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ichorai · 3 years

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the devil's queen ; k.yr

pairing ; forest queen!yeri x devil!reader (gender-neutral)

summary ; in which the queen of the forest seeks out the devil’s help after accidentally turning her husband to stone.

themes ; fantasy, slight fluff and angst, royalty au, devil au, magic au, forest au (?), forbidden love au

words ; 4.2k

warnings / includes ; devils obv, mentions of divorce and a loveless marriage, uhm yeri turns her husband into stone, one mention of angels, teasing banter, an absurd amount of description because yeri is gorgeous and i can't help myself, both yeri and reader are little shits, kissy kiss kiss at the end </3

a/n ; my first gg fic :D i'm rlly excited for this one !! i'm literally in love with yeri so i'm so happy to finally post this ! thank you to @doievoir for beta reading <3 also thanks to @subways-stuff and @koocycle for being gay with me :(

masterlist. | milestone celebration.

The stone of the balcony’s railing beneath the forest queen’s fingertips was just slightly cold to the touch, mellowed by the night’s sweet breeze. Her face, dappled by the moon’s gentlest luminescence, bore a somber expression, only managing to mask the panic she truly felt by a thread of her being. Pale was her dress, and paler her skin became as she grew clammy with unease. The sheer, opal chiffon of her skirts grazed the balcony floor with faint kisses in accordance to Yeri’s ceaseless fidgeting. And because of her restless movements, the intricate leaf crown propped atop her temple was now slightly askew, placed awkwardly amongst her perfectly-curled tendrils.

From where you were standing, watching the queen, worry etched into her soft features, you almost felt a shred of pity. The keyword being almost. Devils rarely ever felt remorse.

You took this opportunity to look around the queen’s chambers. After all, it wasn’t every day that you’re summoned by a woman of such importance, much less the queen of the forest herself. Gorgeous vines twisted up marble columns, white flowers scattered across the greenery. Every which way you looked, there were at least five potted plants ranging from minuscule succulents to large ferns longer than your own arm span. Even the bed had a canopy of iridescent petals and glossy leaves.

“You must really enjoy nature,” you quipped, taking slight amusement in the way Yeri jumped at the sound of your voice, spinning around with a hand on her chest. “Looks to be bordering on obsession, actually…”

The queen, having come down from her initial shock, looked upon you with a quizzical eyebrow. “I called you to help me, not to make comments on my lifestyle.” She waved her fingers in the air, conjuring a thick vine that wrapped around her waist as if it were a snake. “Besides, I’m the queen of the forest. It would be more bewildering to find my chamber void of natural elements.”

A toothy grin so wide it made you look sinister graced your lips, and you bowed your head slightly. Yeri, much to her dismay, couldn’t tell if the action was genuine or mocking.

“I like that you feel the need to defend yourself against the devil. Makes me feel somewhat of importance,” you uttered the words with a simple-minded hum, eyes glowing with mirth. “Which brings me to ask… why have you called me here?”

The silence was suffocating as she strode up towards you, an almost defiant look glazing over her irises. She was so close that you could detect a hint of her sweet scent; an intoxicating concoction of apricots and grass and the slight tang of the air just before it rained. A tad too refreshing for your taste, but it suited her well.

On the other hand, Yeri found that you were as warm as a walking fireplace, and smelled as if you had doused yourself in cinnamon and musky cologne. Though it wasn’t necessarily an awful aroma, it was most definitely strong and caught her off guard. Who knew the devil would radiate the odor of a popular dessert spice?

Yeri’s steps slowed down once she was just in front of you, near enough that her soft skirts brushed against your dress pants. You noted the way her breathing seemed to hitch, teeth slightly tugging at the plushness of her bottom lip in hesitancy. What was she waiting for?

And with a deep exhale, she reached somewhere behind you with the speed of lightning, as if she wanted to get this over and done with. Her fingers curled tightly around a fistful of white cloth cloaking a large mass, tugging on it with a mild grunt. You spun on your heel with an arched eyebrow, watching with suppressed curiosity.

As you beheld the sight, expression unfaltering, Yeri buried her face in her hands, practically vibrating in stagnant shame. You wondered if she was crying, but found that her face was dry when she pulled herself away from her palms. Either she was trying too hard to feel the comforting weight of sadness, or she was lying to herself about caring.

It was most likely the latter. The thought brought a smile to your face.

A chiseled statue stood in front of the both of you. Opal in color and sculpted with perfect body proportions, your smile melded into an intrigued frown.

“I know,” Yeri whispered without turning back to look at you. “I’m a monster.”

“Don’t call yourself a monster in front of the devil, it’s unbecoming,” you snorted in contempt. Then, you gestured limply towards the statue. “I don’t even know what this is. Did you call me here to show off an artsy escapade of yours? I’ve got far more important things to do, you know.” ‘Important things’ really meant watching two crows fight over a moldy baguette down in the village streets. You might’ve been the devil, but that didn’t necessarily mean you were busy all the time.

Disdain colored her words as she hissed out, “I turned my husband to stone,” rouge laced her cheekbones as she quickly added on, almost an afterthought, “by accident.”

Oh? You clasped your hands together behind you, rocking back and forth on your heels. Now you were starting to see the resemblance, recalling the forest queen’s marriage to a man whose only facial expression seemed to be stoically indifferent. “My, my,” you crooned glibly, “what an interesting turn of events. Are you sure it was an accident?”

The forest queen clearly didn’t take your teasing lightly.

“I didn’t even know I could,” she said in an icy tone, glancing down at her hands, one still fisted in the coversheet. After a moment’s pause, she spoke up again, turning towards you. “But I need him back.”

A guffaw slipped past you as you wrinkled your nose in distaste. “That’s no fun at all. You want me to bring him back? Your moronic oaf of a husband? I’m sure you could find a new one with the snap of a finger. Besides, it’s better to keep him this way. He seems far more intelligent as stone.”

Having said your fill and satisfied with the fuming look Yeri wore, you spun on your heel, about to head out of the castle and run your other devil errands.

A bright flower of consternation unfurled within her ribcage, and the forest queen found herself hurrying forward, curling her fingers around the wrist of the subject of her torment. Almost immediately, she let go, partly from shock at her own actions, but mostly from the fact that your skin was borderline scalding. You are the devil, after all. Yeri should have been more careful.

“Do you forget who I am?” she hissed nonetheless, glowering at your unturned back, her tone swimming in a pool of severity.

At her question, you whirled around to look upon her in bemusement.

“I’m the queen of the forest!”

You nodded just slightly. “So you’ve mentioned.”

Mouth agape and nose twitching slightly in an attempt to contain her umbrage, she whispered out, almost bristling in hostility, “Does that mean nothing to you?”

“Finally catching on, I see.” You flashed her wink, crossing your arms over your chest and leaning forward. “Let me make one thing clear. You may be a queen, but you are not my queen. I haven’t forgotten who you are to the mortals, but I feel you’ve forgotten who I am.”

A genuinely wounded look found its way sprawled across her soft features. She struggled to find her voice for a minute, before turning her head away to gaze upon the moon in shame.

“What can I do to convince you?”

Though the words were quiet, you could still detect the stubborn tenacity interwoven through the question.

Instead of answering her inquiry, you retaliated with one of your own.

“Did you love him?”

Her face snapped back to you, frozen in incredulity. “What?” she asked, furrowing her perfect brows.

“Did you love him?” you repeated, this time rolling your eyes to the leafy canvas obscuring the ceiling. “You need not lie to me. I’ll know.”

With a shred of hesitancy clinging onto her, she uttered lowly, “No. It was a diplomatic marriage… he’s the crown prince of the ice mountains. And I need him back before anybody notices. You understand why I have to have him back, don’t you? This could cause a war.”

“A little foolish of you to ask a devil to prevent a war, don’t you think? We live for chaos,” you susurrated into her ear, circling her like a predator would their prey. Yeri flushed at your words. “Pray tell, why didn’t you ask an angel? Why come to me?”

She drew herself to her full height, almost as if sizing you up. You grinned at that. What an interesting character she was. “I was ashamed of myself. I didn’t want an angel to know of my mistake. Angels judge, and devils are used to despicable acts far worse than what I did. Of course I had to go with the latter.”

It was silent for a moment, the leaves rustling with the cold breeze. “Smart girl,” you hummed, impressed. Yeri cleared her throat, evidently flustered.

With a flick of your hand, the statue’s marble hue slowly faded away, color returning to the forest queen’s husband. A gasp left her throat, and she scurried across the room, almost tripping over the wisps of her skirt in the process. The prince of the ice mountains fell to the floor just as his feet loosened up, and he looked as if he had woken up from a horrid sleep, a dumbfounded expression masking his usually stoic features.

He looks stupid, you thought to yourself as Yeri knelt down beside him. Why would she choose him of all people?

“Have fun being married to somebody you don’t love,” you called out to the couple.

Yeri glanced upwards, a ‘thank you’ just on the tip of her tongue. But when she looked towards where you had been standing, there was nobody there. The wind whistled in your absence, and everything suddenly felt cold.

The forest was quiet as Yeri stormed through. The leaves stopped whispering, the birds halted their chirps, and the rivers grew muted. She was livid, so much so that small wildflowers the color of winter unconsciously sprouted in her furious trail. There were tear tracks forming rivulets down the apples of her cheeks, but they were long dried. She was too angry to cry now.

You danced your fingers along the bark of the branch you were sitting on, swinging your legs in bemusement as you watched the Queen bask in her fury.

Your landing from tree to ground made naught a sound, but Yeri seemed to sense that you were already there, for her shoulders squared and her chin lifted. Perhaps she wanted to look as if she had at least some semblance of her life put together in front of you. You weren’t quite sure why she bothered; you already knew she was in shambles.

Today she wore a plain sage button dress, the fabric flaring softly at her hips and arms. The skirt reached just below her knees; a considerate choice seeing as she was trudging through mud and foliage of all sorts. A white cloth was tied about her temple, keeping gorgeous locks of dark ebony from falling into her tempestuous eyes. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, and seeing her angry conjured a queer elation within you. What’s gotten her so riled up this time?

With outstretched arms, you beamed at her scowl. “Regretting asking me to free your husband from his stony confines? I did warn you against it, did I not?”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Forgive me for choosing not to trust the devil.”

“You’re a hypocrite,” you said in a sing-song tone. “You chose to trust me the moment you asked me to fix your poor husband. What is it you want from me now? Did you call me to turn him back to stone this time?”

An affronted look colored her already-miffed features a twisted hue. She seemed to relax just slightly when she realized that you were just jesting, as you always were.

“He wants me to move out of the forest. Permanently.” She angled her face away from you so you couldn’t see the turmoil raging within her. It was fruitless, because you saw right through her words. “Says the icy mountains are far better than this infernal place.”

The unexpected sensation of your warm hands on Yeri’s shoulders conjured what felt like an inferno raging within her ribcage. The devil was touching her. Why wasn’t she mad about it?

“Divorce him,” you said, almost nonchalantly. “You don’t love him. Why stay married?”

“I told you,” she shot back in exasperation, trying her damned hardest not to look down at your hands encasing her shoulders, just a thin layer of green fabric separating bare skin to skin contact, “for diplomatic-!”

“Oh, screw diplomacy. You don’t even want to go outside of the forest. What’s the point of staying married to him?” Your words were sharp, a dagger of truth cleaving right through her skull. It was a good point you made, and it made the queen furious to know that you’ve got her beat.

Yeri was starting to think that your ability to constantly put a damper on her mood was a mastered talent. Have you had a lot of experience belittling people? She presumed the answer was yes; the devil didn’t belong only to her, this was undeniably so. Sin was an attractive flavor to mankind. Was it greedy to want the raw form of wrongdoing all to herself?

Plunged into a cavern of her own agitation, she didn’t even notice you releasing her to pace circles around the forest queen. “He doesn’t love you either, just so you know,” you whispered from behind, causing her to startle with a wince, “especially not after that rocky stunt you pulled, hm?”

Something akin to amusement danced in Yeri’s gaze as she turned her head to peer at you. It flickered away just as quickly as it came. “You’re mean,” she said dryly.

“I know, it’s kind of my job.” You rocked back and forth on your heels, leaning against the trunk of a large tree. “So why did you call me back?”

Yeri dithered for just a moment. “I don’t have anybody else to talk to.” With such a shameful statement, you were pleasantly surprised to see how she managed to say it in such a leveled tone.

“And so you came to the devil for mild chit chat?”

She bowed her head. “I did, yes. Do you have an issue with that?”

You shook your head with a slight smile. It was a truthful response; you quite enjoyed studying Yeri’s mannerisms and turmoils.

A stoic expression crossed her elegant visage as she nodded at you, and then proceeded to turn away, striding out of the forest with naught another word more, tendrils of hair fluttering airily with each step.

News of the forest queen’s divorce to the prince of the ice mountains spread quicker than a royal archer’s arrow. Some said she did so in a spectacle of dramatic tears and ring-throwing. Others gossipped that she slipped away into the woods with only a mere note to inform the prince of what was going on. And the most popular story going around was Yeri proclaiming the divorce void of any emotion, ignoring the prince when he dropped to his knees and begged her to stay.

Knowing both parties of the couple, you were sure that all three spin-offs were far from the truth.

Your suspicions were confirmed when Yeri called you back again, this time with a hint of a grin tracing her lips, a startling contrast to the previous two times she’s called you over. The duality of this woman, you thought with a shake of your head.

“What is it this time?” you asked with an annoyed facade, though it was clearly only skin-deep, for the curiosity swimming in your irises betrayed your true stand.

The queen in front of you was wearing a dress of black silk, flowing and cinching in all the right places. A white and canary flower hanging loosely from her ear, a vast juxtaposition from the darkness of her ensemble. She was the true epitome of allure.

“Black to look like you’re mourning to the simple-minded common folk,” you observed, “but the daffodil symbolizes a new, hopeful beginning. You’re not at all upset about your divorce.”

The corners of her carmine lips curled upwards. “Smart devil,” she replied, referencing back to when you had called her just the same. Devils weren’t ones to be flustered, but you supposed that was the closest thing to how you were feeling at the moment. Masking was a true talent of yours, however, because Yeri seemed not to notice at all. “I called you because I’m lonely.”

“It’s one thing after another with you, huh?” Your words lacked any bite, and you found yourself chuckling while threading your fingers through your hair. “Looking for an affair the same day you get divorced isn’t usually customary for humans. I’m not complaining, though,” you mumbled with a roguish grin, stepping closer to her and gently running the tips of your fingers against her forearms. You pointedly ignored the way the saccharine apple aroma she practically dripped of made you dizzy.

She drew a mock gasp at what you were insinuating, placing her frigid palms on your shoulders to push you back in a playful manner.

“So is it me you want or would you like me to brainwash someone to come and take pity on you?”

Dark irises rolled the leafy ceiling of her bedroom. “What if I asked you to stay?” Despite you barking out a laugh, she continued on. “I don’t need somebody else.”

Eyes flashing something dangerous, you drew yourself up to full height. “Don’t jest.”

“I’m not jesting.”

You knew she wasn’t, but you took a step backwards anyways. Much to your astonishment, she boldly rivaled that with her own foot propelling her forwards. Closer, ever so close.

“Why do you want to fraternize with the devil?”

“Why do you keep coming back whenever I call you?” she shot back quickly, leaning forward just as your spine brushed against a poster of her canopy bed. “I’m not giving you anything in return.”

The words had you reeling for some sort of witty comeback, but for the first time in your eons of life, a human had you dumbfounded. Why were you coming back?

“I…” you gaped at her earnest countenance. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know,” she echoed your words, almost smug.

Quiet unease filled the silence between you, and you narrowed your lids into slits. With but a gentle whistle of wind, the devil dissolved into a mass of shadows and glowing clementine-hued embers, leaving the queen alone in her chambers once more.

When the seasons change, it wasn’t a shift that happened overnight, but a feat that came with the patience of moons. Earth took its time in conversion, as did everything else. Time was a universal language everybody understood; unchangeable, solidary in its flow, ruthless and unforgiving.

Devils were no exception.

It took you time to come back to Yeri. You weren’t very sure how long. The stars shifted and the sun dipped past the horizon countless times while you waited for an answer to a question you never had the courage to ask. Quite pathetic of the devil, wasn’t it?

When the forest queen called for you a fourth time, you were tempted to decline.

But you found yourself teleporting without a second thought, materializing in a haze of dull light by the corner of her cavernous chambers.

Yeri watched from across the room. The beige turtleneck she wore clung to her like a second skin, a sheer corset cinched about her waist, embroidered flowers dancing across the fabric. A grey skirt fluttered with the wind that blew through the doorway to the balcony, singing a song of the forest. Golden jewelry dangled from her neck and ears, glinting sweetly in the fading sunlight. Her curled tresses had little wildflowers woven between the strands, rolling over her shoulders in waves. She was beautiful, and she wasn’t yours.

It took her no time to stride forward, bare feet padding silently across the smooth floors towards you. You didn’t move, standing your ground and eyeing her with indifference.

The grazes of her fingers against your blistering hot cheeks shouldn’t have taken you aback. Your pride was wounded the last time you saw her, and all a devil really had was their pride. Should you be mad at this woman for diminishing you down to a mess of discombobulated emotions and lost purpose? A twisted part of you was proud of her for doing so. Besting a devil at their own game wasn’t quite the everyday act.

Yeri hummed a pleased little sound when you grabbed at her wrist. Not to yank her away, no, but to pull her ever so close, breathing in her earthy scent. The walls of fire you once held up to closely guard your devilish heart, now doused by a simple pale of water. The forest queen did that. And you, quite frankly, were so very afraid of what she’d do with it now that it was hers.

“Took you a while to come back,” she whispered. You looked oh so bewitching in this light, a glimpse of heaven doused with the fits of hell, and Yeri found it hard to concentrate. Especially not with your searing fingers wrapped firmly around her forearm.

“Certainly didn’t take you a while to call,” you snorted, raising a brow at the queen. “You’re a desperate little thing, aren’t you?”

Even the flame-lit candles were envious of her radiance when she smiled, for they flickered and warbled at her mischievous beam. “I’m not ashamed to admit so. You look awful, by the way.”

“That’s a lie,” you teased, so close now that your nose brushed against her cheekbone. If an outsider were to walk in now, they would’ve thought the two of you were two lovers intimately dancing to a ghost’s silent song.

“You’re right. I lied. Thought you might enjoy that since you’re the devil, and all.” The queen looked at you with hooded eyes.

A breathy chuckle slipped past your lips. “I enjoyed that very much, yes.”

“I’m going to do something,” she uttered lowly, vague hesitation weaving through her words, “and you’re going to have to promise not to freak out.”

An off-hand sound of acknowledgement rumbled in your throat as the tip of your mouth quirked upwards. “My queen, I’m the devil. Of course I’m going to freak out. I live for chaos.”

Just as you took your time to come back to her, it took Yeri time to unfurl the folds of her heart, baring herself raw and unshielded. She trusted you with her life, and it was probably the most foolish decision she could ever think to make.

Her lips brushed against your jaw first, tentative and testing. Then the kisses trailed to your cheekbones, over to the lids of your fluttered-shut eyes, down to the bridge of your nose. When she melded her lips over yours, you knew you were done for. It was almost natural, how your arms snaked around her midriff, clutching at the threads of her corset with a yearning you’ve never felt before. The hands that cradled your jaw slid in different directions; one went to clutch at your arm in a fruitless attempt to ground herself, and the other gently scratched at the back of your neck, earning a pleased noise from you.

This was so wrong, and that was why it felt so good. If she was the fruit, you were the parasite. If she was the wine, you were the poison. If she was love, you were hatred.

When she pulled away from you with a dazzling smile reserved just for you, you swore the stars shattered and the moon collapsed and the sky broke into two. For this trembling certainly can’t be coming from you! Devils don’t tremble, for crying out loud!

“You called me your queen,” she observed, amused at your playful narrowing of eyes.

“A devil never lies, my queen,” you jested. The laugh she was about to bark out at your witty jab was stolen away from her as you kissed her once more. “I wouldn’t dare bow to somebody with a soul, yet it seems you’ve given me yours. Just what am I to do with you?”

Your words were paused to press a lasting kiss onto her cheek, right below her wide eyes, nervously awaiting your response. Studying her with mirth dancing in your irises, you crooned in acceptance, fondly nudging your nose against her supple cheek. She was yours, and you were hers. A white rose blooming amidst a tumultuous storm.

“And my, my, what a powerful pair we make, my queen.”

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marauderundercover · 3 years

Text

Taking Chance Ch. 15: Problem Solving (Last name: Wayne)

AO3

Walking into class after lunch break, Marinette keeps her head down. No need to bring attention to the fact that she’s late...again. Sliding into her seat, she breathes a sigh of relief that Mme. Bustier is also late. Probably making copies. Either way, it had saved her from getting in trouble for being late again. Opening her bag to take out her stuff, she winces as Lila’s voice pierces the room.

“And then, he said he missed me so much that he cried!” She exclaims, clutching her hands together and sighing. Marinette rolls her eyes, certain that whoever it is either doesn’t actually know Lila, or doesn’t know Lila. Either way….lie.

“I still can’t believe you’re official with THE Tim Drake!” Alya exclaims. Marinette immediately chokes on air, her entire face turning bright red as she coughs and attempts to catch her breath. It doesn’t help that everyone is suddenly staring at her and waiting to see if she’s okay. The story pops back into her mind. Yeah, sure Lila. Tim Drake is dating you- an annoying little kid. Sure.

“Are you okay?” Rose asks once Marinette finally catches her breath. She smiles awkwardly, not ready for a confrontation with Lila over this, but also wary to let anyone spread this specific rumor.

“Yeah, it’s just-” Marinette pauses and sighs. This wouldn’t be the high road, but she had to watch out for her brother. “I’m just not sure Lila is telling the truth.” Chaos erupts around her. She chances a glance at Adrien, surprised to see his supportive smile. Well, almost. They had gotten closer. And sure, he’s said he liked her in Gotham, but she kinda thought he just blurted it out after seeing she was Ladybug. She wasn’t quite sure if he actually liked her.

“I-I just don’t understand why you hate me!” Lila sobs.

“I don't-” Marinette tries to say. Keyword- tries.

“Girl, you should apologize. Lila's been talking about Tim since before we even went to Gotham! They’re super serious now. They have been for almost two years.” Alya says.

“No they’re not! Do you seriously think an almost twenty year old CEO would date some fifteen year old kid from halfway across the world? I doubt Tim’s ever even been to Italy or France since becoming Co-CEO.” Marinette rambles, knowing with absolute certainty that she was right.

“Marinette! You’re kind of being mean. Lila says-” Rose tries to say.

“Just because Lila said something doesn’t mean it’s true!” Marinette cries, her frustration threatening to overwhelm her.

“Girl, you seriously need to apologize.” Alya says softly. Marinette’s jaw drops.

“For what?” She scoffs, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “For seeing the truth and calling it out? For not bending to Lila’s every whim?”

“For being a bad friend.” Alya says simply. Marinette freezes. A bad friend? Really? Her? A bad friend? How? All she’d ever done was try to be good. To be nice. To be perfect.

“Whatever.” She finally says, standing and grabbing her stuff. She storms out of the room, ignoring the yells of protest from her classmates. She thinks she hears Adrien, but she ignores him too and continues on her rampage past everyone, including Mme. Bustier. She doesn’t stop until she’s in the basement of the school. The only thing down here were a few vending machines. She tries to calm herself down, knowing her anger is unnecessary. But it’s hard.

She wants to let herself be mad, she should be able to be mad about this! She was always trying to be a good friend and do things for other people and help the class even when she didn’t have time. Even if it meant missing out on sleep or doing something she wants to do, she put them first. Always. But somehow, Lila came out on top. She always comes out on top. They always believed Lila. Always.

“You should leave Marinette, before you attract an akuma.” Tikki says calmly. Marinette blinks, trying to figure out- Oh. Kaalki. Duh. Quickly calling on her transformation, Marinette portals into her room at the manor before a butterfly can come infect her. The second she lands, she calls off her transformation and continues her pacing.

“I’ve always been there for them. Always helped them. Always cared. How is calling Lila out being a bad friend? She’s not even my friend!” Marinette rambles with a huff.

“Maybe you should talk to your family- get their opinions.” Tikki suggests. Marinette starts to turn her down, then realizes she has to say something. Lila’s telling lies about Tim. Lies that could get him in some serious trouble.

“I have to tell Tim! If Alya publishes anything about Lila and Tim he could get in a LOT of trouble.” Marinette rambles, throwing her door open. She blinks in surprise at Tim, standing there frowning with a huge cup of what she assumes is coffee.

“When’d you get here?” He asks, and she can tell he’s much too tired to take this seriously right now.

“I’ll fill you in later, Timmy. Get some sleep.” She says, giving him a quick hug before darting around him and down the stairs. She had to tell someone who could deal with it. Not that she wanted Lila to get in trouble or anything like that, but...she didn’t want them to be able to lie about her family anymore. She’d accept all of those other stupid lies if she just stopped lying about the Waynes.

Running past the ballroom, a sudden movement makes her backtrack and actually glance into the ballroom. Her eyes widen when she notices the movement she caught was Dick….hanging from the chandelier. Of course. Well, he’s not going to be much help, she thinks, shaking her head and turning to try and find someone else. Maybe Mr.- maybe her dad was around. Now if she was a superhero/co-CEO combo where would she spend her free time. She hums, before deciding to check his study. If he wasn’t in there, she’d just go through and check the Batcave. He had to be in one of those places. She knocks on his study door, completely expecting silence, so she’s confused when she hears him call:

“Come in.” She raises an eyebrow. Okay, so he is in the study. Pushing the door open, she smiles at him, rubbing the back of her neck nervously at the brief look of complete and total shock on his face.

“Uh, hi Dad.” She says, rocking back onto her heels nervously. He controls his face quickly, gesturing for her to shut the door.

“Marinette. When did you arrive?” He asks, carefully examining her. She turns red when she realizes- he’s looking for injuries. Since going back to Paris, she hadn’t really communicated with her family unless she was injured or unable to fight. Promising herself to change that, she sits in the chair in front of his desk.

“Five minutes ago, maybe? I’m not sure. I just-” She pauses and frowns, realizing that her emotions almost got the better of her today. She almost let her frustration win. Over something silly. Shaking the thoughts away, she says “I was upset. Lila was lying again and usually I can just ignore her but this time… She was telling everyone that she’s dating Tim, and that they’re really serious and have been for almost two years.” Her dad’s eyebrows twitch slightly.

“Isn’t Lila your age?” He asks.

“Well, she’s already fifteen. But still, it would put Tim in a really bad light if Alya posted it somewhere and knowing Alya, she’s going to post it. Because they all believe Lila. And I tried to explain to them that Tim is quite a bit older than us and he’s an actual CEO and we’re just kids to him and he hasn’t even been in Italy or France and-” She pauses, letting herself take a breath. “I just think it’s wrong for her to lie about my family.”

---

Bruce tries hard to hide his shock. His daughter, who he’d known for less than two months, came all the way to Gotham because someone lied about Tim. It wasn’t the first time someone lied about the Wayne family, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time. But the fact that his daughter was so upset that she had to come here...he was not going to let this slide. Wayne manor was a safe place, so he would make sure Marinette was able to breathe and relax a little before going home. And he was going to plan a way to stop the lies, to help Marinette.

“How can I help?” He asks, wanting to help but also wanting to make sure he does not overstep. He had heard her explaining to Damian why she let the girl get away with so many lies- it was an attempt to stop a mass akumatization. Bruce also wanted to avoid something like that, which is why he would follow his daughter’s lead.

“I don’t know! I know if I reveal everything it’s- it’s gonna be bad. I don’t know if we’d be able to handle something like that right now. Two of our temporary holders, people I trust a lot, are out of town. I don’t really trust anyone else and I’m certain we’d need their powers for the fallout from Lila’s kingdom falling.” She explains, bouncing her leg up and down as she glances around the room, possibly to come up with a plan. Bruce knew that he used a similar method when he was younger.

“What about the rumors related to the family? Do you think it would be safe to end those?” He asks, a plan beginning to form. But he’d have to get her permission. It would change many things.

“Well….yes. Yes, I think it would be safe. And even if it wasn’t, I know the fallout wouldn’t be anywhere as bad as if some of the other lies came to light.” She says. Bruce nods.

“Very well. Marinette, I believe I have something that might work, but I’m unsure if you’ll agree.” He says.

“We tell them I’m a Wayne.” Marinette says simply. Bruce blinks in surprise. It had definitely been what he was thinking, but thinking it and hearing his daughter say it out loud as if it was the most simple thing ever, those were two completely different things. He’s silent, trying to gather his words again when Marinette chuckles nervously. “I mean, we could say that I know you guys. Cause that’s not a lie.” She says. He sighs, realizing that his silence may have hurt her.

“Marinette, honey, you’re a Wayne. I want you to be one, and if you do as well, then of course we can tell them. I can even arrange for nondisclosure statements to be signed by the students in your class and the faculty. In case you’re not quite ready for the entire world to know.” He says quietly, hoping his voice is soft enough to reassure her. Her tense shoulders fall as she relaxes, her smile easing back into a natural one. Good. He didn’t mess up this time.

“Can we really do that? I do want to be a Wayne, it’s just. I’m not sure I’m ready for the world to look at me.” She says quietly. At this, he quirks a smile.

“If Adrien Agreste’s father is able to get an entire school to sign NDA’s about the boy’s lunch habits, I’m certain that having them sign an NDA when it’s for your safety will be no issue. Besides, if anyone breaks the NDA with malicious or ill intent, we can sue them.” He says simply.

“Oh, well, suing them seems a bit much.” She mumbles. He’s about to argue, when she shrugs. “But it also makes sense. Let’s do this.” He’s instantly proud of the determined look in her eyes. From saving her city to fighting lying bullies, his daughter was so much stronger than she thought.

---

Walking into class the following Monday was nerve wracking. It was almost the end of the school year, so she could’ve asked her Dad to wait until the next year to fix it. But she didn’t want to chance Lila lying about Tim all summer. Or anyone else in her family. Lila could use anyone else- even MDC- to get ahead, Marinette didn’t care. But she was done with Lila using her family. Originally, she had wanted to just do it quietly. Tell the teacher and have her pass out the forms. That’s probably how she would have done it too if her brothers hadn’t found out.

Now, her entire family was coming. She was cautious, but they promised to keep their emotions in check while they were in town. And they could always portal out if things got too tense. But, her brothers were drama queens. So it just made sense that they wanted to give her class the papers in person. She suspected Tim also wanted the chance to glare at Lila in person, and she wasn’t about to deny him that.

“Okay class! We have a few guests coming in today. They’ll be here in a couple minutes and I want you all to give them your full attention and respect.” Mme. Bustier announces, clapping her hands to get their attention. Marinette lets out a shaky breath. Here goes nothing. She tunes out the chatter of her classmates, keeping her eyes on the door. Waiting. Watching. Finally, she sees their shadows outside and her leg starts bouncing. Maybe she shouldn’t have let all of them get involved….

“Oh my god! That’s Bruce Wayne!” Alya yells as her family walks in. Marinette winces slightly at the instant fangirling from many of her classmates. She risks a glance at Lila and tries not to laugh at how pale the Italian girl had gotten. In fact, she looked a little green.

“Hello everyone! My name is Bruce Wayne, though I think you all should remember me from your trip to Gotham.” He says with a wide (fake) smile. Marinette wrinkles her nose. She doesn’t like this fake side of her Dad. She’d much rather watch him be overly serious than use that weird fake smile.

“We’ve brought some forms for everyone in this class to sign, as well as the faculty. The rest of the school won’t be required to sign these forms because it is assumed that what we are about to tell you will not go outside of this room.” Tim starts to explain, no coffee in his hand for once. “I know that it will not go outside of this room because these are NDAs, and we can and will take legal action against anyone who tells someone outside of this room about this information.” Everyone is silent, and while Marinette herself feels tense, she notices that most of her class just looks excited. Except Adrien, who was glancing back at her and looking worried. They’d already talked about this, but he was still worried. He seemed to think that this was one of her worst ideas, but honestly, Marinette didn’t care. She wanted to be able to (kind of) openly accept the other half of her family.

“Oh my god, is Tim about to propose?” Alya loudly whispers to Lila. Marinette can’t help it. She snorts. Out loud. Her face instantly heats as the entire room turns to look at her.

“Oh, uh, sorry?” She says, though it’s definitely more of a question than a statement. She wasn’t sorry.

“I am not about to propose. I’m actually not currently seriously seeing anyone, but there is a boy back home who I’ve had a few dates with.” Tim says. Marinette watches as Alya tries to say something, only to be stopped by Nino gently patting her hand and shaking his head. Good. Maybe they’d get through this without anyone getting akumatized. She glances at Lila again, rolling her eyes at the obviously fake upset look on her face. Is she seriously acting like Tim is cheating on her? In front of Tim? How dumb is she?

“I actually came to have everyone sign an NDA since my youngest daughter is in your class.” Her dad says, metaphorically dropping the bomb. He didn’t just drop it though, he chucked it at the class. The effect is immediate, the entire class erupting in whispers. Mme. Bustier tries, without luck, to gain control of the class. Marinette watches as Damian, who looked ready to murder any and all of her classmates, whistles an insanely high pitch. Wincing slightly, she makes eye contact with him and quirks an eyebrow. He shrugs, but it had been successful. The class was silent once again.

“When is she starting here?” Alya asks, obviously going into reporter mode. Marinette makes eye contact with her Dad, watching as he barely quirks an eyebrow, a silent question. One last chance to back out. She nods for him to continue. She wanted this.

“She actually already goes here. She just decided it was time to embrace the Wayne name.” He says, nodding at her. Marinette lets out a grounding breath and stands, quickly moving over to stand by her brothers. She tries to hide her hands behind her back, knowing they’re shaking like crazy. She positions herself between Dick and Jason, instantly able to relax as the feeling of safety washes over her. The class is completely silent, and Marinette isn’t sure if they don’t understand or if they’re in shock. She’s not sure which would be better.

“What?” Alya asks, barely audible.

“Marinette is my daughter, I am her biological father. She’s a Wayne. And you all have been provided with an NDA about her identity, so that she can remain safe and anonymous to the rest of Paris. Your parents have already agreed and signed both their forms and forms giving you all permission to sign a form. They all understand the importance of this secret, and I urge every single one of you to take this seriously.” Her dad says, giving the class another wide (fake) smile. She lays her head on Dick’s arm, relieved that her class instantly starts signing the forms. No outbursts right now, no possible akumas forming. Nothing. It was a relief, it was freeing. She was certain that it was going to come back and bite her- sooner rather than later if the look on Lila’s face was anything to go by- but for right now, everything was calm. And her family was supposed to stay in Paris for another day, so she’d finally be able to let three of her parents meet in person. It was nice. It was safe.

Master List

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82

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unsincerityig · 3 years

Text

The Birds and the Bandits - I

bruh i just remembered i can fucking post my writing here holy shit-

Chapter 1 - Establishing Status Quo

AO3 link | 2726 words | based on the HermitCAT AU by Sarah and Stardustz

In most heist movies, the beginning sequence has the dashing phantom thief protagonist leaping across rooftops, his figure casting a dashing shadow along the city skylines as he is illuminated by countless police spotlights. Just maybe, the scene will then cut to an equally dashing detective chasing him down, barking orders with a determined gleam in his eyes. Then, just when the detective has the thief cornered, he smirks and unveils his last trick of the night, vanishing right before the detective's very eyes! The detective coughs out smoke from around him and bellows out-

“GET BACK HERE YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF AN ARSENE LUPIN COSPLAYER-!”

Alas, Scar‘s life isn’t like most heist movies. As the notorious phantom thief known as the Red Raider, (“Seriously? That’s what they’re calling you?” “I know! It’s so cool! Right, Joel?” “One heist in and they’re already bullying you. Should’ve known.”) instead of gallivanting through the rooftops as he’d like, he’s likely causing mass disturbance running across the back alleys of the Hermitville Industrial District.

As he barely clips yet another innocent pedestrian, (“Hey! I’m walkin here!” “Sorry, sir! Kinda running for my life here!”) Detective Wynncraft finally catches up, catching him by the cape and pulling, causing him to crash onto a table in front of a closed cafe.

“Owwwie-” Scar moaned, “How are you so fast with those tiny legs of yours?”

“Nowhere to run now, thie- wait what?!” Detective Wynncraft halted indignantly, holding both of Scar’s arms behind him and pinning him to the cafe table, “My legs are perfectly proportional to the rest of me, thank you very much!” Like the petty little bitch he is, Wynncraft presses him down harder onto the table, making Scar wheeze, “Maybe if you didn't insist on this ridiculous get up, you’d be much faster.”

“Wha- Hey!” Scar cried indignantly, although it was hard to hear with the exposed side of his face pressed down onto the table, “I’ll have you know I worked very hard on this outfit! And everyone says it looks very cool!”

He could feel the detective’s deadpan stare, “... Dude. You look like £30 Persona 5 cosplay that got mixed in the washer with the reds-” Scar had to hold back the most pathetic sounding whimper of his life at that, “-If the 1800s called and you picked up, they’d say ‘wrong number’”

“Please stop.”

“You look like-“ Wynncraft started, cutting himself off with a harsh laugh,“-you look like steampunk tried making a comeback- keyword being tried.”

“This is a low table- I am literally on my knees begging-”

“Alright alright, enough with the both of ya!” a new voice spoke.

Loosening his hold on Scar, Wynncraft looked up and greeted the newcomer, who had a whole host of police vehicles behind him.

“X! What took you so long” he asked impatiently

“With the crowd around for the festival, we had to take the long way round the superblocks,” Commissioner Xavier Void replied, “Since your little announcement about stealing the Gilded Cornucopia, the crowds are much bigger than usual,” he said, addressing Scar directly

Ah, yes. Why was he being held against his will in front of a tiny cafe on a chilly fall night you may ask? Well today was the peak of the Hermitville Autumnal Festival, where the famous Gilded Cornucopia would be unveiled and filled with the best crops of the season, a celebration to honor the contributions of the Agriculture District. It was held in a park just on its outskirts, bordering the Industrial District where Scar had ran to.

‘The plan was going so smoothly,’ he laments. He had sent of his calling card as per usual, common courtesy for a gentlemanly thief just like himself, and as promised had appeared in a brilliant shower of copper-tinted smoke just in front the Cornucopia after the customary handshake between District leader Ms. Stress and Mayor Solidarity.

“Good evening, Hermitville!” he boomed pleasantly.

As always, the crowd went ablaze. A cacophony of mixed voices; half calling for his head and a much larger half cheering for his arrival.

Stress had a beaming grin above her clasped hands, and beside her Mayor Solidarity exclaimed, “It’s the Red Raider!”

He let out a laugh, flaring his hands (and cape) widely, “the one and only!”

The crowd went wild once more as he looked towards the Mayor, deliberately turning his more masked side towards him, “Didn’t I promise I was gonna be here tonight?”

The mayor shrugged helplessly, “I mean, what would you steal a cornucopia for?" he gestured to the 1,4 feet wide, 4 feet long gold-encrusted monstrosity behind Scar, "Like how would you even lift that heavy thing off the stage?”

He let out another laugh and very dramatically shwished his cape to one side, showing the now cornucopia-less banquet table behind him.

Ignoring the mayor sputtering beside him and Stress clapping her hands, he turned back to the crowd, “well! It's been nice, ladies and gents, but I’ve gotta go-”

“To jail!”

Scar’s grin widened. Like the Red Sea, the crowd parted and revealed none other than Detective Grian Wynncraft.

Despite his relatively humble career choice, Grian Wynncraft is a household name in Hermitville. The famed paragliding athlete-turned-detective would have been known as the modern day Sherlock Holmes if not for one thing:

His rather… explosive way of catching criminals.

And no, ‘explosive’ is not an exaggeration. Grian was the sole reason why so many of Scar’s heists turned from a fun smoke-and-mirrors magic show to a full-on demolition derby. It was well established that the young detective would stop at nothing to catch his target, and because of it he had been very, very loudly kicked out of the police force and handed over to the Falsewell Detective Agency, Commissioner Void having thought that False could knock some sense into the man. He did not think correctly.

Unlike before, a hush fell over the crowd. An outsider may think this is because of the detective’s bold claim or his spotty reputation but in truth-

“Well well if it isn’t my favorite little detective~!” Scar crooned

Grian sighed, “Red, stop harassing me and get down from there before anyone gets hurt.”

The thief nearly fell off the stage.

“Puh- bwuh- It wasn’t harrasme- It was a cute nickname, man, c’mon! Work with me here!”

“Red I am literally trying to put you in chains.”

“W-w- well now who’s making weird jokes!”

“Haha, funny innuendo. Now get down here!”

In truth it was because no one wanted to miss the banter between the two lunatics.

“Make me!” Scar yelled, he was about to deploy his elytra when he noticed the helicopters circling the airspace above him, having snuck in whilst he was distracted. From one of the helicopters, Officer Etho gave him a friendly wave.

‘How on earth did I miss that.” Scar thought to himself.

The crowd ooh and aah’d, clearly also having been too distracted to notice the giant, 100dB flying machines hovering above them. Grian crossed his arms and smirked. He’d played along with the thief’s poor attempt at banter, knowing his desire for theatrics would outweigh his common sense and stall him long enough for the men to surround him.

The crowd murmured, some with giddy smiles and some with reluctant respect. In the middle, illuminated by several helicopter spotlights (because even the cops were into this shit) was Grian with a shit-eating grin.

“Nowhere to run, Raider.” he boasted.

Scar merely smirked back, the gleam of white being the only thing visible beneath the shadow of his brimmed hat, “I think you mean nowhere to fly!”

Throwing a smokebomb, the trapdoor below him opened and Scar disappeared down below, only the surprised shouting of the crowd following him in.

“Exit stage right!” Bdubs yelled in his earpiece.

Scar darted out of the door below the stage itself which was somehow unattended for. Most of the cops guarding the perimeter were busy trying to move the crowd along, and he spotted an unguarded exit from the park grounds that led to the inner city.

Deploying his Mumbo-specialty Hovering Board (patent pending), he quickly made a beeline straight for it, faster than anyone could catch him.

“What the-” Grian sputtered, “AFTER HIM!” he yelled.

Equally fast, the detective ran for the mayor’s tiny Volkswaggon parked right near the stage which, conveniently, was unlocked.

(When relaying this to Joel back at their base, the man only scoffed.

“Trust Jimmy to forget to lock his bloody car.”)

Reaching into the sun visor, Grian quickly found the key and went barrelling towards the park exit, nearly hitting several pedestrians in the process.

The chase lasted well into the night, and would have gone for longer had it not been for Mumbo forgetting to refuel the hoverboard, making it jerk to a clumsy stop mid-air and causing Scar to crash butt-first into the sidewalk.

Scar groaned. Standing shakily, he barely got himself together before realizing that a car was about to barrel straight into him and, yelling for his life, he ducked into a tiny alleyway.

Grian tsk’d, seemingly displeased about failing to turn his least favorite celebrity thief into roadkill. Seeing that even the mayor’s tiny car wouldn't fit through the alleyway, he quickly jumped out, hot in pursuit.

Which leads them to now, and Scar about to be thrown in the slammer for what was probably going to be a solid six to fifty years.

“Uh, could you let me up, Detective?” he smiled sheepishly, “My back is cramping up a little.”

Grian rolled his eyes, “Oh poor Raider. Would you like a hot chocolate and a backrub as well?” he mocked.

“That would be nice, ye- oof!”

X sighed. “Grian, now what did we say about using violence on the criminals”

“Shoot first, questions later,” he said, voice deader than night.

“NO!” X cried, “What kind of police force would train their cops like that?!”

(All three of them stared directly into the camera)

Grian blinked, “... I’m pretty sure thievery is punishable by death in the Dream SMP,” he offered.

X put his head in his hands. Ignoring Etho snickering behind him, he barrelled on, “Just. Let the man up so we can cuff him.”

Feeling Grian’s hold loosen around him, Scar quickly slipped out of his suit jacket and slid below the table. Before anyone could react, he activated his Mumbo Jump Boots (patent pending) and Mumbo Sticky Gloves (patent also pending) and yeeted himself up the cafe wall and onto the roof.

“SEE YA SUCKERS!”

He cackled madly into the night, relishing in Grian’s angry screeches.

—-

“Aaaand that’s how he got away.” Grian moped, still face down on the table.

“Well that sounds terrible, G,” Scar replied, faking sympathy. He knew Grian was lying face down for dramatic effect, because that table couldn’t be particularly comfortable.

He’d know, he was held down on that very same table just last night.

Only Grian would find comedy in coming back to a place where he had failed to arrest his greatest rival. Scar would like to think that he’d find even more comedy in learning that said greatest rival was sitting a mere 3 feet across from him, but he knows that would likely lead to more pain than laughter.

For him.

Yes, that’s right! Scar was on what was ostensibly a platonic date with the man who’s near-sole life mission was to put him behind bars. (His other life mission, of course, is being a good dad for his cats).

What can he say? In case the whole ‘literally moonlighting as a gentleman thief’ thing didn’t clue you in, Scar very much enjoys living life on the dangerous side.

Also Grian likes buying him pastries when he’s mad.

Grian sighed, “The worst part is those stupid cops all followed the chase, so he got away with the Cornucopia as well.”

Scar raised an eyebrow, eyes wide, “what do you mean? Of course he got the Cornucopia, he ran away?”

Grian put his face in one hand, the other playing with his flan, “of course not, the Cornucopia was too big -not to mention too heavy -for him to carry away. He must’ve moved it down to the stage and had someone take it away while he ran.”

Once again, Scar thanked the heavens for Mumbo’s gadgets and Grian’s character-defining flaw of tunnel visioning. He actually did have Joel prepare a mechanism below the stage to partially open the trap door and lower the Cornucopia down while he monologued, using his cape and incredibly witty banter to distract onlookers. Having one of your assistants be close friends with the Mayor helps tremendously in conducting heists.

“If you knew he would do that, why didn’t you have anyone guard the stage?” Scar asked, sweating profusely.

Grian sighed angrily, “Bloody Joel made a ruckus about him getting away and riled up Jimmy as well. So he sent everyone there after him.” He stabbed his flan.

If he hadn’t owed Joel his life before, he definitely did now.

Scar coughed wetly, catching Grian’s attention. He looked at him worriedly, “you’ve been doing that a lot, did you catch a cold?”

Scar sniffled, “Yeah. Probably because of the weather changing or something,” he lied.

In truth, running through the rooftops in 8 degree Celcius temperatures drenched in sweat with nothing but a blouse and suit pants on was really bad for the health.

Grian waved a waitress over, “hot chamomile tea to go, please”

“Wha- Grian!” Scar protested.

“Shush, consider it a treat for going out with me while you're sick.” he grinned, mischievous but friendly, not at all like the predatory grin he gave at the heist.

Scar smiled fondly at him, but a pit of guilt stirred in his gut. While they had only become friends recently, he quickly grew fond of the little (he was actually built like a wall but we don’t talk about that) detective. Despite his harsh crime-fighting methods, he knew Grian was a big ‘ole softie deep, deep, deep, deeeeeeep down. Even now he knew that the real reason they were eating at this cafe was because Grian felt bad about the ruckus they caused last night.

He sighed internally. At first, he thought it would be funny to befriend the man so vehement on putting him behind bars (and occasionally, on turning him into sidewalk meat). And it was! Oh, the look on Joel’s face when he told him would forever be a core memory of his, even despite the brutal tongue-lashing and weeks of radio silence afterwards.

But despite all odds, he quickly became fond of the guy’s snarky humor and they way he had a kind action behind every mercilessly teasing jab. They shared a mutual passion for many things, including children’s entertainment and modern architecture, and Scar was quick to seek him out whenever Bdubs was busy hanging out with Etho, or whenever Joel had date night with Lizzie.

Scar knew he was walking a delicate line, one that even he was unsure he could cross safely, and he knew that the longer he kept this secret, the more it would hurt the both of them when (if, Scar, if not when-) -if Grian were to ever find out.

But hey! That just means that he’ll have to work his hardest to find what he was looking for and quit before Grian ever finds out, right?

Right?

“By the way,” Scar asked, desperately trying to ignore the building guilt in his stomach, “why are you so obsessed with catching this guy?”

It was a genuine question. One that hadn't come up in conversation before. Judging by his extremely accurate recreation of a no-kill GTA V run last night, Grian was no obedient servant of the law. So why was he so hell-bent on capturing him?

Grian looked at him, and Scar felt the hairs on his neck rise. And was the store playing boss music??

“It’s about principle, Scar.” He said, eyes manic, “If I can catch bloody Herobrine, then I sure as hell can catch an idiot thief who thinks red and maroon are the same color.”

Nevermind, he’ll have to talk to Joel about setting up the most annoying detective-trap in human history for his next heist.

#scar #grian #hermitCAT AU #thank you to that one anon who reminded me i wrote this

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the-ace-with-spades · 3 years

Text

(6/6) the best is yet to be

five times someone realized Ronan and Adam were basically married and one time they actually were

Part 1 │Part 2 │Part 3 │Part 4 │Part 5 Read on ao3

They were getting married.

It wasn't exactly planned — any part of it, really, all just came up on its own or spiraled into place after years of floating in the air. Adam came from his final year earlier than expected — than Ronan expected, really, apparently Adam planned it to be a surprise — having taken a heavier workload in the first semester and finishing his dissertation in March. He had told Ronan he would miss Easter and he did, coming only two days later.

It was the beginning of April and the weather that week had been unexpectedly good and they sat in the fields, Ronan was braiding his third flower crown — one had been eaten by Opal, one was on Adam's head.

"It's so warm in Virginia," Adam said, directing his face into the sun. He always complained about Harvard being cold, no matter how many blankets and sweaters Ronan had sent him. "It's the most dream-like part here. We should get married in spring and have a wedding in the meadows, it would look like from a Victorian novel."

He said it way too casually to justify Ronan's heart attempting to escape his ribcage at such alarming speed. He also didn't add anything, just leaned further on his elbows, touching Ronan's shoulder with his forehead.

Ronan didn't even think before he got up, making Adam fell on his face, and told him, "Fucking wait here and don't move even an inch."

It took him twenty minutes to run to the house, throw away all the cookbooks from the shelf in the kitchen — the shelf Adam was forbidden from touching after his third attempt at crêpes — grab a small cardboard box from behind the backboard, and run back. Making his way through the meadow, he wished he had put it in something better-looking and not just left it in the same box he picked it up from the jewelry shop.

Adam was still sitting where he left him, this time with Opal on his knees, showing her how to finish the flower crown Ronan abandoned.

Ronan felt his hands sweat.

He kneeled down.

Adam stared at him, his arms going limp around Opal. He frowned. "Ronan?"

He said it so softly Ronan could feel his heart growing at the sound.

When he resized the ring — one of his mom's, one of the few she wore outside of her wedding band — he had told himself that he will make a plan. At first, he thought about taking Adam to Lindenmere, but they were there too often for it to be something special and Ronan wanted it to be something special. He thought about restaurants and hikes and dreamt fireworks and writing it on a cow's fur and going on a boat on the lake. He thought about putting the ring in a birthday cupcake — although with Ronan's luck, Adam would choke on it — or in a flute of champagne — Adam didn't drink alcohol — and he thought about a hundred different foods he could cook for him. It all didn't seem right, seemed overly cheesy or normal or conventional, and they were anything but that.

Adam was anything but that.

So Ronan kneeled there, in the meadow full of spring flowers and fresh grass, and both of his knees were getting wet from the muddy ground and he had the most gorgeous view of Adam's face drawn by a flower crown made of buttercups, golden ragworts, and with Virginia bluebells falling onto his forehead and ears. With his warm complexion and light freckles and even warmer blue eyes, Adam looked like the spring personified.

They had to marry in spring.

"Fuck," he said finally. "I don't know what to—how to..."

Adam turned around to the side more, Opal's head falling more onto his right shoulder. They were both looking at him, the same shade of blue piercing through Ronan's soul.

Adam raised one hand to his face, stroking his thumb over Ronan's cheekbone. "Hey," he said. "You don't have to."

He did have to.

Ronan ripped the box, throwing the scraps on the ground.

"Marry me."

Adam's hand moved down, curving around Ronan's nape. "Of course."

It wasn't a question and it wasn't a yes, but—

But it was enough and they were engaged. And Adam Parrish, the boy of his dreams, was his fiancé.

When they got back home — and Ronan hadn't let go of Adam's hand the whole time, even when Ronan protested saying she wanted them to swing her back and forth between them — Adam stopped in the foyer.

"Go wait in the kitchen," he said and went upstairs in a quick stride.

So Ronan did. He made them coffee and sat down, suddenly feeling nervous, the tension fleeting back into his tightly wound shoulders.

Adam came back downstairs, sat on the other side of the table with a grin.

"I got you a ring too," he said, lying a velvet box onto the table. "I was going to propose on my graduation day."

He opened the box. It was a simple black gold ring with Celtic engraving but it must have cost at least a month of unstopping hard work, divided between a longer time — it meant so much more if one knew the true value.

The room suddenly seemed very quiet, Ronan could only hear the humming coming from their old fridge and his own thoughts sprinting through his head.

Ronan started crying.

It was an involuntary response. He didn't know he needed it, needed to know that Adam wanted it as much as Ronan did, that he wanted Ronan to feel as special as Ronan wanted Adam to feel. He thought that it was implied, that he was the one to notice when Adam was ready and he was the one to propose then.

Adam was still smiling. "Is that a yes?"

"Have I ever fucking said no to you?"

Adam licked his lips. "Well, yesterday, I asked you to do the laundry and—"

"Just give me the ring, Parrish."

So Adam takes it out of the box — which was way prettier than Ronan's because it was Adam and Adam paid attention to every detail, always — grabs Ronan's hand with an unbelievable gentle touch and puts the ring on his finger.

He leaned over the table, holding Ronan's hand in both of his, and pulled it closer to his lips, kissing Ronan's in slow and light as a feather movement.

Ronan couldn't stop crying for good fifteen minutes.

The next Sunday, Ronan asked Adam to go to the mass with him. He had never asked before but Adam sometimes came with him — when he was back from Harvard only for the weekend and didn't want to leave Ronan even for an hour — and Ronan always celebrated it deep within his heart. He didn't tell him why he wanted him to come with him.

The mass ended, people started to leave and Ronan went the opposite way, to Father Cohen who was still standing at the front of the altar.

"Boys," he said, despite the two of them being twenty-three. "I haven't talked to you in a while. How are you doing?"

Adam opened his mouth to say something that was probably polite and good-natured, but Ronan said instead, "When is the closest opening for a marriage ceremony?"

Adam turned around and raised his eyebrow. Father Cohen didn't look any less surprised than him either, wide-eyed, his mouth open but not making a sound.

"Let me grab our calendar," he said after a very long silence. He was clearly stunned that Ronan, who he had known since he was about two and was brought to church for the first time, was getting married.

Ronan was stunned too.

He left to the sacristy in a daze and Adam, as soon as he was out of sight, asked, "What are you doing?"

"What? You said you want a spring wedding. It's spring."

Because St. Agnes was a small church, Father Cohen gave them a list of dates that weren't open, rather than the open ones. It consisted of a whole total of three dates in the next three months, the first open spot being in two weeks.

Ronan said they would take it.

They — or rather Ronan, seeing as Adam was still so shellshocked that Ronan felt like he was tricking him into this marriage — thanked him and Ronan gave Father Cohen Adam's email to forward them any documents they needed to fill.

They were outside the church and Adam still didn't say a word.

"If you don't want to get married now—"

"Do you know how much paperwork it's going to be?" Adam interrupted him.

Ronan blinked, very slowly and — if he dared to admit — fondly. This was the man he chose to marry. The man who agreed to marry him. Who asked him to marry him back.

"Are you fucking serious?" he asked. "This is what you're worried about? We just have to get the marriage license and we're done."

Done sounded like this was something Ronan was forced into.

"Yeah, but I'll have to call DMV, SSA, my bank," Adam listed off. "I'll have to pay for the last-minute change of my diploma if Harvard even lets me change it so close to graduation."

He wasn't making sense. "What? Are they suddenly adding married to on a diploma?"

Adam scrunched his eyebrows in the manner that always made Ronan want to kiss his forehead — he would always do that when dealing with someone stupid.

"No, but I'd prefer not to deal with the explanation why my name doesn't match the one on my diploma to any of my future employers."

Oh. Oh.

"You want to—like, take my name?"

Adam smacked his side. "Don't be an idiot," he said, frowning. "Of course I—I mean, unless you don't want me to—"

"I want you to," Ronan replied instantly.

"Well, then you're helping me fill all those documents."

They filled the paperwork Father Cohen sent Adam and went to the courthouse the next day, getting a marriage license and leaving it, and newly bought wedding bands, in church on the way home.

Then came the first problem — telling everyone.

They had been sitting on the couch, both of their phones on the coffee table in front of them, and argued about who was going to tell Gansey.

It was, technically, not a big deal. Gansey would be, in the end, happy for them, but in the end was the keyword here — it'd be proceeded by a rant, a scolding, lots of detailed questions like, why didn't you tell us sooner, and none of them knew how to answer them. Calling Blue would result in the same outcome, as Gansey was bound to butt into the conversation once Blue forwarded the message.

"Maybe we just don't fucking tell him and the maggot," Ronan suggested.

"And how is gonna know to show up for the wedding?"

Ronan groaned, hitting his forehead on Adam's shoulder. Repetitively.

"Maybe I'll just text him," he added. "Or you text him. He's used to being ghosted by you after you text him."

This wasn't actually such a horrible idea so Ronan took his phone, typed out something that would have minimal detail, showing it to Adam, who retyped something else.

The final result was, bring maggot and cheng next sunday to the barns at 1. wear something nice.

Ronan sent the text. Gansey called him within three minutes. Ronan declined the call. Gansey called Adam after another two minutes, which he also declined. Instead, Adam texted Maura, with the same but slightly more polite message.

It left them with Declan and Matthew.

"They are your brothers," Adam said when Ronan suggested he could call them.

"I texted Dick," he countered. "It's your turn."

"It's your turn," Adam mocked. "Is this how it's gonna be for the rest of our life?"

Ronan grinned. The rest of their life sounded so good. "Yeah, get used to that."

Adam bit his lip, holding himself back from grinning back. "Fine."

Adam texted Declan, Church is at 1 30 next week, be at the Barns at 1, kind of lying. The important thing was, Ronan didn't have to deal with Declan. If he was the one to send such a text, Declan would inevitably start calling him as soon as he read it, not giving up until Ronan picked up or straight up driving from DC just to know what was going on.

Which put them on Sunday next week, preparing for the arrival of everyone.

They had prepared the meadow the day before, taking a dreamt stretchable tent there and carried the grill there, among with the living room table and chairs and a dreamt stereo that connected to Spotify despite now electricity or no Internet connection. The field now turned mostly yellow, with occasional bluebell here or there, but it was still an amazing view — Ronan planned to make another flower crown for Adam, once they were already married. Right now they left the tent without food, watched by Chainsaw who soared in circles, sitting on the table from time to time.

It was cozy, probably cozier than even the smallest wedding receptions were but Adam would never agree to have a big party in some rented venue and Ronan hated any venue he had looked up online. It suited them.

Opal was ready, dressed first out of the three of them. She had insisted she wanted to be a flower girl — they didn't even know she knew what that was — and allowed them to put herself in a better-looking pair of culottes and a white shirt.

She had a fool basket of dandelions and buttercups ready — hidden, so she wouldn't eat it before they even left for the church — and probably was already muddy, seeing as she left the house as soon as Adam told her she was done.

It left Ronan and Adam, squeezing in front of the main bathroom mirror while they both put on their suits.

"So, how pissed Dick will be?"

Adam didn't look at Ronan when answering, concentrating on making his tie straight instead. Ronan planned to crook it again as soon as he was done.

"Gansey? He'll be fine, he is used to you, isn't he," he said. "I'm more worried about Blue. Or your brother."

Declan. It was clear he meant Declan.

They had become better over the years, to the point that Ronan could finally, without any guilt or any anger, call him family. The first time he had referred to him just as his older brother and not his dickhead older brother, about two years ago, Ronan was taken aback but not with an unpleasant aftertaste. They talked about the stuff that made them angry and about their dad, but he still could easily come off as judgemental towards Ronan's impulsive life decisions and Ronan had never really learned what he thought about him and Adam, and those two things were unvaryingly connected in this case.

"You don't think he will, like, leave?"

Adam turned around, his full attention on Ronan. His face softened in a way that used to be foreign as he took Ronan's face into his hands.

"No, Ronan, of course he won't," he said. "I'm sure he's going to have gray hair before he turns twenty-seven, but he won't leave. Jordan would make him sleep on the couch if he did."

He smiled at Ronan, the reassuring kind of smile that was mostly transmitted through his eyes.

Ronan grabbed one of his palms and kissed it. Then he crooked Adam's tie.

Fifteen minutes before everyone was about to arrive, Ronan and Adam sat down on the porch. Opal was sitting in the grass behind the banister, her pants already a bit muddy, observing snails. Or maybe eating them.

The first car came, the obnoxious orange of it visible from the beginning of the long driveway, followed by a shiny black Volvo.

Adam and Ronan stayed seated until all seven of them were out of the cars.

"What is going on?" Blue asked.

Hennessy, Jordan, Declan, and Matthew were standing on the right of the stairs to the porch, and Gansey, Cheng, and Blue were standing on the left. Ronan felt surrounded, especially with Adam now pushing his lower back and staring at him like he wanted Ronan to begin.

Ronan was not going to begin. "You go first, Parrish."

"You shithead," he grumbled under his breath, sending him a death glare. "Can't believe I'm signing myself for an eternity of this."

Ronan's grin widened.

Loud enough for everyone to hear it, Adam said, "We're getting married."

"What?"

"In half an hour," Adam added.

And the chaos erupted.

Matty, bless his heart — and Cheng, but without the blessing — was as excited as if it was his wedding, Blue was asking, again and again, how could they not tell her, and Gansey and Declan kept on asking, shouting over each other, whether this was a joke. Hennessy had to step away because she was laughing so loud.

"I hate this," Adam told him, close to his ear. "Why did we decide to get married again?"

"So you can have a brand new name and steal my fortune?" he said, nudging him with his elbow. He got a beautiful chuckle as a reward. "Cover your ear, baby."

Ronan came to the agreement with Adam — after an argument about Murder Squash in the car — that Adam's hearing was to be prioritized and he was to avoid ear-splitting noises at all costs. So no sudden, loud noises around Adam.

Adam covered his ear and stepped aside.

"SHUT UP," he shouted with the voice of someone who trained traditional Irish singing for ten years, making everyone quiet down. "We're getting married, end of the story. You can now move along with the crowd or leave."

Ronan hoped nobody left.

Nobody left, but everyone did shut up. Blue, Gansey, and Declan were all looking like they wanted to say something still, and Jordan now looked as amused as Hennessy.

Adam stepped up closer to the stairs, grabbing Ronan's hand on the way. "Gansey, you're going to be our witness."

Ronan squeezed his hand. "And you, Dickwad," he said, clearly looking at Declan, "are our second witness."

There was a very long silence when everyone stared at Ronan as if he grew a second head, Declan, in particular, like he was about to cry. Adam squeezed his hand.

When they discussed who they wanted to be the witness at their wedding, they agreed on Gansey immediately. Declan was Ronan's first choice for the second person, Blue was Adam's. Adam wasn't surprised, even expected that apparently, but Ronan realized that while his and Declan's relationship was getting better, there was a lot that they would never fully leave behind. Ronan didn't mind that and this was supposed to convey it without using the words. Clearly, it was a very bold statement.

"I told you I should have put on a suit," Gansey broke the silence, turning to Blue. "I can't go to church just in a shirt." He had dress pants and a white shirt on.

"Jesus fuck, Dick, you're not walking Adam down the aisle, you don't need a three-piece suit," Ronan said, hoping they have somehow omitted the rant and the scolding for now.

"Yeah, but Declan might walk Ronan," Adam added with a smirk. Ronan squeezed his hand hard enough to be uncomfortable, but he didn't budge, continuing, "Opal wanted to be a flower girl so someone has to do it."

Declan still didn't say anything.

Everyone packed back into their cars, Adam managed to put Opal in her car seat without getting the mud on his white suit while Ronan grabbed her flower basket from the house.

In the church — where Calla, Maura, and Dean were already waiting — the two of them left Opal with everyone and went to Father Cohen. After that, Adam told him he would go to the bathroom before the ceremony began and asked Ronan to watch that Opal didn't eat the flowers.

"Hey," he spoke up before Adam left. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He tapped his cheek and Adam chuckled.

"I'll be back in less than five minutes," he noticed.

"Don't care."

Adam rolled his eyes. Ronan leaned in and Adam kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll be back. In less than five minutes."

"I'm counting," Ronan told him.

He was left alone in front of the altar, what with almost everyone sitting down, Gansey having Blue adjust Dean's tie under his collar — it was too long to ever fit him properly — and with Father Cohen back at the sacristy.

It, unfortunately, left Ronan alone with Declan. "Ronan," he said.

"Yes, this is my fucking name."

He made a face. "Can you be serious for a moment?"

Ronan could, if he wanted to, but right now, he wasn't in the mood.

"Do you really want me to—to be your witness?"

This was exactly why Ronan didn't want to tell him about the wedding.

"You just have to sign your name on a stupid piece of paper," Ronan said, which was technically the truth but also not really. "It's not a big deal."

And Declan didn't say anything, just stared at Ronan with a blank face. If he wasn't so used to it, it'd make him fidget.

And then he hugged Ronan. It wasn't even the arm-clapping-his-back hug, it was the arms-around-shoulders and I'm-not-letting-you-go hug that he used to give Ronan when he didn't want to go to elementary school.

Over Declan's shoulder, he saw Jordan, giving him a two-handed thumbs up. Ronan hated all the weirdos in this family equally.

Which meant not at all.

"You will get snot on my jacket if you start crying," he said. It was probably too late for that.

Before he knew it, Matty was sandwiching the both of them in between his arms with a grip of someone who played in a college league lacrosse team, squeezing them to the point that both Declan and Ronan had to protest. Together.

Adam came back in front of the altar with Father Cohen in tow.

Ronan stood on the left side, Adam stood on the right. Declan was behind Ronan, Gansey behind Adam. Opal, right now holding their rings on a cushion that was tucked into her flower basket, was in between them.

Ronan smiled and Adam smiled back.

The ceremony began.

#pynch fic #pynch #trc #the raven cycle #my writing #my fics

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cateringisalie · 3 years

Text

9 years later and we have at last got a new Eva film and the end of the Rebuild project.

Much was made at the start of Rebuild of the desire to introduce Eva to a new audience. 1.0 more or less leant into its original goal and restaged episodes 1 to 6 of the TV series with a bigger budget, CGI, some more blunt and early reveals and a few weird alterations for the existing fan base. The Angel numbering was off; everyone knows Lilith is stuck in the basement, Seele just default to their monoliths. Kaworu is actively introduced at the tail-end rather than alluded to in the opening titles. As an intro, its fine (though most would agree the equivalent stage of the TV series isn’t really a struggle to cope with either), though a few stylistic and environmental changes lead many to conclude this was a direct sequel to End of Evangelion. 2.0 seemed content to build off of the intro but steer away from the relevant section of episodes – roughly 8 to 17. Recognisable moments like the falling Angel, the corrupted Unit 03 and the ribbon angel and Unit 01’s impossible reactivation share the screen with altered relationship dynamics. Now we get Mari one of the few wholly new characters who gets to open the second film in a wildly dramatic fashion. The key of Nebuchadnezzar (which does at least re-enter proceedings in the final film, but I am even shakier on what it is or used for – even fandom seem to have struggle to explain this as anything other than a blunt drop-in replacement for the Adam embryo in the TV series). And come the end its time for Third Impact already, Shinji altering the world around him to rescue Rei from the depths of an Angel. Kaworu uses an unfamiliar spear to incapacitate Shinji and the preview hints at a story further from the rails than ever. 3.0 is as promised more or less completely divorced from anything Eva had done before. Just not the off-the rails version 2.0 advertised. Some will be quick to note that none of the Rebuild previews have entirely accurately advertised their subsequent instalment; 1.0’s features at least one key scene that never happened (Mistao slapping Ristuko in a seeming allusion to the Sea of Dirac Angel) while even the sequences of animation that did make it look nothing alike. Which is fair, but even then 2.0’s bears absolutely no resemblance to 3.0 and even 3.0’s very strange preview doesn’t really jibe with 3.0+1.0 ultimately. 3.0 is post-post-apocalypse and with a whole 14 years just evaporated between films. There’s a distinct last third of Nadia feel to it. About the only part similar to a former incarnation is Kaworu and Shinji’s relationship which while not even roughly mapping to episode 24 serves the same function; to make Shinji distraught before the climax of this story. But 3.0 is also the point where that initial premise of the series slams headlong into the drift from familiar territory. Where the film is a quantum leap away from the mystery terms and slow reveals. The oddities and confusions pile up given the glimpsed state of the world, the strange gridded moon, the sea of Eva corpses, the strange state of Lilith in the depths of Nerv. An awful lot happened while Shinji was (for reasons no one has explained or seems to care about except me) IN SPACE and the film only ever alludes to the sequence of events occurring between these two films in the broadest of strokes. Which if done a certain way can be compelling though I did not find it to be the case here in the slightest. It’s a huge struggle to build up even a vague idea of what went down and that’s with heavy deferral back to the TV series again. If you’re new, none of this means much of anything. Even mixed media doesn’t help. The reveal there was a limited run manga of events prior to 3.0 had a potential for answers, but upon reading a synopsis... Nope. Helps not even a tiny amount. Also this mixed media attitude is never to be encouraged. So, I didn’t like film 3 much at all. Film 4 does little to not be based on where it left off. Which is a small mercy that it doesn’t effectively toss everything out again and skip further ahead in time. And 3.0+1.0 does at least make use of some of what 2.0 revealed and setup in the spirit of trying to get this into something cohesive. It fails, but it tried. Maybe the points it touches on were the intended direction of the films. Maybe Anno changed his mind on this one. It’s not like Rebuild’s failure to cohere should be a surprise – the title of the film is simply confusing in sequence. Titled neither 4.0 nor 4.44, instead we have the pretty inexplicable 3.0+1.0 which is just annoying to type. Even thematically this doesn’t feel right given its more like 2.0 mushed into 3.0 but I suppose that’s technically film 5 so... Unless, 1.0 here is supposed to mean the original TV series or EoE, which... End of Evangelion figures unexpectedly largely in the film. Could be that its meant to infer some collection of the Eva cast (the original pilots + Mari? The Ikari family + Mari? The pilots from 1.0 (Shinji and Rei) plus the pilots from 3.0 (Asuka and Mari)?). The other part of course, is that the three prior films had titles in the form of [Thing](Not)]Thing]. 3.0+1.0 decides to dispense with this entirely and instead is titled “Thrice Upon a Time”. Nothing like confusing matters (and instead media library ordering) by not only giving the film a title that puts it before the 3rd film (since prior to this cinema releases are .0 and the home media (excepting the first release of 1.0) are triple digits of their instalment number) but also has another reference to three within it. It might be some kind of holy trinity allusion, some play on Third Impact, or an acknowledgement that this is theoretically the third version of events surrounding the end of the world (if you take TV series as 1, EoE as 2, and Rebuild as 3). Also potentially a literary reference about cyclical time and messages from the future which is all well and good and fits into a whole other essay about how Rebuild and FFVII Remake are operating on the same basis and making many of the same mistakes by both trying to be fan-service for the new fans and draw in new ones and do the big fan-moments similarly but diverge wildly off in others. Good start! The final film starts with bombast as per 2 and 3 (and thus focused on Mari) though the setup and point of the action is possibly more confused and less explicable (which is saying something given 3.0 opened with retrieving Unit 01 from space. No, I will continue to complain about not getting this. Yes it was very exciting but why was Unit 01 in space? In a strange crucifix coffin. Anyone at all?) – and only vaguely connected to anything resembling the plot. At least 2.0 and 3.0 had some immediate and long term stakes with a cover for Kaji stealing something and bringing Shinji into the plot. This film opens with a scrounge for spare parts in a red Paris that the tertiary cast make no longer red while Mari fights off a massed horde of Evas while battleships are puppeteered from orbit. It’s all terrible cool and everything, but given at no point do we even begin to understand what is going on or what the stakes even are. Which is a problem with the latter half of the sequence. 2.0 might have started with an Eva vs Angel fight but while there was ambiguity over the situation it at least seemed to lead into the eventual plot. Here we’re getting Eva spare parts for later and a whole dose of new terminology the film has no interest in explaining. Which is par for the course for prior Eva incarnations but again, I feel there was more explanation setting the weirdness up. Here we are reduced to keywords that sound important. The film proper opens with our familiar trio of Eva pilots winding up at a village with their old classmates (which of course, to follow the proliferations of 3 all the way down and also match to Tokyo-3, is in fact, Village 3. The far future sequel to Resident Evil 8 presumably). Who are necessarily now 14 years older than them. Asuka is naked (in a sequence to contrast to 1.0 and 2.0) or in her underwear for far too much of this sequence (and just as creepy as 2.0 got with this) as Shinji struggles in the aftermath of Kaworu’s death, Ayanami (critically not the Rei of 2.0) learns about life (and visits a library with – I’m not kidding – a poster for Sugar Sugar Rune on display. I like to think not many in the audience caught this slightly odd reference). 30 minutes of the film are taken up with Rei being happy and contented with her life while Shinji slowly recovers and re-enters polite society (sulks, throws up at the sight of the DSS collar, is insulted and force-fed). There’s a good case for this section just being an unnecessary time filler, though you don’t need to fill time in a film that is 2 ½ hours. But if it was cut down, perhaps it would have the same strange feeling as 1.0 had where the aftermath of Shinji’s second Angel fight lead was mostly skipped and left that part of 1.0 feeling strangely hasty and actively (and badly) abridged. Maybe that’s just my familiarity with the source material again. There’s still an edge of weirdness in the air on the film hits the 45 minute mark; even prior to this gigantic sections of the land are missing, and some things just float around now (apparently because). Past this mark is where weirdness creeps in; the barriers keeping the village from suffering the fate of Paris – the structures a curious match to the Cocytus facility at the start of 2.0. There are headless Eva copies who roam the landscape. An indicator on Ayanami’s suit runs down. Shinji is advised to talk to his father before he loses the opportunity forever. This one made me laugh, and even Asuka comments that given who Shinji’s father is and what he’s done don’t really make this plausible (or sensible). Ayanami concludes her pastoral life and this stage of the film by transforming back to her original white plug-suit; her AT Field then dissipates and she bursts in a familiar spill of LCL. For such a previously central character, Rei or Ayanami or Lilith will have exceptionally little bearing on the remainder of the film. The plot now kicks in properly as Gendo decides enough is enough and he’s going to be doing some world ending. Our Eva pilots are ready but not the same; we have Asuka, Mari and Shinji. And standing orders for Shinji to be shot if he tries to pilot anything (but given we’re at the end of the world and basically the original plan fails to stop Nerv bringing about the end of the world, that people still try to shoot him is... a little weird and an almost pointless resolution of factors the quaternary cast brought up in 3.0). The entire rest of the film is even more impenetrable and confusing than Kaworu’s sweeping explanations of what happened between films 2 and 3. If 3.0 fumbled the ball on being newcomer friendly 3.0+1.0 actively doesn’t care. Not that familiarity with series helps since so much new terminology is thrown at the audience. The entire cast – literally the entire cast – are not only caught up on but also understand the varying levels of psychological, biological and religious nonsense that Eva has formerly wielded as something almost coherent. You, as audience member, are not privy to a fraction of this understanding and thus left to flail for the remainder of the film making what you can of the maddening breadcrumb trail of exclamations and partial explanations. Shinji is no help here and infuriatingly asks barely a single question about what is going on (thankfully he does prompt Gendo to explain a few things – presumably where even the staff had gotten lost on what was supposedly going on). For existing fans, you might get a sense of it by application of known quantities from the previous incarnations (I pity newcomers struggling to make sense of this). What the Lance of Cassius is a thing introduced abruptly into the series – and contrasted with the Lance of Longinus you can muddle through to get some idea of what was going on. 3.0+1.0 however, decides that even that grip on its story is too much and adds a bunch more unnamed spears. Some of them formed from Lilith. This is a thing of some import apparently, though ultimately is effectively buzzword name-checking. We know who Lilith is in context from both 1.0 and the TV series but how that relates to spear formation is beyond me. And then there’s the part where one of the flying ships (there were four made according to Seele’s plan. Seele, the former sinister puppet-masters, who died in film 3, and if the flying ships were their idea or this stated at all, I had totally forgotten it in the last 9 years (checking wikia seems to indicate no one else knew this either so I feel vindicated). Seele feel an artefact of the old Eva Anno has no time for – EoE had what equated to three groups vying for control of the process of human instrumentality. Seele are adhering to a prophecy of sorts, Gendo is trying to subvert that process for his own ends, and Misato is trying to stop it. In terms of economical story-telling, the distinction between Seele and Gendo’s goals in causing Third Impact are so slim as to be basically zero (few critical differences though), I suspect Seele were deemed unnecessary and shuffled out of proceedings hastily despite their continued name-checking at this late stage) is turned into another spear because if all the spears are used up, the end of the world can’t be averted. You will have to forgive me for failing to notice how and where most of these spears (save three) wound up or what most of that means or why or how or anything. But we have a budget to squander and why not channel the Gurren Lagann energy for action one last time? And there is some action, this presumably part of what a good section of the audience have waited for with baited breath, that thing the TV series so rapidly lost interest in; that EoE staged for narrative cruelty. Smashy giant robot action time! So we get billions of Eva enemies for Asuka and Mari to cut through without problem. They explode and fall away despite exhaustively overwhelming numbers. There is a palpable lack of threat here. A few hitches but nothing the pilots can’t cope with. It’s just empty fan-service, a boast about how much can be rendered into a single frame. We get Asuka, unable to stab critically important Unit 13 (looking distinctly Unit 01-like just with four arms), and then hooking into an odd leftover thread from 2.0. Her accident in the activation test of Unit 03 has left her with a part of herself now more correctly classified as an Angel. And like 2.0 for surprise value, her Eva has special Angel blood injectors to again overcharge her Eva (which seems to be a thing in the latter three films – turn the Eva safety off and go beserk. As if Unit 01 didn’t do that all on its own in the first and second film). And this too fails. But this too is just another moment of important and pretention. Where the audience is meant to gasp at Eva/Angel hybridisation (not that the dividing line between Angles and Evas is ever completely clear (not least Unit 03)), at Asuka revealing herself to be part Angel (as if Kaworu and Rei weren’t established examples). So her Eva bloated and animalistic is... just another moment. We saw this in 2.0 with Mari releasing her limiters. We saw it in 3.0 in almost the same way. The distinction isn’t meaningfully different to the last few times the Evas were let off the leash and became more brutal. And just like the prior times this escalation of Eva body horror, ferocity, blood and over-indulged violence doesn’t actually help the situation. Asuka fails in her task as the Unit 13 counter-attacks. She’s saved by getting pulled out of reality moments before her end. Of course this being narrative, this being Eva; Gendo, the architect of this situation, is three steps ahead. Misato’s flying ship is badly and perhaps critically damaged so Gendo can retrieve the limbless body of Unit 01 formerly powering the flying ship. Shooting Gendo doesn’t work thanks to the key of Nebuchadnezzar (which did... Uh. Something? Kaji noted it as the lost number kept as a spare in 2.0 which implied Angel or Eva or... No I don’t know nor can I make sense of what it’s done to Gendo. Wikia informs me that while it’s never seen on-screen past the one time, its case is in some shots of 3.0. How amazing) and he leaves. And thus, of course, Shinji must get in the f-ing robot once more. But we’re back to the confident, more certain Shinji who 2.0 birthed as we enter the last (but still very long) final stage of the film – and restage End of Evangelion. Curious of course; EoE by turns can feel like a legitimate replacement for the final two TV series episodes or a bleakly, darkly, disturbing and flippant retort to the low-budget metaphysic version of the TV apocalypse. EoE to some has been not so much the intended ending (though buying a complete set of the old Eva in Japan will always net you the 26 original TV episodes, the four amended episodes and EoE), but more a poisoned chalice for the people who wanted a less introspective version of the end of the world and the process of human instrumentality. Anno was free to do what he wanted and veer off the tracks here – he can’t get away from the end of the world – this is integral to Eva’s base concept. 2.0’s glimpse of Second and the starts of Third Impact depict a process completely unfamiliar from the TV series’s version (reading Wikia explains some of 2.0’s imagery but is still bewildering with reference to 3.0+1.0’s reveals). In Rebuild, the end of the world is staged in the space below the strange aftermath of Second Impact, in an anti-universe where humans cannot venture. And yet, we are still clearly revisiting End of Evangelion. Not exactly the same, but a lot of imagery (the symbols in the sky, the gigantic form of Lilith at multiple points, the crucifix explosions across Earth’s surface) – to say nothing of some actual sections of animation – are taken straight from the 1997 film. Those moments and images were haunting and disturbing (the more overtly sexualised imagery has been completely removed). Clearly no matter what was said at the time or in the interim, EoE is in fact how the ending must play out; this is, or has become, what happens externally and internally when these characters attempt to force a next stage of evolution. The End of Evangelion will always be the end. ...just not quite the same. Not least it is missing most of the infamous moments (Shinji in Asuka’s hospital room is notably completely absent). There’s no moment where Shinji strangles Asuka, Komm Susser Tod is missing entire (in favour of something similar sounding but in Japanese), the live-action sequences of the empty cinema or the world without Evas aren’t utilised (though some live action footage is included), Rei betraying Gendo and beginning Third Impact outside his control etc. It's actively absurd to type this, but Lilith – Lilith! – has less character here. Which is so astonishingly absurd given the only depiction of Lilith we get is effectively Rei/Rei was Lilith the entire time, but those introspective sequences hinting at something more involved with Rei or the points Lilith does talk directly to Shinji are gone too. This shouldn’t be a surprise – we are after all missing a Rei character at the climax. Mostly. 3.0+1.0 almost expects you to remember the last time you saw Eva end the world and contrast it to this new version. The EoE imagery, the footage of Lilith descending from the crucifix, the looming figure of Lilith rising as humanity ends. Even something like the sequence of the backsides of cels running backward is reused – this footage also cribbed from EoE and played out on a wall between two characters. The animation breaks down into scratchy storyboards and later degenerates from finished footage down to outlines, animatics, and storyboard. The end of the world is this time around is more heavily meta. Both EoE and the TV episodes “staged” the process of Instrumentality (or parts of it) for Shinji. It occurs in filming spaces and on sets, there’s lighting equipment and dolls as stand-ins. The strange artificiality of pulling back the curtain on the TV or film production, or else the effect of setting the camera back further than you should for filming a theatrical experience. But even that’s a false layer given a true pull-back would be to people in front of computers or previously drawing key-frames. Here the staging is more blunt still. It begins with an Eva vs Eva fight between Gendo and Shinji in the anti-universe where their brains make sense of the impossible space with artificially staged areas of familiar locations. A fight in a city has a huge sheet as a backdrop and carboard buildings the Evas kick around. They fight in front of Nerv headquarters and in Misato’s kitchen. A blow knocks over a section of scenery and sprawls Shinji in the studio space surrounding the set. A crossroads of sort where Shinji will move on from Gendo to meet with Rei, Kaworu and Asuka. The major difference to EoE is that the end here is much more concerned with Gendo; we dive into his psyche and his past. His isolation and desire for it. This feels extremely confessional for Anno all things considered given Gendo was always previously kept at arm’s length. This feels revealing about the man behind it all, a reflection of the director. He has admitted during production that at his stage of life he is far closer to Gendo than Shinji – I think this is barely obfuscated here. The flashback is more about understanding Gendo and how Yui changed him than anything about Evas or the end of the world. Gendo’s motivation is revealed to be the same as always; this is how he gets to be with Yui again. Odd details catch as this past plays out. And is that Mari in his memories? Mari, who Fuyustuki calls Mary Iscariot upon meeting her and has prepared something for her. Which feels much more like religious buzz words; there’s an obvious implication coached in that selection of a name, but how it actually relates to the story or the circumstances is really unclear. Nor am I clear on what Fuyutsuki prepared. He explodes into LCL like last time too. The process is so close to EoE but the mood is lighter and the reasoning behind the cast a little different. Asuka is part of a clone series – same as Rei. Just without the physical signifiers that Kaworu and Rei exhibit and the prior short-hand for clones in this universe (as noted, their design is intended to invoke lab rats). Nice consistency there. The beach ending from EoE is re-done under a blue sky; Asuka is saved thanks to Shinji and Mari working in concert. Kaworu’s beach meeting with Shinji is restaged, the newer, confident Shinji discussing the circular system that delivers Kaworu into his place at the end of the world. So Eva has happened before, meta-wise or time-wise or dimensionally. Take it as you will, no interpretation is more valid than another. Only that Kaworu remembers them all. It’s happened before and it’s expected to happen again. But Shinji’s different now, so the end of the world is different. Now it’s time to move on; Kaworu is left with Kaji to tend the earth assured the cycle of Eva productions is at an end – both have been dead all this time. Anno’s attitude to his seeming forever association with this one franchise his and his desire to set it down and move on? EoE finished in space; 3.0+1.0 finishes beneath the Antarctic. The idea of Unit 01 living forever as a testament to humanity is no factor at all Shinji intending (and his parents possibly driving) the final riddance of the Evas from reality – none can be allowed to remain. But now, the film takes an odd turn, and as with EoE, there’s the coda. In EoE this was the beach scene. For Rebuild: The sun shines, the sky is blue. An adult Shinji sits in a train station and meets with Mari. She’s older too now; the pair share a kiss and run from the station hand in hand. So. Uh. Yeah. That happened. There’s Kaworu and Rei seemingly alive and well as adults. And Asuka of course. But Shinji winds up with Mari. Mari who knew everything the whole time and might somehow have been part of Gendo’s group at university and known Yui and no, we are not getting any insight into those peculiarities! (or more plausibly it could be Mari’s mother who looks near identical to Mari but... What are we meant to take from this, really?). Mari who met Shinji in a handful of brief moments and has never spent any actual time with him. Mari won the love-triangle! But this is not some simple alternate reality, a different better take world where the cast existed in something resembling our reality; Shinji still wears the exploding DSS collar given to him before rejoining the giant robot fray. Mari effortlessly removes it from his neck. The film ends with a live-action sequence – this is reportedly Anno’s hometown. The world without Evas; we passed the relevant date while 3.0+1.0 was stalled. Shinji made it to 2014, or more plausibly past it in a world without Second Impact. And he’s happy, well-adjusted, and... Not really recognisable as Shinji. Shinji now exists in the present, not the future as he had for so long in pop-culture. But he’s in a different 2021; a world without the pandemic. And that was Rebuild; a project intended as a new introduction to Evangelion that blatantly had its entire core conceit revised at least twice (the 4th film delayed because of Shin Godzilla and then a struggle to write at all) that increasingly and confusingly leant more and more on its famed initial incarnation even as it veered increasingly and erratically away from the familiar sequences. I liked 3.0+1.0 more than 3.0, but can’t help but still bemoan whatever 3.0 was going to be when 2.0 happened. The alternate other sequence. And despite it all, despite the allusions to a repetition of Eva and of this being the break in the chain, even those working on and involved with the film see even this as a definitive end. Even Anno’s not convinced that’s the last word. Eva will come back all over again; naturally – there’s money to be made here, and what’s yet another alternate take to add to the TV series, the manga, the games, the other manga, EoE, Rebuild and so on. Kaworu apparently is indeed doomed to revisit this forever alongside everyone else and also remember that for once he was gifted a true end. An impossible conclusion for modern pop-culture it feels.

#long post

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greysrecruitment · 3 years

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HOW DO RECRUITMENT AGENCIES WORK?

Recruiting the right people takes a huge amount of time and skill, and for many companies it is a real struggle to find enough time to do it well.

A recruitment agency is a company that works as a ‘middle man’ in between the company looking for candidates, and the candidates themselves. Recruiters cultivate long-term relationships with clients and candidates alike, obtaining the closest fit between organization and employee. Essentially, they streamline and manage the recruitment process for their client.

Industry Experts

The recruiter will understand the client’s business model, corporate culture and specific industry circumstances in order to best match the new candidate to the organisation. Using a recruitment agency can reduce a large amount of time and costs due to the vast resources and databases the recruitment agency has available.

The agency does the advertising, marketing, manages all of the submissions, and shortlists the best candidates for the company. They also have experts who can consult on industry trends, salaries, Labour regulations, corporate culture, personality fit and find those qualities of a person which can’t as easily be demonstrated on a CV.

They usually do background checks (at Greys Recruitment we do criminal record checks, credit rating checks, reference checks and qualification checks), as well as initial candidate interviews prior to presenting them to the client for an interview.

Cutting Through the Noise

Often when employers advertise a position on job boards, they receive hundreds (or possibly even thousands) of responses, most of which do not fit the minimum requirements for the position.

It can be an extremely time-consuming process, leading to many companies using recruitment agencies to shortlist candidates on their behalf. Professional recruiters help filter through all this information for their client. In an increasingly digital world, there are a growing number of large paid recruitment platforms and apps which reach a vast audience and allow applicants to apply for roles en masse.

This has led many applicants to concentrate on quantity over quality when applying for jobs where they send out blanket CV’s hoping to get lucky.

Fees

Recruitment agencies do not charge candidates a fee, they invoice their clients a percentage of the successful candidate’s annual salary. A common misconception about recruitment agencies is the idea that recruitment agencies source jobs for candidates. Rather, recruitment agencies source candidates for their client’s vacant positions.

Take Note

Be wary of companies or individuals who attempt to charge you for their services to land you a job. If you are unsure if a company is legitimate, make sure to do some research. A free email address for example, is usually a not a good sign (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc.), as they might not be linked to a reputable company.

Be wary of forwarding documents such as copies of certificates, your ID or your passport. This sensitive information can be used for identity theft. Recruitment agencies have an extensive database or ‘talent community’ of great candidates, and often fill positions without advertising. It is good to register your CV with a few good agencies so that they have your details on record for when a role in your field comes up.

It is important to ensure that your CV contains keywords relevant to the positions you would apply for, and that the CV is in a format that is readable by a computer and not a scanned document. This makes it easier for your details to appear when a recruiter is searching their database.

Headhunting

A key function professional recruitment agency perform is sourcing ‘passive’ candidates for their clients, also called ‘headhunting’. Candi Samuels, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at Greys Recruitment says, ‘Headhunting is a huge part of my job, especially with the skills shortage in South Africa. I approach high profile candidates who are currently employed but not actively seeking employment in another organization. I successfully convince the candidate to explore the opportunity by focusing on the benefits of ‘making a move’ compared to their pain points of their current position, therefor sparking their interest and completing the recruitment process. Benefiting both the candidate and our client.’

Building Relationships

Applicants also need to take note of the importance of building a relationship with their recruiter. Finding a job via a recruitment agency can have a wide range of advantages. One of the most important services that a consultant can offer a candidate is constructive advice and feedback, before and after an interview.

They are well placed in the market and know the employment landscape and have good relationships with many employers. Looking for a job is a stressful activity and having constructive feedback is an invaluable way of making sure you are on the right track. Having a good recruiter on your side who can assist you to highlight your skills in the best way can be a game changer.

Looking for a job?

Please visit the Greys Recruitment jobseeker page and upload your C.V to our nationwide database! Should a potential job offer open, and you are considered, we will contact you!

Looking for staff?

Let our dedicated and hardworking team of consultants find you the perfect candidate. Please visit our employer page and inform us what you are looking for!

Rooted firmly in the solid foundation of the Measured Ability Group of Companies (MASA), Greys Recruitment and Greys Nursing Services have been trusted as industry leaders in the recruitment sector for over 40 years. We have offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Durban.

#greys recruitment #finding a job #recruitment #employment #jobsearch

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soveryanon · 4 years

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Reviewing time for MAG169 (nice)~

- So, no cookie for guessing Desolation with this one, but big kudos to those who guessed that the episode would be reminiscent of the Grenfell Tower fire. Oh boy, what a domain it was ;; Desolation episodes have always felt extremely cruel and this one went veeerrry harsh on the torture and despair, even before the physical pain of it (as Jon said, “Some fears don’t need to be intensified; only manifested”). I really felt the nightmare-logic in this one, the feeling of being trapped and discovering/realising the rules and parameters as they became relevant; a little scenario that felt repeated, again and again, beginning badly (home as a prison, a toxic place that one cannot help but love because it’s familiar and theirs) and only getting worse, with Sabina losing everything (parents, possessions, physical safety), while at the same time… everything was rooted in something very concrete, very logical, very relatable, laced with poverty and the loss of agency.

- The edge in Jon’s voice for this one was terrifying (and so was the soundscaping, expressing what was being said), and it seemed… on point for The Desolation. Jude directly called him out about the fact that he himself was enjoying the fear but, even before that, the way Jon narrated Sabina’s nightmare really hammered in the cruelty and sadistic glee of the domain feeding on her ;; The mentions of the “landlord” were especially chilling, given a rhythmic, almost casually fatalistic c’est-la-vie tone to the whole ordeal (… while no, clearly, it wasn’t, and even if the fire had been accidental, there should have been ways and options to make it out… but no, due to an accumulation of negligence/neglect turning into something criminal):

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: “But the door latch never really aligned properly, you see; the landlord always said he was going to get it fixed and… it refuses to open. […] The window frame never really opened properly, you see; the landlord always said he was going to get it fixed. […] But the fire escape was always really rusty, you see; the landlord always said he was going to replace it. […] Falling back into the inferno that is now her home, Sabina dashes over to the laughably small fire extinguisher the landlord begrudgingly provided; it is sputtering, and empty.”

(… Jon impersonating the parents’ screams sadly took me out of it on first listen, because the “We’re BURNING” immediately made me think of Jonny-playing-Galahad in HNOC’s “Hellfire” and the “We’re FALLING into the flames”, which was a bit of a mood-whiplash x”) It worked better on second listen, and again, WHAT is Jon currently feeding to the tape recorders…)

- Same as in other domains, memories were clearly rewritten or only made accessible to serve the dominant Fear at stake:

(MAG163) ARCHIVIST: “Next to him, Charlie saw Ryan, who he’d known since childhood – though the other details were hazy. Ryan gave him a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile – before his face exploded inwards to a sniper’s bullet, peppering the boat with shards of bone and gore.”

(MAG164) ARCHIVIST: “There was never a time before the disease, no matter what the old bastards tell you. It has always been in the village, always festered in the dark corners where nobody could stomach to check, where good neighbours wouldn’t dream to speculate.”

(MAG165) ARCHIVIST: “Its pace remaining as it ever was, it does not care for coming pains as you are torn. Doesn’t it know who you are? No… And soon… neither will you. […] You will be someone again, someday. […] “I’m still Hannah!” you try to scream, but are you? No. Perhaps there’s some Veronica as fragments there, or Julian, or Anya, but… no. You feel the last of names and “who” you might have been be torn away and borne towards new bodies. New pages, blank; determined to be people.”

(MAG166) ARCHIVIST: “When had the crushing pressure in his chest become literal? When had the empty promise of the horizon finally vanished completely, replaced by the pitch darkness of this “forever wall of earth”? Sam did not know. Time had no meaning here. […] His existence was static, and eternal. Immutable. “Sleep” was only a memory, because even the prospect of unconsciousness might have made his present state slightly more bearable. Food as well, he knew, must be a thing, for he could feel the hunger, but his imagination failed to picture it. The only smell he knew was the damp, and the dirt.”

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: “How long as she lived here? How long have these cramped, dingy rooms in the back of this sprawling rundown tenement been the place her heart calls home? She cannot recall, but long enough for her to grow into love for it, to cherish every rusted appliance, every crumbling piece of plasterboard, every – flickering – lightbulb. […] Sabina cannot… picture their faces, but knows that should they wake to see the state of the place… their anger would be blistering. […] What floor was her flat on again? Surely, it can’t be this high. […] Limping and desperate, she turns to see her furniture in flames, the bookshelves full of memories, that she can’t quite place [STATIC RISES] but knows are precious to her, curl and float away as ash. The photos on the wall of her family whose faces seem indistinct but she knows that she loves, begin to blacken, as the glass pops out of the frame.”

For Sabina, memories were only useful to represent what she would lose. (;; It’s one of the things that still makes me the most uneasy with this season: the fact that regular people are deprived of who they used to be, the memories of who they were… while Jon&Martin are beaming with their Uniqueness. People are trapped in these nightmares but, by comparison, it feels a bit like they’re already “dead” and interchangeable, only allowed to remember things and be reshaped to better fear and feed the Powers…)

- I was wondering what would be the point of avatars in this new world (if they would still feed their patrons, or be absolutely superfluous, etc.). The fact that Jude’s death apparently didn’t perturb the Desolation domain very much tends to prove that they aren’t necessary, so it really seems like the keyword was what Oliver said last episode:

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “Sometimes, for some small variety, I will allow Danika to brush against another root: the final fate of someone she loves. […] And with each one, she knows her steps forward bring closer not only her own end, but all of theirs. Time walks forward with her, but she has not the strength to stop it. Her fate draws ever-nearer, filling me with the joy of watchful fear, but also my own concerns.”

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: It’s a maze in there, deliberately so. People running, desperately struggling for fire escapes only to find them blocked. … We won’t get lost, though. I know the route. […] “Do you smell smoke? Do you smell… the creeping ruin of a life, a stalking creature of unmaintained electricals, of cheap insulation, of cut-corners and missing fire alarms and unenforced safety regulations? Do you see it creeping under the door to your bedroom as you sleep, the burning coals of its eyes, regarding you in the supposed safety on your home; not indifferent, but hungry, eager to take everything from you, to burn down your life in any sense it can reach? Can you hear the crackling promise of kindled despair, that it whispers into your uneasy, dreaming ear?”

“Variety”? Creativity? Diversifying people’s suffering for the Powers’ enjoyment, and above all The Eye’s? I… wonder what that would mean regarding Jon, as The Eye’s favourite, right now… ;;

- I got genuinely surprised that Jon mentioned Arthur Nolan as still alive, because I thought he had been done for since March 2014 and the events recalled by Jordan Kennedy:

(MAG145) GERTRUDE: So. Now, Diego has taken over… Where does that leave you? ARTHUR: [SNORT] Slumlording over a nest. GERTRUDE: Oh. A nest of… what? ARTHUR: Found a mass of the Crawling Rot growing, a while back. Managed to get a hold of the property before it became too big. Gotta wait ‘til it blossoms before we can properly burn it. So until then… just playing landlord.

(MAG055) JORDAN: Time seemed to move slowly as he reached for the ashtray on the arm of the chair and picked up a pack of matches. He struck one and without even looking at me, he gently pressed the small flame to the centre of the scar. His flesh caught fire, immediately, the flames spreading across his body like rippling water. The armchair caught, then the floor, and then I was running out of the building before the rolling inferno could come at me as well.

(MAG169) MARTIN: Right… I just assumed this would be… Who was that landlord guy? ARCHIVIST: Arthur Nolan. He’s here, he has a… part of it, but it’s… huge. Bigger than you could believe. There’s so much fear in there…

It had felt odd to die from self-immolation, for a Desolation avatar, but we hadn’t seen him since then, and he had lived his time – given how Eugene Vanderstock was aware that he wouldn’t last forever (MAG139: “So, me? I was born in ‘36 – I know, I don’t look seventy. But burning the candle at all ends does have a few advantages. Until you burn out entirely, at least. It’s hard to say how much I’ve got left in me; how much longer my sacrifices can buy me. But when I go… you better believe I’m going big – and it is going to hurt.”), I had assumed that Arthur setting himself on fire was because his time has reached its limit and/or that his life had been tied to The Hive’s nest somehow by Gertrude, and that Jane becoming The Hive meant his final demise or something? But apparently, no, he was still around. I wonder what he was doing during the following four years? (If it was a matter of Desolation avatars respawning in the domain, I’d have expected for Agnes to be mentioned, but she wasn’t, so…)

- Speaking of Arthur, it’s hilarious how much this statement hammered in the confluence of Corruption/Desolation when it comes to one’s life crumbling, getting devastated:

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: “Maybe the dirt and grime builds up to such a degree that the stench begins to infect your soul, or an infestation of moths or ants or bed bugs stretches itself throughout the very structure of your home, until it feels like your skin is squirming with them. […] How long as she lived here? How long have these cramped, dingy rooms in the back of this sprawling rundown tenement been the place her heart calls home? She cannot recall, but long enough for her to grow into love for it, to cherish every rusted appliance, every crumbling piece of plasterboard, every – flickering – lightbulb. Even as the widening cracks and spreading mould fill her heart with dread, they gently, slowly, inch by inch, approach the mildewed room where her parents lie sleeping.”

… Given Arthur’s utter disdain for the idea that The Lightless Flame could be assimilated to anything Corruption-adjacent:

(MAG145) ARTHUR: Not like I can vent to the others about what a prat Diego is! Got a lot of funny ideas. Still calls The Lightless Flame “Asag”, like he was when he was first researching it. I just want to tell him to get over it – I mean, [FASTER AND FASTER] Asag was traditionally a force of destruction, sure, but as a church, we very much settled on burning in terms of the… face we worship, and some… fish-boiling Sumerian demon doesn’t really match up, does it?! Plus, there’s a lot of disease imagery with Asag that I’ll reckon is… way too close to Filth for my taste, but, but no, he read it in some ~ancient tome~, so that’s that– GERTRUDE: Well, I can’t say I– ARTHUR: –reckons he always knows best, ‘cause he’s read a few books, well. Big. Deal! Way I see it, if a writer can’t even save themselves, they probably don’t have a lot worth knowing! Find me one so-called “expert” on all of this who didn’t end up regretting all of it!

I hope your ego and convictions are shattering and that this is your personal hell, Arthur. Diego was RIGHT.

- Regarding Jon and Martin’s own domains, Jon raised the possibility that they were metaphorically trapped in their own quest, and it follows the comments about how they were outside of the box:

(MAG164) MARTIN: Are we safe, traveling like this? ARCHIVIST: Yes… Yes, sort of, we’re… I don’t know how to phrase it, we’re… something between a pilgrim and a moth. We can walk through these little worlds of terror, watching them; separate, and untouched. MARTIN: [NERVOUS CHUCKLING] That’s not as comforting as you might think. ARCHIVIST: I like it better than the alternative…!

(MAG165) MARTIN: But. You said we needed to go through these places. … Is that even going to work here? ARCHIVIST: Uh… [EXHALE] We need to go through them… metaphorically. MARTIN: Mm… ! ARCHIVIST: Psychologically, we need to… “experience” them. […] MARTIN: Jon, what are you talking about? NOT!SASHA: [FURIOUS SNARLS] ARCHIVIST: She can’t touch us. We’re so far beyond her now. NOT!SASHA: [FURIOUS SNARLS] ARCHIVIST: She’s just like everything else here, rules by The Eye.

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: Like I said, I can’t see the future. It wouldn’t free them, if that’s what you’re asking. “Free” doesn’t really exist in this place. MARTIN: Apart from us. ARCHIVIST: I suppose. I–in a sense, though… [CHUCKLING] how much of that is because we are trapped in our own quest to– MARTIN: Okay, let’s, let’s not dive into another… ontological debate right now, not here.

… and 1°) they’re still technically under The Eye – the whole world is its domain right now; 2°) Obligatory “WHAT IS MARTIN’S DOMAIN” (a fixed place? Web, Lonely? The Institute-Panopticon too? Jon as “the Archive”, having ~trapped~ Martin?), 3°) … big Oouft because if they were to consider their quest as the “domain” trapping them… a quest is made around a goal. Jon presented it as a “doomed quest” which was already worrisome, Oliver highlighted that the current system would ultimately collapse on its own, The Buried’s domain taunted its victims with constant hope, so… if the goal kept being unreachable, but still “almost” out of reach, Jon and Martin could be trapped a bit more literally than just on an ontological plane.

- ;w; Martin is afraid of fire…

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: … You said you were onboard. MARTIN: I was! I am; I just… thought… ARCHIVIST: It wouldn’t hurt? MARTIN: … That we’d be safe. ARCHIVIST: I never said– MARTIN: I know! I know, okay, I just… [SOMETHING SHATTERS] Look, I j–, I just don’t want to get burned, alright? It’s, it’s like my least favourite pain ever. ARCHIVIST: Is that… a joke? MARTIN: No, no! Okay? I… I legitimately hate burns, alright, they’re–they’re awful, and they scar horribly, and they just, it– It–it just makes me sick, I–I hate it. Hate it!

* Is it related to the fact that he had to care for his mom from a very young age, and that accidents happened…? That makes his decision to burn statements in MAG117-MAG118 even braver – fire that he could control on his terms, but still, in close proximity to him.

* … Actually, Elias implanting in his mind the truth of how his mother saw him, while Martin had just burned a few statements and was threatening to keep doing it, and when the smell of the fire might have still be floating around at that moment miiiight have added fuel (ha) to Martin’s own fear. Associating bad things and pain to fire.

* Wooft that he hates burns and what they leave, when he’s probably been walking kilometres holding Jon’s all-burned-to-fuck hand.

* YEAH ALSO, that line about how pain can leave a scar even if there is no physical mark to show for it? Is valid on its own but, given Martin’s past, resonates even more when keeping in mind his relationship with his mother and the way Elias inflicted his powers on him and Melanie (MAG118: “Do you want to know what she sees when she looks at you?”). It’s really not empty words, he knows from experience.

* … Same thing as the contrast between MAG117 (“This way I finally get to do something. It’s gonna hurt, but… I’m ready. And I want to. Also, I get to burn some stuff, so that cool!”) and MAG118 (“Don’t. burn. any more. statements.”) around fire: reality not as great as when plans were made, when it comes to the “smiting”, uh.

* … Obligatory “This Is How Web!Martin Can Still Win” since The Desolation and The Web were extremely at odds, and Martin… really was uncomfortable and panicking in this zone, when he had been keeping it together in previous ones (he got very afraid in the Slaughter’s, but it was the first and Martin was discovering the rules):

(MAG139, Eugene Vanderstock) “The compromise we came to… was Hill Top Road. We knew it was a stronghold of The Web, full of other children Agnes’s age. We would supervise from a distance, but were confident she would be in no danger. The Mother of Puppets has always suffered at our hand – all the manipulation and subtle venom in the world means nothing against a pure and unrestrained force of destruction and ruin.”

(Though to be fair: Martin presented himself as a “luxury smörgåsbord” for Fears in MAG117 since he was “just afraid all the time”, was always the Assistant Of Many Fears throughout the series, so it doesn’t have to be significatively a Web indicator – it’s mostly that, well, alright, so Martin can still feel specific, personal fears.)

- … And meanwhile: we went from Jon really casually forgetting that he was using his powers and knew more than he mundanely should have (the beginning of MAG167) to taking a moment to remember that Martin is not omniscient nor a mind-reader, not processing that pain (even temporary and without long-lasting damage) is a genuine factor, and admitting blankly that he’s feeding from this world, which, oops:

(MAG167) [STATIC RISES] ARCHIVIST: Help us with what? MARTIN: ‘xcuse me? ARCHIVIST: Annabelle, help us with “what”? Our–our, our journey, killing Elias, vanishing the Entities – what? [FOOTSTEPS STOP] MARTIN: Please don’t do that. ARCHIVIST: Do what…? Oh! Oh. Right, I, I see, yes. [STATIC FADES] Well, I– … [FOOTSTEPS RESUME] Sorry. MARTIN: It doesn’t… feel great, having someone looking inside your head…! […] I mean, I don’t want to keep secrets from you, but– ARCHIVIST: You should at least… be able to. MARTIN: Basically, yeah…! ARCHIVIST: I–I suppose that’s fair. MARTIN: It’s just… It’s weird, knowing that you can… know literally everything I think and feel– ARCHIVIST: Right… MARTIN: –especially since you’re not exactly the most open of people. Emotionally, I mean.

(MAG169) MARTIN: … Seriously? You don’t– … It’s on fire, Jon, it’s– ARCHIVIST: Yeah, uh… MARTIN: It’s a burning building! ARCHIVIST: Yes, it is. MARTIN: That’s on fire! ARCHIVIST: Yes. MARTIN: … Right. You are aware that traditionally, wading into a flaming inferno is actually considered bad for your health? ARCHIVIST: Yes, Martin. It will be fine. MARTIN: Alright. I just wanted to check. So. Okay. We’re planning to go through… all this, so I’m guessing the fire can’t… actually burn us! Right? Jon? ARCHIVIST: Hum… MARTIN: … Jon? ARCHIVIST: Hum… Mm… MARTIN: Jon. ARCHIVIST: I–it’s complicated. MARTIN: Well, if you want me to go in there with you, then I suggest you find a way to make it simple. “Yes” or “no”, can that fire hurt us? ARCHIVIST: Define “hurt”. MARTIN: Will the fire feel hot to me? ARCHIVIST: Yes. MARTIN: Will it cause me lots of pain, if I touch it? ARCHIVIST: Yes, though not as much as– MARTIN: [SHAKILY BUT STRONG] Will it burn me alive, and kill me dead? ARCHIVIST: … No. It can’t do us any permanent harm; once we’re out, we’ll be fine. MARTIN: You are aware that intense pain can do you loads of harm, even if there’s no any physical injury! […] ARCHIVIST: I should have told you before, so… I leave the decision to you. You know my feelings on the matter. MARTIN: I do? ARCHIVIST: I… Oh, right. I–I want revenge on Jude Perry. I want to… “smite” her. Make her feel what… [SIGH] what all her victims have felt. But I’m not willing to force you to suffer for it. […] JUDE: Yeah, but you like seeing their pain, don’t you? Their fear? ARCHIVIST: … Yes.

His relation to pain is understandable as someone who got “used” to the concept of hurting himself by repeatedly getting harmed, getting marked, and accepting more injuries to reach his goals and protect/save people who were close to him (and it’s very ironic that Martin used to be portrayed as the one “always setting himself on fire to keep others warm” while Jon… selectively did and does that too). The fact he’s feeding from this world is not a new thing: Jonah had announced that Jon would be tailored for this world, Jon himself pointed it out in the trailer, Helen toyed with him by being implicit about it – what is new is the… reverence? with which Jon seemed to marvel at the Desolation domain, the glee during the statement, the deadpanness when Jude called him out on it. It felt like at the beginning of the season, Jon was expressing more guilt, more uneasiness when it came to his enjoyment of this world… and in this episode, those were absent. So is it that he’s gradually accepting it? Or that he was trying to make a point to Martin about himself, about the fact that he is also (objectively) a monster and needs Martin to keep him in check if he doesn’t want to turn out like the others? No idea, but I feel like something is happening and building up about it;;

(… Was Jon feeding from Martin, in the Desolation domain? Martin who was miserable and afraid, coughing and in pain?)

- I LOVED the effect of Jon being in his small “bubble” of pouring out the statement, only for Martin to fight his way to get him out of it:

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: “Limping and desperate, she turns to see her furniture in flames, the bookshelves full of memories, that she can’t quite place [STATIC RISES] but knows are precious to her, curl and float away as ash. The photos on the wall of her family–” MARTIN: [MUFFLED, DISTANT] Jon! [STATIC INCREASES] ARCHIVIST: “–whose faces seem indistinct but she knows–” MARTIN: [MUFFLED, DISTANT] Jon! ARCHIVIST: “–that she loves, begin to blacken, as the glass–” MARTIN: [MUFFLED, DISTANT] Jon! [COUGHS] ARCHIVIST: “–pops out of the frame.” MARTIN: [MUFFLED, DISTANT] Jon, she’s here! ARCHIVIST: “Her home is being eaten alive by–” MARTIN: [CLOSER] Please come back! ARCHIVIST: “–this devouring Desolation–” MARTIN: JON! ARCHIVIST: “–and she–” [RESOUNDING SLAP] [STATIC FADES] MARTIN: She’s here! [COUGHS]

* … So, interestingly, Martin could actually get him out of it this time, while he had mentioned in MAG167 that he couldn’t stop Jon. Was it because the “statement” was different: given by the Desolation domain in this one vs. Jon giving a statement through his “knowing” in MAG167? Is it because Martin was outside of the statement mode, not listening to it (so able to break it, since he wasn’t enthralled by it)? Or is it because Martin has been becoming stronger by getting in contact with the domains? Or because he actually could have stopped Jon in MAG167… but didn’t, because he was curious, too, and preferred to think and say that he was entirely caught in the statement?

(* With MAG160, that’s the SECOND time Martin slapped Jon to “get him back” in some way. Gotta love how Jon shaking him off from The Lonely was by breaking out the violins and making an emotional confession and baring his soul to him vs. Martin, getting Jon back into focus by screaming and slapping him. Different kind of powers when there is an emergency.)

* … I’m very interested in the fact that the tape recorder was with Jon in that tiny statement bubble, while Martin was heard muffled from the outside. It wasn’t only Jon’s POV: it was, above all, the tape recorder’s, hearing the statement more distinctly than Martin. It illustrated the situation very well (Jon being unreachable and following the story, and the outside having trouble interacting with him), but I wonder what caused the bubble to exist in the first place: the Desolation domain contaminating Jon with his story? Beholding, focusing its attention on Jon because he was acting as a vessel while narrating Sabina’s story? Or the tape recorder, since Jon was feeding it?

- It’s noteworthy that so far, avatars have all been able to identify Jon as the one having provoked this apocalypse, and not “just” as an avatar beneficiating from it the most since The Eye is his patron:

(MAG164) HELEN: What would I have to gloat about? Much as I am delighted by this brave new world in which we find ourselves, I can take no credit for it. This was all… you!

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “This report is being sent to: [STATIC FADES] The Great Eye, that watches all who linger in terror, and gorges itself on the sufferings of those under its unrelenting, stuporous gaze! And its Archive, which draws knowledge of this suffering unto itself. […] Perhaps once it might have horrified me, or given me some sense of pursuing the ultimate release of the world that you have damned.”

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: Hello, Jude. JUDE: Fancy seeing you both here. To what, exactly, do I owe the pleasure, the honour, of being graced by the great and powerful Archivist, harbinger of this new world, and his, uh… valet…? […] Sure, I moan about The Eye, who doesn’t? But, we’ve won! Both of us. And… that’s great!

Seems like they got a special knowledge or are able to feel his status in the new world? It’s still cracking me up that nobody ever mentions Jonah and his participation, and that he’s absolutely irrelevant (while he was the one to scheme and pushe and engineer this apocalypse in the first place).

- Gigantic dread as soon as Jon mentioned Jude, because y i k e s: technically, we heard about avatars who felt extremely ruthless and cruel, such as John Amherst or Arthur Nolan, but those had belonged more to Gertrude’s era. Jude Perry was the one who felt the most gratuitous and deliberate in her cruelty, in Jon’s era? And despite that, was mostly staying in her lane – Jon had to look her up to find her in MAG089, she never went after him? So the idea that he was trying to confront her and bringing Martin with him (… without warning him at first), that he sought her out and was planning to kill her, felt dangerous and worrisome.

- Gotta love, about the “valet”-thing, how:

(MAG169) JUDE: Fancy seeing you both here. To what, exactly, do I owe the pleasure, the honour, of being graced by the great and powerful Archivist, harbinger of this new world, and his, uh… valet…?

* It’s payback for Jon’s “I just… er, you were a friend of Agnes Montague, correct?” (MAG089). Opposite of mlm/wlw solidarity.

* ONCE AGAIN, after Elias, after Peter, after maybe Helen currently?, it’s an avatar underestimating Martin on sight.

- It felt to me like Jon was mostly seeking answers or a form of peace of mind than genuinely getting revenge, or helping Jude’s victims? He insisted on his questions all through their confrontation:

(MAG169) ARCHIVIST: I have a question for you. I’ve been wondering. MARTIN: [COUGHS] ARCHIVIST: Did you know what you were doing? JUDE: Excuse me? ARCHIVIST: When you burned me. Marked me with… Did you know it would lead to… all of this? [CRUMBLING] JUDE: You came all this way just to ask that? ARCHIVIST: Answer the question. MARTIN: [COUGHS] JUDE: If you want to know so badly, why don’t you just reach into my head and pull it out? ARCHIVIST: Because I want to hear you say it. Willingly. JUDE: What difference does it make if it’s– ARCHIVIST: Just answer the damn question…! JUDE: … No. I had no idea. ARCHIVIST: So why did you do it? JUDE: Why do you think? Because I wanted to hurt you. MARTIN: [COUGHS] JUDE: Because you were annoying, and I didn’t like you! So I hurt you. ARCHIVIST: And if you had? JUDE: But I didn’t. Look. I don’t care, okay? MARTIN: [COUGHS] JUDE: I just… I don’t. Raking over the past like it matters, like it means anything… The past is dead, Archivist; ashes in the wind. We’re – here – now. And that’s it! ARCHIVIST: … I suppose you’re right…!

And this time, it wasn’t a tug-o’-war of question/answer resulting in one’s death (Peter), or an impulsive murder (Not!Sasha). It was planned and controlled, and deliberate. And it didn’t feel good at all: it was really a horrible scene, with Martin coughing and coughing in the background (… and Jon not paying it any attention), the execution dragging out and taking time, because Jon was processing slowly and not… giving the final blow. I really wondered if he was going to just stop, or if it wouldn’t work, or if Martin would ask him to stop – but no, quite the contrary, it’s Martin who yelled for it to be done:

(MAG169) MARTIN: [COUGHS] [STATIC RISING: LOW AND SPIRALLING, PRESSURING] JUDE: Uh! Listen… Listen… [BREATHLESS CHUCKLING] You’re enjoying this, right? ‘Course you are! You want to use those powers of yours to hurt people, you want to murder everybody who can’t fight back at you now? I can help you…! [DIGITAL GLITCHING SOUNDS] MARTIN: Just DIE already!! JUDE: You’re… not… better… than… me! [SCREAMS] [DIGITAL BURSTING, RIPPING SOUNDS] [STATIC DECREASES AND FADES] MARTIN: [COUGH] [PANTING] Is it…? ARCHIVIST: It’s over. … She’s gone.

;; There was something very… child-like, in Martin’s scream? You know, the kind of absolute rejection because he’s hurt and because in his mind there is no other way than for the other person to disappear for him to feel good ever again? I hadn’t paid much attention with Not!Sasha, but technically, the distorted, glitching sounds before and during the ripping of both the Not!Them and Jude sounded very close to Peter’s own static (and Martin’s, when he disappeared in front of Georgie): is it possible that he might have contributed in both cases, or amplified it? Or was it “only” Jon all through it?

- There is something very fitting in the fate of avatars, lately: the Not!Them was forced to “know” the suffering of its victims before getting ripped away from existence; Oliver was not rejecting death and knew it would come from him at some point, and Jon fittingly decided to spare him (although he was aware of the irony); Helen-the-Distortion is an ambivalent case (Jon can threaten her, but they can talk, it’s a bit of an unstable relationship the balance of which could shift at any time); Jude was inflected the suffering of her victims (and desolated herself in a way). It’s kinda fitting, for The Stranger, The End, The Spiral and The Desolation? I wonder how much the Domains are influencing Jon’s behaviour towards their agents, regardless of his personal feelings about them…

- Regarding Jon&Martin, it’s really heartbreaking that they are trying to navigate around and with each other’s feelings, trying to find the “right” decision regarding choices and boundaries… and that it backfired so badly due to the circumstances and the fact that, right now, they can’t really make an ideal, non-harming decision:

(MAG169) MARTIN: Jon, is there another way? ARCHIVIST: I mean… sort of? M–maybe? [SILENCE] MARTIN: That turn…! You, you took a hard turn after the roots back there. I knew that was a thing! Why are we here? ARCHIVIST: [SIGH] It’s just… [INHALE] When you said… [SIGH] MARTIN: Jon, why have you taken us here? ARCHIVIST: Jude Perry. … This is where Jude Perry rules. […] You said you were onboard. MARTIN: I was! I am; I just… thought… ARCHIVIST: It wouldn’t hurt? MARTIN: … That we’d be safe. ARCHIVIST: I never said– MARTIN: I know! I know, okay, I just… […] ARCHIVIST: … Alright. If you really don’t want to do this, we, we can go another way. MARTIN: Really…? ARCHIVIST: Really. My revenge… [SIGH] Well, let’s just say you’re more important. […] So are we going in, or not? MARTIN: You’re– … I, you’re asking me? ARCHIVIST: I should have told you before, so… I leave the decision to you. You know my feelings on the matter. MARTIN: I do? ARCHIVIST: I… Oh, right. I–I want revenge on Jude Perry. I want to… “smite” her. Make her feel what… [SIGH] what all her victims have felt. But I’m not willing to force you to suffer for it. MARTIN: Okay, so it’s… I have to choose, do I? ARCHIVIST: Or we could sit here. [SILENCE] [DISTANT SOUND OF SOMETHING COLLAPSING] MARTIN: … No. No, I–I’m not going to choose, I d–I don’t think that’s a fair decision to put on me. It’s your revenge; your choice, not mine. [SILENCE] ARCHIVIST: … Fine. We go in. [DISTANT SOUND OF SOMETHING COLLAPSING] MARTIN: [SHAKY INHALE] Al–alright then…! ARCHIVIST: We’ll be fine. MARTIN: J– Lead the way. [BAG JOSTLING]

It was good of Jon to admit that he should ask Martin, and expressed reluctance at the idea of putting him in an uncomfortable position for his own revenge! It was good of Martin, to establish once again that he didn’t want to bear the burden of deciding for both of them (MAG154: “Don’t do this.” “Do what?” “Make it my decision.”), while it was explicitly about what Jon wanted! … But it also feels like Jon would have needed Martin to decide agree to go for him if the goal was for Jon to find some peace of mind with his revenge, and that Martin would have needed Jon to say that no, definitely not, his revenge wasn’t worth endangering and harming Martin.

(Though, I feel like Martin was the most hurt of them both, this time around ;; He sounded absolutely miserable at the end of the episode, and he had been the one to begrudgingly agree to follow Jon after making it clear that he wouldn’t like the experience… I’m really surprised that Jon stuck to the “revenge” concept while he knew what was at stake for Martin. Really hoping that they will talk about it soon ;;)

- ;; Technically, Jude made a lot of valid points regarding Jon-as-an-avatar:

(MAG169) JUDE: You’re not scared, though, are you, Archivist? ARCHIVIST: … I can feel the pain of every person you have trapped here. My own isn’t all that different. JUDE: Yeah, but you like seeing their pain, don’t you? Their fear? ARCHIVIST: … Yes. JUDE: You and that stupid Eye, god, you make me sick! Lording it over everybody like you own the place? You’re just leeches, voyeurs, parasites on the real monsters. […] Oooh, I see! I get it. You finally get a sniff of power, and the first thing you do is try to settle some old scores. MARTIN: [LOUDER COUGHS] JUDE: Play the big man, get off on good old-fashioned petty revenge~! […] I’m happy in this world. I belong here. And so do you. MARTIN: [COUGHS] [STATIC RISING: LOW AND SPIRALLING, PRESSURING] JUDE: Uh! Listen… Listen… [BREATHLESS CHUCKLING] You’re enjoying this, right? ‘Course you are! You want to use those powers of yours to hurt people, you want to murder everybody who can’t fight back at you now? I can help you…! [DIGITAL GLITCHING SOUNDS] MARTIN: Just DIE already!! JUDE: You’re… not… better… than… me! [SCREAMS]

He presented it to Martin as “revenge”. He went out of his way to find Jude, first hiding it from Martin and then deliberately making the decision of going after her after he learned that Martin would be terrorised by the domain (but ready to follow him if Jon really wanted to go). Jude’s execution also exists in contrast to Oliver, whom Jon had decided to spare because he had “helped” him (… to wake up as an avatar), while knowing full well that Oliver had killed people too (MAG121) and that he was currently torturing victims in his domains (in creative, cruel ways for “VARIETY”…). Jude’s smiting didn’t feel like an application of justice, or as something fair; it just felt like personal retribution, because Jon has the power to do it. There is something reassuring in the fact that the whole scene didn’t bring any catharsis, felt so extremely anti-climatic and miserable (Martin was in pain and on the verge of tears, wanted to leave the place; Jon wasn’t triumphant), because Jon behaved as the plaintiff, the legislature, the judge and the executioner – it is terrifying in itself that he has the power to establish who would have the “right” to die or to keep torturing people following whether or not they’ve served his interests.

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: I just, I don’t think he’s… [SIGH] I don’t know, I don’t think he’s evil. MARTIN: Oh, yeah, sure, he’s probably a really kind, benevolent ruler of a hellish fear prison…! ARCHIVIST: It’s just… He helped me. Wh–when I was… He woke me up. […] But I’m not going to… seek him out. At the very least, he’s earned not having me hunt him down. MARTIN: Fine. I suppose that’s… reasonable. […] ARCHIVIST: [SIGH] No. If Oliver will not seek me out, then… I will leave him be. [TINY CHUCKLES] The avatar of Death… shall live. Martin’s going to be thrilled…! [SIGH]

(MAG169) MARTIN: [COUGH] [PANTING] Is it…? ARCHIVIST: It’s over. … She’s gone. MARTIN: [PAINED] The fires are still here. Doesn’t look like much has changed. ARCHIVIST: … No. I suppose not. [CRUMBLING SOUND] MARTIN: [SHAKILY] … Let’s just get out of here.

Jude was indeed that one avatar we wanted to see disappear (since the was gleeful about hurting, that she chose to get involved in the cult and didn’t join it to escape another horrible fate, that she admitted she didn’t regret this world nor the hurt she had to Jon himself); but her accusations had some truth in them precisely because Jon had just decided to spare Oliver given their own relationship – while Oliver, too, had admitted that he was torturing and enjoying people for the fun of it. Jon’s judgement… doesn’t work. And since nothing changed in the domain, it just proved that avatars themselves weren’t the real problem at the root – the Fear-system is still in place, still working, with or without them, still hurting and feeding from people.

(… And it also highlights that, indeed, right now, Jon is “made” for this world, as Jonah had hypothesised in MAG160. He’s been shown grieving the old world, being eaten by guilt, refusing to embrace the fact that the Fears around him feel “right” at the beginning of the season. But he’s currently feeding from this world and still enjoying victims’ pain on some level – what would happen, if Jon&Martin managed to successfully revert the world back in some way? Would Jon still be able to survive?)

- We’ll see if Jon and Martin talk about it soon, but it sure feels like a conversation regarding the “smiting” is needed. Martin seems to have experienced first-hand that it’s nnooooot as good in practice as in theory (he was miserable, in pain, coughing his lungs out, witnessed Jon choose to willingly bring him into a discomforting, potentially triggering place in the name of it), but I’m not sure it will be enough for him to reconsider the idea, or to point out that… he had been wrong about it, and that the logic of killing avatars as an easy, evident, helpful thing… is actually not that simple, since it didn’t change anything. (Probably because they have to aim higher.)

I’m really not sure about their future stances regarding other avatars, because, really, who could feel as “deserving” as Jude? Jon might want his rib back, but he technically gave it to Jared as part of an agreement (and Jared honoured his half of the deal!); Daisy would “at best” represent an attempt at mercy-killing if Jon were to try anything (and it certainly wouldn’t feel good); Julia&Trevor… indeed caused the chaos in MAG158, which also led to Daisy snapping, but would it be enough to want to “smite” them? (Meanwhile, if Jon meets Simon: same as Oliver, given his relationship to his patron, he would probably just embrace his own death.)

Plus, if Jude’s execution felt unsatisfying now, I really doubt that doing anything to Jonah would feel satisfying either? It… wouldn’t solve anything or fix the world back.

- I really wonder what’s happening in Jon’s head right now, if everything was a conscious decision that more or less backfired (ha), or if there are once again influences at stake… Did he really go after Jude because, like Martin suggested, Jon thought it could free or at least relieve the people imprisoned in that domain? Jon can’t see the future, but he could have “known” what had happened to the Not!Them’s carousel to get an indication of what happens in those cases; it… didn’t sound like a genuine reason. Same thing with the concept of revenge: Jon was scared of it just a few episodes ago (MAG166: “Because I’m ashamed, Martin. […] Yes! Ashamed of the fact that I… destroyed the world and have been rewarded for it; the fact that… I can walk safe through all this horror I’ve created like a fucking tourist, destroying whoever I please; the fact that I… enjoyed it, and… the fact that there are… so many others, that I still want to revenge myself on!”), and if it had been only about revenge, he wouldn’t have needed to ask Jude all these questions and to delay the moment when he would actually end her. Was it because he hoped that Jude would regret, would have behaved differently if she had known that it would lead to the apocalypse? Was it because he wanted to check with himself whether “smiting” her deliberately would feel good, fair and right? Was it because he thought that trusting Martin’s judgement and killing avatars would indeed be the best course of action? Was it because he wanted to prove a point to Martin – that he’s a monster too, and/or that killing doesn’t feel as great in practice as on the paper?

… His behaviour in this episode reminded me so much of MAG141, however, and how coldly rational he had sounded about what he was doing to Floyd, as if it was a logical and implacable course of action; so I can’t help but wonder if there is Eye-related influence at play. Pushing him to hurt other avatars for The Eye’s entertainment, to feed from the ones who are usually feared? For “variety”, too?

- … Regarding Jon’s powers, I had briefly wondered whether Jon was still able to compel, given what Oliver had mentioned, but mMMMmmm…

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “Please, Jon, do not interpret this report as a “plea for mercy” or a “call to action”. I would have offered it willingly, of course, but to do so is no longer an option. You cannot ask; you may only take.”

(MAG169) JUDE: You came all this way just to ask that? ARCHIVIST: Answer the question. MARTIN: [COUGHS] JUDE: If you want to know so badly, why don’t you just reach into my head and pull it out? ARCHIVIST: Because I want to hear you say it. Willingly. JUDE: What difference does it make if it’s– ARCHIVIST: Just answer the damn question…! JUDE: … No. I had no idea.

Since compelling Peter to death, Jon has never been shown forcing an answer out of someone again. He has been shown “knowing” things with alarming ability, being almost entirely omniscient at this point (MAG164: “Okay. So… how much can you see? What else do you know?” “Uh… Maybe everything…!”), whether it’s prompted by someone’s questions (as Martin demonstrated) or Jon just knowing things on his own accord. He has demonstrated a new way to deal with “statements”: getting filled with the Fears suffusing his surroundings, and having to “pour out” these statements into the tape recorder (MAG162: “This cabin. It’s not right. And, when I thought that, I–I felt… It, it all poured out of me down… into the tape.”). He has manifested his new Eye-related ability to turn the Feared into the Fearful, eradicating monsters and avatars (MAG166: “But The Eye still rules. All this fear is being performed for its benefit. And so, there are now exactly two roles available in this new world of ours: the watcher, and the watched. Subject, and object. Those who are feared, and those who are afraid. And Jon, well… he is part of The Eye; a very important part. And he’s able to, shall we say… shift its focus. Turn the one into the other.”). But compulsion as the act of asking a question and forcing an answer out of someone? Nothing since the beginning of the season. It might be nothing, but Oliver has always known so much about Jon and his situation, and Jude directly made a reference to that power when Jon didn’t use it, so… it could indeed be a thing.

(Or it’s also possible that, after Peter resisted compulsion to the point of dying, Jon fears that ability and what it could do, and purposefully stopped using it?)

MAG170’s title is… MmMMmm. If this an episode regarding a territory, I would say Spiral or Flesh (… and Jared in particular). It could also be about things outside of a domain, like what happened with “Curiosity” – and then, I’d see ways for it to be an outside POV (Jonah? Annabelle?) and/or other characters coming back (Georgie&Melanie? Basira? … stumbling upon/finding Daisy…?). And/or Martin talking about himself – we know so little about his pre-Archives life, I feel ;; (Same for Basira…) There could also be a way to connect with something mentioned about Agnes in MAG067…

(… It’s also making me think of Albrecht’s library / the Black Forest crypt and what Jonah did of the books…)

#mag169 #tma liveblog #tma season 4 #tma spoilers/#long post/#the magnus archives

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begluketostay · 4 years

Text

distractions // luke mini series pt 1

distractions - luke mini series | pt 2 | pt 3

Word Count: 2.9k

Rating: M (this part isn’t bad but the rest of the parts will be mature)

Keywords: smut, bestfriend!luke

Summary: You’ve loved Luke for as long as you’ve known him. When he gets back from tour, it’s getting harder and harder to live with never being able to have what’s right in front of you. You know you can stay strong, you just need some distractions.

Wattpad Link

A/N: this is going to be a mini series with about 4-5 parts, super excited for you all to read it :)

You hold your drink in the air and cheer along with the crowd around you when the door opens and the four boys you’ve been missing so much walk in. There are dark bags under their eyes from the lack of sleep they’ve been getting on tour, but there are still twinkles in their eyes from the happiness of finally being home and surrounded with all their friends. You watch as they walk through the crowd, fist bumping and hugging everyone in thanks for coming.

They’ve been on tour for the past six months and they’d finally just gotten back that morning, so naturally, everyone had to celebrate their return. You’re not sure which of their many friends had offered up their house for the party, but you’d been placed in a giant group chat with all the details yesterday and you wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Your heart swells as you watch Luke hug his friends and thank them so much for being there, and you can’t help but notice the confidence that he exudes from him as he makes easy conversation with each person and throws his head back in laughter at all the stories they tell him. You patiently wait for your turn to talk to him, standing toward the back of the room next to all of the drinks.

The punch is actually just a giant cooler of jack and coke mixed together, and you sip on it easily, using it as a distraction to calm the jitters that have come to you. You don’t know why you’re so nervous to see him, he’s your best friend after all and you’ve missed him so much.

He’s been looking around for you but has been unable to find you, and he almost thinks you didn’t even come until he sees you, your back turned to him as you fill up your cup once more.

He wraps his arms around you and picks you up, twirling you in the air and you gasp as your drink sloshes over the rim of the cup and lands on your bare legs. “Luke,” you laugh, swatting at him to put you down and half-heartedly wipe at the sticky drink that’s all over your legs now.

“‘M sorry, ‘m sorry, just excited to see you,” he grins, slinging an arm over your shoulder and pulling you into a tight side hug. “Didn’t hear from you much while I was gone.” You can tell there’s a hint of something in his voice as he says that, almost like disappointment, but you wave him off.

“I know, I know, just had some stuff going on with my brother, you know,” you respond, acting like it’s no big deal because you don’t want Luke to worry about your family problems. He looks at you with wide eyes, and you already know he’s going to ask about it, so you say, “it’s not a big deal, he’s fine, I just had to go back home and help get him into another rehab. Had to help my parents deal with him a bit, and well… you know how it goes with him,” you shrug, rolling your eyes.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asks, a little hurt that you didn’t come to him in your times of trouble.

You laugh, because you know the exact reason he wanted you to call him is the exact reason why you didn’t call. “You were across the world touring. I know how busy you get while you’re gone and I didn’t want you worrying about me or my brother or anything,” you explain gently. “I know you would’ve tried to get on the next flight home and come help, and I can’t have you doing that anymore.”

“I could’ve made it work,” he says, “I have enough money to buy a flight, you know that, and I could’ve just popped in for a quick weekend to help.”

“You’re in the big time now, Lu, you can’t just fly home to help me whenever I have a problem. And I don’t need your help anyways. I’m a big girl, I do take care of myself while you’re away, you know,” you chide him.

He shakes his head. “I know you can take care of yourself... god, do I know that.” He thinks of the time when you broke the nose of the guy who tried to humiliate Luke by tripping him in middle school cafeteria and then, many years later, when you punched a guy in the face at a bar for grabbing your ass. You’ve always been able to take care of yourself, and it makes leaving you for months at a time a little easier to handle. “I just like being there and helpin’ ya.”

“Anyways, it’s really not a big deal because you’re back now and instead of texting me, you can just show up at mine like you always do,” you laugh.

He wraps you in another tight bear hug and you feel his lips pressing lightly against the hair on the top of your head as he squeezes you closer to him. “Ahhh,” he groans. “I’m so glad I’m back. Been a little homesick,” he admits. You just let him hold you and breathe in his scent that you’ve become so familiar with over the years. You’ve been missing that smell for months now.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop being sappy now, I’m gonna go grab a drink from the kitchen. You need one?” he asks, and you hold up your two-thirds full cup in response. He pinches your arm as he walks off to hopefully find something with tequila.

You smile and close your eyes, trying to hold onto the feeling of his lips against your head just moments ago. It’s the closest you’ll ever come to a kiss from Luke again.

When you open your eyes, you spot a pair of dark brown eyes across the room and curse under your breath. He’s already looking at you and you know he’s going to walk over any second. Now isn’t the time to talk about what you know he wants to talk about, and you really don’t want to be seen with him here. You don’t want Luke to notice the two of you together.

As he starts taking his first steps toward you, you rush over to him instead, glancing at Luke in the kitchen, glad that he’s occupied with more hugs and handshakes and congratulations.

“What are you doing here?” you hiss.

“If you haven’t forgotten, I’m friends with them too,” he rolls his eyes.

“Sorry, I just…” you trail off, trying to find the words to explain why you’re so unnerved by his presence here. “I just don’t want to be suspicious,” you finish.

He rolls his eyes once more and laughs at you. “You’re the one making it look suspicious,” he chuckles. “I was just on my way to have a casual conversation and here you are all jumpy and paranoid that your little lover boy is gonna find out that you’ve been sucking my dick.”

“Hunter!” you slap him on the arm. “Be quiet!”

“Ouch!” he overdramatically rubs his arm, shooting you a quick glare. “C’mon, Y/N, you’re being a little ridiculous. And even if he does find out, who cares? It’s not like you’re his girlfriend or anything.”

You don’t know why those words make you feel like you’ve been stabbed.

“Low blow,” you mumble, turning away from him.

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t be mad at me, you know I’m right. Maybe could’ve said it a bit nicer, but you have nothing to hide from anyone. We’re all adults here,” he spins you back around to face him and sees that you’re still annoyed with what he’s said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you. Let’s go upstairs?”

You look back toward the kitchen and see Luke talking to a pretty blonde girl who is hanging onto his every word and you breathe out a big lungful of air. A distraction would be nice right now, but you’re at this party to celebrate Luke and you haven’t seen him in months and it would be pretty scummy of you to sneak upstairs with the guy that you’ve been using in his place.

“No, not here,” you decide. “It’d be pretty shitty of us.”

“It’s not fair you expect me to keep my hands off of you when you’re dressed like that,” he groans, trying to convince you.

“I’m dressed like this for Luke,” you remind him. “But thank you for the kind words.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “He has no idea what he’s missing out on.”

Luke is looking around, desperately trying to get away from this girl who’s acting like they go way back when he’s sure they’ve never even met before. He’s trying to find you in the crowd and sighs in relief when he finally spots you, but narrows his eyes when he sees who you’re talking to.

He and Hunter used to be close, but have drifted in the years that passed since middle school. The only reason they’re still on relatively good terms is because they’re cousins and have to behave around each other at family events, but Luke was always jealous of how he got all the girls in high school and how he’s always rubbed it in Luke’s face.

And now Luke is watching as the two of you talk and share laughs, and he tells himself that the anger that is starting to bubble up deep in his stomach is just because he doesn’t want to let you get treated the same way all the other girls have been treated by him. He doesn’t want you to get tossed to the side once Hunter gets bored with you, because you deserve so much better than that.

Luke smiles politely at the girl who is still talking to him, and interrupts, saying, “I’m so sorry, McKayla-”

“McKenzie,” she corrects him.

“Right, I’m so sorry McKenzie, I really have to go say hi to someone. It was nice seeing you again!” He knows he’s never seen her before, but just wants to escape politely so he can swoop you away from Hunter.

He’s halfway to you when some guys throw their arms over his shoulder and drag him to the front of the living room. All the boys have been brought up there and they look at each other in confusion.

A group of girls bring shots to Luke, Ashton, Michael, and Calum, and the whole crowd is cheering for them to drink. They take one, two, three, four shots as the blurry mass of bodies screams and yells.

The host of the party steps up in front of everyone and congratulates the boys once again on a safe return from their tour. “I think it’s only fair,” the host says with a mischievous sparkle in his eye, “that since you lot have been out performing shows for everyone in the world, you can give a performance for your closest friends, eh?”

The boys are all pretty drunk at this point. Calum’s cheeks are tinted pink from the alcohol and he can’t stop giggling while he watches Michael trip over his own feet. Ashton is so drunk that he just kind of stands there with his eyes glazed over, staring into the distance. Luke is a lightweight, so even though he hasn’t had that much, it goes to his head quickly and he’s starting to feel the effects of the shots.

Someone cranks up one of their old songs and the boys “perform” for the crowd - meaning that Ashton continues to stare into space in the back with a dopey smile on his face, but is moving his hands to match the sounds of the drums in the song perfectly while the other boys jump around and loudly sing offkey and in the wrong octave.

Luke is jumping around and using a pack of cigarettes as a fake microphone, whipping his hair around to the beat until his eyes land on your body that is still laughing with Hunter in the back of the crowd. He tries to keep dancing, but a frown is now on his face and he can’t remember what words come next to sing along with. He stumbles through the crowd back to the kitchen to make himself another drink, hoping to get the picture of your hand resting so delicately on Hunter’s arm out of his head, and everyone is so enthralled with Michael and Calum dancing together that they don’t fuss too much about Luke leaving.

A few more drinks and he is well and properly drunk. By this point, you’ve noticed his absence and have excused yourself from Hunter to go search for him, worried about where he’s gone off to.

“Luke,” you say when you find him, “what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” he smiles at you, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Jus’ having another cup, this is so good.”

You take the cup out of his hands and sniff, gagging as the smell of straight tequila enters your nostrils.

“Oh my god,” you mutter, setting it down on the counter and grabbing his wrist. “Why straight tequila, Luke?” you laugh under your breath, shaking your head. “You are so gonna regret having that in the morning.”

You expect a drunken laugh from him, but there’s only a dramatic sigh.

“Lu?” you ask.

“‘M tired,” he says softly. “Can you jus’ take me home?”

You rub his back softly and look up at his face, really taking him in. The bags under his eyes look purple against his pale skin and his eyelids are starting to droop. He always comes back looking a little worse for wear after touring and it makes your heart hurt for him.

You know he loves it, but it takes so much out of him.

“Alright,” you sigh. “Let’s get you home.”

You half drag and half hold him up as the two of you move toward the door to wait for the uber you’ve ordered. He slurs something about calling someone for a ride, he is Luke Hemmings after all, but you shush him and pull up your app, knowing that it will be faster than waiting for anyone that works for him to get there.

Getting him into the car is an ordeal, but after several apologies to the driver and lots of pushing, you finally get his long limbs shoved into the backseat. He doesn’t live too far away from the party, and you’re glad because you want him to still be awake when you get home because there’s no way you’ll be able to carry him in.

You get him out of his leather jacket and pull his boots off his feet as soon as you get in the door, trying not to laugh as he stumbles around trying to wriggle his way out of his tight pants.

“Y/N,” he mumbles from where he lays on his bed, clothed in just the t-shirt he was already wearing and his boxers.

“Yeah, Lu?” you laugh. His face is smushed against the mattress, his cheeks pressed so far up that it’s hard for him to fully open his eyes. You want to kiss those cheeks so badly.

“I’m happy I’m home.”

“I’m happy you’re home too, Luke.”

He opens his arms and reaches for you, and even though the two of you don’t often cuddle, it feels familiar and safe when you crawl into his arms and let yourself fall asleep there.

---------------------

You open your eyes, smiling as you breathe in the scent that is one hundred percent Luke Hemmings. You scoot further against him and savor the feeling of being in his arms, closing your eyes and picturing him waking up and kissing you on the lips and confessing the things you want to hear from him most.

You’re caught up in your little secret fantasy when several loud dings snap you out of it. You groan as you roll over, blindly reaching for the phone that’s making so much noise, just wanting to turn the sound off and drift back off to sleep in Luke’s arms, but the texts on the screen of the phone you’ve grabbed put a dent in those plans.

The phone in your hand is lit up with several unread texts, and you read them at first, thinking it’s your own phone, but it’s not yours, because you definitely would not be receiving half naked pictures from a girl on your phone.

If the pictures don’t make you sick, then the captions that accompany them definitely do.

wearing the thong you liked so much and wishing you were here ;)))

ugh i can’t stop thinking about your tongue

also can’t stop thinking about your massive dick and how you -

You can’t finish that one, shutting the phone off before your eyes get ahead of you and practically fling yourself out of his bed. You look at the boy sleeping so peacefully and want to throw up. I mean, you know he sleeps with girls while he’s gone on tour, you can’t expect him not to and there’s nothing stopping him from it - it’s not like you’re his girlfriend or anything.

But you can’t help but feel a little betrayed by him.

It’s one thing to know in your head that he’s sleeping around, but it’s another to see a full frontal nude of a girl he slept with just last week.

You gather your things up as quickly as possible before giving him one last longing look and slipping out the door, trying not to let any tears leak out of your eyes before the door is shut.

part 2 here

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irispublisherscivilengineering · 3 years

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Finite Element Analyses in the Tunnel: An Overview-Iris Publishers

Authored by Buse Şeyda Hocaoğlu*

Abstract

With the development of the world and human beings’ rush to get somewhere, the need for tunneling has increased. Solutions have been made with the methods of end-to-end elements searched for a more straightforward resolution and visual thinking of tunnel projects that are complex and difficult to foresee. Thanks to these methods, geotechnical problems have been more easily detecting, and solutions have been producing in a short time. Several finite element methods have been developed in line with technology development and research. In this study, Plaxis, Flac, ABAQUS, Diana, Midas GTS NX programs, which are some of these programs, were briefly introduced, and tunnel projects solved with the mentioned programs were given

Keywords:Finite element method; Tunnel project; Plaxis 2D/3D; Flac 2D/3D; Geotechnical

Introduction

The finite element method is a numerical method that thoroughly solves mixed engineering problems. It was first developed and used in 1956 for stress analysis of aircraft bodies. It has been understood that it can also solve engineering and applied sciences problems in the following years. Over the years, the finite element method and solution techniques have developed rapidly and have become one of the best methods used to solve many problems today. The method is so popular for many engineering areas because a generic computer program can only solve any problem by changing the input data. By separating it into finite elements suitable for the structure of a problem, it implements a solution method in the form of a low energy level of internal and external forces on the obtained elements and then combining these elements. As a result, the system’s features, border conditions, sudden or continuous changes of external loads can be easily examined. It is also possible to reduce the element sizes in the constant system’s desired parts for the detailed examination of a region [1,2]. It can list the advantages of finite element methods: geometry allows complex problems to be solved, easily applicable in systems with different and complex material properties, easy to include border conditions in the fundamental equations of the system, and the use of the same model to solve many problems [2]. The disadvantages of the finite element method can be listed; found that the accuracy of the result obtained depends on the accuracy of the data, that the separation of regions requires experience to get an acceptable correct result, and that the accuracy of the result obtained is observed, and that the physical problem must be investigated well [2]. The finite element method has been used for 30 years in many engineering areas and was introduced in geotechnical engineering in 1996. The most important reason for this is that geotechnical engineering has complex issues and takes time to solve them. When used correctly, this method can provide accurate results for practical geotechnical engineering problems. A good analysis allows the engineer to understand the problem better [3]. The Finite element method can be applied to any linear-elastic medium. However, it requires many limitations for the implementation of the method in geotechnical engineering problems. In the method, material behavior is formulated by associating with changes between shape changes and total stress. In contrast, in geotechnical problems, the total tensor is decompressed into cavity water pressures and effective stresses, and material behavior is often expressed in terms of effective stresses. Most of the Geotechnical problems are interacting with the structure and the ground. Therefore, in analyzing these types of problems, it is necessary to use an intermediate surface between the structure and the soil. As a result, it is required to make changes to correctly apply the finite component method in geotechnical engineering [2]. To get a realistic result in analyzing finite elements for geotechnical engineering problems, the procedures are carried out step by step (phased loading, phased excavation). There are two benefits to ensuring that analysis can be performed in stages. First, the geometry changes at each step if the analyzes add or remove the padding. The change in geometry can be modeled by adding or removing elements from the network of end elements. Secondly, in the analysis, the ground properties change at each loading stage due to the change of stresses in the soil mass [2]. As a result of the study of finite elements in geotechnical engineering problems, parameters such as stresses, cavity water pressures, lateral and vertical movements, and groundwater flow are determined [1]. Today, programs used in finite element methods are used in many areas, such as ground mechanics, fluid mechanics, aircraft engineering, nuclear engineering, rock mechanics, etc. It can be studied by selecting the program that will give the most realistic results for problems. Examples of these programs include Plaxis 2D/3D, FLAC 2D/3D, ABAQUS, Diana, Midas GTS.

Methods

Plaxis 2D/3D

Plaxis 2D/3D, one of the finite element’s programs, is a program developed to analyze geotechnical engineering problems. The program consists of an input program, calculation program where analysis is performed, output program that graphically presents the study results, and curve program that enables the creation of the desired chart with the results obtained (Figure 1). This program is used to design projects where deformation and stabilization analyzes are needed, strain-shifting, ground structure interaction, loading conditions, carrying power, consolidation, current network, ground dynamics, and material are varied and bring real-life results [4]. According to the method of finite, a continuous environment is divided into many elements. The node points on each element have a degree of freedom. During the creation of a network of finite elements in the Plaxis program, the cells are divided into triangular elements with 6 or 15 nodes (Figure 2). Even if it takes a little more time to calculate the stresses and migration surfaces more realistically, it is better to select the 15-node element. The displacement is calculated at node points during the finite element calculation [4] (Figures 1,2).

Under the main heading Plaxisde Material Sets, the floor and structural members (Soil & Interface, anchor, Beam, and Geotextile) can be defined. The Plaxis program has several floor models, such as Mohr-Coulomb (MC), Hardening Soil (Model-HS), soft Soil Creep (Model-SSC), which are widely used for analyzing floor mechanics problems (Figure 3) [4].

Flac

FLAC is a program that uses the use of a finite element type to numerically or numerically examine the mechanical behavior of continuous media in equilibrium or progressive plastic yield. In the program, creating a network of finite differences defined by the user via elements can detect the behavior of materials such as ground and rock at the level of plastic flux. Every element behaves by the previously specified linear or non-linear stress-shape defining feature against forces applied under boundary conditions [6]. Thanks to the intermediate surface formulation in the software, the interaction between two sonly differences networks that are interconnected but are likely to divest or slide along a surface, such as a fault structure, can also be modeled. Hydrostatic pressure used in liquefies research or design of dams is carried out by applying fluid mechanics formulation. Structural elements are used to model entities such as anchors and flooring nails. In addition to all these, it is possible to perform realistic modeling with this software by applying static and dynamic boundary conditions. Although FLAC has been developed for Geotechnical engineering applications, it is also widely used in many research areas such as mining engineering, underground structures, and rock mechanics (Figure 4) [6].

The use of the FLAC finite element program in some engineering applications is as follows:

1. Calculation of transport capacities and deformations according to ground and loading conditions in the design of slope and foundations.

2. In the ground structures, calculate the safety coefficient in the stability analysis of fillers and slope.

3. Assessing the fault structure and impact of the interest structure in mining research projects.

4. Design of floor anchorages, rock bullion, ground nail, and support systems in geotechnical problems.

5. Examination of the dynamic effects that will occur resulting from vibration and explosion in tunnel and mine excavations.

6. performing seismic analysis of structures in the design of earth filling dams.

The solution of the Flac finite elements method consists of the three-step approach given below. The solution method for FLAC finite components consists of the following three-stage process. First, the finite differences phase, a limited time, and the change over field linear default variables are estimated by the time and finite differences of the first degree. Second, the model’s deposition phase: An equivalent environment replaces the continuous environment by a deposition. In the new environment, all forces are assumed to be gathered at the nodes of a three-dimensional network. Third, the dynamic solution phase is used to access the system’s balanced state, whose inertia terms in motion equations are analyzed as numeric agents [6].

Abaqus

Abaqus is a finite element method that works through a detailed analysis of engineering problems by creating realistic computeraided models (Figure 5).

It offers the ability to analyze linear and nonlinear projects that are difficult to solve due to the different material models and finite element types involved [8]. The program consists of five essential software: Standard, Explicit, CFD, Electromagnetic, and CAE. ABAQUS/Standard uses solution technology, ideal for static and low-speed dynamic events where highly sensitive stress solutions are critical. Within a single simulation, it is possible to analyze a model in both the frequency and time zone. Standard is closed finite elements software that can perform static and dynamic analyzes. Their solution uses advanced material and element features. It can also perform acoustic and associated doubleacting analyzes, and the plastic injection can be used in conjunction with various programs for mold analysis results [8]. Abaqus/Explicit, a particular purpose finite element analyzer that uses an open integration scheme to solve many complex contacts, nonlinear systems under transient loads. At the same time, automotive is particularly suitable for simulating short transient dynamic events such as collision capability and ballistic impact. It is a handy software for simulating semi-static events, such as handling nonlinear behavior and the rounding of hot metal effectively.

Collision tests can be used for dropping tests and resolution of strain problems [8]. Abaqus/CFD, it is the software that Abaqus offers to solve computational fluid dynamics problems. It can solve nonlinear fluid-structural and fluid-thermal problems. Real results are achieved when used in nonlinear structural-flow and heat- flow applications [8]. Abaqus/Electromagnetic offers an advanced computational solution of electromagnetic problems [8]. Abaqus/ CAE is a software used for both the modeling of mechanical components and its analysis and visualizes the analysis results. Thanks to its intuitive interface, it is user-friendly in modeling, research, and result visualization [8].

Diana

Chan in 1988, designed for dynamic, static, and consolidation analysis of geomechanical problems. It is a 2-dimensional element program that contains plane deformation and asymmetric analysis. The program has five ground models. It can be rank these models as a linear elastic model, Coulomb changing with average effective environmental pressure, a general elastic model with friction envelope, elastic-full plastic Mohr-Coulomb, original glass clay Pastor-Zienkiewicz Mark-III models. The DIANA program requires four input files for each finite element analysis to be performed. These input files consist of mesh, data, introduction, and earthquake files. Running an analysis requires these input files to be created in a specific order [10]. The network file defines the geometry of the finite element network to be used in the analysis. The geometry of the defined floor model is divided into smaller regions, creating a finite element net. The input file ‘DYNMGEN’ is used to prepare the network file [10]. The data file contains control data to be used to perform finite element analysis. All technical information about finite element analysis is stored in this file [10]. The Initial file creates the initial conditions for finite element analysis. This file’s data contains the initial speed, start time, start displacement, maximum displacement norm, earthquake status, initial acceleration, and internal parameters of the ground model. The ‘DYNINT’ input file is used to prepare the initial data file [10]. The earthquake file is the last input file required for finite element analysis. The important aspect to be considered in preparing this input file required for dynamic analysis is the type of earthquake and the scale factor. For dynamic analysis, the desired load transaction type and transaction scale must be created in the ‘DYNEQK’ input file and encoded in the scale factor data file [10].

Midas GTS NX

MIDAS GTS NX is an important method of finite elements for geotechnical and tunnel analysis systems. It can model geological problems that are difficult to model with advanced technology [11]. In Midas GTS NX, geometry is modeled in 2 shapes. The first is that geometry is drawn in 2D or transferred from drawing programs. A network of 2D finite elements is then created and offset to the 3rd dimension, resulting in a model of 3D finite elements. This method may not be available for complex geometries. The other method is to create 3D geometric objects by giving dimensions 3rd dimension in 2 sizes or transferred using the command “extrude” [12].

Examples Using the Finite Element Method

Tunnel example with Plaxis Program

In this tunnel project application, the Plaxis 2D program, one of the finite programs, has calculated deformations that can be caused by the passage of tunnels. In line with these deformations, ground improvement methods have been implemented. The Plaxis program is selected for this application because complex boundary conditions and nonlinear material behavior allow systematic programming in solving challenging and complex problems such as non-homogeneous materials. 6 different cases have been explored in this application. In the first application, the whole floor is assumed to be clay, and the tunnel is added. (Figure 6). In the second application, tunneling is performed in the clay and sandy variable ground profile with different ground parameters (Figure 7). The deformation of the floor surface and the deformation of the tunnel covering have the same value and have increased by 50,92 mm. In the third application, he implemented a building load without improving the previous project (Figure 8). The deformation of the floor surface has increased to 87,41 mm. Due to the tunnel covering’s building load; the deformation value has risen to 52, 57 mm. Improved soil with geotextiles and sealants before applying building load in the fourth application (Figures 6-9).

Due to the optimization, the deformation of the floor surface has been retightened to 67,49 mm. The deformation value in the tunnel covering is close to the previous example and has dropped to 51,71 mm. A 2 m thick floor injection method is implemented as an enhancement (Figure 10). As a result of this optimization, the soil surface’s deformation has been retightened from 67,49 mm to 58,62 mm. The deformation value in the tunnel lining is 52.54 mm. The sixth application assumes that a 5-story building with two basements is built on the ground, and the deformation value in the tunnel coating is 50.51 mm (Figures 10,11).

As a result of these examples, finite element programs must be analyzed to ensure that new structures built after tunnel construction are constructed without damaging the tunnel and existing structures. A non-damaged construction must be carried out by determining suitable solutions to the problems that will arise. Before applying a building load, improvements can be made to the characteristics of the floor, thus setting the seating values on the floor surface to lower values. It is important to maintain the ground during tunnel construction and select two to maintain the tunnel’s stability. The groundwater check must be carried out from the start of the project. The tunnel is to be built must be checked that it will not damage structures around it [13].

Tunnel example with FLAC 3D Program

Pressed floors can cause many problems, such as the collapse of supports due to heavy load, groundwater, excessive closure of pile profiles, or destruction of tunnel support. Therefore, before tunneling on such floors, the type and severity of the jamming that may occur should be investigated in advance. A specific formula produced by Hoek-Brown is used to predict the possibility of jamming and to analyze the jam. Flac 3D, Finite elements program, was used to determine the Hoek-Brown criteria parameters to be taken into account in the analysis of trapped floors in this application. For these studies, four Hoek-Brown input parameters are considered and modeled mainly: Rock mass parameters GSI (geological strength index), UCS (single-axis press strength), MI (Hoek material constant), and H (covering thickness). Code (FISH code) has been written by the Hoek-Brown criteria, as Flac3D is based on Mohr-Coulomb criteria. Numerical modeling results using GSI, H, UCS, and mi variables according to Hoek and Brown defeat criteria are presented separately as deformation contours and plastic zone contours. Deformation contours have been found to have a significant reduction in deformation contours around the tunnel as the GSI value increases from three-dimensional numeric models with different GSI values (Figure 12). In line with the results obtained by giving different tunnel cover thickness values, it was determined that the deformations around the tunnel increased rapidly as H increased (Figure 13). As a result of the deformation contours for the different mİ values from the three-dimensional numeric models, the mİ value has increased. In contrast, the deformation values have been found to have very little reduction than the other parameters (Figure 14). Thus, it is understood that the effect of mİ value on the potential for compression is not an important parameter. A significant reduction in deformation around the tunnel has been identified as the UCS value increases about deformation contours from three-dimensional numerical models using different single axis thrust strength values (Figures 12-15).

As a result of different GSI values, plastic zone contours decreased significantly in the thickness of the plastic area around the tunnel as the values increased (Figure 16). Using different cover thicknesses, it was determined that the value of plastic zone thickness increased as it increased (Figure 17). Using another mi value, it was determined that the plastic zone thickness values decreased due to the increase (Figure 18). While a change in the plastic zone size was observed with the increase in MI value, it was determined that this determined change MI parameter was not a useful parameter on the plastic zone. Using different single axis thrust strength values has determined that the plastic zone thickness around the tunnel decreases as the UCS value increases (Figures 16-19).

In parallel with the result of the plastic region radius, analyzes, and deformation analysis, the study’s parameters revealed that GSI, UCS, and H were the most influential parameters. It should be considered that the effect of the MI parameter will also change when the fixed parameters are changed, even though the impact of the MI parameter is low [14].

Result

As a result of developing technologies and research, existing programs have been designed and provided ease of solution to many engineering problems. The programs in which the method of finite elements was applied increased over time. In this way, almost every engineering branch has used appropriate programs for its problems. Many complex and time-long issues have been solved in fewer time thanks to these programs. Questions are broken down into pieces and solved in more detail, resulting in more realistic results. The development of programs and the introduction of 3D solutions have made it easier to understand problems and solutions. This makes tunnel projects easier to solve, and errors can be detected. Problems encountered during the opening phase of tunnels have been quickly resolved, and necessary improvements have been made. As technology evolves and people seek more realistic results, the finite element methods will continue to grow and develop.