#i hear international adoption and turn violent i hope you get whats coming to you someday

[sudaca-swag]

international adoption is so fucked up??people from powerful countries buy a kid bc they refuse to go through normal, legal ways inside their own country and they take advantage of a weaker country (4 out of 5 times debilitated by said powerful country), then they uproot a kid and erase their entire identity and raise them in a hostile environment to their "otherness", and THEN demand they be seen as saviours bc somehow only ppl from powerful countries want to go through adoption, and they somehow couldnt get a child through the legal process in their own country (i wonder why...) You're not parents youre kidnappers

[cerberus253]

Okay.. but what if drago met someone he would see as a sibling and have a platonic bond? Like- a shark hybrid person or a orca hybrid?

Honestly, drago deserves more love, but also affection, and would be funny see he have a sibling dynamic with a orca hybrid or shark, cause it could possibly make the other demon sorcerers have flash backs to when they were possibly younger^^

(Also, please rest and take your time to answer this if you want, i love your headcanons and i starving for more, and i hope i not bothering you;-;)

I’ve already answered a question similar to this one a while back https://www.tumblr.com/cerberus253/630723361668022272/how-do-you-think-drago-would-react-if-he-found-out

As with the “part shark or orca” part, Drago would not only hate but fear the water now. Definitely would be hearing the “Jaws” theme in his head if he knew his Sibling was around and he was in water.

Groudon VS Kyogre. Shendu would be Rayquaza because he constantly needs to break their fights up.

On a serious note, Drago and their Sibling would fight over just about everything, especially their father's affection. However, between the two, I think Shendu would always pick Drago because of the Fire alignment.

Obviously they would both be abused by Shendu, with Drago being pushed to his limit power-wise (so he can be in quality shape to bring Shendu back if something were to happen to him), and the Sibling just being neglected and seen as more of a mistake.

This would make the Sibling notice earlier than Drago that Shendu cares not for them, so there's no point to win his affection. However, because Drago is always being pushed to do better and grow stronger, at least gaining Shendu's attention, Drago wouldn't come to the same conclusion until way later. Even still, internally Drago still desires his father's affection, but I think the Sibling would have gotten over it, or realize it's not going to happen no matter what they do.

Alternatively, maybe the Sibling would have turn towards Bai Tza and sought to get her acceptance. However, just like Shendu, she also wouldn't see the Sibling as nothing more than a tool, especially to get at her brother in any way she can. She does, canonically, hate Shendu the most.

Although Bai Tza would also reject the Sibling, I think they would have adopted similar traits (outspoken, dominating, authoritarian, realistic, learns from past mistakes) as her just for the fact that she is THE Water Demon Sorceress and the Sibling is also water, so yeah.

Water is the Chinese element of rapid, dangerous, and unknown change, so I can see them starting some sort of sudden war/revolution against the Demon Sorcerers out of pure hatred of them. Odd comparison, but it's like "Paradise Lost," with the Demon Sorcerers being God and the Sibling being Lucifer/Satan, who started a war against his creator out of pure Pride and Hatred. He cared not for the freedom of demons and humans, nor the empathy with his Fallen Angelic kindred, just simple, pure, unadulterated, personal HATE against God Themself out of jealousy for not being picked as favorite.

There's also "Guardians of the Galaxy" with Gamora and Nebula's relationship/violent sibling rivalry. Gamora would be Drago, and Nebula would be the Sibling. Would they resolve their relationship like they did? I'm not sure, but it would take a loving weirdo of a third party to bring them back together and, at the very least, take down Shendu for good, showing him that what and who they are are are not worthless mistakes.

Shark

If they grew up together as kids, Drago would have definitely threatened his sibling about cutting off their fins and making them into Shark Fin Soup. They would reciprocate with hand-bag threats.

I could see Drago wanting to make shark tooth necklaces out of their sibling's teeth, whether it be from them naturally falling out or from being punched out, since I'm pretty sure they would often fight each other.

Depending on the shark half, the Sibling would either close their nictitating membrane (third, translucent eyelid) or roll their eyes back, when fighting with Drago so as to protect their eyes. This probably freaked Drago out the first few times he saw it, thinking they were undead. Heck, probably got him a few times when playing dead after a fight not having to do with him.

Sharks do not sleep, they merely rest in an unconscious state. We have seen Drago sleep. Therefore, Drago getting a jump on his Sibling, who is half shark, would prove difficult because they probably don't sleep that easily and probably don't need to so often.

Depending on the shark species the Sibling is, they would either be more social or a bit of a loner. Either way, they don't interact like a team like most other animal groups do. If they ever revolted against the Demons, I don't think they'd be too interested in convincing Drago to be at their side.

Orca

Now, in comparison to sharks, orcas are waaaaayyyyy less aggressive. Therefore, the Sibling, if part orca, would be a lot more playfully aggressive than dangerously aggressive. However, knowing what orcas do to their prey, the Sibling would also be more cruel and torturing than fast and direct. What I'm saying is that the Sibling would like to toy, frustrate, and exhaust Drago first, then fight him directly.

Drago's nicknames for them: "Over-sized squeaky toy," "Killer Dolphin" (not "Killer Whale" because that sounds too cool), and "Water Panda."

Orcas do actually sleep, but only one half of the brain at a time. Therefore, they literally sleep with one eye open. Drago has been seen full-brain sleeping, therefore it would be easier to jump him while he sleeps than his Sibling because they are, in fact, half-conscious and aware of their surroundings when half-brain sleeping.

Something interesting about male and female orcas: Not only are orca pods female led, but the males also choose to stay by their mom for the vast majority of their life, lifelong even. It's not because they are lazy and want their mother to do everything for them, but it's literally because they just want to be with them. I guess it's a social and emotional thing <3 In addition, the adult females, even grandmothers, are very protective and supportive of their sons and grandsons, even to the point of murdering other orca babies (it's real, look it up).

So, if the Sibling is male, it would make sense he would genuinely want to be around Drago and their Dad to accept them, but once neither of that seems possible, he would find more guidance and connection with Bai Tza. Heh heh, mama's boy.

If the Sibling is female, she would be a lot more protective and supportive of Drago, despite their violent sibling rivalry. Yes, she would be rather cruel and abusive towards him, but deep down she does actually care about him and would want him to be free from their father's tyrannical abuse. It would also make sense she would see Bai Tza as more competent than Shendu, at least in a ruling sense.

Either sex, the Sibling would most likely want Drago at their side if they ever were to revolt against the Demons, whether it be because they wan to be siblings with them or they believe it would be better for Drago and them in general, siblings or not.

[ninjakitten1699]

More Oni headcanons that I wanted to add on

to @ambrosial-tea post but I forgot until now!

There are different tribes of Oni as stated in the last post. Aka Oni (Red), Ao Oni (Blue), Shiro Oni (Pale/White), and our Kuro Oni (Black/Dark).

We don’t know too much of the Dark Oni we got but we do know that Oni were originally intended to be guardians between Material Plane and Spirit World when the two began overlapping (possibly The Grasslands/Departed, and Cursed Realm before they began separating). Put a tribe of Oni on the Material Plane for a couple years and they’d splinter into subraces of Oni and become more corrupted by the years. Dark Oni became one of the tribes corrupted.

Aka Oni are the most common type of Oni with their dark red colors, large size, and toughness. They’re slightly bigger than the rest of their kin, more violent, unfocused, and pursue immediate satisfaction, disregarding long drawn out plots and schemes. They’re mostly known for strength too.

Ao Oni are known for their unnatural cunning and aptitude for magic, smaller than their red kin but larger than pale, and have different shades of dark blue. They’re the ones you’d catch calculating and meticulously pursuing lofty goals like power and knowledge.

Shiro Oni are known for their aloofness and connections to the spirit realm. They’re the smallest of the main three tribes and the fewest of members. They vary from pale white to light gray. (They may as well adopt other Oni who share their colors and hopefully teach them their ideals.) Pale Oni would rather keep things in balance between the material plane and spirit world as the ancient Oni intended. They guard their locations but will adventure for artifacts of the spirit world and mend balance. If we take that into account perhaps they are another reason why Realm travel is difficult to Oni who try to cross through the any of the realms involving afterlives.

While Oni have no concept of gender since they have both reproductive organs, they also have no concept of sexualities either. Honestly they just didn’t have a name for it when one didn’t feel the need to have sex or when another felt more attracted to the same sex aspects of their partner. (If anything, their type of relationships or way of thinking would be looked up upon because they felt closer to their spirituality and their true selves.) Again they sometimes don’t mate for reproduction but just for the vibes of their partner.

They probably didn’t have a name for having multiple partners at the time either. If one Oni wanted to be a part of what the other two had and they were content with the feel of them, then it was okay. Plus more hands to help raise the cub personally. (Essentially that’s what PolyGarm would basically be. They make Garm happy, they’re happy with him, and Lloyd would basically have more than two parents. At this point Lloyd would just have more dads and Koko is just the one good mom he deserves.)

The second Oni learn what kisses are and how they work, they find it just as addictive as they do with other acts of affection.

Oni are more closer to their family than they are to strangers because in most Oni’s belief, strangers brought suffering to the family. In turn they displayed their family’s name first before their own, showing pride in them and hoping to intimidate any strangers with ill intent towards them.

Speaking of Oni names, they don’t usually have any but when they do their names would be what positive traits the parents wish the child to take on. For example, a son could have “Akihiko”. “Aki” meaning “bright” and “hiko” meaning “boy/prince”. They could want him to be someone brighter than they ever hoped for. For a daughter, “Asuna” with “asu” meaning “tomorrow” and “na” to “greens” or “apple tree”. Maybe the parents are hoping the Oni daughter would lead them to a more plentiful day. And then there’s the family names. The most famous ones are “Hideyoshi” and “Ishikawa”. We’ve heard of these names and the history behind them, I wouldn’t want to come across any of their descendants that carry their name with honor.

Ironically “Harumi” is actually a name for a female Oni in some home brewing lore. One of her meanings is “govern/rule” and “beauty”. Goes to show how far she would take her name literally.

Shiro Oni/Pale Oni don’t have names, but it’s because they don’t want to be too close to the material plane while they guard the spirit realms. They would refer to themselves and each other as “that/this one” instead like how gargoyles in the old days would. If they come up with names, it’s for the sake of working with others on the material plane, but even then it only happens when they really trust the people around them.

Oni have a large appetite that could put the Pythor and the Anacondrai to shame. They could honestly compete against the Great Devourer and other wyrms.

An Oni’s pair of horns are a sign of honor. No pair of horns are alike, not even the closest siblings’ horns look the same. They all have their differences. Their horn length is their pride. Having them sawed off is quite literally shameful to the owner of them but they did do something to deserve it.

It’s possible that some Oni were confused at Garm’s horns not being there at first but they hear about the first time they grew out of his head he quite literally broke them off and bled for a good long while to the point of passing out. (Blood vessels actually go throughout the antlers/horns in animals which is why they aren’t busted right off easily. Why wouldn’t they to Oni horns?) Come to find out it was the FSM’s hate for Oni that made Garm hate himself and how he looked so Garm had them filed down to his scalp or small enough to hide in his hair. It honestly almost hurts the Oni’s look on the FSM even more but hey who hasn’t he hurt? It takes a couple more decades and some therapy before he finally let’s go of his internalized self hatred and trauma that he grows out his horns and finally has pride in himself like most Oni already do.

So it’s not uncommon for Oni to live among other races, whether secretly or not, due to their shapeshifting abilities, however sometimes they’re immediately shunned when their true form slips out. Unless they proved otherwise to the most accepting of inhabitants, they’re allowed to stay. By then they’d have a hybrid appearance with their horns out, either out of their kindness to ease the others’ fear of them or for their own personal benefit.

Oni that do live on their own choose to live in the wilderness or in the mountains. If living in society but still wanting some sort of solitude, they’d either be closer to the outskirts or deep in the downtown where you’d either have to ask directions to specific people to find them or already know where they are. Hence Mistaké with her small tea shop and Wu being able find her.

As stated before Oni have no problems with Half-Oni at all. They’re just welcoming another cub into the pack and it’s just the fact that they are a child of an Oni who fell in love with another humanoid. Although there are some cases of Oni being chased out by the other race with their cub in their arms and they just run until they find the closest tribe. They’d be welcomed into the tribe and the cub is basically adopted by them.

Again half Oni isn’t a problem to them, but they do have a problem with any particular wizards experimenting on Oni breeding with any other humanoids. The know it’s not the parents’ fault neither is the cub’s. If neither parent want nothing to do with them, then the half Oni cub is taken off of their hands by another Oni who was grieving at a loss of a cub (or the realization they couldn’t have any) or a pairing who wouldn’t mind another. The cub won’t have a terrible environment, the parents won’t have to unwillingly interact with the child until they resolve their own issues or they wish to visit and see them grow.

Meanwhile, those wizards will never know peace again until the day they die, even other tribes, who they could be at war with, will catch wind of what happen and help in taking them out. By the time those wizards die, even the Pale Oni who have no ties with Omega or any other tribes won’t be forgiving to them. They won’t do anything too harmful to them, but they will lead them to the terrible part of the Cursed Realm and those wizards proceed to stay there until they fade out of existence entirely.

Enough angst there and let’s go back to fluff. I bet Oni would love dice. Like not even for games but for the click-clack sound. (“Lloyd. They’re metal dice. You cannot have—.” “Shiny sparkly metal bits make pretty sounds! :D” “Garmadon please tell your son not— Not you too!” “Wha~ It does sound pretty.”)

Y’all know how like adult lions play with their babies? They pretend to be hurt and that the cub is super strong to help build up their confidence. Hear me out, Oni do that too. Big goddamn Omega really be taking hits from tiny little cubs, Mistaké be playing with little Garmadon and playing dead on him, then Garm just does the same thing for little Lloyd. (“Koko, sweetie, help. It’s the battle of the century in here. Help, save me. He’s too powerful!” “*tiny war cry*”)

Someone makes a baby Oni cry one time and boy it’s absolutely over. It’s on sight for that person. I’m telling you On Sight!

Oni can purr loud enough to the point where it rumbles in them like a motor and that’s how cubs feel their parents’ purring. Then there’s baby Oni just babbling and the adult Oni just pretend to have a whole conversation with them. Don’t get me started on them playing soft flute music to help the toddler Oni sleep.

We probably only got a few words out of Omega when they first appeared because we were hearing them through human ears. Lloyd’s Oni brain would click on and translates what he knows while Garm in full Oni form can get full sentences out of Omega.

Oni are willing to learn a different language if it helps others understand them and their intentions. Now let’s just think of Lloyd connecting to his Oni side of the family (since let’s face it, the Oni are going to be around longer than most of his friends are) through teaching them sign language.

They also try to teach him their Oni tongue but he can only grasp a few words at a time easily. When he finally learns the language, next thing you know he’s going to be cursing and only Oni will understand. Some (aka Mistaké) want to scold him and others (*cough*Garmadon*cough*) find it hilarious.

Garmadon’s Oni-Dragon hybrid brain wants him to decorate his significant others and now I think of Oni just sharing the precious items they hoard with their mate. Wait till they figure out they can make jewelry and have their significant other wear it.

[thegirlintheswivelchair]

More Than We Hoped - Ch. 2

Summary: The Daily Bugle drags Spiderman, Tony forces Peter to come up to the compound, and that black haired man packs a punch.

Word count: +6.6k

Warnings: violence, injury, blood, angst...to be honest I think that’s it for this chapter

A/N: OK so I am actually really nervous to put this chapter out. It feels a little different from what I usually do. It felt like the story took on a life of its own, and also...this is all Peter. Y/n is not in this chapter. However, I am gonna have her in the next chapter quite a bit, so hopefully that will make up for it!! Anyways...I hope you enjoy this!

(Oh and this starts off directly after chapter 1!)

series masterlist | main masterlist

——

Still Saturday 

Peter sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes with the hand that wasn’t holding the phone, “Hey, Tony.” 

“Yeah, you’ve already said hello. Got anything else to say?” Tony’s voice deadpanned over the other line. It was sassy, but Peter could tell that he wasn’t necessarily in trouble...yet.

“I just woke up, what else did you want me to say?” Peter said off-handedly. He really wasn’t awake enough to handle where Tony wanted to take this conversation. Plus, he really did not know what was going on.

“I don’t know, you tell me? Why did I wake up this morning to see Spiderman’s name in a trending article from the Daily Bugle?”

“Would you believe me if I said, ‘I don’t know?’” Peter asked.

“Not really, no.” Again, Tony didn’t seem annoyed, but Peter couldn’t help but feel he might be getting a lecture somewhere down the line.

“Honestly, Tony, I haven’t even had time to read the article.” Peter responded evenly.

Tony let out a sigh, “It’s not great, Pete. Whatever you did on patrol last night—they’re spinning it like you lost control, and the guy is in the hospital because of you.”

“What?” Peter said in shock, “Hold on…”

Taking the phone away from his ear, he put Tony on speaker, so he could bring up the article to read.

The same twinge of foreboding that had hit him earlier came back as he read the headline again:

IS HE REALLY OUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDERMAN? Masked Vigilante involved in near lethal apprehension of defenseless substance abuser.

Clicking the article’s link to read more, he was greeted with a photo of his superhero alter ego. The photo showed Spiderman looking like he was being cornered in an alleyway. One of his hands was lifted urging whoever was in front of him to calm down, while the other was gesturing to the heaped form behind him. Anyone looking at it could see it was a body sprawled out on the ground, but the image was such bad quality barely any details were discernible. 

His eyes went quickly to read the beginning of the article:

In the early morning hours last night, distress calls were phoned in by a number of residents of the Bright Valley Apartments. They were alerting authorities of a violent disturbance in the alleyway next to their building between Spiderman and a nondescript man. 

The recorded calls are still not available to the public, but an eyewitness says the man seemed frantic and was lashing out. They said Spiderman struck the man a number of times until the victim was incapacitated. 

When authorities arrived at the scene, Spiderman was still present before webbing his way out of the situation without properly debriefing the authorities that came to the site. It is unclear what the masked vigilante’s intentions were with the victim that has now been identified as Wayne Campbell, who has been known to use drugs. Campbell is now in the hospital with severe internal injuries and is in critical condition.

More was said underneath, but Peter had already seen enough. The feeling of foreboding deepened into a sloshing mess of worry, hurt pride, and a sense of sadness. There was too much misinformation and exploited truths in the first few paragraphs alone for Peter to say it was anything but what it was...

“They-They wrote a slander piece about me…” He said softly, switching the phone back to normal and bringing it up to his ear.

“Looks that way...Sorry, kiddo.” Tony said in a similarly soft tone before continuing, “Know anyone you’ve pissed off lately?”

“No one I can think of,” Peter responded in a sort of mumble after sitting quiet for a moment, thinking.

“Thought you might say that. That’s why I sent Happy to grab you and bring you back to the compound, so we can get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, how about you catch me up on what Spiderman’s been getting up to.”

“What? No—Tony, I can’t just make a trip out to the compound!” Peter exclaimed. 

“Why not?” 

“Because I’ve got...” Peter paused. He felt he was needed here, but with his brain still stuck on the article he didn’t say that. Instead what came out was, “...homework.” He finished, closing his eyes knowing how lame that excuse was.

“Yeah, that hasn’t worked for the last 12 years, not gonna work now.” Tony said matter-of-factly.

Without missing a beat, Peter quipped back, “Technically, I didn’t get to use that excuse for 5 years. So really it’s only been 7.”

“Uncalled for,” Tony said. If they had been in the lab together, Peter could imagine that his mentor would be pointing a wrench at him and raising his eyebrows to emphasize the point that he was hurting the old man. A small smile tugged at the corner of Peter’s mouth at the thought.

“So, you gonna tell me what really happened?” 

The question sobered Peter quickly, making him momentarily forget about going to the compound. He blew air between pursed lips, his cheeks puffing out. “Whatever is happening is so screwed up, Tony…” Peter said quietly.

“It always is.” Tony said this with such sincerity Peter could almost hear the memories coming to life in the retired superheroes head. Tony cleared his throat and spoke up again, “Just start at the beginning.” 

“Yeah, Ok.” Peter breathed out, and he began telling the story of the last 3 nightmarish nights he’d spent patrolling. 

It took 45 minutes before Peter was getting to the details of last night. To his surprise, Tony had let Peter talk without much interruption, only small clarifications here and there and a hum to show he was paying attention.

Once he finally went quiet Tony spoke up, “And you haven’t found any connection between the 3 victims?” 

“Not yet, I haven’t had time—” Peter was cut off by another call coming in. Looking at the contact, he saw it was Happy. He’s seriously making me go to the compound? No questions asked?

Sighing and not hiding his frustration, Peter quickly said “I gotta take this, it’s Happy.” He didn’t wait for a reply before accepting the new call. “Hey, Happy,” he said, adopting a much lighter tone than a second ago.

“Peter, where are you? I’ve been waiting outside for the last 15 minutes.” Happy said in a familiarly gruff greeting.

“Crap, you’re already here? Sorry, Happy. I’ll be right down.” Peter said as he jumped up from his spot on the bed and hung up the phone. He began grabbing at random clothes around the room, hoping they were clean, and throwing them on.

Soon, all that was left for him to do was find his other shoe. Shouldn’t be too hard right? Wrong. He turned over everything. At one point he even stood on the ceiling thinking a new angle would help him—It didn’t. Just as he was starting to get really frustrated, he found it hiding in the corner of his room where he could have sworn he’d looked at least three times before. 

“Ah-ha!” He cheered triumphantly. The victory was short-lived when his phone began to blow up with texts from Happy. Each one getting steadily more grumpy in how they said he needed to get his ass moving and down to the car right now.

So in a chaotic blur of motion, Peter grabbed his lone shoe, his backpack, a granola bar from on top of his mini fridge, and jogged out of his room with only one shoe on.

As he made his way down his hallway, his phone rang for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. He picked it up without looking at the contacts name, and answered, “I know Happy, I’m on my way down right now. Couldn’t find my shoe.”

“See, I keep telling you to put trackers in them, but do you listen?” Came Tony’s amused voice over the other line. 

Even though he had not expected his mentor's voice on the phone, Peter smirked and shot back, “Says the old man that can’t find the wrench that’s still in his hands.”

“That was one time!” Tony’s voice said defensively before changing the subject, “So you haven’t left with Happy yet, I take it?”

“Just getting out to his car.” Peter said, walking into his dorm’s elevator.

“Uh-huh. While, you’re on your way up, try and think through what might be similar to each incident. We’ll use that while going through the info your suit gathered during patrol.”

“Speaking of—Tony, I need to be back by tonight to go patrolling again. I need to be there for the next person that gets affected by this thing.” 

“Yeah, no can do, Underoos.” Tony said. It was said with a casual finality, even off-handed in a way, and it irked Peter for some reason. 

“What do you mean?” He said slightly annoyed as he left the elevator. 

When he neared the door leading outside, he realized he was still not wearing his other shoe having been so distracted by Tony. He put his granola bar in his mouth, and began moving in a way he knew was not even remotely graceful as he tried to keep forward momentum and put his shoe on at the same time.

“There’s too much heat around the situation now, Pete. You need to stay away for awhile.” Tony broke through Peter’s concentration of staying upright as he barreled through the door to the outside.

Once he managed to get the shoe on, Peter paused for a second to take a bite out of his granola bar before moving again. He answered his mentor with a hard tone, “I can’t just drop this, Tony!”

“The media has gotten involved. That automatically makes this trickier. It’s important to tread carefully now.”

“I know I need to be careful,” Peter groaned out, “But I feel really close to a breakthrough! I just need a few more nights of recon. Please—”

“You have any leads?” Tony cut him off before he could keep talking.

Peter faltered before replying. He really didn’t have any leads, and it was clear Tony knew that. He had just hoped that train of thought would work on Tony, and he would be allowed to patrol. “I mean—no, not really.” Peter said quietly, opting for honesty in this moment.

He heard Tony sigh, “We need to be smart. This isn’t a recon-then-action type of mission anymore.”

Peter had made it to the sleek black car that would take him to the compound. Pausing in front of the passenger side, one hand on the door’s handle, Peter started talking, “I know, Tony, but these people—” 

Tony cut him off again, “The answer is still no. We’ll talk more when you get here.” 

The annoyance that had been simmering under Peter’s skin throughout the whole conversation, sparked at that moment. “Fine,” He snapped, and hit the phone’s red ‘End’ button. Opening the car door with a particular amount of aggression, he slid into the seat with a huff. 

Happy immediately began pulling away from the curb as soon as the door shut. A sour silence fell over the two figures, with Peter staying silent and glaring out his window. The other, usually more grumpy, older man glanced at Peter frequently as they made their way upstate. Peter felt the stare each time, knowing the older man was trying to get a read on him as he quietly brooded. 

Over the many years they had been in each other’s lives both had gotten relatively good at reading each other. In this particular situation, it was obvious Peter was frustrated about something, but he knew Happy was trying to piece together what might be annoying him.

“Tony did something again, didn’t he?” Happy’s voice finally broke the silence.

“You could say that,” Peter muttered.

“Whatever he did, I’m sure he has his reasons.” 

Peter had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, Happy didn’t deserve that. “Happy, no offense, but I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ok, fair enough.” Happy conceded easily. The rest of the drive was silent, only the soft sounds of music were heard.

When the car rounded the tree lined bend that led up to the compound, Peter’s emotions did a bit of a dance. He always loved seeing this building. It was a symbol of something so much bigger than himself, even bigger than him as Spiderman. Excitement always sparked in his gut as he thought about what and who it held inside and all the inner workings that even he didn’t fully understand yet. The weight of its purpose was inspiring while also being rightfully intimidating. Peter had yet to shake the feelings of being inadequate when thinking about it all. No matter how much he had wanted it, he couldn’t stop wondering if he was good enough to be an Avenger, of being a part of the moving pieces that title gave him power in, and what it meant to protect the world. He was just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman after all.

Today, though, that wash of emotions was dampened by his frustration over why he was here to begin with. He felt like Tony was calling him here to keep an eye on him. Like he didn’t trust him, and it stung.

After the car pulled up to the giant glass doors of the side entrance, Peter said a hasty goodbye to Happy, got out and slammed the door shut a bit harder than necessary. He bounded up to the door, and stepped into the building.

Almost immediately, Friday, Tony’s AI, greeted him with an even tone “Hello, Peter. Should I let Boss know you are here?”

“Tell him I’ll be down in a sec.” Peter answered, but instead of going directly to the lab, he made his way to the large communal kitchen to make himself a sandwich. 

Friday’s voice came through the silence of the kitched “Boss is asking for you to come down to the lab.” The AI paused then added, “He says to just bring the food with you.”

Peter rolled his eyes, Tony knew him a little too well sometimes. Taking a massive bite his sandwich, he grabbed his plate and started his way down to the lab.

When he turned into the large state of the art lab, he was greeted with a view of Tony’s back. 

Since Thanos, Tony had changed from what he had looked like during his active days as Iron Man. It wasn’t for the worse, he had simply changed, gotten older. His hair had gotten distinctly more salt and peppered, even more than when Peter had been remade after the snap. The wrinkles around his eyes had gotten more prominent, and they highlighted the smile he’d started wearing more often now that he was a father and genius mechanic rather than a superhero holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

He also had a prosthetic arm, a constant reminder of the day he saved the galaxy. When you could see it, it was a surprisingly tame color—a dark charcoal grey. “You can wear it with anything,” Tony had joked when asked why it wasn’t bright red. It still held Iron Man’s trademark colors of red and gold in its details, with a bright blue light filling out the crevices or other details that the nanotechnology didn’t cover. The scars from the wound that traced their way across his skin came up his neck and stretched up around his ear and cheek. Anything else around his shoulders and chest was usually covered by a shirt, unless he was in his tank top fixing his cars, or swimming at his house in the woods. 

The biggest difference for Peter though, was the softness that had taken over Tony. He was certainly still the cocky, confident man he’d always been, but he didn’t hold himself that way anymore as a suit of armor. Now that confidence was worn as a person slowly working on their monsters and ever so subtly finding hope in who they actually are. It was a softness that came with years of therapy and walking through it all with good friends and family. Peter was proud of Tony for that, and was grateful he got to be a part of it.

Currently, Tony was in a basic long sleeve black shirt pulled back to his elbows and his usual chop-shop jeans that were filled with grease and other stains. 

With his back to the door, he was surrounded by three different holographic projections. One was the schematics and details of Peter’s Spiderman suit. Another was a news feed scrolling and continuously playing any news that might be relevant to his search, and the last one had numbers, graphs, and other data that Peter quickly realized was the data from his suit. 

The suit, while being his, and even his own design, was still hooked up to the main Stark “cloud” that Tony had created for everything that held Stark technology. That meant Tony could bring up anything he wanted from Peter’s suit. 

At any other time, this would have annoyed Peter, maybe even offended him. The two of them had talked at length about the Baby Monitor protocol, and over the last 4 years had slowly lessened it all so that Peter could be his own person, having complete control over the responsibility he had as a superhero. Tony had promised to no longer check the data or videos on his suit unless Peter let him, or asked him to. For this particular moment, even in Peter’s already frustrated state, he knew there had been an unspoken agreement that Tony would help. That meant he would look into these details. So Peter let it slide, and while taking another enormous bite of his sandwich, he walked up to Tony’s side and asked with a mouthful, “Found anything interesting?”

Tony turned his face towards him with both eyebrows raised quietly asking the parental question of ‘really? while eating?’ to which Peter gave a noncommittal shrug to say ‘yup’. Tony lips twitched with amusement, and he turned back to the projections, answering, “No, not yet. Was waiting for you actually.”

Swallowing the bite, Peter said, “I think we should get Friday working on whether or not the three victims have anything in common with each other. Then you and I can look through the surveillance Karen saved through my mask’s camera and see if there is anything we can see for clues or leads.”

Tony nodded, then said, “You heard him, Fri. Start seeing if there is anything to connect these people together, and please upload the videos from Peter’s suit so we can start watching them.

“What time frame do you want to focus on for the videos?” She responded.

“Let’s see, everything starting from Wednesday at the beginning of my patrol to the end of the last entry on Friday,” said Peter.

Friday didn’t respond. Instead, a new hologram popped up in front of the two men, and the first scenes of the surveillance videos began to play. They silently began to watch together while Peter finished his food. 

Three hours later, the pair were now sitting in chairs, eyes slightly glazed from the amount of random footage they had already gone through. Peter tried not thinking about the fact they were still only on Wednesday night. They had fast forwarded through most of the early evening of that night, until right around when Peter remembered it all started. 

When he heard Karen respond to something he said by saying, “You said never to call a night ‘calm’ because it tempts the universe,” he perked up in his chair and spoke out loud, “This is where my senses started going off before I heard the whimpering.”

The suit’s camera showed the vantage point on top of a building looking down at the still busy street below. “Pause the video,” Peter said. Getting up from his chair, he raised his hands to the image. With an outward wave from both hands he expanded the image to be twice the size it was before, essentially engulfing himself and Tony in the scene.

“My senses went off, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. It was too hard to tell with so many people staring simply because I had swung overhead, but I know someone was staring for another reason.”

Tony looked at him questioningly, “You know when someone is staring at you for another reason?”

Peter nodded and shrugged, “Yeah, there’s a difference in someone staring innocently, and someone that is staring for another reason. I don’t know why, but I can feel the difference.” 

Tony nodded slowly, and his face briefly flashed a ‘huh, neat’ face before he turned back to the image. “Friday, start scanning the faces and see if there are any that stand out. Let’s start with criminal records or anyone that Spiderman has dealt with directly.”

“Certainly.” Friday responded.

In the meantime, both men were staring at the screen seeing if, on intuition and instinct alone, they could pick anything up. After about 2 minutes, Friday spoke, “There are three different faces detected that have misdemeanor records, none of which are connected to Spiderman for their arrest nor their crime.”

The 3 faces showed up with their records next to them, and it was clear right away that none of them were who they were looking for. One had a public indecency charge, another was a DUI, and the last had the only genuine criminal record for assault, but it was from over 20 years ago.

Peter sighed at the news feeling disappointed, while Tony leaned in. “Friday, run the video and see if anyone stays focused on Peter when we know the whimpering started.”

The time between where the clip started and when the whimpering began was only a few seconds and it was impossible to truly focus on the faces with the way the camera whipped in the direction of the whimpering when Peter had heard it. The audio itself didn’t pick up on the whimper—it being too faint for the microphone—but it was clear enough when Peter had heard it. When nothing could be seen, Tony called for the frames to be slowed down to a shuttering frame by frame pace. 

In the blinking frames that could be seen right before Peter’s head moved, only a few people had remained focused on the superhero. An old man who had been tending to his store front, a child staying planted in awe until his parent tugged him along, and a tall slim man with black hair, suit, and...a silver tie.

“Wait!” Peter blurted, “That guy, right there. I recognize him! I saw him last night.”

“Him?” Tony pointed at the blown up image of the man.

“Yeah, he was coming out of the alleyway right before I went to help the last victim.” 

“Friday, you know what that means.” Tony said to his AI.

The silence lasted for only a moment before Friday was speaking to the room, “His name is Everett Mercury, age 25, born and raised in New York City.”

“Ok, can you tell us anything else about him?”

“Actually, boss, his file and any subsequent information that is regularly available or traceable for the average person is coming up blank. This lack of data would normally suggest all information for Mr. Mercury was wiped clean or is purposefully untraceable in most technological databases.”

“Well, I think that means we found our guy, what do you think, Pete?” Tony said, snapping his fingers together and spinning on his heels to look directly at Peter.

Peter gave a small absentminded nod as he only kind of heard Tony’s question. He was still glaring at the face in front of him, thinking. “Is he anywhere near the second location?” 

Again, the silence filled the room until the AI spoke, “Based on my recognition software, there is no record of him being at the location of the second victim.”

Peter groaned,”Dang it!” all though he used entirely more colorful language in his head.

“That doesn’t mean that wanna-be-young-Keanu-Reeves here isn’t our guy.” Tony said lightly.

“No, but it doesn’t confirm it either. Plus, we don’t know anything about him,” Peter shot back.

“They don’t usually make it that easy for us.”

Peter knew Tony wasn’t trying to goad him. He wasn’t even trying to be condescending, but after the week he’d had, the fear of the unknown and the frustration that was just sitting at the bottom of his stomach mixed and boiled quickly. “No they don’t. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t hoping our first lead might have been a little less vague. What are we supposed to do with this information, Tony?” Peter said heatedly, whirling to face his mentor with a glare.

Tony met his stare with raised eyebrows and a slight cock of the head. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?” He looked into Peter’s eyes for a second, “Are you mad at me?”

“How does this help people, Tony? How does me sitting here with you, finding out this guy's name, in upstate New York, help anyone?” Peter said, not answering the question.

“Pete, this is only just the beginning. We’ve only been here—what? 3 hours?” Tony said, checking his watch.

“Yeah, and by the time I get back someone might already be infected by whatever-the-hell this is and could even be dead!”

Understanding washed over Tony’s features at Peter’s words. “You’re upset I said you couldn’t go patrolling.” It wasn’t a question. He had said it as its own confirmation.

“Have you watched any of these videos, Tony?” Peter said with quiet intensity pointing back at the projected image, “New York needs someone out there protecting them, and right now, no one is.”

Tony remained silent as he looked intently at Peter for a moment, his lips pushed up in thought. When he finally looked away, he gave a heavy sigh, and his hands came up in a loose shrug before he said, “Ok. You want to go out and patrol. Then I won’t stop you.”

“What?” Peter said slightly shocked, “You’re gonna let me go?” He was not expecting that reaction. He thought he would need to put up a fight, argue a bit more. Even then, he didn’t think Tony was going to allow him to go. 

“Yeah. You want to patrol. I won’t stop you.” Tony said lightly.

Peter looked at Tony for a second, hesitating. His brows furrowed as he searched the man’s face. Something about Tony’s reaction bothered him, but he couldn’t think why. Why was that so easy? The thought was momentary, a sparked instinct to push for more information, but as soon as it came, it was swallowed up by the new thoughts of getting back to the city. If he could patrol, maybe he could do better reconnaissance, maybe even find the black haired man himself and question him.

“Uh, right.” Peter breathed out, “Then I’m gonna go.” He turned and started to leave the lab. Right when he got to the door, he looked back and saw Tony had already turned his back on him and was looking at each screen he had pulled up. He had started playing the frame-by-frame video again. His arms were crossed, and it was clear he was thinking and assessing everything he saw. Again, something in the back of Peter’s head told him he should stay, but he pushed it back stubbornly. 

A couple hours later found Peter atop the lone skyscraper on campus. It was a massive clock tower that used to ring every hour with a real bell, but it had since been turned electronic, telling the time silently as it watched the students wander below. On nights when he needed to just think Peter would find himself up here, especially when he couldn’t be bothered making it to his usual favorite perches closer to the center of the city. Tonight, Peter was watching dusk settle over the city, thinking of a game plan for the night’s patrol.

Somehow, the other incidents had happened right where he was, no need to search far and wide. That left Peter with little direction as to where to start, but he still had to get moving. The shadows were growing, and that meant more alleys to hide in and go unnoticed. 

Standing up, he shook himself loose, and flicked out his hand. His two middle fingers came to the base of his palm, tapping his web shooter to life. It responded with a string of web flying over to the next building, and just as Peter stepped off the tower, he spoke to his AI, “Karen, I want you to monitor for raised temperatures, and scan every face you can for Everett Mercury. Let’s make tonight worth it.” 

“Initiating scanning parameters.” Karen confirmed.

As Peter swung, he felt his senses open up and his nerves coil like springs. The anticipation he held for finding another victim was growing, and he hated how afraid he was. It wasn’t just the fear of these people getting hurt. Frankly, that he could deal with. He’s had to deal with it. It was a responsibility of a superhero to deal with the fear of people getting hurt. No, he was afraid of seeing the side effects of this thing again. The glowing eyes, the pulsing veins, the shrill cry that comes with each victim—it was haunting. He was also afraid of holding another person in his arms as they fought whatever it was they were affected by. He didn’t know how many more people he could watch seize and drop into a comatose state. 

He was uneasy, and he felt a little ashamed this thing had dug its claws into him so quickly, but the apprehension he didn’t want was still there all the same. With each flick of his wrist that carried him farther into the city, he tried to think of a way to turn that fear in his favor, but all he came up with was a sour and shaky form of adrenaline. 

Much later into the night, Karen’s voice came out clear in Peter’s ear,“My scans show a man that fits the description of Everett Mercury by the ATM’s on the corner.” 

Peter swung to the nearest rooftop, and upon crouching and turning around to look out at the four-way intersection he felt his senses buzz lightly. That annoying warning was back, and his skin crawled at the feeling. He spoke quietly to his AI, “Where is he?”

Before Karen could answer, Peter’s eyes found a black haired figure in a sharp suit standing motionless at the corner. When Peter found his eyes, he felt his stomach do a flip. The man was staring straight at him, unflinching and unfazed as their eyes met. His eyes were cold and dark, set within a face of stone. Each second felt stretched in time as Peter looked at him. He stood expectantly, like he had known Spiderman would be there, looking for him. As if to confirm the suspicion, a small smirk began to play itself on Mercury’s lips before he broke eye contact, turned and in a few steps, seemed to vanish into thin air.

“What? What was that?” Peter whispered harshly as he stared wide eyed at nothing, “no no no no!” 

In a panic, he shot out a web, and launched himself down to the other side of the intersection. As he landed lightly on his feet where Mercury had been standing, he looked in all directions only to catch a glimpse of the dark suited figure slipping down a darkened road at the end of the street. Peter sprinted in that direction, and when he turned the corner he was met with more empty space. 

What the hell?!

Scanning the area, Peter saw that he had run into a large empty courtyard. It was rundown, with pipes coming out haphazardly from the walls, concrete benches spotted the outskirts of the central space where the ground had broken and the cracks were growing grass and weeds. It was lit by a solitary orange street light that shone weakly at the entrance making shadows fall over the far side and its corners turn black. 

As Peter squinted in the direction of those shadows, he saw a flash of movement in the corner of his eye. Flicking a web in the direction of the movement, he knew he had caught nothing as it hit a pipe with a hard hollow sound. 

He jerked his head in the direction of the movement, and felt his body crouch instinctively, muscles tightening, ready to launch into motion. 

Another glimpse of movement, and another web that hit nothing. 

“I know you're in here!” Peter spoke out into the courtyard. Still crouched with fists clenched, he felt his heart hammering in his chest, and adrenaline coursing through his body.

Peter tried to hone in on his spidey senses hoping to locate the man that way. He felt the familiar buzzing at the back of his head, but the warning felt like it was coming from more than one direction. There was nowhere that didn’t feel threatening, and his mind began to go fuzzy the longer he tried to focus on it. It was like white noise slowly getting louder as the threat started to close in like walls.

In the fog taking over his brain, Peter didn’t notice the air shimmering a few feet in front of him until Everett Mercury had materialized in front of him. The man stood towering over Peter’s crouched figure, a smirk still on his face. 

As quickly as he had appeared, his body crouched and shot out a hand which connected with Peter’s sternum and sent him flying into the wall behind him. After the hit landed, he vanished into the darkness again.

A voice, low and smooth came from the dark, “I’m not the one you should be focusing on, Spiderman.”

The impact had knocked the wind from Peter’s lungs, and he slipped to the ground on all fours coughing. He tried to right his breathing quickly as he scrambled up and got into a ready stance again, saying breathily, “Oh, yeah? And your cloak and dagger thing is what, a party trick? Doesn’t exactly convince me you’re a good guy.”

Peter didn’t get an answer. Mercury appeared at his side and shoved him hard enough to make Peter stumble towards the center of the open space. Peter tried to correct his balance and figure out where his opponent might be coming from, but there was nothing but mental static.

“It’s not about me being good or bad. I just follow orders. You on the other hand...What are you doing to save all those helpless people?” The disembodied voice spoke casually. It sounded like it was circling the perimeter of the yard. “You’re wasting time, Spidey.” 

Peter knew he was being baited, but that didn’t stop a spark of fear and anger to go through him at the thought of more victims. Fuck, please be bluffing.

“Why are you doing this?” Peter growled, trying to stay focused on the task at hand.

“Why am I doing this?” The voice answered, amusement laced its deep tone, “I’m not doing anything. They seek us out.”

With the white noise still muffling his senses, Peter didn’t notice Mercury come up behind him until he was whispering in his ear, “They ask for it.”

Peter whirled around to see Mercury standing right in front of him. With a knee-jerk reaction, Peter shot out his fist, but he hit nothing as Mercury smoothly ducked out of the way. Peter pivoted to counter the dodge, but the dark haired man’s eyes flashed with an intensity that charged the air. It felt like the split second between when a fuse runs its course and the firework finally erupts. Except, Peter wasn’t ready for the explosion. 

Mercury lunged forward, and swung his fists at Peter. First a straight cross, then an upper cut, then another jab. Mercury’s fists were flying, and each hit was made with a trained precision. The ferocity of the attack caught Peter off guard, and each blow was thrown with such brutal speed and power that he felt defenseless against them as they slowly pushed him backwards towards the wall.

Finally, a particularly harsh punch came and hit his face. Peter’s body gave him no choice but to drop to the ground dazed. He felt warm blood flow from his nose, and in the back of his head he guessed his nose might have been broken. 

The other man, barely breathing heavy, stalked closer to Peter’s hunched figure, and mumbled something under his breath that Peter didn’t catch over the ringing in his ears. Then he picked Peter up by his shoulders and slammed him into a mess of pipes jutting from the wall behind him. A loud crack sounded, and pain radiated through Peter’s ribs as one of them broke on impact. His head rocked back into a lead pipe, and he felt the edge of yet another pipe’s broken opening cut into his skin because of the sheer force he was being pressed into it. Weakly, he tried and failed to squirm out of the other man’s grasp. 

Mercury glared into Peter’s masked face and spoke in a low menacing voice, “You might not believe this, but what’s happening is for the better.” He looked between the two bright white eyes with cold intensity and growled, “Don’t fight this.” 

He let go of Peter, who immediately slumped to the ground, and stepped back. Shadow engulfed Mercury’s figure once more, and he was gone.

Peter sat on the ground, clutching his torso, and trying to breath through the pain that was currently coursing through his body. It had been a while since he had been beaten up this badly, or been so taken by surprise. Why wouldn’t my spidey sense work? His pain addled brain couldn’t think of a reason just yet, and his main priority needed to be getting back to the dorms. 

“Hey Karen, how far are we from campus?” Peter whispered out.

“You are currently 2 miles away.” The AI responded.

“Great,” He said a little high pitched, “I can do that. No problem.”

Shakily, he stood up and raised his arm to shoot out a web. The broken rib screamed in protest, but gritting his teeth against the pain, Peter shot and pulled himself into the air. 

He must have blacked out as he swung back because Peter would not have been able to tell anyone how he managed to make it back to his dorm room that night. All he remembered was waking up on the floor during the very early hours of the day with Ned shaking him awake.

“Pete. Peter! You gotta wake up!” Ned’s voice was full of worry. 

He groaned as his friend continued shaking him. He reached up his hand and swatted clumsily at the arm connected to the hand shaking his shoulder.

“Oh, thank god,” Ned sighed, “Dude, you’re a fucking mess. What the hell did you do tonight?”

Peter couldn’t form coherent thoughts just yet with the pain and disorientation his injuries were causing him, and just mumbled, “Patrol.”

“Yeah, figured that much out myself. I meant what happened to you?”

“Everett Mercury.” Peter said briefly, still trying to stop the spinning in his head.

“Whose that?” Ned asked curiously.

Just then, Peter’s phone began ringing and buzzing on his desk. Ned reached over Peter’s head and handed it to him. The screen’s brightness bit into Peter’s eyes and he flinched while making out the series of texts coming in from Tony.

Tony: We need to talk.

Tony: Mercury is enhanced and highly dangerous.

Tony: Do not engage with him. We need to make a plan

Too late, Tony... Peter thought as he felt each injury pulse in time with his heart.

There’s chapter 2! Please let me know any feedback you might have! I’d love to know if there are things you are hoping to see, or if you have any thoughts about the story in general. All reblogs are so incredibly appreciated! 💙❤️

Taglist (Let me know if you want to be added)

@cocoamoonmalfoy @empath-bunny @storybookholland @kassey @touchmethomas @greenorangevioletgrass @emilyparkerholland​

[louiseleblancdiggory]

“If you don’t hug me right now I think I might fall apart.” Prompt Rowaelin because I like to hurt myself and others

I was going to give this a sad ending, I really was, but pregnancy has always been something that hit very close to home, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I hope the angsty middle makes up for it! Enjoy.

Warnings: Mentions of physical abuse; miscarriage; infertility 

Safe Haven

--

Aelin sat on her bed, staring at the marble floor.

She had been like that for minutes or maybe for hours, she didn’t really care.

She only half heard her husband’s footsteps approaching. She only half noticed him kneeling in front of her. She half felt him grabbing her hands in his. She was only taken out of her stupor when his pine green eyes came into view, looking at her with so much love and adoration she wanted to tear him apart. She was ruining their lives, their dreams. How dare he still look at her as if she was the perfect woman for him.

“Fireheart.” He said softly, and something inside of Aelin broke. All the emotions she had been holding for the last hours came crushing down on her, and she couldn’t control the ripping sobs breaking through her body.

Aelin’s heart was fucking breaking, her dream life going from a burning flame to nothing more than ashes. “If you don’t hug me right now I think I might fall apart, Ro.”

Rowan sat on the bed, pulling her to his lap. She held his shirt with clenched fists, her face buried on the crook of his neck while she cried. He was hugging her so tightly, dropping kisses on the crown of her head.

“I am so sorry, Rowan.” Her voice came pained, the words almost drowned by the sobs and whimpers. “I’m so sorry, Ro. I am so, so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Aelin.” His voice was full of pain. Pain for his wife’s suffering, pain for how broken she looked right now. “Aelin, love—“

He tried to soothe her, but she just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. She was crying and she was screaming and sometimes he didn’t know if what was coming out of her were words or moans of pain. He could feel her body shaking, shaking even harder when she couldn’t control the sobs.

“Three years, Ro.” She weeped. “Three years and we never even had a chance because of me.”

Aelin and Rowan had gotten married young. She was only twenty two and he was only twenty seven when they officially became husband and wife. They had been married for ten years now and, three years ago Aelin had decided she wanted a baby. In the first year and a half, it was an afterthought. If she got pregnant , good. If she didn’t, they could try again next month. But months passed and Aelin still wasn’t pregnant, and it started weighting on her. She tried to hide from Rowan, but he realized how sad she got whenever her period arrived. He knew the devastation on her face when another pregnancy test came negative. It was even worse when the tests came positive only for her to miscarriage weeks later.

It had taken them there years to go to a doctor.

Rowan had been internally praying that the problem would somehow be him, that Aelin wouldn’t need to hear that her body couldn’t support a pregnancy. He prayed that it would be him because he knew his wife. He knew she would feel as if she was taking something from him, as if somehow it was her fault and she was a bad person for it.

When the doctor sat in front of them and looked directly into Aelin, Rowan’s heart stopped. And when the doctor asked if she had been physically or sexually abused when younger, his world fell.

Rowan knew of her years with Arobynn before Gavriel took her in. He knew how he used to beat her to a pulp since she was eight, and how that went on until she was fourteen. She had gone to therapy, had crawled out of the hole Arobynn had shoved her for six years. She was happy now, and believed Arobynn was long in the past.

“Sometimes, physical or sexual abuse can cause infertility. You are not completely infertile, Mrs. Whitethorn, but unfortunately your chances of conceiving are very slim. We can look for some treatments, if you’d like, and that might make your chances more significant. I am so very sorry.” The doctor had said, and Rowan could hear his wife breaking inside.

“I hate him.” Aelin lamented against his chest, and Rowan didn’t have to ask who she was referring to. “I hate him, Ro. He ruined my fucking life. And now I’m ruining yours.”

“Your life is not ruined, Ace.” Rowan murmured against her hair. His hand started going up and down her back, and her sobs started becoming less violent. She was still crying, but now there was a considerable less amount of tears. “And neither is mine.”

“You always wanted to be a dad.” She raised her face. Rowan cleaned her soaked cheeks with his thumb, cupping her face.

“And I can still be, Ace. We can adopt as many kids as you want, if that’s what you wish. We can try to get you pregnant for the rest of our lives, do all the treatments possible, if that’s what you wish. We can do both if it will make you happy.” He said softly, and she stopped crying. Her turquoise golden eyes were puffy and red rimmed, and she closed them when Rowan leaned forward to give her a lovingly kiss. “My life could never be ruined with you in it, Aelin. Yes, I do want to be a father someday, but if it ended up being only you, me and Fleetfoot, I would live and die as the happiest man ever.”

She nodded but then smiled sadly, her eyes watering again. Her voice was so low and broken that it physically hurt Rowan to see his fierce wife like this. “I wanted to get pregnant, you know? I wanted the big belly and the discomfort. I wanted the excitement and anxiety before an ultrasound. I wanted to stay nights awake with you trying to pick a name. I wanted the baby shower, and all that pregnancy shit.” A single sob broke from her and Rowan felt a tear sliding down his cheek. He could take everything, but Aelin being heartbroken hurt him so deeply he felt as if the world was crashing down on him. “I wanted it so bad.”

“I’m so sorry, fireheart.” He hugged her again, breathing in her scent.

They just held onto each other for hours. They watched the sunset from their windows, and then silently watched as each star started appearing on the sky. Despite all sadness, Rowan always felt good and safe when holding Aelin. She was his safe haven, the beacon he had been looking for his whole life and now that he had found, he would never go away.

“Ro.” Her voice was raspy and quiet.

“Yes, my love?” He was brushing her hair with his fingers, making soothing circles on her back.

“The adoption. Can we… Can we look into it?” Her voice was a little louder, a little more hopeful.

“Of course we can.” He tightened his arms around her, his heart beating faster. He had been serious about being completely fine with the prospect of being only him and Ace, but the thought of having kids with her always made his stomach turn.

“And if I wanted to try the treatments anyways? Keep trying to get pregnant even if we adopted?”

“Then we would do just that. And you can do whatever you want, Ace. If you want to adopt a kid and try to get pregnant anyways, we would do it until there were two little kids running around our house. We can do it all together.”

She raised her head and smiled, and damn him if it wasn’t like feeling the sun upon your skin after years inside a cave. Aelin’s smile was his life line, and he would do anything to keep her smiling.

He grinned, leaning forward to kiss her. His mouth moved slowly against her warm and soft lips. “Together, fireheart.”

Her smile widened, and although Rowan didn’t fool himself into thinking that she was already completely happy, a weight lifted from his chest when he felt her smiling mouth against his. “To whatever end, Ro.”

“To whatever end, Ace.”

Tags:

@abookishfreak @faerie-queen-fireheart @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jlinez @courtofjurdan @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @ladywitchling @maastrash @morganofthewildfire @queen-of-glass 

[goldandbluesmiles]

Heading Towards Something Good

Summary: Damian, Father, Family and Affection

Notes: Based on this prompt by @just-an-aussie-otaku Hope I did it justice.

Ao3

XXX

The relationship between Damian, his family, and affection was...unnamable at best.

The League had not been big on displays of affection, praise had been sparse and the only positive touch had been after a job well done. Jobs that had let Damian empty and hollowed out. His mother had tried, but in keeping the balance between keeping her father happy and keeping her son safe, his mother had let normal child-rearing slide.

It was probably why she had sent him to Gotham.

When he had first come to the manor, he had been distant from his family. Then his father had died and the emotions that he had tried to keep a lid on had exploded around him.

And there had been Grayson.

Grayson, who had sat up with him at night, even when he had acted terribly to the older man.

Grayson, who had given him hugs and ruffled his hair even when he had threatened to stab him.

Grayson, who had ostracized one of his brothers for him. Damian himself might not like Drake but he knew how much he meant to Grayson and how much it had hurt the man to drive him away to look after Damian.

Grayson had given him unconditional love even though Damian had made it extremely hard for him.

And now Grayson wasn't there anymore.

He wasn't gone per se. Bludhaven was only half an hour away after all, and Damian could not begrudge him his own life. Damian was also quite glad to get to know his father alone.

However, Grayson's absence was felt. Especially on nights when Damian felt like peeling his skin off.

Grayson had always had an infinity for knowing when Damian needed him. And while Father was there now, he had no such instinct. They simply did not know each other enough.

The only way for Damian to get anything out of him would be to ask.

And really, he'd rather just take comfort from the dark.

xxx

Damian might not have had much training as a Bat but he had more than enough as an Assassin. He thinks that maybe his family had forgotten that sometimes, especially during the time his father was lost in the time stream.

Damian had started to silently creep around the house at night and none of the present occupants of the house had ever caught him. It had allowed him to hear conversations and exchanges he wouldn't have usually been privy to.

One of the first ones he had heard had taken place three weeks after Father's disappearance.

"I don't know what to do Wally, it's just so hard. I don't know how Bruce used to do take care of little me- Yeah okay, I guess he wasn't grieving at the time but still-"

If Richard and Alfred ever figured out that he overheard their conversation they had never shown. Hearing them had given him a new perspective on the first Robin, it had allowed him to appreciate what the older man was doing for him and had brought them closer.

It was this closeness that had allowed him to learn more about the kind of man his father was. Richard had told him stories of how in the beginning he had practically forced tactile affection on the repressed man. By the time Jason had come along, Father had been so well conditioned by his eldest that he had reached out on his own. Both he and his young ward had been at an uneasy middle until Jason had finally succumbed to the comfort. Post-death Jason had a relationship that consisted of barbs and retorts underlined with the care that existed years ago. Drake had been different, he had had parents and Father had been grieving, but eventually, they had been headed to a sort to a resolution that had picked up now that Father was back. Cassandra and Father had their own language, consisting of silent looks and precise movements. Stephanie and Barbara were not his children but they both had history and respect with him.

Damian had no idea what he had with Father.

"He'll want something with you too," Richard had said a little while after the original Batman had shown back up.

Damian had not answered him but that statement was the reason that he found himself slinking down the hallway towards Father's room.

Tonight was not a good night. It was the kind of night that made him want to silently scream, made the glass shards inside of him scrape at his sides and made the insistent buzzing in his head loud enough to drown out his thoughts.

It was the kind of night that Richard would have held him to sleep.

But Richard was in Bludhaven. And Father was just in reach.

The door was open. A few more steps and Father would surely notice him.

For a second, just a second, Damian consider just turning back to his room and forcing himself to go to sleep. However, the idea of being alone in his room again made him want to be violently ill.

By God, Richard had spoiled him. He had never had this problem with the League.

Making up his mind, Damian went forward until he was standing on the doorway to Father's room. The man was sitting up in bed and seemed to be looking at some papers with WE logo on them. It took him almost a minute to look up from them but when he did, his eyes alight with curiosity.

"Damian?" he asked

Feeling a bit panicked he blurted out the first that came to mind.

"Father, I need affection,"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Damian felt his whole body grow still and cold. This was not how he was supposed to say that! He looked pathetic! Father was going to think-

Except.

Except that Father merely raises his arm outwards, a clear invitation to sit with him. Refusing to overthink, Damian moved until he was in the circle of his father's arm. Once he was there, the older man bodily hauled him onto the bed. The reports were moved around until there was enough room for Damian to curl up in Father's lap, right against his chest.

"Oh, baby," said Father, once Damian was settled in his arms, "You only have to ask. I know I'm not good at noticing when you kids need something like this and I try to be better at it. But Damian if I don't notice, please ask if you need me,"

Damian nodded against the older man's chest and his father gently kissed his temple.

"Do you want me to turn off the light or is it okay for me to continue reading?"

"It's alright," murmured, already starting to get hazy. Father was warmer then Richard and while Richard's hugs had been tight and soothing, Father's was all-encompassing and safe.

Damian fell asleep as the glass inside carefully receded and his skin finally felt right again.

xxx

After that small incident, Damian became much more comfortable asking his Father for what he needed.

He even used the same line he did the first night. It never failed to make Father's lips twitch up in a smile.

Usually, they were alone when Damian asked. Just before school in the morning, the study or the lounge in the evenings, their rare lunches together, sometimes in the Batcave after patrol.

But they were always alone. Then came the day when Richard was over. School had been long and tedious. Homework had taken more energy than he had anticipated. All he wanted was to curl up with Father and just spend the evening in his company, however, it happened.

He first checked the study. Father was not there. The next place to look was in the lounge. Damian did find Father there, lying horizontally on the couch, book in his hand. However, he was not alone. Richard was there too, working on his laptop. He hadn't called Damian before coming over which meant the decision was last minute.

Damian contemplated just going to Richard and sitting with him the way they used to. However, his older brother looked busy and Damian was surprised to find that he wanted to sit with Father. Not just because he was the only option, but because it was honestly soothing.

Mind made up, Damian walked over to Father and stood by him with his arms crossed.

"Father, I need affection,"

In response, the older man raised his arm without taking his eyes off the book he was reading. Damian ducked under it and ended up laying on top of his father, head pillowed on his chest.

Damian knew Richard was watching them but with the way his muscles were uncoiling, he couldn't bring himself to care.

Dick, for his part, hid his shock pretty well. On the inside, he was squealing in delight but he kept his composure, occasionally sneaking glances at Bruce and Damian. Bruce kept reading his book and Damian seemed to be texting someone. After every few minutes, Bruce gently stroked a hand through Damian's hair and give his temple a kiss.

So Adorable.

Dick discreetly took a picture. Damian obviously didn't notice and if Bruce did, he didn't say anything.

The picture was later sent to everyone he knew.

And if Damian internally smiled at the copy he was shown by Selina...well no one needed to know.

xxx

Tim and Bruce were sitting in the cave working on their perspective reports when Damian walked to them. Tim side-eyes him, surprised to see the boy in his civilian clothing. Most of them tried to keep both lives separate and Damian especially never stayed in the cave in his civies.

He was even more surprised when Damian climbed into Bruce's lap. There were no words spoken, no indication. He just climbed up there and started reading the case file along with Bruce.

And Bruce. Just did nothing. He just let him sit there.

Had Tim missed something? When had these two gotten so comfortable? He'd seen the picture but this-? And since when did Bruce let people that close to him?

Tim himself was rarely on the receiving end of the closeness.

As soon as Tim had that thought, he regretted it. He knew from stories that Bruce had been a different man before Jason's death. His relationship with Cass was good. Tim had been unfortunate with his timing. At first, they were just professionally linked and by the time he had been adopted, they had had a habit neither one had taken the time to break.

Tim couldn't begrudge the man trying to have a better relationship with the child he never knew he had. He just wished watching it didn't make him feel a little hollow inside.

Still, as the even went on Tim couldn't help but feel a little happy about it too. He loved his family and both of them deserved this.

And anyway it wasn't as if his relationship with Bruce was lacking any love. He was especially reminded of this later on patrol when Batman bought Red Robin his favourite shake 'just because'

xxx

Jason was halfway out the door when he realized he didn't have his keys with him.

Damn it.

This is what happened when he came to the manor as Jason Todd and got comfortable. He started acting like a normal human being instead of the paranoid and cautious bat he was supposed to be.

It's good to keep them separate. You can be just Jason too, son.

And that was Bruce's voice in his head.

Jesus Christ. He really needed to get out of here and get drunk with Roy. Maybe Kori could be persuaded to come too.

He headed to the TV room and was treated to a lightly odd but admittedly adorable sight. Bruce was sitting on the couch with Damian in his lap, both of them fast asleep and snoring lightly with their mouths open. Cassandra was also there leaning into Bruce's side, looking sleepy but awake.

Jason let his lips twitch up at one side and grabbed a blanket from the armchair. He spread it over Bruce and his siblings. Bruce and Damian barely stirred but Cass smiled at him and mouthed 'Thank you'.

Jason gave her a salute, grabbed his keys from the table and headed out again, a little more bounce in his steps.

Later when Roy asked him why he was smiling like a moronic sap, he just grinned harder and pushed the other man to the ground.

It's what he deserved.

xxx

"Oh Hey, Bruce-"

Tim entered the living room and was greeted to the sight of Damian, once again, curled up in Bruce's lap. Stephanie was there too, sitting on a different couch and discreetly snapping pictures of the pair.

He had been hoping to get Bruce alone and while he wouldn't mind Stephanie, Damian still had some problem sharing his time with his dad.

"Tim did you need something?" asked Bruce

"Uh, well I was hoping to show you my report but we can do it later. I'll just-"

Before he could walk away, Bruce's voice stopped him.

"Why not now, Tim?"

He turned back to look at Bruce and saw that he was frowning in confusion. Tim didn't know how to tell him that his youngest was most likely to stab him at his intrusion. And the was Stephanie was stifling her laughter wasn't helping either.

Before he could come up with an excuse, however, Damian straightened up and jumped to his feet.

"Father is right, Drake," said Damian, "Putting off work is not a good look. You just reminded me I have a report on my own to finish,"

Tim raised his eyebrow at the boy. Even if Tim hadn't been trained by the Bat, he could have seen the lie from a mile away. Which meant-

He shared a disbelieving look with Stephanie. Had the Batbrat just read the room?

Wonders would never cease.

Tim sat down with Bruce and they carefully started to go over the reports from WE.

As he was sitting, Tim found himself leaning closer and closer to his dad. Finally, he just decided to take a leap of faith and put his head on Bruce's shoulder. Without any hesitation or lull in the conversation, the older man put his arm around Tim, pulling him close and giving his hair a kiss.

Huh. So it was that easy.

Stephanie raised her camera at them, looking at them in amusement.

Tim looked her dead in the eye and, very maturely, stuck his tongue out at her.

The deep sigh from Bruce did not deter either of them.

xxx

Bruce had noticed how comfortable his youngest had become around him and it never ceased to warm his heart.

They were at a gala, Him, Dick, Tim and Damian. It was late into the night but only halfway through the party and Bruce was chatting with a group of socialites. He was in the middle of pretending to find Mrs. Doser's vacation story interesting when he felt a tug at his side. He looked down to find his youngest standing by him and sleepily rubbing his eyes.

Damian didn't say anything but when he looked, Bruce read his face loud and clear even if that wasn't Damian's intention. Without any hesitation, he picked up the young boy and settled him against his shoulder. Damian squirmed a little but in the end, he relaxed under Bruce's gentle coaxing.

Damian was surprised at his Father's actions. At best he had hoped to have some of his Father's attention, at worst be berated or sent away. He had not expected this and could find no reason for it to be happening. But as the night went on and people merely cooed and awed at them, he figured this was just something people did with their children.

He got an image of his mother carrying him after a brutal training session but banished it from his mind. She had done her best and thinking about it wouldn't help.

During a separate incident, Batman was sitting in front of the Batcomputer having a meeting with the core members of the JL. He was in the middle of explaining the budget when Damian marched towards him wearing a mask and completely uncaring of the faces on the computer. As soon as he reached Bruce he jumped into his lap and closed his eyes. He must have been severely sleep-deprived because it only took his moments to fall asleep.

Bruce was torn. On one hand, his sweet, precious baby was sleeping in his lap. On the other hand, the founding members of the JL were still online and only Hal Jordan knew his identity.

In the end, the meeting continued with Batman glaring every time anyone tried to deviate from the subject.

If he smiled at the string of emojis and supportive texts Superman and Wonder Woman sent him on hs secure computer, it was his own secret.

xxx

Damian couldn't sleep and the most frustrating thing was that he couldn't pinpoint the reason. He hadn't gone on patrol and his day had been relatively uneventful.

He just couldn't find sleep.

Damian finally gave up and padded down to the den. He was surprised to find that Richard was there too.

"I guess we had the same idea, huh?" said Richard, sending him a soft smile

A closer look at the older man's face and Damian knew that Richard had a good reason to not be asleep. His eyes were puffy and face a little pale as if he had been crying.

"Couldn't sleep," mumbled Damian

"Same," said Richard waving his arm to invite him over.

Damian went over situated himself beside his older brother leaning slightly against his arm. They sat there in silence for a little while until Father came into the room.

He stopped in the doorway, almost as if he hadn't expected anyone to be down there.

"Boys," boys he murmured sounding tired but awake at the same time

"Hey B,"

"Father,"

"You know what we should do?" asked Father, taking in both their appearances.

Damian was confused by Richard seemed to perk up.

"Pillow fort!" he said

Father smiled, "Pillow fort,"

What followed was one of the most confusing half-an-hour of Damian's life. He hand never made a pillow fort before but he was good at taking directions and arranged blankets, pillows and support as required. When they were finished, they had quite a big tent with pillow walls, blanket roof, and cushions to keep them comfortable.

"Why is it so big?" he asked

As if on cue, Timothy, Stephanie and Cassandra stumbled into the room.

"See, I told you I heard voices," said Stephanie

"Yeah, yeah," said Timothy, "Are you guys making a fort?"

"Yup," said Dick, "Join us! The more the merrier,"

Damian expected himself to feel annoyance at being interrupted but found that he felt...content.

Now wasn't that a thought.

They had just started to arrange themselves when Jason walked in with Duke right behind him.

"Pillow forting without us," said Jason

"That's not a word," mumbled and Timothy, "And there's room,"

"What do you think, kid?" Jason asked Duke, "Should we grace them with our presence?"

Duke grinned, "I don't know about you but that looks comfy,"

"The Duke has spoken," Jason mock cried, "Make room brats,"

They moved around until Father in the middle. Dick and Tim on either side of him and Damian on his lap. Duke curled up across Tim and Father's legs while Jason took the spot opposite of him. Stephanie and Cassandra ended up curled together on the comfy couch behind Father.

"Good Night, everyone," said Father

There were a few mumbled answers as everyone started to nod off surrounded by the comfort of family.

Damian fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The relationship between Damian, his family, and affection was still unnamable. But he liked to think that it was heading toward something good.

[melodiouswhite]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde rewritten - Ch. 61

Chapter Sixty-One: Everyday life

.

“Ah, Dr. Faust!”, Dr. Lanyon said, “You're here for your appointment?”

“No, I want to learn how to dance ballet”, the German doctor retorted sarcastically.

Lanyon mock-gasped: “What, you can't dance ballet???”

“I don't need it in my everyday life, so why would I learn it?”

“Point taken. Do sit down. So, tell me, how have you been?”

The alchemist arched an eyebrow. “Do you want a typically English answer, or-?”

“An honest one.”

“Breathing is unusually hard lately”, Dr. Faust told him. “Must be the asthma and the permanent after-effects from smoke poisoning.”

“If you don't mind, smoke poisoning from what?”, Lanyon queried.

“The Thirty Years War. Everything was on fire back then. Then there were the witch hunts – I can't even remember how many times they tried to burn me at the stake.”

“Oh my god!”

“The 17th century was that brutal, Dr. Lanyon. Don't mind it.”

“But I do!”, Lanyon protested. “And don't act so nonchalant! If you're not traumatised after those horrible experiences of war, I seriously have to question your humanity!”

Dr. Faust sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose: “It's long in the past. And I'd rather not talk about it to you. I may be able to look into your mind and hear your thoughts, but that doesn't change the fact, that I hardly know you.”

Trust issues. That was something Lanyon was more than familiar with.

“You're right”, he gave in. “Let's talk about it no longer. Right now, the more pressing issue is the surgery.”

.

Lady Summers was filing her therapy protocols.

A tedious task, but it had to be done.

More than often it took hours to sort everything into her abundant folders, of which some were thicker than the others. The countess always sorted her folders alphabetically and the protocols and notes inside them chronologically.

The one she was working on right now was the newest folder of her friend Victor Frankenstein – it was one of the biggest ones in her archive. After all, he had been alive for almost 130 years, she had known him for over forty years and the man had a lot of issues, some of them impossible to get rid of. Victor was a complete mess (and kind of a tool) and most of it he had brought upon himself. Sometimes Lady Summers couldn't help but question, why they were still friends. Probably pity and a tad of sympathy – they had been through the same torture all those years ago.

With a sigh, she finished filing the newest of her notes and protocols. She would need a new folder for Victor's case and he already had six of them.

All of her friends had several folders, even Dr. Jekyll, who had been her client for only a few months (then again, he had more problems than most of her clients).

Lady Summers closed the file, put it back into the shelf, went downstairs and prepared to go out.

It was Monday evening, when she would habitually visit the local police stations and prisons.

Not because she liked going there, but because the police liked to spare themselves the trouble of actually doing research by employing her mind-reading abilities. They tipped her handsomely for her service and that was the only reason, why she cooperated with them.

But that didn't stop Lady Summers from taking her frustration out on them for not using their own brains. Really, was it too much to ask, that they just did their job and deduced their cases without the help of a civilian?!

Her butler helped her into her jacket, cloak and shoes, Aoimoku handed her her parasol and they went on their way.

Marie would handle everything in the meantime.

When the three arrived there, Lady Summers gave a curt nod to the porter, before entering the building.

Almost everyone in the room turned to look at her and there was some mumbling from one or the other.

“Good evening, inspector Grumman”, she greeted the oldest of them.

Then she turned to the youngest man in the room: “I see, you're new. Well, good evening, officer Joyce. I hope your wife is feeling better?”

She almost laughed at how the young man stared at her for solid five seconds.

But then he recovered: “U-uhm, yes. M-my wife is feeling better, thank you. But how did you know my name and that she was sick?”

She smiled sweetly: “I'm Lady Summers. It's a pleasure to meet you. Anyway, inspector”, she turned back to Grumman. “I assume you have new-”

“Oh, good evening, Lady Summers!” Another inspector stepped forward and she withheld a groan, when she recognised D.I. Blackwood.

“How good to see you, Milady! If I may say, that's an exquisite dress! You look queenly toni-”

“Yes, yes”, she interrupted him, “words are cheap and so are your attempts at flattery. Let's get started, shall we?”

.

“Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Jekyll”, the woman sighed in relief. “You truly are one of the best physicians I have ever met.”

“Oh, stop it, Madam!”, Jekyll chuckled. “One of these days the flattery will get to my head and I can't possibly let that happen! Who knows, what that would do to my judgement! Anyway, you don't need to worry. It's just a common cold. Be sure to keep warm, drink lots of herbal infusions (peppermint, sage, lavender and ginger, mixed with honey, do a world of good against a sore throat), rest as much as you can and be sure to air the room regularly. But if it gets worse, be sure to send for me. Have a good day and get well soon!”

The woman nodded and saw herself out.

Jekyll took five minutes to air the room, before calling the next patient in.

“Good morning, Mr. Blake”, he greeted the man. “Oh dear, I see the pollen season is taking its toll on you.”

Before the man could answer, he sneezed violently into the room.

The Doctor couldn't help but frown. “Mr. Blake, how many times do I have to tell you to please sneeze into a handkerchief or into the crook of your elbow! It's common decency!”, he added pointedly, when the old man opened his mouth to nag.

This is going to be a long, long, week.

.

“Alright, Sir Carew”, Utterson spoke to his elderly client. “Is there anything more you have to discuss with me?”

“No, no”, the old politician chuckled. “This is all for now. Thank you kindly, Mr. Utterson. You're always such a big help.”

“It's always my pleasure”, the lawyer replied. “Before you go, I heard that you're going to retire from the Parliament?”

“Ah, yes”, Sir Carew confirmed. “I'm beginning to feel my age, I must admit. I'm planning to retire into the country, once I am retired and my daughter has got married. And once that day comes, I would be happy, if you could assist me in ordering my possessions.”

“I will gladly do so”, Utterson promised. “How is your daughter anyway?”

Carew smiled: “Ah, she is as darling as ever. To be fair, it worries me how many suitors she has. You can never know, if they just want your daughter for her beauty, if they truly love her.”

“Well, I have no children, so I can't really relate”, Utterson stated.

For a second he wondered how an old man like Sir Danvers Carew could have such a young daughter (she was not quite twenty), but then he remembered, that Carew had adopted her.

Maybe my own memory is getting rusty.

“By the way, how is Lady Summers?”, Carew inquired out of the blue, startling the other. “After all, she was quite ill used at the royal gala over a month ago.”

“Oh. Her Ladyship is fine”, Utterson told him. “In fact, she visited her father-in-law in Cornwall earlier this month. She returned to London a week ago, you can visit her yourself, if you wish. I'm certain she will be delighted to have tea and crumpets with you.”

“Oh, wonderful”, the older man cried in delight. “Really, that baron was such an animal towards her! She could have died from internal injuries!”

“Hm, she had the good fortune of several capable physicians being there as well”, the lawyer pointed out (wishing Carew would stop talking about that accursed gala already).

“Indeed. The Lady always had fortune on her side – then again, fortune favours the bold. And speaking of them, how are they? I seem to recall, that they are intimate friends of yours?”

“You could say that”, Utterson confirmed, albeit apprehensively. “We have known each other since our school days, so we're very close.”

“Well, give them my regards and my thanks for being such good friends to you and to the countess. And while you're at that, won't you give my thanks to that young brown-haired man, who saved my daughter from that scoundrel's clutches? What was his name again …”

“Mr. Hyde”, the lawyer supplied.

“Right! Anyway, give him and Dr. Jekyll my thanks. As Lisa's father it put me quite at ease to see two gentlemen help my daughter out without ulterior motives.”

Utterson nodded. “I will let them know next time I meet them. Have a nice evening, Sir.”

Then he saw his client off.

He didn't ask, whether Carew remembered, that Hyde was the very same man, who had almost killed him the year before and if yes, how he was feeling about that.

I will just have to ask Lady Summers, he decided. I pray she will be willing to enlighten me, because something about this is making me anxious.

[thepeacetea]

Broken Angels Ch.3

Hi guys! Wow, i cant believe I’m on chapter 3 already! Thank you all for soooo much for all your likes, comments, and reblogs. Your support has been phenomenal! I really couldn’t have done it without you guys.  I am really happy you all like the story! I just want to do a quick shout out to @particularlygeeky for encouraging me to post this. Anyway i tried to tag everyone who asked and if I missed you I am really sorry. Just send me a message and l’ll get you the next chapter. Again, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, let me know. Anyway, hope ya’ll enjoy! Peace!

“What’s got you into such a bad mood?”

The Wayne family were, for once, all home relaxing in one of the sitting rooms. Bruce, Dick, and Tim were discussing some aspect of Wayne Enterprises, Jason was channel surfing, while Damian had sunk into the couch with an irritated frown etched on his face. They had all noticed the change in the youngest but had refrained from asking earlier, but everyone was curious as to what had happened. No one was surprised when Jason had asked the question. Turning his glare at Jason did nothing to the older boy, all it did was make him raise a brow, waiting for an answer.

“Today was an annoyance.”

“Ha, when isn’t a day an annoyance to you? Naw, something else happened that ticked you off more normal.” Jason stated, popping a handful of candy into his mouth.

Damian would never understand how someone who acted so tough and violent could eat anything that colourful and full of sugar. Jason had been like that for as long as he had known him, and according to Dick, even longer.

“So, what happened?” Jason prodded again, grabbing another handful of candy.

Growling , Damian’s mind returned to early that day.

He was running late. He was never late. But there had to be an accident at the main intersection that backed up traffic, causing him to have to take a rather lengthy detour. Racing through the halls, he made it through the door just as the bell rang. The teacher, Mr. Spinale wasn’t there yet, which Damian thanked whatever god was out there. But that didn’t mean the rest of the class didn’t notice.

“I never thought I would live to see the day that the Damian Wayne would be late!” Claude shouted, shooting up from his seat.

Claude was . . . interesting. He was a loud mouth boy, who, no matter how blatantly Damian had ignored or told him off, kept coming back to tease him. By all fronts, Claude was a very likable person and had multiple friends. But he seemed to enjoy courting danger if his hobby of riling up the Ice Prince was any indication.

“And here I thought you were incapable of arriving before the bell rings.” Damian shot back, taking his seat. A series of ‘ooohhhs’ followed as Claude just laughed it off.

Before the anyone could say anything else, Mr. Spinale came in followed by fifteen other people, fourteen of them students. They were all chatting in French, but they all seemed to be enraptured by a story one of the girls was telling. Subconsciously, Damian’s mind assessed them and labeled them all as non-threats.

“Class, as you all should know, our school is hosting an exchange program with multiple international schools. Each school sent a class to represent them for three month.” Mr. Spinale stated. Damian could vaguely remember it being announced. It had been a contest or something with the best schools of other countries or something like that. Damian had never payed attention to it. “These students represent Collège Françoise Dupont of Paris, France. I expect you All to make them feel welcome” He instructed the class, casting Damian a meaningful look before turning to the exchange class. For a second, Damian saw confusion flash through Mr. Spinale’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Ms. Bustier. I was informed there was fifteen students. There’s only fourteen here.”

It was slight, but Damian caught the shift in the new class. They all looked as if they had tasted something bitter. The rest of his classmates didn’t seem to notice it, not that they noticed anything, but their reaction to the mention of said missing classmate intrigued him. Usually, a class would be worried if one of their own were missing. Or at least that’s what he had been told.

“We do, but the last one, Marinette, was sick today, so we left her at the hotel. But she should be here tomorrow or the day after.” The red headed teacher, Bustier, said. She had on a cheerful smile that didn’t sit right with Damian. As if she hiding something, or at the very lest wasn’t telling the whole truth.

Apparently Mr. Spinale felt the same way if the near unnoticeable narrowing of his eyes were any indication, but he just nodded once before directing the new students to sit down. It was no surprise to Damian when they grouped together, nor when a small argument broke out over who would sit with story girl.

As classes wore on, Damian watch in mild amusement as the two classes tried to interact. Key word was tried. Majority of the new class knew only basic English, while his classmates were mediocre in French. He ignored all attempts of conversation from the exchange class, sending them away with a bored glare or by immersing himself in a book. But while he didn’t talk with them, he did take the time to study them. Most of them were nothing special, nothing he would concern himself with, with the exception of one student. The one who had been the center of attention when they came in. The one who appeared to be everyone’s favorite. He quickly learned she was Italian, and a compulsive liar, if you could call her stories such. He listened as she fed her classmates story after story with so many names being dropped that he was honestly shocked that they believed them. No one, and he means no one who was anyone, would ever drop as many names as this girl was. In all honesty, he was disgusted at the sight.

Another thing he noticed was that the girl, was that she seemed hellbent on cozying up and charming anyone she deemed important or could possibly be influential in the class. So when she set her sights on him, Damian knew what he could expect. With what she thought to be an attractive sway on her hips, she sauntered up to him. Latching onto his arm, she introduced herself as Lila and began to spew a horrible lie of knowing the Wayne family, his family, and had the audacity to say that she was an honorary member of the family, practically being adopted by the boys themselves. So Damian did what he did best.

“I don’t care who you are, or who you think you know. But if you don’t remove yourself from my arm and my vicinity, then you’ll have a lot more to worry about then what rip-off brand you’ll be wearing tomorrow. Besides,” Damian said, barely casting a glance in her direction. “I don’t affiliated myself with someone as . . . tacky as yourself.” A slight sneer made its way to his face as he forcefully removed his arm from her grasp.

He had spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. Majority of the students who knew him simple shrugged before returning to their previous occupations. Some gave the girl pitying looks, but it wasn’t a new occurrence. They had lost count of how many girls had tried to cozy up with the Ice Prince only to end up burnt.

 For five, long seconds, Lila did nothing. It was as his words had frozen her. In that time, Damian watched as a flurry of emotions flash though her olive green eyes, eyes that reminded him of a snake. Shock, embarrassment, anger, confusion, where a few he could decipher before they settled on anger.

Almost instantly, her whole face changed as tears sprang to life, hurrying down her face before she let out one of the fakest sobs Damian had ever heard. This seemed to spur her class out of their stupor and rushing to her side as the snake started spouting out more lies in French.

“Hey! Why did you say that? She was . . . trying to be nice!” A dark, bi-spectacle redhead demanded, her thick French accent made her broken English harder to understand.

“Then she should learn about personal space.” With that final piece of advice, Damian grabbed his bag and strode out of the room, an aggravated scowl etching its way on his face for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day proceeded in the same fashion. The next three months were going to be very, very long.

“She actually said that!”

Damian shot Jason a glare that promised painful retaliation as said brother laughed. His other brothers where no help as they tried, miserably, to hid their amusement. Bruce was just shaking his head at the boys antics. Alfred had the smallest smile playing on his face, one that if you looked to long made you question if it was there at all.

“I hate you all.” Damian muttered, glaring at the lot of them

“I’m sorry, it’s just. Wow. I almost wish I could see that for myself, and I am all out of candy. I’ll be right back.” Jason said, jumping off the couch and disappearing around the corner.

“How does he eat so much of that stuff?”

“We have no idea. Oh, turn on the news. They’re suppose to cover that crash at the intersection.” Tim said.

“ . . .  As many of you know, the intersection on Main and Boulevard was closed this morning due to what could have been, a fatal collision. At 8:15 this morning, a young girl was near struck by a speeding Toyota Tundra. If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of Police Commissioner James Gordon, it would have been a fatal collision. We have had dozens of videos submitted showing before, during, and after the near incident.”

The image was then cut to a shaky video taken from a phone, show Commissioner Gordon bolting for a very tiny girl who was frozen in the path of the oncoming truck. The video showed Gordon tackling the girl. The view fell to the ground as the cameraman ran out into the street, catching Gordon yelling at the crowd while barking orders into his comm. It showed the girl had launched herself at Gordon with a heart wrenching cry. Gordon’s shocked face as he held the breaking girl, stroking her hair in a effort to calm her.

“As you can see, the civilian wasn’t injured in the crash, but some other footage showed something interesting.”

Another video appeared. This time, the sound was muffled but the footage was clear. It showed Gordon still holding the girl as someone was talking to her. As she turned her head, the camera caught a full view of her face. The frame froze, giving viewer a clear picture of her wide eyes dilated with panic, the swollen right side of her face, with a hand print displayed for all to see.

The sound of glass shattering snapped the entire family’s attention away from the news as the anchorman continued to talk. Their eyes landed on Jason, who stood frozen in the doorway, shattered glass mixed with candy lay scattered around him. Damian was about to snap at him when he saw the look on his brother’s face. Complete, utter shock and fear was etched on Jason’s face.

“Nettie?”

  @mystery-5-5 @captainmac6 @you-will-never-know-how-I-think @mochineko @sonif50 @zalladane @thebananathatwrites @schrodingers25 @kuroko26 @miraculousbelladonna @souleaterlicestein @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @ijustwannabecanadian @ellerahs @ranger-paladinikoe @xxmadamjinxx @derpingrainbow @sassy-spocko@vixen-uchiha @mjisntme @iggy-of-fans @violentbisexualprophecywriter @valeks-princess @crazylittlemunchkin @redscarlet95  @alexzandria-747 @ayuchan07  @whomthefyck @rhub4rb @constancetruggle @rikku052 @kurogaya913 @shizukiryuu @spicybelladonna @zazzlejazzle @luciferge @mewwitch @emotionalsupportginger @grunklestantheman @my-name-is-michell @northernbluetongue 

[literatehiss]

Promising Futures

Read on AO3 here

Peter and Simon interact with the children in their lives. It was inevitable really. If you adopted a lot of people of varying ages, eventually one of them was either going to already have children, or would have kids after he had adopted them into the Fairchilds. Which meant that Simon had an awful lot of “grandchildren”.

He sipped on a Sangria as dawn began to break, the sun rising over the mountaintops that surrounded the Fairchild mansion. He hummed in acknowledgement as one of the fine young men he had pulled into the family, stumbled downstairs for a coffee and a half-toasted piece of bread. He was part of their space-faring efforts which meant a lot of long nights that Simon was very glad he had no part of. Clinging to the man’s leg was scrawny looking child whose favourite thing in the world was to be flung around and onto soft surfaces at high speed, a chore Simon was always happy to fulfil. And with their appearance, it signalled the start of the only reason Simon ever came back to the mansion for anything more that to store the things he collected.

 A veritable army of children and young teenagers would scarf down their breakfast and leave their parents and their boring conversations to go spend time with “grandpa” Simon. He rarely came home and, between other avatars and his victims, he didn’t often spend time with people who wanted to be around him. The youngest ones in particular, who were still getting the hang of their motor skills and so greatly enjoyed being thrown around, were a particular favourite of his. Children also had a peculiar enjoyment of terrible, terrible stories and half of his antics with the people he terrorised were just so he had a fun story for the kids. With one child hanging off his arm, Simon started telling the children the tale of a young man, his mother, and a journey up a mountain.

   Peter woke up to the sound of his wonderful privacy and peace being interrupted by the door of his bedroom being cracked open slightly. He glared at the small form who had decided to bother him, the child squeaking in fear and panic before running away. He groaned and turned back over, intending to sleep a little bit longer.

 Knock knock.

 Peter swore violently at the door and scowled at his sister’s laugh as it came through the door.

 Elias had changed the damn locks, the Tundra was having repairs done and he just couldn’t be doing with Moorland House unless he was summoned there, so the only other option was someone who had come into his life very recently.

Forty years after he had last seen her; his older sister, Lizzie, had tracked him down and invited herself into his life. She had been one of the ones who had left the family and the sounds of happy children was not a natural sound to Peter’s ears. But she was happy to have him stay over for as long as he liked and was understanding enough about his more “introverted nature”, as she had put it.

He rolled out of bed, cracked open the window and packed a pipe, deciding not to leave the room until he had inhaled enough nicotine to make him feel less homicidal.

Simon walked through the mansion, one of the pint sized army on his shoulders as he lead the procession through the halls. He was very nonchalant as he walked passed the swimming pool, before he chucked the child on his shoulders into the water. He was surrounded by laughter and cheering as the child crawled out of the pool, clothes sopping wet. A wide grin on her face.

He couldn’t help but sigh. The adults, the avatars that he actually brought into the family, had a more detailed and thorough understanding of their patron, but they just lost the joy of it all. An adult sensibility causing them to see it as a duty, an enjoyable duty, but not something they sought out for their won enjoyment. They found joy in the screams and fear, which was valid, he admitted, so did he, but they lost the sheer exhilaration of falling. The feeling of the wind rushing through your hair and your breath catching in your throat. The children though, they delighted in their own fear, in the sensation of it all and he couldn’t help but be charmed by it.

  Peter accepted the cup of coffee from his sister gratefully, trying to ignore the gaggle of children that were peering at him from the doorway. Their mother had firmly told them to leave their “Uncle Peter” alone. Which obviously did nothing but make them more curious. The oldest waited until their mother left for the bathroom before creeping up to the kitchen counter.

“Hello”

Peter gave her a dead eyed stare.

“Are you mummy’s brother?”

Peter’s glare didn’t subside but he gave an affirmative hum. Better to answer their questions and get rid of them quicker.

“Why have we never met you before then?”

Peter considered his answer more than he would usually think about what he said. The honest answer, that he thought the rest of the family had killed her off secretly, would likely not go down well. Nor would, a second true option, that he had little to no interest in their lives. He grunted, far too tired to bother with his normal false cheer. Peter had never spent time around children and so didn’t realise that answering a child’s questions just invited more questions.

Elias was similar if he thought about it.

“I’m busy.”

“What do you do?”

“Ship Captain.”

A chorus of “oooh’s” from the three children.

“Do you have a ship?”

“Obviously.”

“Is it big?”

“Very”

“Can we see it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Dangerous. You’re mum will be upset with me. Don’t want to deal with that.”

“Why not?

“I don’t like talking to people.”

“You’re talking to us?”

“I wish I wasn’t.”

 That shut them up for a moment and they huddled on the other side of the kitchen. One of them ran off while the others stared at him. Peter wondered if he could sleep in the Lonely until either the Tundra was fixed or Elias calmed down.

It was more likely that he would suddenly reject the Lonely than Elias forgive him quite that quickly. He knew he could expect another three months minimum before the man even considered getting over himself. The child that had run off came back with something behind her back.

One of the brats, the young lad, one of the twins, broke away from his sisters and came back over, Peter didn’t bother restraining his annoyed sigh.

 “Do you have any kids?”

“God I hope not.”

“Is that a no?”

“It’s a ‘Probably not’, my husband might have something to say about it if he found out I did.” he suddenly realised he had revealed too much, and he had said it just as his sister entered the room again. He groaned internally at the thought of the second round of questioning he was bound to receive once the brats went to bed. He saw fog start to curl at the kitchen window at his longing for the cold embrace of his domain. His sister refilled his coffee mug before leaving him to his fate as the children approached. The eldest seemed to be at least attempting to restrain her two younger siblings. As soon as their mother passed the threshold of the door, he was peppered with rapid fire questions.

 “Husband? What’s his name? Is he nice? Is he also old? Can we meet him? What does he do?” Peter took a moment to work out what they were saying before answering in turn.

“Yes. Elias, sometimes. No. Yes. No. Meddling in other people’s business.”

The eldest opened her mouth to ask another question and Peter growled at her in irritation. He saw her mouth “sometimes?” with obvious confusion. Peter took a long sip of his coffee and sighed, already tired of this and he’d only been there a day.

  Simon picked one of his grandchildren up and threw her high into the air, he was scream-laughing as he came back down, to only the briefest glance over from the boy’s father. Most of the children had scattered to the far reaches of the house by now, only a handful staying behind. Just the child clambering over him and a pair reading a book on space. They were looking with targetted interest at the pages that were just made up of huge pictures of the stars. One of them placed their hand on the page and looked up at him with unrestrained excitement.

“Can we go there one day?” they said, tapping the picture of the stars. He laughed and patter them on the head as he stood up.

“Hopefully. If I get my way, definitely.”

He flipped the child clinging to his arm over so he hung from his arm, face going an alarming shade of red. All this time with his family was making him feel nostalgic.

He pulled out his phone and shot off a text to Peter.

 Plukas 11:42

How is it going? Did you find somewhere to stay? I’m just hanging around

  His sister had dragged the oldest off to some club, he didn’t know, he wasn’t listening, so he finally had some time alone as the younger two were too afraid to come up to him without their oldest sister their to “protect” them. Though the thought was laughable. If he intended them any harm, they would already be fading away in the Lonely. He could hear them crashing and tinkering with something and the sound of liquid going down the drain in the other room and if he was a responsible adult he would know that quiet children are children that are up to something. Luckily for the twins, he didn’t know that and so they were left to their crafting.

He was lying on the couch in quiet bliss when he felt his personal bubble being intruded upon. He pried open an eye and groaned at the sight of them for the second time that day.

 “What.” he said flatly. They shuffled nervously before presenting him with something.

It was meant to be a ship in a bottle. And there was a ship. And it was in a bottle.

 To be precise it was a plastic boat from some sort of kids play set and the bottle was a very obviously recently emptied bottle of wine. The bottle which he was sure his sister was going to be overjoyed that her kids had probably poured the contents of down the sink. The bottle was also cracked and glued back together, the kids not knowing how to do it properly. Not that they could, he realised, when they were using a solid plastic boat. He held it in his hands. It was, objectively, utter trash and it belonged in the rubbish bin.

He cracked a smile.

 “Good job.”

 The kids giggled and ran off, leaving him and the bottle alone. He felt his phone buzz, seeing a message from Simon. He typed in his reply, giving a quiet laugh, before returning to his nap, his gift sat on the table next to his head.

 simon 11:49

I’m decent, not too much company, there was some good wine

[littlestsnicket]

the witcher: the end’s beginning

Whenever I hear the netflix noise, I automatically start singing Look Away. Doesn’t matter that I haven’t actually rewatched ASOUE that many times.

i very much appreciate how they make this first monster fight look difficult (it gives such scale to how dangerous these monsters are when you compare it to Geralt fighting Renfri’s posse later). And Geralt’s not at all human eyes. The spidering poison is super unnerving and feral looking. Great introduction to the character. (per my understanding of the video game, he absolutely ate that deer raw, when he tells Renfri he’s full later, he is FULL OF RAW MEAT.)

so that paper 100% says kikimora on it. important a scene or two later. 

some of the costuming decisions aren’t 100% but I am a big fan of the set design. especially all of the candles. 

i want to squish renfri’s cute little face! (her costuming is also on point, i really love the specific red color of her shirt. Although on further examination, the fit is actually a little strange? Or the pleating doesn’t read right on screen all the time.)

“more and more i find monsters wherever i go.” yup... early introduction of *theme*

“I killed a rat this morning with my breakfast fork.” Got to love Marilka!

“You don’t scary me”/“That’s too bad.”

(Geralt will be a good adopted father to Ciri, he’s good with violent, headstrong teenage girls.)

Marilka lied there, the flier was absolutely for a kikimora. She is very deliberately intercepting him to take Geralt to Stregobor. And Geralt is just like, fuck fine? You do sort of get the impression that people refusing to pay him as contracted is something he deals with ALL THE TIME!

“I think that makes you a hero.” (aww, Marilka!)

Marilka and Geralt are so cute together (I think he likes people who will talk at him)

Geralt’s little smile when she says “girls can’t be witchers that’s the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard”

Gratuitous nudity? Nah, we’re establishing something about Stregabor with this. Also, it’s just sort of there... in the background, like we should barely pay any attention to it. (So, per the timeline, Stregobor has already tried to prevent Yennefer from going to the court she wants for no apparent reason. Stregobor is a bastard.)

“I seem to remember that Witcher’s don’t feel anything”

Aw, Ciri dressed as a boy handing out with some rascals. She’s wearing normal pants here... 

”Gross”, yes Ciri your horny grandparents are gross.

“Wizards are all the same. You talk nonsense while making wize and meaningful faces. Speak plainly.” Geralt is so done with everything. That’s how we meet him. I question the received fan wisdom that Geralt doesn’t talk very much. He’s just surrounded by people who talk A LOT.

How full of shit is Stregobor? It’s very difficult to tell. Does he actually believe his bullshit? What evidence did he actually have of these internal mutations? How did they die so he could autopsy them? Difficult to say. Also, there is something super weird about how Stregabor talks to Geralt, the way he’s moving and the tone of voice he’s using--like he’s trying to get in his head. Is it strictly psychological or is he attempting to do what he accuses Renfri of and manipulate him with magic? Make him kill Renfri?

“Pretty ballads hide bastard truths.” (Rewatching, this makes me think of episode 4, they’ve met Jaskier. I wonder if Jaskier wrote anything about Calanthe — there are so many references throughout the series of the power of song to change perception of the past, which changes the present.)

I can’t unsee how the bodice of Crir’s dress doesn’t lay quite right and the fabric is weirdly modern looking. (Her face when she is doing the kicky part of the dance--she’s so right, what the hell even is that.)

GERALT’S FINDING SHIT TO MAKE A POTION! 

“Queen Calanthe of Cintra, she just won her first battle” — if you are paying attention, the timeline stuff is actually pretty clear, the clues are all there. I was explaining to a friend that i have trouble watching things that are of midrange complexity; i can follow this and i can follow a sitcom, but I often have trouble following things inbetween. 

“Because then I am what they say I am” — Geralt is morally incapable of rehabilitating his own reputation, he’s too concerned he might deserve it

renfri says “no more princess” and then Geralt calls her a princess. He is SO DELIBERATE with words. 

The violence in this battle is something. The visuals are weird; it’s not torture porn, it’s frantic and horrifying. There is this unbelievable level of squelching and bits flying around, but very little blood. And I don’t think i’ve seen a battle sequence that is washed out in that precise way--the overcast sky reflects the sun everywhere until you can hardly see. That’s got to be a horrible circumstance to fight under. 

I hope we see Ciri comfortable enough to be this impetuous again. 

Does Mousesack know Stregobor? Why does he choose to tell Ciri a story where a wizard systematically kills young girls? There’s no real moral relevance or connection to what they are talking about, unless it is the cruel callousness of fate. 

Calanthe is so devastated when Eist dies :(

Ciri looks so scared and like the world is ending, talented actress, she’s wonderful!

Geralt’s giant monologue talking to his horse. Yeah, perceived fan wisdom isn’t quite right. He talks. He’s pretty verbal and good with words. He’s just so very careful around people and cultivating this very specific image.

“She took one look at me, screamed, vomited and then passed out. Yeah I thought the world needed me too.” I bet he is still thinking about Marilka calling him a hero. 

Back in Cintra... the color has shifted so drastically from the glaring white to the orange burning. 

Geralt is THERE, right NOW. escaping from the prison cell Calanthe put him in. DESTINY! But why?!?

The way Mousesack looks at Ciri when she does the magic yelling thing for the first time. He does not look surprised. 

“Find Geralt of Rivia, he is your destiny.” I should have counted how many times the word Destiny is said. I’m sure it’s off the wall. 

Note to self: Mousesack and Calanthe know that Nilfgard is here for Ciri. They say so. Were they too in denial about it to take appropriate action? Cause strategically, if they knew that, nothing they do makes any sense. And they could not have gotten new information since Calanthe went off to battle. 

Cintra doesn’t have a court mage, and hasn’t for ages. Pretty sure Mousesack is a druid, but is it hard to convince Calanthe to let him stay? (should get back to this train of thought in episode 4)

This bit with the soldiers handing out the poison drives home how scary Nilfgard is so much more effectively than seeing them graphically torture people. (Not that what we see of the slaughtering people isn’t graphic enough.)

Calanthe just tipping out the window gets me every time. The soundtracking is great, the way is gets quiet and picks back up again. 

Geralt is so fucking close to Ciri in this moment, but not close enough!

What is Renfi’s intent in sleeping with Geralt? Is it just because she wants to or does she have some ulterior motive? Does she think it will sway him? They both look at eachother so softly though. The way it is done in this weird prophesizing flashback is so strange. 

“You have to choose the lesser evil.”

Geralt goes from resigned fuck to snarling so so fast when it becomes obvious that Renfri’s posse is not going to back down.

“They created me just as they created you, we’re not so different.” — what does she mean by that? Does she mean it philosophically that they have both been badly mistreated by society, or is she implying that her mutations are deliberate. And she was created, like a Witcher. Not a coincidence of being born during an eclipse. If that was the case, Stregobor would know, possibly even have been the one to do it, that creepy fucking bastard. I don’t have easily searchable transcripts handy, but I *think* Geralt mentions something in another episode about how he’s found mutations to be deliberate. Going to keep an eye out for that. I’m proposing that Stregobor was out to create an army of female witchers and it went... badly and he killed them all off. Maybe he was even doing it to replace Tissaia and Aretusa. This could be a *thing*. 

I am 90% sure Geralt just grabbed the blade of the sword. Yup, he’s definitely holding the sword in his off hand by the blade when he kills Renfri. The fuck Geralt? Does that not hurt your hand?

Renfri’s giant eyes when she’s dying. God. 

So Ciri legit causes a giant crevice to form in the earth. WHAT IS SHE CAPABLE OF?!?

The way Stregobor looks at Renfri’s corpse. So upsetting. He doesn’t look at her like a person. Stregobor is definitely using the idea of Renfri’s mutation manipulating people to turn the crowd against Geralt; make him seem more untrustworthy and shut down any attempt for him to defend himself. Protecting Renfri’s corpse from horrible wizard dude is 100% in character for him. 

Shit. Geralt’s resigned but completely devastated face when Marilka tells him to leave and not come back. And she is so soft and quiet about it too, that must make it so much worse. And Marilka looks like she’s about to cry too--she’s lost something: her innocence, her chance to escape, both. What does she really, deep down, think of Geralt here? Will she lie awake at night wondering if she should have said something else? I wonder what becomes of her. What does she think about Stregobor after this? Her face though, she has to know something is wrong here. Does she leave Blaviken? Does she hear tales of Geralt the White Wolf as an adult? What does she think of them?

Close up shot of the pin he took from Renfri.

And then the clear visual cue that Ciri is the girl in the woods. If you just roll with it and assume things will get explained a little better later, this really isn’t confusing. You just need to let go a little.

[sly2o]

Unlocking Season 4′s potential: a Riley story (I swear this isn’t crack)

TL;DR: I think Riley was supposed to be a LI for Clarke, and Monty + Harper filled a story-line that Bryan + Miller was supposed to have, and that Miller was supposed to go to space.

We know that when the actor who plays Bryan abruptly left the show to pursue another role, which resulted in the parts written for him being given to a new character named Riley. So with the information we have, what was Bryan supposed to be doing in 4A and 4B?

Well first let’s ask ourselves…

What was Riley supposed to be doing before this shift in plot line?

Answer: Clarke.

I call forward as evidence:

1. The awkward hug.

Clarke clearly recognizes Riley, and clearly has a history with him. This is never resolved (and evidently never will be). Why waste the audience’s time with this?

2. Niylah’s out of character return

When the actor who got cast as Riley had to shift into Bryan’s role in 4A, someone else had to shift into what had originally been carved out as the Riley role. Hence the return of Niylah.

Why on Earth would Niylah want to climb into bed (so to speak) with the very kru that killed her family? Why would she want to tend bar for the people who executed her father?  After the violent interaction she had with Skaikru in Season 3 where they stormed her home - which resulted in it being attacked by ALIE - why would she want to be anywhere near Skaikru ever again? 

Clarke’s magic ladybits can only explain so many of these questions without some very explicitly stated plot - and helping make rations is hardly good enough. 

How Niylah turned around to accepting Skaikru is 100% glossed over... almost as if it wasn’t planned for. 

3. Niylah’s extremely lacking season 4 character arc.

If Niylah’s presence in the Skaikru area was planned all along - why didn’t she play a role in helping free Bellamy in 4x11? Surely she’d want to help all the people she had traded with in the past survive the radiation blast.

If her presence was planned all along, why did she play a bizarrely helpless role in stopping Illian when he arrived at Arkadia to blow up the place? What happened to the capable Niylah who lied to the Prince of Azgeda in the premiere of Season 3?

98% of Niylah’s role is season 4 was to be a place of comfort for Clarke to go to, where Clarke could exposition her internal thought process. 

Because that was what Riley’s role was supposed to be - and it would make sense in the context of a new character whose role was crafted to serve this piece of plot.

4. Timing of Riley’s and Niylah’s appearances

Niylah doesn’t show up until episode 5, which is a few episodes after Riley is introduced. In theory, if Riley had stayed in his original role this would have been enough time for Clarke to catch up with Riley and do her usual grief bang move with her old love interest.

Furthermore, the fact that Riley gets a reaction, introduction, and hug - and Niylah just sort of shows up should raise some alarm bells about how she was not originally supposed to be in this season.

What was Nathan supposed to be doing this season?

Last year Jarod Joseph tweeted he would be back in Season 4 in a “big way”… and yet the season showed us otherwise. Aside from break up with Bryan,  sharing moon-eyes with Jackson, and being a guy with a gun when you need a guy with a gun.

So what was he supposed to be doing?

Answer: part of the Monty/Harper 4B plot.

Supporting evidence:

1. Riley being built up in 4A and then being sidelined in 4B just to die.

The writers had to dispose of Riley after he filled in the role of Bryan in 4A. As much as we all love Riley, let’s be real, he was never Spacekru material. There also wasn’t space to resolve his character in the finale (see below) because Niylah had taken his role so he just got... disposed of.

2. Bryan’s planned path of descent in 4A.

We know that the episode where Bellamy talks down Riley from assassinating Roan was supposed to be Bryan. We know that Bryan was headed to a darker place with respect to his mental health. The break up with Nathan (or what was at least going to be the start of a line of major fights) likely didn’t help either.  Season 3 had already established that there was strain in this relationship (Bryan and Miller taking different sides in the Pike/Kane leadership) so this also wasn’t coming out of nowhere. Speaking of which…

The scene where Harper accidentally is linked to an Arkadian dying was probably Bryan’s last straw. But for Harper it was... the only straw? How did she break so fast? Being cut from the list could have added to that... but it seems a bit like she was shoehorned into a role meant for someone else.

3. People arguing that they want to live in 4A and then deciding to die in 4B?????

Both Harper and Riley are a part of the mob that are pissed at Clarke for creating the list and excluding them. Now just a few weeks later they are OK with dying? That’s not right. How did their anger turn in that direction so quickly? 

4. Monty on double comfort duty at the DNR den

For me this one of the most compelling reasons for why Harper was supposed to be Bryan.

I believe Monty and Harper were still supposed to both be at Arkadia, but they were both supposed to be there because of Jasper’s importance to Monty. This would have been mirrored by Nathan and Bryan also being there and having a very similar fight to the one Harper and Monty had in the actual episode. By having these two pairs there (Monty + Jasper, Nathan + Bryan) it would have really drawn out the parallels between these journeys with respect to mental health.  

But instead we essentially had an understaffed Monty running back and forth between two people to comfort them which made for awkward pacing during the episode. 

The impacts of Bryan’s replacement on the finale.

Nathan and Bryan were supposed to go to space.

If the above scenarios had come to pass, then Nathan and Bryan would have been with the Arkadia group, meaning they would have been able to go to space. If this had happened, it would have really helped frame Octavia as alone again underground isolated from her peers.I also get the impression that Nathan + Dad Miller were filling in a storyline that someone else was meant to have, to echo back to Tor Lenkin and his kid and really emphasize that “are we really doing this again?” parallel. I think the kid everyone joked that Jaha adopted was supposed to be that kid. Instead that new Tor and his kid got sort of shuffled to the side as the writers scrambled to shoehorn in how they would save Nathan when he had been left off the list. 

Emori was supposed to be kicked out of the second dawn bunker.

The Arkadians pushing around and then kicking out Niylah didn’t make very much sense... Why would her [grounder] people abandon her? Because she spent 2 months hanging out over at Arkadia? That seems a little bit like an over-reaction. Are we supposed to believe she was so bad at trading that she had no favours she could use to get picked by her people? I hardly believe that. Again - what happened to the Niylah who could boldly lie in the face of the prince of Azgeda?

Now go back to the finale and imagine it was Emori who got kicked out by the Arkadians — this is a highly believable scenario because Emori has no people to speak for her since she was cast out for being different. John following his heart again because they are going to make it together in the bunker. Clarke giving her helmet to Emori would have meant so. much. more.  on the heels of Emori being thrown out of the second dawn bunker, combined with how Clarke used the nightblood on herself instead of Emori. And then Emori saying “can’t we wait a little longer?” for Clarke after all that? Ugh my emotions.

...And now the crack

(Look I have no self control - I can’t write meta without including crack)

Was Clarke supposed to be pregnant?

YEAH I KNOW, OK, BUT HEAR ME OUT.

1. Why has Jason insisted on calling Madi “Clarke’s child” as opposed to her little sister? Is it a hang-up from where the plot was supposed to go?

2. Consider this: what if for “science reasons” the nightblood only worked because of the child inside her? Quite frankly we had an entire episode around why nightblood can’t be made in a laboratory on Earth, and it was enraging to see it work in the end because that means more people could have survived. It would have been much more satisfactory to see that it was Clarke’s unique scenario that that saved her life. (Also explains the throw up in the finale). Plus it would help stress in season 5 that Clarke owes her very life to her child which is why she always puts the child first. It also explains why it was six years of time gap. A five year old (remember, we lose almost a year because pregnancy time) is old enough/big enough to get into trouble on their own. Four years old is kinda pushing it on the “this is way too young” spectrum. 

Some Last Thoughts

Something I hope I haven’t stirred up, but that I will mention in case I did, is that I hope this doesn’t come off as anti-niylah/niylarke. My complaints are really that Niylah and her relationship with Clarke could have been done way better in this season. Ultimately it was great relationship for Clarke to have (and honestly, probably a better pairing than Riley + Clarke would have been), but the execution was really off for all the reasons I named above.

I think a lot of the pacing problems with the season can be traced back to Bryan’s exit. It makes me ask - why didn’t they just recast? But I guess that’s not really something they do with this show (except for Madi?? IDK)

I’m sure there are other pieces to this puzzle I am missing, but I find this concept so easy to lock in with the season that I just can’t help but believe it was what was originally written. 

Either way it’s unprovable and not canon... but I thought I’d share my speculation for what might have been with you all. Hope you enjoyed. 

[facets-and-rainbows]

Blue Exorcist: Home Sweet Home (part 1)

Sooooooo I’ve been planning to translate the title story from the Home Sweet Home novel for a while now because it’s FRIGGIN ADORABLE and because chapter 94 is coming and I need everyone else to also experience the pain of reading whatever happens next in the manga after reading this cute little happy family story, misery loves company muahahaha

So here’s the first part! ^_^ Part 2 is partly done and should be up relatively soon as well.

This story references ojiya (wiki link), a rice soup that people tend to eat when they’re sick (kind of the cultural equivalent of chicken noodle soup for the US). Also I’ve taken some liberties in bits of dialogue where Rin messes up hard words, in the hopes that it will actually sound funny in English.

Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home

“38.5 degrees…”

The older twin read off the number from the digital thermometer, creases gathering on his forehead. Yukio groggily looked up at his face from his pillow. Everything looked fuzzy without his glasses on, and a little blurred from the high fever as well.

He had always been sickly as a child, and he was no stranger to fevers over 38 degrees. But this one was rough—maybe because he hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately. His joints ached; maybe it’s because I’m getting older, he thought, half-seriously, at the tender age of 15.

No wonder a certain foul-mouthed boss of his was always saying “Where’d your youth go?” and “How old can you even get?” and “You’ll go bald super young.”

“That’s a high fever,” his brother said, then laid a hand on Yukio’s forehead and yelped dramatically. “Ow, hot!” The tail sticking out from under his shirt stood up like a cat’s that had been stepped on.

Oh come on, it’s not THAT hot, Yukio wanted to say, but he didn’t even have the energy to call out his brother for overreacting.

He was so tired he thought he might just sink away into the bed.

“Want me to make you an ice pack?” Rin asked, taking his hand off of Yukio’s forehead.

Yukio shook his head and sat up. “Don’t bother, I’m about to get up anyway.”

“What?! What are you saying? You gotta stay in bed today!”

“No…there’s some paperwork I need to submit tomorrow. I can’t spend all day lazing around.”

Yukio tried to stagger over to his desk, but he was stopped by his brother’s super strength and dragged back to bed, no chance to protest.

“Working too hard got you into this mess in the first place, so just be good and get your rest!”

“It’s just a cold. It’s been going around the Order.”

“Nope. It’s overwork,” Rin declared.

Annoyed at Rin’s big-brother attitude, Yukio responded, “Unlike you, I can actually be indisposed sometimes.” He used the hard word on purpose.

“In-Indisposed?” Just as he expected, his brother had “what on earth is that?” written all over his face. Yukio let out a long, overly dramatic sigh. He switched to his lecture voice.

“It means sick, nii-san.”

“Oh, it means sick! I get it…hey, don’t just call me stupid like that! Even I’ve had one or two…” It looked like Rin had finally arrived at the old saying “fools don’t catch colds.” He was glaring, full of rage, but trailed off towards the end of the sentence. “…one or two…colds…” And no wonder. Yukio had been around Rin for fifteen years, ever since they were born, and he had never once seen his brother in bed sick.

After all, this was the same brother who could jump into a river in the dead of winter without so much as a sniffle.

“See? You haven’t.” Yukio pressed. Rin was stewing in embarrassment. He called the name of his beloved cat.

“Kuro!”

The cat had been sleeping in a patch of sunlight on the floor with his face buried in his tails. He lifted his head, meowed, and came trotting over. He was a Cait Sidhe who used to be the familiar of their adopted father, Fujimoto Shirou, and was Rin’s familiar now. He looked like a normal cat at first glance, but he had a forked tail.

“You watch Yukio while I’m gone and make sure he doesn’t do any work. Got that? Don’t let him out of bed no matter what.”

“Mrow!”

Kuro suddenly turned serious at Rin’s orders. He raised one of his front paws up by his head. Probably a signal for Roger that! or something.

Why does he have to keep doing this annoying stuff? Yukio thought, frowning. First of all, how am I supposed to get to the bathroom if I’m not allowed out of bed? he was complaining internally, when Rin stopped at the door and whipped around to face him.

I’ll go buy you something from True Cross Mart. What do you want?”

“What do I want…”

He had already taken some medicine for the fever.

There wasn’t anything in particular that he wanted, but the Old Boys’ Dormitory where they both lived didn’t have air conditioning, and it was oppressively hot. It would be good for working up a sweat to get rid of the fever, but one wrong move and he could end up dehydrated.

He was about to say “mineral water,” but immediately shook his head a little on his pillow. “No, I don’t need anything.”

“Huh? Why not? Don’t be shy.” Rin looked upset that his kind offer was going to waste. “I mean, you probably want that, whaddayacallit, your hard-to-see water, right? I’ll buy it for you, seriously.”

“No…It’s fine. You can’t do errands properly, so you’d probably just end up buying popsicles for yourself and forgetting all about me…It’ll be faster if I get it myself later.”

“How long ago was that? You’re still mad?! Lighten up! And why do you gotta make a mackerel of your big brother every chance you get, even when you’re sick? Stupid four-eyed mole face!”

“You mean ‘mockery.’ I never made you into a mackerel.”

“Aaargh, just shut up already! If you’re sick, why don’t you act like it a little and just go to sleep!” Rin ordered, pointing a finger angrily at his brother.

Rin went to storm violently out the door but thought better of it. He stopped where he was and asked again.

“So besides the water, is there anything you wanna eat?”

“…”

No, nothing, Yukio meant to say, but instead he found himself muttering:

“Ojiya.”

“?!” His brother blinked in surprise at the rare show of honesty. Seeing him, Yukio snapped out of it.

Yukio felt really awkward. He glanced away from his brother, pouting. “I mean, it’s not like I have my heart set on it or anything…”

“Got it. The way the old man used to make it, right?” Rin said. He pounded at his chest and said “Leave it to me!” before leaving the room. The door shut behind him.

A dry summery breeze blew in through the open window, gently caressing Yukio’s sweaty forehead. Book pages flapped on his desk by the windowsill.

Okay. He’s gone.

Hearing that his brother’s footsteps had faded into nothing, Yukio tried to get out of bed again. But—

“Mrowl!”

“Wah?!”

Kuro jumped forcefully onto his chest. He planted his front paws on Yukio as if to say “You’re not going anywhere!” Judging from his needlessly sharp and imposing expression, he wasn’t planning to budge.

Yukio lowered his eyelids and whispered sweetly in the ear of his dutiful guard:

“…Hey, Kuro. Why don’t we settle this with a cup of catnip sake?”

“?!”

“Or two or three cups, that’d be fine too. Nii-san never has to know. Right?”

He smiled warmly. This sort of thing was his specialty.

“I’ll even throw in some sukiyaki from the convenience store.”

“M-Mew…” Kuro gulped at the mention of so many of his favorite foods. It was really getting to him. Just a little more… Yukio grinned darkly. But then, Kuro suddenly looked mad, and started yowling angrily at him.

Yukio couldn’t understand him the way his brother could, but it looked like he was probably saying: “Don’t insult me! I’ll never fall for your bribery!” His tails were puffed up like a pair of old deck brushes.

Yukio’s cowardly plan to buy out Kuro had ended in failure. After all, Kuro had been worshipped as a guardian deity once. He had more pride than he got credit for.

“Fine…I’ll sleep, I’ll sleep!” Yukio lowered his head back onto the pillow in surrender.

“Mew,” Kuro responded, apparently satisfied, and jumped off of Yukio’s chest and back to the floor with a soft thud. But he stayed right there, staring directly at Yukio. Yukio had hoped he would go right back to his nap, but he wasn’t even blinking.

Yukio sighed. His brother had chosen quite the guard.

I guess I’ll just have to try and get better as fast as possible. He gave up on the paperwork and closed his eyes.

The room was still as sickeningly hot as ever, but the breeze felt nice whenever it remembered to blow into the room. Maybe it was the fever, but Yukio couldn’t get to sleep. His mind kept drifting to all of his unfinished work.

He had a whole mountain of things to do besides the paperwork. He didn’t have time to be lying in bed like this…

“When I was little…”

Before he knew it, he was talking to Kuro, maybe to distract from his anxiety. “Whenever I got sick, Dad would make me ojiya with eggs in it…It had such a nice taste, it was nice and warm…it always made me happy.”

Kuro was smart enough to know that “Dad” meant the Shirou that he loved so much. He meowed happily and started purring.

Yukio closed his eyes and listened to the sound. His expression softened.

He opened his eyes a little, and the knotted, unfinished wood ceiling swam into view, still blurry. “…But there was one time…Nii-san made Dad’s ojiya for me instead…”

“It had eggshell in it, though,” he added, laughing.

It had been on a much, much colder day than this.

Yukio and Rin had just turned eight, their dad was still alive and well—and a cold winter wind was howling outside, and at some point it started to snow.

Yukio closed his eyes, remembering the bright white of the snow he saw that day…

“Are you lonely cause Dad’s not here?”

…and thought he heard his brother’s young voice calling to him out of the snow.

[Part 2]

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: Break Down The House/Get Off On The Pain (14x01/02)

Grey's Anatomy is a soap opera. I mean that's not a surprise to anybody, but every once in a while you see episodes that reminds you - Grey's Anatomy is a soap opera. I don't even mean that in a bad way, actually. This episode had a lot of great moments, and the extreme drama of them is what made them great. It also had just one or two moments that had me on the verge of an eye-roll... let's take a look.

Cons:

To anyone who's been reading my reviews, it'll be no surprise to you that I'm annoyed about Amelia. Owen has his sister back, and Amelia has been avoiding him and acting horribly. Then Owen tries to talk to her about it, since he knows something is really wrong, and she lashes out again. All last season I kept saying that Amelia needed to get over herself, and now we learn, thanks to her participation in a sex study (I'll get to that later) that her erratic behavior is actually because she has a giant brain tumor. Okay... did we not already do this with Izzy? This was the big shocking cliffhanger at the end of the two part episode, and it felt like the most cliche, overwrought thing that could have been done at this point. Amelia has been pissing me off for... well, forever now, and it seems like sort of a cop-out to blame all of her shitty behavior on a medical drama cliche like a brain tumor. A brain surgeon has a brain tumor?! Gasp. How surprising.

Maggie was also getting on my nerves a lot last season, and while she did have some good elements in this episode that I'll get to later, she still had one of her quintessential annoying moments. Nathan and Owen have decided not to tell Megan about Nathan and Meredith's relationship. Teddy thinks this is ridiculous, and Maggie agrees. She says that she was in Megan's position once, in that she found out about Nathan and Meredith and it was weird. Okay. The utter hubris of comparing what happened with her to what's going on with Megan is... ugh. Maggie. Please. I still can't believe how much she built up that whole thing. She had an unrequited crush on a guy. Nothing even happened, and he started dating someone else. How can you even compare the situations? She also spends her time being awkward around Jackson, and he spends his time being awkward right back. I'm convinced that this is perhaps the least interesting potential romantic relationship this show has ever done, right after DeLuca's unrequited thing for Jo. Please stop.

So, Eliza Minnick is gone. She ghosted Arizona and disappeared into the night after being fired. I mean, no particular skin off my back, since she was really annoying. But it's also annoying to see such a clear signal from the show that her presence was an utter waste of time. It takes absolutely nothing for Arizona to bounce back from this, and it takes no time for me as a viewer either. Eliza was such a poorly written character. Oh, and speaking of bouncing back - I'm really happy that Arizona found somebody to hook up with, and I'm actually rather pleased with the new character. But have you noticed that all the lesbians and bisexual women on this show are gorgeous, long-haired femme girls? Callie, Arizona, Eliza, and now Carina? Even Penny didn't have any sort of a butch vibe going on. I'm not trying to say that we need our lesbian characters to look like a cliche, but if they could not all be super hot ultra-feminine, that would be nice. Maybe this is a thing nobody cares about but me, but I apparently care a little bit about it.

Pros:

I'm gonna go through a few subplot elements before we talk about Megan Hunt.

April. Okay, so while I don't think Maggie and Jackson are interesting, I still kind of do think April and Jackson are interesting. They're a couple that I actually root for. I think they belong together. I like that April identified her pain and was honest to Jackson about it. As much as I want these two to work it out, for April's sake I hope she finds a way to be happy, with or without Jackson.

Arizona brings a woman home to her house and they're hooking up on the couch when DeLuca comes in. He sees this woman, and the two of them immediately start bickering in furious Italian. Turns out, this woman is Carina, DeLuca's older sister. She's actually a doctor too, and she goes in to meet with Bailey. Bailey has been having her own sort of internal feminist uprising as she laments the necessity of wearing uncomfortable heels to work, so when Carina suggests a sex study where women masturbate inside the MRI machine to study the effects of orgasms on the brain, Bailey decides to go for it.

This plot thread, setting aside the ending where Amelia has a stupid tumor, was pretty funny and great. Carina seems like a better match for Arizona than Eliza was. She's funny and sexy and the scene where she and DeLuca are yelling at each other while Arizona is shirtless on the couch was pretty hysterical. I also loved how everybody had this girlish interest in her sex study. Female sexuality is a very repressed topic, and it was fun to see it explored seriously. And Bailey getting rid of all her high heels was pretty fantastic. Ben is such a good husband - he points out to Bailey that her sexiest (and most uncomfortable) pair of heels will only hurt her if she tries to stand in them, leading to some fun sexy times.

Richard had the tiniest of little subplots with Maggie that I thought was quite fun. He's impressed with Meredith's bad-ass surgery skills, and tell Maggie that Meredith is just like Ellis. Maggie gets  a little competitive and asks if Richard ever compliments her, Maggie, when talking to Meredith. Richard says that while Meredith reminds him of Ellis, he likes to take credit for Maggie's success personally. This was a great moment to remind me that I didn't always dislike Maggie so much. If she could just stay away from the romance plots I think I'd be a lot more cool with her.

Jo and Alex. Another unsurprising fact for my readers is that I'm not super duper happy with Jo and Alex's romance as of late. But in this episode... I don't know. Maybe it was just that I know they're both in so much pain, and as annoying as Jo can be, I really do want Alex to be happy. Also, Alex told the truth to Jo, and the two of them seem like they could really make a good start out of this. Obviously the looming threat of Jo's husband is still out there, but for now I think they might be on solid footing. And kudos to Ben for playing the "new Stephanie" by supporting Jo through all of this craziness. Bailey correctly points out to him that he doesn't get to have an opinion about how Jo, a woman, feels in regards to Alex's violent attack of DeLuca. Ben agrees, but he still manages to help out by going to Alex and telling him the real problem - Jo is afraid of him. With that hurdle jumped, these two can finally move forward with their lives. I think I might like them better together and happy than I did when they were mutually angsting and pining.

Okay. Now for the main event. Megan is great. Admittedly, she's a little too well-adjusted to be somebody who's been held hostage for ten years, but when you hear her story it does make a little bit of sense. She was treated poorly at first, but eventually she was utilized as a doctor, and actually made friends and adopted a Syrian refugee as her son. She wasn't permitted to leave, but she was treated well. Her motivations are entirely about getting back to her adopted son. She has a serious abdominal injury, but wants to go with the quicker, more risky option in order to get back to her child sooner, instead of the safer, more painful option that will take much longer.

Everything about this setup kind of breaks my heart. Megan is really cool, and funny, and doesn't put up with nonsense from Owen or Nathan whatsoever. Meredith is the one who breaks the news to her about her past with Nathan, and Megan takes it in stride. She and Meredith seem to really like each other, and although Meredith's first surgery doesn't go as planned, the second one is a huge and innovative success that will get Megan back to her son in way less time.

Nathan breaks my heart. He's so devastatingly relieved to see Megan again, but obviously his feelings for Meredith can't just poof away. And Meredith is being so cool about the whole thing, stepping in as Megan's surgeon and doing an amazing job. April gives Nathan the advice that he needs to be all in with Megan, and let her know that he's there for her completely. He decides to propose, and we get another very soap opera-y moment when Meredith walks in to tell Megan it's time for her surgery, interrupting the proposal. Turns out, Megan says no, because she thinks Nathan is still in love with Meredith.

This is a love triangle, of sorts, but I love the fact that there's no animosity between the two women. Nathan has pined for Megan and missed her for ten years, but the fact remains that they've both moved on with their lives in big ways. Megan, as difficult as her time has been, has found a new family in her son. And Nathan has clawed his way back to a brotherly bond with Owen, and has found new love with Meredith. They can't just erase that and move back to where they were. And yet... the love is still real.

Oh yeah, and let's talk about Teddy. I didn't realize how much I had missed her until she was there! It was cool to see the scenes of her, Owen, Nathan, and Megan. These four all have a special bond that nobody else at the hospital could understand. I've always liked Teddy, and even though Owen was absolutely wrong to kiss her, I can see how it would be appealing for both of them to give this thing a shot. Of course, it just made me like Teddy even more that she said no. I don't know if she'll be around after this, but I'd love to see her integrate back into the story, even if just temporarily. It was so cute when Arizona saw her and immediately gave her a summary of everything that had happened - Callie left her and took Sofia and she found love again and then Eliza got fired - that's a lot of stuff to blurt out to somebody you haven't seen in years!

I'll end by saying that even though this episode had a lot of dark elements to it, it was undeniably a lighter episode than we've seen in a while. Megan is back and she's going to be okay, and all of the major surgeries in the episode were a success. Jo succeeded despite a med student dropping his glasses into the surgical field, Amelia succeeded with a delicate jaw surgery even against Jackson's disapproval and doubt, and Meredith found a way to help Megan get better quicker so she can return to her son. I'm always glad when we can get a bit of hope from this show, even if it is mixed in with a lot of interpersonal drama.

Well, there you have it. I'm back to writing reviews for this monstrosity of a show. I always forget how long these things take me... it's gonna be an adjustment getting back into it!

8/10

[ofgoldenblood]

I had to take the time to come fangirl in your inbox because I am truly in love with your writing. I read your latest update for the 'more than a ghost au' and you managed to make me commit to the story despite my not shipping Lightstar. It's a true testament to how talented you are. My jaw dropped at the quality of this verse. I think your insight into the inner workings of Jonathan's twisted mind is extraordinary and

your portrayal is nothing short of brilliant. You make him human and it’s all that I could ask for when he is the most misunderstood character in this fandom. I especially look forward to every update of your abo verse and your hooker au since Jalec is my otp. These stories make me genuinely happy and there are no words that could possibly express how grateful my Jalec heart is for having such a wonderful writer pen my favorite pairing. From a fan

First of all, thank you so much for this lovely message. Your words really cheered me up & I loved hearing that you enjoy my portrayal(s). There’s a lot of controversy about Sebastian and it’s always nice to meet someone else who appreciates him, despite his obvious shortcomings & villainy!!Tbh, I will never understand why people watch shows like SH & then non-stop point out ‘bad’ things and complain about the bad guys. If you want drama-free & entirely harmless then maybe you should watch something like Dora the Explorer instead of hating on people who enjoy a good drama-driven story. Drama requires villains or at least people fucking up, otherwise there would be no conflict and conflict (& its resolve) is usually what makes a story thrilling or interesting. I’m sure most of us want drama-free lives, but who wants to WATCH that, really? BUT I AM SORRY FOR RANTING… so I will continue to rant under the cut.

I agree with you that Sebastian is misunderstood, even if most people in this fandom immediately start fuming when someone says that. Because they think misunderstood = poor mistreated little cupcake. That is not what he is. He is a killer, he is cruel & merciless and he knows no remorse for the things he does and the lives he takes. I am not excusing those actions.He is, however, deeply disturbed and a victim of tremendous abuse. He was drugged literally before he was born, with something that altered his very being & gave him no chance to grow up a ‘normal’ boy. His mother abandoned him because the only other choice she saw was to kill him. As far as he knos, she never even considered trying to save him. His father never loved him, called him a monster that nobody could ever love & literally whipped him (& probably other things, lbr). He isolated him from any healthy human contact & effectively stole his entire childhood. This is severe emotional and physical abuse and I wish people would stop disregarding that and instead only focus on the fact that Sebastian kissed his sister.

Valentine turned him into not a soldier but an (almost literally) soulless weapon. He made him the possibly loneliest person alive. I once saw a post in the Seb tag where someone said something along the lines of ‘I can tolerate Valentine but Sebastian is just pure evil and needs to die‘ & it pissed me off so much, because it blatantly disregards the fact that it was Valentine who made Sebastian the way he is. We’ll never know for sure, I guess, if Jon/athan Christopher hadn’t turned out to be a sociopath too (you don’t need demon blood for that), like Maia’s brother Daniel for example, but he certainly wouldn’t have been the monster that we see in the books. I really like drawing the connection to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in Seb’s case. The monster - as the Doctor himself calls it - is presented as a vile nightmare that haunts Frankenstein and destroys his life - but really all his negative & frightening features are a result of Frankenstein’s treatment, neglect & horror. He created the monster AFTER bringing a dead person back to life. We don’t know how much of Seb’s cruelty comes from his demon blood& how much is Valentine’s influence, but I like to remind people that warlocks are half demon too, and nobody would go around saying Mag/nus is at least 50% evil.

A key thing about Seb for me is that he doesn’t understand himself. He is literally misunderstood in that way. He’s never had a chance to figure out who he is or what he wants without someone’s influence in his ear (Valentine or Lilith). He grew up with a distorted understanding of right/good & wrong/evil, so how is he supposed to agree with the ‘good guys’ when they say that it is not okay to kill someone who poses a threat to you & your plan (which is, essentially your entire life’s purpose??)? Or that desiring your sister in a way that this society finds wrong is despicable? (We literally can’t even agree here on tumblr how ‘bad’ inc/est is!!) He never experienced love, never received, felt or understood it, so he tries to bind people to him to fight his loneliness any other way possible. He is a drowning man who can’t ever escape the water but desperately struggles to stay afloat, because there is literally no alternative.

When his hate & jealousy for Jace (who is not even Valentine’s real son but somehow ends up getting everything that’s supposed to be Seb’s - his father, the illusion of a childhood, time to develop, Clary, even Jocelyn for a while, a parabatai, LOVE) threatens to destroy him, he turns them into the opposite and starts obsessing. He binds Jace to himself, tries to consume him, perhaps to somehow make Jace’s life his own. He will never get love anyway (he doesn’t UNDERSTAND IT, it’s like wanting something you don’t even know) so he’s content to have Clary & Jace with him, even if he has to keep them by force.

Now, none of this means I excuse what he does or did. I just like to think about what makes him tick & try to understand him. I love complex villains. My favorite villain is probably Hann/ibal Lec/ter (more in NBCs Hann/ibal than in the books/movies), who absolutely deserves to sit in prison for all eternity, but still is one of the most fascinating characters ever created, imo. His world view, his morals, his motivations to kill and his excuses for it need to be looked at outside any moral judgement if we want to understand human nature better, I think. You can love a character for their complexity and still judge their actions - and I think that is what most people in this fandom don’t accept. Liking Sebastian does not mean I cheer for his murders and ra/pe attempt.

AS FOR THE MORE THAN A GHOST AU, it’s one of my absolute favorites, atm, because it actually goes against my firm belief that death was the best option for Seb at the end of COHF. He’s not prepared to survive & nobody else is either. He is forced to face the consequences of his actions but suddenly lacks the conviction that they were necessary, good or even acceptable. For the first time he recognizes himself as the villain. Not as a monster- which is something wrong & unlovable - but as someONE who did horrible things & has to take responsibility for them. He is willing to do that, even if he feels like a different person & it’s actually Alec in that verse who kind of allows him to adopt that thought of Sebastian being a different person from Jonathan. That gives Jonathan hope, but at the same time it is his ultimate kryptonite. Whenever he is disappointed in his own inability to be ‘Not-Sebastian’, he regresses to telling himself he can never be anyone other than Seb. Jonathan is an idea without an anchor in reality & on his bad days Jon is convinced Alec is just telling himself & Jon a lie everyday to not feel guilty about loving his brother’s murderer.

I also headcanon that Jon doesn’t immediately become a nice person in the beginning of the verse. He ‘learned’ how to be ‘good’ so he could be able to impersonate Sebas/tian Verl/ac, but he never really internalized it. He is still impatient, more easily angered, looks to violent solutions faster than to peaceful ones. He is used to calculating damage against gain & will choose the most effective way, not matter the cost. Since he has feelings now that he didn’t have with the demon blood (presumably) and also a conscience he wouldn’t wage a war for the hell of it or to get what he wants, or sacrifice innocent people.. but he has yet to LEARN who the innocent people are. If there was a young werewolf struggling on their first full moon, threatening to hurt people, Jon would choose to kill them, whereas Clary & Co would try to help them. He still has to unlearn the rac/ism against Downworlders Valentine nurtured in him. He still has to learn how to take and deal with rejection in a way that doesn’t completely destroy him. There are just so many aspects to this scenario & that’s why I love it so much!!

I AM SO SORRY about how long this turned out, and you didn’t even ask for ANY OF THIS *hides, ashamed*

Thank you again for your message & your kind words. I currently also really love the hooker AU and the a/b/o AU, so I’ll hopefully get to continuing those soon c:I have a drabble planned for the hooker AU in which I’ll write about the first time Jace took money for se/x, if you’re interested in that.Unrelated, Andy & I also talked about a short drabble based on ‘The Other Side’ by Ruelle, so if you enjoy having your heart broken, you have that to look forward to.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.:*

[entamewitchlulu]

Homura’s Top 15 Arc V Characters

and finally my top fifteen favorite Arc V characters!!!! <3 (not including cameo charas)

this was the absolute hardest one to narrow down tbh, there are like a billion other characters that i wanted to also be on this list ;w;

once again under the cut, this was a lot of fun to do~

and can i just say how blessed I feel that there are so many girls in Arc V that most of my list is made of them?? they might not be written the best they could be but damn it’s great to just have so many, especially coming off of the previous series where we’d be lucky to have two or three.

15. Selena

My dumb, useless lesbian daughter who needs to be grounded.  Idk, I just like her cause she’s kind of different than the usual fare for Yu-Gi-Oh ladies.  She’s prideful and brash, abrasive, headstrong, and hard to get along with, and she doesn’t always seem to notice social cues, being first and foremost a soldier and definitely a little gullible (like, she’ll immediately accept what other people tell her about Academia, my dumb child).  I can’t help but find her endearing, tho, for all of this mess of flaws and uncertainties.

14. Yoko Sakaki

Can you say BEST MOM???  Yoko is legit everything I ever wanted out of a mom character in Yu-Gi-Oh.  As someone who is very picky about parental characters, she’s honestly a legit good parent who supports her son, takes care of him, and gives him the right kind of pep talks when he’s down.  Not to mention she was a fucking gang leader???  Dude.  Best mom.

13. Masumi Kotsu

I love her for a lot of the same reasons as I love Selena: she’s a female character who’s allowed to be kind of a dick.  She’s rude and jumps to conclusions and sometimes bullies the people around her, but she’s also a fucking tsundere and I can’t help but like her for it.  In the end, she’s a stubborn butt but she’ll give in once she finds a reason to respect someone.

12. Sayaka Sasayama

God....look at her??? Pure.  Pure and good.  She is a precious child and I will protect her.  I always adopt the young ones, honestly, especially when they’re shy and nervous.  I love Sayaka because she’s the kind of person who overworks herself for the sake of others, who is scared and easily frightened but if she has to, she can pull herself together and fight.  She has to take her confidence from other people, but when she does grab hold of it, she’s a warrior like the rest of them.  She didn’t lose her softness from the war and she doesn’t seem to hold any grudges or resentment, she just wants to participate in making the world okay again.

11. Yuuri

I love him because he’s an absolute shit stain, and maybe he’s kinda tropey and flat, but he’s legit the exact replica of my favorite kind of self-indulgent, guilty pleasure villain.  He smooth talking, suave, talks formally, messes with people in his own creepy way, is incredibly confident and can’t even think of the word “losing,” and he has a legitimately creepy deck.  I love how sassy and confident he is, how he laughs every time someone tries to overcome him, and his possessive sort of nature, his intensity and single-minded focus on winning and being the best.

10. Tsukikage

THIS BOY IS MY S O N AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO HURTS HIM!!  I was not expecting to love Tsuki as much as I did.  He’s a loyal and reliable person, who really seems to have a great moral core.  He doesn’t have much in the way of back story but I find his aesthetic fascinating and I always want to know more about his clan and where he came from.  I also still really want to see under that mask goddamn.  But anyway, Tsuki is a pure, good boy and he deserves the world.  He’s so incredibly morally upright and I just can’t help but adore him.

9. Yuzu Hiragi

Her more recent appearances in the anime aside, she’s what I wanted out of a female lead in Yu-Gi-Oh since the very first series.  She’s tough and doesn’t back down from a challenge, she takes initiative to rectify her own weakness and isn’t afraid of putting in the hard work to better herself; she’s very morally minded and she’ll put herself in danger if it means doing the right thing.  Even when she’s lost in another dimension, her first priority is finding a way to warn the people there of the danger that’s coming, putting other people’s safety before even finding her way home.  Yuzu is a great girl who struggles with her own uncertainties and still comes out the stronger for it.

8. Reiji Akaba

I could talk for h o u r s about how much I love Reiji Akaba.  Reiji is someone that just keeps becoming more and more great as the series continues and hindsight begins to color his actions.  What he is to me is a sixteen-year-old boy who was forced to grow up all too quickly, forced to discard any and all unnecessary feelings for the sake of the greater good, against his own father no less, someone he was supposed to be able to trust.  I can’t blame him for the decisions he’s been making, for the sacrifices that occur, because he’s being sacrificing himself all this time.  I remember a post once about how Reiji represents selflessness in a way we normally don’t see in media, because it doesn’t look selfless.  But in the end, it is--Reiji hasn’t let himself enjoy anything or do anything for his own sake; everything is and always will be for the safety of his world.  And he will stand up for his convictions, his beliefs, and that safety for the peace of the universe even against the people he should be able to trust.  He’s a fascinating character full of layers of complexity much like rivals before him, and I love him for it a lot.

7. Sora Shiunin

Sora is a boy that deserves great things, okay?  I loved him almost from the minute he showed up, but that love only deepened as the series continued.  He’s got a great character aesthetic, for one thing, and a ridiculously cool deck.  I love his little quirk of always having a lollipop, and I love his internal struggle with morality and his place in the world.  His decision to defect from Academia because of his friendship with Yuya and Yuzu just felt so pure and I was like oh god this child has been so badly indoctrinated and now he’s experienced real affection and??? he deserves so many good things.  I just love him and I hope he gets adopted by Yoko because he deserves friendship and affection.

6. Zarc

He’s??? why is he so pure looking????  Zarc didn’t get as much development as I was hoping (I’m still crossing my fingers for a bit more) but for what we did get, I found him more than fascinating.  He was a happy, pure, joyful person who could hear his monsters, and was probably overjoyed to be able to actually interact with him once Real Solid Vision came into play.  And yet, circumstances turned him into a demon.  I want to know more about that, but from what I can glean, I think he was just tired.  I think he really wanted to entertain people, and so he gave into their demands, but the more violent things got, the more they demanded, and the more tired he and his monsters became, the more frustrated with being used as a glorified show animal, and that rage and anger just channeled through Zarc and he had no choice but to become a demon.  That transformation is fascinating to me, and I think it mirrors Yuya in a really interesting way, only Zarc continued all the way down the path of the demon and Yuya tried to reject it.  I have a lot of theories and headcanons about Zarc and I really hope we at least get to see him a bit more on screen before the end of the series.

5. Reira Akaba

I have adopted this child and he is mine now.  I found his character arc to be very powerful; this is a child who has survived hell and lost most of himself in the process; he was so broken that he didn’t even know who he was anymore and chose to be an empty shell instead.  But through interacting with others, he started to develop a new sense of self and reclaim not only his own personality, but his own will and strength too.  He’s so inspiring, especially in the wake of the last few episodes where he truly showed how much he had grown and how powerful he had become with his newfound courage and confidence.

4. Ruri Kurosaki

I love her??? A lot??? I fell in love with her the moment her design was revealed; she’s incredibly aesthetically pleasing and what little we were able to glean of her personality (damn you writers for building her up with so little at the end :( ) really resonates with me.  She’s a sweet girl who sometimes trips up on her own strategies, but she has a strong heart and will and would rather fight when cornered than scream and cry.  She deserved a lot better than the narrative gave her, but I still love her with all my heart.

3. Ray Akaba

Okay fuck me but she jumped up fast on my list (and by fuck me I mean I might be asexual but I would be 100% okay with her fucking me).  Ray is just??? Cool??  Like others, she didn’t get as much as I wanted (still crossing fingers for a tiny bit more before it’s all over), but what I did get from her was just exactly what I wanted.  She’s strong and takes on the sacrifices necessary for her family and her world.  It was honestly great to see a girl character being the world’s savior, and what I love the most is how Zarc’s voice actually wavered when he heard that Ray was back; like damn...he was actually scared of her because she was the only one that could take him out.  She’s a beautiful design and I love everything about her.  I only wish she had gotten a real deck ;w;

2. Grace Tyler

step on me Anyway, Grace is really super hot and I’m gay

I could leave it at that but also, I love what a fun antagonist turned ally she is.  She’s one of those villains who does things cause she things they’re fun; it’s fun to fight people and turn them into cards and solidify her superiority over others, she enjoys it.  But once she finds something more fun and more interesting, she becomes obsessed with that instead.  I can’t help but find her strange, cheerful personality and the way she bounces from whatever she finds interesting to the next interesting thing endearing.

1. Yuya Sakaki

I could talk for fucking days on end about why I love Yuya Sakaki, about why he is one of the most important things to happen in my life, about how inspiring he is, about how powerful his character arc is, everything. 

I could talk about how his philosophy is something that has gotten me through depressive episodes ever since I started watching, about how I wear his goggles that I made for my cosplay when I’m feeling sad, about how he’s basically taken over my life in the form of keychains.

Yuya is everything that I want to be and everything that I think that I am.  He wants so desperately to be the person that makes everyone smile, but there are selfish reasons behind it. He wants to be happy, but he doesn’t feel like he’s allowed to be happy unless he’s making other people happy.  He’s vulnerable, he feels things like an actual person, he bounces back and forth from fears and uncertainties and depression to confidence and exuberance and a willingness to try again.  He is legitimately a good living example of a pendulum, swinging back and forth between two sides, depression and confidence, and I have never related more to something than that.

And despite everything, he overcomes.  Despite everything against him, including himself, he steps forward and he never gives up.  For every time he falls back, he jumps forward just as far and farther.  Yuya Sakaki is one of the reasons I get up in the morning, and I couldn’t feel more blessed than to live in a world where his character exists.

He is me, and he is what I want to be, and I will continue to bounce forward from every period of sadness with as much egao as I can muster.

After all, the fun has only just begun <3

[spookypastatoo]

Squidward’s Suicide

I just want to start off by saying if you want an answer at the end, prepare to be disappointed. There just isn’t one.

I was an intern at Nickelodeon Studios for a year in 2005 for my degree in animation. It wasn’t paid of course, most internships aren’t, but it did have some perks beyond education. To adults it might not seem like a big one, but most kids at the time would go crazy over it.

Now, since I worked directly with the editors and animators, I got to view the new episodes days before they aired. I’ll get right to it without giving too many unnecessary details. They had very recently made the SpongeBob movie and the entire staff was somewhat sapped of creativity so it took them longer to start up the season. But the delay lasted longer for more upsetting reasons. There was a problem with the series four premiere that set everyone and everything back for several months.

Me and two interns were in the editing room along with the lead animators and sound editors for the final cut. We received the copy that was supposed to be “Fear of a Krabby Patty” and gathered around the screen to watch. Now, given that it isn’t final yet, animators often put up a mock title card, sort of an inside joke for us, with phony, often times lewd titles, such as “How Sex Doesn’t Work” instead of “Rock-a-Bye Bivalve” when SpongeBob and Patrick adopt a sea scallop. Nothing particularly funny but work related chuckles. So when we saw the title card “Squidward’s Suicide” we didn’t think it more than a morbid joke.

One of the interns did a small throat laugh at it. The happy-go-lucky music played as is normal. The story began with Squidward practicing his clarinet, hitting a few sour notes like normal. We hear SpongeBob laughing outside and Squidward stops, yelling at him to keep it down as he has a concert that night and needs to practice. SpongeBob says okay and goes to see Sandy with Patrick. The bubbles splash screen comes up and we see the ending of Squidward’s concert. This is when things began to seem off.

While playing, a few frames repeated themselves, but the sound didn’t (at this point sound is synced up with animation, so yes, that’s not common) but when he stops playing, the sound finishes as if the skip never happened. There is a slight murmuring in the crowd before they begin to boo him. Not normal cartoon booing that is common in the show, but you could very clearly hear malice in it. Squidward was in full frame and looked visibly afraid. The shot goes to the crowd, with SpongeBob in center frame, and he too is booing, very much unlike him. That isn’t the oddest thing, though. What is odd is everyone had hyper realistic eyes. Very detailed. Clearly not shots of real people’s eyes, but something a bit more real than CGI. The pupils were red. Some of us looked at each other, obviously confused, but since we weren’t the writers, we didn’t question its appeal to children yet.

The shot goes to Squidward sitting on the edge of his bed, looking very forlorn. The view out of his porthole window is of a night sky so it isn’t very long after the concert. The unsettling part is at this point there was no sound. Literally no sound. Not even the feedback from the speakers in the room. It’s as if the speakers were turned off, though their status showed them working perfectly. He just sat there, blinking, in this silence for about thirty seconds, then he started to sob softly. He put his hands (tentacles) over his eyes and cried quietly for a full minute more, all the while a sound in the background very slowly growing from nothing to barely audible. It sounded like a slight breeze through a forest.

The screen slowly began to zoom in on his face. By slow I mean it’s only noticeable if you look at shots ten seconds apart side by side. His sobbing gets louder, more full of hurt and anger. The screen then twitched a bit, as if it twisted in on itself, for a split second then back to normal. The wind-through-the-trees sound got slowly louder and more severe, as if a storm was brewing somewhere. The eerie part was this sound, and Squidward’s sobbing, sounded real, as if the sound wasn’t coming from the speakers but as if the speakers were holes the sound was coming through from the other side. As good a sound as the studio likes to have, they don’t purchase the equipment to be that good to produce sound of that quality.

Below the sound of the wind and sobbing, very faint, something sounded like laughing. It came at odd intervals and never lasted more than a second so you had a hard time pinning it. We watched this show twice, so pardon me if things sound too specific but I’ve had time to think about them. After thirty seconds of this, the screen blurred and twitched violently and something flashed over the screen, as if a single frame was replaced.

The lead animation editor paused and rewound frame by frame. What we saw was horrible. It was a still photo of a dead child. He couldn’t have been more than six. The face was mangled and bloodied, one eye dangling over his upturned face, popped. He was naked down to his underwear, his stomach crudely cut open and his entrails lying beside him. He was lying on some pavement that was probably a road.

The most upsetting part was that there was a shadow of the photographer. There was no crime tape, no evidence tags or markers, and the angle was completely off for a shot designed to be evidence. It would seem the photographer was the person responsible for the child’s death. We were of course mortified, but pressed on, hoping that it was just a sick joke.

The screen flipped back to Squidward, still sobbing, louder than before, and half body in frame. There was now what appeared to be blood running down his face from his eyes. The blood was also done in a hyper realistic style, looking like if you touched it you’d get blood on your fingers. The wind sounded now as if it were that of a gale blowing through the forest; there were even snapping sounds of branches. The laughing, a deep baritone, lasted at longer intervals and came more frequently. After about twenty seconds, the screen again twisted and showed a single frame photo.

The editor was reluctant to go back, we all were, but he knew he had to. This time the photo was that of what appeared to be a little girl, no older than the first child. She was lying on her stomach, her barrettes in a pool of blood next to her. Her left eye too was popped out and popped, naked except for underpants. Her entrails were piled on top of her above another crude cut along her back. Again the body was on the street and the photographer’s shadow was visible, very similar in size and shape to the first. I had to choke back vomit and one intern, the only female in the room, ran out. The show resumed.

About five seconds after this second photo played, Squidward went silent, as did all sound, like it was when this scene started. He put his tentacles down and his eyes were now done in hyper realism like the others were in the beginning of this episode. They were bleeding, bloodshot, and pulsating. He just stared at the screen, as if watching the viewer. After about ten seconds, he started sobbing, this time not covering his eyes. The sound was piercing and loud, and most fear inducing of all was his sobbing was mixed with screams.

Tears and blood were dripping down his face at a heavy rate. The wind sound came back, and so did the deep voiced laughing, and this time the still photo lasted for a good five frames.

The animator was able to stop it on the 4th and backed up. This time the photo was of a boy, about the same age, but the scene was different. The entrails were just being pulled out from a stomach wound by a large hand, the right eye popped and dangling, blood trickling down it. The animator proceeded. It was hard to believe, but the next one was different but we couldn’t tell how. He went on to the next, same thing. He want back to the first and played them quicker and I lost it. I vomited on the floor, the animating and sound editors gasping at the screen. The five frames were not as if they were five different photos, they were played out as if they were frames from a video. We saw the hand slowly lift out the guts, we saw the kid’s eyes focus on it, we even saw two frames of the kid beginning to blink.

The lead sound editor told us to stop, he had to call in the creator to see this. Mr. Hillenburg arrived within about fifteen minutes. He was confused as to why he was called down there, so the editor just continued the episode. Once the few frames were shown, all screaming, all sound again stopped. Squidward was just staring at the viewer, full frame of the face, for about three seconds. The shot quickly panned out and that deep voice said “DO IT” and we see in Squidward’s hands a shotgun. He immediately put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Realistic blood and brain matter splattered the wall behind him, and his bed, and he flew back with the force. The last five seconds of this episode show his body on the bed, on his side, one eye dangling from what’s left of his head above the floor, staring blankly at it. Then the episode ends.

Mr. Hillenburg was obviously angry at this. He demanded to know what the heck was going on. Most people left the room at this point, so it was just a handful of us to watch it again. Viewing the episode twice only served to imprint the entirety of it in my mind and cause me horrible nightmares. I’m sorry I stayed.

The only theory we could think of was the file was edited by someone in the chain from the drawing studio to here. The CTO was called in to analyze when it happened. The analysis of the file did show it was edited over by new material. However, the timestamp of it was a mere 24 seconds before we began viewing it. All equipment involved was examined for foreign software and hardware as well as glitches, as if the time stamp may have glitched and showed the wrong time, but everything checked out fine. We didn’t know what happened and to this day nobody does.

There was an investigation due to the nature of the photos, but nothing came of it. No child seen was identified and no clues were gathered from the data involved nor physical clues in the photos. I never believed in unexplainable phenomena before, but now that I have seen something happen and can’t prove anything about it beyond anecdotal evidence, I think twice about things.