Star-crossed lovers (May 9th)
tw mention of abuse
word count: 590
@wolfstarmicrofic
“We can’t, Remus. I’m sorry,” Sirius says and he hates himself. He told himself he wouldn’t cry but he’s crying and he hates himself.
Remus looks lost, like he really can’t believe or understand what Sirius is saying. “I– Sirius, love, are you okay? Did something happen?” he reaches out to touch Sirius’ face but Sirius steps away and shakes his head. He has to do this. He reminds himself that he has to do this, for Remus.
Sirius suddenly wishes they were anywhere but here, on top of the Astronomy Tower. This is where Sirius kissed Remus for the first time. Sirius hates himself. “I– we–” Sirius breathes out steadily and tries to summon every last bit of feigned courage and overwhelming love he has for Remus. He says, “This isn’t working out. Between us, I mean. We work better as friends, Remus.” His voice is harsh and he’s no longer crying. Sirius finds pretending to be cruel as easy as breathing. He’s worked so hard for that not to be true but it is. Being cruel is easy for him.
Remus takes a step back. Sirius wishes he’d stop looking at him like that. Remus is looking at him like he’s just put out all the stars in the night sky.
Remus blinks and a single tear escapes, streaming down his face. Sirius wants to look away but he can’t. Remus is crying because of him. Remus looks completely heartbroken, and Sirius is responsible. Sirius doesn’t deserve to look away.
Remus smiles, and his miserable smile is the last blow that makes Sirius’ heart shatter into a million horrible pieces. “Sirius, that’s– you don’t have to apologize for that. I value–” Remus’ voice breaks. Sirius wants to scream. But he can’t. “You’re my friend before anything else, Sirius. If that’s what you want.”
It isn’t what he wants. It’s the last thing he wants. “It is. I’m sorry, Remus.”
Remus shakes his head, chuckling humorlessly. “Please, stop apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry for, Sirius. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel–”
“No. No, you did nothing wrong, Remus,” Sirius says because he couldn’t help himself. “Remus, you’re– this is not what–” Sirius tries to breathe but he can’t. He closes his eyes and remembers why he’s doing this in the first place. He remembers Walburga storming into his room on the last day of Christmas break with an open letter in her hand.
Walburga Black is a lot of things– bigoted, boring, cruel, horrible– the list goes on and on. But more than anything she is honest. She doesn’t bluff. Her warnings are more promises than threats and–
“Sirius?”
Sirius blinks and really looks at Remus. There is no way Walburga Black is going to hurt anyone Sirius loves. Especially not Remus. Not while Sirius is alive. No way. If only Walburga had taken it out on him. If only she’d done anything else. Anything but hitting Sirius where it hurts, twisting his arm and forcing him to give up the most important thing in his life. Sirius can’t say anything. He’s just staring at Remus. He doesn’t have it in him to continue lying at this point.
Remus stares back, and his eyes are the most beautiful thing in the universe. He smiles, again. “That’s– it’s okay, Sirius. I’ll see you at dinner, yeah?”
Sirius nods. He can’t speak, he can barely breathe. He nods again.
Remus leaves, and Sirius is alone. But Remus is safe, and that’s what matters, Sirius’ heart be damned.
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At one point Jod tells Harrow to eat two biscuits because they're good for her. And this is probably because she could use the calories, but imagine if when stocking the Mithreaum with everything they were planning to eat forever they only packed some low cal, high fiber, nutrient rich, high protein, zero sugar diet biscuits. Imagine eating no fat foods ten thousand years
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Y'know this little throwaway gag is so bizarre to me and I know this game is a bit very different to 2 and 3 but look at Matt's reaction when Jack raids the place in 3:
You'd argue he's simply stopping Jack bc he hates this guy and he also hates this job which Could Be True but i highly doubt bc overall despite his virginity and overall cursed vibe, Matt seems to be a good employee, by all means (I mean, Peter literally gave him a vacation instead of firing him in 2, so that says a lot).
Plus, Dave hates this guy as much as he hates him! He literally always calls him creepy and, AND!
This is the only footage you get of the prize corner in 2. Which is also the first game to show Matt and Dave's disdain for one another, Dave being likely more scared of Matt than Matt will ever be of him.
Which is all very curious. 2 does set a drastic change for Matt too with him going from being just strange to outright creepy, so was the old pizza place closing something that actually affected him or was he consistently that creepy all along? And if the later, did he just start hating Dave after that or did they always have beef and they simply had some sort of arrangement (or even higher word from Steven who tended to let Dave do whatever he wanted in general) that let him do so?
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Wen Ning continued with admiration in his voice, “But Young Master Lan has a lot...... A lot of money...... It’s so nice.”
–Chapt. 97: “Sleeplessness” Part 8, boat-full-of-lotus-pods
Give Wen Ning a Sugar Daddy (or Mama) 2k23!
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end of ep 2
the only ship with better chemistry than sydcarmy is carmy x repression
the way he goes to sugar -- not directly but to sugar regardless -- seeking comfort even though he'd never in a million years acknowledge that that's what he's doing is just heartbreaking
she's a sister that wants to comfort her brother who wants to be comforted but neither of them have the language or tools to do so, and they're both aware that neither of them knows how to ask for that closeness
carmy seems to be a good amount younger than Mikey/Richie and it shows in how Richie's not sure how to engage with him as Chef Carmen rather than Baby Carmy. he even goes by carmy -- a rather childish nickname -- which reinforces this to everyone in-world and to the viewer on the other side of the fourth wall
the lightness in carmy's posture when he's going through the kitchen and everything is working well and he hires syd? absolutely beautiful. she breathes life into him, makes him smile when very little else does. carmy smiles at good food, at people enjoying his food, and at syd. carmy's too self-punishing to react to a carrot as motivation, he's gotten too used to the stick. someone says something is impossible, he tries to do it anyway -- is it any wonder that someone like that who can't afford a sous chef hires her anyway? they need each other, whether you want to take that platonically, Doylistically, or romantically (it's romantic listen to the audio cues)
last thought before ep 3 -- the expression too many cooks spoil the soup is in full effect here, and they telegraph it at the start of ep 2 with carmy introducing himself as the owner and richie saying that he's the owner's brother, and the owner is dead. there's too many cooks not because of the staff, but because Mikey is haunting (figuratively) The Beef. No one's grieved, no one's moved on, no one's even thought about getting closure because Mikey's still there -- his procedures, his kitchen, his debt, and his ghost
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