her and are part of a secret harem that Nadeshiko is in charge of! Because that makes so much more sense than only one of the girls being her girlfriend! Am I right, or am I right! Also, she's related to Sakurako so it only makes sense that she's a Salazzle. Nadeshiko's moves would be: Fire Blast, Sludge Bomb, Dragon Claw, and Knock Off Nadeshiko's ability would be: Oblivious Nadeshiko's item would be: Charcoal Nadeshiko's nature would be: Serious (Warning, There will be almost no explanation from here on out because I know very little about these characters.) Shihoko Azuma as a Smeargle: They both love art, done! Shihoko's moves would be: Sketch, Sleep Talk, Spore, and Odor Sleuth Shihoko's ability would be: Own Tempo Shihoko's item would be: Leftover Shihoko's nature would be: Quirky Tsubasa Minamino as a Mienshao: Tsubasa is a physics teacher and Mienshao is a fighting type, simple as that! Tsubasa's moves would be: Aura Sphere, Acrobatics, Brick Break, and Stone Edge Tsubasa's ability would be: Inner Focus Tsubasa's item would be: Focus Sash Tsubasa's nature would be: Hardy Hatsumi Kitamiya as a Pyroar: She's a cook and fire cooks stuff, please tell me that's a good enough explanation for god sake! Hatsumi's moves would be: Flame Charge, Flare Blitz, Hyper Voice, and Fire Fang Hatsumi's ability would be: Unnerve Hatsumi's item would be: Fire Gem Hatsumi's nature would be: Serious (Warning, I'm gonna stop giving explanations for most of these characters being certain Pokemon, because I know almost nothing about these characters) Mirakurun as a Sylveon: Because Mirakurun looks like Chinatsu and she's a Sylveon! So, yeah. Mirakurun's moves would be: Dazzling Gleam, Wish, Shadow Ball, and Psyshock Mirakurun's ability would be: Pixilate Mirakurun's item would be: Fairium Z Mirakurun's nature would be: Brave Rivarun as a Shiny Umbreon: She's evil and Umbreon's a dark type, done! Also, she's shiny because she has blue hair and shiny Umbreon has blue rings. Rivarun's moves would be: Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Foul Play, and Hyper Voice Rivarun's ability would be: Synchronize Rivarun's item would be: Darkinium Z Rivarun's nature would be: Naive Ganbo as a Shiny Golem: They're both round creatures with arms and legs, he's shiny because the shiny's color palette matches his color palette. Ganbo's moves would be: Body Slam, Earth Power, Rock Slide, and Explosion Ganbo's ability would be: Rock Head Ganbo's item would be: Choice Specs Ganbo's nature would be: Naive Miho Yaeno as a Delphox: N/A Miho's moves would be: Flamethrower, Psychic, Will-O-Wisp, and Dazzling Gleam Miho's ability would be: Blaze Miho's item would be: Firium Z Miho's nature would be: Docile Ai Miwa as a Heliolisk: N/A Ai's moves would be: Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Signal Beam, and Dragon Tail Ai's ability would be: Solar Power Ai's item would be: Shuca Berry Ai's nature would be: Gentle Megumi Sonokawa as a Roserade: N/A Megumi's moves would be: Energy Ball, Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb, and Leaf Storm Megumi's ability would be: Poison Point Megumi's item would be: Poison Barb Megumi's nature would be: Rash Mirai Soma as a Starly: N/A Mirai's moves would be: Tackle, Swift, Mirror Move, and Twister Mirai's ability would be: Keen Eye Mirai's item would be: Sitrus Berry Mirai's nature would be: Bashful Kokoro Ogawa as a Totodile: N/A Kokoro's moves would be: Bite, Water Gun, Metal Claw, and Icy Wind Kokoro's ability would be: Torrent Kokoro's item would be: Sitrus Berry Kokoro's nature would be: Calm Misaki Takasaki as a Shiny Swablu: N/A Misaki's moves would be: Peck, Swift, Mirror Move, and Astonish Misaki's ability would be: Cloud Nine Misaki's item would be: Flying Gem Misaki's nature would be: Sassy Finally, I'm done with this long as hell list! If you have any disagreements about my list like, certain characters should be other Pokemon or give more reasoning for certain characters being a certain Pokemon, then tell me. And if your wondering, the younger Yuru Yuri characters have bad moves because they would be young Pokemon. Stay tuned for more content ToonUniverse fans!

[fairytail-whathesays]

In my never-ending crusade against Jellal and all who stand for him, what I’m going to embark on now are problems with his magic (”Heavenly Body Magic”). No big shebang, just jumping right in. If it wasn’t clear I like to make lists before, it should be now.

The first problem is that his magic has no rules or guidelines whatsoever. Long post ahead. 

All we know of it is that it is based on stellar objects and what he can do with it, which consists of:

Meteor, a spell which increases his speed to ridiculous heights.

Altairis, a massive energy ball with gravity properties.

Sema, which calls down a giant meteor.

Grand Chariot, which calls down seven blasts in the shape of the big dipper.

Random unnamed and unimportant energy blasts.

That’s it. Beyond basic thematic scheme and massive power, there are absolutely no guidelines presented as to what Jellal can and can’t do with his magic, and he’s only showcased four official spells with it. Even other powerhouses who tend to win the day with nakama power and brute force have rules on how their magic works and what can be done with it. Examples I’ll give are Natsu and Erza, two of Mashima’s biggest Mary Sues and the ones who most often win fights in an unsatisfying manner.

Natsu:

Can eat fire to replenish health and magical stamina.

Cannot eat his own fire to do so.

Is immune to all fire attacks with the exception of godslaying fire.

His magic requires tutoring from a dragon or an implantation of dragon lacrima to use.

He gains enhanced senses, most notably smell, alongside this magic as a dragon would have, alongside lungs exponentially more powerful and durable than a normal human’s.

Natsu can eat other magics and sources of energy to enter Dragon Force and receive a massive boost in power. However, doing so will absolutely wreck his insides and make him sick and unable to fight for a week or more thereafter (ex. Etherion-infused crystal, Laxus’ lightning.)

Natsu cannot keep the exterior magic he ingests unless it is specifically bestowed on him by its user, i.e. Laxus’ lightning.

Natsu can enter Dragon Force at will as of his fight with Mard Geer. 

You could include motion sickness, although I tend not to because it was a poor rule to add.

Erza:

Can requip different armors and weapons with different effects on the user.

Uses what is specifically spatial magic in that it summons weapons from a pocket dimension. As such, it is vulnerable to other spatial magic users who may be able to shut it down.

If an armor or weapon is destroyed, that is it. It must be repaired before it can be used again, and the user must rely on different weapons and armors in the meantime.

Erza’s proficiency with requip magic allows her not only to summon her swords virtually anywhere, but to summon up to 200 at a time and move them around telekinetically.

“Heaven’s Wheel” allows Erza the most elasticity with the above abilities.

“Flame Empress” does not null fire damage, but will cut its effects by 50%. The same presumably goes for her Sea and Lightning Empress armors and her Wind God armor.

“Fairy Armadura” is Erza’s strongest armor in terms of offensive power, but apparently provides poor defense.

The “Crimson Blossom” sword translates all defensive power to offense and requires the user to wear no armor whatsoever.

And so on and so forth.

Jellal has no such boundaries and rules. There is no real logical way to get around his magic, which kind of sticks out, as I can think of ways to overcome even such mighty magics as Gildarts’--and the one time someone did, Jellal made sure to stomp him in the battle that I hate more than any other in this fucking series. However, rather than simply pull new abilities out of his ass like Erza, or just win despite explicitly being overpowered and outmatched like Natsu, Jellal’s ridiculous wins and battle ability seem to revolve around him simply being that powerful and that good with his magic. In fact, he’s not unlike another character. This character is also a Wizard Saint, and has battle reputation built solely around his monstrous power, with little to no established rules as to how he can use it. I’m talking about Jura Neekis, who for the most part is a respected character and who Jellal fought in the Grand Magic Games.

The problem here with such a similarity is that Jura Neekis is a background character. His daily life, his motivations, and what he’s up to at any given moment aren’t really a part of the main narrative--he pops in when he can and has overall very little impact on the story, with the exception of his introduction arc, where he served to illustrate the power of Wizard Saints that weren’t Jellal, Jose, or Makarov. Jura Neekis can afford to be unexplained. Jellal by comparison moves about 400 times the plot Jura Neekis ever did, has connections to pretty much half the cast, and is highly involved in the story (a lot more than he needs to be, as I’ve expounded on before). If he’s going to be shoved up my ass the way he is, he should at least have some established rules and guidelines to his magic to justify his wins (there is no justification for his wins. None.) or else the fact that he can do whatever it is he does will be news to me. 

So we’re essentially told “this character is super strong and wins all of his battles that way, don’t sweat the details and get over it”. It also handily erases strategy, which was already lacking in most of the other characters’ fights to begin with. 

There’s also the problem of not knowing how it is he came to be so strong or powerful or how he learned his magic. Many characters offer at least this much.

Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue learned magic directly from dragons. Natsu in particular is also the strongest demon Zeref ever created.

Erza learned The Knight based on her time rebelling in the Tower of Heaven, where she picked up a sword for the first time, and trained like hell. She is also the daughter of Plot Device Irene Belserion, a witch strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Acnologia.

Gray learned his magic from a woman in an ice-using clan, who was of Wizard Saint strength and most definitely knew her stuff.

Lucy Heartfilia comes from a longass line of celestial wizards, including a historically titanic one who was said to be the strongest celestial spirit wizard to ever live.

Similarly, Laxus comes from a line of people known for their immensely powerful magics and supersized magic pool. His great-grandfather, Yuri Dreyar, learned magic from none other than Zeref himself.

Juvia has magic explicitly tied to her emotions and was born using it. The stronger her feelings, the stronger her fighting.

While Gildarts has an immense magic pool himself, half of his battle prowess comes from extremely overpowered magic that is explicitly designed to blast through and break things, other magic included.

We know Jellal was not a wizard by nature or his own study. Upon being possessed by Zeref (later retconned to Ultear), Jellal gained absolutely monstrous magic, with which he promptly took over the Tower of Heaven. Using common sense, we can guess that Jellal gaining this magic is a result of Ultear infusing it into him. As such, Jellal should’ve lost it the moment Ultear’s influence left him, because he did not learn it or gain in naturally--it’s someone else’s entirely. Losing all memory of being possessed should have also wiped any knowledge of magic gained in that time period--including the Destruction Circles he uses while claiming amnesia, which he learned from Brain while possessed (this is another reason I don’t forgive Jellal--his actions and words don’t line up at all).

As such, we have absolutely zero reference for how strong Jellal should be or how fast his strength should be growing, except that he should be significantly weaker than Ultear, who is of Wizard Saint Strength herself, yet the rules we could potentially put in place do not apply as explained above. Ultear, if she were going to function with any semblance of capability under Hades, would reasonably give no more than half her magic to Jellal, who then made Wizard Saint status with half of that power. Yet Jellal and Ultear are assumed to be rough equals when we see them in the same guild. Any guesses we could use to try to get a handle on how strong Jellal is or why he is that powerful (because Mashima clearly wants him to be top tier) are completely scrambled because so much contradicts them.

Which is kind of a problem, considering that almost every issue within Fairy Tail is solved with some sort of battle, and Jellal has a fair number of battles to his name--his first real loss is attributed to an inordinate drain on energy thanks to a single failed spell he cast earlier that didn’t even go off, and he later “corrects” that by stomping the wizard in question.

I can’t decide if this is author wank, lazy writing, or both. Actually, it’s probably both.

[romancevsreality-blog]

vanderpump rules, season six, episode eighteen: nothing is more boring to me than tom tom

Oh god, we’re STILL in Mexico?!

I mean, we didn’t leave Mexico last episode, so I don’t know why I’m surprised. We enter back at the end of James and Kristen’s fight, and we see Lala and James get angry at Stassi for her defending James. Everyone can say what’s true - Kristen needs to be the center of attention, and that’s draining. They barely even had actual dinner. Lala is livid because she’s covered in margarita, and Lala and Stassi shouldn’t be arguing about this. The guys misinterpreted what James said, and neither Lala and Stassi were witnesses. They don’t have a leg to stand on in the slightest. Stassi keeps trying to get Lala to calm down, but she’s upset.

James is crying on the phone to Raquel about what happened, and Sandoval comes over to stick his nose into things again. Tom basically is like, “this is what it LOOKS like,” and James tells him everything he remembers that night. And much like the nightmare interrogator he would be, Sandoval asks James if there’s anything he could possibly just have not remembered? There’s two hours that no one can account for their actions, and James really doesn’t have a reason to lie. Sure, saying “Why would I lie when I have a girlfriend” instead of “Why would I like about something that isn’t true”, but... you know.

I’m good at this shit.

Stassi orders a caesar salad, a margherita pizza, and a side of balsamic vinegar. Stassi is the kind of person who needs a ton of condiments, a trait I have always found odd in people1. On their last night in Mexico, Jax doesn’t understand the difference between “turning up” and getting “turnt”, and again. He’s 1000 years old. James and Lala unpack what went down with Kristen and exactly how uncool it was for her to do that. Lala says if Kristen does anything to James she’ll light Kristen’s house down. And there’s a gross conversation wherein which two white people call themselves gangsta while one of them drinks out of a literal baby’s bottle, and I am not comfortable???

Kristen arrives to throw herself a pity party with Stassi and Katie, and Katie isn’t having any of it. I hate Katie I hate Katie I hate Katie but daaaaamn, she’s right here. Kristen is wasted and Katie’s telling her she’s only making things worse for herself with her behavior. Kristen tries to get Katie to empathize with her because she should know how she feels, but Katie just thinks she’s lost the plot. Katie, who last season refuses to talk to anyone about anything or deal with her feelings in a rational manner, tells Kristen that she would have been better off just keeping a level head and talking to James instead of throwing a margarita in his face. Kristen is like, “oh, you’re mad at me for throwing a drink?”

No, Kristen, they’re mad at you because it’s hard to defend you when you act like this and even harder when you’re not justified in your behavior!!!!!!

Katie’s not going to lie to Kristen that she’s right and it hurts her to see Kristen self-sabotage. Kristen says Katie is being an asshole, and Kristen doesn’t know anything. This is entirely Kristen’s fault.

Back in West Hollywood, we’re with Lisa Vanderpump and Ken at TomTom, where they’re done putting in the foundation and now they’re putting in electric, and about six weeks away from putting in kitchen equipment. Sandoval is calling Lisa with whatever stupid idea he has today. It’s 11:32 AM, and Tom Sandoval pretends he came to Mexico to do research on mezcal. He’s also hoping that The Gang will be able to come over to see what’s happening with TomTom with a “Progress Party”. Lisa doesn’t care if she doesn’t have to work. He tells Lisa about James and Kristen possibly hooking up, and even Lisa’s like “oh, dear god, no.”

Jax calls the only woman who’s ever paid any attention to him because he’s paying her to, Kelsey, his reiki master. He ships Brittany off to do her makeup in another room, which is literally the most suspect. Boy, what kind of conversation are you having that you need me to pack up my entire battle station and go to my friend’s room to get ready?! There’s the very end of that story, in my humble opinion. Brittany doesn’t know what reiki is and basically is like “What can she do that weed can’t?”

Brittany, if you have to ask, you definitely already know the answer.

Kelsey wants to make sure that Jax is taking moments for himself, but he isn’t. He feels personally attacked by all of this. Kelsey does give the advice that “if I react, that means that I believe a part of what they’re saying is true.” Damn, Kelsey. You read Jax to filth. She wants him to focus on the good and tells him to be Nelson Mandela, someone Jax pretends to know. Nelson Mandela is from “Africa”, according to Jax Taylor, who literally used to walk across Pangea. Jax tells Kelsey he loves her(?????) and they hang up.

I’m barfing, oh my god.

They’re all packing and ready to leave Mexico, and Kristen’s mostly upset she can’t leave it all in Mexico and has to bring it back home with her. What a struggle, Kristen.

She goes with Carter, a human pair of manicured eyebrows, to dinner and talk about the Mexico trip. Kristen’s glad she went even though it was just “fine”. She tells Carter about the “rumor” James “created”, trickle-truthing the story the entire way through. Kristen apologizes because she knows being alone with James is a problem for her - she already cheated on Carter with him when they first started dating. For her to put herself in that scenario is stupid. She’s stupid for that. She’ll never live down fucking James on top of her Beemer, and no one will let her live that down. Her credibility is shot, and she understands that.

Everyone’s back at work! Scheana, Lala, and Ariana are back at Sexy Unique Restaurant, and Lisa Vanderpump has arrived in her piratey best to berate Lala for over inflating her lips with that Kylie Jenner lip sucker thing that was all the rage last summer. Lisa asks Lala how Mexico was, and Lala makes a running list of who got yelled at - Jax, Sandoval, Schwartz, Kristen, James. Lisa can’t believe they’ve all discovered that Jax is a piece of shit, and she really can’t believe that Jax is trying to whisk Brittany away after everything he’s done. Lisa’s thrilled by the idea of Jax leaving but also thinks it’s a load of shit, because Jax is a liar.

James is bringing all of his See You Next Turn Up Tuesday (SYNTUT) equipment in and somehow Raquel is carrying something despite her arms being made of blown-up plastic. James hopes no one is going to fuck with him that night, and has come to the full conclusion that whatever happened in Mexico with the boys was a dumb joke that didn’t need to be escalated to the level it was. Raquel just stands there and James talks at her about what’s true and what’s not true with James.

Meanwhile, Jax and Brittany are heading back to Sexy Unique Restaurant in the car drove when Jax was 16 and just learning to drive. Jax can’t not think about “the job” in Florida, and Brittany begs him to think about her and how this will effect her. She wants him to think everything through and he keeps being like “this is a great opportunity.” In their silences and pauses they’re both asking each other for what they want. She’s been there two years and moved there for him and she’s not sure if she just wants to uproot her life once she’s just getting comfortable. He passively aggressively asks if Brittany’s boyfriend Daddy Bae Adam is going to be there, and Brittany just wants him to get over it. He’s a nice guy. I’m biased because he’s Daddy Bae and and Jax is Daddy Bone, aka a skeleton who should be dead underground. She is happy that Jax sounds jealous2, which means Scheana’s plan worked. She didn’t want to break Jax and Brittany up, she just wanted to rattle him a bit.

Scheana, coming in with the low-key brilliance3.

Katie and Tom are standing in their tiny kitchen and Tom’s trying to decide what to eat. Stassi’s on her way over wearing a white tube top, and Katie’s planning her relaunch of her blog party. She wants to cater to influencers, or whatever it is for a blog that hasn’t been updated in over a year. They bring up Kristen, and everyone acknowledges that Kristen blew it all out of proportion. Tom thinks it was a “just the tip” scenario, and let’s be completely honest:

DJ James Kennedy, Esq. definitely has his own personal struggles with whiskey dick, am I wrong or am I right? And if he was drinking as heavily as they portray it, there ain’t no way anything happened between Kristen and James, because there’s no way it could have happened. I had enough frat boy sex in college to know this to be true.

Stassi almost thinks it happened with James and Kristen because of how hard Kristen is denying any of this happened. Stassi then tells us what she would do if Patrick cheated on her, and it reminds me so clearly of why she and I are the same person, and why I get so disappointed by her:

If she caught Patrick in Mexico with an ex-girlfriend, she would start planning a murder that would happen two years from now so she wouldn’t get caught

She would get some tinfoil and would make a little cone, put water in it, freeze it, make an ice pick, stab both of them, then let it melt, crinkle up the tinfoil, throw it away, and no one would ever be the wiser.

These. Are Two Things. I Have Said. Aloud. To Other People. About How I Like To Commit Revenge4.

At Sexy Unique Restaurant, Lisa Vanderpump immediately enters the bar like, “Where’s the Vanderpump Rose?” She has to shill whenever possible, even in her own god damn restaurant. Scheana’s celebrating her divorce and she and Rob are even considering buying a house together! She definitely knows he’s secure because she talked at him about the idea of having children. She’s been divorced six days, so he better get TO IT.

She tells Lisa about her plan to fuck with Jax, and Lisa’s glad that at least Scheana admitted she wanted to fuck with Jax. Lisa tells her that’s not the wisest path to go, but Scheana is very biblical and believes in an eye-for-an-eye. It’ll go well for her.

Montage of our beloved cast pretending they actually work at this restaurant ensues.

Lala took the early cut and gave up on money just to hang out at See You Next Turn Up Tuesday with James. Daddy Bae Adam arrives, wearing a Daddy Bae Outfit5, and Bloated Corpse That Inspired Daniel Radcliffe In That Movie Where He Had To Portray A Bloated Corpse Jax Taylor goes to confront him about something Adam really was barely involved in. Jax, who definitely shows up to work when he’s not scheduled to work for free drinks, doesn’t understand why Adam is there when he’s not scheduled to be. Jax is like, “oh, you have a crush on my girlfriend?”

Jax is so coked out, it’s amazing. Adam flat out denies having a crush on Brittany, just that Scheana invited him out when Adam was hanging out with Jax at his apartment. So Adam left Jax and his friends to go hang out with Scheana, NBD. Jax tries to pull the “you’re in my home, you’re a friend, you should have told me.” Adam’s literally like “I’m not getting in the middl-” and Jax is like “SCHEANA’S A MESS, RIGHT? Divorced, pissing on dudes who don’t want hers’ legs’, what a disaster.”

At least Jax apologizes for this nothing burger of an argument. Adam is not who his anger should be towards. It should be inward.

At See You Next Turn Up Tuesday, Ariana is fully prepared to The Bartender Hustle. She’s up on the bar, pouring shots into people’s mouths, looking snatched as hell, ready to get enough money to Indecent Proposal herself. I hope to one day have enough physical cash to roll around in a bed of it. Tom is DTF, and I don’t… blame… him. I am devastatingly homosexual. Scheana, Katie, and Brittany are off the clock, and they’re taking shots at the bar. Jax tells Brittany about Scheana trying to hook Adam up with Brittany, and Brittany’s like, “okay, she shouldn’t have done that,” and Jax is mostly upset that she doesn’t care. “Like, is that okay? She’s trying to set you up with someone else while that person is in my house?”

It’s not a big deal, Jax. Nothing happened, so it’s not like it matters. Brittany keeps reminding him that they work there, he needs to calm down, and she didn’t do anything. Jax expects Brittany to say something to Scheana about it, and Brittany refuses because - yeah, it’s not her problem.

Ariana sits with James and asks him about the Mysterious Pillow Arrangement that Jax considers the smoking gun in the The Case Of Banging The DJ. James insists that it’s nothing - he asked Jax for pillows so he could sleep next to the pool. I can’t imagine being drunk enough that I would want to risk passing out and rolling into a pool, but these people are not Einsteins. The story from Jax is completely different than the one told by James - according to James, Kristen was on her phone, listening to Fleetwood Mac, and Schwartz was being a drunk babbler. I mean, this sounds more accurate, and something I can actually visualize. James still maintains that this was Jax’s attempt to defect from his own behavior. I’m not sure if I buy into that entire theory, but it has more weight than Jax’s does, for sure.

Jax comes to join them and sits down with Scheana. He tries for five seconds to pretend to be nice, but immediately is like “you’re my friend, you brought him into my home, and you tried to set her up with him?” Scheana continues to be like “It wasn’t a set up.”6 Scheana wanted to boost Brittany’s confidence and even give a look into the life she could have without him. Everyone tells Jax he fucked up and he doesn’t have an argument here.

Isn’t Jax on the clock? Find me a bar that would let a bartender leave for this long on a busy Tuesday night.

Jax comes over to James and compliments him on the night, and James isn’t having any of it. Meanwhile, Lala’s literally just standing there making the “make it rain” motion, and I’m crying laughing at Lala. James is mad that Jax perpetuated the rumor with Kristen, and Jax keeps being like, “Oh, can I talk about the people I fucked and then be like, oh, I was drunk!” You do that, Jax. You actually do that. Lala keeps interjecting because Jax really ain’t shit for this one.

Jax is mad this all turning around on him, but that’s the way it should be. Ken and Lisa come in and Jax is so coked-out and so laser-focused, he doesn’t even see his bosses enter. Lala refuses to continue the argument while Ken and Lisa are around, and Lisa is like, “Jax, you haven’t even acknowledged me.”

It’s like the etiquette classes Jax took in 1875 meant nothing.

As soon as Lisa does this, Jax flips out. He’s tired of everyone holding him accountable, or what he calls “flipping the script”. He’s mad his plans to deflect away from his behavior aren’t working this season, and that’s massively unacceptable to him. He gives a double-middle-finger fuck you to all of the Sexy Unique Restaurant staff, and flips out to Lisa’s face because of what happened. In front of the bar. Where he works.

Again, why does Jax have a job?! He’s screaming at his boss about his own behavior in front of the bar where he is a bartender!!!!! Ken rightfully steps up and tells him no, he can’t talk to Lisa alone, because Jax is screaming and Ken doesn’t want him screaming at his wife. Lisa has no interest in what Jax has to tell her. And in response, Jax stands at the host podium with his middle finger up. Lisa calls him arrogant and says he’s acting like a baby.

Jax: “You’re not listening to me.” Lisa: “I am listening, I just don’t like what I’m hearing.”

Lisa. Vanderpump. Won. This. Argument. I’m saving this line in my back pocket.

Lisa tells Jax to leave, and he refuses to leave. He says its unfair, and even with Sandoval steps in, Jax still doesn’t understand… well, Jax isn’t making any kind of sense.

Jax storms off because for once he can’t charm his way out of a scenario - he’s outnumbered on everything he tries to start. Jax throws his mic on the ground, looks directly at the camera, and throws a tantrum on the streets of West Hollywood. He looked directly at the camera in that way that says “oh my god, my narrative isn’t working the way I wanted it to.” Or even, “oh my god, you guys SAID I would be the hero this season.” This is anger that’s projected elsewhere.

Next Time: Katie’s... Pamper and Potty party? Lala loves balls in her mouth, so does Raquel. James is so proud Raquel can fit both of his balls in her mouth like that isn’t an indicator of a small appendage. Carter’s pissed at Jax and Tom Sandoval, and Sandoval still thinks something happened. Brittany tells Jax his behavior wasn’t okay, and Jax still is determined to defend himself. Stassi feels (correctly) that Brittany is wasting her best years on Jax, but Brittany’s still optimistic, so that’s why Jax is going to try to get Brittany to break up with him.

Random Assessments from the Desk of Amanda: - Conspiracy: Kristen and Schwartz hooked up. - Holy shit, Lisa’s face when Lala told Brittany about Jax’s “job”. She was actually horrified at the entire notion. - Jax trying to assert his masculinity to be taller than Adam and having it backfire on him will sustain me for the rest of time. - Jax hates himself, hates this show, hates Brittany, hates Sexy Unique Restaurant, hates his entire life, and he knew what his edit would be this season, hence his coked-out tantrum in this episode. - I miss Suck A Dick Diana. - Lala, don’t use “Ghetto” as an insult while you’re calling yourself Tupac come back from the grave. Systemic and casual racism is real. - Katie is being so calculated with her behavior this season. She really got fucked up from last season.

Then again if you forget my honey mustard, barbecue, and ranch with my chicken tenders I will rip your head off. ↩︎

Imagine your boyfriend showing you absolutely no kind of emotion to the point where you’re happy he’s jealous. Imagine. Rachel Bloom got it right when she talked about love kernels]. ↩︎

Like, the lowest key. Of all the low keys. We’re talking 16.5 Hz. ↩︎

Being a Cancer is so fucking real, I cannot. ↩︎

Seriously - a guy in a backwards cap and a denim jacket does it for ya girl. Daddy Baaaae. ↩︎

I love that Jax is like, “Scheana can’t tell me what to do in relationships, she’s divorced.” It doesn’t take a relationship expert to know that you’re a disaster in relationships, and honestly, yeah - a divorced person SHOULD know what relationship behaviors aren’t okay, because they’re divorced. He thinks he’s so smart. ↩︎