#it breaks my heart learning about endangered and dead languages | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dedicatedfollower467 · 4 years

Text

DIRK’S PESTERQUEST ROUTE REACTIONS AS THEY HAPPEN

spoilers etc. yada yada yada i’ve been waiting for this for fucking EVER.

this is fucking massive, for the record.

“The one and only” lmao suuuuuuure whatever you say dirk.

i fucking adore his metal scuba suit though holy SHIT

“[talking in meatspace] isn’t exactly my forte” akdfsljkadsfhksadf you bet your ASS it isn’t mr. strider. (at this point i’m assuming this is actually hal, wouldn’t be the first time that we met “dirk” and it turned out to be hal)

the power of his own “voice” is almost too much for him MY CHILD.

OH HELLO HAL. GOOD TO SEE YOU USING YOUR USUAL RED. LOVE THE THEME MUSIC CHANGE TOO. IT’S GOOD MUSIC.

i fucking KNEW it i fucking knew that was hal lmao

so in that case HI DIRK HELLO MY ASSHOLE BABY CHILD.

“The use of the speaker system is new, but it makes sense he’d up his game for interfering with relationships I’m busy forging in 3D. I guess I should go ahead and be proud of him for it.” god i really wish dirk and hal could get along but they both hate themselves and therefore each other way too much for that...

“Every line of muscle in his body is held in excruciating placidity. You’ve never seen a jaw so purposefully unclenched” dIRK!!!!

“you’ll prove it to him with your deeds. it seems like that might be his love language” BOY FUCKING HOWDY IS IT. also how did i never put that together before ofc dirk’s love language is acts of service practically everything he does is an attempt to serve his friends in some capacity and he’s SO BAD at telling them with words.

(his secondary love language is gifts, evidence: brobot and detective pony)

god i’m so excited and so nervous lmao

i love this sprite with the verrrrrry slight smile he looks so sweet.

hell yes the fucking ROCKET BOARD.

“this is a much more comfortable thing for him than the conversation was” I’LL FUCKING BET IT IS.

“with Dirk it’s almost like he’d be less penetrable without [his shades]” oh well now THAT’S an interesting thought/observation.

holy shit that’s a cute fucking smile holy shit holy shit look at that grin AHHHH I’M DYING MY BOY IS SMILING.

“Not sure how well my deep, personal beef with the imagery of the sea will land for you, but there it is.” WELL THAT CERTAINLY MAKES THAT ONE LINE FROM HOMESTUCK 2 A LOT MORE EMOTIONAL, WHICH IT ALREADY DEFINITELY FUCKING WAS.

“Ace Attorney monologue” OMFG HAS DIRK PLAYED AA??? WHO’S HIS FAVORITE CHARACTER? WHAT’S HIS FAVORITE GAME?? i mean he’s definitely got the hair to be a fucking ace attorney character especially in pesterquest lmao

OH MY FUCKING GOD IS HE HOLDING BACK A LAUGH. IS THAT WHAT THAT MOUTH IS. HOLY SHIT. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. I LOVE HIM. I LOVE THIS ALKJADSFLADHADS

“He’s leaning forward, laughing, dimples carved into his freckled cheeks. There’s a small twist in your heart about it, and you can’t place why.” A *SMALL* TWIST? A SMALL TWIST? TRY A TWIST THAT’S WRENCHING MY HEART WIDE FUCKING OPEN AND SPILLING ITS CONTENTS ALL OVER THE FUCKING PLACE.

“At least make me try and earn it first.” THAT’S THE MOST DIRK THING I’VE EVER HEARD AND ALSO FUCKING HEARTBREAKING WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

“I can just fold [my hand] and hope your shit works out instead.” Ah yes, dirk’s incessant and almost pathological need to be in control at work again.

“I want to be the only one in charge of endangering my own life. You got me.” oh dirk. oh honey.

“How much has this boy wanted to be known?” oh okay yeah that’s fine i didn’t need my heart anyway pesterquest, you can have it.

oh. hi ultimate dirk. i fucking knew this was gonna fucking happen.

“i can’t believe i was ever this pathetic” LEAVE HIM ALONE. (but also i know you can’t because you fucking hate yourself and it’s fucking tragic)

OH. OH OKAY WE’RE NOT JUST GONNA BE FUCKING NARRATIVE WE’RE GONNA BRING THE ACTUAL FUCKING DUDE HERE.

AND WE’RE GONNA PLAY AN OMINOUS-ASS VERSION OF "BEATDOWN” HOLY SHIT. CHRIST CAN WE GET ANY MORE HEAVY HANDED HERE????

also holy shitting christ ultimate dirk is swole. ‘twink ass bitch’ my ass, he’s at least a twunk.

“You fuck off and let people live their arcs.” NO FUCKING WAY, NOT IF HIS IS GOING TO END UP AS YOU, DICKHEAD.

“Oh fuck.

You remember it.

You remember Homestuck.”

well, probably not all of it, it’s pretty goddamn long, and very hard to remember all the details. i should know, i’m currently re-reading it.

oh no.

oh no, this looks like regular dirk but ominous “beatdown” is playing which makes me very fucking nervous.

“You cared about him before you knew every tiny fucked up detail about his life, and now, with a reminder of where his story leads leaning smugly against the railing, you find you still do.” YOU BET YOUR FUCKING ASS I DO!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!

“He’s intense and pushy and profoundly complicated, and right now he is helping you to your feet, his hand steady and firm on your back as you find your balance.” I’M CRYING.

“This isn’t as simple as an evil Dirk and a good one. If you’ve learned anything from your travels it’s that everyone has the capacity for hurt inside them, and everyone the capacity for love.” I’M STILL CRYING.

“The combo of all splinters of Dirk, fermenting in his flesh container and not holding onto his shit nearly as well as he likes to pretend” an apt and succinct description of ultimate dirk.

“No, I can see it. If anyone was going to pull off an “I’m you, but stronger,” it would be all of me, combined.” DIRK I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

“Your allegiance is not to the story, but to the people within it.” A-FUCKING-MEN MSPAR!!!

“The ends always justifies the means, Dirk.” I feel like that’s the breaking point there. IDK what’s going to happen next but that line sure was a line about philosophy, aka one of Dirk’s biggest special interests.

“[Ultimate Dirk] doesn’t have to work overtime to create more pain just so he can feel like he’s in control of how much punishment he gets and how badly he deserves it!”

oh.

oh wow.

oh WOW that’s hitting it on the fucking nose, MSPAR.

“He’s going to drown in [longing and loathing and Ultimate Dirk] if you don’t do something” STOP COMING BACK TO THAT GODDAMN LINE PESTERQUEST YOU’RE FUCKING KILLING ME HERE.

“You know how he loves -- though it’s fierce (to a definite fault), he does not do it easily.” STOP MURDERING MY HEART WITH PERFECT SNAPSHOTS OF DIRK AS A PERSON EVERY TWO SECONDS MSPAR I CAN’T HANDLE IT.

AHHHHHHHH IT’S DAVE!!! IT’S FUCKING. CANDY DAVE. I JUST. I CANNOT. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. HOLY SHIT!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!

“you look like someone ironed the mayor so that’s a million more points in your favor” DAAAAAAVE!!!!

“Dave pulls him into a short, back-thumping bro hug which Dirk weathers like a wet cat not trusting a towel to dry him off.” AAAAAHHHHHHHH I’M FUCKING DYING I’M DYING I’M DYING HELP I’M DYING GOD HELP HOLY SHIT, FIRST OF ALL, THE SPRITE/ILLUSTRATION, SECOND OF ALL, THAT DESCRIPTION OF DIRK, THIRD OF ALL I’M FUCKING DYING

CANDY DAVE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

you deserve so much better than the raw hand the candy epilogue dealt you jfc.

“Bringing fucking guns to a knife fight here.” I mean, did you really expect MSPAR to play fair when the health and happiness of all their best friends is at stake, UD?

SAD ENDING IS SAD.

“Be good to that me, will you? Treat him right?”

dirk, this is yourself. you’ve never treated yourself right. ever. tbqh you probably never will. ultimate dirk is absolutely no different.

(but also this makes me wonder if we’re gonna see “Trust yourself” timeline Pesterquest Dirk showing up in Homestuck 2? That would be fucking wild I’d love to see that.)

“are we anti-ocean here”

“Oh yeah, extremely.”

YES, WE FUCKING ARE, AND AGAIN WITH THE REFERENCES TO HOMESTUCK 2 JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

oh, of fucking course ultimate dirk’s a sore loser, he’s ultimate dirk, fucking duh.

“You did it. You got him a good end.” i fucking love that this game is literally just. explicitly saying exactly what i was freaking over and desperately wanted.

like i’m just gonna take a moment here to admit that i was really nervous that dirk would end up like candy timeline dirk and just off himself. i was really afraid that a good end just straight up wasn’t possible.

i love that it’s not. and i equally love that the game acknowledges that a FUCKTON of us really wanted to give him that.

“Maybe [Doc Scratch] and Ultimate Dirk were working together the whole time.” maybe doc scratch has been ultimate dirk this whole time. or vice versa.

“There are just so many details to remember” lmao i made that point like a dozen paragraphs up.

i.... do not recognize the text style of whoever just say “hey. we can talk about this.”

IT’S HUSSIE. HOLY SHIT. IT’S DEFINITELY 100% HUSSIE.

i....... don’t know who that is? the woman?

is this like. the person who’s been running pesterquest?

it totally is.

i don’t know who that is i don’t know enough about the homestuck machine to know who that actually is.

lmao ultimate dirk and the irl director are fighting over how incredibly self-indulgent this metanarrative is, which is fucking amazing. i kind of love this? i really kind of adore this.

i can’t help but notice that the director has blank white eyes.

i.e. the Author is already dead, yo.

“They’re just an artifact of the medium” HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS FANTASTIC. I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN HERE.

“I’d say thanks but I feel like you all got more out of it than me” I’M DYING I LOVE THIS HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY.

“Stop flirting with my audience you anime ass motherfucker” LMAOOOOOOOO

“I wouldn’t look like this if you didn’t want me to” I KNOW I’M JUST QUOTING BASICALLY THIS WHOLE THING BUT LISTEN I LOVE IT, I FUCKING LOVE IT, IT’S FUCKING PERFECT, GOD. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THIS IS SO GOOD.

“I actually let the artists have a lot of creative license” somebody’s horny for ultimate dirk.

eridan DESERVES that gender arc and i’m excited for him.

“Happy people don’t get stories told about them.” I’m sorry, I’ve read enough Domestic Fluff fanfic to tell you that’s just blatantly not true, Ultimate Dirk.

wait.

wait wait wait wait.

pesterquest is a RETCON???????????

THAT was not something i was expecting

you click “don’t” betray your friends and pesterquest just fucking closes like this is fucking undertale jesus fucking christ.

but....

i don’t wanna betray my friends.

but i wanna see what happens....

god dammit this is exactly like the murder run of undertale, i don’t wanna do it but i have to know.

“Andrew Hussie would never do this to me” yeah well, Andrew Hussie barely ever interacted with you soooooo...

and if i throw the beta in the sewer again pesterquest quits. again.

i mean, i knew it would but... *sigh*

that’s a fucking depressing ass ending.

... except that “Savior of the Waking World” still hasn’t been unlocked...

Huh.

I’m... gonna see what happens if I start John’s route over again.

oh duh, of course it’s a retcon, MSPAR touched the Homestuck juju. i forgot about that.

(a big part of me wants to look up the process of getting the true ending. but a bigger part of me wants to figure it out for myself.)

hmmm. okay so replaying john’s ending once didn’t do it.

i guess i coooooould try replaying the whole thing? that sounds. like a lot of effort.

or i could try not betraying my friends approximately five million times let’s see what happens if i do that.

i’m going to do that experimenting in another post cuz this is already huge. see ya in part two.

#pesterquest #pesterquest spoilers #def plays pesterquest #homestuck

15 notes · View notes

shirtlesssammy · 4 years

Text

9x05: Dog Dean Afternoon

Welcome to our last hellatus recap. This is one of our themed episodes and it’s not too late to guess what that is. You’ll win bragging rights forever! Anyway, our show is back tomorrow!

Then:

Obligatory Teddy Bear shot of how AbsUrD this show can be. Note to Show: Don’t highlight the absurdity of this show when you’re about to air a so-so episode.

Now:

As a very dedicated taxidermist works on his Game of Thrones masterpieces, his very smart, very loyal German Shepherd, Colonel, alerts him to danger. They head through the halls of stuffed animals (but they’re all fake because who the fuck is stuffing these bears and shit? Also, a dog? Aren’t tigers endangered? WTF is all this?). Anyway, a man with a snake tongue attacks the taxidermist and Colonel sees it all.

At the bunker, Sam’s got a case.

Once at the Taxidermy shop, they find it covered in red paint, and a little paw print symbol. Sam takes a picture.

Agents and Michaels and Deville enter the crime scene. And by crime, I mean all the dead animals. WTF? Like. WTF? Let’s assume all these animals died of natural causes, so we can pretend the victim was “a good egg.” Sam heads off to tour the place and Dean stops to interview Mr. Stevens. As Dean learns about “entrails” and such, Sam looks over the merch.

Poor Dean Bean continues to have frightening reminders about why he’s a germaphobe.

The boys are thinking witch, but decide to keep digging.

At their motel, Sam discovers the “wiccan symbol” is really an animal right’s group symbol. (LOL, I totally don’t remember this episode and I’m totally NOT changing my caption from above.)

Dean and Sam head to a vegan bakery where we learn that Dean knows the smell of Patchouli. Yeah, you might mask that with disdain for non-meat eaters, Dean, but we see you. They head to interrogate Olivia and Dylan, two founding members of S.N.A.R.T., the animal right’s group. They’re wearing sunglasses inside, so Dean thinks they’re douchebags. The brothers flash their badges. The couple sits down to talk about the victim. “You know how hunters are. They’re selfish dicks who define themselves by what they kill.”

They explain that someone attacked them with pepper spray and that’s why they look like douchebags.

Back at the motel, Sam further investigates the attack and the brothers surmise that they were attacked by venom.

At the local animal shelter, Brad gets a visit from Snake Man. Brad knows the guy and gets a $100 to let him walk into the kennel. The dude gathers ALL THE CATS and Brad wanders in to watch him EAT ONE. Yeah, we’re technically not on hate watch week anymore, BUT I STILL HATE THIS.

Brad doesn’t last long.

At the new crime scene, the brothers try to piece together the new information. Dean sees Colonel in a cage and ACCUSES HIM OF BEING A SUSPECT. GUH. Dean, just say you hate dogs and go home. Colonel doesn’t react to silver and Sam guesses they “can rule out killer.” Colonel starts barking.

How would you like to come home with me and live in a nice big bunker and go for car rides all the time and eat liver sausages and help solve mysteries?

Dean THE SMARTEST BEAN AROUND Winchester notices that Colonel is reacting to the local cop’s hat, so he tries it out. Bingo. Colonel was a witness to the crimes.

Sam thinks there’s a way to communicate with the dog to find out what he’s seen.

Kevin gets them a spell to talk with the dog. Dean agrees to drink the Mind Meld concoction because he doesn’t want Sam to take on more than healing from near death even if he doesn’t know if because he has an angel possessing him. Whew.

The spell doesn’t seem to work (But it DID, so can I like get said spell? I’d really love to talk with my cat on the regular, lolz, I’m not crazy.)

After eating lunch, Colonel sits up and asks for the channel to be changed. DUDE. It’s Foreigner. No one puts Foreigner in the corner. Dean’s on my side and has a nice argument with the dog while Sam watches confused.

Dean gets to the point of the situation and asks about the cowboy hat. The killer wears a hat. WBK. As he throws away his food wrapping, Sam wants to know about the cats. Dean retrieves it like a good boy. (but seriously, German Shepherds ARE NOT RETRIEVERS. Good luck getting them to return anything!)

Suddenly, there’s a noise outside and both Dean and Colonel head to the window to harass the mailman. Yep.

Back at the motel, Sam tells Dean that side effects of mind melding with an animal can include developing animal urges. Suddenly I’m reminded of Dean’s fascination with the dog familiar from season eight and feel horribly uncomfortable. Dean angrily opens a chocolate bar, only for the dog to warn him off of it. No chocolate? This is an outrage!

Outside, a pigeon poops on Baby. “Hey, dick move, pigeon!” The bird returns anger with insult. “Screw you, asshat!” Apparently all animals have a universal language just sprinkled with insults! Dean shouts at the pigeon with all the subtlety of a very large human-shaped dog.

Sam manages to drag Dean into the car, but not before I make a diorama of this scene and place it on my Supernatural altar of Very Good Things.

Dean and Sam argue over whether they should leave Colonel in the car. “You think we like that?” Dean asks, ROYALLY insulted. Hell, no. Colonel’s going in with them. In a moment where I curse my horrific prescience, Dean gives a lusty once-over to a nearby tied-up poodle. I…just…

Inside the shelter, Dean interrogates all the shelter animals. There’s only one dog who can give any good intel, and the dog only delivers in exchange for a belly rub. From Sam.

The dog gives them a tip: they’re looking for a cowboy hatted villain who works at a nearby restaurant. Dean lets all the animals free before they leave. “I didn’t peg you for a softy,” Colonel remarks. But WE all knew. Dean Bean <3

The Winchesters break into the restaurant that evening and discover a giant stash of prescription medications and…a cage of mice. The mice give Dean a tip: animal bits and pieces are stored neatly in the refrigerator. Sam finds a spell: with the right magic, ingesting a certain bit of animal helps the magician to temporarily gain that animal’s power. The guy’s mixing various animal parts to experiment on the effects and fun new powers he might develop.

Dean and Sam encounter a chef and waiter preparing a private dinner (featuring shark fin) and shoo them out under the guise of health inspector.

Chef Leo nibbled on a chameleon, which allows him to get the drop on Sam.

He swipes at Sam’s throat. Gadreel flashes to life and heals Sam’s terrible throat slash. Leo witnesses this miraculous healing and decides that Sam’s the ultimate snak - I mean, meal.

Leo sniffs out a dog, only to turn around and see…Dean. When the chef learns that Dog Dean and Angel Sam are brothers he is many levels of confused, but that doesn’t put him off his plans to chow down on Sam Fucking Winchester and his creamy angel filling. Dean, being a dog, immediately sniffs out some new information about Leo: he has cancer. Traditional treatments did nothing to help Leo, but his animal power worked. While his quest began sympathetically, murder is a side effect that Leo’s totally cool with as long as he can keep pushing the boundaries of man and beast. “Guess you eat enough predators, you start to become one.”

The chef pulls out a wolf heart so he can tear Dean - a mere dog - into little kibble sized bits. Dean breaks free just in time and leads Leo on a merry chase outside. He looks oddly triumphant for being cornered by Leo in an alley, and whistles sharply. A pack of the stray dogs come running and tear Leo to bits.

Dean races back to check on Sam and calls for Sam…or Zeke...to wake up. “Don’t make me lick your damn face,” he pleads dramatically. Sam snaps awake. Hooray! Happy ending!

We jump to the Colonel meeting the vegans from earlier. They wuv that cute widdle puppy wuppy! Dean regrets that they can’t take Colonel along with them but it’s no life for a dog! It’s vegan dog treats from here on out.

The spell wears off just as Colonel tells Dean, “Dogs aren't really man's best friend. I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but the real reason we were put here was to…” He starts barking, and the spell’s done at last. I’m sure we’ll finally learn the truth about dogs in the final scene of season 15, right? RIGHT?

At the car, Dean checks in with Sam. Sammy’s fine, but he’s a little weirded out by what Leo said about him - why did he want to know WHAT Sam was? Dean dissembles awkwardly and they take off for further adventures, played out to the credits by sad guilt violins.

These Quotes Have Fleas:

The slippery nipple shots at the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede nearly killed the guy

Always knew I'd find the source of all evil at a vegan bakery

You know who wears sunglasses inside? Blind people. And douchebags

I need a Raquel Welch poster and a rock hammer

I’m getting extorted by a dog

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 9x05 #dog dean afternoon #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural season 9

17 notes · View notes

missladysky · 4 years

Text

BLESS ME WITH YOUR OTP!

I was not tagged but @tarberrymentats did it so I’m gonna do it. I don’t have any good fallout content rn so please accept these WIPs of my fave dnd girls, Aviyah and her wife Iesha, as tribute. (Maybe I’ll have time to actually finish my art someday lol)

Do they fight often? If so, what is their dynamic like?

The bicker more often than not, but it’s never mean-spirited. When they do fight though, it’s serious. Aviyah is prone to explosive bouts of anger, which immediately triggers Iesha’s flight response due to her past trauma. They’ve been actively working through this to get better over time and they refuse to go to sleep angry.

Who is the most skeptical of the two?

Aviyah has her ears and eyes wide open at all times and she trusts almost no one, save for her traveling companions and her wife.She spent the majority of her childhood watching her back and dealing with the skeeviest criminals Varisia had to offer so she knows what kind of things are out there. Iesha is almost too trusting of everyone and everything (which is part of what got her killed in the first place) so it seems only right that Aviyah has to watch out for her, too. You can never be too careful.

Who would be most likely to suggest a night of dancing?

Iesha grew up in a Varisian caravan, dancing every day of her life. She never passes up the opportunity to give praise and she drags Aviyah with her whenever she can. Aviyah has been learning her peoples’ traditional dances with her wife and she’s more open to it now than she’s ever been prior, but she would still prefer to admire Iesha’s more elegant steps under the pavilion than join in.

What would they do if the other was injured in battle?

Iesha is calm and collected in the field. They’ve encountered their fare share of creatures and ruffians on their travels through Varisia and Aviyah is injured more often than she isn’t. She keeps a cool head and carries an aid kit with her everywhere, just in case. She’s been dead before and she doesn’t worry too much about herself. The only time she ever panicked was when Aviyah was nearly killed too far from town for a cleric. She still applied her knowledge as best she could, speaking to Avi in a low, soothing voice, and they managed to keep her stabilized until she could be healed enough to walk.

Aviyah thought she’d be able to handle it. She’d been in countless fights before and she’d held her own in the blood and viscera that followed but when she saw Iesha’s eyes wide, the arrow dug into her chest above her heart, all of her resolve melted away to panic. She dropped everything to run to her side, hyperventilating, and forgot everything she’d ever known about healing and medicine. Ultimately, the group developed a more solid contingency plan after that so no one would be endangered again and they worked with Avi to develop her coping skills.

How do their fighting styles complement each other?

Iesha’s fighting style was definitely different from everything that Avi had ever seen before. She’s flashy and theatrical, fighting with a bladed scarf covered in bright embroidered patterns and trimmed with bells. At first glance, Aviyah thought it was absolutely ridiculous. That is, until she realized it made the perfect distraction in the field.

Aviyah is all cloak and dagger, sneaking up on unsuspecting enemies and rending them with precision damage. She carries three heirloom daggers on her hip (and about 11 more mundane ones in various hiding places) and she takes pride in using them. Iesha is the perfect partner for keeping her targets unaware of her presence and together they’ve taken down entire syndicates of baddies in the underbelly of Varisia.

Do they want children? Does it frighten them? How many do they want?

Aviyah had never given any thought to having children. She suffered a mid-term pregnancy loss when she was being kept at Merchant’s Fortune and vowed after that moment that she’d never let another man touch her as long as she lived.She is absolutely terrified of being a parent because she doesn’t want to fail her children or give them an opportunity to be as broken as she thinks she is.

She wasn’t counting on meeting Iesha, though. Iesha had always wanted to be a mother and have a family. She’d grown up with many siblings, in a caravan with many younger children and she married the first man who promised to give her a future. Of course, when that man murdered her in cold blood, plans changed. She lived for a while as a spectre and vowed that if she ever got her corporeal body back, she’d never let another man touch her as long as she lived.

No man ever did, obviously.

They’ve considered adopting children but have ultimately dedicated their lives and their fortunes to ending the slave trafficking trade that took Aviyah as a child and funding housing and food for the poor in Varisian cities.

What happened when they took them home to their families? If their families aren’t in the picture anymore, how do they feel about it?

Aviyah’s mother passed away when she was young and her father and brother were killed while she was being held at Merchant’s Fortune. She’d been 8 the last time she saw them and she wished very desperately for them to meet her. Iesha took her to the temple to commune with their shared deity and they received the blessing of knowing that Aviyah’s family had passed on from Pharasma’s Boneyard and into Desna’s domain together. It brought Aviyah great peace and she asked Iesha to marry her the same day.

Meeting Iesha’s family was very different. For one, she had left the caravan with her new husband in tow and returned with a woman they had never seen before and in that time she had died and been resurrected. They asked few questions, just happy to see her home and they immediately adopted Aviyah into their fold with open arms. It was uncomfortable at first because it made Avi miss her family terribly but she realized she was being given an opportunity to finally be a part of her culture and a part of a family as a whole.

How does each person show affection towards the other?

Iesha speaks every love language, loudly and clearly and constantly. She wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see and makes sure that Aviyah knows she is loved and cared for. It can be smothering to Avi sometimes in comparison to her own reserved nature, but even she can’t deny that to finally feel wanted and loved after so long without is nice.

Aviyah is less public about it. She loves to pick flowers while she’s walking and tuck them into secret places for Iesha to find later. She buys her wife’s favorite pastries when they are out for supplies to break out during dinner as a surprise. But by far her favorite thing is the quiet moments when the sun is just coming up and they share soft, tired kisses and just enjoy each other’s company.

Who cries the most? Who is better at comforting?

Iesha cries about nearly anything. Often, they’re happy tears but just as often they’re not. She never cries for long--she always says that time spent sad is time wasted and it never takes much to calm her down. She’s also better at comforting Aviyah when she cries than the other way around.

When Aviyah cries, it’s crushing. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, she can’t breathe and her knees buckle and she is overwhelmed with the sound of blood in her ears and the pressure in her chest. Iesha learned quickly to settle her on the floor where she could hold her and she guides her in breathing and regaining her control. They count floor tiles or trees together until she can think again.It’s a methodical process that Iesha is glad to help with. She doesn’t want to say how she learned.

Who is the bigger flirt?

Iesha is incorrigible. She’s constantly using innuendo and she loves to fluster her wife by any means necessary and she doesn’t care much who sees or hears.

Aviyah is more subtle. She likes to whisper in Iesha’s ear when no one is listening or stretch in just the right way when she knows she’s looking. It’s absolutely maddening.

Ultimately, these two are a weird match and the second greatest of my dnd stories and I love them dearly with all my heart and hopefully someday I’ll finish their novelization and everyone can meet them properly. <3

#aviyah #aviyahfaraji #heart of golduria #art #wip #otp asks

3 notes · View notes

thegeminisage · 5 years

Text

i have deep and conflicting thots about the gilli episode (3.11)

they’re long (they’re LONG!!!) so here’s a cut. you’re welcome

good things:

this is the ANTITHESIS to everything i was complaining about last night. this is what i was CRAVING. this show did me so good (and yet, so bad - more on that in a sec)

there was a touch of outside pov here (my weakness) since we got to see who merlin was from gilli’s point of view

and when i say we got to see who merlin was i mean we really for real got to SEE WHO HE WAS oh babey

something gilli said in this episode was that merlin has been pretending so long he forgot who he was and i think similarly he pretends so well that we the audience (me anyway) also kind of forget who he is because we see it SO rarely

but we saw it here! in this episode merlin was SMART?? those aren’t two words i’d normally use in the same sentence without sticking a “is not” between them but he WAS - he cottoned on right away that gilli was using magic, he confronted him immediately and in a way that didn’t invoke hostility (and what a nice little flip, what a TREAT to see someone else freaking out and covering their ass while merlin is keeping his cool), (some of) his normal little jabs at arthur were a tad wryer/slyer on the delivery, and he figured out, ON HIS OWN, how to save both gilli and uther, and used his magic in front of ALL THOSE PEOPLE without getting caught

and speaking of that, merlin being like “he’s braver than me, using magic in front of all those people” and gaisu going “brave or stupid” like... ok, at first my reaction was: come on, merlin uses magic in front of people ALL THE TIME...but when i think about it, my very own self was complaining just yesterday that he was keeping his shit buttoned up way too tightly. and i did notice merlin himself waiting until backs were turned more often, incantating aloud less often...he ACTUALLY HAS gotten less stupid, JUST a smidgen. i didn’t even realize

merlin seemed more grown-up and serious in this episode than he has in the entire series. maybe it’s the fact that he had someone younger and dumber to play off of (and i don’t think gilli was a strong enough character to carry an episode, but maybe it was enough to give us an excuse to develop merlin so much) but he did in fact seem WISE, and he seemed TIRED, which is a thing grownups usually are... the way he talked to the other characters seemed different too - he spoke to the dragon as an equal (last dragon & last dragonlord), not as some dumbass in over his head asking for help (very nice also that he didn’t go to gaius for advice but someone more on “his level”). he gave arthur clear and frank advice on how to go about fighting his dad, he STUCK UP FOR GILLI AGAINST GAIUS (backbone! compassion!) and then STUCK UP FOR HIMSELF against gilli!!!!!

(i like a slightly more serious merlin because while quirky dumbass country hick merlin IS charming and endearing that charm can only carry him so far without more meat involved, especially after some of the terrible things we’ve seen him suffer through and all the experiences he’s had to grow and change)

i have mixed feelings about merlin showing his magic to this particular person at this particular time, but i do also like that he was willing to open up about WHO HE IS if it could potentially save a life. that shows backbone. and it shows integrity. two things i was sorely missing from merlin before now

speaking of merlin’s integrity, we finally got to cover why he keeps saving uther, who he should hate and despise and want dead, which i have been DYING for

merlin and gilli have a sort of professor x/magneto stance about uther, by which i mean one of them argues that they should change things from within the system to court goodwill and avoid violence because acting violently would just make their detractors’ point for them, and the other argues that the system should be destroyed entirely through any means necessary because violence is the only language the oppressor understands

on a rewatch what really stands out to me is merlin chastising gilli at the end by saying “you’re better than that.” it makes me think of season 1 when merlin had the chance to let morgana’s allies assassinate uther and he asks gwen what he should do - gwen, who also has every reason to hate and despise uther, tells merlin that to allow him to die through inaction would be just as bad as murdering him directly, and that that would make merlin as bad uther is

i don’t want to give the people who fucked morgana over so thoroughly too much credit but it makes me wonder if that wasn’t when merlin decided that he was going to be the bigger man

he says it himself in this episode, near tears - it is LONELY, being what he is, and doing what he does. he could kill a man with a thought and he spends all his time mucking stables and polishing armor and when he gets a break from that it’s to save someone’s life without endangering his own. it is dangerous, tireless work for which he believes he will NEVER get any thanks. and what i was so frustrated about before was not understanding WHY - did he care THAT much about arthur’s feelings, that he couldn’t stand to watch arthur lose a father? was he just THAT afraid of uther and what uther would do to him if he found out?

but i get it now - it’s because he CHOOSES to. not to protect arthur or to protect himself but because he wholly believes that he’s playing the long game and he’s on the correct path to seeing a future where what he is is no longer outlawed - god, his FACE when he says “when that day arrives, we WILL be free”

again not to overcredit the writers bc i DON’T think they were smart enough to do this on purpose but like in my heart he decided all the way back in season 1 that he wasn’t going to take the easy way out and just let uther die because THAT’S NOT WHAT MAGIC IS FOR. he’s stronger than everyone else around him and HE CHOOSES to keep his head down and wait it out because in his OWN WORDS “magic is not meant to bring you glory.” even gilli agrees - when used for personal gain, it is very easy for the power of the magic to corrupt. i thought merlin was weak, to have saved uther’s life so many times - but to resist that kind of temptation and corruption over and over, he’s actually the opposite. he doesn’t try so hard to protect the monarchy because he lacks self-respect or integrity, he protects the monarchy BECAUSE OF his self-respect and integrity. all along, he’s been fighting for a better future too - just in his way, not the way gilli or morgana would

and speaking of morgana...here’s the bad:

i. am. LIVID!!!!!

that merlin would tell this boy he BARELY KNOWS his secret in order to maybe possibly save this kid’s life and NOT TELL MORGANA in her worst hour of need when she most needed a friend

merlin got a whole lot more respect from me today but the fact remains that he’s a LYING LIAR WHO LIES and he has tried to kill morgana two and a half times (the poison, the bump on the head, knocking her off her horse) and as of the end of season 3 also MURDERED HER SISTER THAT IS APPARENTLY ALSO LOWKEY HER GIRLFRIEND (i know)

which really clashes with his whole deal that i just described above, of using his magic for good and not evil purposes, for trying to win over hearts instead of win battles. and it’s funny that it’s ONLY morgana that merlin acts out of character for...i think it’s because! and this is a crazy concept! the writers hate morgana!

morgana in season 1 and most of season 2 was a kind and loving person. she was a true ally to gwen and often used her status as the king’s ward to stand up for gwen when gwen was in trouble. the first time she tried to have uther killed it was because of what happened to gwen’s father. she was more than capable of feeling love and knowing right from wrong and doing what she believed was right at any cost as evidenced by her helping to sneak the little druid kid out of the castle at risk to herself

morgana in season 3 does nothing but smirk evilly. and while it’s a good look on her and she’s MORE than valid in wanting to fuck up merlin and uther and maybe even arthur too from a certain viewpoint her aggression against gwen is ENTIRELY unwarranted

even trying my BEST to be sympathetic towards her and remember what she’s gone through and that her bad characterization is the fault of the writers and not morgana herself it is VERY hard not to hate her when you see her delighting in gwen’s misery and watching her PANIC about gwen’s future as the queen was FAR more satisfying than it should have been because i was then delighting in MORGANA’S misery and that is NOT a feeling im comfy with

in fact! im furious! the fact that this gilli kid got a more sympathetic portrayal than morgana ever will makes me SEE RED!!! imagine if the professor x/magneto vibe had been played out with merlin and morgana throughout the entirety of season 3! imagine morgana still had feelings other than ~edgy evulz~ and kept trying to kill uther BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED IT WAS RIGHT but had no quarrel with people like gwen who had always loved her! imagine her being conflicted when there was every chance that gwen would die during the takeover! imagine how her feelings could have become even more complicated when she found out she had living family - a father and brother, one of whom she is plotting to kill! imagine her NOT wanting harm to come to gwen or arthur and trying to persuade them to her side with good yet flawed arguments! imagine uther having to face the fact that the daughter he dotes on is also the thing he hates! people talk about arthur’s conflict if he realizes merlin is magic, but he’s known merlin a lot less time than he’s known morgana and merlin’s not his sister, imagine arthur had to deal with that conflict of interests! we could have HAD IT ALL in season 3 and instead season 3 MOSTLY SUCKS

what if morgana had remembered how fucked up arthur was about learning about the true circumstances of his birth? what if she had persuaded him that uther’s stance against magic was wrong? what if she knew merlin had magic but she hated him so she blackmailed him with it? he could have told her and then spent the ENTIRETY of season 3 shitting himself about it and it would have TOTALLY JUSTIFIED how shifty he got later after gaius taught him how to lie.what if he had SEEN what choosing to hurt other people had wrought in morgana and truly felt remorse and it informed his character for the rest of the show and that’s why he’s always choosing the moral high ground! there were SO MANY possibilities that could have opened up by having morgana be even just a little bit 3-dimensional!!!

which brings me to my next complaint: as good as this episode was, as much as i loved it, as glad as i am to finally understand merlin or at the very least have an interpretation of him i’m happy with, i should not have had to wait ALL SEASON to get there. i know what kind of show this is but they could have slipped some of this stuff in WAY EARLIER so i didn’t have to spent the entirety of season 3 and quite a lot of season 2 thinking merlin was just some spineless fuckup

also i will say it again, gilli was NOT strong enough to have carried this episode. the work on merlin’s character was INCREDIBLE and it was fun enough to see gilli mirror who he was in early season 1 but imagine how much better it could have been if he’d gotten to play off of someone like morgana - gilli’s a one-off character, and he has to tell us about his history and struggles, but morgana’s struggle is something we’ve witnessed firsthand. when she makes her own arguments about how hard it is to be magic under uther’s rule it comes from a place of deep pain that could have and should have resonated with merlin just as deeply as gilli’s.

morgana works MUCH better as a foil to merlin because all the way back in season 1 when they were both angry on gwen’s behalf and both wanted uther to pay for what he’d done so that no more innocent people would die it was MORGANA who chose the magneto route and merlin who decided to go professor x. they had the potential to make something REALLY COOL out of that AND THEY DIDN’T and what makes me so mad about this episode is that the sheer CONCEPT of this was good enough to have carried the entire season and yet they crammed it into a single 45-minute block

here end my thots i guess, in conclusion morgana deserved better

#personal #merlin blogging #liz's meta #liz's merlin stuff #despite my very big problems with how this was executed #i did love it quite a bit #very good timing that just last night i was complaining about merlin the character #that i didn't see enough meat to him #and then today i am given THIS #watching merlin live must have been like torture #but i've finally got my angle to him #maybe it's not the correct one or the one most people would prefer #but it's the one i like & can get behind #that speech at the end...#his very own mini-2.08 moment #i don't expect any character consistency or anything i don't expect it to hold #but still.#liz makes stuff

6 notes · View notes

tinkdw · 7 years

Text

Mary, her boys and Destiel

My thoughts around Mary, what she has seen and her coping with her boys and their angel buddy.

She's gone from being a mother of 2 babies in a (happily? generally?) cupid-induced loving marriage, still fighting the supernatural on occasion to happily dead in heaven (which she remembers), to now being a (unneeded) mother to 2 grown men - who live with a supernatural being, in an underground bunker owned by her family's 'mythical opposition' the men of letters and living the hunting life she was desperate to keep them away from. Yeah, tough.

- Resurrection : Dean convinces her of who he is by an emotional retelling of her life and how she met John. Reminding us that when Mary and John first met they didn't actually immediately like each other, she 'knocked him flat on his ass'. They did fall intensely in love although their relationship and family was marred by the supernatural and they sometimes fought passionately (she doesn't know it was a Cupid of course).... Aside - *ahem "couple who were 'forced to be' v couple who embody free will" parallels*

- Witnessing Dean and Cas being reunited when Cas believes he has died. Cas throwing himself at Dean, shouting then quietly murmuring his name into his neck. She, understandably, has a questioning look in her eyes. Then, um, ANGEL?!

- Seeing Cas work tirelessly to find Sam. Seeing Dean completely trusting Cas to do this and also relying on him emotionally (overhearing their #married phone conversation about Dean not wanting to overwhelm her).

- Knowing that Cas lives in the bunker with them, but noting that he doesn't sleep, emphasising his 'inhuman' side.

- Seeing how completely Cas falls apart when Sam and Dean are imprisoned as he tries to find them and attempts to hunt alone (v how effective he was at finding just Sam, working with Dean, when she first met him). She blames him for their loss at first. Then upon seeing how completely he is broken, even counting the hours, she tries to support and help him in as much as she can, in her way. Upon realising how he is NOT coping she goes from her first instinct of blaming him for their loss in her role as their mother to actually consoling him.

Mary is NOT a monster, she's really struggling, she misses the people she loves and so buries herself in hunting to bury her emotions. Plus her automatic reaction to strong feelings of love, pain and guilt is to get angry... LIKE DEAN (very relevant for Cas’s death scene).

- Cas putting himself in danger to save her from Billie, he then gives an impassioned, muddled speech about how important you/you all is/are to him/everything... but predominantly throughout this is looking at Dean. Sure he doesn't want Mary to die, but this speech - this declaration is not really about them all being so important to everything, it can't be, she's not been around long enough and she hasn't done anything to show Cas that she's of any real importance.

She wonders if he even really understands it himself, he looks so muddled and broken. Is it because he's an angel? Do angels feel like humans? She's confused and worried, she is already not sure of the new world she's come back to, and now there's a supernatural being in her and her boy's life, it's intense. And now this?! She turns to Dean and sees the look of pain in his eyes as he realises how broken Cas is and how he has put himself in harms way for them.

His jaw is clenched, his body language is closed off, guarded. She understands this is far more complex than she first imagined.

- After such an emotive night she heads out to clear her head, she can't cope with being around them all, it's too much. The next time she sees them all it is most definitely jarring. Sam and Dean are all business with her, there's no sign of anything cosmic or anything in their actions to recall that emotional night. Dean partakes in some over the top posturing with the waitress on Cas's behalf while calling Cas 'devastatingly handsome' while Cas seems oblivious, or is that actually a scowl on his face? She's now even more confused. Does Dean not realise or is this something else entirely? Has she misread Cas? She doesn't know any other angels so it could be that she's misunderstood. He is a little awkward and supernatural after all.... but the boys want him around and he obviously cares for them so she should just get them all to get on with the hunt.

- Cas is dying and it's her fault. He wants the Winchesters to leave him as to save themselves. He tells Sam and Dean that his best moments have been with them which makes her wonder just how old he is and what he has seen. He says the things they've shared and done have changed him. She knows this is important but not exactly how, it's deeply emotional though and it reminds her of how little she actually knows of their time together and her boys that this angel, this supernatural being could have been affected so much by them. She turns and sees Sam, then Dean's faces and how they both are pained by Cas's dying words. Somehow though she can see not just sadness in Dean's eyes but also regret and self loathing. He blames himself. She knows because it's what she sees in the mirror. She is reminded again how Dean is so like her.

- Cas looking up at them all, calling them all his family, nodding at her to include her which just makes her feel awful for her part in having led to this, his death and all their pain. She doesn't really deserve this, to be a part of their family.

- Cas then immediately looking down, not catching anyone's eye as he says 'I love you'.

Cas looking up at Sam as he tells him that he loves them all, meaning him, specifically TOO, then finally the long lingering, revealing look at Dean as he can't avoid him any longer. She knows now, she understands.

She looks at Dean and sees so much of herself in him. She wonders if he understands too or if his self-loathing prevents his comprehension that he can be loved like this. She's not known him very long as an adult but she knows this much about him and that saddens her deeply, it also contributes to her own self-loathing in an ironic twist. And if he does understand Cas's words, does he reciprocate? Her and Dean, they work with actions, not words and she sees his actions now, how he's holding back. She understands. But it doesn't matter now anyway,

Cas is dying and it's her fault. She could be the cause of the breaking of her little boy's heart and he doesn't even know it. But still in the back of her mind, is this not maybe for the best? How can you love something not...human?

- Sam and Dean fighting for Cas, refusing to leave him, emphasising that he is family, seeing the understanding and love in Cas's eyes as they do so. Dean had even been arguing with and insulting both the KING OF HELL and RAMIEL as he was so worried for Cas. Mary is terrified of Ramiel, another yellow eyed demon and she has seen this.

Now, as he is dying, Sam's consoling words while Dean can't watch, he looks down like he might even be praying. Or perhaps he just can't watch Cas's last moments.

- But he lives, no thanks to Mary.

- "Let's go home"....

No wonder she can't stay around them, with the confusion over their supernatural 'friend' plus now the guilt (she's still in the old hunter mindset of kill anything inhuman, she doesn't have 12 years worth of Winchester Gospel storyline to teach her the grey areas like our boys have and they've only recently learned it fully re: Benny, Amy).

And yes she's made it a hell of a lot worse by now also betraying Sam with the BMOL, when he was the one who really still trusted her.

So yeah, in her struggle to find herself she's ‘abandoned’ BOTH Sam and Dean and now she's narratively:

1. betrayed Sam through her work with the BMOL.

2. betrayed Dean.... by endangering Cas.

So I think that speaks volumes.

Now for her redemption arc as she's already admitted to working with the BMoL and is clearly conflicted about nearly losing Cas, let’s get some more wake up calls :)

#just my thoughts #mary winchester #destiel #deancas #spn season 12 #supernatural meta #supernatural spoilers

473 notes · View notes

missizzy · 6 years

Text

Fic: Agent Murdock, Part 11 (Daredevil)

(Read entire work on AO3)

Tommy technically lived outside Burlington, in the city known instead as South Burlington. It was a longer trip from the church than Matt would’ve liked, and by the time he was knocking on his door, it was after lunch. Tommy had eaten a spicy one; he did not find the smell pleasant.

When Matt first rang his doorbell, his initial reaction was just an annoyed mutter. But Matt knew the instant he looked through the peephole, and that he’d been recognized. “I want to talk about Pretzel,” he called through the door. “She’s going to need your help.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Tommy sighed, though at least he sounded less frightened, and he opened the door. “Get in, and if you try anything, I have a knife on me.” Matt had smelled the metal already, but didn’t say anything.

He decline an offer of a drink, causing Tommy to growl, “You think I’d spike it?”

“I’d be able to tell if you did,” Matt said coolly. “I just don’t want to drink anything right now, especially since I’ve got a bit to explain to you, and not much time, so we should just sit down.”

Tommy did so without further protest, and listened as Matt explained the situation to him as quickly as he could. When he’d finished, he said, “These days, I wish I hadn’t followed her here.”

“But you’re here now,” said Matt. “And I can tell you want to save her.” He genuinely could too; the man wasn’t hard to read at all.

“Do you really think…” Tommy started.

“I know you care for her, and that’s all I need to know. The rest isn’t important right now, not for either of us.”

“There are a lot of things that aren’t important to you,” was Tommy’s response. “Like all three of us.”

“Not true,” said Matt.

“So you’re going to claim you care so much about three random criminals in trouble?” He would never believe that.

But Matt could just reply, “No, because Pretzel is not random to me, because she’s not random to Karen.”

“Oh?” Tommy was to try to scoff. Matt had heard more successful. “Don’t tell me. She’s seeing herself in Pretzel, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is, and honestly, if anything happened to Pretzel? I don’t know if she’d ever get over it. And anything that would do that to her, Tommy, I would do anything to prevent. You don’t have to appreciate my essentially selfish reasons, you don’t have be impressed with me at all, and you don’t have to like me, but I think you should believe me when I say that.”

“I do,” Tommy sounded surprised as he said it, but his heartbeat was steady.

“So,” said Matt. “We need to work together to get Pretzel out. I think if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll recognize she needed out even before Karen and I entered the picture.”

“Yeah,” said Tommy, he’d obviously had thoughts along those lines already. “Do you have any actual plans right now besides break into the phones and go from there?”

“We have to drop the high-tech weapon off at a certainly place tomorrow,” said Matt. “Our CIA contact asked us to do that. Other than that, we’re still reacting to events. Remember we’re not the ones laying the trap. I know that’s not easy to cope with, having to be reactive rather than active-”

“Oh, is that what fancy language you’re going to use to justify that you don’t have a plan?”

“We do have a plan,” Matt dropped his voice, let a little bit of the ice in; he didn’t have much patience at the moment. “The plan is not set up to comply with what your idea of a plan is; it is set up to give us the greatest chance at succeeding. Let me remind you that we are much more experienced than you in this sort of thing.”

“Are you really?” Tommy hadn’t been unaffected, but he was trying to hide that; he might have succeeded had Matt been able to hear only his voice. “You’re used to working for an organization, same as me and CJ. You’re not used to running and fumbling around without one. Don’t you go acting all high and mighty. Doesn’t that get people killed?”

Show no weakness, Matt knew. So he gave no indication of how Tommy’s words struck him, only increasing the ice as he said, “We’re used to being out in the field and making our own calls all the time. Your best chance of getting what you want is still to do as I say, and you ought to realize that.”

It won the argument; Tommy took another moment to admit it, but then sighed, “I can probably safely call CJ after 2. I know where your church is, and the two of us could probably get there between 4:30 and 5. We could even try to bring Pretzel with us, but that would be a lot riskier for more than one reason. I can contact her afterwards; Platzer won’t have to know.” He was more firm with those final words, and Matt believed he’d make sure he didn’t.

He was back in the bus and making his slow way back when Karen called, “Sharon’s emailed me back,” she said. “She says there’ll be backup arriving in Burlington tomorrow night, but that she can’t control the exact time of their arrival, and they might even show up in the middle of the fight.”

“You willing to go through with this anyway?” he asked. “We could call it off; even leave the city and make them aware of it, or just try to make them think we’ve left.”

A pause; she was definitely tempted. But then she said, “We’re committed to this, and there’s no way we can avoid endangering all three of them now.” There was a little guilt there, but more than that, she sounded resolute. Matt couldn’t quite get her heartbeat through the phone line, but he thought he knew what it sounded like anyway.

Later That Afternoon

Karen sat with the laptop and their other things in one of the back pews, rereading Sharon Carter’s latest missive, when Matt first climbed into the confessional and made the sign of the cross. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It’s been a week and four days since my last confession.” That was the one where the fornication with Karen had been his biggest thing to confess. The priest he’d regularly confessed to in D.C. had urged him to propose when he’d finished confessing more than once.

This was a different man, of course. One who had heard many confessions already that day, but might have still been a little stunned when Matt had finished giving the one he had to give. Matt couldn’t be sure what his response would be. He’d run into a lot of priests who would refuse to be phased at all and just go through the rest of the rite, sometimes with a clear wish to just get him out of there, but also those who would urge him to turn away from his evil organization. At least none of them had ever broken the seal of confession as far as he knew.

This one, apparently, decided to start with his final admission, the one newly in his head thanks to what Tommy had said. “You seem pretty unsure about your motivations, whether they were out of pride or not.”

“Well, I only realized how arrogant a thing this was to do this afternoon. I don’t think Karen’s thought about it, but, well, she’s the one this guy hurt so badly. I mean, that’s a lot more understandable on her part. I…I don’t have that excuse.”

“You’ve just confessed to a good deal of rage yourself on her behalf.”

“And I know that’s not even entirely my place, you know. The Goldsmith told Karen for years that he was her protection. She hasn’t wanted to be anyone’s to protect since then.”

“Doesn’t mean she can’t do with the help, does it? You two are certainly involved in a dangerous game, and you’ve said you have to play it out, and your reasoning is such I can’t even urge you to reconsider.” He sounded regretful over that. Matt would’ve been sad if he hadn’t.

“And when that’s over?” Matt asked.

“I can give you penance to do, of course. But you are talking about things where you both must find your way for yourself.”

The timing was pretty good. As Matt left the confessional, he could hear Tommy outside, accompanied by another male voice he hoped was CJ, both of them talking low. “…wouldn’t even be considering this if it wasn’t for you,” he heard the new voice say.

“It’s only for a couple of days.” That was Tommy’s voice. “Then we’re out of danger, one way or another.”

“Those potential ways including us being dead or in prison.”

“Look, the asshole’s right. I can’t leave Pretzel where she is right now. Especially since I really think if this goes on much longer, the Goldsmith will turn her into his next Karina Silver. There’s a reason I made you watch that video, and we both know it wasn’t exactly to turn you on, was it?”

“No, of course not.” There was a hard sort of humor to CJ’s voice, but it softened as he said, “I do want to help her, though. I like her, you know, I really do.”

“Let’s all three of us get out of here together, then,” said Tommy. “You could come with us back to Maine.”

“No, if we’re going, we’re going south,” said CJ. “Didn’t you say you two wanted to get somewhere warm? Let’s go to Florida.”

“Florida sounds nice,” Tommy sighed. Matt could hear their steps slow down as they approached the church entrance. “You gotta let go of me, CJ. There are priests in there, and according to Murdock’s leaked profile, he was raised very Catholic.”

Well, that made the situation a bit clearer. It seemed Tommy really wasn’t in love with Pretzel, though that probably didn’t matter too much right now. It stung, though, to hear them assume he’d be judgmental. He wasn’t of others, whatever issues he’d had of parts of him he’d never really dealt with, and certainly never acted on, though he knew them to exist.

They’d found and been greeted by Karen by the time Matt joined them. CJ found him very attractive; that much was clear by the time they’d finished shaking hands. Matt was used to that, and normally it didn’t throw him. But it felt a little disconcerting now, to hear the man’s heart pick up when his boyfriend was standing right there.

It wasn’t something Karen even noticed, he thought. She relayed the latest from Sharon to them as she handed over the phones. As CJ set to work on them, Karen got Tommy talking about Pretzel, and they learned everything from the plans she’d had to major in Geography to the brief obsession she’d had with OneRepublic.

An hour or so later, CJ put down the phones loudly enough to get their attention, and said, “You people are lucky. I found something interesting.”

Karen and Tommy walked over to him; Matt thought they were looking at the phones. Tommy was, because a moment later he said, “They were all in contact with Mal Burrows?”

“Not only that, but we’ve got two people who texted with Mr. Ice.”

“Mr. Ice,” said Karen. “We know a little bit about him.” He’d been briefly mentioned in Sharon’s files. “His real name is Alex Argos, and he’s a likely Hydra operative nobody’s managed to get enough evidence against to do anything about.”

“Yeah, that’s what we’ve heard too,” said CJ. “Unfortunately, as you can see, his text messages are vague enough they’ll never prove it, but when he says here to this guy-”

“Johnny Partridge,” Karen interjected, obviously for Matt’s benefit.

“-that he’ll meet him at 6 AM tomorrow with ‘the birds’? I know that’s code for Burrows.”

“But will he do that now?” Matt asked. “They might change all their plans, since they know we might break into these phones.”

“If they can get back into contact with the two of them,” said Tommy. “That can be tricky for multiple reasons.”

“He also says,” Karen added, “that they’ll meet in ‘the courtyard.’ Is that code too?”

“Yeah,” said CJ. “That’s a specific place by the river. You know, if they’re trying right now to get in contact with Burrows or Ice, I’m actually someone Johnny might ask for help, if I can manage to bump into him this evening. There’s a good chance he’ll be in his usual watering hole. I tag along, maybe even claim I…I’ve got reason to dislike Pretzel, because I can cite ones they’ll believe, and we can probably get this set up. There’s more than one Hydra operative and more than one of his own operatives who’d love to be the ones to deliver the two of you to the Goldsmith.”

“Could we even lure more people in?” Karen. “I know we could encourage the Goldsmith to make a big party of it, won’t it? He’ll bring all his most important people with him, at least as much as is practical. Would it be if this all happened in this ‘courtyard’?”

“Place is big enough, and a lot of people could get there without attracting too much attention, but um, this is sounding like the kind of setup where at least one of you would have to allow yourself to actually get captured,” said Tommy doubtfully. “I mean, Ice would probably insist on only calling the guy in after they’ve got something to present to him.”

“I’ll do it,” said Matt immediately. “They’ll be much worse to you, Karen, you know that.”

“If it comes to that,” was Karen’s response. “Maybe if we stage this right I could even get Pretzel out of there; she’ll have served her purpose if they get you, right?” That was probably a reason for him to let himself get captured right there, though Karen would probably refuse to think that.

Fortunately, the two guys with them both would. “You can take care of yourself,” said Tommy, “right, Mr. Murdock?” He asked it a little challengingly, as if daring him to claim he couldn’t.

That kind of maneuvering was easy for Matt to ignore. “I think I’d be all right,” he said, “so long as you can tell me they wouldn’t try to kill me before the Goldsmith gets there.” With Hydra, that was a very legitimate concern.

“They won’t if they know what’s good for them,” said Karen. “The Hydra people try, the Goldsmith’s people might just kill them.” If she was saying that, it was definitely true.

“So,” said CJ. “I’ll go find Johnny, sound him out. Got a good way to get into contact with you afterwards? Any suggestions for how someone can get some sort of word to Pretzel of what’s going down? I suppose if all else fails I could try whispering it to her while we’re holding her captive…”

“I hope not,” said Tommy, very strongly.

“We’ve got an email address we can give you. Send it encrypted if you can. Right now I don’t think we plan on leaving this church today, but of course there’s always the chance we could be found here.”

“It’s a cold place to sleep,” said CJ.

“We’ll deal with it. We’ve both slept in worse.” At least they’d be out of the elements in here, which was more than could be said for the previous night. Good thing, too, because Matt had read enough in the air to be sure rain was currently imminent.

“Just one thing worries me,” said Karen when the two men had left, and they’d retreated to an out of the way corner of the church. “I didn’t think it smart to say this in front of those guys, but I wish I knew what reason he’s going to give them for turning on Pretzel.”

“It’s all right,” said Matt, quick to realize what she feared. “It won’t be a true one. He’s just going to claim he’s romantically jealous.”

And he quickly explained to her what he had overheard. When she heard about their fears of Matt’s getting upset, she chuckled slightly. “I’m wondering how many people in this world will want to assume whatever bad things about us that they can, even if they don’t believe we’re Hydra or evil or things like that. Or maybe they think that about all Catholics are like that? You wouldn’t believe some of the things about Catholics my parents claimed to be true…”

It came out so easily, and Matt couldn’t detect any signs of tension out of her. Yet she’d never before talked about her youngest years in so casual a way. Maybe being brought close to it had loosened her up, or maybe all the changes to their lives in general lately had made her feel more willing to tell him things she hadn’t before.

He could return the favor right now, he supposed. Outside the confessional, he’d never told anyone that he’d had sexual feelings for men. Karen wouldn’t care or tell anyone; it was perfectly safe. But it felt like an inappropriate time to be making such confessions, when they had so much to worry about. Maybe when the mission was over.

For now, he said, “In any case, I heard him say he liked Pretzel, and his heartbeat was steady when he did. So you don’t have to worry.”

“Good.” It had started raining out while he’d been talking, making him hope the boys caught their bus back quickly. Now it was getting loud enough for Karen to hear too. “I always liked the sound of rain on the church roof,” she commented. “Though I always dreaded then having to go out into it.” But she stopped talking suddenly there, and her heart sped up, having likely run into something she still wasn’t willing to talk about.

Matt just smiled and said, “Good thing we don’t have to then, right? Let’s get further back. The priest will be much less annoyed with us if we stay out of his eyesight, though he still won’t kick us out either way.”

That Night

After two nights of getting to bed very late, that evening Matt and Karen were asleep by eight, wrapped up in their blanket in the back of the pews. Matt was sure one of them had meant to set an alarm, but it didn’t happen. Perhaps they were getting too fatigued to go on any more missions.

Instead they woke up, as they had that morning, to find Pretzel very unexpectedly standing over them. The smell of opioids was stronger than had been either time he’d been in her company so far. The scrape of her heels on the church floor had a very faint echo in the too heavy air, and her breathing before she spoke was strange. In Matt’s sleep-addled brain, it took nearly half a minute to convince himself she wasn’t some weird dream or vision (or whatever you called those when they didn’t involving seeing anything; he wouldn’t know) and focus on what she was saying:

“…wrote it all down here and said you could read it out loud to him.” She flapped the paper about as she handed it to Karen. “He says he doesn’t care how suspicious you two showing up so quickly looks.”

“No objection to that.” Karen climbed out of the blanket, leaving behind air that felt much colder. “They’ll probably just assume we’d been tracking them already, although if he really thinks it was too dangerous to email us tonight...”

Matt moved to get to his feet as well, but was only up on his knees when Pretzel said, “I have too many questions to ask you, and is there even anywhere in this church where your boyfriend here couldn’t hear us?”

“You’d have to walk out further than is entirely safe,” said Matt, not even bothering with protesting the label. “Besides, we should go over these instructions together.” He also wanted to know what they consisted of as quickly as possible.

Pretzel dropped to her knees, then tapped the floor with both hands, obvious to make sure he knew she was there. “It’s a pretty simple deal for you. They call me at about ten tomorrow, claiming the Goldsmith wants me to come to the appropriate venue and not tell Vernon. They think I wouldn’t tell him; of course I would normally.” Matt couldn’t tell from her heart whether that was true or not; she probably didn’t even know. “They kidnap me, then send you two video.” Her shudder was loud; that was probably going to be the worst part for her.

“CJ’s going to be with them,” Karen continued. “Though he’ll have to be out of Pretzel’s company, since of course he wouldn’t want his boyfriend to know his involvement in this. That should give him plenty of opportunity to get away from the others and keep in touch with us. When we get near the courtyard, one man will bring Pretzel out the backdoor and make himself look like an easy target, with a bunch more lying in ambush. CJ says he can get one door ‘accidentally’ latched which will delay them by a couple of minutes, enough for us to overpower the guy and for the two of us to escape.”

“Here’s the interesting part,” said Pretzel. “Apparently, according to CJ, it’s not entirely inconsistent with your behavior, Agent Murdock, to stay behind and continue to hit my guard even when I’m away from him and the sensible thing would be for everyone involved to run?”

Matt had to bend his head a little as he said, “No, it’s not, that’s happened.” It was a temptation he’d been fighting from that first mission against the Goldsmith onward, and a battle that every once in a great while he had lost, usually when rescuing a victim who had been young, or egregiously abused. The devil in him getting out, and rational thought fleeing. He’d even been reprimanded for it once. “So that’s what I’m to do there? Lose control and hit the guy until the others get out and overpower me?”

“Basically,” said Karen, and he could hear her angry internal reaction, since this would probably worsen his treatment at his captors’ hands. The boys had been smart to send Pretzel to them to break the news. Either of them she wouldn’t have been nice to. “Meanwhile, according to this, Tommy’s going to spend the morning falling in with Victor Morino-that’s the Hydra agent you overheard in Ashtovka’s apartment making the original suggestion. Once Pretzel is safely away and they have you instead, CJ will call Tommy and invite him to the courtyard, saying he can share in the credit of capturing you.”

“Tommy can let Victor know about this,” Pretzel picked up, “and CJ seems convinced Morino will get mad at his idea being stolen, and come charging with most of the Goldsmith’s remaining Hydra allies with him. Though Tommy’ll have to come with him. Once he arrives, CJ’s priority becomes getting the two of them out of there. If you tell him to do anything to help you hold everyone there until the cavalry comes, he’ll do it, but he expects you to come up with the plans at that point.”

“I’ll drop the gun off for Sharon, obviously,” mused Karen. “I can leave a note with it updating her on the current situation and directing the reinforcements to the courtyard, just in case she can’t get in contact with them. I’ll then head there myself. I can email Sharon and tell her they need to be in Burlington as soon after 5 as possible, but I can lead a few men on a chase through the building to keep them in it for at least half an hour, maybe longer, depending on the building size and maybe state of repair.”

“I can draw you a diagram,” Pretzel offered, and she set to work, saying, “The courtyard is a storage facility the Goldsmith bought out a couple of years ago; most of it isn’t in use. Four floors, takes up about half the block. They’ve got a loading dock in the southwest corner; most of our activities take place pretty near it. The elevators closest to it work; I don’t know if the ones on the far side of the building still do. The rooms there might be in bad shape, I don’t know.”

An actual measurement would’ve been of much more use than “half the block,” but Matt doubt Pretzel had ever thought about how big a building was before. Meanwhile, he put his hand forward and allowed Karen to guide it, taking in what Pretzel had drawn. “If the elevators are offline, I can definitely hold out for an hour. Although, you know, Matt, if I managed to break you out to come with me, we’d likely last even longer.”

“Feel free to do that, then,” Matt grinned. “As long as I stay in running shape.” Although he was pretty sure if he was in worse condition, Karen would probably come in gun blazing, grab him, and run as much as she could do so while dragging him along, abandoning the plan.

Even now, she gripped his wrist, and growled, “You stay in it.”

There was a pause, and then Pretzel said, “I’ve been trying to know what to make of you, Agent Murdock. You make a show of being the perfect man to your girl here, but I wonder about you and your violence. I think we’ve both had experiences of violent men who insist they’re protecting us already, haven’t we, Agent Page? And if you want to point out that you don’t hit her, well, Vernon doesn’t hit me either.”

“Believe me,” Matt said, because Karen’s shocked reaction didn’t sound like it would let her speak immediately, “you’ve thought nothing about me I haven’t dwelt upon myself.” He didn’t even try to keep the neutral tone he’d always kept around her before that moment; he wanted her to hear his doubt.

He thought she did, because her voice softened a little bit as she said, “Keep thinking about it, Agent Murdock. Someone ought to besides us women.” She’d stood up while speaking, and now she turned on her heel and walked out, neither agent making any attempt to stop her.

#Daredevil #matt murdock #karen page #matt x karen

0 notes