#if i was being held at gunpoint about it basically and forced to pick One Thing

[mythvoiced]

Aeri can’t decide what she hates more - the way the bejeweled pin in the victor from District 8’s hair is lopsided, or the girl herself. Oh, what Aeri wouldn’t give to wear such an accessory again, or even wear the finery the victor has been gifted to wear to the viewing. That was her once, wasn’t it?

But now? She’s stuck here, watching this spectacle. The brat, who has no idea what privilege she’s been presented with, keeps on creasing the delicate threads of her gown and her stylists also clearly have no idea on how to do the brat’s makeup. And then there’s that damn pin- Aeri’s pin once upon a time- only in place because it’s tangled in there-

And Aeri can’t hold back. When the brat’s stylists are gone, she reaches into the girl’s hair and extracts the pin. Her fingers, callused from years of hard labor that still feels foreign to Aeri, are quick to untangle most of the obvious knots in the brat’s hair before shetwists the locks into a ponytail and then a bun. The pin goes back in.

Aeri glares at the girl through the mirror. Don’t you dare mess up my work.

( congrats lenlen!! you get....aeri, being really resentful, i hope marìa doesn't mind too much ^^' )

@stillresolved | !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET HER BE RESENTFUL

---

There's a harshness to being dolled up when you are in no way receptive to it.

María isn't foreign to the roughness of life - she's a fucking Victor, after all, isn't she - she's started working in factories just about around the age even the most moral of District 8 people might turn their back in fear on seeing her walk in, pretending not seeing her would free them of the responsibility of working with a child.

Her hands and nose and palate and lungs had long gotten used and keep getting used to the aftermath of working with chemicals, of being so very intimate with garments and colours, with fumes and heat, with the hard work of surviving, with the hard work of fighting to be allowed a minimal chance at said survival, at figuring that there's little more for people from District 8 to fight for.

Still... it's not the same.

Being pushed around, dressed in things she would have never chosen for herself to serve a people, a man, because she's not stupid enough to not be able to tell what is Capitol and what is Snow and how Capitol is Snow, it's a kind of biting and harsh and rough that doesn't leave behind the usual kind of scars and memories and bruises.

Even surviving the Games had come with a desperately accepted sense of relief, one covered in blood and the humiliation of all she'd done and all she'd thought she'd get to accomplish, only for reality to crash in on her in a victory she hadn't wanted to partake in, hadn't wanted to make possible, when she'd wanted her Games to be victor-less in lieu of ending the Games themselves.

This... this is humiliation in the long run. This has hardly any hope attached to it, waiting for her on the other end of the line. Sometimes, on the worst days, it feels like the true brunt of the battle, walking with blood-stained soles and palms and sparkling as she does, wearing all that might make even the softest source of light appear like flames reflecting off her frame, covering her in fire that had not eaten her alive - much to a few people's disdain.

Picking at things, not holding still, grimacing, shifting her muscles, arms, face to make her stylists' life as difficult as possible, it was all she had to fight back.

The Arena came with death and violence, and living back at home had been physical labour upon physical labour, straining her young body until she could no longer tell if she was broken beyond repair or fitter than children her age should be - had they grown up privileged within the Capitol's safety.

Here she has only threads to tear apart and reflections to glare at.

And a new challenge behind every door.

She feels yanked back, an intensity of motion caused less by the avox suddenly in her hair and more her own stiffness that hadn't prepared her for submission to someone suddenly rearranging her.

After her stylists had left, she'd succumbed to the tension of not wanting to be there, without the added hard work of making sure everybody else does. Lost in her thought, somebody's hands suddenly returning on her had fortified, molten it into a newly forged blade, stiff and ready to strike, tensing everything within her and making a few fingers in her hair turn into a grappling hook tied to a moving mountain.

María is startled enough she can't remember how to glare.

A frown does accompany her widened eyes anyway, making her look... appalled, almost, an addition to her expression so unsuited to typically frightened features, youth tainted by the face of someone used to having to fight to stay alive.

It almost happens in a flash then. The reflection moves and adjusts and fixes and what had started as something that had María's lips split into something acid and trembling, turns into something unpleasant and acrid, but silent, as María sits and lets herself be mandhandled one more time.

That's when she glares. After the avox finishes up, after their eyes meet in the mirror and María sees none of the downturned gazes they're trying to make her accustomed to.

Seeing avoxes pisses her off.

Why take it out on them.

She understands what they are, what they're supposed to represent.

To her, an avox is a statement. No longer a person but rather someone rid of their innate right to be considered one. Even with the determination and life in this avox' eyes, María has come to understand them as tools Snow uses to assert his dominance, people from all circles of life, punished with the robbing of their words... and their detached tongue metaphorically forced to lick away at the tip of the shoes of people like María.

All a scheme.

Infighting.

Use the prey on the prey, make them take each other out.

It'd be easier to feel pity if María could sleep, if the avox hadn't adjusted her appearance, and if the avox wasn't staring her down as if she had any right to do so.

She's oddly beautiful.

She's oddly familiar.

"Why are you helping them?" she hisses, low, whispered, because she might never admit it, but she's... she's a little scared, isn't she? Lately? Devora's face swims before her inner eye, so stern, so wrong.

"I'm on your side more than they are," she adds, pulling a strand of her hair out of the freshly adjusted bun.

[alwaysforevermaybenever]

YANDERE EX-HUSBAND: INTRODUCTION

× cw: general yandere stuff; malaysian/cantonese slang; reader is implied ethnically chinese (read her dialogue in Steven He’s accent); reader is also female; obsessive behavior; bribery; stalking; being held at gunpoint(?); threats; felony; implied murder; controlling behavior

× note: it's basically renheng/uncle roger and auntie helen

⌗ your beloved ex-husband? Hah! He’s no better than a plate of burnt egg fried rice with no spring onions or meat from a kopitiam(coffee shop). In fact, you’d pick studying at art school over looking at his face for a single second, even if it means your mother disowning you.

⌗ Unfortunately, even after getting divorced, you still live together. That’s because the house is bought under both your names, so you can’t just kick him out. And it’s not like you’ll have enough money to buy a new house after selling your current one, because half the money goes to him. Tsk. What a nuisance…

⌗ Yala, he’s handsome and rich, but he’s such a jerk and a micromanager! He always insists on telling you how to cook your signature noodles. (Mind you, you grew up learning how to make that. Your ma made sure of that.) He didn’t go to culinary school, so who is he to tell you that, huh?

⌗ You can’t stand being married to such a pompous man like him, so you locked yourself in your room on the wedding night. No way you’re gonna do anything with that eyesore (metaphor). That’s why five months later, after countless arguments and fights, you divorced him.

“Haiya, he CEO of a company, his net worth 1 billion. But he cannot even cook rice or defrost chicken for me when I ask him to? And you ask why I divorce him ah?” *slaps table*

⌗ However, your ex-husband doesn’t really care about your rants or complaints. You’re talking for hours on end about him, so that’s already a win in his book. He’s always on your mind!

⌗ He fully expected you to divorce him. That’s why he insisted on buying the house under both your names - you can’t get rid of him that way. All long as he’s under the same roof as you are, he couldn’t be happier. He eats the food you cook (leftovers because you’re used to cooking for all your relatives during family dinner), rolls on your perfectly made bed while you work your accountant job (in one of his other companies that you don’t know he’s the CEO of) and plays the picture perfect husband when your mom drops by (your 28501864817 relatives marching right behind her) with mooncakes and tangyuan (because she’ll beat you up with the tea set heirloom passed down forty-five generations when she discovers that you’re divorced with no sons!!).

⌗ How did you even get married to him if you hate him that much? Well, long story short, your mother and his mother are best friends, and their husbands are brothers, which made daily reunions even longer because they had so much to talk about. When they noticed that he showed interest in you as a child (one time), they decided that you two would get married when you were of age. While you were resentful that you were essentially forced into an arranged marriage, you pushed through it for the wedding ang pao (red packets) and tax benefits (at least until you divorced, which was when you started working and putting that science stream (not art!) degree to use). 

⌗ You hate your ex-husband, but you do admit that he’s a good wallet. Besides, it’s not like he’s obsessive or possessive or a micromanager who stalks you when you go out or a genuinely bad person who commits felonies because he found out you were searching for potential bachelors because after all you’re in your prime! Right? And besides, who wouldn’t want to date and eventually marry you? But don’t worry your pretty little head because he’ll take care of them since he’s the only one you’ll ever need. Yeah, you’re divorced but who’s to say you can’t get remarried? Not the law! 

⌗ And if he has to drag you screaming and kicking and cursing him (and his ancestors) to the ancestral plane and make you stand by the altar, that’s what his strength is for! And if he has to pay hush money to all the people present that’s ok, cuz he’s not rich for nothing and the relatives aren’t greedy bloodsucking money nabbers (me) just for show.

“Once again, until death do us part, my love… You at the back - put down that phone. I’ll pretend you weren’t trying to call the police, for the sake of this auspicious occasion. What do you mean my wife is being held at gunpoint and trying to punch me no she isn’t.”

[lover-of-mine]

Hi, hi, hello, here I am again to sound insane about buddie. First, is this speculation? A meta? A canon adjacent fic idea I don't have the skill to execute? Wishful thinking? All of the above? I'm not sure, I just saw a pattern and my brain came up with something very elaborate that I will now tell you about. Also, maybe read this first because that connection is the one that pushed this into place, and if you want more thoughts on Buck and death.

So, if you're new here, I live in a delusional land called they casted Ryan with a plan that recently added a neighborhood called did they tell Ryan Eddie is Buck's endgame? so I'm always looking for something to prove me right because I refuse to believe someone accidentally set up what could be the slow burn to end all slow burns, and I found an interesting pattern after watching Abandon ‘Ships and things escalated. 

But the thing is that Buck and Eddie's relationship is tied with the concept of death. Both of them have very intricate relationships with death individually, but together too. I was thinking about the “we might end up real close” as the very dark joke Buck was actually going for, with the way if that grenade had gone off, there would be no telling them apart in the blast, but it got me thinking about the way Buck is signing up to die with Eddie. They both walk into that ambulance knowing they might very well not walk out, and the fact that they did, is what makes them bond. The wording of “you can have my back any day” is very interesting to me because Eddie is not saying “I will take care of you” he is saying “I trust you to take care of me” and that's a real intense thing to say to the coworker who was picking a fight with you half an hour before. But they bonded over a promise of keeping each other alive that they were forced to keep over and over again. 

And a lot of major changes in their relationship start with a deadly situation. They could have died pancaked on that building after the earthquake, and after that Chris got introduced into their dynamic. The truck explosion had Eddie reversing into being a medic to treat Buck even though it made more sense for him to be using his strength to help lift the truck. The tsunami started the realization that Buck loves Chris like he is his kid, and also had Eddie explicitly affirming the trust he has in Buck. The well made Eddie change his will. That warehouse fire on Buck Begins, Eddie is the first one to Buck's line and he's also waiting for Buck after he gets checked out. Buck saved Eddie's life during the shooting, the will reveal also established how well Eddie knows Buck. They got held at gunpoint together and Buck's automatic reaction to the gunshot is to run towards it because Eddie might be in danger. Buck broke Eddie's door down to help him after his breakdown that was triggered by death, and Buck also had a moment where he thought he would be finding Eddie's body. And Buck actually gives Eddie hope after it all by giving Eddie a good thing about the situation that led him to get shot. 

We established this pattern, but I want to talk about the lightning in more detail because, unlike any situation before, Buck actually died. Eddie doesn't hesitate to go up what's basically a wet lightning rod to get to Buck after the strike even though he had been thrown off the truck, Eddie also performs CPR even though he was driving the ambulance, and it is Eddie shocking Buck that gets his heart beating again. It's almost as if he was, I don't know, welcoming him back to the world of the living? (Ba dum tss lol this is mostly a joke but please keep this in mind)

So we have Eddie literally bringing Buck back from the dead. But Buck is not ready to deal with the consequences and implications of what happened to him, which is understandable, I guess, with his relationship with life and death, but Buck not dealing with it makes it so Eddie won't fully deal with it either. 

Buck is a passively suicidal savior baby and Eddie is a widower. If Daniel didn't get sick Buck wouldn't have been born and Eddie is the last one standing. And that's a lot about how they deal with death. Buck acts as if he's not looking for death but doesn't mind if death finds him and Eddie is burdened by the people he couldn't save. And the thing with Buck's death is that Buck realized that he does care if death finds him and Eddie thinks that since Buck is alive, he doesn't get to feel the grief for the time Buck was dead, not fully at least. 

So they were at a very interesting point where Eddie is constantly around Buck, and is the place Buck runs to when he gets overwhelmed, and Buck is extremely off balance over the fact that he did die this time and he's not sure how to feel about it. But since Buck wasn't ready to look at everything about his death, how he felt about it, how it affected the people he loves, how it took away his coping mechanism when it comes to being in danger since his reaction was always “but I didn't die” or “I didn't get the worst of it” because he did die and he did get the worst of it, so Buck finds a safe place to hide where he can look at his death through the eyes of someone who wasn't affected by it. 

I was always curious about why the cemetery scene happened in a cemetery. Why Buck and Eddie are visiting the grave of someone who didn't die on their watch. Why a conversation about Buck's feelings about death and wanting to forget it happened, happened in a cemetery. And the location of the conversation ties the conversation to the concept of death in the broad sense that keeps tying Buck and Eddie together. Not considering the breakup aspects of the conversation, the cemetery scene is actually about Buck running away from the way death made him feel, he is drawn to this person who thinks death is cool, so he won't have to see his death as a tragedy and now I also think there is a layer about making Eddie realize he needs to let Buck accept what happened before he can help Buck past it. 

In the locker room, Buck is talking about death as something that got boring since it was all Natalia ever wanted to talk about. We will never know the original plan for that relationship, but considering the focus on her being a death doula, I feel like that was always the point, put Buck in a space where he can look at death as something that's not scary anymore. But the scene also ends with Eddie welcoming him back to the world of the living. Eddie has ridiculous survival skills, Buck survived a lot, yeah, but Buck always ends up in these life-or-death situations by accident. He choked on bread, the bomb wasn't aimed at him, the blood clots were a very unlikely complication of the surgery he had on his leg, the odds of getting caught in a tsunami are ridiculously low, and he got struck by lightning. Eddie was out at war, he was targeted by a sniper, he saved his own life on the well, and he tries to pull people out with him. He has now learned to live with the way everyone he saved on that chopper died, but he even blamed himself for the one guy he couldn't save that time. Eddie is not afraid of death, but he is afraid of being the one left alive. Buck on the other hand is almost afraid of what it means that he is alive. So Buck's passively suicidal tendencies, something that Eddie deeply understands about Buck “you act like you're expendable” are something that scares him. Because pre-lightning Buck doesn't really care if he is alive. And since Buck wasn’t ready to talk about what dying did to him, Eddie doesn’t know that Buck now may want to actually live. He doesn’t know that Buck chose to come back, that he fought for it. 

But if death is now something boring, Buck can actually do something about being alive because he wants to. He can actually be in the world of the living because he wants to be, because he believes he has the right to be. He can actually find a place where he doesn’t believe his life matters less. 

And when it comes to Eddie, with the focus on Shannon that we got recently, he can also find a space where he’s not trying to find her. Accept that she was a big part of his life, accept he will always miss her, and find something new. 

Oliver and Ryan have been talking a lot about vulnerability and Buck and Eddie leaning on each other, and with the locker room conversation, their relationship with death individually and together, the fact that the cruise disaster is on the horizon and while we know Buck and Eddie were filming in cruise and out in the sea they are barely in the promo of it, my own Buck will drown speculations (you can read about that here), and the general they will be in danger on the cruise feelings, I think that could mean Buck and Eddie are moving to a place where they could be a couple that works. There’s a lot of talk about the friendship aspect of their relationship and we’ve seen that a lot in the first episode already, but they are chilling in this space where they can talk to each other freely, and getting Buck to a place where he wants to be alive for himself not for what he can offer other people and Eddie to a place where he accepts the people he couldn’t save without it narrowing the way he deals with his relationships. I talk a lot about how Eddie overcorrects, and one complaint Shannon had was that he wasn’t all the way in with her, so he goes too fast with Ana and might be doing the same with Marisol because he’s trying to fix that mistake with someone else, but accepting that what he has with Buck is its own thing that works, and all he needs to do is be open about what he wants could be the push that puts him in the path of loving Buck fully, the same way Buck just goes along with things because he mostly believes he shouldn’t be alive, so why should he want things, so to have Buck get to the place where he realizes that he has what he wants right on his reach, he just needs to ask for it is ideal. 

I made this edit not that long ago, and it’s almost a poem, about how Eddie doesn’t think what he has to offer is enough, so he won’t say what he means, and Buck thinks he needs to settle for what he’s offered, so he won’t ask for more, and how that’s an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force, and they need to move off that impasse for that relationship to work. And being in the world of the living together and finding the little things that make them happy along with all the tragedy that surrounds them, can put them on that path. 

Their whole relationship is about keeping each other alive, Eddie straight up offers Buck a reason to live, why can’t they just find a way to make each other feel alive?

I said up there about how Buck signed up to dying with Eddie by going in that ambulance, and with everything about Buck, Actually (i recommend you read this for Buck actually thoughts about buddie) and how he latched on to the way Thomas and Mitchell died together after hearing about the life they had together, it's important for Buck to realize that point is not to die together, but to have the life together, and I feel like Buck is in the path to understanding that, and Eddie is ready to be happy, this could be it.

They could be learning to be alive together and finding out they want to be together.

As always, if you read this, I love you 💜

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Emp-ire “At Gunpoint.”

Sorry for posting so late. I wrote this yesterday, but have been kind of absentminded lately. I hope you enoy.

Adam woke up with a numb arm and a groan. He rolled onto his side, hearing the clatter of glass as he did, sitting up and slamming his head hard against the table above. He cursed, rubbing his head as he crawled out from under the table and stumbling to his feet. Quiet snoring over by the bar alerted him to another human’s presence and found Ramirez sprawled on top of the bar itself using a boot for a pillow. He looked up to find the bartender smirking at him from behind the bar.

He smiled rather sheepishly boots clattering over the floor as he walked over and unceremoniously turfed Ramirez onto the floor.

The other man yelped in surprise and flailed about for a second before looking up, “Adam!”

Adam looked around the room trying to find his hat, and surprisingly, found it sitting on top of a mounted ram’s head on the wall. He walked over and picked it up, placing it back on his head as Ramirez wobbled to his feet.

“You boys enjoy your night.”

Ramirez squinted at the light leaving in through the window, “That was…. One eventful night, drinking, debauchery and catching outlaws.” He slapped Adam on the shoulder, “What a good time.” A ‘small’ smile crossed Adam’s face, “Leave it to us to manage not to have a normal evening. Now come on, let's go find some horses.”

***

They found their houses in the stables just outside of town. The place was enough of a tourist trap that it was likely the horses were available to rent. He doubted they would just be allowing anyone to take one for a joyride though and stepped into the stable first with Ramirez walking behind him.

“Smells like horse in here.” Ramirez muttered

“Stop being such a Diva.” Adam said walking forward to where a farm hand was carting away a wheelbarrow of waste and the stable manager was standing patting one of the horses.

The smell of horses and fresh hay wafted over him and he had a sudden flash of his childhood.

His father’s voice echoing in his head.

“That’s it, not too tight on the reins, Adam. There you go.”

He shook himself and walked up to the man who turned, “Mornin’ the man greeted touching the brim of his hat, “What can I do for you.”

Adam motioned a finger at himself and Ramirez, “We were hoping to rent some horses,”

The man looked them up and don skeptically, “Do you boys know how to handle and take care of a horse?”

“I do, my friend there doesn’t… so he'd need something…. Gentle perhaps something you use to teach children.” 

Ramirez frowned, Adam smirked at him.

“Well guess we will have to see. I don’t just rent out my horses to anyone you know. Have to prove you can take care of them and treat em nice before i allow that.”

Adam nodded, “i’d question you a bit if you didn’t have that policy.”

“Well  I can suggest a few.” He turned to walk down the line, “For your friend there, he might want to take Buttercup, she's a sweet old girl, still has some spirit left in her but she's gentle and sure footed out of all the animals I had ever known. How about you sir, what’s your experience.” 

Adam shrugged, “Dad taught me to ride when I was a kid. I can gallup and stay on at a jump, know how to groom and take care of one, but I admit it's been a few years.”

The man nodded slowly and thoughtfully before walking to the end of the stable and patting a stall door, “This is Maroz, she’s a bit stubborn, but I think a man like you might be able to handle her.”

Adam walked over with Ramirez at his back to look at the horse, Stunning, white like a pearl, with thick legs but a long mane managing to look elegant and imperious at the same time.

“Wow, she's gorgeous.”

“Well go on, let her get a sniff at you.”

Adam walked up to the gate offering her the back of his hand fingers slightly curled inward, in an almost fist. She stuck her head forward sniffing at his hand, hot air blowing in great gusts over his skin.

After a moment she snorted and nosed at his hand allowing him to gently pat her along the velvety skin of her muzzle.

“Well hello gorgeous.” He said.

She tossed her head a bit.

The man nodded pleased and opened the gate, allowing Adam o take the rins and walk her onto the floor.

“A firm hand, thats good, a lot of people arent firm, but you have to be. You have to let them know you are in charge. It gives them a sense of security.”

He led Ramirez over to another stall where a silver horse stood tossing her head. She stopped as he approached and sniffed at him.”

He looked a bit nervous, “They are a lot bigger up close.”

Adam smirked, “Oh come on, they’re sweet.” he patted Maroz’s side and the horse tossed her head.

Adam left Ramirez with the stable owner for a moment as he went over to put a saddle on the white house throwing the leather over her back and tightening the girth-strap before adjusting the stirrups. 

The stable owner walked over to check his work and seemed pleased.

Go ahead and hop on take her for a ride around while I get your friend saddled up, and show him a few of the basics.

Adam nodded, throwing his foot up into the stirrup and then hauling his other leg over the back of the horse. She shuffled a bit, but once he had himself situated things started to become more familiar and he gently tapped the rains urging her forward into a slow walk.

Ramirez was still eying the horse like it was going to eat him, which made Adam smile a bit.

He walked her outside and urged her into a light trot ad then into a canter around th stables, his hips moving with her as her body rolled under him.

He lifted his face to the open air.

He had forgotten how much he enjoyed this.

Once that was done, he urged her into a gallup and she responded to him thundering over the desert ground sending up clouds of dust after the. He whooped in glee, leaning low over her neck before turning her around and pulling her to a stop before the doors of the barn.

Ramirez was there strategically trying to figure out how to haul himself into the saddle. He tried once, overbalanced and fell backward into the dirt in a puff of dust. The horse whinnied like it was laughing at him. Adam laughed, “Guess ice dancing doesn't exactly translate into horseback riding eh?”

“Shut up Adam, By the end of today this beast will be my bitch.”

Adam leaned against the pommel of the sadel with some skepticism. Ramirez tried again and ended up hopping away off balance.

He patted Maroz’s neck, “See girl, I did that and I only have one leg.”

“An ENHANCED prosthetic if I may remind you.” Ramirez said. The silver horse sat there with no end to her patient nature.”

Ramirez finally managed to haul himself into the saddle, and from there wasn’t too bad. He had a good sense of balance even at a trot and got the hang of it pretty quickly, walking and even trotting slowly around the small paddock.

The stable master urged Adam t jump the horse a few times, and he managed a few low fences before chickening out at something bigger and pulling the horse to a stop.

The man tapped his chin lightly, “Alright, I suppose you’re capable enough. I’m still gonna give you some instruction before you head out.”

Adam took the instruction very seriously, forcing Ramirez to sit down and listen as well. What they were about to do wasn’t going to be a picnic and they wanted to be as safe as possible while they did it.

After a while they had their extra clothing and bedrolls rolled up and packed on the horses.

They purchased a map and a compass and were waved off into the open country at a slow walk with the sun high overhead.

Adam held the reins gently in one hand, fist resting against his thigh.

“Showoff.” Ramirez mumbled almost white knuckling the reins off to his side.

“I can’t believe you are from Texas and don’t know how to ride a horse.”

“An ice skater from texas, a sexy almost Olympian from the city.”

Adam snorted and laughed, “You asked for this trip, you asked for this to happen.”

“I wanted us to dress up and go drinking, I didn’t think you were going to drag me out into the desert to go live on the land and…. I dont know skin alien rabbits or some shit.”

“We brought food quit being dramatic.”

Ramirez looked up at the sky, “Forgot my harmonica, guess I’m going to have to start singing.”

“Sing what?”

“I don’t know, country songs and shit.”

“What country songs do you know?”

He shrugged, “Plenty.”

“Like what.”

“There Is the, I love my truck song.”

Adam and the hose snorted at the same time.

“There is the, I lost my wife song, the I like drinking song, the I love country dirt song,and the I love lovin women in corn fields song.”

Adam choked and started to laugh, the sun beating down on them, “I would LOVE to hear your rendition of the love lovin a woman in a corn field song. And yes that is a challenge.”

Ramirez reached up to stroke his chin just a bit, “Hold on, gotta remember the lyrics.”

Adam waited grinning as his friends tared intently at the saddle before him.

“I….. Ah ha um…. Driving my girl down to the field…..er.”

“Go on…..” Adam reached down for his canteen and took a sip

“Getting all ready to uh…. Plow her field.”

He regretted pretty quickly taking that drink as sudden laughter caused him to spurt water out his nose like a broken faucet. He choked and gagged and gasped for air, howling with laughter to the point he was bent double on his horse silently shaking ad slapping his leg repeatedly with murth.

When he could finally speak he sat up and gasped, “You dumbass rymed field with field. You could have at least used yield or wield or healed or kneeled. Heavens above, now I KNOW why you’re a marine.”

Ramirez flipped him the bird, and Adam urged them into a light canter over the dirt. He kept an eye on the horses, making sure not to tire them out too much though he doubted the pase at which they were riding would actually have any adverse affect on them. He doubted Ramirez would be able to handle a full gallop any time soon but was happy to feel the wind rushing against his face and neck.

The air smelled alien, as alien planets tend to smell. It was hard to describe it, almost metallic, like he could taste it, and as the sun set the sky overhead grew purple. They said there was a higher concentration of oxygen on this planet which is what made the usually red to orange sunsets on a place like earth purple on a palace like this. It was pretty in a very strange way, casting an eerie light over the orange red desert as if they had been thrown into some strange space cowboy fantasy, which he supposed they had.

As soon as the sun met the horizon, Adam ordered them to a stop below one of the rock formations against the leeward side and set up camp. There was a pamphlet in the saddle bags that discussed local flora and fauna of the area, what was safe to burn, and what was safe to eat.

They had more than enough food to last them on their trip out to one of the settlements, so they didn’t worry about that as they sat down by the fire watching as the sun cast bright orange streaks of light access a purple sunset. 

Adam leaned back against his saddle watching the horses as they grazed quietly off to the side on strange bluish rock grass that was apparently pretty good for horses.

“Not half bad.” Adam muttered, taking a swig from his canteen.

Ramirez only grunted from where he leaned against his saddle using it as some sort of pillow with his hat drawn low over his eyes.

Adam reached a hand down to his belt, fingers brushing over the stolen knife.

What was he doing?

He had never stolen anything, not in his entire life.

Not even when the person desperately needed to be stolen from. He glanced down at the knife again. What had come over him in that moment? Were his thoughts of Sunny really so profound that he would think about becoming a thief just to impress her.

Was it…. Was it perhaps this whole atmosphere that made him so likely to steal.

The wild west, the final frontier, a place where the rules were fast and loose and finders meant keepers.

Off to his side Ramirez was breathing deeply probably asleep after a long day of riding.

Adam felt that, his legs hurt somewhat, and so he stretched them out, leaning back against the rock.

At least they didn’t have to worry about rattlesnakes or spiders. The biggest issue here were these sort of one eyed looking lizard things that had little spines on their skin that could cause a mild rash on people, though that was only on the people who happened to be allergic to them.

He closed his eyes trying not to think too much and certainly trying not to think of Sunny.

Wherever she was.

Likely alone.

Likely still mad at him.

He cursed himself for ruining their friendship which had taken so long to build. What they had come from before just go go back to square one so many years later. He took a deep breath and tried not to think, just tried to let himself sleep.

***

He woke to the disturbed nickering of the horses.

Anda cold gun barrel pressed to the back of his head.

He jolted upright reaching for his gun, but the barre pressed harder against the back of his skull, “I wouldn’t try that if i were you, Partner.” the words came out spitting and derisive, and Adam held his hands slowly in the air blinking against the light of their little campfire.

On the other side of the circle he could see another dark figure standing behind Ramirez's gun pointed at his head in a similar fashion to Adam.

Ramirez looked almost as groggy as he felt, and chanced a look at him across the fire.

“Don’t you boys even THINK about trying anything.”

Adam kept his hands where they were his voice calm, “I am sure….. This is all just some sort of misunderstanding.”

He winced as the gun barrel pressed harder against the back of his head.

“No misunderstanding about it ‘friend’ you’re being robbed, so you are going to sit there and shut up.”

“Go ahead, I’m not stopping you.” Adam said his hands surprisingly steady”

He watched as the men rifled through their things pulling out food ad ammunition only to shove them into their bags and keep rooting through.

One of them went rifling through Adam’s pockets and gumbelt while they had them sat on the rocks, Pulling out his handgun and the knife which had already been stolen. 

“Are we done now?” Adam asked probably not intending to have such an acerbic mouth, but finding the annoyance biting to the front of his thoughts against his will. And were out before he could stop them.

“Get insolent would you.”

A sharp pain exploded on the side of his head, and he went sprawling to the dirt, his hat rolling off towards the fire.

He groaned and crawled to his hands and knees spitting dirt and blood onto the ground.

Someone knelt in front of him, gripping his chin aggressively and forcing his head back to look up at them, “I-”The man paused and then frowned, “Do i know you…. You look familiar.”

Adam jerked his head away, “Guess I just got one of those faces.”

“No, no I know you from somewhere.”

Adam sighed, this was all playing out like some poorly written trope, and if he knew where this was going ---which he thought he did-- than it wasn’t going to end well.

“You been drinkin again Davis.”

“No I swear, take a look at him.”

There was a shuffling around the fire and Adam’s head was forced back again by a handful of hair as the group leader clomped over the dirt,spurs jangling as he did, coming to crouch before Adam with a contemplative expression. Unlike their encounter with the outlaw last night, this man was…. Well he was a lot more put together. He was clean shaven with a well tanned complexion and a velvety black hat only slightly coated by dust. He wore a red vest over a black shirt, and all the silver buckles that held him together shone in the darkness of the fire.

He scrutinized Adam for a very long time before.

“Well slap my ass and call me Nancy, if it isn’t Admiral Vir of the UNSC.” he spit into the dirt and the rest of the men around the fire moved in to circle around him.

Adam sighed, he knew he had been had.

“Figure that out all on your own '' He wondered staring the man in the face with barely concealed contempt.

Across the fire Ramirez was staring at him with a ‘what the fuck do you think you are doing.” Sort of expression.

The man laughed mirthlessly, “You’ve got a tongue on you, Admiral.” He glanced over at Ramirez, “And who is this, faithful dog or your lover.”

Adam sneered, “I could ask the same thing about you and all your….friends.”: He glanced around the campfire  at the group of armed men.

What the fuck was he doing/?

“You’re funny Admiral,” h looked around, “isn’t he funny boys.”

Around the fire, the group of men laughed with cold derision.

Their leader crouched down, and patted Adam slowly on the shoulder, “I am Happy to see you Admiral, very happy to see you.  I’m a big fan, loved your movie, though learning that you were in support of those alien fuckers put me off a bit, I have to admit.” He placed the barrel of his gun below Adam’s chin and tilted his head back slightly. “Almost didn’t recognize you without the eyepatch.” He tapped the side of Adam’s head with the gun barrel, “Freaky that thing is, referring to Adam’s eye.

Adam snered, “Then you’ll really find this freaky.” 

With a sharp whirr, the steel eye prosthetic jolted to life and flashed upward with a ferrel hiss. No one had time to react before the sharp thud of metal on flesh as his metallic shin drove itself hard into the fork of the man’s legs.

He achieved the desired effect as the man crumbled like a wet piece of tissue gagging and choking into the fetal position.

Adam was grabbed by the shoulders and pinned bodily to the ground, more than five weapons pointed at his face.

Just ahead the bandit leader lay on the ground mewling and gagging every so often.

It took him a good fifteen minutes to recover and when he finally staggered to his feet Adam more than expected to be shot. In a blur of motion the man pulled his gun and pointed it at Adam’s head a grimace still plastered over his face. His hand trembled with what must have been rage but he eventually lowered his weapon, “If you weren’t so valuable, I would shoot you where you stand.”

He glanced over at Ramirez awith a thoughtful expression, “Try anything like that again, and I kill your friend.”

That mande Adam Freeze, and he glanced over at Ramirez with wide eyes,

The man snarled, “Thought that would get your attention, but still…. I owe you.”

Adam probably should have seen the boot coming, but he only registered it at the last moment before blacking out completely.

[themadauthorshatter]

It's been a while since I did one of these, I was doing some catching up with other fandoms😅

If you haven't read the previous parts, they are here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4/Part 4 extension/revision

Recap time: Charles has realised that with the twins knowing where the Aztec Sapphire is, they are in danger. Thankfully, he was targetted instead. Right chases him and Charles is almost captured, but he escapes with returning character Terrence Suave, who returns him to the military base.

With that out of the way, ONWARD!!!!

We start with Charles groaning as he wakes up in an infirmary bed, sore from the chase and his torso aching from his ribs getting reset and his gash stitched shut. The twins are asleep next to him, and Galeforce is outside the room yelling at someone(I wonder who?).

He sucks in a breath and gets out of bed, careful to not overdo it, because he's still injured, and finds Galeforce yelling at Terrence Suave, who's simply drinking some coffee and enjoying himself as he pulls the General's leg. At least until he looks over his shoulder.

"Morning, Pilot."

Galeforce turns and almost hugs Charles, stopping himself when he notices Charles holding his side and with bad posture; he's too tired and sore to stand straight.

Regardless he asks how he's doing, and Charles says he's fine and inquires on what the two were talking about, more specifically what Terrence knows.

What were they talking about exactly? Simple, Henry and his next move.

Charles re-affirms that he needs to skip town because Henry's on the hunt for him, and he's a good cover/scapegoat for the twins, so they can stay safe.

Galeforce says no to that immediately; Charles is like his child. Regardless of how old or experienced he is, Charles is still his baby and his first instinct will always be to protect him. He doesn't say this out loud, of course, but it still makes Charles disagree as politely as he can.

I should probably explain why Charles is tunnel visioned on this whole thing:

Well, Henry was awake for a couple hours during his flight to the Toppat Airship. During that time, Charles got to mingling, talking about how he knew Henry had ot kind of rough and offered to be a roommate, if Henry needed a place to stay.

Henry declined and said he'd consider it.

Charles was silent for a second, and admitted that he got it if Henry was scared, seeing as how they didn't exactly ask him to help, at least until after they "picked him up," but he'll have Charles talking to him through an ear piece the whole time to guide him.

Henry smirked at that and nodded, thanking Charles for his kindness, as it was welcome against all the other soldiers.

They talked a little more, and even talked about personal stuff, before Henry got to his mission.

Then Henry betrayed them. And, to rub salt in the wound, shot at them with a bazooka as Reginald open fired with a semi-automatic.

They were forced to retreat, but it twisted the knife for Charles when Henry thanked him again for being himself and leading him straight to the Toppat Clan's leader; Henry would have started off with the government private investigator and ended with rapidly promoted executive.

Back on track, Charles sits down as he explains they don't have a lot of options. It's either Charles leaving or Henry attacking the base and finding the sapphire or taking the twins, who know where it is.

There isn't anything special about the Aztec Sapphire, it's just really big and really expensive. And it's a national treasure, so they need to protect it.

Galeforce is still against the idea because it could be a trap, like an orchestrated path for Charles to follow until he's captured.

Terrence agrees, knowing Henry and how lucky he is.

Charles groans and turns to him asking who the hell he even is.

"I already told you who I was," Terrence barks.

"But who ARE you?" Charles asks. "How did you find me in the city? Why are you out here? Who's side are you even ON!?"

Terrence huffs through his nose and leans against his knees. "I don't take sides. The clan screwed my over and you government lapdogs screwed me over. The only side I'm on is my own."

Galeforce and Charles glance st each other before Galeforce asks, "Then why'd you help Charlie?"

Terrence smirks and shrugs. "Got bored."

The two glare at him, but get back on track when Terrence says, "Anyway, I'm with the pilot on this one. If you're still here, and Henry figures out you are, kiss Earth goodbye on your way up to that station." At that last part, he points to Charles.

Charles gulps and nods.

Then he looks up from the floor to the wall. "I think I know somewhere I can go."

Before he can finish, he exhales and stumbles back; guess he needs more time to rest before acting in his plan.

CUT TO THE ORBITAL STATION!

Henry is thinking of every possible location Charles could be and narrows down on a couple places he'll send spies to: the prison Henry was sent to, the outskirts of the city, the military base, and even the jungle; maybe Charles found a small town to stay in, though hide is a better word.

He's been working on this plan since last night Earth time, so it's a good thing Ellie comes in with some breakfast and water.

"When was the last time you slept?"

Henry shakes his head and signs, 'We need to find him. Can't wait.'

Ellie crouches next to him and rubs his arm. "He's injured. He's not going anywhere any time soon. Rest."

Henry groans, but takes a bite of breakfast sandwich and goes right back to planning.

Ellie has none of that; she may have known Henry for a little while, but damn it if she's going to stop having his back now, and she has to get him to stop and rest by force, so be it.

She drags him over to his bed and judo/jiu jitsu style, straddling his waist when he tries to get up.

"What part of 'get some rest' do you not understand?"

Henry scowls at her before signing, 'You're not my mother.'

"I might as well be, if you're not going to take care of yourself," Ellie replies as she folds her arms. "And if you try to throw me off, I'm tying you to this bed."

It draws a snort out of Henry as he shakes his head, chuckling a little. 'Pervert.'

"You're the one with the dirty mind, mister, not me."

Henry shrugs and gestures back to his desk, but Ellie only grabs his hands and leans down, pinning him.

"No. Now rest."

Henry groans and nods, agreeing to rest; laying down made him realize how tired he was.

Ellie, however, just to be safe, stays right where she is, so he doesn't go back to planning.

"Don't worry. We're going to get that sapphire. And your pet pilot."

Even though he's drowsy, Henry still nods and makes a gesture between the two of them and points to his eyes; 'I know. Same eyes.'

Just to clarify, Ellie's told Henry she has the same 'powers' as him, so he's basically saying he knows because they're seeing the same thing and can get it done.

Anyway, BACK TO CHARLES!!

Charles groans as he's told to stay in bed, but it gets worse when Rupert handcuffs him to said bed to keep him from going anywhere; he has a day off, anyway- or at least he HAD one before Charles woke up and left his bed.

Regardless, Charles only scowls at Rupert as he reads a book.

"That's the first time we've seen you read," Charles remarks.

"Careful. I'll tell the doctor you tried to get out of bed again."

Charles holds up his hand and shows the handcuffs. "How?"

Rupert shrugs. "I'll think of something."

Charles rolls his eyes and lies back, staring at the ceiling.

"So do you have a plan?"

Charles nods. "I need to go to The Wall. I think there's someone I need to talk to."

"Right now, you're not going anywhere until you heal up a little. What if you get found by the Toppats and end up bleeding out somewhere we can't get to you?"

Charles sighs and lies back, staring at the ceiling as Rupert gets up to go grab some food for both himself and Charles.

Charles continues to stare up at the ceiling as he hears Rupert leave, though he spots something on the table next to his bed:

Keys to the cuffs and a note from Terrence reading, Have fun getting to The Wall. Keep your headlights off in the open, when there aren't any trees around. Remember: Her name's Hadiya Wrenley; I never married her. Good luck. Terrence Suave.'

When Rupert returns, Charles is gone, having written, 'Sorry!' on the back of Terrence's letter.

Good thing he's left because the Toppats have arrived in a surprise ambush.

It's a 50 to maybe 24, so it's easy for Henry to have a group and Galeforce rounded up and held at gunpoint.

"Scumbag," Galeforce snaps, though Henry, who's refreshed from some rest and relaxing(Ellie took over planning), only smirks at him.

'Where are the sapphire and Charles?'

"He's gone," Rupert growls. "He left town and he took the sapphire with him."

Sick of his shit, Henry gestures for Rupert, who is pulled forward, the other soldiers objecting and demanding Henry choose one of them instead.

The toppat shoves Rupert to the ground and Henry draws a gun, aiming at him, the two glare at each other; believe me, after the airship, there's been A LOT that these two did to piss each other off.

Everyone jumps when they hear gunfire, but not near the assembly. Henry especially jumps and covers his head before turning, panicked before he stands straight and smirks.

TV perspective, we see Charles standing in the open as he holds a gun toward the sky, glaring at Henry, even when Charles lowers his gun.

Henry takes a few steps toward him and Charles raies his gun again, aiming right at Henry.

Ellie, in a moment of quick thinking, snatches one of the twins and holds a gun to his head. "Try it!"

Henry gives her a gesture to calm down and not do anything because he raises his own gun and aims it at Charles.

The two glare at each other, though Henry smirks at Charles, who occasionally darts his eyes to Konrad to check on him.

"Go 'head," Charles eggs on. "Take the shot. I'm right here."

Henry fights a genuine laugh from that. "That's my line. And if I do that, I'd lose the sapphire and the only enjoyable person in this dog pit."

Charles shudders at that, but stays resolute.

"Where is it, Charlie?" Henry asks as his smirk drops. "Tell me where it is, and I'll leave. All of us will."

With a sigh and an inward, 'I hope this works,' Charles lowers his gun and glares at Henry. "Catch me first."

"Charles!" Galeforce shouts as Right holds him back; he's stronger than he looks.

Henry, however, smirks at this and lowers his gun to rub his eyes as he laughs again.

"'Catch me first?' You're hearing yourself, right?"

"Give me two days," Charles dares as Henry approaches. "If you can catch me after that time, I'm yours. If you can't-"

"Charles, let me stop you," Henry says as he puts a hand on Charles's shoulder and leans into his ear; Charles is wearing his headset around his neck.

"I'm the leader of the Toppat Clan. I have the world in the palm of my hand." Henry points up to the sky, Charles looking up to see the Toppat orbital station. "There's nothing that's out of my reach, but I'll indulge you in this game. Try running, try hiding, but know this, Charles: I'm always going to get what I want."

With a pat on the shoulder, Henry backs up and nods at Charles. "Fine. Two days. You on your own discretion with no one following."

"Leave eveyone one else out of this. This is between you and me."

Henry shuts his eyes and groans. "Fine. The base is off limits, as long as I don't find you back here." Henry holds out a hand to Charles. "If those are the terms, are we agreed?"

Charles looks over at Galeforce and the other soldiers, nodding at them and Henry, taking and shaking his hand.

With one more glance back at the military, Charles walks away and hops into a jeep, driving off as Henry waves goodbye at him.

He's got two days to get the The Wall, do he'd better not waste time.

As he watches him drive off, Henry calls a retreat, saying to the toppats to leave the base and soldiers alone.

Once he's free, Galeforce essentially curses Henry out and calls him a lying bastard.

Henry shrugs and admits that while he's both, he's also winning, so he can't complain.

The Toppats leave and Gakeforce grits his teeth, hoping Charles knows what he's doing.

With Charles, he speeds down the road again, taking the fastest route to Canada as he calls an acquaintance on The Wall.

Hadiya Wrenley is a voluntary inmate, and Charles REALLY needs a word with her.

[delusion-of-negation]

I don't like the harkness test because it's basically saying that mute people who either use writing (not speaking) or a body based language like sign language are more iffy when it comes to consent.

And what defines human intelligence? Is it reference to knowing what sex is?

Didnt think about the if more intelligent then humans aliens made a similiar test.

tbh I don't take issue regarding the former (as a person who has selective mutism/non-verbal episodes/idk what I just can't speak), that just seems to be a case of poor phraseology where they really included writing or sign language in "speech". that said though, I do take issue with the background ethos that spawned it, the one where "only an explicit verbal yes counts" (and phrasings of the same intended message that account for writing/sign language), specifically when applied to literally everything. personally, I can think of times where a body language cue has been perfectly sufficient for me to give, or when I've picked up on other people's. it's not a common thing for people to say "can I kiss you now? can I kiss your neck now? can I-" literally every time they move (this is particularly worth noting with preexisting relationships, like- how many times have your parents just leaned in to kiss each other?) we use body language all the time. if someone's kissing you back, pulling off your clothes, etc, that's a yes my man (and yes that definitely (sarcastic) includes whatever so incredibly specific anecdote somebody is very giddy to send me about how they were held at gunpoint and forced to rip somebody's clothes off and then the court fined them twelve billion because it was counted as saying yes). we can acknowledge that some people disregard your cues of discomfort (not reciprocating, being all uncomfortable, saying no, pushing away, etc) and/or pressure, without lumping every single way humans communicate outside of words in the "no" category. nothing kills the passion for me faster than being expected to keep talking.

tbh I think the reference to human intelligence came across more as "so it's not bestiality" and "so it can consent" than a thought through way of saying "it must understand the activity that you'll be doing and what it means, and be able to weigh up whether it wants to, and I believe it requires an IQ score of exactly 102 or greater in order to be capable of such a feat" or whatever. I doubt the creator, if pushed, would be able to describe how to measure "intelligence" or what intelligence is or whatever. in fact I think they'd say we're all thinking way too hard about it rn.

[anon is in reference to this post by the way]

edit: wait, anon the test says "talk or otherwise communicate" so yeah it isn't a criticism of the test regarding signing or writing, anyway that's not my criticism of it as I said so I'm still right.

[runby2]

sorry! as far as i was aware there was only one comic and i thought it would be reasonable to ask that about what i thought was an abandoned au

[Continuation of this Ask]

Even if it were abandoned, it would still have been something that I created. I don’t legally own Human WX, or Don’t Starve, so if you want to make your own AU inspired by mine in any way, go ahead. However, I usually return to ‘abandoned’ content when I’m in the mood for that media again.

Abandoned projects or AUs by creators are not trash on the street that can be picked up and recycled by anyone. If you thought a painting in an art show was unfinished, you wouldn’t ask the artist if you could steal the painting and add onto it because you thought it was incomplete. If a random AU fanfiction with a distinct concept was, by your definition, unfinished - you wouldn’t ask for full control of the AU to do with it as you please. The writer worked hard on what they made so far, and the AU clearly means a lot to them. You would ask consent to make fanart or fanwork of the distinct concept, then credit them. Or you’d ask if you could make your own non-canon additions to their AU. Also, assuming a project is abandoned and not put on hold - to the point you’d ask to take it - is not very respectful to the creator.

The effigy AU is a concept, not a series - but it still belongs to me. No one can just claim an AU from a creator just because they believe it’s not finished. The creator with the popular FNAF AU was different in which they gave the permission on their own accord, they weren’t asked beforehand. (They were kind of forced into giving it up, but they still made the choice themselves.)

My Among Us AU is looser in which it has little to zero original concepts other than how the crewmates look. And the story of Captain’s Orders is just a string of events that could happen in the game. It just puts a realistic spin on things, and anyone could remake it without crediting me. The Huxley Intervention was my first Webcomic I made as an early early adult, (baby’s first branded vent art) and I didn’t enjoy the topics I had put in it. They were triggers for my actual trauma, and I didn’t notice that until I was being held at gunpoint to make new pages. I abandoned it, and let anyone use the idea because it was basically vent art. I shouldn’t have posted it.

The Effigy AU has distinct differences from the source, making the AU something that does stand out - therefore it would require credit to use. But, AUs aren’t just incomplete works. Usually what’s shown of them is what the creator could make of it so far. I have a whole plot for that AU, and to hand it to you would be completely erasing the vision I had for it.

[ladyanput]

Seeing Green Ch. 4

[[MORE]]

"Alya, let go!" Adrien pulled his arm free from Alya's fierce grip, as soon as they had exited the mall. Nino had run out after them, clearly shaken, before exchanging a look with his friend. Marinette was still there, she was still in there at gunpoint by some twisted villain! "Why did you drag us out? We left Marinette behind!"

"Oh Adrien, don't worry! I'll contact Batman and he'll come and save Marinette!" Lila spoke up, and Adrien wanted to throttle the little harlot. Didn't she see that her lies wouldn't impress him in this instance? He noted their classmates and other mall patrons were outside, being led along by first responders. Someone must have called the police about Two Face. Adrien stepped back when Lila tried to throw herself sorrowfully into his arms, darting off in another direction. "Adrien!!"

Once Adrien was out of sight, he opened up his jacket, Plagg drifting out. He hadn't said a word to his Chosen last night, and his expression was less than pleased.

"Plagg, we have to save Marinette! God only knows that bastard rich boy is already offering to trade her life for his, he probably even-"

"Adrien, do you honestly think it's a good idea to become Chat Noir in America, when he's supposed to be in Paris? Besides, I wouldn't let you within two feet of that girl after the stunt you pulled last night!" Plagg hissed as he suddenly got into Adrien's face, his fur standing on end. "You spied on her, Adrien, you crossed a line! I should Cataclysm you for what you did, it was beyond disturbing, you basically violated the girl!"

"I didn't touch her, Plagg! It's not that big of a deal, she and I are soulmates! Ladybug and Chat Noir have always been soulmates, right?" Adrien rolled his eyes, then held up his hand. "Whatever, Mari is in trouble, we need to save her. Claws Out!"

…

Evangeline decided that if she were ever to take any of her classes on a field trip, she would ban any cities with superheroes and villains. She rushed through the halls of the mall, her blood pumping rapidly. When Nino had told her that Marinette was still in the mall, she hadn't thought twice and had merely barged back into the building. Now it was a matter of finding her, and Damian, from what Lila was blubbering out.

It still surprised her that Marinette had gone on a date with Damian Wayne. Thinking back now, the boy did certainly look like his father, from what Bruce Wayne pictures she could find on the internet.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Ma'am, you should be running towards the exit." A large hand gripped Eva's upper arm that pulled her to a halt. She spun on her heel and her eyes narrowed at the stranger. He was tall, much taller than her. The red helmet covering his face was a dead giveaway to who this was; Red Hood. "Two Face is around, we can't have civilians endangering his hostages."

"One of those hostages is one of my students!" Eva snapped, trying to tug herself free from Red Hood's firm grasp.

'And my friend..'

"She's in a fucking foreign city, alone right now, with a boy she just met yesterday, being held hostage by a psycho your jails seem to hold worth shit. She's terrified and I won't be like everyone else who's abandoned her!"

Jason stared down at the woman glared up at him, her violet eyes dark with rage. She reminded him of a fox he had come across on Bruce's property, on edge and ready to strike to get to her pup. He tightened his grip on her arm, wanting more than anything to take this woman out of the mall, he sighed and let go. He hated the sudden thought of kissing the scowl off of her full lips.

"Listen, lady, you need to leave, I can't have you getting in danger too, you'd only cause more if a mess." He growled.

"Well that's too fucking bad, now isn't it?" Eva narrowed her eyes and rushed past him, making her way towards the plaza. He groaned and followed quickly behind. The woman could run pretty fast in high heels.

…

Marinette opened her eyes, feeling her head throb as if she had been hit over the head with a freight train. She let out a cry as she was pulled into her knees by her hair, looking up at the goon she had tackled to the ground. He was scowling at her, blood oozing from his now broken nose. She had only tackled him, had he landed on his face?

"I must say, Mister Wayne, your girlfriend is quite the quick little bitch." Two Face sneered down at the boy he held at gunpoint, before turning his cruel eyes to Marinette. "I'll have great fun putting a bullet in her gut afterwards. She should really watch her tongue, spreading stories about how she's Batman's civilian sidekick."

'What?' Marinette tried to make sense of his words, her mind whirling. She had never said that, she had never even been to Gotham before. Then it clicked. Lila, he thought she was Lila, he had seen them together and had made assumptions.

"I'm not Batman's sidekick…" Marinette groaned out, noting Damian's look of panicked rage. His body was tense, trembled as if he wanted to turn and beat Two Face bloody. He probably did, not that Marinette blamed him.

"A little late to go back on your lies now, little girl." Two-Face motioned to the henchman, who let the injured girl crumple to the ground, and replaced his boss at holding Damian at gunpoint. Two Face made his way over to Marinette as she shakily got to her hands and knees. He grabbed a fistful of her dark hair and ripped her head back, making her look into his partially disfigured face. He sneered down at her, making her blood run cold. "Don't worry, I won't shoot you just yet. First, I'll batter up that pretty face up, then little Richie Rich won't want you anymore."

Damian watched in horror as Two Face backhanded her, sending her collapsing to the ground once again. He wanted to go over and rip him apart, to teach this goon of his a lesson in hurting a woman. You never fucking strike a woman, ever. Though villains don't always count, under certain circumstances.

"Two Face, let the girl go." Damian's eyes flickered over to one of the upper levels of the mall. His father, as Batman, perched on the railing, his signature scowl in place. "Leave the kids alone, they didn't do anything to you."

"This one," Two Face motioned down to the pathetic heap Marinette had become. From where he knelt, he could see the bloody gash on her right temple, her lower lip was cut, and dark bruises had formed. He gave a snarl of rage. "This one has been going around, running her mouth, saying she singlehandedly caught me, Batman. Now, as a lawyer, I do hate it when people make things up."

"Sorry to rain on your parade, Dent, but you've got the wrong girl." Nightwing spoke up as he stepped out from behind a pillar, crossing his arms. "Now be a good lawyer and let the innocent girl go."

Damian could see all of his brothers were someplace in the plaza, his curiosity piqued when Jason had run in with Miss Bourbon. But his questions quickly vanished when he heard Marinette groan in pain. Returning his gaze to her, he saw that Two Face was pressing the barrel of the gun to her injured temple.

"Anyone steps closer, and the girl gets it." Two Face snarled as he dragged Marinette to her feet. Every hero in the room froze, unsure what quite to do.

Then the skylight overhead shattered.

Chat Noir landed a few feet from the messy situation, giving Marinette a grin as he focused his eyes on Two Face.

"Alright, ugly, I highly suggest you let my purrincess go, before I make you disappear." Chat Noir flexed his hand, preparing himself to call upon his power.

" Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" Two Face grumbled, slightly dumbfounded at the tight of the teen boy in a skintight leather suit and cat ears. Here he thought he had seen everything in Gotham. "If you're Catwoman's lackey, I highly suggest you back off, these hostages are mine."

"What the fuck, Chat Noir?" Evangeline cried out, drawing eyes over to her. She looked fairly pissed. "Is this why you haven't been to the recent akuma attacks, because you've been smoozing around in Gotham?! You fucking idiot!"

It soon became a mess of shouting and screaming. Marinette felt her head throb, but blinked when she noticed that the gun was no longer pressed against her head. Two Face was waving it around, as he yelled with Chat Noir, who was yelling back for him to let her go, before he was just about to call on his Cataclysm. Taking the moment of distraction, she stomped on Two Face's instep and shoved his arm up. A shot rang out as the gun was knocked from her hand and clattered across the floor.

Eva found herself being dragged to the floor by Red Hood, him pinning her and shielding her with his body as the bullet whizzed over them. She couldn't help but realize how warm and strong he left, making her toes curl ever so slightly. She flushed a dark red, why the fuck was this thing about that?!

Marinette took the moment of confusion on the henchman's face to throw the box Damian had been forced to drop earlier into his face. He went stumbling back.

Batman and Nightwing were on the criminals in seconds, bringing them to the ground and handcuffed them.

Marinette stumbled and fell into a pair of arms. She was about to thank Damian for catching her, when she saw it was Chat Noir, giving her a cocky grin. Her body tensed as he picked her up bridal style.

"Don't worry, purrincess, I'll take you away from these unsavory characters." He announced, and Marinette didn't miss the look he shot Damian. Then he took out his staff and launched them up back through the broken skylight.

"Wait, Chat, stop! No, put me down!" She screamed as he carried her off, away from the scene.

Everyone was left staring up at the skylight in dumbfounded silence, before Eva's eyes went round when reality clicked in.

"Holy fuck, quit gawking and stop him, she's still hurt!"

"Don't worry, Robin will catch up to them!" Damian spoke up. Ignoring his father's warning too, he tore off down the hall.

"Well, I'll let Robin know to catch up with them, since he's on standby." Red Hood muttered, taking Eva's hand, dragging the woman towards the exit as his brother and father guided the villains towards the doors. At least this time, she gave in and followed him.

…

Robin vaulted himself across the rooftops of Gotham city, keeping an eye out for that cat boy. He quickly spotted them near the Wayne Botanical Gardens, his jaw clenched in anger when he landed on the rooftop just as Chat Noir dragged Marinette into the greenhouse.

Robin followed quickly behind, his sword at ready. He silently entered the greenhouse, listening intently as he eyed the masses of flora and fauna.

"Chat, please, you need to let me go. I need to go back and see if Damian is alright, he's hurt!" Marinette's voice rang through and he followed it. He soon came upon the duo; Chat Noir holding tight an obviously struggling Marinette. "Please, Chat Noir, please!"

"Relax, purrincess, I'm sure he's fine. Aren't you happy to be with your knight in shining armor?" Chat Noir purred, nuzzling Marinette's neck. She smelled so sweet and felt so soft… He reached up and cupped her cheek, gazing into her eyes, not seeing the frantic terror there. "I'm glad I got you away, I'm sure that boy was going to hurt you. That's all his type want to do is hurt pretty girls like you."

"Chat, stop, I need to go!" Marinette felt nauseous, knowing it was most likely from her injuries. She wanted so badly to transform and just give Chat a piece of her mind. All of those times he had been absent, he had been here, and what for? Didn't he realize that they needed to defeat Hawkmoth?

"I'd do as the lady says." Something wrapped around Marinette's waist and she was roughly pulled back and into another embrace. But this one, it felt familiar, it felt warm… She almost wanted to lay her head against whoever's chest this was and just stay there.

"So you're the one who kidnapped Miss Dupain-Cheng here." Robin glared at Chat, who was snarling now, his claws out, looking ready to skin him alive. "I think it's in the best interest for me to take her back to the mall. There are paramedics there waiting for her."

"You can't take my lady, she's mine!" Chat stepped forward to attack, but Robin abruptly pointed his sword to Chat's neck, the blade breaking the skin ever so slightly.

"If you value your head, I suggest to step back." Robin pulled Marinette closer, who wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled down at her, and Chat finally took a step back.

Robin turned and quickly left with Marinette, wincing as he saw her face. He felt like it was his fault that this happened to her, if only he had been able to take down Two Face, she wouldn't be hurting like this.

"Are you okay?" Robin whispered down as he set off his grappling gun, and launched them both in the direction of the mall. He found Marinette staring at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I almost got shot today… I- I could have been killed today…" Marinette sobbed out, clinging to the hero, who stopped on one of the rooftops to hold her close and let her cry. But to his surprise and slight panic, he watched her lock it all away, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She took a few deep breaths, then met his gaze. "I'm sorry, please, take me back to the mall. I need to see if Damian is okay."

"I'm sure he's fine. Batman told me he hasn't suffered any injuries, he's just talking with the police right now." Robin gave her a kind smile, and off they went again.

They quickly landed at the mall, Marinette found herself instantly in the arms of Evangeline. She was whispering something Mari couldn't quite make out, but found herself smiling when Alix, Kim, Juleka and Rose joined in on the hug.

"Alright, move it, I need to check on her." A paramedic shooed the group away, then carefully inspected Marinette's face, clicking her tongue ever so slightly. "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll fix you right up. You're a pretty brave lady, staying strong when dealing with Two Face like that."

"It wasn't too scary. We have akuma attacks all the time in Paris, so I'm pretty used to stressful situations." Marinette shrugged, not noticing the confused look the paramedics shared as they began cleaning the gash on her temple.

"Marinette! I'm so glad you're safe!" Lila ran up to the ambulance, Mari now noticing the news cameras around. "That was so scary, seeing Two Face like that! But don't worry, I told you I'd get Batman here!"

"Yeah, Mari, isn't it amazing at how quickly Lila got them here?" Alya grinned, hopeful that Marinette would finally get the stick out of her ass about Lila. Hopefully this near death experience would change the girl's tune. But her smile vanished at Marinette's eye roll and soft scoff. "Girl, don't be so ungrateful, Lila saved your life!"

"Marinette!" Damian ran up, having hid once again and changed. He went to her, taking her hands into his own. "Are you alright? I was terrified when that guy in the cat suit ran off with you. Thank God Robin was around to save you."

"Yeah, I was pretty lucky.." Marinette smiled up at him, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks again. Then she remembered, this was Damian Wayne, the son of Gotham's richest man, not that money really mattered to Marinette. She found it surprising, but she still saw him as, well, Damian. Though a voice in the back of her head demanded she transform and go hunt down Chat Noir to demand answers, she shoved that aside. Now was not the time.

"Your girlfriend is safe too, Damian, are you feeling glad?" Alya piped up, shoving Lila in their direction with an eager grin. Damian had to sneer at her broken English. Obviously the girl hadn't taught herself much before coming to America. Finally, she'd get the big scoop she'd been dreaming of!

"Girlfriend, what girlfriend?" Damian rose a brow, eyeing the girl that had been shoved in his direction, then his lip curled slightly in disdain. He remembered this one, she was the one who had defamed Marinette, who was spreading those unsavory rumours about their supposed relationship. Scratch what he said earlier, he really wanted to hit this woman. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"What? Your girlfriend, Lila? Lila Rossi?" Alya persisted, only to be shooed away by Evangeline.

"I swear to God, those two are more annoying than the orange cones in Montreal." She muttered, taking a seat beside Marinette in the ambulance. She smiled at the girl. "Are you alright? You gave me quite the scare in there."

"I'm fine, but why were you inside? Eva, you could have gotten hurt, you're not a trained hero!" Mari threw up her hands as soon as the paramedics finished patching her up and stepped away.

"I got scared." Eva admitted, pulling the younger girl into a tight hug. They stayed like that for a moment, before it was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. They turned their gazes to where Batman and Red Hood stood.

"We have some questions, if that's alright?"

…

Tim Drake was not having the best day. He had spent the entire day doing research and a sample analysis.

He heard the Batmobile enter the cave, as well as his family walking up to where he sat at the computers.

"Did you find anything on the attacks this Ladybug hero had told you last night?" Bruce removed his cowl and stared up at the computer screen, watching clips of two colourful superheroes fighting many different colourful looking villains.

"What she and that Marinette girl told you is true. I don't know why we didn't pick this up sooner, it's been happening for almost four years now." Tim frowned, then glanced over at Damian. "You said your girlfriend mentioned the League? Think maybe Clark heard about this, or any of the others?"

"They would have told me if they'd learnt about such a threat." Bruce crossed his arms, but didn't sound too convinced with that statement. He sigh, then massaged his temples. "I'll ask around though, if this was ignored, we will have to make up for it big time."

"She's not my girlfriend, Tim." Damian narrowed his eyes as soon as he saw the DNA test up on one of the screens. "Tim, what is that?"

"Well, I noticed something on one of the ledges around the Gotham Grand Hotel and thought I'd test it out. I don't have a match in our system." Everyone noticed how nervous Tim suddenly appeared, but that he forced a sickened smile. "That's where your girlfriend is staying, Damian."

Damian didn't know why he got the thought, it was just a little niggle in the back of his head, but it was persistent enough that he drew out his sword, pointing the tip to Tim, the tip with dried blood on it.

"Compare it to this." He whispered.

It was a match.

"What exactly did you find on the roof?" Damian's expression slowly darkened. And when Tim finally told him what it was, Dick and Jason had to hold him down to keep him from going a skinning a cat.

"I'll fucking kill him! I bet it was across from Marinette's room, wasn't it?! The fucking freak was spying on her and doing- doing that!"

"Whoa, calm down, Demon Spawn, we don't want to kill anyone just yet." Jason piped in, though he felt revolted. Marinette seemed like a sweet girl, though quite badass, from what he heard, she had across dislocated Two Face's arm. "We have to go there anyways, to meet Ladybug, so you can check on her then, okay?"

"You're pretty eager, Jay, wanting to see that lady again?" Dick piped up, trying to lighten the mood. He also didn't want to think about… That at the moment either. He was sure once they had this Chat Noir in their sights, they'd kill him then.

"Shut up, Dick, I just want to see what a French hero looks like!" Jason rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I'm not the one who thought she had a nice a-"

"Can we just go please?!" Damian snapped, storming back towards the Batmobile, trembling with rage with every step. He'd mount Chat Noir's head on the wall.

…

Ladybug stood on the rooftop, waiting in silence for Batman and his crew, shivering as the crisp winter air blew. Tikki had told her that she'd take on more characteristics of the Ladybug, but she had been hoping for wings, maybe, not temperature sensitivity.

"Good evening, Ladybug." Red Robin and the others landed across the roof from her, blending almost seamlessly in with the shadows. Marinette was almost envious of how well suited their costumes were for Gotham, while she stuck out like a sore thumb, covered in bright red with polka dots. "Sorry if we kept you waiting."

"You didn't, I just got here." She out on a bright smile, hoping they didn't see her shivering pathetically in the wind. They all looked so serious, it was a nice change of pace, she found, so used to Chat Noir's antics. "I do appreciate that you're willing to hear me out. When I contacted the Justice League, the Flash told me to stop making up stories and wasting their time. I just… I need help defeating Hawkmoth, I need help finding his lair and stopping him."

"So that's what happened… Ladybug, I apologize for the League for putting you through that. We'd be more than happy to help you, tell us everything." Batman walked up to Ladybug, setting a hand on her shoulder. He saw relief in her eyes and what looked like hope, a hope that had finally been awoken after a time of pain and despair. And she told them everything.

…

"I just can't believe him, he brushed you off like you were nothing!" Alya paced in her shared hotel room with Lila, fuming from earlier. So much had happened today, she had almost gotten a groundbreaking story, but Marinette had ruined everything, just to keep the attention on her! "What kind of boyfriend does that?!"

"Oh Alya, you know how it is. He's rich and famous, he doesn't want me to be a target, like today almost happened. I hoped Marinette learned her lesson today, trying to pretend to be his girlfriend to make Adrien jealous. I feel bad for her, she feels like she needs to spread her legs to a bunch of guys to get noticed by a guy who doesn't want her." Lila cooed, laying on her belly on her bed. "Don't blame Damian, besides, he always makes it up to me in bed~. He has the most amazing tongue."

"You're so lucky you're marrying him! Hey, do you think he'd let me interview him? It would do wonders for the Ladyblog, it could even get me hired to the biggest names in the business!" Alya beamed, taking a seat beside her friend, excitement buzzing through her. "Maybe when you two get married, I can do an exclusive coverage on your wedding."

"I can certainly try, Damisweets is just so shy and sensitive, but I'm sure he'll do it since you're my bestest friend in the whole world!" Lila grinned, playfully nudging Alya. But then she pouted. "I wish I could have gotten that dress for my dinner with the Waynes tomorrow, but I completely forgot my wallet. They moved the dinner, since I was in such a horrible predicament."

"Oh girl, I wish I could help, but I need my money for this new phone that's supposed to have the best camera for taking video, and has more storage and more speed." Alya sat back, brainstorming. She had to help her best friend, afterall, tomorrow was going to be a big night for her, for both of them! Maybe she could convince Lila to let her come with them to Wayne Manor if she got her friend that dress. Then an idea popped into her head. The blogger got to her feet and went to her purse and pulled out a dark green wallet. Nino had given it to her when hadn't wanted to end up losing it if it fell out of his pocket or something at the mall. "I'm sure Nino won't mind if we use his credit card to buy the dress. It's too important to you, Lila!"

"Alya…" Lila grinned a grin that was like the cat getting the canary. "You're the greatest! I can only see his reaction now to you being such an amazing friend~"

Tag list:

@realrandomposts @interobanginyourmom @ladybug-182 @ladylb @zalladane @mochinek0 @poshplumcot @urbanpineapplefarmer @vixen-uchiha @angelofmusickaterinapetrova @thewheezingbubbledragon @northernbluetongue @violatiger8 @thequestionablyhuman @ginamarie1512 @maude-zarella @2sunchild2 @saphiraazure2708 @ayuchan07 @virgil-is-a-cutie @thepeacetea

[thecreelhouse]

Kill the Lights // Chapter 12

Steve Harrington x Original Female Character

Read chapter 11 here!

Summary: After Violet- formally 003, a telekinetic, electrokinetic, and clairvoyant 19 year old- loses her first family, her first love, nothing is the same. She finds herself taken in by Hopper and El, struggling to find her footing and meaning to keep fighting. The Party, especially Steve Harrington, try to show her where her strengths have been hiding all along, and that no one has to fight their battles alone. Sometimes you don’t need to be rescued, but someone’s love and support while you rescue yourself sure doesn’t hurt.

Word count: 3,180

Content warnings: violence, loooots of violence, angst, cursing, season 3 spoilers

Author’s note: hiiiii, I was gonna wait till tomorrow, but I’m too amped up after finishing this chapter!! Thank you to anyone who has been keeping up with this story since the beginning, and thank you to anyone who’s just recently giving it a chance!! It really means a whole ding dang lot to me, y’all. Writing this has been therapeutic in a way for me to take a breather from my own life nonsense, and it’s exciting to see others are into the story too!! Chapter title is from ‘run’ by the Maine. Feedback is always appreciated! Hope y’all enjoy this one! <3

Chapter 12: Evil Rages Inside

The day started as normally as others; Steve got up, threw that tacky uniform on that he loathed so much, and dragged himself to the mall for another shift at Scoops Ahoy.

He hadn’t heard from Violet since she left work early, and he assumed she just took the day off, still feeling unwell.

Now, stuck in this death trap of an elevator, he wasn’t sure when and if he’d ever see her again. Alright, maybe he was being dramatic, but he sure got his ass in a whole lot of trouble and definitely wished he mustered up the courage to tell Violet he loves her before this all happened.

It all began the night before, when Steve, Robin and Dustin discovered the heavily guarded entrance to what they thought was just a basic room. It wasn’t until the next day, after Robin got her hands on the mall’s blueprints, bribing Erica with free ice cream “for. LIFE.” to climb through the air ducts and unlock the entrance from the inside, and all four of them ended up in that room only for it to plunge itself deep underground, that they realized it wasn’t just some basic room.

Time passed, minutes turned to hours, and eventually guards came to open the elevator. The four of them scrambled up and out through the ceiling to hide. In a split second, as they were exiting, Steve thought to use one of the glass vials of glowing, green goo as a door stopper, letting the whole group quickly pass under just before the door slammed down shut, breaking the glass. The toxic liquid seeped around the floor, chemically burning the surface it touched.

They carefully wandered down the long, industrial style hallways, stopping at the edge of a doorway to another room, filled with guards and people in lab coats busy with their own tasks, buzzing about. Carefully sneaking across to the comms room, and even after Steve fought a Russian guard- and won, for once- Robin called them all over to check out what she saw through the door window. A bright, blue light glowed through the glass and upon their faces, pulling at Steve’s attention, but not for long as alarms overhead began to sound off. Chaos erupted and the four of them scrambled around the room, looking for a way out. Running back up the stairs, they darted out into the larger area with the blue light, bumping into guards and scientists along the way. They stopped short where the light was aimed, and saw an opening in the surface, glowing purple and red among the edges. They began to run again as guards started to catch up to them, until Steve saw something that made his heart fall into his stomach, feet halting to a stop.

It had to be a bad dream. Maybe he just was still asleep at home. It couldn’t be real.

Steve blinked his eyes a few times, tuning out the madness around him, hoping what was before his eyes wasn’t true, but it wouldn’t go away, it wouldn’t change.

The alarms fell quiet in his mind, the yelling from his friends and guards felt miles away. “V- Violet?” He stuttered out, sounding like a lost child.

Strapped down like an animal to a metallic, medical table tilted up right, was his girlfriend, eyes wide and clouded over with blue overall, yet completely silent. His eyes fell onto where her arms were secured, where wires and IV-like tubes were poked and prodded into her skin. He trailed his view where they led, to the giant machinery that shot out a continuous, sharp electric laser across the room and into the surface they just saw. Her skin was sickly pale, veins a deep blue, and dried blood laid under her nose and by her ears. Bile rose in his throat as he put two and two together- they were using Violet’s electrokinesis to power whatever the hell this machine was. They were draining the life from her.

“Violet!” Steve screamed, racing towards her. He didn’t care about the guards, he didn’t care about being an “American Hero” anymore, he just wanted to save his girlfriend from whatever the fuck was happening.

Violet’s eyes twitched over to where Steve was, and the blue in her eyes dissolved, face softening with worry and then hardening again with pain.

“Steve?” She croaked out, waking from her daze. Her eyes darted to the guards closing in on him. “Go, go now!”

“I’m not leaving you!” He yelled back as he reached her, trying to find a way to safely untangle and release her from all the wires in her body. A shock ran up his arms as he touched one of the wires, causing him to jump back. Violet held back tears, feeling sorry for sending pain into him like that, but not knowing what else to do.

“I’ll find you, just go!” She screamed as she sent another shockwave through him, sending him flying back a few more feet. She hated doing this, but what else could she do? If she couldn’t be safe, she just wanted Steve to be safe, at least. The blue in her eyes grabbed hold again, and she held back from screaming in pain.

Steve looking physically and emotionally pained, took the hint and sprinted off to the others into another room. He and Robin held the doors as Dustin and Erica fled safely, only for guards to burst through and hold them up at gunpoint. As they surrendered and threw their hands up, it took everything in Steve not to cry as he heard Violet cry out in agony just beyond those doors.

———

“Up. Let’s go.”

Violet felt something jab her side as she slid to the floor, now released from the restraints and wires of the machine. She didn’t have the strength to pick herself up, and another jab, a harder one, was sent back into her side. She cried out, forcing herself back on her feet with whatever was left in her.

As her vision came back into focus, she noticed the machine was still going, buzzing loudly with static shocks surrounding it. Did they not need her anymore? Was this where they got rid of her?

The guard roughly grabbed her by the arms, throwing them behind her back and putting restraints across her wrists again. “Ozerov has new plans for you.” He said darkly, shoving her towards a door.

Violet’s mind began to race the more she came to; she could have sworn she saw Steve earlier. Steve, Robin, Dustin, even Erica? Maybe she was just hallucinating from the drugs they gave her before they hooked her up to that machine. She didn’t even know where she was, so how could Steve get here?

The guard pushed her down one of the long hallways and stopped her outside of a door, where General Ozerov waited for her with that sickening grin. All she wanted to do was snap his neck, squeeze the air out of his lungs, electrocute every inch of life out of his body, but she couldn’t seem to actually use her powers. It probably had to do with those drugs, she figured they had her in a trance and controlled state.

“I have a new job for you, yes?” He offered, patting her cheek as he laughed. Violet yanked her head away from his touch.

“Keep it, shitstain.” She growled, wanting nothing more than to physically rip the smile off his face. It only grew with her anger, though.

“I thought you would be more excited to see your little friends.” He said, and Violet’s face fell at his words.

“What did you do to them?”

“Just wanted to get to know them, is all. That boyfriend of yours can really take some punches, hm?”

Violet felt rage course through her veins at his sentence, and did all she could do in that moment, launch a disgusting wad of spit directly into his eyes. Ozerov wiped his face, only laughing harder, now looking at the guard that held Violet.

“I must be very lucky to have been spit on by not one- but two American women today!” The guard joined into his laughter, rolling through the cold hallway and echoing sharply in Violet’s ears.

“If you touch them, I’ll kill you. You hear me? I’ll rip you apart, you fucking prick.” Violet yelled in Ozerov’s face, and he only smirked.

“We’ll see about that. Come now.”

Violet was pushed into the room in front of her, heart sinking at the sight of Robin and Steve tied together, back to back on chairs, looking ragged and worn down. Steve looked much, much worse than Robin did, blood dried across his face and shirt, eye swollen shut, bruises beginning to blossom under his skin already. Violet clenched her fists at the thought of someone hurting her friends, especially Steve.

“Vi! Steve, Violet’s here!” Robin yelled, a little too cheerily for the situation. Steve’s head snapped up, turning to the side to see where Violet stood. A smile spread across his face and pushed through the damage left behind.

“Baby! I missed you!” He exclaimed, also in a similar mood to Robin’s. Violet was completely stunned at how upbeat they seemed to be, despite the issues at hand.

Ozerov pushed Violet by the shoulders into a chair across from her friends, securing even more restraints.

“Do as I say, little girl.” He growled in her ear, before taking a syringe off the table nearby and plunging it deep into her skin again. Violet gritted her teeth, holding back her screams. She was done showing her pain for these monsters.

The chemicals flowed through her body, and she felt the daze begin to fog her mind again. The blue substance clouded over her eyes once more, and she could feel her body falling victim to the drug’s relaxing properties.

“Your friends don’t want to talk, don’t want to tell us who they work for-“

“Dude, we told you like, a million times. It’s Scoops!” Steve interrupted, clearly annoyed.

“We’ve been nice, we’ve used force, we’ve even threatened them-“ Ozerov rattled off. “-And nothing’s worked. I want them gone. Now.”

Violet fought her hardest through the brain fog, trying not to lose grip on reality.

“And I want you to be the one to get rid of them.” He spat, clutching her face in his hands so they were looking each other in the eyes.

Violet held back tears, but could feel them threatening to escape any second. She spat back, “I’d rather kill myself first before ever laying a finger on my friends, you rotten fuckface.”

“Precious, but we know you can’t die by your own hand, malyshka. If you don’t do it, we gladly will.” He argued back, circling around to the other side of Steve and Robin. Robin’s face fell, slowly realizing the severity of the situation, even through the drugs. Steve, still in a daze, from the drugs or the beating (maybe both), kept staring at Violet, stupid goofy smirk and all.

Violet began to hyperventilate as she rushed to figure out a plan, still battling the potent drugs in her own system, vying for control of her body. The tears began racing down her face, burning hot. Steve’s face finally flipped into a frown at the sight of Violet’s conflict.

“Baby, it’s okay. Please don’t cry.” He tried calming her down, still not fully realizing just why she was crying.

“Let’s go, time is was-“

“Just shut up, you waste of space!” She screamed back at Ozerov, and he fell silent, smirk growing back, watching what he hoped would be his plan unfolding.

“Steve,” Violet started, voice shaking, “Robin, you guys...”

“Violet...” Robin whispered, but couldn’t get anything else out. Violet mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ to her.

“J- just please close your eyes. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Violet sobbed out, not daring to look either of them in the eye. She couldn’t do it.

The drugs began working their way over her own thoughts, one goal in mind: kill her friends, just like Ozerov wants. She fought and fought and fought it off as best she could, slowly feeling weaker as the seconds passed.

“Do it now!” Ozerov yelled, and Violet’s eyes glazed over with the blue shade again, tears coming to a halt. His cruel smile grew wider and wider as she screamed, war tearing upon her own mind and heart. Breathing shallow, heartbeat rapid, she slammed her eyes shut and let rage and power flood her body.

Two, quick, but sharp and loud snaps echoed through the room, bodies hitting the floor with a THUD! Violet’s eyes hesitated to open, but when they did, she began crying again.

Ozerov and his henchman both were in crumpled heaps on the floor, eyes lifeless and bodies still. Blood began to spill from their lips, and a trickle of Violet’s own blood peeked out from her nose. Violet cried harder.

“Nobody touches my family!” Violet cried out to the corpses. “Rot in hell, you sick bastard!”

“We’re ... we’re alive?” Robin spoke up first, opening her eyes. Her body relaxed from the tensed state she was just in. “Harrington, we’re alive!”

Steve’s eyes fluttered open, landing on Violet, still crying.

“Vi, baby, it’s okay, we’re okay! You didn’t do anything to us! We’re okay! Why are you crying?” He rushed out, clearly relieved to still be breathing but worried about Violet.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that.” She cried, trying to catch her breath every few words. “I don’t like having to kill anyone and I don’t like having to do it in front of anyone I care about.”

“Violet, you saved us. It’s okay, it was self defense and defense for us.” Robin said, trying to get Violet to see ultimately her actions were used for good. Daze settling back over her, she laughed, “I’m still over here in shock that you have these super cool powers to begin with.”

“Y-you’re not mad?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Steve started to chuckle. “I’d never be mad at you for helping any of us in a bajillion years, babe.”

Violet’s tears began to slow as she giggled at how ridiculous she must have seemed.

“Whatever drugs they gave me controlled my powers. I- I didn’t think I’d be able to fight over it this time. I’m so tired.” She said, now smiling sleepily, slumping forward in her chair.

Alarms began to ring out again, and the door flew open to reveal Dustin and Erica barging in wielding what looked like tasers on long poles.

“Wha- Watch where you point those!” Robin scolded the kids with weapons, and another giggle bubbled through Violet.

Dustin and Erica did double takes between the three older teens and the bodies on the floor. “What the hell happened here?!” Erica asked, eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Violet took care of it.” Steve nonchalantly answered, as if his girlfriend wasn’t a human weapon.

The two younger kids began untying the older ones, rushing back out, “C’mon!” Dustin yelled behind him. Robin and Erica followed, leaving Violet and Steve as the last in the room. Violet got up, wincing in pain, and rushed to Steve’s side.

“Are you alright?” She asked, worried, as she gingerly reached for the swollen side of his face. His hand reached up and laid over hers.

“You’re really asking me that? I don’t know how you’re standing right now, Vi.” He said softly, fighting against the silliness lingering from the drugs.

“Steve, I- I was terrified I’d never see you again.” Violet whispered, trying not to start the tears back up.

“Let’s go, nerds!” Erica screamed at the remaining two, and they got up, holding each other and hurrying as fast as they could out the door. Guards turned the corner, and Violet shoved Steve towards the group as she stayed in place.

“Violet! What-“

“Keep going, I got this!”

Steve couldn’t move, couldn’t leave Violet behind again.

“When do you fuckers quit?!” Violet yelled as she began to throw punches to the first guard that lunged at her. Her neck sharply turned and the guard behind the first fell to the floor, bones cracking in ways no bones should ever crack.

Violet threw a glance over her shoulder, frustrated Steve hadn’t moved yet.

“Steve! Run!” She snapped at him, angry at his stupidity.

“I’m not leaving you!”

“For the love of-“ Violet huffed to herself, rolling her eyes as she spun back around to meet more guards. Her hands flew out in front of her and blood began to freely spill from her nose. Loud cracks of electricity ran through the hallway and into the bodies about to attack her, instantly killing them on impact. They all fell to the floor, and Violet didn’t wait to catch her breath, using the last of her energy to grab Steve by the arm and run.

“You’re such an idiot sometimes!” She snapped at him, frustrated, but relieved to see the guards stopped coming, for now.

The rest of the group waited in one of the small vehicles Dustin managed to steal. Once Violet and Steve tumbled into the back by Robin, Dustin began to floor it down the hallway. Violet tried catching her breath, still exhausted from being used by the Russian soldiers for whatever was creating an opening, a gate, and fighting off these horrible drugs in the midst of it all. Steve, still blissfully spaced out, laced his fingers between Violet’s, causing her to snap her head up to him.

“Baby love, my angelic girlfriend,” Steve slurred in a sing-song voice to Violet. Despite the pain she was in, she couldn’t help cracking a smile at his goofy state. “You could call me an idiot.... no, wait- you could snap my neck any day and I’d still love you.”

Violet stopped giggling, her breath hitched in her throat at the word love.

“He’s fucking high as shit, Vi. He doesn’t mean it. He just said he’d be fine with you killing him, clearly he’s only joking.” She thought to herself, biting her lip. Steve’s hand reached up to her lip, gently tugging it back out from her hold, laughing gently at his own actions.

“Henderson, you better step on it. The lovebirds are getting disgusting back here!” Robin yelled between hiccups.

“Is this what it’s like to babysit?” Erica groaned, rolling her eyes as Dustin stepped harder on the gas.

They drove off towards the elevator, Steve curling into Violet’s side gently so not to hurt her many wounds, hardly healing on their own. He mumbled more mushy nonsense and Violet clutched him tighter, just relieved to finally be leaving this personal hell.

[girlobsessed21]

The 100 6x11 discussion - burning desires of change

Hey guys, as usual, here’s my breakdown of the episode. Props to Mr. Bob Morley on his directing debut - insert applause emoji here. All in all, it was great, I enjoyed it, albeit a little weird. But it’s to be expected of a conversion episode taking us into the finale.

Like I explained in my 2nd predictions post, “Ashes to Ashes’ has Biblical connotation and it’s also a British crime drama about time traveling back to the early 80′s as well as David Bowie’s 1980 hit single about addiction.

Apart from Ash being Echo’s real name, I struggled to find the link to the title until it hit me with a wrench from behind. It’s about cycles, repetition, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (which Einstein did not say btw). Only now, it’s breaking that rotation. Demons are overcome (apart from Madi), and it’s time to do better.

Octavia’s no longer Bellamy’s responsibility, Clarke refuses to kill innocents, the children of Gabriel learn the truth, Miller disobeyed to transcend and Echo (or Ash), well, I’ll talk about her later. To Monty! Will this also be the end of the ‘will they, won’t they’ dance for Bellamy and Clarke? See my thoughts on this.

That said, let’s fall into the recap.

A child possessed

Okay, Sheidheda was a lot creepier in this episode than the previous ones. if Madi wasn’t completely overthrown before, it seems like she is now and her driving force is pure vengeance. The bond between Madi and Clarke is harder to break than diamonds, which we saw in season 5 and here again.

For six years, all they had were each other. Since the little Natblida was only six when Clarke found her, she won’t even remember her real family all that well. To Madi, Clarke was her savior, her family, her protector, her mother and basically everything else. Having such an influence taken away from you is artery-slicing.

The demon in her head knows this, plays on it and manipulates in a way an abuser lures children in with sweets. Given her age and lack of experience, she follows blindly. I have a feeling this might continue onto season 7 but I hope Raven finds a way to eliminate him. That face freaks me out. For now, he’s gonna cause a lot more damage than we anticipate and will probably be a spoil of war for the peaceful plan.

John Murphy - court jester or hero?

Yeah, he’s been a fence-sitter the entire season, but you have to admit, Murphy provides some much needed comical relief. Granted, the writers have turned up the humor via Bellamy, Clarke, and Diyoza, yet Murphy’s sarcasm should never be taken for granted. “Houdini Miller.” He might not make it to the end of the season.

If someone threatens the life of the person you love, will you protect everyone else or only that person? Ask Bellamy, he did the exact same thing. Risked the lives of everyone else to save his girl, of course Murphy will do the same. He wants to marry Emori, he’ll face hell to ensure her safety.

Still, he warns Echo in good old Cockroach fashion. Don’t let them find out I’m on your side, there’s but one side and it’s mine - and Emori’s. As long as the primes think that, he’ll have a chance of being spared. Murphy is such a great character, sure, he has deviated from being good, but that’s what makes him interesting.

The more layers and substance a character has, the more convincing and relatable they are. All of us have flaws, Murphy’s biggest one is his selfishness, does this make him a bad person? Absolutely not. He struggles and sometimes stumbles due to it but he still cares. Only the size of his heart’s in question, not the existence and it gets them out of some serious syrupy situations.

The makes of the Blakes

So, Bellamy doesn’t care about the delusional cult followers, he merely wants to save his people, to hell with the rest. In a sense, he betrayed them to rescue his love? soulmate? person? and has to make up for it. Now, Bellamy, did Monty not teach you anything?

Being so determined, he calls his sister the queen of cannibals. Killing her own people to ensure their survival. She did what she had to do, why can’t he? I didn’t know Bellamy even knew about this, why didn’t they show his reaction to finding out? Wouldn’t it have led to him cutting her some slack? He was in the exact same situation many times before. 

Probably not. His whole life has always revolved around her, everything he did was to protect his sister to the point of borderline, unhealthy codependency. Octavia was his purpose and yet she threw him in a fighting pit to die after he once again tried to save her - from herself.

Gabriel then tells Bellamy his sister is special, she returned from the greatest mystery of Sanctum. If I remember correctly, Lincoln called her special too when she was unaffected by the biological warfare. There’s more to it though, in my opinion, I still think Diyoza will return, they were both called by the anomaly, why would only O survive? That anomaly is going to be some crazy wow-factor, I’m certain.

I believe a cult won’t be too happy to find out that its leader is the exact thing they’re rebelling against. And the children of Gabriel seemed pretty pissed, especially Xavier’s sister. That is until Bellamy gives them a plan to fulfill their cause. Unfortunately for him, it means teaming up with O to find the powerful red sun toxin. For once the cultists weren’t useless!

Poor Gabriel, all he wants is peace. I thought Jordan would be a Monty reincarnator but apparently, that’s Gabriel. Or he’s more of Lincoln II? Either way, I hope he doesn’t die. Speaking of Jordan, I miss him in his recovery bed. 

Anyway, “what do you say when sorry isn’t good enough?” Despite Bellamy’s countless efforts to keep O occupied, she won’t stop breaking down the walls around his heart. Those mushrooms were strong, Bell, we saw it. Octavia’s speech was so deep, honest and touching that Bellamy’s stray tears hardly seem enough.

The way it was resolved though, is more than satisfactory. After everything that’s happened, it wouldn’t be enough development for him to simply accept what she’s done and move on. But, he’s willing to give her a chance to prove herself while no longer being the core of his world. “You’re my sister, but you’re not my responsibility, not anymore” is probably the best metamorphosis I’ve witnessed on this show. It clips the umbilical cord for both of them to emerge as individuals.

Echoes of a cold-hearted spy

So, I assume Echo protected Ryker thinking she could bank on his morality to spare her. And of course, she keeps scraping at the flesh wound. But Ryker believes saving his family keeps the peace, killing Echo saves everyone else. One life instead of thousands - it’s for the greater good, right? Wrong. The acting here was great, I was totally convinced of Ryker’s bouncing morals.

Off-topic, I completely forgot Miller used to be a thief and I’m glad we got to see his pick-pocketing skills in action. He deserves some credit and screentime, since being a part of this show for six seasons. Oh, and the transcending moment between him and Gaia was super sweet.

For a second I thought Echo would become Simone and then I remembered that she also took ALIE’s chip and they wouldn’t rehash the neural mesh storyline. Meaning my fears were quickly soothed.

Onto the important part, what was that back story supposed to mean? All I got out of it, is that Echo’s cycle isn’t broken. That leopard hasn’t changed its spots. Don’t get me wrong, it broke my heart that she had to kill her friend and resume her identity in order to survive. But, it felt like a turning point in Echo’s character that plunged her into heartlessness. Will she become that person again?

I know Echo might not be a fan favourite, but she’s really grown on me this season. She’s smart, loyal and fierce, I like her. Not Bellamy and Echo together though, I can’t see a semblance of a connection between them. And their relationship is only hurting their characters.

Why would they build her up as a great character just to show that she cares about no-one, not even her friends? I mean I get why she killed Ryker, leaving him alive was too much of a risk - he would tell Russel about her, Miller and Gaia being at large. Though that murderous glint in her eyes tells me that was purely for revenge and completely against their newfound lifestyle. Maybe I’m wrong.

I’m curious to know what being a nightblood will mean for her now and how her character might change after being held at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, Monty’s mantra rings through Clarke 

Oy, Bellamy risked everything and everyone to save Clarke and if she can’t play the part of Josephine convincingly, that was all for nothing. And our boy’s not happy about it - at all. Only, Clarke refuses a Mount Weather do-over.

I just need to mention Bellamy’s face when Murphy come’s through the tent - priceless. Then Jade finally gets a chance to knock someone out too. Yay for her!

The moment Clarke’s safe, she goes straight to Bellamy for reassurance and goodbye. Backtracking to the start of the episode, the way he flung to her side when she woke, touched and comforted her was toothachingly soft and way too intimate to be non-romantic. 

Bellamy gets this shy, ‘aw it’s nothing’ expression when Clarke thanks him for saving her life. Because to him, it really is nothing, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for her. And while he’s making heart-eyes at his friend, his girlfriend is being prepped for a blood transplant and murder. I cannot see how there won’t be any followthrough on this. 

If there’s not, it’s altogether bad writing, showcasing and wasted potential. Right now, there’s too much going on for a decent conversation that’s years overdue and I’m hopeful they’ll get it. In the synopsis of the finale, there’s a hint at romance and I truly believe it’s theirs.

Well done Eliza! For playing Clarke and Josephine, Clarke as Josephine and vice versa. She’s an amazing actress and has come a long way from, “Stop, the air could be toxic!.” 

The woman must have been devastated when she walked in on Madi strapped to a chair, being drained for her blood. Yet, in the scheme of greater good, she acts oblivious. She plays the part of a nonchalant sociopath so well, while sparing Madi via a sedative and shifting the focus to her mind drive. 

Those newlyweds sure know how to act and direct!! Like always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, did I read the Echo backstory correctly? Till next week, bye!

[mittensmorgul]

MoC anon again, hi! (also, eek, sorry about those two hours you lost) i think sam’s history with anger issues is actually kinda WHY he would handle it better, because he’s been practicing controlling it his whole life. (and i think he’s a lot better at it in s11 than he was in s5, ya know?) whereas, like you said, dean builds walls to keep the bad OUT, but he tends to act on emotion a lot more than sam, and his emotions are more explosive, and a lot less regulated. 1/2

(and while dean works very hard to hide his softer emotions, he’s never been particularly bothered with showing his anger.) i just can’t picture sam losing control the same way dean did. not saying that he wouldn’t lose control at all, of course, it’s gonna be messy either way, and obviously sam is not a paragon of mental health, but he has experience controlling the “darkness” inside him in a way dean never did 2/2

Hi there! and yeah, I’m doubly sorry now that my original post was eaten because I did cover this, as well. I think you and I read Sam and Dean very, very differently. I don’t think Sam HAS had a lot of practice controlling his anger, is the thing. 

Yeah, Dean has exploded in frustration and anger, but so has Sam. Because Sam kind of runs on anger (or he did, especially in earlier seasons), it feels to me like adding the mark to that would’ve been throwing gasoline on a fire. And once we saw how Amara operates, we know she used the same sort of lure on Dean that Ruby had used on Sam. Similar to Lucifer whispering to him from the cage in early s11.  Retroactively, I guess I’ve applied that same sort of enticement to how the Mark called out to Dean in s9 and s10.

Because it also didn’t come down to “control” in those moments where Dean “snapped” into murderousness. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with rage at all. He “woke up” from those acts (like the first time he held the first blade in 9.16, when he killed Abaddon in 9.21, when he killed the shapeshifter in 10.06, when he killed the group of men who’d literally had him at gunpoint and were trying to kill him in 10.10, for example), It was never framed as “Dean gives into the rage,” or “Dean fails to control his anger.” It was always framed as him being compltely taken over and basically controlled by an outside force. When Dean would fight his way back to the surface after those incidents, he was shaken and afraid by what he’d done.

Like Dean when he was struggling with Amara’s control of him in s11, we saw how insidious her influence was in his presence, but take that same capacity to influence someone and literally insert it directly into their brain. That’s the Mark. But when Dean confessed this to Sam in 11.13:

Dean: Honestly? You seriously think the sister of God is my deepest darkest desire?Sam: She isn’t?Dean: No! She can’t be!Sam: Why not?Dean: Why? Because if she is that means that I’m…Sam: Means you’re what? Complicit? Weak? Evil?Dean: For starters, yeahSam: Dean. Do you honestly think you ever had a choice in the matter? She’s the sister of God, and for some reason she picked you and that sucks, but if you think I’m gonna blame you or judge you…I’m not.Dean: You know that I want her ass deadSam: Yes. Of course. And I know you’ve also probably beaten yourself up a hundred times over it, but where has that gotten us? (Long silence) Just how bad is it?Dean: Standing here right now, every bone in my body wants to run her through. Send her back to that hole she crawled out of. But when I’m near her, I don’t know. Something happens and I can’t explain it, but to call it desire or love…it’s not that. I’m screwed man. We wanna kill the darkness. We need to kill the darkness. And I don’t think I can. I’m sorry to do that to you, ya know, but when it comes right down to it…

He’d still been working through this when he talked to Cas(ifer) about this in 11.11, but he was working his way to this exact point. It had very little to do with anger.

Sure, anger was effectively Amara’s baseline motivation for revenge against Chuck, and her tool to do that was effectively “destroy what Chuck created,” which is an effective way to act out anger, you know? But I think that anger would’ve found a far more fertile breeding ground in Sam than it did in Dean.

I mean, just think back over the last few years to the outbursts that look like anger on the surface for Dean, and honestly, they have ZERO to do with RAGE. They’re frustration, grief, defeat… like punching the sign in 13.01, like yelling about how he should’ve stayed behind in the AU if they had no way to get back there and save Mary and Jack in 13.18. The only time I felt like one of Dean’s outbursts could be described as “angry” rather than “frustrated” or “grieving” or “defeated” was in 13.03 when he yelled in Sam’s face about Cas. And there was still that well of grief there pushing him to that outburst.

Honestly, I think a fairer comparison to how they each would’ve dealt with the Mark isn’t tapping in to their emotions, but how well they compartmentalize in the face of possession. For example how long Dean casually managed to keep Michael locked in his brain fridge in s14. Michael only escaped because Dean was literally knocked unconscious. This notion that Dean lacks control of his own temper I think just seems far more pronounced in him because it’s so rare for him. It’s… not rare for Sam.

Like I said in the previous post, Sam’s rage was a major plot point for years. It fueled s4, it fueled s5, it fueled Sam’s half of the s9 and s10 story.

I think the main difference between Sam’s anger and Dean’s anger is that Sam’s tends to simmer cold, while Dean’s just boils over with heat on rare occasions, making them seem that much more out-of-character, or startling.

I don’t see it as Sam better able to control his rage than Dean, I see it as different ways of expressing said anger, because they are different people with different personalities, you know?

Sam’s just as capable of lashing out in anger as Dean, but it tends to look different when it happens. Dean just lets himself have his little outbursts before he gets to the point where he breaks from it. Sam… when Sam bursts like that, it feels more shocking, because he typically expresses his anger differently. Like when Sam punched Dean in 14.12, for example, people were SHOCKED. I read so many “wow that was out of character” posts I was honestly baffled by the fandom’s reaction to this. Because that punch was pure frustration and grief, and it’s just about the most emotion Sam’s let himself express in a long time.

I know I keep defaulting to talking about s4 and s5 here, but I’m watching 5.02 in the background while I’m typing this, so these seasons are what’s currently freshest in my mind right now. 

The wraith in 5.10:

SAM: You did this to me!WRAITH: Well, I helped. But that rage? No, no, no. That’s all you. (stands, walks to the side of the bed) I don’t make crazy. I just crank up what’s already there.

The show has always, always paralleled Sam’s rage with Dean’s fear. The thing is, how they each express these underlying feelings. So, no, I really, really don’t think Sam would be better at controlling that rage under the effect of the Mark than Dean was.

and this entire post is just undercaffeinated rambling at this point, so I really don’t know what more I can say without going incident by incident through the entire series documenting the vastly different nature of Sam and Dean’s anger, and their respective outbursts. Their anger just… manifests differently, because again, they are different people with differing personalities. Sam’s anger tends to come out “cold,” and Dean’s tends to boil over more loudly. And Amara/the Mark was nothing if not cold and patient rage, you know?

Sam has traditionally gotten angry and run away, as if isolating himself from the problem could fix things. In the past, he would’ve sooner walled off the vast majority of his life to pretend at being normal that he would face it. I don’t know if I’d classify that as “having more control” of his anger. He’s just got different outlets in general than Dean does. Dean just yells, gets it out of his system, and then moves on. Sam… can’t seem to do that. Or at least he hadn’t been able to do that for the vast majority of canon.

Someone wrote an excellent piece years ago about Sam’s Rage vs Dean’s Fear, and I guess it’s stuck with me. But when a character’s primary motivation, his primary driving force through years of character development is a baseline simmering rage, I have a REALLY hard time feeling like he would’ve had more “control” over a possessing entity that literally fed on that sort of feeling.

Amara found BALANCE through her relationship with Dean. I don’t think she could’ve found that with Sam. I think that entire storyline only worked because it was Dean, and not Sam. Because Dean recognized this as something being done TO him, rather than just a manifestation of himself. (Yes, at first he thought it was a curse, and that it was his own inner “monstrousness” coming out, but it ALWAYS felt foreign to him, something he couldn’t truly identify or relate to, because it was literally not his own. And Sam would’ve had a lot more difficulty making that distinction, I think.)

As I’ve typed this up, I do realize that viewers see different things in each of these characters. We identify with them differently, based on our own experiences, and since I mostly identify with and feel like I understand Dean better than Sam, I think I’m probably looking at this from a different angle than you are. I, for example, see Sam REPEATEDLY losing his shit to his rage throughout the entire series. He gives in to it far more readily than Dean has over the years, but it tends to be less “explosive” as you said. But it motivates his entire character in ways it never, ever has for Dean. And I think Amara/the Mark would’ve eaten him alive because of it. Because she was the Mark, and she was motivated by the same cold, simmering rage.

[forgxtemall]

@illunaris​ has sent: 38, 3, 5 @obliviouskind​ has sent: -13, 16, 21 and 35?- @victorydestined​ has sent: #6, 14, 22 (to be honest meme) @waveraging​ has sent: 1, 3, 8 — be honest meme!

the be honest meme.   [NO LONGER ACCEPTING!]

Everything is under read more!

1. What would prevent you from following someone?

// Here’s a quick run down of things, bc I think I’ve made this quite clear in my rules:

Political stuff. Regardless of the person’s stance & views, RP isn’t the place for this - take it to a personal blog or somewhere else.

The blog is empty. There is no sample of their writing, it is nothing more than a bunch of generic aesthetic/musing/their own promo posts. This generally hints, at a blog that won’t stick for the long run.

Lack of a rules/about page. Basic stuff, that surprisingly a bunch of people don’t have. This also includes, blogs with those types of themes that leave you with “Where the fuck are the links???”. Also, no, linking your “about page” to the wiki doesn’t count as an about, I want to know your muse, not the character I already know.

Anyone under 18. I am not comfortable with interacting/talking to anyone below the legal age. I touch on a wide variety of topics, most of which, aren’t suitable for anyone underage.

Assosciation with people who I’d rather avoid. This used to be bigger in the past, when filtering on mobile & blacklist weren’t a thing, but I still find myself doing this on rare- isolated cases here & there.

The writing style/interpretation clashes with mine. This is self-explenatory. English may not be my first language, but if I can’t understand your writing- then what’s even the point?

Fandom I don’t want to assosciate/crossover with. MLP, Under.tale, League of Leg.ends, Home.stuck...

Fictional/other kin.s. Self-explenatory, I don’t wish to waste my time with ppl who can’t distinguish reality from fiction. & I’ve had a bunch of bad experiences with those in the past.

3. What current rp trend do you hate?

// Those IC-blogs. Just... No. Nope, nopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Stop this please.........

5. Do you prefer interacting with male muses or female more? Why?

// TBH the muse’s gender isn’t something I pay attention to, unless I’m looking to ship with mine.

My focus is on the character/muse as a whole.

6. Do you prefer writing male muses or female more? Why?

// Imma say it: Kahili is the very first young woman, I picked to rp as in a long time.

I prefer writing male muses, because I’ve had some god awful experiences in the past that have put me off from rping as females for the longest time. I’ve had my own fair share of bad experiences, while rping as men- but they never came anywhere near to what I had to endure as a woman.

From complete creepers (both coming from male muses & females alike), to having f/f forced onto me when I didn’t want it & so on. I was just generally having a far better time with guys, than with girls.

8. Name any three things about the rpc that bother you.

Policing people’s blogs contents (self-explenatory);

People making their muse POC/Trans/LGBTQ+/have a mental disorder just to avoid criticism (self-explenatory);

People’s entitlement for RPing (nobody owes you an interaction/plot/etc. Srsly cut this nasty attitude out)

13. Have you ever thought about leaving rp? What caused it? What changed your mind?

// There was a time I was, way more invested & interested in my discor.d rps than the ones on tumblr. So, for a moment I thought of going exclusive Dis.cord.

It all changed, when I managed to find a balance to them... For the most part- but still.

14. Do you think rp has had a positive or negative affect on your life or you as a person?

// It was through RP I got to finally share, my opinions & views on the series I absolutely love. Not only that, but I came across people who were genuinely interested on them. In a way, I was able to finally join the fandom through RPing. So I’d say, on this aspect- yes it definetely had a positive effect on me <3

16. If you could change one thing about rp on tumblr, what would it be? Why?

// As much fun I have wih making these graphics & icons, I can’t help but feel like nowadays RP has lost its focus from someone’s Rping/writing skills.

if tumblr screwed up and Thanos snapped the possibility of putting graphics/icons/etc, it would do wonders for the RPC.

The photoshop skills competition would stop right there. Also, it would be wonderful for artists, bc of ppl using fan arts for their edits without any credit/permission for their work.

21. Have you ever followed someone because you felt like you had to, not because you wanted to?

// Y  E S. It was the worst, it felt like I was being held at gunpoint........... Not fun at all, bc- our muses just didn’t have any real way to interact with each other in the first place.

22. What would make you block someone?

// Besides what I’ve stated above- at the start of this post?

Well, if the person rubs me in the wrong way, I’ll block them. Like... The person may not even have done anything to me, but I just don’t feel comfortable having them unblocked/following/interacting with my blog.

So I block them, just to avoid any possible awkward situation.

35. Do you read other people’s threads or do you only read your own?

// I wished I had the time to read MORE from the dash TBH. I do read some threads here & there from time to time! And I’ve read some great stuff from my mutuals!

38. What advice would you give to someone new to rp?

// Focus on your portrayal! Work on it! Develop your muse!

People will eventually find their way to you, just take your time & don’t be afraid to draw your limits/lines. Go do your thing & have your fun man!

[writingmilo]

F̶a̶m̶i̶l̶y̶ ̶R̶e̶u̶n̶i̶o̶n̶ Maya: Chapter 13

Part 3 of Flipped AU

Masterpost

TRIGGER WARNINGS: GUN VIOLENCE, MANIPULATION, HOSPITAL SCENES, DRUG MENTIONS

Surely the emergency line couldn't be this full, Kenna thought as she waited for an operator to pick up the call.

By the time she returned to the kitchen, nothing seemed to have changed. Maya’s uncles were still attacking Anti on the floor, and Maya was still twitching as she started to wake. Nobody even noticed when Kenna crossed the room to hold Maya, petting her hair and covering her ears so she didn’t have to hear Anti’s pleas and cries.

Maya slowly started to regain her senses, but Kenna kept her hands covering her ears, preventing her from turning her head to see what was going on. But that couldn’t last forever, and when Maya started glitching Kenna let go.

Everyone was so concentrated on attacking Anti that they didn’t notice her regaining consciousness. Maya knew this, and she knew there was a way that this could be stopped.

“Kenna,” she whispered, “In Chase’s recording studio, there’s a fake panel, two in from the door hinges.” Maya fell back on the floor, as if she had never woken up, and Kenna left to the dining room, knowing she would be safer that way.

She ran through the corridor; luckily Maya had given her a half-tour, showing her the library and important rooms to avoid. Chase’s recording studio was one of the latter.

In the room, she counted the panels and tried pulling them off. On the fourth attempt, she found the right one, and there was a small hole inside the wall. Reaching inside it, her hand touched something cold, and as she pulled it out, she saw what it was.

A gun.

She hid it inside her jacket and ran back the way she came, meeting Maya in the dining room.

“How did you know about this?” Kenna questioned as she handed the gun to Maya.

“I-I don’t know, it’s just something I knew. I never knew about it before though, nobody ever told me.” Maya was glitching as she held the gun. Anti had taught her how to use one, knowing that his brothers would always be around and dangerous, but in the heat of the moment Maya was struggling to remember. After fiddling with it for a few minutes, she had it, and she unclicked the safety. 

As calmly as she could manage, she walked out back into the kitchen, and holding the gun in both hands, she screamed, “Stop! Everyone stop it!”

They all turned to look at her, laying off Anti as they realised what was happening.

“You don’t know how to use that Little Duck, put it down before somebody gets hurt.” Maya shook and glitched, but the shaking of her head was an obvious no.

“Don-” Anti coughed and spluttered, “Don’t be so… so sure… I taught her a lot...”

Chase tried a different approach to Jackie, hoping that their hold on her was still strong.

“Now Little Duck, what have we told you about glitching?” She turned, pointing the gun at Chase as he spoke, but it was clear she was conflicted.

“No, you lied to me… you lied to me...” her voice was soft, her mind trying to find fault, who was wrong. Everything was so wrong.

Whilst everyone was frozen, Anti managed to climb to his feet. Having basically lived with Kenna for the past few years he understood as she signed “police” over her stomach.

“Together?” He replied, keeping his hands low and his movements small. Kenna nodded.

“May,” Kenna took a step towards Maya, and placed her hand on her shoulder. Maya glitched in shock as she felt the touch, enveloping Kenna’s hand in her static for a split second.

Kenna understood how scared she was, and gently took her shaking wrists, pushing her arms towards the floor. 

“Pumpkin,” Maya didn’t respond to her pet name, shattering Anti’s heart.

“Maya, it’s Anti, it’s papa. Everything is okay now,” he took a step towards her, glitching through the crowd of enemies. “I’ll protect you.” More steps, each time whispering words of comfort. All he had to do was get to her before the police showed up. That was all.

As the sirens sounded down the street, he was a pace away, but he managed to grab the gun from her hands and point it back at his brothers before they could start to move.

The brothers, once again held at gunpoint, started swearing, and continued to try and coerce Maya into returning to them.

“Little Duck, we can protect you, we can protect you from everything.” Jackie started, knowing what was about to come.

“We know where you live Little Duck, you’ll never be safe unless you’re with us.” Marvin continued.

“Think about all the questions you’re going to have to answer, they’ll think you’re lying Maya.” Maya looked up at Chase’s final blow.

“I… I’m not… I’m not lying… You lied, you all lied...” Slowly she started glitching, stronger and stronger. Slowly she became less tangible, a flickering ghost. Slowly she moved, becoming stronger inside the circle of her uncles. And as she calmed, she became human again, this time with the gun held loosely in her hand.

It was perfect. Jameson took the gun from her hand, as Chase hugged her. “You see? That wasn’t so hard was it?” Maya shook her head as he let go. “And this is what you get for it.” Jameson passed the gun to Chase, who shoved it into the side of her head.

Before anything else could happen, the door burst down, and police swarmed in.

“Police, put your hands where I can see them!” Six pairs of hands went up, Chase holding Maya still as he kept the gun pressed against her head. Shielded by the others, the police officer couldn’t see the danger Maya was in.

“I said hands where I can see them!”

“Like this then?” Chase turned the two of them around, showing the officer the gun and hostage.

“Sir, put the gun down.” The police officer tried to reason with Chase. “Let the child go.”

“Hmmm, I’d rather not. My life ends either way, why not ruin some others?” He gestured with the gun as he spoke, forcing it further into Maya’s head as he finished, causing her to whimper.

“Please Uncle Chase...” Maya pleaded. It was the first time she had ever referred to any of them as her uncle, and it took Chase by surprise. “I forgive you.”

“Forgive me? I’ve done nothing wrong little duck! You must be confused! Isn’t she, she’s confused!”

“Okay then, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t the niece you wanted me to be when you kidnapped me. After all of this we can fix that.” Chase didn’t know that the house was now surrounded by armed police.

“Really?” He loosened his grip on Maya, turning her to face him. She nodded, and he pulled her in for a hug. Anti turned to Kenna, utterly confused, but turned back at the strangled cry of Chase, who’s stomach had just met Maya’s knee.

“You little shit!” He doubled over, and Maya pushed through the other’s racing for Anti. Before she reached him, Chase had grabbed the gun and shot it. 

“Maya!” Anti closed the final few steps, cradling Maya as Kenna grabbed a towel to press on the wound. The bullet had entered her chest, but they didn’t know if it had hit anything. Armed police raced in after the gunshot, tackling Chase to the ground and putting him in handcuffs. Next came the paramedics, needing to get to Maya. All the while, the uncles stood in silence, while Anti and Kenna huddled together, watching the paramedics placing Maya on a stretcher and moving her out of the room.

After that came the rest of the police, coming to question the witnesses and secure the scene.

Anti cared about none of that, he only cared that the second he had got Maya back his brothers took her away again.

Anti and Kenna were taken to the hospital after their statements were taken. When they arrived, there was no Maya to see though, for she was in surgery as they tried to remove the bullet.

As they waited, a  nurse came out to speak to them. “You must be Miss Williams’ family?” They nodded. “Okay, would you like to come with me.” She led them to a small room. “Maya is in theatre for her gunshot wound. The bullet entered just above the heart, but went straight through her left lung. It then rebounded off her rib and got stuck in her collar bone after shattering some of it. The bones won’t be too hard to fix and should have few repercussions into the future, however the lung, whilst not being fatal, will take more time to heal.” Anti nodded.

“Okay, but that’s it? That’s not too bad.”

“No, considering where the bullet was aimed she has been very lucky. However, there are some other things we need to inform you off.” Anti knew that this was going to be the list of damage caused by his brothers. “Well, firstly, she has a build up of scar tissue around many of her vital organs, without having any visibly scarring on the surface. She also has a small fracture in her skull, and bruising on the muscle and flesh of the head. As well, she has traces of flunitrazepam, a common date rape drug, and phenothiazine, a drug used for psychosis. Do you have any idea why she might have these in her system?”

“It will have been my brothers. They kidnapped her. Does the psychosis drug have sedative properties?” The nurse nodded. “They’ll have given them to her.”

“Mr Williams—”

“Murphy, Mr Murphy, please.”

“Of course, Mr Murphy, you understand that we will have to report this to the police?”

“I would hope so, it was one of them that shot her.” He stood up. “Is that all?”

“Yeah, that’s all.” The nurse was still struggling to get over the shock of what he had just told her.

“Then I would like it if we could return to the waiting room to wait for Maya.” Anti placed his hand on Kenna’s shoulder and guided her out.

...

So... that ending huh? There will be an epilogue coming out soon, but this is the final chapter. This is the first big project I’ve ever completed and since coming up with the idea I have absolutely fallen in love with all the characters, as well as you guys who share your reactions with me. Vanessa and Sam, I adore seeing what you put in the tags, and Kate, I love seeing what you say outside of the tags. Just thank you, thank you thank you thank you so so so much. ~A. Xx

@kate807 @bloodygoldensam @unsuredoodles @septicuniverse @the-yandere-kitsune @atomicsepticeye @maybekatie @simsepticfan @theluckoftheclaws @thelunarmasquerade @friezzzboiii @widdendream5 @honestlyitsjustkenna @goldenoceanaart @septicart-appreciation @the-rampaige @a-faithful-fanartist @galiacolanna @novelistgeek

[choices-binglebonkus]

Opinion post: best and worst LI’s from each series

I was pretty bored, decided I’d make a list of who I think are the best and worst LI’s in each series and why.  If you’ve got some time to spare, please be sure to post your opinions too, I’m rather curious as to see how the fandom thinks.

Note: Since Nathan and Paolo are antagonists/pseudo-love interests, and you CANNOT end the game in a relationship with them, I’m not going to be counting them on this list.

The Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior

Best: Honestly? All of the love interests were a little bland for my tastes in this series, but if I had to pick one, it would be Becca.  She started out as a spoiled bully from a rich family and ended the series a humbler, kinder woman who learned to work for what she want, respect those around her, and she even got into the law school of her dreams.  Now that’s dedication!

Worst: Without a doubt, I think Kaitlyn Liao is the worst love interest in this series.  When the series started out, I actually thought she was great.  I didn’t want to romance her (or anyone else but I had to *eyeroll*) but she was my best friend.  But then I began to realize how detestable she was as a character.  She turned on MC after she accidentally came out to her parents, she turned on EVERYONE when she joined the Gutter Kittens, and only when her circus tent came crashing down did this sad clown emerge and ask for help cleaning up the remnants of the big top.  She’s immature, rude, she goes off on people for doing things she doesn’t want (Annisa talking to Natasha, MC writing an unbiased article about the Loose Pins and their strong performance, etc.), and worst of all, she’s a criminal.  

A LEGIT criminal.  Not on the level of the Alphas, but she’s committed her share of crimes, including underage drinking, breaking and entering on multiple accounts (when she broke into the observatory in TF book 4, investigating the studio’s security room in TJ, and breaking into the old dorm in The Senior), trespassing which basically goes hand-in-hand with the last crime, vandalism (when she broke a $500 bottle of whiskey in a bar in The Senior), and fleeing the scene of a crime (when she broke the whiskey).  The other characters have also committed some of these crimes, but I’m mainly gunning for Kaitlyn because she’s a repeat-offender, not to mention she’s committed more crimes than any of the other love interests.  Just...why did her character go totally south after book 3?!

The Crown & The Flame

Best: Raydan.  He’s loyal, incredibly strategic and knowledgeable, can hold his own in a fight, and he’s charismatic as hell.  Playing as Raydan was incredibly fun and I loved seeing what sorts of mischief he got up to on his adventures.  Plus, his romance scenes were incredible.  My favorites were the flower scene in book one and the tent scene in book two.

Worst: Shockingly, Dominic for several reasons.  He’s Kenna’s best friend and he’s held that title since their childhood, but I can only see him as her best friend.  The romance scenes between Dom and Kenna felt a little...I dunno, forced?  There’s not really any other way to say it.  I married Dom in one playthrough and I regretted it so much.  When Kenna and Dom get married, they become the most boring heterosexual couple in the game...honestly!  I also found Dominic just a very boring character in general, which is pretty shocking considering A. He’s a frickin’ fire mage and B. He’s in TC&TF, one of the best damn series in the game.  Whenever I saw the words “You are now playing as Dominic Hunter”, I wanted nothing more than to see “You are now playing as Kenna Rys” because I was so bored with his character.

Most Wanted

Best: ...I honestly don’t know! It’s been so long that I don’t even remember any love interests in the game.

Worst: Same here!

Rules of Engagement

Best: It’s a tie between Dean and Mira.  Dean was an incredibly down-to-earth character who started off as MC’s faithful companion and eventually fell in love with her.  Friendly and never afraid to lend her an ear, Dean made sure MC was faring well during tough times and took her out on dates/hangouts whenever she needed a pick-me-up even though his job as a Bartender *probably* didn’t pay that well.  During their marriage, Dean took on two roles, as not only did he agree to be her husband, he remained MC’s best friend as well.

Mira was also a really good love interest.  Even though she was paywalled to hell, she was a genuinely sweet character.  I got the wrong impression of her at first, thinking she was just a snooty chef brought to the kitchen to cause trouble for Party Girl Sister, but oh man.  Mira was fantastic.  When Party Girl Sister was in the middle of her pregnancy scare, Mira got involved and frequently checked in on her to make sure she was okay.  She helped her unwind and relax when the stress got to her, offered her advice from when she was pregnant with her son, and was overall an unexpected friend that Party Girl Sister needed.  When the time came to pick a love interest for PGS, I didn’t hesitate to pick Mira, who was truly her loving angel, and I don’t think I made the wrong choice in that at all.

Worst: I’m going to get plenty of hate from this I’m sure, but William and Leo.  They’re both incredibly rich and famous men who don’t even seem realistic, yet they fall for a completely ordinary girl.  William annoyed me on the first date when he saw my (non diamond!) outfit and had the audacity to say “Oh...” with a shocked look on his face.  I mean...”oh”? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?  But also, William was just kinda boring.  It seemed like he was using his money to compensate for how boring his personality was.

Leo is quite the opposite of William personality-wise, but I can’t say I liked his whole bad boy/rebel/”let’s do illegal stuff because in the end it’s fun” shtick.  Like William, Leo also seems largely unrealistic and rather unrelatable, which I think is a pretty big problem if you’re trying to resonate with the readers.

Endless Summer

Best: Jake and Quinn are a pretty tough choice, so I can’t say for sure which one I prefer.  They’re both attractive and both are rather different personality-wise.  Jake is brave, but at the start of the book he only really cares for himself.  As the story goes on, he starts to care about the other characters as it becomes apparent they’re all stuck on the island.  While Jake is a good guy, his nick-names got very, very old after three books.  Additionally, he’s one of the overused cynical/loner/sarcastic male love interest archetypes, but I’ll give him a pass this time because he was the first of his kind, plus he had a pretty good reason to be as cynical as he was.

Quinn is super cute and is probably one of the sweetest LI’s in the game.  She’s friendly and compassionate from the start, and knowing that she has an illness that will one day result in her death, she has become brave and willing to live her life to its fullest.  Her romance scenes were also amazing.  My personal favorite is the sex scene in the kitchen when she and MC make cupcakes together.  However, one thing I fault the writers for with Quinn’s writing is that she’s frequently portrayed as the damsel in distress.  You have to protect her from the Sabertooth, save her when she almost drowns, save her again when the Vaanti attack the hotel, save her AGAIN when she nearly dies from Rotterdam’s Syndrome, save her again when she and the group are held at gunpoint in the MASADA complex...the list goes ON!

Worst: Sean. Sean is an incredibly kindhearted character who cares about his friends to the point of not eating food until everyone else has eaten.  He’s selfless, brave, and an overall friendly guy.  However, that is his fault. I know it’s odd to be faulting such a great dude for being one of the sweetest guys in the game, but the only problem I have with him is that he’s a cookie-cutter clone of Chris, Caleb, Griffin, basically any strong, benevolent male character in the Choices series.  For the most part, they’re largely identical in personality, and that takes away from their originality.  I still love Sean.  Saying he’s the worst just means I think he’s the worst of any of the amazing LI’s in ES, but he’s still a really great guy.

#LoveHacks

Best: I really can’t pick any of them.

Worst: I’d honestly have to say all of them.  They’re either A. Wishy-washy B. Boring C. Introduced way too late in the game and their development is either non-existent or way too rushed.  Hell, I forgot Mark Collins even existed until I stumbled across his page on the wikia.

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor

Best: Eleanor by default.  She’s paywalled and you have to pay diamonds to keep her alive at the end, but she’s pretty, she’s sweet, she cares for her younger siblings enough to live(?) with a dark secret that’s left her traumatized, and we get to spend lots of time with her in the book.

Worst: Victor.  We barely even get to know this guy!  There’s almost nothing about him on the wikia pages either simply because he’s almost never in the story without diamonds and we barely even got to know him.  

The Royal Romance

Best: Even though I didn’t marry her at the end (I still had some flings with her though), Hana.  Hana is incredibly sweet, she’s really pretty, and she’s got overbearing parents which, in my case, makes her a really relatable character.  She does anything she can to please her parents/friends and she quickly becomes a very loyal friend (or lover) to MC as she finds her way as the newest noble in Cordonia.

Worst: Drake.  Oh, Drake, have I got a bone to pick with you.  Not only is he one of the many, MANY cynical/loner/sarcastic male LI archetypes, the story could have gone on without him, rendering him pretty useless.  I cannot think of a single non-romance scene where I thought: “Oh man, Drake is a really necessary character!”  Not to mention, Drake is picky as hell.  He gets to live in the palace for free, gets to eat food and hang out with Liam, but he whines about not wanting to become like those gosh darn nobles, and he whines about the food being “too fancy” or whatever when there are people starving in other parts of the world.  I would understand you not eating food if you’re allergic or can’t stomach it, but really, Drake? Because it’s too fancy?! Come on!

Hero

Best: I have to say, none of these love interests were up to par. The book is great, the LI’s are lacking.

Worst: All of them.  They’re not too bad per se, but man...they’re just so lackluster! Grayson is boring, Kenji is cocky, and Eva got on my nerves a lot.

High School Story

Best: Emma without a doubt.  She’s pretty, she’s very sweet to her friends and MC, and she’s a shy character who’s surprisingly well-written.  Though I didn’t choose to romance her, I still think she’s definitely the best love interest in this series because not only is she an amazing friend, but in other playthroughs I’ve watched, she’s a very loving girlfriend to the main character.

Worst: Probably a tie between Caleb and Maria.  Caleb, like I mentioned earlier, is pretty much the same as Chris, Sean, and Griffin, which makes him rather dull.  Maria isn’t too bad, but she could get very intense at times, and that gave me a really negative first impression of her that never truly went away.

It Lives in the Woods

Best: Andy. Frickin’. Kang.  He’s strong, rough and tumble, and really brave, but he’s also soft and gentle with the MC if they romance him.  He’s the first trans representation in Choices, and I personally think Pixelberry did a really good job with him.  I really felt for him when he and Tom were being discriminated against on the basketball team because they were both Asian, and because Andy was also short and transgender.  Yet, even after all this, Andy doesn’t quit the team and doesn’t give up his dreams, and if he survives the final game with Mr. Red/Jane, he becomes the basketball captain and eventually goes on to play for a college team.  Way to go, King Kang!

Worst: I don’t think I can really say any of them are the worst because all four of the other love interests in this series are pretty great.

Home for the Holidays

Best: None of them.  NONE.

Worst: ALL OF THEM! This book was abysmal, and one reason it was so hated is because the love interests were awful.  Nick was unnecessarily cruel, Wyatt was so happy it was creepy, and Holly was really boring.  

Red Carpet Diaries

Best: Oh dear.  Same case as HFTH, none of them.

Worst: I can’t choose just one, so...I guess all of them.  Matt was forced upon the player, Victoria is one of those mean girls/divas that has a complete 180 in her personality at some point, Teja and Seth were absolute morons for the entirety of book two, and Addison and Hunt were purely a fanservice for people who played Hollywood U (which is a good game, but if you ask me, Addi and Hunt should’ve never become LI’s for this series).

Perfect Match

Best: I really don’t even know with this one, you guys.  I was never a fan of this series (oof, I can feel the hate I’m getting from that sentence right now) and the LI’s all seemed really unimpressive.

Worst: Hayden.  While I really dislike Damien and think he’s undoubtedly the most overrated love interest in the entire game, I’ve got to say Hayden is the worst.  You get to customize their gender, appearance, and eventually their name, and while they’re a robot with sentience and human feelings, this just makes them seem LESS human.  Not to mention, they stupidly left the group on multiple occasions and went on walks alone to brood and be edgy, which eventually led to Harley infiltrating and causing our already feeble plans to fail yet again.  Lastly...Hayden is one of the love interests that repeatedly gets crammed down the player’s throat whether they like it or not.

Bloodbound

Best: Jax is a great love interest, but since he’s one of those overused cynical/loner/sarcastic archetypes, I’m going to have to say Lily is the best in this series.  She’s tragically underrated, quirky, goofy, and she’s a GAMER with GLASSES, which is totally my weak spot.  Lily is just the cutest thing, I swear.  And since I love Jax and Lily almost equally, I went NUTS when I was offered a diamond threesome scene with them.  That day was a huge win.

Worst: Even though he’s not too bad as a character, Adrian.  You don’t get to customize his name or gender, but you still get to customize his appearance, which I really don’t like in love interests because it makes them seem like interchangeable parts.  

Veil of Secrets

Best: Kate.  She’s paywalled unfortunately, and she only becomes a love interest at the very end of the book, but she’s very beautiful and sweet.  You have to spend the entire story saving her, but fortunately, she isn’t forced upon you romantically like some of the other love interests are in the game.  It’s really unfortunate that she became a love interest so late in the game.

Worst: Probably Naomi, only because she was boring.  Otherwise, she’s not too bad.

America’s Most Eligible

Best: None of them.

Worst: All of them because they’re really bland compared to some of the other love interests Pixelberry has given us.

Desire & Decorum

Best: Hamid.  He’s sweet, gentle, he’s good with kids, and he’s really attractive as well.  Overall, though, I think all the love interests in this series are pretty boring, but Hamid is slightly less boring than the others.

Worst: Sinclaire.  I originally hated his guts, but he’s not that bad to be honest.  He’s one of the cynical/loner/sarcastic male archetypes, and while not as extreme as some of the others, he’s still a part of the archetype.  He’s grown on me, I will admit, but only as a friend, nothing more.

Across the Void

Best: None of them.

Worst: All of them.  The whole book is a mess, and that trickles down to the love interests.  Minimal character development, forgettable love interests (I forgot Meridian and Titania even existed at some points in the book), Kepler freaks me out, Sol was a dick at certain points, Zekei is more of Eos’s love interest than MC’s, it’s a whole thing.  The siblings’ love interests aren’t any better.  Eos has Lyra who isn’t too bad, but damn is she boring.  He also has Deimos and Oberon who came in out of literal nowhere, same thing with Pax’s love interest, Zaniah, and she turns out to be a freaking villain that you have to pay diamonds to redeem.  Lastly, we have Holmes...who’s really annoying to me.  Sigh.

Big Sky Country

NOTE: I feel the need to tell you beforehand that I wanted to remain single for this series, but they force you into kissing someone in the last chapter whether you like it or not, so I picked the lesser of the evils.

Best: Juliette Mendoza, and I’m ONLY picking her because she’s absolutely beautiful.

Worst: Sawyer and Dallas.  Sawyer because he’s forced, Dallas because he’s yet another one of the cynical/loner/sarcastic male archetypes.  Urgh.

The Elementalists

Best: I don’t care for any of them.

Worst: Beckett, but before you murder me, it’s only because A. He redeemed himself in like one chapter which is incredibly lazy writing on Pixelberry’s part, and B. He and Griffin (who I rather like, actually) get lots of diamond scenes while love interests like Aster are getting sidelined.

High School Story: Class Act

Best: Skye, but I wouldn’t romance her simply because she’s more of a friend than anything.  She’s incredibly sweet and she’s the polar opposite of her shitty family, and having a storyline about Skye and the abuse she gets from her family would actually be really interesting.  I’d love to see her family get their comeuppance and Skye end up living a better life, because that’s what she deserves.

Worst: I legitimately could not choose who I hate more.  Rory and Ajay are both on my shit list.  Rory is one of the most forced love interests in the entire frickin’ game, and is a complete Mary Sue.  I’m not just saying that either.  Rory is attractive, talented, popular, and lots of people have crushes on them (Erin says in one of the first chapters of HSSCA book one that their last play got a good turnout because 1/3 of the audience had crushes on Rory), and is *supposedly* completely oblivious to how many people like them, which would be kiiiiinda hard to miss, especially with Natalie and Clint.  

But otherwise, Rory has almost zero personality.  They’re friendly, but most love interests have that trait.  They also have a mother with cancer and participates in a play to fund treatment for her, but that’s about as complex as Rory gets.  The worst part about them is that they’re constantly getting shoved down our throats.  The game and characters constantly imply MC has a crush on Rory whether we like it or not, and MC ceases to function during rehearsal when they realize Rory is going to ask them to homecoming.  For Pete’s sake, we join the damn play just to get closer to Rory.  And for people who don’t give a fuck about Rory, like me, that makes the book remarkably frustrating.

And we also have Ajay, who I hate about as much as Rory.  From the start, he was rude, condescending, and snarky.  But then when Rory tells everyone their mother has cancer, Ajay says “yeah man, I’ve been super harsh because I want this to go perfect, blah blah” which, to me, is a TOTAL cop out.  Even if the play didn’t go perfect, the audience would have already paid for their admission and donated beforehand.  I didn’t excuse Ajay’s dickish behavior throughout the book, especially when he never apologized for siding against MC after the whole theater cube fiasco, even when there was zero concrete evidence against them.  Annoying, rude, never apologized for making an accusation that turned out to be untrue, and...god, every time he speaks, my mind reads his words in Brainy Smurf’s annoying, nasally voice.

It Lives Beneath

Best: Tom.  What can I say except Tomoichi “Tom” Sato?  Ever since ILITW, he's been a good friend to Andy since they were toddlers, helped him throughout life with his friendship, prevented Andy from committing suicide at one point, and was friendly throughout the first book.  In this series, he's a love interest, and is one of the few love interests who isn't drawn with a super-duper fit body (thus making him a little more realistic).  And his sex scenes are wild, dude.  I mean, in a PHOTO BOOTH at a festival full of people?!

He's loyal, goofy, and he's realistic because he's awkward and flustered if MC flirts with him.  Be honest, if an attractive stranger starting forwardly flirting with you within not even a day of meeting you, wouldn't you be pretty awkward and stuttery?  Also, Tom is cute, he appears to have a friendly/romantic chemistry with MC, and all the scenes with him and MC are well-written and pleasant to read.   

Worst: Out of fear of being personally attacked again (I even got one or two death threats), I will not be going too in-depth about why Imogen is the worst love interest of this series.  All I’ll say is that, for the majority of the book, she was an extreme weak link and I feel like she redeemed herself too late.

A Courtesan of Rome

Best: Syphax.  He’s really gorgeous, and he takes the fall for MC when she sloppily murders a Roman authority.  That’s some serious selflessness, and I really admire Syphax for that, but he is a bit forced on the player in the first part of the book.

Worst: Marc Antony.  He really gives me the creeps.

The Heist: Monaco

Best: Eris.  She’s sassy, spunky, but she’s got a soft spot for MC and is actually really sweet.  She’s absolutely beautiful and I didn’t have a hard time choosing her as my love interest.  Though...if Sonia turns out to be a love interest, I might have a problem later.

Worst: Probably Fabien because, yet again (I’m sorry, okay!), he’s a cynical/loner/sarcastic male love interest archetype.  But he’s really not a bad dude, I like him.  He’s just the worst out of this bunch.

Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance

Best: One word: none.

Worst: All of them! They’re all criminals, and they’re not noble criminals who screw over corrupt people like MC and their crew in TH:M, they’re legit criminals who endanger other people’s lives for fun.

So, what do you guys think? Who are your best/worst LI’s for each series? Don’t hesitate to reblog and ring in with your opinions, because like I said before, I’m really curious to see how the rest of the fandom thinks.

[jelixpo]

K I had this idea earlier for a movie and honestly if i had like 100,000 just lying around i would absolutely make it

So it’d play out like every other action comedy ever. Like, the team of 3 dudes and 1 girl, all running from the government and blowing shit up cause they want to, fighting the other huge crime lords and fucking their shit up. Liam Neason would have a cameo, as would Morgan Freeman. In the group you got the computer guy, the gun girl, the slightly sexist idiot dude, the main guy’s best bud, and the main dude himself, who is your usual buff, 6ft dude who cracks jokes at good times and always has the one-liners. You know, the usual.

So the main dude of the group is married and has like 3 kids. The catch is that no one has ever seen or knows who the hell his family is, not even the people on his team. So of course all these huge crime lords are looking fucking everywhere they can to find this guy’s wife and use her as bait. And every time they find some lady with kids and kidnap her and contact the main dude about it, he’s like “you got the wrong lady, but i’mma save her anyway” cause he’s a good dude and he always keeps his cool. But like, these crime lords can never figure out how the fuck this dude just knows they don’t have his wife. Like, without even giving him the chance to talk to her, he just knows it’s not his wife. 

All these crime lords hate this group so much that they put aside their feuds and problems to team up together to take this group down. A couple years after these crime lords join together, one of the crime lords retires, and his daughter takes his place in the group. The lady is basically the main dude’s equal in every way. Strength, smarts, dialect, you name it. They’re absolute equals. All the other crime lords kinda brush this lady of cause she’s a woman, that is until she proposes an idea. The audience won’t know what idea she proposes, but it’ll just show that the other crime lords get super intrigued and curious.

So the group is on a mission that keeps them away from their main hideout for a couple days, maybe a week and a half. But when they get to the place where shit is supposedly supposed to go down, there’s no baddies in sight. This is what usually happens when someone tries to kidnap the main guy’s wife. Nothing out of the ordinary, so the group goes back home, joking about what poor woman these crime lords have got now. So they get back to their hideout, and 5 minutes after they walk through the door, their phone rings. The girl from the group goes and picks up the phone and puts it on speaker so they can all listen to this crime lord spew bullshit. The main dude walks over into the corner of the hideout, grabbing himself a drink or whatever.

On the other end of the phone is the crime lady, talking very calm and shit. Since the group hasn’t ever heard her voice before, they jokingly introduce themselves and the crime lady does the same. She addresses the main dude and says she’s got someone very important to him. Of course the group starts cracking jokes, making fun of her for thinking she could be the one to find the main dude’s wife after all this time. The crime lady says that she doesn’t have his wife. In fact, she never even looked for the dude’s wife. But she did find his husband. The group laughs, and the girl from the group makes an off-handed comment about how this crime lady doesn’t really know the main dude if she thinks he’s gay. As the girl said this, she looks over at the main dude for amused approval.

Main dude is stone cold, white-faced. Looks fucking petrified, like he’s gonna be sick. The whole group stops laughing and it’s silent for a second. You can hear the crime lady chuckle on the other end of the phone, before jokingly asking the main dude if she has the right husband. Main dude swallows for a second, then tries to make a joke about how this lady probably has the wrong guy. You can hear paper shuffling on the end of the phone, before you hear the crime lady read off the full name of another man, middle name and all, then gives a basic description of what the guy looks like. The main dude is fucking shaking now, he doesn’t reply. The lady gives off some specific coordinates, a time, and a date, before immediately hanging up.

The group is silent for a minute, before the idiot guy asks the main dude if he’s actually gay. Main dude, who has been cool and collected up to this point, is stuttering and tripping over his words and shaking like a leaf. The buddy takes main dude outside to help calm him down and talk to him. After the main dude calms down, the group makes a plan for what to do.

When the group is making their way to the location the crime lady said, main dude gets a call one late night at camp. He sneaks away to answer it, and it’s the crime lady again. Main dude is pissed but tries to keep his cool while talking to the lady. Crime lady tells the dude that he needs to find a way to make his group split up. Main dude said absolutely fucking not, so the crime lady on the other end gives some sort of command before you hear the main dude’s husband scream over the phone. The main dude is scared shitless and doesn’t know what to say. The crime lady gives the dude the command again, that he is to split up from the group before making it to the first location she had specified and she gives him a second location that he is to meet her at alone. Before she hangs up again, the crime lady makes a point of informing the main dude that she has baddies stationed all around his group and that for every mistake he makes or for every delay of time, she’s gonna fuck up his husband. Crime lady hangs up and the main dude is just left there to deal with his thoughts. He eventually makes his way back to camp and, when the group asks why he looks so down, he just makes some comment about being tired and goes to bed.

Idk this could be artistic liberty stuff here. Blah blah blah, action action action.

So when they’re finally about an hour from arriving at their final destination, the main dude says he’s gonna take a detour and ambush the enemy from behind while the rest of the group go on ahead. The group is sceptical but agree to do it anyway. The main dude heads to the place where the crime lady told him to go and finally meets the lady face to face. Crime lady tries to make light banter but main dude doesn’t respond. Crime lady doesn’t really give a shit, cause she’s smug and knows she’s won. She gives a hand signal and a car pulls up behind her. One of the baddies opens the car door and yanks out main guy’s husband who’s in handcuffs. You can see a couple bruises and cuts on his body, with some dark circles under his eyes. Main dude tries to step towards him but crime lady trips him and forces him onto his knees. Crime lady raddles off about being a respectable woman and keeping her word, meaning that the husband would go free. Crime lady steps behind main dude and points a gun right at the back of his head. The husband tries to run to him, but he’s being held so he can’t. Main dude looks up at his husband and keeps a calm face, reminding his husband that he had promised at some point to always keep him safe. His husband looks sad cause he knows what’s about to happen, but he smiles anyway, telling the main dude that he did keep him safe.

Just as main dude is about to be shot, he notices some figures darting around in the shadows. Familiar figures. He realizes what’s going on but keeps his act up. The crime lady asks him if he has any last words. Main dude chuckles and asks the crime lady if she remembered to lock the doors. Crime lady loses her smug air around her just as the group ambushes her and her men. Majority of her men are gunned down before they can even realise it and crime lady is held at gunpoint and forced to drop her weapon. The idiot guy goes over and frees the husband, allowing him and the main dude to finally embrace and give some cheesy one-liners like “told you i’d always protect you” or something like that. The group is holding the crime lady and asks what the main dude wants to do with her. Main dude walks over to her all smug, but instead of insulting her, he comments how equal they are and genuinely compliments her on it. Crime lady keeps her cold demeanour but agrees with main dude, they are equals. However, main dude does point out one difference between the two of them tho. She’s much more sinister than he could ever try to be, something crime lady takes as a compliment. Main dude makes some gesture to his group and suddenly crime lady is knocked out. When she wakes back up, she’s still in the same location and unharmed, but there’s a gift basket in front of her. It’s from the group, with a card saying “welcome to the business” or something like that.

Cut to the group driving together in a big van with the main dude and his husband all cuddled up together in the back. They’re shooting the shit, talking about how they can finally rest for a while, given that the crime lords most likely won’t come after them for a while. The idiot guy starts asking stupid questions about the main dude being gay, and the group just starts groaning unison and giving him shit for it. The final shot is just them driving into the sunset or something cheesy like that.

basically, what i’m saying is, i just want every action movie ever, but gay

[oddyssea-a]

can u please write some meta about what happened in the timeline when karter was with sam in uc4 ??? i need to hear ur opinions

SEND ME A TOPIC TO WRITE A META ABOUT MY MUSE ON––––ACCEPTING

OH MY GOD OK THIS IS HELLA LONG SO I’M PUTTING IT UNDER A CUT:

First & foremost, Karter was incredibly weary of Sam at first. Primarily because he’s WIRED to be that way he was effectively wired in order to survive. He doesn’t HATE Sam at first but he’s incredibly weary. It’s primarily because he suspects Sam to be the type to easily turn on people so what he does is he keeps himself on guard pretty much the entire until right about the very end of their hunt together.

THE REASON Karter ends up trusting Sam is because of a pivotal moment at the end of one of their hunts that Karter ends up choosing to trust him despite his instincts and feelings of DOUBT when it comes to placing faith in other people.

After the fact however Karter and Sam did reach some semblance of a mutual understanding and once they parted ways the first time Karter considered Sam to be one of the very FEW people he’d willingly work with again, and while he likely would not have admitted it he was HOPING to see him again because he hadn’t felt like he had that kind of hunt chemistry with anyone since he & Johnny broke things off. 

Karter JUMPED at the idea of being brought on to the Panama job because he was eager to work with Sam again, and perhaps get to have another great adventure to note down in his journals.

SPEAKING of Karter’s journals, in the time between their first hunt together and Panama Job, Karter thought of Sam often and even went as far as to write down several little notes in his journals whenever he thought about him. In total Sam has about 6 notes all dedicated to him within Karter’s journal before their next time crossing paths.

Their time in the Panama prison was pretty interesting. Karter spent a lot of time with Sam specifically because they were in the same cell and they spent a lot of nights together just staying up sharing stories and talking about myths and possible ways myth could apply to what they were searching for. 

Their FIRST night of sleeping together was completely heat of the moment, and while Karter was pretty nervous that having slept with Sam might backfire because he worried that Sam wouldn’t really think much of it considering the circumstances called for a night of passion in some way shape or form for celebration purposes. However there were numerous points afterwards where they had passionate encounters that only solidified Karter’s intimate feelings and ultimately led to Karter’s final decision upon their attempted escape.

Seeing Sam shot shocked Karter so much that he didn’t even THINK when he jumped down after him and he chose to take Sam’s place for beatings and punishment when the guards caught them so that Sam would have time to recover from his wounds. He did his best to hide the bruises & injuries and he to the modern day refuses to tell Sam the truth of how he never got punished for their attempted escape from the prison

While in the prison Karter tried his best to console Sam for the situation mostly because he figured losing any chance of seeing his brother again would’ve been too difficult for him to bear on his own.

Their time in the prison AFTER Sam is shot is not quite as magical. They do still remain very close but there ends up being a storm of guilt that surrounds Karter for not trying to get Sam out and instead choosing to keep them there since he considered it to be Sam’s best shot at recovering.

The real torch to their relationship came in the form of their escape. Karter tries to devise a plan for the two of them to escape through channels of the prison’s internal gangs and while initially Sam agrees to it, when the time came to actually follow through with the plan, Sam wasn’t there. This actually hurt Karter more than anything else considering the fact that he had hoped they could escape together and figure out what they’d do...TOGETHER. At that point in time Karter was ALREADY in love with Sam he just hadn’t recognized it yet and for the years following his escape, he struggled with trying to understand why 1) Sam didn’t come with him and 2) Why he was so bothered by feeling as though he’d been ‘stood up’.

The 10 year gap of not seeing each other does a pretty nasty number on Karter emotionally speaking. Karter became much more jaded and effectively shut himself off from the world but he NEVER fell out of love with Sam. While it upset him, Karter thought of Sam basically every day and never for a second stopped loving him which only made the separation from him harder because he tried very hard not to be hung up on someone who he thought DIDN’T WANT HIM. 

When Sam finds Karter again after he gets out of prison, at first Karter doesn’t BELIEVE him when he says he never got out until just recently but he keeps it to himself. HOWEVER Karter doesn’t warm back up to Sam automatically. He’s kind of cold in fact. Of course he shows that he’s happy that Sam is alive but he tries to keep himself contained because he doesn’t want to have to bear the thought of losing him again and being reminded that Sam didn’t want him.

And then we have RAFE. Rafe is & was a major point of contention between them because Karter was OFTEN jealous of how enamored with Rafe Sam was. It was so bad in fact that at one point Karter seriously considered creating an accident that would’ve ended in Rafe’s permanent incarceration or even his DEATH. However coming back to find out RAFE was the first person who Sam saw when he got out ( even if it was by default ) hurt Karter beyond what he could recognize and his JEALOUSY sparks up again in the worst way. As a result Karter’s pretty cold & dismissive of them both at first. 

During the hunt Karter DOES warm up a little bit, first in glimpses but more so as they see more success since he tries not to make Sam hate him and tries not to HATE himself for his own cruelty to someone he loves so much. However repeatedly throughout the hunt as Sam makes excuses for Rafe over and over again Karter finds himself torn and hurt until he learns the truth FROM RAFE at gunpoint that Sam was lying to him. 

When they’re both captured and held prisoner by Rafe, that’s when he finally speaks up and speaks his mind to Sam. The conversation is extremely messy as all of Karter’s feelings come to a head as he finally accepts & shares how he really feels. But he’d been so hurt by the ordeal that he also throws in that he doesn’t understand why Sam keeps letting himself pick someone WHO USES AND ABUSES him.

During their escape with the aid of Nate, Karter is actually shot and is forced to watch Sam run off by himself while Elena and Sully keep an eye on him to ensure he doesn’t die. While with Elena, he confides in her that he doesn’t understand how she can keep up with loving a Drake the way she does. And eventually Elena helps him come to terms with loving Sam and that it’s ok for him to want to be with him even though their relationship took the nosedive it did early on. 

When Sam and Nate are brought back to the base of ops in The Bahamas, Karter decides to sit down and talk to Sam. That’s when he decides that he WANTS to continue being with Sam, and he officially becomes a treasure hunter again, and this time he’s working almost exclusively with Sam & Sully.

On one of their POST-GAME hunts, Sam is injured in the field and thought to be dead until he shows up bloody and beaten and Karter’s motel door. When Karter takes him to the hospital, his worry becomes so intense that while the nurses are distracted by Sully, Karter slips a ring that Karter had kept from one of their earliest hunts together, onto Sam’s left finger before securing his own matching one. He then lies to the hospital staff and demands to be see Sam because they’re MARRIED and then shows off the ring, even having nurses confirm Sam’s matching one.

From that point on Karter sort of slips into the rouse of ‘married’ until they leave the hospital so that he’s not arrested. However despite the purpose initially being to ensure Sam is safe, Karter never ends up actually taking off the ring and while they never discussed it, Karter mentally takes that STEP when Sam seems to show that he doesn’t intend on taking the ring off either.

After that they move in together and end up living in an apartment close to Karter’s museum that he’s the curator of. They try to piece together something of a normal life while working on becoming more functional people and also trying to work through some of the tougher times in their respective lives.

It isn’t until Karter finds Sam’s stack of un-pursued hunts that Karter approaches him and proposes going on hunts together again but ONLY together and in a less intense manner considering Karter couldn’t bear having to live through Sam being thought dead again. 

@lcstthief