#like they did think it through and and organized key points. and i think being shorter did benefit the development of some relationships

[cacaitos]

i do think the team working in the adaptation did a great job unironically.

[stickandthorn]

I was thinking about that post about redemption I just reblogged, and I think it’s worth pointing out just how difficult and time consuming it would to de-radicalize or “redeem” Lilliana. And I think Essek’s redemption in campaign 2 is actually a really good example of what I’m talking about.

First of all, what the Nein did to redeem Essek was not slowly and politely talk him through why what he did was wrong. They didn’t even know he did anything wrong. What they did was continually reach out to him and give him a support system of friends he did not have before. Notably, friends who he could be comfortable sharing his worldview around: he was an atheist* in a theocratic society who had to hide his worldview in order to have any social, academic, or governmental standing. The mighty nein were probably the first people he could be himself around, and creating a change in his personal life is what led to a change in his ideology. Notably, he did most of the actual deconstructing of his ideology on his own, some before the big betrayal reveal and a lot after. The Nein helped with that directly a little, but the main thing they did was offer him a personal connection he had stakes in, and a people in his life with different world views he hadn’t seen up close before.

This is pretty true to life, in the real world, most people who leave radical or bigoted groups leave at least partially because of a change in their personal life. Even if they do leave because of someone directly challenging their worldview, it’s usually someone they care about who challenges them in a non-aggressive way. It’s still personal.

Secondly, this took a lot of time. I can’t remember exactly how long they spent in the Dynasty, but they befriended Essek over a really long period of in game and out of game time. The cast spent actual real world hours talking pretty much one on one with Essek, and the party spent weeks, maybe even months slowly getting to know him and bringing this support structure into his life. Essek spent even longer actually thinking through and deconstructing on his own. The change in his worldview between the ship and the outpost really shows this, he did a lot of the thinking that led him to change by himself over a lot of time we weren’t there for. They could not have gotten him to actually change his mindset, fully realize what he did was wrong of his own free will, in anything approaching a short amount of time. This was a time consuming process.

All this to say: this is the kind of effort it would take to legitimately de-radicalize Lilliana. She has been in the Vanguard for ~25 years, she most likely joined when she was in her early to mid 20s, and she gave up all personal connections, even her daughter and her husband to join. Not only has her entire ideology been built around this being the right thing to do, her entire personal life is contained within the Vanguard. It’s most likely where she gets any housing or money or really anything from. It is her whole life, and she believes wholeheartedly in it. The level of time and effort it took to get Essek to organically change his mind is most likely the level it would take to get Lilliana to change hers, if not more.

And they don’t have that time. Lilliana is actively doing harm now, she is helping the Vanguard release Predathos right now, they simply do not have the time to redeem her. It sucks, but pragmatically speaking, it is simply not worth the time and effort. Essek gave away the beacons in the past, but also, the Nein did not know he did that for their early friendship. If the Nein had known, they probably would not have put in all the work it took to get him to change. They probably couldn’t have. Lilliana might be able to be redeemed in theory, but so can a lot of people who do very bad things. Focusing on that redemption process is prioritizing Imogen’s complicated feelings over the harsh reality that this is a war, and Lilliana is a key figure in that war doing a great deal of harm. It sucks, but I do think it’s time to move on, and I think Imogen is now leaning that way.

*atheist is a loose term here, it’s hard to be an atheist in a world where gods are proven to exist, but it gets the point across

[f1byjessie]

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS ━━ LN4.

sometimes the right words are hard to come across, and sometimes everything you need to say can be captured in an image.

( lando norris x photographer!reader )

━━ part four.

“Saw McLaren posted pics of the new car,” Jack says in lieu of a greeting when he sees you after the weekend. He picks up his pace and crosses the distance to meet you where you’re fumbling with the keys to your “office”, and then he takes a few of the many equipment bags you’re attempting to juggle, saying as he does so, “You take any of those or no?”

You laugh, “Ah, no. They actually hire on a whole studio crew that does that. They’ve got lights, green screens, special camera lenses, the whole lot. The post-production on those photos is mad though.” You get the door unlocked and usher him inside, “I got to sit in on it once, and it’s crazy how much work goes into getting just a couple week’s worth of promotional content.”

He sets your bags down where you direct him to and then offers you a snarky grin, “Still probably would’ve looked cooler if you took ‘em, to be fair.”

It makes you laugh again. Jack seems to be good at that, and it feels nice to get along so well with someone you work with. You’ve found a surprising friend in him. At the end of your conversation on Friday, you’d exchanged numbers and he’d made you promise to reach out if you needed him for anything. You hadn’t, but he’d still sent you an unflatteringly angled picture of Kyle Walker from after their match against Newcastle, followed quickly with━ “use this in the next media drop thx,” and the chatter had gone from there.

You set down your own bags. “Well, thank you. Pretty sure it’s not as fun as this job, though.”

And you mean it. You’ve had opportunities to switch over to studio photography, and though you respect the people who do it and the unique challenges it poses in its own right, there’s nothing like being upfront and personal with all the action, getting to see the athletes in their element and know them on a level that goes beyond an hour or two shoot. You wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“Wait,” you pause, hands stopping just above where you’re ready to start sorting through your equipment, “since when did you keep up with Formula One?”

Jack shrugs. “I don’t. But you work for that team, yeah? So I figured I might as well see what they’re all about.”

“Well, if you need something to do during the summer, let me know and I’ll see what I can do,” you tell him, resuming your sorting. “They give me extra tickets for each race but they usually end up going to waste.”

You don’t bring up the falling out you had with your parents at eighteen when you told them you were going to pursue photography or the fact that you haven’t really talked to them in years because of it. You also don’t mention that due to the strenuous, near-constant traveling and the strict schedule of your job, your friendships are limited to the athletes you work with and the other McLaren staff that travel with you━ all of whom have passes of their own, for obvious reasons.

Jack, thankfully, doesn’t ask about it either. Whether he’s made his own assumptions or respects that it’s probably a sore subject, he leaves it alone and the two of you carry on in companionable silence.

You get your equipment unzipped from the bags and organized across the room per your system, guiding your temporary helper with pointed fingers to where it all should go.

The silence is only broken again when he asks you a question. “You got a favorite driver?”

It’s so out of the blue that you nearly jump, startled by the suddenness of it against the quietness of the room. But then you laugh and shake your head. “Officially no, but just between the two of us, me and Lando started at the same time so he’s got a special place in my heart. He’s also my best friend.”

Jack raises an eyebrow, “Oh yeah?” Despite the persona he puts on, you think he secretly loves gossip. “How’d he take the news about you being with Ward, then? ‘Cause I’d have some choice things to say to any friend of mine if they got with a prick like that.”

You purse your lips, divert your gaze to avoid Jack’s eyes, and shrug, fiddling with the neck strap of your camera as you do so. “I don’t know.”

“You ‘don’t know?’”

You shrug again and feign checking over the settings as if your camera’s aperture is suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. “He hasn’t been picking up my calls,” you start, “or answering my texts since the paps released the pics, so.”

When you glance back up, Jack’s making a face. “So, your best friend finds out you’re dating a total bellend, and instead of asking you about it or at the very least taking the piss, he ignores you?”

When he puts it like that, you feel a bit stupid for being more sad than you are angry.

All you can do is shrug.

INSTAGRAM.

liked by mancity, jackgrealish, and 241,976 others

tagged: jackgrealish

yourusername ladies and gentlemen, jack grealish (i was threatened into posting these, send help pls)

comments have been disabled

You decide that if Lando gets to be petty, then so do you.

The thing is, you’d told Lando you wouldn’t replace him with any of the guys from Manchester City, and you’d meant it━ you still mean it, despite your frustrations and annoyances with him telling you otherwise.

But if he’s going to play games, then so are you.

Technically you hadn’t started the relationship with Garrett willingly, but Lando doesn’t know that, and even if you had that doesn’t give him the right to go about ignoring you. You’ve been supportive when he’s gotten girlfriends━ you even ate greasy pizza, drank cheap wine, and cried watching The Notebook together when he ended his long-term relationship back in 2022. He could at least pretend to be supportive, or better yet he could pick up the fucking phone. 

As pathetic as it sounds, you’d let him yell at and berate you if it just meant he’d answer your calls. Because having Jack around to gossip with and shoot the shit is nice, and he really does help you not feel so alone at Etihad Campus, but Lando’s your best friend and he has been for years now. There’s nobody that understands you as well as he does, even if he is a twat half the time, and what you need now most of all is that particular Lando brand of annoying to cheer you up.

The door opens, drawing your attention from where you’re scrolling through McLaren’s newest posts. Garrett stands in the opening.

The memory of that night still lingers like a bad taste in your mouth, bitter and unpleasant. You’ve managed to avoid him for the most part in the time since then, ignoring the looks he shoots your way out on the field or in the weight room, and lucky enough that his meetings with the physio team keep him preoccupied so that he can’t seek you out in between training sessions. You’d known it was inevitable that you’d have to face him, but that doesn’t stop the dread from pooling in your stomach when you see him standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised as he surveys the makeshift office you’ve done up for yourself.

“They couldn’t find you an actual office?” He comments, looking disdainfully towards your desk and the large Manchester City logo emblazoned across the front.

You shrug, wishing he’d just get to the point. “I’m only here for a few months. Doesn’t matter much to me. What do you want?”

He takes a step farther into the room and closes the door behind him, taking his sweet time to cross the distance toward the seats. When he’s finally lowered down into one, he looks up to you with a nonchalance that fills you immediately with anger.

“I’m making some amendments to our agreement,” he announces.

“Like hell you are.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Did you seriously expect people to believe we’re a couple if we never actually do anything to give off the impression of being a couple?”

You scowl. Obviously, you hadn’t expected to just skate by on the coattails of pictures from a single night. You’d known from the very beginning that you would eventually need to make another public appearance together at the very least if you wanted to keep the paparazzi fed and encourage the idea to the media that you’re in a committed relationship with one another. You’d just been hoping you would’ve had more time until then.

“I’m not an idiot, Garrett,” you grumble, crossing your arms in your seat. You had been looking through pictures from the day’s morning practice, but now you think having to look at any more of Kevin De Bruyne’s grinning face will make you lose your mind when you feel the furthest thing from happy.

“Obviously,” Garrett scoffs. “But you’re the one who said I get one kiss and nothing more. Newsflash, love━” your scowl deepens, “━couples do more than just kiss one time.”

“So what are you suggesting?”

He pulls his phone from the pocket of his joggers and swipes across the screen for a few moments of anticipatory silence. “Well,” he finally says, “it’s the sixteenth now. We haven’t got a match until the twenty-sixth. Go on a date with me this weekend.”

You can’t say no. There’s no plausible excuse for you to get out of it, and deep down you know the only way you can get rid of Garrett is to just do what he says and hope the media make their conclusions about his change quick enough that you can ditch him before the summer break.

At least during the Formula One season, you can use traveling as a reason to get out of dates. When the Champion’s League starts back up he’ll be traveling around Europe a bit more than he is now, and there’s always a chance you could be in the same country at the same time, but the likelihood of your schedules aligning is slim and that means you’ll be safe from any ventures out into public.

But for the time being, you’re stuck.

“Okay,” you reluctantly agree.

He claps his hands, a deceptively cheerful grin on his face. If you didn’t already think of him as the worst prick you’ve ever met, you might’ve found it charming. It’s the same smile he used to flash at you in your first week when he was trying to cozy up and ease his way into your good graces. The sight of it makes you sick to your stomach, now.

“Great,” he rises from his seat. “We’ll do some shopping, get some lunch━ make a full day out of it.”

At this point, you don’t care what he has planned. You just want him to leave you alone so you can try to at least pretend like you’re gonna finish the rest of the work you need to get around to.

Garrett’s made his way to the door and has his hand reaching for the handle when he turns back around and gives you a smirk. “Might wanna work on your happy face, though, love,” he comments, gesturing towards you with a nod of his head. “‘Cause if you look like that in front of the paps they definitely aren’t gonna be very convinced that you love me.”

Just to spite him, you let your scowl deepen. “I don’t need your advice. I know how to handle myself, Garrett.” You say his name like a curse━ like the very feeling of it on your tongue causes you pain.

If he notices, he doesn’t comment. His face turns thoughtful, but there’s still the smugness painted across his features that makes you so unfathomably annoyed. “You must be pretty familiar with the paps if you’re always around those drivers, yeah?” He knows the answer to his question already, so you’re not sure why he’s even asking.

He stays silent, though, like he’s genuinely expecting an answer, so you shrug your shoulders. “Obviously.”

“Obviously,” he repeats back to you.

His laughter is all you hear echoing in your ears even once he’s long gone.

Until your phone starts to ring and Lando's name flashes across the screen.

━━ tags: @maih23 @urfavnoirette @leclercsluv @f1luvur @formulaal @a-disturbing-self-reflection @starlightpierre @chezmardybum @marshmummy @405rry @sideboobrry11 @d3kstar @mcmuppet @happylittlereader @casperlikej @5starl1ght

━━ a/n: cliffhanger hehe~ also, i promise we're getting to ACTUAL formula one stuff soon

[in1-nutshell]

IM SORRY I ONLY GET IDEAS WHEN REQUESTS ARE CLOSED, PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME AND ADD THIS TO THE BOTTOM

Fearless buddy being sent to the tfp universe at first made me want the tfp team prime to see mtmte Megs interact with buddy and have a crisis over the fact that Megs became a dad, to a human no less.

and then I realized, no. no I dont want team prime to just react to mtmte megs, I want these fuckers to get yeeted into the portal one by one and suffer through the general chaos of the lost light.

Arcee - What was that?

Swerve - oh thats just Skids, you can tell cause when Buddys' in the vents it sounds more like a pitter patter.

Arcee - WHY ARE THEY IN THE VENTS?!

Drifts gets double to Ratchets to simp for

Optimus curls into a ball and cries when he sees Megatron with an autobot badge and being a decent person

Tailgate fanboys and asked for an autograph, yes he knows that its not their Optimus Prime but he's cool none the less

Miko quickly finds Buddy and Whirl and Rodimus quickly grabs Bumblebee and Smokescreen. Ultra Magnus has his back turned for for ten minutes and suddenly the Lost light has been turned into a race track with Swerve handling the betting's and a small world has declared war on the lost light, stating the instigators was a human and two mechs, one of which kinda sounds like the Apex armor.

Brainstorm finds Raf and gets into a custody battle for him with Ratchet.

Optimus and Megatron both have a conversation and get some kinda closure from it.

Ultra Magnus nearly cries over Jack being responsible and polite. he loves buddy but why did they get the well mannered human

plus the rest of the autobots being fucking flabbergasted at how Megatron is with his tiny organic child

In short: C H A O S !

There simply would have been way too much to cover with just this request alone. So, I've tried to condense everything down to 4 key highlights of events that defiantly happened during the trip. This would also be assuming that this is also the same universe as Old Predacon Buddy.

Hope you enjoy!

Fearless Buddy gets a visit from TFP Bots

SFW, Platonic, Human reader

TFP/MTMTE

4 Conversations and confrontations that have defiantly happened during the visit

Meeting the Co- captains

The bots had just arrived at the Lost Light via portal and met Buddy once again.

Buddy wanted to bring them to the med bay just to make sure everything was okay with their systems.

Optimus was the one to have Buddy on his servo as they pointed the way to get to the med bay.

How did they not come across any other crewmember?

That is beyond them.

But just before the team made it to the med bay a streak of black came in front of the bots.

“Who are you and what are you doing on board?”--Ravage

Buddy waving from Prime’s servo.

“Hi Ravage!”--Buddy

Ravage takes notice of Buddy and pins his audials back.

“Let them go now!”--Ravage

Ravage tries swiping at the Prime, but Arcee fires a warning shot.

“Don’t even think about it.”--Arcee

“Wait can’t we all calm down—"--Buddy

Multiple heavy pede steps are heard.

“And now he’s coming…”--Buddy

“Who’s—”--Jack

Megatron and Rodimus come running from the corner and stop behind Ravage.

Megatron has his fusion cannon ready and Rodimus is powering up.

Everyone is tense.

“All right Fake Optimus, put Buddy down and no one gets hurt too badly.”--Rodimus

“Fake Prime? This is Optimus Prime.”--Smokescreen

“Yeah, and Megatron isn’t Buddy’s dad. That’s not Optimus.”--Rodimus

“Excuse did you say that bucket head there was Buddy’s dad?!”--Miko

Buddy nods and pats Prime’s digits.

“Just pass me to Rodimus while I explain everything.”--Buddy

Optimus hesitates a minute before handing Buddy to Rodimus.

Buddy Jumps from Rodimus’s servo start onto Megatron’s arm, which freaks everyone out for a minute as the ex war lord does catch them.

“Buddy we’ve talked about this.”--Megatron

Buddy stick’s out their tongue.

“Can someone please explain what in Primus’s name is going on?!”--Magnus

“In a bit Magnus.”--Buddy

“Wait, wait wait, this is Magnus?”--Rodimus

Rodimus looks at him amused.

“Just wait til Minimus finds out.”--Rodimus

“Who’s Minimus?”--Wheeljack

“In a minute, now to the med bay. Ratchet should take a look at them before anything else.”--Buddy

“Ratchet?”—Team Prime

“Me?”--Ratchet

Rodimus and Buddy turn to each other with a mischievous smile.

Megatron just sighs tiredly.

This was going to be a long day… or week even…

2. Ratchet confrontation and some honorable mentions

Both Ratchet’s nearly have a stroke when they see each other.

The team gets checked out by every medic available.

Buddy manages to catch everyone up overall on the ‘alternative universe’ fiasco. Everyone manages to understand for the most part.

Megatron watches Buddy like a hawk while also sending a message to Minimus on the situation.

He could practically hear the stroke happening from here.

MTMTE Ratchet taking a double look at everyone’s energon levels.

“How are any of you even functioning?! Your energon levels are so low you shouldn’t even be standing up right?!”—MTMTE Ratchet

TFP Ratchet huffs.

“Unlike this universe, energon is not a common thing to run by. Naturally the levels are going to be low.”—TFP Ratchet

“I’m not saying that it is, but what I am is astounded on how any of you are still even talking. And you especially.”

Optimus looks curious.

“What are you referring to?”--Optimus

MTMTE Ratchet takes a deep vent and lets it out.

“Your Ratchet has the lowest energon levels out of your entire team combined! Miracle that he is even with us.”--ratchet

Bee buzzes angrily.

All MTMTE bots look at him worriedly.

First Aid comes over to him.

“What happened to your voice?”—First Aid

MTMTE Ratchet, Ambulon and Velocity join in crowding Bee.

“His voice box was damaged in the war on Cybertron. Our Megatron damaged it.”—Raf

Bumblebee looks down a bit.

The medics are all looking at one another.

“We can see what we can do here, if you’d like Bumblebee.”—MTMTE Ratchet

Bee buzzes happily as Raf hugs his digit.

Drift enters the med bay.

“Hey Ratchet, I heard you yelling in here, is everything—”--Drift

Drift looks at the scene in front of him stopping dead in his tracks.

His optics land on TFP Ratchet.

Buddy looks at him mouthing ‘No!’

“Who’s this guy?”--Smokescreen

“I finally made it to the Afterspark.”--Drift

“What?”—TFP Ratchet

“That’s just Drift just ignore him.”—MTMTE Ratchet

“Ratchet I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”--Buddy

“I HAVE TWO RATCHET’S NOW!”--Drift

Drift pulls them both into a hug.

TFP Ratchet is struggling to get out of his grip while MTMTE Ratchet just goes along with it.

“Buddy, who’s that?”--Wheeljack

��And why is he hugging Ratchet?”--Bulkhead

“That’s Drift, he’s Ratchet’s Conjunx.”--Buddy

All TFP Bots nearly have whiplash at how fast they move their helms.

“HIS CONJUNX?!”—Team Prime

“MY WHAT?!”—TFP Ratchet

“Not yours.”—MTMTE Ratchet

“Aww Ratty! You do care.”--Drift

“RATTY?!”—Team Prime

Several members of Team Prime laughing on the med slab so hard the medics are on standby.

3. Kids custody

Tfp team goes to the bar.

Kids stay with Buddy in the human safe portion of the bar to get some food.

Everyone is staring at them.

But to be fair they did have way different frame types than everyone else in this dimension.

Buddy yells at them for being rude.

That they help them in their time of need.

Suddenly everyone is in a much better mood.

Swerve serving Team Prime some engex.

“Any friend of Buddy is a friend of ours. Drink up fellow bots!”--Swerve

“Thank you Swerve.”--Optimus

Prime feels something poking his side

He looks at a white minibot poking his side holding a data pad.

“Hi! I know your not this universes Optimus, but can I still have your autography!”--Tailgate

Prime looks a bit surprised but he gives in.

“Thank you!”--Tailgate

“And what may be your name?”--Optimus

“I’m Tailgate!”--Tailgate

Arcee spits out her engex, Bulkhead calms her down.

“Is she okay? I didn’t upset her right?”--Tailgate

Arcee walks up to Tailgate, who is roughly around her size.

Cyclonus walks up behind Tailgate as if daring her to do something dumb.

She eventually holds her servo out.

“I’m Arcee.”--Arcee

Tailgate hugs Arcee instead.

“Thank you and your team for taking care of Buddy while they were away!”--Tailgate

Arcee is holding back tears as she gives into the hug.

“SHE’S ARCEE!”--Rodimus

Many bots look over with curiosity and some with fear.

Bulkhead looked over at the human table to find it empty.

“Hey where are the kids?”--Bulkhead

“Oh! Whirl took them around the bar when you weren’t looking.”--Swerve

“Whirl? Who’s Whirl?”--Magnus

Swerve points to the helicopter bot with his cockpit open.

“That one who’s trying to fight with Getaway.”--Swerve

Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Ultra Magnus navigate their way to Whirl.

He turns to show Buddy and Miko laughing in the pit.

“So, you’re this little monsters guardians?”--Whirl

“Yes—”--Bulkhead

“Well, TOO BAD!”--Whirl

Whirl places a protective claw over both of the giggling humans.

“SHE’S MY OTHER AMICA NOW!”--Whirl

“They are not your Amica—”--Magnus

“Actually I’m his.”--Buddy

“And that’s something we’re going to talk about later. Miko—”--Wheeljack

“ITS WHIRL JR. NOW!”--Miko

“Miko no!”--Bulkhead

“MIKO YES!”--Miko

Meanwhile with Arcee…

Arcee stares at MTMTE Magnus, Cyclonus, Tailgate and Pipes.

Pipes and Tailgate are asking him all sorts of questions.

“Ultra Magnus. Cyclonus.”--Arcee

“Arcee.”—Magnus and Cyclonus

All three of them look over at the other three who are happily laughing at a joke.

All three mentally promise to destroy anyone who harms Jack.

Meanwhile with Ratchet…

Brainstorm holding Raf high above his helm.

“I HAVE FOUND MY CHILD!”--Brainstorm

“HE IS NOT YOUR CHILD!”--Perceptor

“Fine! Percy and Nautica we need to schedule visiting time—”--Brainstorm

MTMTE Ratchet taking Raf out of his servo.

“Leave the poor boy alone.”—MTMTE Ratchet

Drift looks over at MTMTE Ratchet and Raf and smiles teasingly.

“AAAAWWWW Ratty!”--Drift

Ratchet suddenly getting the hint.

“No…”—MTMTE Ratchet

“Yes…”--Drift

Drift no.”—MTMTE Ratchet

“Drift yes?”--Drift

“…”--MTMTE Ratchet

Ratchet hands Raf back to his counterpart.

“I think its best to keep him in check.”—MTMTE Ratchet

“Will do—HEY!”—TFP Ratchet

Brainstorm once again nabbing Raf from him.

“Mine child! Now Rafael. Would you like to see my lab? It has all sorts of inventions in it.”--Brainstorm

“BRAINSTORM!”--Chromdome

Brainstorm starts heading to the exit faster before Skids tackles him down letting Raf to get thrown up in the air.

He gets caught by Swerve, who just puts him down next to him.

“…Do you like Bill Nye?”--Swerve

Meanwhile with Rodimus…

Has Smokescreen and Bumblebee both thrown over his shoulder looking at Megatron and Magnus.

“Please?”--Rodimus

“No.”--Magnus

“Too bad.”--Rodimus

Confused car noises intensify.

Later on, Optimus and Megatron are found in one of the booth having some whispered conversation.

No one knows what they talked about, but both came back from it looking tired yet somewhat happy.

4. Promise to meet each other one day in the future

A couple days pass, the portal comes back.

Tfp team says their goodbyes.

Buddy wishes them good luck and to say hi to their alternative.

Portal closes.

“Wait you said, ‘other Buddy’, there was another Buddy?”--Megatron

“Oh yeah, but they’re an old Predacon.”--Buddy

“AN OLD WHAT?!”--Whirl

Meanwhile back in TFP…

The team comes out of the portal groaning at the semi harsh landing.

June and Agent Fowler came running in.

June nearly tackles the kids asking so many questions their heads are spinning.

The team explains what happened.

“Would have guessed that after Buddy’s explanation.”—Agent Fowler

“Heh, hey where is Buddy anyways?”--Bulkhead

“Bet their taking a nap.”--Miko

“Nope. After four hours of you guys ‘disappearing to the other dimension’ they’ve been trying to keep everything under control. They’ve been increasing patrols and energon digs.”—Agent Fowler

“They should be coming in soon.”--June

Heavy wing flaps are heard from the main entrance.

“June! I think another rocks stuck in my—”--Buddy

Buddy stops to take a good look at the team before going in for a group hug, spreading their wings as much as possible.

“Thank the Primes your all safe.”--Buddy

“Woah! Buddy, your…umm…”--Smokescreen

Buddy looking down at their dented and dusty self.

“Someone had to pick up on the patrols. The Decepticon’s couldn’t know that you were gone.”--Buddy

Optimus places his servo on Buddy’s shoulder.

“Rest old friend. We can take it from here.”--Optimus

Buddy just yawns and moves to their spot near the human area and slumps down hard and falls asleep.

The kids go over to Buddy to see if they are still awake.

They were out.

[fursasaida]

Emma Saltzberg: Your book chronicles a longstanding struggle over public opinion in the American Jewish world. What are the top-level conclusions you draw from this history?

Geoffrey Levin: The first big takeaway is that this history of American Jewish concern for Palestinian rights isn’t something that started yesterday, or even in the ’60s or ’70s. It goes back to 1948. As long as there has been a Palestinian refugee issue, there has been American Jewish concern for Palestinians, especially coming from Jews who spent a lot of time in the region and were deeply exposed to Israel and to the Palestinians. The second is that this American Jewish engagement with Palestinian rights was frequently influenced by state actors. Sometimes it was the Arab League [an organization of Arab states formed in 1945 to advance their shared interests], sometimes it was the CIA—but most often it was the Israeli government. I uncover this long record of Israeli diplomats trying to manage American Jewish discourse. And the last key point is that American Jewish groups were having nuanced and complicated debates in this period, as early as the ’30s, about the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. A lot of the groups that are arguing today that there’s a strong overlap between those two things, like the AJC and the Reform movement, didn’t hold that position 70 years ago.

[...]

ES: You also write about some Jewish figures whose anti-nationalist position led them to maintain their opposition to Israel’s creation even after 1948.

GL: A more extreme version of the AJC’s position emerged through the American Council for Judaism, which was an anti-Zionist group originally formed by Reform Jewish thinkers. Before and after ’48, they were against the creation of a Jewish state, but they were not focused on the Palestinian question initially. They opposed Israel because of their anti-nationalism, thinking the state would be bad for Jews. These anti-Zionists were focused on keeping Zionism and Israeli and Hebrew culture from dominating American Jewish life. They were concerned that doing so diverted American Jewish loyalties. Yet ultimately, some within the American Council for Judaism, mostly leaders like Rabbi Elmer Berger who had a lot of exposure to Palestinians themselves, did become strong advocates of Palestinian rights. And then they got kind of nudged out of the organization.

ES: You tell the story of Breira, an anti-occupation Zionist group founded in 1973 that tried to advocate for Palestinian rights in this context of increased Jewish nationalism. What happened to them?

GL: Breira was the first national American Jewish group arguing for what we now call the two-state solution. The leaders had gone to Israel and heard from Israeli leftists and had become convinced that Palestinians couldn’t be ignored forever. They framed themselves as nice Jewish boys and girls—people who wanted what’s best for Israel and for Jewish politics. And every chance they could, they highlighted Israeli voices. But they still ended up getting eviscerated as “Jews for Fatah”—Fatah being the leading PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] faction—after just a couple of members met with a few moderate members of the PLO. It was an early example of how no matter how much American Jews who want to recognize Palestinian rights try to burnish their Jewish and even Israeli credentials, people will push against that and question their Jewish identity. And that hurt people a lot. A lot of those figures in Breira could have contributed a lot more to the future of the American Jewish community, but they felt really burned.

ES: As you note in the book, some analysts today describe American Jews’ increased criticism of Israel and Zionism as a product of distancing from Israel. But, as the Breira story shows, this stance is often a product of very close engagement with Israel.

GL: I think this is crucial. Millennial and Gen Z Jews who are involved in the Jewish community are far more likely to have gone to Israel than people of older generations, because of all these newer subsidized programs, like Birthright. They are far more likely to have met Israeli shlichim [young adult “emissaries” from Israel] through camp or through campus Hillel, and far more likely to watch Israeli stuff on YouTube and enjoy Israeli cuisine. Younger Jews are far more likely to know Palestinians as well. In contrast, many in earlier generations may have had more positive views toward Israel, but less deep engagement with the actual place and the people living there, both Israelis and Palestinians.

In my book, those from the earlier generations who engaged with Palestinian rights did spend a lot of time over there. They knew Hebrew. When they were advocating for Palestinian rights, whether that meant self-determination, or civil rights for minorities in Israel, or a different approach toward Palestinian refugees, they often came to those conclusions from going there and talking to Israelis and talking to Palestinians.

ES: Why is it important to know this history, as we contemplate different American Jewish responses to Israel’s onslaught on Gaza today?

GL: The characters in this story are people that a lot of experts haven’t heard of before. By unearthing these stories, I show how seriously people were thinking through some of these same questions 70 years ago. I think that one of the most important chapters is this one where I am able to use the archives to put a Palestinian voice at the forefront. Fayez Sayegh was struggling to find a way that was acceptable in American public discourse to talk about Palestinian issues and Arab issues. I think it’s important to write these people back into history, because they were so eager to change the discourse.

These people all kind of failed; they were pushed out. The critical American Jews were fired. I think a lot of American Jews thought the problems would just go away. And I can’t tell you that we would have had peace if the dissenting voices had succeeded. But I do think if they had been successful in getting a more open discourse within the Jewish community 70 years ago, that we would probably be in a healthier place right now, both in terms of the American Jewish community and American discourse more broadly.

[artiststarme]

Bye Bi Steve

Thank you @nburkhardt and @doubleb11 for the ideas on this fic! I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Now with a Part 2!

~*~*~*~

All throughout his life, Steve has denied his interest in guys. He discredited his feelings for Tommy H. as friendship and placed his attraction to Billy as jealousy. He liked girls, had loved Nancy, so he couldn’t be interested in guys. Steve kept telling himself that all throughout high school, all throughout 1985, up until a random day in the summer of 1986. 

It had been a shift just like any other, covering for Robin while she mooned over Vickie at the community pool. Steve was organizing tapes in the romance section in a way he knew would infuriate her when she came back when he heard the bell chime. “Welcome to Family Video, how can I-”

He stopped mid sentence when he saw it was Eddie. His hair was pulled back in a bun showing off the contours in his neck as well as a couple of piercings in his ears. His skimpy black T-shirt that showed off his scars and tattoos in equal measure did nothing to mute Steve’s attraction. 

“Hey Big Boy, when do you get off? It’s hot as shit out today and I refuse to go to the community pool with all of the religious zealots and their mothers. Fancy sharing your pool with the rest of us peasants, my liege?” Eddie blinked up at him through his eyelashes. 

Fuck, shit, fuck! This was not what Steve needed today! 

Fortunately, his outward composure remained calm despite his internal crisis. “I work until 10 tonight,” Eddie groaned but Steve plowed through the interruption. “BUT, I can give you my house key so you can swim. You can bring the kids over and use the pool as long as you watch them, alright?”

Eddie nearly hopped up and down in excitement, “thanks Stevie! I knew I could count on you! I love you!”

He went to run out of the store but Steve called him back, “Eddie! I didn’t give you the key. Here, try not to make a mess please?”

“No promises, Stevie. Thank you!” Then, he pranced through the door and was gone with a squeal of the van’s brakes. 

Very calmly, Steve walked to the door and flipped the open sign to closed. Then he turned the lights off and made his way to the dingy floor of the bathroom. It was there that he spent the next thirty minutes on the verge of consciousness, having a panic attack so brutal that he thought it might kill him. His entire life, he thought he only liked girls but just a moment of seeing Eddie looking so hot so effortlessly was enough to unravel everything he thought he knew about himself. 

Once he wrapped his head around being attracted to Eddie (he’d seen monsters with faces that opened up like a flower filled with teeth, there were stranger things than finding a hot guy hot), he realized that he needed help. He couldn’t go to Eddie for obvious reasons and Robin was too busy to help him with his crisis. So he did the only thing he could think of… he called Nancy Wheeler. 

Using the store phone at Family Video while hiding behind the counter was a low point for him but so was calling his ex-girlfriend to tell her that he might like guys. He waited for her to pick up the phone for what seemed like forever but was only a few seconds. 

“Hello, Wheeler residence. This is Nancy.”

“Nance, it’s Steve. Can you come to the video store to talk? I’m kind of having a crisis and I need to talk to someone. Robin and Eddie are busy and I really need to talk to you because I think I might actually be going insane,” he rambled. 

“Steve? Calm down, what’s going on? Aren’t you working right now?” Her voice filled with concern as she questioned him. 

“Obviously not well! I had a crisis so I shut the door, it’s fine. Can you please come? Please, Nancy?” Steve was begging her but he hoped she wouldn’t hold it against him. 

He heard her sigh and then, “fine, I’ll be there in five minutes. Just- hold on, okay? I’m sure everything will be fine.”

And so, he waited for five minutes in a sense of fake calmness. His hands were still shaking with leftover anxiety and sweat was dripping down his forehead from the stress but he was fine. He certainly didn’t jump a foot into the air when he heard a gentle knock on the door. When he peeked over the counter to see a confused and worried Nancy though, he calmed a little bit. 

He unlocked the door and opened it just enough to pull her inside before slamming it closed and locking it again. “Steve, are you okay? You don’t look very good.”

He started pacing back and forth in front of her. “Okay so, I have something really important to tell you and it’s kind of a secret? Like if you tell the wrong person, it could get me killed. But I have to tell someone because I’m pretty sure I’m losing my mind.”

She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Steve, just tell me.”

“I think I like guys. Eddie specifically, I think I like Eddie.” They both stared at each other in silence. Nancy’s face was blank as she thought over his words and Steve’s heart only seemed to race faster at her nonchalance. 

“Okay, is that it?” She asked him. 

“What do you mean, ‘is that it’? I’ve been freaking out all day!”

“Steve, it’s okay that you like Eddie. Thank you for telling me and I’m glad you felt that you could trust me with this information. Why are you freaking out about that?” She reassured him. 

“I like girls, Nancy! I can’t like Eddie!”

“Why not?” She asked with her eyebrow raised. “No one can tell you how you feel besides you, Steve. If you like Eddie, then you like Eddie. There’s nothing stopping you from liking girls and boys.” 

“Nance, you have to be either gay or straight. There’s no in-between.” He said in frustration. 

“Yes there is. I read an article about bisexuality, it’s when you’re sexually attracted to both girls AND guys. So if you like Eddie and still like girls, it sounds like you’re bisexual,” she explained to him. 

Steve’s eyes widened but his voice was small when he whispered, “and that’s okay? It’s okay that I’m bisexual?”

Nancy gave him a soft smile, “of course, Steve. It’s perfectly fine to be bisexual. And I’m pretty sure that Eddie has a thing for you too.”

Steve grinned at her words and pulled her into a hug that she returned gently. “Thanks Nance, I needed that.”

“Of course. Things may be awkward between us but we’re still friends, Steve. And I meant it, I’m glad you felt safe enough to tell me.” 

They talked for a few more moments and by the time she left, he felt a lot lighter. He was bisexual and that was okay. 

~*~*~*~

It took a few more weeks of coming to terms with his sexuality before he could tell Robin and Eddie. Both of them had come out to him so he felt safe in the fact that they would support him whole-heartedly. Even then, it came out accidentally while watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show at their weekly movie night at the Harrington house. 

“He’s hot, I’m digging the fishnets,” Steve said while throwing some popcorn in his mouth.

Both Eddie and Robin snapped their necks to look at him. Eddie looked a little hopeful while Robin looked offended. “Steve, you can’t just say that. Are you seriously making fun of our favorite movie?”

Eddie’s hopeful expression turned mutinous at her words and he scowled. “That’s not cool, man. We’re trying to share one of the most important movies in queer culture and you’re mocking him because he’s wearing fishnets? What, does that infringe on your fragile masculinity so much?”

Steve hurried to backtrack and set the bowl of popcorn down on his coffee table away from his flailing arms. “What, no! I seriously just think that Tim Curry in fishnets looks hot, I’m not making fun of anything!”

“You’re not gay, Steve,” Robin told him confusedly. 

“I’m half gay! It’s called bisexual, it’s when you like guys and girls. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys about it, I was still wrapping my head around it…”

“What, you’re serious? Steve, that’s not a thing. Bisexual is what people say they are when they’re so much of a slut they’ll go for anything.” Eddie said, shaking his head. 

Steve looked to Robin, hoping to get some reassurance but only received a scathing look in response. “Being bisexual isn’t a thing, Steve. It’s just what people call it when they pretend and try to hurt the people that are actually gay. I can’t believe you would do that.”

“I wouldn’t! I’m serious, I like both guys and girls. I’m not trying to hurt you guys or be a manwhore. I really am attracted to both. I thought you guys would be more understanding,” Steve’s voice trailed off at the end in hurt. He never even fathomed the idea that they wouldn’t accept him. Their support had been guaranteed in his mind so now that he didn’t have it, he didn’t know what to do. 

Eddie scoffed, “Steve, you’re just confused. You have to be either gay or straight, there’s no inbetween. And you’re the biggest ladies-man I know. You like girls.”

Steve sighed. He felt like his best friends were attacking him for no reason. He finally found his people, felt safe and loved by them, and then ruined everything by being honest. He couldn’t believe that the people he loved and trusted the most were rejecting him. 

“I just told you that I like both. Yeah, I do like girls. I love them, I think they’re great. But I also like guys. I don’t know why you guys aren’t accepting that, especially after I accepted both of you but I think you should leave.”

“Steve-” Robin tried to speak but he cut her off. 

“If you guys can’t accept me for being bi, I think you should leave,” he said sternly. To his complete and utter heartbreak, they each picked up their things and walked to the door without another word. 

Robin turned around just enough to tell him, “Steve, you’re just confused. You’ll get over it eventually and when you do, give me a call.”

And with that, she closed the door behind her. 

Steve didn’t even try to stifle the sobs as the ‘Sweet Transvestite’ song played in the background. He rewound the tape on autopilot, tears streaming down his cheeks all the while. He’d just lost two of his best friends, two people that he’d gone through everything with, just because he was a little too different. 

With tears still streaking down his face and sobs wracking his frame, he made his way to the phone perched on the wall. He dialed the Wheeler’s number in a haze and only came back to himself when he heard Nancy’s voice filter through.

“Hello, Wheeler residence. This is Nancy.”

“Nance,” he said, barely decipherable through his tears. “I told Eddie and Robin that I was bisexual and they told me that it wasn’t a thing! They left and I don’t think we’re friends anymore! After everything we went through, they left because I like guys and girls. What is wrong with me, Nancy?”

“Are you serious? They left just like that? Steve, listen to me. Nothing is wrong with you and you are valid in your feelings. Honestly, if they can’t accept you then they don’t deserve you,” She told him seriously. 

“Nance, I don’t care if they deserve me or not. They’re all I have. The kids come and go, my parents hate me, and Hopper checks in sometimes but I can tell he has better things to do. Robin and Eddie are the only friends that I have consistently. And you I guess. But if I lose them, I lose everything.” Another sob tore from his throat and even Nancy started to tear up on her end of the call. 

“Steve, no matter what, you have me. I know that’s not good enough but I’ll always be here for you. I’m going to go talk to them and fix this. Just relax and maybe call Hopper or one of the kids to come over to check on you, okay? I’ll handle this,” she reassured him. 

“Okay, thanks Nance.”

“Of course, what are friends for?” And then the line went dead. 

~*~*~*~

Nancy was livid. She couldn’t believe that two members of the Party, two of Steve’s best friends that had been through the same shit as the rest of them, would be so intolerant over who someone else was attracted to. Seeing a giant flesh monster made out of melted humans and a vindictive man that could kill teenagers in their own minds were fine but Steve liking guys and girls was too much? Ridiculous.

As soon as she hung up the phone with Steve, she grabbed her car keys, a cardigan, and her gun then made her way to the Buckley house. Eddie’s van wasn’t parked in front of it so she made her way to the Munson trailer next. Both Robin and Eddie were sitting on the stoop of the trailer and only barely glanced up when she pulled in front of them.

“Um, hey Nance. Can we help you?” Eddie asked her disinterestedly. Although, he became much more interested, and afraid, when she pulled her pistol from her car. 

“Get in the trailer.”

“Okay, we’re going. What’s with the gun?” He stammered. Both he and Robin bolted inside the trailer and Nancy quickly followed. 

“Nancy, please. We didn’t do anything! Are you being controlled by Vecna or something because you’re pointing a gun at us and we don’t know why. You’re our friend! You don’t want to kill us! Is your favorite song still Girls Just Want To Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper? I don’t know all the words but between Eddie and I, we can probably bring you out of it. Just don’t shoot us!”

“It’s not so nice to be betrayed by your friends, now is it?” She lowered the gun enough for them to relax before she continued her crusade. “Steve called me in tears today because his best friends, the people he trusted to accept him, rejected him and tried to call him confused when he said he was bisexual. Do you even know how much that hurt him? He called me three weeks ago having a crisis because he realized he liked a guy and didn’t know he could. After I explained it several times and assured him that it was okay, I told him that you guys would accept him. Not only did you guys trample all over his feelings, you’re also making me look like a liar. And I am not a liar.”

“Nancy-”

“No, Eddie! When you and Robin came out to the Party, we accepted you. You were nervous and scared to tell us but we all accepted you because someone’s sexuality doesn’t change who they are as a person. Steve was just as nervous to tell you that he was bisexual and you ridiculed him. What if we had done that to you when you told us? Eddie, what if Dustin had laughed in your face and told you that you had to be confused? Robin, what if Max had yelled at you and said that lesbians didn’t even exist? Whatever you imagine that would’ve felt like, Steve is feeling it right now.”

Tears were dripping down Robin’s face and Eddie had paled several shades. Both of them were at a loss of what to do and neither one could find any words to say. 

In turn, Nancy dealt the final blow. “The worst part is that the reason he figured out he was bi was Eddie. You were his bisexual awakening and then you ridiculed him for it. He feels awful now and I don’t know if he’ll forgive you guys for this.”

Eddie’s face paled even further and Robin brought a hand up to her lips in shock. Nancy just shook her head, tucked her gun into her waistband, and walked back to her car. She’d done what she came to do and now she had an ex-boyfriend to comfort.

Permanent Tag List: @doubleb11 @nburkhardt @zerokrox-blog @newtstabber @i-less-than-three-you @carlyv @pyrohonk @straight4joekeery @trippypancakes @conversesweetheart @estrellami-1 @suddenlyinlove @yikes-a-bee @swimmingbirdrunningrock @perseus-notjackson @anaibis @merricatty @maya-custodios-dionach @grtwdsmwhr @manda-panda-monium @lumoschild @goodolefashionedloverboi @mentallyundone @awkwardgravity1 @anzelsilver @jestyzesty @gregre369

[themummersfolly]

Third time seeing Furiosa! Thoughts, in no particular order:

(Spoilers below)

I like how gender sort of evaporated in the wasteland. Like yeah, if you're healthy and female in the Citadel your career options are predetermined and pretty limited, and the Wasteland across the board is hypermasculine. But that masculinity doesn't appear limited to cis men: for example, the History Man offers to help Furiosa become not a History Woman or a History Person, but a History Man specifically. Also, Mr. Norton is female-presenting the entire movie, but after she wins her bike she is referred to by the make of her bike and a masculine honorific, almost as if to drive home a point to her new hordemates. Idk if there's an underlying message in all this, I just think it's cool that gender in the wasteland seems to be inherently fluid and situational.

What language were the Vuvalini speaking? You know, when the Vuvalini general tells Mary Jabassa that no one can know of the Green Place.

I paid attention to Mr. Harley this time, he does appear to have a soft spot for Furiosa. Now I want more fics of him and Mr. Davidson interacting with little Furiosa, being the cool uncles or even springing her and bailing from the Horde to go raise her as a bandit.

Did anyone else notice during the first attempt on the Citadel when Dementus is giving his "surrender or I will burn down your village" speech, the Octoboss is leaning back with his feet propped up on his gas tank? 1) Kleut is one lanky mfer. 2) This is clearly not the first time the Octoboss has heard this speech and he's expecting to get to hang out and enjoy the spectacle.

I love how the final act mirrors the first act. A handful of bikers pursued through dunes by an implacable Vuvalini who snipes them one by one. The pursuer has to commandeer a tire to keep going; a bike is crippled by the removal of a tire. The attempt to use a sandstorm for cover. Use of a rifle scope to watch the fleeing bikers. Attempted flight on foot. A slow death involving a tree as the result of failed escape. The first shot of Furiosa's Odyssey is of her picking peaches and offering one to a friend; the final shot, before it becomes Fury Road, is of her picking peaches and offering them to the wives. Visual poetry, man. I will take the weird pacing if that is what it takes to get us that thematic mirroring.

The Organic Mechanic was definitely cooking one of Dementus' dogs when Furiosa commandeered Scrotus' car.

When we first see the House of Holy Motors, the Head Blackthumb is assisted by a little old man with a tricked-out rolator. Later, when Furiosa has lost her arm, we see someone pulling what appears to be the tricked-out rolator out of storage and her building her prosthetic from one of the grabby arms on it.

From the first moment we see him, Smeg is low-key mimicking Dementus' look and actions. I think his function in the Horde is as Dementus' fool or jester.

Furiosa is wearing Dementus' cape when she first corners him. By the time she drags him back to the Citadel, it's gone. His mantle of hate and grief falls on her and she ultimately rejects it.

The Lone Warboy survived all the way through the 40 Day War! During the first attempt on the Citadel, he hooks a chain to the trailer with Furiosa and the History Man; Dementus and co manage to get it back and drive off, but the Warboy is pulled back up. We see him periodically in the background right up until Furiosa commandeers the Cranky Black, you can tell it's him because his build is so distinctive and he's got a scar from the arrow.

I really liked that one brakeman with the red beard, his face was covered during half his scenes but he seemed like a very normal person living in the Citadel, occasionally sticking up for Furiosa. I like how his humanity showed past even the Pyramid Head-looking costume. My headcanon is that he was friendly towards Furiosa from the time she became a dogman and recognized her all the way through; he's got a soft spot for his mute friend who occasionally wanders off and comes back a different gender.

[lihhelsing]

Final Part - Catfish Steddie

You can also read it on Ao3!

When Steve walks into his apartment after a long shift at the coffee shop, it takes him almost a full five minutes to notice there’s someone else in there with him. 

He’s been so tired lately he probably wouldn’t have noticed if the person, a petite strawberry blonde, hadn’t cleared her throat while looking at him. 

“Uh. Hello?” 

Had he walked into the wrong apartment? He couldn’t remember using his key but he’s pretty sure he did. 

“Hi,” the girl smiles as she places a Vogue Magazine on the coffee table. Steve looks around and he knows this coffee table. He knows this apartament. He’s definitely in the right place. 

Still doesn’t explain the girl. 

“Who are you?” 

She laughs as if he’s being funny but once she understands he’s serious, her smile falters a little. 

“Chrissy. I’m Robin’s -“

“Girlfriend. Yeah. She’s not here.” 

Chrissy nods. “I know. I’m here for you.” 

Either she’s going to murder him or try to convince him to forgive Robin and Steve’s not sure which one is worse right now. 

“Then you wasted your time. You can go now. Or stay, I don’t care.” 

Chrissy clicks her tongue. “Robin did a shitty thing.” 

“Yeah. You don’t say.” 

“She’s not a bad person, though.” 

Steve shrugs. “It doesn’t matter, does it? She still hurt people.” 

She hurt me is what Steve means. He doesn’t say it out loud but he has the feeling Chrissy sees right through him. 

“I was so mad when she told me. It was such a fucked up thing to do.” 

Steve nods, doesn’t see the point in expanding this conversation. 

“Look,” Chrissy says eventually. “She’s not a bad person, she just… sometimes she gets obsessed with things and she doesn’t know when it’s too much. This was too much. It was crazy and hurtful. I thought about… breaking up. But I know her and I know this was just a mistake.” 

Steve doesn’t know why Chrissy is saying all those things to him. He shrugs. Maybe if he doesn’t engage she will leave him alone. 

“I know it’s not good enough. But she’s really sorry.”

“Yeah.”

“She would love a chance to try and fix things.” 

Steve shakes his head. “No thanks. I asked her to leave me alone.” 

"Robin's not the best at boundaries if you haven't noticed," Chrissy says and it honestly annoys the hell out of Steve. He's pretty aware of his roommate's problems. He had been looking for another place to live ever since his talk with Robin but it seems luck isn't on his side, at least not with the budget he has right now. 

"Oh, I noticed it alright," Steve replies dryly but that also doesn't seem to faze Chrissy. "Like I said, the best she can do right now is leave me alone and not send her girlfriend to, what? Guilt trip me into forgiving her? Not happening."

Chrissy seems a little ashamed at that, but Steve doesn't care. He doesn't! The people pleaser inside of him is definitely not cringing at himself right now. 

"Listen. She did send me here, but all she wants is another chance at fixing things. She knows she fucked up bad but like I said, Robin's not a bad person. She was pretty nervous when you two first talked about this and she thinks she can explain herself better. I know it sounds like bullshit but I told her I would try to convince you to go talk to her and if you said no, we both would respect your decision."

Steve is about to say no. He wants to say no. He wants Robin to suffer for messing with his life and Eddie's and for fucking up something that could've been so good. But Eddie's not really answering his calls right now, Steve is about to flunk one of his classes because he's been so stressed about the whole thing. He's been stressing about getting a new place too, and finding a roommate that's not a total psycho and also someone who won't potentially try to sell his organs on the internet. He definitely needs a place that he can afford and for a second he considers it. 

And then, he has an idea. 

"Ok, I'll go."

Chrissy's whole face lightens up. She must really care about Robin to react like that just by Steve agreeing to go talk to her. He's not going to forgive her, just hear her out one more time because honestly? It can't get worse than it already is. 

"Really?"

"Yeah. But I have one condition."

"Of course, anything," Chrissy says, nodding enthusiastically. 

"I'll go and I'll hear her out. If she's just bullshitting me again, I get the apartment."

Chrissy frowns at him. "The apartment?"

"Yeah. I don't intend on keeping living with her but it's hard to find a place half decent that I can afford. And I can afford this and it's a pretty good place. So she'll keep paying her half until I find someone new to share. Then she'll be gone from my life."

Steve crosses his arms. Either way, he's going to win. He's going to get what he wants, no matter what, even if that's still not Eddie. Steve's been making peace with the fact that he's not going to get Eddie, after all. 

Chrissy nods even though she doesn't seem sure. 

"Shouldn't you check with Robin about this? I can wait."

She bites her lower lip but shakes her head. "No, it's fine. It's a deal."

Steve doesn't know exactly what to think but maybe Chrissy and Robin should work on their communication. 

x

Chrissy waits as Steve gets ready. He honestly didn't feel like changing but she said he should take a shower and relax just a bit, so he wouldn't be all defensive when it was time to talk to Robin. 

Steve sighs but he ends up agreeing because a nice, hot shower sounds good. His shift was proper hell today and he was looking forward to relaxing a bit, maybe watching something or even calling Dustin to catch up. 

When he's ready, Chrissy announces she will be driving them and Steve shrugs but accepts  anyway. He expects her to take him to her place or something so when she stops at a weird-looking parking lot Steve thinks maybe Chrissy is the one about to sell his organs on the internet. 

"Go on," she nudges him softly and Steve raises an eyebrow. "C'mon, it's not that bad."

"I should've known looking for roommates on Craigslist would have consequences," he says as a joke. Mostly. 

Chrissy chuckles. "It's not that bad."

It is that bad and she knows it. From what Steve can gather they are outside a dive bar in all its glory. Steve is not opposed to dive bars in general, but this was definitely not how he expected his Friday night to go. 

"Fine, I'm going, but just so you know my parents will come for you if something happens to me." 

"Robin says you don't talk to your parents," Chrissy grins at Steve and he shrugs.

"It was worth a shot," and then he's out of the car and into the quiet cold night. 

The bar isn't as bad as Steve imagined, even if it's called Hellfire. Not a very inviting name but then again, it's absolutely packed and Steve is kind of shocked. There are old-looking guys who Steve would bet have come to this same bar every day for the last twenty years and then some twenty-somethings grouped everywhere, with cheap-ass beers in their hands and loud voices. 

What surprises Steve the most is how both groups seem to get along pretty well, as long as they stay on their side of the bar. 

Steve takes a look around trying to see Robin's mess of mousy-brown hair but she's nowhere to be found. For a second he thinks maybe Chrissy tricked him for some reason but when his eyes inspect the place once again he finds what he was looking for. 

And it's not Robin. 

Eddie is sitting in a booth in the far corner of the bar, with no one around him. Steve might not be the brightest person on earth but in that same second, he understands Eddie is there to meet him, for some reason. 

He clenches his hands closed and walks toward him, trying not to think too hard about seeing Eddie again, otherwise he feels like he'd puke. 

"Hey," Steve says as soon as he's close enough and Eddie rips his eyes from his bottle to look at Steve. There are too many feelings there for Steve to figure out so he nods to the empty seat in front of him. "Mind if I join you?"

Eddie shakes his head and Steve thinks he looks adorable. 

"Interesting choice of place," Steve says to try and make things less awkward. 

Eddie laughs and the sound is delicious and Steve feels like he's winning, somehow. 

"I work here," Eddie admits, but he has a secret smile on his lips as if he knows exactly why Steve said what he said. As if they are connected in a way Steve had never felt with anyone else. 

As if a minute had passed since the last time they talked and not weeks. 

"Good to know," Steve says and he thinks he's flirting even though he should be apologizing but Eddie doesn't seem mad that he's flirting because he's flirting back. Or so Steve hopes he is. 

"Robin said it was a safe choice," Eddie says and Steve can feel her name souring his mood a little. "Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned her."

Maybe Steve needs to get this over with. 

"It's ok. I just really needed to say I'm sorry again. I hate that you got caught up in something so awful and fucked up and I'm sorry I didn't try harder to explain myself and-"

"Stop."

Steve does because he's been rejected by Eddie once and he's afraid he's getting rejected again. He thinks - no, he knows - he wouldn't survive it. 

"Robin might've ambushed me at work and forced me to listen to her explanations and her weird apology."

Steve clicks his tongue. He rests one of his hands on top of the table and feels the pull towards Eddie. If this was any other date he would reach out and grab his hand but he's not even sure this is a date. 

"I'm sorry for that too. Chrissy told me she has a hard time understanding boundaries."

Eddie shrugs as if it doesn't matter. "Yeah, well. That was clear from the start."

At that, they both laugh and it feels so right it hurts. Steve had accepted the fact that he wouldn't get this, not with Eddie, and now. 

Now he might. 

"I'm really sorry, Eddie," Steve's not looking at him when he says it but then he feels a warm, calloused hand on his and he looks up. Eddie is smiling softly at him as if they were all alone in the whole world. 

"You don't need to apologize. Robin explained everything and she said you had nothing to do with it. I'm sorry my insecurities got the best of me. I should've let you explain yourself. I should've believed you."

Eddie's hand feels good around his and Steve moves until their fingers are intertwined. Eddie has a couple of tattoos on his fingers which contrast with Steve's blank ones in a way that feels absolutely right. 

"I'm still sorry. I hate that you got caught up in this," Steve answers easily. 

"Me too," Eddie says. His thumb starts drawing circles on Steve's hand. "But in a fucked up way it brought me to you, here. So maybe I don't hate it all that much."

Steve smiles. He doesn't hate it either. 

x

Talking to Eddie is as easy as the first day and Steve feels amazed by it. 

They keep their hands securely clasped together as they sip their beers and talk about everything. Steve tells Eddie about his talk with Robin right after he left and how angry and upset he was. Eddie tells him about his talk with Robin and how… Numb he felt. 

He explains he spent so much time thinking he had Steve all figured out that it was really hard for him to see he didn't. To see Steve was telling the truth and to see Steve, for some weird reason, really wanted Eddie. 

Steve feels his cheeks burning hot at that and his skin tingles in the places it meets Eddie's. 

After an hour they drift off to other subjects as if this is nothing more than a typical Friday night date for them. As if they are just picking up right where they left off. 

It's almost 3 in the morning when a shorter guy with curly hair approaches their table and announces it's the last round - and it's on the house. 

"Thanks, Gareth," Eddie says but he doesn't make eye contact with the guy. And the guy actually looks like he's glaring at Steve. 

Steve furrows his brows and Eddie squeezes his hand softly.

"It's complicated, he's just like, overprotective. I'll tell you all about it later."

Later. 

It gives Steve hope. 

x

Later looks like the empty alley behind the bar at almost 4 am. 

Not for any Gareth stuff, but for… Other stuff. 

Steve lets Eddie push him up against the wall and kiss him like the world is ending. 

Steve kisses him right back as if they could fix the world with it. 

Eddie feels warm and soft pressed against him and Steve can't contain the small sounds leaving his mouth. Eddie swallows every single one of them, hands finding their way underneath Steve's polo shirt.

Skin touching skin as Eddie's fingers explore him, squeezing and moving around, drawing circles that drive Steve crazy because he wants more. He wants more and more. Eddie lets his fingers brush on Steve's nipple and he can't help but moan, even if they are still in public. 

"Come home with me," Steve pleads, face buried in Eddie's neck as he drowns in his scent. Eddie smells warm and sweet and so good Steve wants to stay there forever. "Please, baby. Come home with me."

Eddie nods against his skin as his mouth nips at whatever he can find and Steve thinks he can come undone right here if Eddie keeps that up. He doesn't want to stop but he does it anyway because he also wants to take his time. 

He and Eddie never rushed into anything and they are not rushing into this. Eddie smiles that gorgeous smile of his and Steve feels like he could die right now and he would still be the happiest guy on earth. 

"Lead the way," Eddie whispers and Steve does, pulling him away from the wall before it's too late and he loses all his strength. He keeps their hands wrapped up together because he knows that's how it's supposed to be. 

He brings Eddie home again, and that tonight they take their time with each other. They talk and laugh and kiss and smile. They take pieces of clothing off and they spread their fingers everywhere. They touch and squeeze and scratch. 

They take each other apart knowing they won't ever be apart again. It's a silent promise in between kisses and laughter. It's a spoken promise when they are all sweaty and tangled up in each other, hands still clasped together, with no space in between their bodies. 

Eddie kisses him again and again and again and Steve feels like he's floating. 

Steve kisses him again and again and again and he hopes he gets to do it forever. 

x

They wake up to a buzzing sound that tells Steve someone is there but when he opens the door there's only this big breakfast basket. He doesn't need to open the note to know it comes from Robin (and Chrissy, he finds out later). 

There are all kinds of foods and a fancy sparkling wine that Eddie immediately opens and pours a glass saying you can only fight a hangover drinking more and Steve wants to drop everything and lock Eddie in his room with just the wine. 

There's also a key Steve recognizes as their front door key. He hums as he looks at it and Eddie pushes the wine in his hand as he grabs a piece of bread from the basket. 

"Are you going to forgive her, you think?"

His question isn't loaded with anything other than curiosity. Steve gets the feeling Eddie wouldn't judge him either way and still, he doesn't know the answer. He shrugs and feels Eddie hugging him from behind. 

"That's ok. There's no right answer here," Eddie says, placing kisses on his shoulder and neck as if he's chasing every single one of Steve's moles. Maybe he is. 

"I don't really know what to do," Steve admits it out loud. Eddie's hand feels so solid around his waist and he feels grounded for the first time in a long time. Maybe ever. 

"Her professor is getting his license revoked," Eddie says and Steve feels a strange satisfaction at that. "She's getting suspended and is probably going to lose the whole semester."

Steve doesn't know if it's too much or not enough. There are too many feelings inside his chest right now. 

"I'm just saying. It's not only up to you to punish her. And you should, you know. Punish her. However you want. Just don't punish yourself in the process, ok?"

Steve's not sure what this means but he knows he's going to figure it out. Robin already gave up the apartment and she's getting held back in school, and Eddie is here and maybe Steve believes nothing else matters right now. 

"You're too smart for your own good," Steve says as he turns in Eddie's arms and finds his mouth so he can kiss him again. 

He tastes like sparks flying and Steve kisses him like he could love him. 

Eddie kisses him back as if he already loves him. 

For now, it feels like enough. 

Previous | Read it on Ao3 and leave kudos!

[eurothug4000]

INTERVIEW WITH TOMM HULETT - SENIOR ASSOCIATE PRODUCER ON SILENT HILL DOWNPOUR

As part of my video on Silent Hill Downpour, Tomm kindly agreed to be interviewed! A big thank you to him for providing insight on the making of this title :)

Q1 - What led to deciding that open world aspects would be included in Downpour? Was it the trend of games at the time or was there something else that influenced this?

I had several aspects of the original SH games that I kept championing for the new ones, and one aspect was how much of SH1 was exploring the town itself. It was (relatively) huge! SH2 had a smaller more focused set of “town” areas, and then SH3 reused those. Origins brought it back to a degree but there wasn’t very much to do beyond the main quest.

Another thing I loved was how the notes in the original games would often mention characters or side stories that were not part of the main quest but definitely contributed to the atmosphere and creepiness. Lastly, as you said, open world games like GTA3 were cropping up all over. So these three factors all coalesced to become Downpour’s big explorable town filled with optional side quests that told little mini stories. But to be clear – we were not asked “can you put in something modern like Open World?” It’s more like what we wanted to accomplish with the town and sidequests made sense in an open world context, and then that created an exciting bullet point for marketing organically.

Q2 - Was there ever supposed to be a UFO ending? If yes, was there a rough outline for it?

We were not planning a specific “UFO” ending and I don’t actually recall why. We did plan for a joke ending, which turned into the happy birthday surprise. Or, it’s possible we planned for a UFO ending but someone came up with that instead and we just went with it, due to the nice escaping prison aspect of it.

I do know we wanted a wide variety of ending types, like the original games had, which is how we ended up with cool twists like the Anne/Murphy prison swap, etc.

Q3 - How did you get Korn on board for the theme?

When we got the unfortunate news we could not involve Akira Yamaoka, we knew that finding a worthy replacement for the game’s score was job # 1, and we were fortunate enough to be connected with Daniel Licht who did an amazing job matching the mood of Silent Hill with his own style.

But another big aspect of the SH music is the attract mode video, along with a rock song. Of course Yamaoka-san had always handled this as well, along with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Since this was kind of up in the air, our licensing department wanted to find a good licensing partner that might extend the awareness of Silent Hill beyond its core audience, but still sounded brand-appropriate.

A lot of different artists were discussed, but in the end, Korn made the most sense due to a variety of factors I can’t really get into. However one key factor was tailoring the lyrics to Silent Hill Downpour, rather than just being given an unreleased B-side as-is.

Q4 - The architecture (more so interior) style in Downpour feels very unique compared to the other SH games. Slightly gothic, almost like fancy buildings in New York - especially those apartments and office buildings! Although once I learned that the development team was based in the Czech Republic, I felt like maybe that was a big influence. What was the thought process behind going for this different style of environment?

I think a lot of this is, as you said, the Czech influence. Western Europe and North America have enough common threads I think it’s probably more similar than we realize if that is our whole sphere of reference. And obviously game players are familiar with Japan through games (Yakuza and Persona of course, among others) but Eastern Europe is far less represented. I think that Vatra “making what they know” had a positive effect on the games visuals and ambiance. It is the most unique and interesting of the Western SH games.

I think it’s generally accepted that as a whole, western gamers prefer the original SH games, made in Japan. And it turns out, there are a lot of Japanese fans who love the Western games most (going so far as to import Homecoming!), which was an interesting thing to discover. It tells me that an important part of Silent Hill’s creepiness is that sense that something is just OFF that you can’t put your finger on, and maybe it’s a result of unconscious cultural influences creeping into the design of the town itself, then being perceived through a different cultural lens.

Q5 - What were some of the most difficult parts of developing Downpour?

A minor challenge was the fact that fear is so subjective. Between two people sure, but let alone 2 teams in different cultures. So at times there was a lot of heated discussion about what the important parts of a scare or intense moment were, and what the audience would respond to.

The biggest difficulty though was external, just knowing the feelings and expectations of the fanbase at the time. The other Western Silent Hills had their fans of course, but nothing had made a huge splash like Silent Hill 2 (which itself wasn’t popular immediately but that’s a different story entirely!) We were very proud of Shattered Memories, but that was an unconventional entry and we just really wanted Downpour to be the “HD Silent Hill” that fans deserved. We all put a lot of pressure on ourselves. However even taking a quick peek at any forum there was so much cynicism it made the work challenging. And then at some point during the final year or so of development, an infamous series of videos released and sucked up a lot of air in the room as it were.

It also ended a lot of the spirited debate that Silent Hill fans enjoyed, as there were a lot of declarations of the “true” canon or “here’s what the game is REALLY about”. Those debates were always what kept the fanbase alive and vibrant, and it was rough seeing that go away. I don’t really feel like Downpour was given its fair shake in the indepth analysis department, which I was really looking forward to seeing, during development!

Q6 - What were some of the reasons behind the enemy designs of the game? Are their appearances all stemming from Murphy’s mind and experiences? Or Anne’s too? The prisoner types felt like they could be both, but the Dolls in particular made me wonder since they feel more related to her backstory!

It is kept purposefully vague. Obviously at first you’re supposed to assume this is Murphy’s Silent Hill, and the enemies need to support that. But then when you realize this is perhaps Anne’s story that Murphy is caught up in, they can’t betray that idea either. Fortunately the two characters have a lot in common. Murphy is a father willing to do anything to avenge his child. Anne is a child willing to do anything to avenge her father. Both have failed marriages because of their trauma, and so on.

Honestly this is one of the things I was hoping to see more debate about among the fanbase!

Q7 - For the Anne’s Story comics, was that originally supposed to be the basis for DLC for the game? I saw a mention of this online but wasn’t sure how true it was! Were there plans for other DLCs too?

In the very beginning, Anne and Murphy were conceived to be a 2-player experience, so each player could see situations from a different perspective, and we could play with that idea a lot. However after a very short time we realized that idea was a bit ahead of its time, and we focused on making a solid single-player horror game, but the overall story themes remained – but obviously you see less of what Anne is actually doing moment to moment.

As we were wrapping up the game for release, there were conversations about DLC and what form that might take, and Devin and I knew instantly it would be Anne’s side of the story. I wrote up a general structure of it for internal discussions. DJ Ricks had also had a more detailed story originally, so I tried to get some of those details back in as well (when this DLC fell through, I added his story in the Book of Memories DLC – if anybody still has a Vita and wants to delve into that!)

Right around the time I was leaving Konami, there were early discussions with IDW to release a companion comic to Downpour, since Tom Waltz was their SH guy (and has gone on to write their TMNT books and many other great things. Congrats Tom!) and had also written Downpour for us. I gave him a breakdown of my ideas for key moments in Anne’s story; things like Murphy and Anne operating in different chronologies (Murphy sees Anne in the clocktower otherworld BEFORE seeing Ricks, but Anne traverses that otherworld AFTERWARD), or a drowning Anne desperately reaching out for Ricks’s hand, only to find it’s a severed hand tied to his boat.

It took a few years for that deal to come together with the right artist, but thankfully it did! It’s a great companion piece to the game – there are some new details in there that weren’t in my treatment, but it was no longer my story to tell – I experienced it as a fan.

Q8 - What is something you’ve seen players rarely notice in the game which you think is a cool detail? Can be found in the world, story, gameplay or anything!

A tangible detail might be the road signs. I spent a long time figuring out where the other districts of Silent Hill would be, as well as Ashfield, and made sure they were properly charted on the large road signs. I made a map and measured distance and everything.

Story wise, I think Murphy’s role in the story is a bit misunderstood. Many players see it as a standard tale of the town punishing our protagonist but it’s a lot more nuanced than that. Anne, I feel, is being punished, because she is out for revenge right now. Murphy already got his revenge, and dealt with the consequences, and “did his time” as it were. Yes, he has to deal with the consequences of his actions – but those are consequences caused by Sewell, and they were already in motion outside of Silent Hill.

Murphy’s journey is more akin to “Born from a Wish”, or even Eileen’s role in SH4. While most of Walter’s victims did something wrong, Eileen was marked because she was kind to him. It’s basically circumstantial. The Orphanage level is meant to be something different from a standard Silent Hill construct. The town is almost rewarding Murphy for passing a test. It gives him a key that says “Freedom" and everything we weren’t being subtle. And if you watch during the boat scene, there are clear skies ahead of Murphy (and dark storm behind Anne).

And then of course the Silent Hill ambiguity – we all know the only thing on the other side of Toluca Lake is more Silent Hill, so that’s up for debate. Again I was really excited to see how the fans dissected our story and there was never a big discourse about it.

Q9 - There’s a big stretched face with a monocle at the end of the rollercoaster section in Devil’s Pit, I couldn’t wrap my head around it (ha) but who is that/what’s their backstory? I saw somewhere mention it was supposed to be a boss which appeared in a trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSSoIWJPL-4) but wanted to confirm what the deal was!

Originally there was a boss encounter with JP Sater which took the form of this hideous train man creature. The goal was to have characters such as Howard and Sater, who have both accepted their places in Silent Hill, but with drastically different results.  This would be something for players to ponder and explore.

For various reasons we needed to cut this encounter, and it isn’t exactly key to the story, but we didn’t want to waste the creepy model. So we extended the mine train sequence so it could end with the reveal and taunting by Sater. I guess Murphy can be thankful that he wasn’t part of Sater’s story, so he didn’t have to overcome an enormous steamengine behemoth.

Q10 - Always love hearing about any strong memories you have working on the game, feel free to share anything that comes to mind!

Devin and I both spent a lot of time in the Czech Republic during development, both together and alone. I think a lot "clicked" for both of us early on, when Andy Pang (Producer) took us on a trip to some of the sights around Brno, which included the Punkva Caverns – the inspiration behind the Devil’s Pit.

At the bottom of the caves is a river, and your group of maybe 20 tourists board a small boat and a guide navigates you through these dimly-lit caverns. The guide was discussing that this journey changes based on rainfall, as the water level in the caves may be too high to be safe, and as he said this, we noticed the ceiling was coming AWFULLY low. Especially on the left side of the boat, where we were. In fact, we had to lean over on our neighbors to avoid it. In fact, we scraped our shoulders a bit on the rock.

Afterward we both noted that in America, they would NEVER have sailed at that water level. In fact, there would be signs and barriers preventing you from touching the rock, and the boat might even be on a track or guide of some kind, to ensure maximum safety.

We understood a lot more about Downpour’s Silent Hill after that excursion.

[i8pi]

i have questions, do you have answers?

disclaimer: nothing here is organized as i have a lot of questions and i am not articulate. i apologize before hand, for the disorganization and the wall of texts.

why was vere so interested in sparrow? if he could tell that they're a tourist, why would he bother with them? him yoinking their key was likely just so he could get them closer to him so he could give them a whiff. he said "i knew i smelled blood on you", so was that sparrows blood, someone(something?) elses or was it ais? if it was ais he was smelling, that might explain why he was interested. he does tease, questioning if sparrow came all the way to eridia to consort with monsters, so if he thinks they had a fling with ais, they were interesting enough for him, so they might be interesting enough to vere, too? does vere seem like he's hung up on ais or am i just imagining it?

on the note of ais, i was wondering why he was concerned with making a bad impression on sparrow, but then i realized they're both outsiders, maybe he wants to befriend the outsiders/newcomers? might be why he's annoyed that mhin doesn't like him, he wanted to befriend them, too, but just got the cold shoulder. what makes them newcomers though? mhin, maybe within the current year, but ais? a few years? long enough for him to get "established" at any rate. also, has anyone else noticed that it seems like ais likes it when sparrow is ogling him? a pride thing? i wonder if him ending things with vere was because of ocudeus? if ocudeus has plans, another monster might throw a wrench in it, them being of similar or stronger strength. or maybe it's because he doesn't like that vere can't be controlled?

who put the bounty on the soulless that attacked sparrow? i'm assuming it was either ais or kuras, since they both are aware of the attack and it was (possibly) ais that found sparrow. ALSO, does ais give bird nicknames to people that he's not sure about? like, if he says or does the wrong thing, the "bird" will take flight? when mhin "saves" sparrow from the soulless, why did they bother with sticking around to lecture them, hhhmmmmm? they could've just ended the creature without a word, then left as silently as they came.

leander seems like he really likes vere, at least, his physical appearance. is that where SOME of his "rivalry" with ais comes from? jealous that ais was/is with vere and he's not? he views vere as a "damsel in distress", so maybe he's not happy that ais hasn't tried to do anything to "save" him from the senobium? obviously, even leander knows it's not that simple, but maybe there's some... i don't know, maybe SOMETHING there that's giving him a bit of a grudge? i was reading someone elses theories(can't remember who), where they point out that leanders smiles don't reach his eyes, so after sparrow is done fondling his face(or arm) in the booth at the end of the demo, the text says something about the corners of his eyes crinkling when he smiles when sparrow states that they're feeling a bit dizzy after that. is that the first genuine smile he gives to sparrow since first meeting them?

obviously we won't know until the game comes out, but "theory crafting" is fun. also, i'm new here, i made this account specifically for this game and i don't know how anything works, so i'm still stalking my way through peoples accounts for all the theories. i apologize if these questions have already been asked or answered.

[katiekatdragon27]

More Flatland stuffff~~~

[Cursive transcript: I'm so sorry this is so sudden, but I had to keep my Chosen safe!]

So, uh, the 4th dimension, am I right?????

So, on my last post, people were more interested in A. Tesseract than I thought. I did not expect her to stir so much interest, but here you go lol.

More under the cut lol / lots of notes:

Some basic information on 4th dimensional beings:

They refer to themselves as "hypersolids" and "polytopes". Only Tesseracts prefer a different name than just "hyper(insert shape here)". When talking to other dimensional beings, they call themselves "Spacelanders".

They usually keep their eyes closed, and they do not emote much.

Their bodies naturally morph as they talk. They are also partially transparent, so you can see their inside movements. Not organs or anything, but the next emotions or actions they are going to express. Sort of like key frames or a fade in effect.

They call "Spacelanders" "Heightlanders".

Their civilization is located in space. They are able to breathe through little pockets of air on their rings that recharge when they enter the atmosphere of other plants. (This is why they are spotted relatively frequently)

Buildings are constantly moving spirals. They also fly everywhere, so they require a lot of energy to maintain their health. Luckily, any stars nearby tend to charge them up just fine.

Also, everyone goes by they/them along with another pronoun if they choose. Gender constructs be damned (or certain groups are fighting for that).

There will be more once I think of it, but that's what I have in the world-building department right now.

Some basic information on Angelica "A." Tesseract (she/they):

She tends to say "I'm sorry" after anything they might think could have been of inconvenience or offensive.

They are relatively soft-spoken, but they are incredibly smart compared to her peers.

Her quiet nature causes others to disrespect and step all over her.

She overthinks LITERALLY EVERYTHING. You could tell her something that is even the slightest bit vague and they have the chance of spiraling.

She KNOWS there are more than four dimensions, but they are struggling to prove it with science.

They are much more emotional compared to other hypersolids. They tend to cry easily.

She chose A. Sphere because of his confidence and drive to get his points across. They admire him for that.

Some basic information on A. Sphere in this:

He's much less snarky. His whole vision of the world was destroyed in the blink of an eye, and he's stuck in another world completely unknown to him. He's going though it currently.

He's still blunt about everything. If you suck, he'll tell you. If you are cool, it'll take a little longer, but he'll tell you.

He got his eye busted after the attack on Messiah Inc. When getting removed from "Heightland", his eye got caught in the blow last minute and it got damaged. He can still open it slightly, but he can't see out of it.

He was relatively indifferent to seeing his body transparent. He was more worried about his eye injury over anything else.

At first, he did not like A. Tesseract (cuz kidnapping), but he learns to appreciate the gesture and does his best to help her out.

[Cursive transcript: For now, I'm afraid so... sorry. / I'm so sorry. If I was just a but faster, I could have saved your eye.]

Yeah, their friendship starts out really rough.

A. Sphere adjusted to the environment very poorly at first. He was very standoffish and snappy, but it then soured to just sorta feeling sad all the time. He gets better eventually the more he learns about the world, but it takes a lot of effort out of A. Tesseract to get him there.

I mean, he expected to die, lost his eye, everyone in "Heightland" hates him now, he lost his business and research, and he fails to take the blame for anything for a while. I would also be super pissed and sad.

A. Tesseract was not any better. She feels an incredible amount of guilt for not stepping in in time to prevent A. Sphere's eye damage, and she constantly apologies to him for everything. This sucks for A. Sphere since he finds it super annoying.

[Cursive transcript: N. H.Sphere: You weren't supposed to bring them HERE! / A. Tesseract: I'm sorry, I had to save him- / N. H.Sphere: I should fire you-!]

N. H.Sphere is a mega grouch. He is A. Tesseract's boss who treats her terribly. Discrediting her work, ignoring their research, and just not valuing her opinion cuz women, he is not fun to talk to or just be around in general. No one knows how HR lets him stay in charge, but some theorize that he pays them off or something.

Despite all of the traumatic crap A. Sphere has gone though in this story, he still does not stand for disrespect from anyone. When he learns that A. Tesseract is constantly being pushed around by her bitchy boss, he decides to defend her.

This solidifies their friendship and later science partnership when the story ends. This also makes N. H.Sphere more resentful towards both A. Tesseract an A. Sphere. This leads to A. Tesseract actually getting fired from her job. Thanks A. Sphere.

[Cursive transcript: N. H.Sphere: Why are you so scared? He's fine! / A. Tesseract: It's my un-medicated anxiety!!]

One of the downsides of being in the 4th dimension and living in space is that the gravitational pull is super sporadic with no real patterns. Some areas have super powerful gravity while others have zero. 4th dimension beings have learned to adjust perfectly fine.

The pressure changes and general lack of oxygen negatively impact A. Sphere's body, however, so to help him be okay, he sits in those vacuum boxes that allow for added pressure to be put on him to help even his breathing. He usually isn't put in unless he is fading in and out of consciousness, since he hates the confined space. It freaks out A. Tesseract every time it happens.

Her boss thinks she's stupid for worrying so much and using company tech. A. Tesseract worries more for A. Sphere than keeping her job, so she ignores N. H. Sphere.

[Cursive transcript: Care to see him again?]

Outside of the partial angst and stuff, this dimension is the reason why A. Sphere shows up in A. Square's hallucination.

During A. Square's trauma-induced hallucination, he shows up in the 4th dimension briefly with the Monarch of Pointland. A. Sphere and A. Tesseract take notice, and she offers him the ability to talk to A. Square one last time for closure reasons.

In this version, this scene would be longer, with A. Sphere possibly apologizing for denying the existence of the 4th dimension and not being able to assist A. Square in the way he wanted to. It's more wholesome and conclusive than transactional like in the movie. The other stuff is there too, but having more sentimental moments would be so cool.

----------

I am very sorry how messy these particular doodles are, I was drawing all these super late at night during my shift, so I was not paying much attention to the flow of the images. When the inspo hits, you don't really realize how incohesive they are until you start photographing the images to post lol

Thank you once again for reading this whole thing, and have a wonderful day :)

[whetstonefires]

I hope you're having an excellent day 😊😊😊 What about Wei Wuxian as Naruto?

Thanks! It was pretty good. I organized my embroidery floss and took advantage of being alone in the building to dance around like a maniac for about 20 minutes. My cat hated it. My knees aren't sure they approve either.

Wei Wuxian as Naruto has a lot going for it right out the gate. Orphaned sunshine boy protagonist types, now we're cooking with propane. They're even both fox coded!

However, at the risk of stating the obvious, if Wei Wuxian were Naruto he wouldn't be Naruto anymore. That is. Fundamental to Wei Wuxian is that he is brilliant and talented and he damn well knows it. He would excel without effort in ninja school--not as much as he did in Jiang Sect unless he unlike Naruto was still getting personal mentoring in honor of his late father, but still.

Difference is, when this Wei Wuxian slacks off in class and the teacher tries to embarrass him, if he reels off the correct answer and then reinvents senjutsu from first principles in a creepy-sounding way for a lark just to show off, the teacher is not going to think that he's just like his annoying late mother. (Though he'll still have one. Kushina and Cangse Sanren are fairly similar Dead Mom archetypes too.)

The teacher is going to think things like, no real child would say that shit and I'm expected to teach the monster fox that killed my family basic ninjutsu I hate this I hate this we're all gonna die.

So basically this Wei Wuxian gets his Yiling Laozu reputation mod as part of the starter pack. I don't think he'd handle it super gracefully! But not the worst, either.

Not even as badly as he did in the actual version, probably, on account of he doesn't know his own dark secret. So he can't self-isolate to protect it. Though him pulling away from people once he does learn would be cool.

He'd probably have forged slightly stronger social ties rather sooner than Naruto did, even if he was just as neglected and radioactive; Wei Wuxian doesn't care what people think of him nearly as much as Naruto does, but in some ways he's a more genuinely social person, and he's got much better social intuition, so it's easier for him to figure out what people want and either do that or not do that on purpose.

He'd have at least a bunch of casual friends. Mostly civilians, and other kids from ninja school whose parents told them not to play with him but they did anyway.

Wei Wuxian cannot do therapy no jutsu. He does not have that ability to confront and exist with emotional discomfort or that intensity of interest in what is going on with other people.

He does however have some level of Friendship Beam Attack (the plot to some extent hinges utterly on how effectively it hit Wen Ning) and it would presumably be more effective, in a shounen context.

But that's the thing, Wei Wuxian isn't really built to confront shounen manga style problems. Or, well, he is, but he's overbuilt for them; they're his bread and butter. One of Naruto's key motifs, early on at least before we got into the heavy power creep, is not being a genius.

Wei Wuxian, by definition, is a genius. He is the kind of guy who walks up to shounen manga sorts of problems scaled to what ought to be his level, handles them, and goes 'what, like it's hard?'

Wei Wuxian is designed to be destroyed not by external threats but by his own loyalties, politics, and lies. (Which was a point of confluence with Itachi I didn't really touch on because the flow was so different lmao.)

He's also, otoh, designed to be destroyed. Naruto is designed to start off artificially low and climb steadily up toward heaven. (Ymmv on how this worked out but he sure did escalate.)

You have to pick which schema to apply when performing the fusion--I mean, it's not either-or, the whole deal with Wei Wuxian is he goes through the entire arc of a tragedy and then comes back to life and stars in a romcom. These things can superimpose and stack. But there are structural decisions that have to be made early.

So anyway, Wei Wuxian as Naruto is not going to enter the Genin Team phase of life with the same priorities, even if he has largely conducted himself about the same way hitherto. 'Proving himself' so 'people will accept him' is not a motive that works for this character--you basically have to give him actual precious people earlier just to get him to care about attaining ninja rank at all.

Otherwise he would probably much rather loaf his way through his teens stealing jutsu and making trouble. Which is the well-adjusted reaction to the idea of becoming a child soldier, like. He likes recognition but 'showing off' is a reason he does dumb fun things, not difficult high-commitment ones. He's like if Shikamaru had ADHD and no parents.

Being twelve is going to make him dumber, but I can't see it making him not the kind of person who stops caring about his marks in school if the teacher is hostile.

If Wei Wuxian here isn't acting out of appreciation for the Hokage raising him, or something like that, you have to give him a practical motive to enter military service like 'Konoha stops supporting orphans out of the public purse at thirteen so he's got to get some kind of job and ninja is the least boring option' which. Is significantly less like either Naruto or Wei Wuxian in terms of reasons to do anything, and starts getting into solidly OC territory.

The whole fact that Konoha's worldbuilding centers around an attempt to move away from decentralized clannish social organization and promote the idea of shared, communal social institutions and (in theory) civil society, and the ways this does and does not work out for people especially considering it is still a relatively small military dictatorship, honestly interfaces super interestingly with how, in Mo Dao Zu Shi, one of the underlying challenges backstopping all character choice is that there is no feasible alternative to the clan system, and you have to pick a family-faction to depend upon and submit yourself to, or face the world with no safety net.

Like. Huh.

.....Kishimoto is honestly unusually-for-shounen well-grounded in the genres he's riffing on tbh, for all my bitching there were some very good reasons his work found such success; I would have liked to see what kind of story he produced without the insane pressures of the Weekly part of Weekly Shounen Jump. I wonder if he'll ever publish again. For all I know he already is lmao.

So anyway, however we manage it we get Wei Wuxian on his genin team with like. Lan Wangji and Mianmian or whoever. Actually that's hilarious. Yeah, make it lwj and lqy, both of them so done with his shit.

Setting up some wild role-reversal here--Lan Wangji being the one to go Away and Wei Wuxian asking him to stay? Or Naruto-person leaving into the dark, and Sasuke-person remaining and calling for him to come back? Either way. Getting some inversion. Tasty.

Where does this leave Jiang Cheng, though? Because in a lot of ways Uchiha 'Deuteragonist by Editorial Mandate' Sasuke is straddling both roles.

In many ways Wangxian is much more like if Naruto had an endgame romance with Neji. Which is a great ship tbh, I saw very little of it back in the day?? In a series with a smaller cast or with less Sasuke Creep (not sasuke being a creep, it's like power creep) it would probably have done numbers.

...Naruto going away for that timeskip really limited his opportunity to make connections in the village huh.

I guess it depends on the kind of narrative you're trying to put together. On one hand, you can do Jiang Fengmian as the rather-more-involved Third Hokage, with Jiang Cheng as an aged-up Konohamaru kind of figure. And then Jiang Yanli is standing in as both Iruka and. I know I know the ramen guy's name. Ichiraku. Soup! XD Emotionally significant soup!

But with a different backstory than either lmao. Kurama very possibly killed Yu Ziyuan in this universe, though I can't visualize her as a midwife.

[[[Why do I have so much Naruto lore on tap, there is no life value in knowing Sarutobi Hiruzen's wife was at ground zero of the Kyuubi attack because she was the expert overseeing Uzumaki Kushina's childbirth a;kdj;lafdks. I do not remember the things I was actually studying in high school nearly this well.]]]

(Actually Jin Ling is Konohamaru and Jiang Cheng is aged-down Asuma. But whatever.)

And in this case Wei Wuxian's genin team is Lan Wangji and Mianmian under idk who. Lan Qiren, possibly, although he seems more the Ebisu type. Lan Xichen? (It's not like he can serve as a plausible Itachi. Can you imagine.) Actual Kakashi, possibly; we can't replace everyone with mdzs characters; the cast sizes don't square.

Kakashi training Wei Wuxian is very funny to think about. He deserves this.

Or on the other hand for a different pacing and focus, the genin team is him, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli under Jiang Fengmian, who dies sometime after or probably during the climax of the chuunin exams. And Sarutobi stays Hokage, and probably doesn't die during the chuunin exams. And we aim for a Naruto/Neji kind of romance storyline lol.

What is the Lan Wangji equivalent of Neji exposing his caged bird seal in front of god and everybody and ranting (it is very unclear at what effective volume though you'd think the proctors would have shut him up if he could be heard from the stadium seating that shit was sedition) about his traumatic backstory and the deep injustices in his family's system of hierarchy? I'm gonna say Not That.

Wei Wuxian versus Lan Wangji important ideological-conflict bonding duel in the Chuunin exam finals sounds excellent though.

Either way Wei Wuxian is going to get much more thoroughly involved in the ugly ninja politics than Naruto ever did, and he's going to hate it so so bad and at least temporarily lose so so so hard. A likely story element is he becomes troublesome enough he winds up having to flee the village ahead of a scheme by Danzou to (fatally) rip the Kyuubi out of him and implant it in some thoroughly conditioned ROOT kid.

Maybe Wen Ning?? Idk. I'm mostly saying this because Wen Ning 1) canonically gets Victimized and Transformed and 2) shares some notes with Sai. And this means he's leaving, in part, for Wen Ning, which ties into some plot and character stuff from their original narrative. You could make it work.

Also him taking the replacement human sacrifice with him when he books it would be hysterical.

Anyway he's branded a missing nin and it is, canonically, illegal for him to tell anyone who doesn't already know about the kyuubi thing, so both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji are appropriately what the fucking fuck and receive no adequate answer. This is a workable plot element.

Either the Jiangs or the Lans are the Uchiha, here, which has its own story value, lots of fun to be had. Gotta engineer a way he's protecting Jiang Cheng--does Danzou want to make him the jinchuuriki? Is Orochimaru or his replacement making a play for Jiang Cheng's bloodline limit, whatever it is, fun if it's eyeballs, and Wei Wuxian bargains to give him a jinchuuriki instead? Hmmm.

You want an inside and an outside threat, the obvious viper and the political spider, so you can silo information and make sure nobody entirely knows what's going on.

If it's Jiang Cheng who's assigned the role of bloodline limit macguffin, I have the very wicked urge to cast Yu Ziyuan as some combination of Itachi and Obito. Very Vader kind of effect.

Jin Guangyao as Kabuto, excellent, I need that innocent smile and those torture skills. This may require making Jin Guangshan much smarter than he really is just to fill out the ranks, or again you can keep Danzou as himself.

Tsunade is amusingly enough occupying an overlapping Baoshan Sanren and Wen Qing position; given one of them impersonated the other that time you'd have to do something with that. She's also got some Yu Ziyuan vibe up ofc. Tsunade just contains an entire franchise's supply of girlboss tbh.

Who could possibly stand in for Jiraiya, nobody, but at the same time. Wei Wuxian (with internal sapient asshole nuke) apprenticing under Jiraiya of the Sannin sounds like enough problem-creating goofy jackass genius clown energy in one place to open a singularity. That's too much. No narrative could survive.

Anyway someone please feel free to write this, I am intrigued but also will 100percent never ever put in the time it would take to realize any version of this concept.

[aihoshiino]

I honestly liked ruby a lot before. How she was so full of hope and all, then the character development she got after finding gorou's body. Even the recent part where she says she won't be like Ai and won't give up on her friends. But I think all the incest and related part ruins her character and reduces her to a simp. At least show some depth in it tho😭 like before whenever ruby talked about gorou that felt impactful. Man i miss the old ruby.

YEAH!!! This is pretty much exactly my issue as well. I know something a lot of folks have criticized about the story pre-Mainstay is that Ruby lacks development but TBH, I never really felt like Old!Ruby was a character who needed a more active arc in the way characters like Aqua and Kana did. She definitely had some Big Overhanging Issues dangling above her head that she was going to have to address eventually but on a moment to moment basis, Ruby was doing really well. She functioned best as a sort of guiding star for the characters around her, pulling them along through the force of her own positive energy and personality.

A big part of this is simply that a lot of the things that made Sarina's life miserable are not actually issues for Ruby anymore. She's healthy, she's surrounded by family and friends who love and support her, she's getting to pursue her dream and even has a pretty healthy relationship with her memories of and grief for Ai. That's not to say her history as Sarina has no effect on her, of course: her bull-headed stubbornness and willingness to charge on into things no questions asked comes specifically and explicitly from the ways she was disempowered and lacking agency in her past life and moments like her getting upset about Aqua no longer eating dinner with them on Sundays during the LoveNow filming pretty clearly stem from her issues with abandonment and lacking familial care. But her environment and the support system she has as Ruby very clearly did a lot to help her organically heal and start moving on.

New!Ruby really feels like a retcon in that regard, like Akasaka suddenly scrabbled to go "oh actually Ruby was ALWAYS secretly fucked up!!!!" for the sake of drama and ramped everything about her up to an 11 to try and convey this but the end result ultimately just feels inconsistent. I know I link this post basically every time I talk about Ruby these days, but @all-of-her-light's Ruby and the Unplayed Role essay really is the best at breaking down all these differences and inconsistencies and why it is they feel so jarring. But one of the things that stands out to me is the ramping up of the intensity of her feelings for Gorou.

Some of this makes perfect sense within the context of the narrative; finding his DESSICATED FUCKING SKELETON jesus CHRIST and realising he'd been murdered by the very same person who killed her beloved mother absolutely makes sense as the impetus for her feelings to go into overdrive. But as of the Mainstay arc onwards, we have continually gotten backfill that implies she has always been operating on this level of intensity, elevating Gorou to a position of importance in her life that matches or even exceeds Ai to a degree that feels retconny.

Actually, now that I've articulated that, I think that key difference is the core of what makes Old and New Ruby feel so split to me. Old Ruby absolutely still adored and deeply valued Gorou and wanted to be reunited with him, but she was nowhere near as emotionally dependant on the idea of him as New Ruby seems to be. Old Ruby was characterized much more strongly in relation to Ai, both in the sense of love for her as her mother and her legacy as an idol and while this is still true to a degree for New Ruby, the manga frames Gorou as being just as if not more important than Ai as a factor in Ruby's motivations for becoming an idol, when it really hadn't been framed that way prior to a certain point in the manga.

Ultimately, it's just kind of frustrating. Like you, I really loved Old Ruby and I think New Ruby is just kind of a flanderized and flattened version of her - though the story pays some lip service to her uglier and more complicated emotions, the story's failure to genuinely and seriously interrogate them and its consistency in reducing her to a gag character just makes her feel so much less lively and interesting that Old Ruby, even if Old Ruby was (at least on paper) a much more simple character. It really feels like the last time the story genuinely took Ruby seriously was prior to 123 when we were getting teased with the idea of her meeting Marina again but that thread has since been completely dropped and I'll be shocked if it gets so much as mentioned again.

[musubiki]

I forgot if you talked abt this, but does the whole "being on the same level as mochi" thing ever come up in honest conversation between them? Seems like an entire...thing that really influences lime's choices when it comes to the main conflict. I would think either some time after mochi's over her initial jealousy, or heck wayyy after they stop the witch king

oooo youre right i dont think ive talked much about it or at all.,... but YEAH a very key part of limes character is his need to be on the same level as her...partly a pride thing, partly a "i dont feel like i have the right to stand beside her unless i can compete with her" thing

(sorry for the long post rambles, apparently i have a lot more thoughts on this than i thought it did)

but actually this comes up WAY sooner, its WAY too big of an elephant in the room post-timeskip to go un-talked about. pre-timeskip lime could kind of quietly work away at trying to be better, but post-timeskip the m-34th thing is too obvious of a flag for mochi to think everything is okay with him

i think the issues really starts to be hashed out when mochi, at some point (relatively quickly after they reunite), brings up the notion of him quitting the m-34th. to an extent she understood why he joined, he gave her a bunch of reasons why he joined the regiment in the first place (jumping around a bunch of excuses like "They have good benefits" / "I was bored" / etc before finally telling her the truth that "I wanted to find you"), but what she didnt understand is why he stays in

she gave it a bit of time, they went through the whole "well you left me" vs "you joined the organization that exists to kill us" -> "call it even, water under the bridge" thing, and she thought that after a few weeks (months?) he would quit and just be part of her guild again, but he doesnt.

and when she asks him about it, he dodges the question, gives shit answers, dismisses it, a bunch of different things with the underlying message being "I'm not leaving you, but I'm not gonna quit working for them."

and she doesnt want to give him the "choose me or them" ultimatum either (even though pom seems all for it), because 1.) it feels like a shitty thing to do to him, if hes fighting this hard to stay in she doesnt want him to be unhappy, and 2.) shes afraid he might actually choose them

she starts to think a lot of things, that maybe he harbors some bitterness towards her, maybe he doesnt want to put all his eggs in one basket, maybe hes secretly feeding them information on her behind her back, ALL kinds of things.

eventually (and upsettingly) she gets the truth from clarinette. it takes fucking clarinette babbling her mouth away for mochi to get something that she hasnt gotten from lime himself. clarinette (in her delulu) wants to brag a little in the vein of "Haha he confided in me and not in you haha," and mentioned that when she asked him why he stays, he told her "The m-34th makes me stronger" or something along those lines.

and mochis first thought is "I can make him stronger too, he doesnt need to go to them."

and when she CONFRONTS him and tells him this, he gives her a flat "No, you can't." and it FEELS very cold when he says it. she can see the bitterness (bitterness???) behind his eyes when he says it. and its not a bitterness TOWARDS HER, its more of a "I spent 2 years before you left trying everything I could to make myself worthy of you this, and it did nothing. I would take 1 step forward and you would take 5. I'm not going back to that."

so this confrontation became one of those make it or break it conversations for lime, because his only two options were 1) tell mochi the actually pretty embarrassing and pathetic truth, or 2) risk losing her because shes already doubting him enough as it is

i think he probably tries route 2 first though. and whatever it is he tells her, he can see something in her eyes (mistrust? failing faith? fear?) which tells him "Oh no, oh shit, oh god, backtrack you idiot, BACKTRACK!!!" because if he lets this narrative go on for even a few minutes more, hes not going to be able to come back from it.

so he eventually actually does tell her the truth!! and he hates doing it. he really does feel pathetic. its so petty and stupid, he thinks. he shouldnt be trying to compete with the cat witch, hes supposed to be supportive. but he fucking hates being ONLY supportive. he wants to add something, contribute something meaningful, not just be a little accessory/sidekick to mochi.

and (as already mentioned) he cant do that without the m-34th. pre-timeskip he felt useless. and relative to mochi, he was. she wont say it, but she didnt need him. she would reassure him and tell him "You're amazing Lime!" but deep down she knew that after Amanita was dealt with and she was the full-fledged cat witch, she could do all of it on her own (and proves it when she leaves and takes none of them with her). she liked having him there (obviously), but anything he could do she could do better.

he felt like he just took up space, and when she left without telling him or taking him with her, it essentially proved his point. it was not even just a "I dont need you" thing anymore, it was now a "I don't need you, and I also know you don't have the means or ability to change that" and that fucking HURT.

the m-34th though....those guys really honed the shit out of his strengths. on an insane level. they gave him so many skills and tools as a black canvas to do SO MANY THINGS and SO WELL, and maybe this does bring up some resentment to the guild and magic?? that he had so much untapped potential that mochi could just not bring out in an effective way, it essentially bottlenecked him (not her fault, its hard to build the talents of an anti-magic person by using magic).

but these guys...as "bad" as they are (so the witches say), they gave him (and still give him) the power to change that which he hated about himself the most. so that "I don't need you, and I also know you don't have the means or ability to change that" thing can finally FINALLY be met with "Yeah you do, and yeah I fucking can."

so all these feelings manifest as "I won't leave the m-34th because they make me strong enough to stand by your side and not at your feet." AND THEY DO!!!!!! and he probably doesnt say those words directly but everything he DOES say communicates it enough for mochi to see it

(and he probably tells her all of this. she just listens)

so mochi, eventually, understands this. it took the whole pre-timeskip period and some of the post-timeskip period to get there, but she understands him a little more now (and a side of him she didnt know was there). i dont think theres anything she can do to change this aspect of him, but she at least understands his reasons and respects his freedom to pursue that which gives him peace, even if it conflicts with her uh.....occupation (nature?) as a witch. she also can tell him, without any lies or nice little reassurances that "You really are amazing, Lime." in a way she could never be, and he got there on his own, without her. i think shes happy just to know the truth, and know that hes not like betraying her or something. also she probably finds it kinda sweet that he works so hard to stand by her, but tries not to let it go to her head (or her heart) because at least half of it is a lime pride thing and not a mochi love thing

he also throws in a very lime-esq ending on it like "There I said it happy now??? Never make me talk about this again." while completely red-faced. he really does hate this side of himself but he cant help it.

[n3kk1tty]

Beasts of Santa Carla

This story includes a lot of original characters. Photos of characters and favorite scenes will be drawn. You can find their photos on the masters list along with the prologue and past chapters.

( MasterList )

Original Characters : Veve, Puck, Volk, Steinfield, Valentina, Calypso

(Beasts of Santa Carla is a AU of the Lost Boys. It involves adult themes, poly relationships, and is definitely not made for the underaged. If you don't like poly content, queer representation, shipping of the boys together or heavy sexual themes and violence. This story is not meant for you and that's okay. This story is made solely for my own enjoyment and anyone else who's along for the ride. )

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 7

The music was now loud and the event was almost ready to get started. Key players were still missing like a certain corrupt priest and the vampires this whole training practice was for though. You growl into your pre-saved essence bottle as you were getting impatient. Did they really not care to get you or Laddie back. You knew it was just a plot to get them all out here in one area but it was genuinely making you upset the thought that they blew your fake rescue off. It didn't help you had been surving off pre-saved essence right now because after your date with Paul and Marko you suddenly lost the appetite for anyone else.

You chuck the empty bottle glass exploding on the ground before you feel Veve start to rub your back. “ Hey, hey. What's got you upset girlie? Did Volk not get you fed earlier? “ You turn your head face heating up as your tail wraps around your leg nervously. “ I just wasn't in the mood for it. Not that hungry. “ You can feel the sweat dripping down your face as Veve examines you closer. You know you can't hide it from her but you're hoping you don't have to admit it out loud. After feeding off the boys no one else was tasting as good anymore. Even Volk, your favorite snack, became stale and boring to you. Not that his bed game was getting bad, just his soul's flavor. 

Were you pissed off because David and Paul saw into your nightmare? That you and Marko had drunk sex you couldn't remember? Or were you actually pissed because you hated to admit you wanted them. Teeth grinding, even the mere idea of craving David had you pissed. Why couldn't he just keep being a manipulative snarky bitch.. He just had to be secretly sweet. A heavy jeweled hand pulled you in close as a tall Latina witch pulled you into her side. “ (Y/n) ! How's my favorite organ donor doing? Been a while since you got your prescription filled.” The woman hands you a pack of pre rolled cigarettes with a strange red sparkling herb in it. You immediately open the pack putting one in your mouth getting ready to light it before Veve is protesting.

“ Are you serious ( Y/n )! You know all those things you do is numb you. Just because devils root and angel tear petals can medicate you doesn't mean you should. “ Veve goes to snatch the cigarette from your mouth before you hand it to Valentina who gladly takes a puff. “ Don't worry, Veve I've got our girl taken care of. It's the pure stuff I promise. I fixed her dosage as well so she won't experience any of the bad side effects of the devil's root. It's like weed. She'll be okay. “ Veve still growls in response, not so happy with your little fight club friends enabling your self destructive behavior. “ Sure but all these herbs are for her is another way to self-destruct. There a bonified crutch for her and she's been doing good recently I don't want to find her so medicated she can't form a single thought. “ You feel a sense of guilt for a moment at the cigarette in your hand before you think about the last 24 hours.

“ Please Veve. I can't possibly make it through the night sober. I promise I'm only smoking them to calm me down not to numb me to the point I can't think. “ Your cousin looks at you with a glare before her eyes soften. She's been with you since the night you were attacked and ran off. She's been through so many of your highs and worse possible lows. How many times you've run away and isolated yourself from even her, falling apart till she found you putting you back together slowly. You were like her sister, the only person who truly knew you but she just wanted you to be happy and finally stop being tormented by that oni bastard who dared to call himself both your childhood friends. “ Okay. For tonight but if I catch you comatose again I'm having Volk pump your stomach and we're confiscating these. “

You smile being pulled into a big hug by her before she places her forehead against yours. “ I'm going up to the stands. I think our quests are finally showing up. Don't do anything stupid you hear me!” You turn to the entrance of the arena where lycanthropes are gathered hollering and hooting, antagonizing the vampires as the group confidently marches to where you are. Laddie looks from where he is eating with Puck to notice Dwayne glaring him down while Star looks disappointed. The boy instinctively curling up in on himself before the blonde lycanthrope let's out a nasty growl. “ So glad to see you two are having fun. Did you enjoy your day out? Enjoyed hanging with these flee bags more than us. Well it's time to honor your side of the deal (Y/n). Or did you forget your promise. “

Your arm mark stings as your eyes roll, leaning into your high from your cigarette. “ Don't get your panties in a twist David. I'm here aren't I. If you're mad about Marko getting sex and not you, don't feel bad I barely remember it. “ Marko seems hurt by this comment as his hands ball into fists but then again he didn't remember the night either. “ Your both coming home. Now. “ Dwayne growls as the time for games was over, your apparent attitude is not endearing. He motions for the boy to come to his side before you raise your hand, Laddie freezing in his tracks as Volk pushes In Front of the vampires. “ I don't know if your sleep caused amnesia boys but they're not going with you. They're staying with our pack since we can actually take care of them unlike the likes of you. Ferals. “ A smirk plays on your face as you whistle into your cigarette not facing the vampires staring into your soul.

Marko roughly grabs Volk by his shirt collar as all the demons gather around the scene. “ You want to say that again fleabag. I'll put your ass out for that. “ Marko gets ready to punch before Volk tilts his head signaling for you to get your man. In a split second you knock Marko out on his ass easily pulling him away and slinging him on the floor. The curly haired vampire doesn't even have time to react before a bone heel is pressed into his chest keeping him down. Your cigarette barely affected as you take a long drag surprising the vampires before Paul makes a lunge at Volk as well. Without missing a beat a whip of bone wraps around his foot roughly dragging him to your pile of Vampires as you lean down blowing a mix of medicated smoke and pheromones in the pairs face.

“ Why would you betray us princess? I thought you were on our side.“ Marko says letting out a groan as you pile a confused Paul on top of him placing your heel back on top of them. “ I am on your side. You were gonna do something stupid so I stopped your dumbasses. Don't take it so hard sweethearts I just like playing rough. “ You smirk down at them, eyes lighting up as you blow more smoke in their face, whip laying at your side. Dwayne growls at you. “ You're breaking your promise. I won't stand by as you hurt us. “ Your heart stings at this, your teeth grinding as your heel pushes further down on the chaos duo earning a squeak from them. “ No, your breaking the promise Dwayne. How the hell am I supposed to feed off y'all or even learn to love you if I can't even trust you guys to keep Laddie safe. I just stopped these two from attacking the werewolf's pack leader effectively causing a turf war. You guys would understand the importance of that if you weren't a bunch of ferals. They are right to call you guys that since you became vampires joining our society but you can't even take the time to learn how things work.”

David's eyes flash red as he pulls you off the two by your arm roughly glaring daggers into you. How dare you talk to them like that after all the care and worry they have shown for you. The effort they made to win you over. “ Just cause we have a deal doesn't mean you get to lash out on us when we're trying to love you. “ You glare back into red eyes before grabbing David by the throat both Micheal and Star now becoming worried. “ No you don't get to love me. I can't protect you all, the way the coven is now. Micheal hates you and doesn't trust me. Star is so lost she's doesn't feel like she has a voice. And you four don't even know that with how you all are now your all in danger of being killed by the vampiric high council if they find out you fucking exist. While I'm over here taking responsibility for what I did to Laddie you have proved you can't take care of him or me.”

Confused eyes soften on you as Michaels face washes with guilt and confusion. David freezes, loosening his hold on you before you kick his feet out from under him, effectively maneuvering yourself to put David in a headlock with your thighs. The blonde struggles a bit trying to claw at your plush flesh while the adrenaline mixed with your scent hits his nose riling him up. He feels wrong for getting turned on by this but something about this position and your strong demeanor is doing something for him. “ So no Dwayne I didn't break our deal. And I haven't hurt the blondes either. If anything I'm fulfilling my end since y'all wanna boast about me not needing to feed on anyone else then leaving me starving all day and night. These three are my snacks before I spend the next few weeks beating your asses into shape. You don't wanna be labeled ferals fine. Just let me fulfill my duty to protect you guys. “

You feel three taps on your shoulder from Volk as he's thoroughly satisfied with the demonstration given to everyone. The demons of the club sit patiently observing before cheers and hollers erupt. Valentina swiftly helps you up as she steals the last of your cigarette. “ Really short stack, these are the boy toys you want us to teach. I can work with the girlie. I sense she's got potential in my department but these men are hopeless.” You laugh shooting your stylish friend a look. “ Hey. You know my type of men is big, tall and stupid. But watch it. Only I get to give them shit.” Veve smiles down at the scene In Front of her. You definitely were catching some sort of feelings. This made her extremely happy to see you healing finally. Hopefully you'd eventually admit to it but she knew this was just the beginning of your journey. The woman hands Laddie a fruit she sliced for him as she keeps the boy calm.

“ Do they not like eachother? Are big sis (Y/n) and the others gonna fight again? “ The boy looks down worry lacing his face as the woman laughs. “ No she's likes them a lot. If she didn't she wouldn't go out of her way to arrange this for all of you to get stronger. She just fights David so much because she wants the best for him she's just too stubborn to admit it. Now why don't we make her proud by continuing to work on that homework. “ The boy looks to his book he was studying in as the pair go back to his education. You were currently pressuring said blonde vampire to strip his clothes in the makeshift locker room. “ Just put the damn work out clothes on. It's not gonna kill you to show a bit of skin David. “ The blonde huffs as he holds the short shorts up, staring at them and the tank top he thought was tacky. “ That's easy to say for you. Your kind doesn't even like clothes. “ You roll your eyes as you chase the man. “ So you can read. Bravo. Now strip. Or do I have to coax them off of you the old fashion way. Oh please David remove your layers of black clothing and put the fucking uniform on you pastey asshole. “

David's face morphs into a sneer as you pull at his clothes. “ This is not how I was imagining the next time I took my clothes off for you was gonna go. Though I guess you're wearing a lot more than I personally like you to be wearing in my fantasies . “ This comment is met with you harshly punching David as you start forcibly ripping his clothes off him threatening to tear them if he doesn't cooperate peacefully. It takes a bit of struggling and a lot of staring in shock from Micheal who's worried you'll do that to him next so he changes without question. “ Did you guys eat before you came here? Micheal, how are you feeling right now, no cravings or urges?” Shocked by the sudden gentleness of your question he shyly shakes his head.

“ No, by the time we got to the cave they dragged us all the way out here. I am feeling a bit sluggish from it. “ A soft smile finds its way to your face as you pat the brunette's arm. “ Well we have food so don't worry. I even made sure to get food you can eat. You may just have to fight the lycanthropes for the prime rib or steak. “ The man grabs your hand as you walk him out the locker room, an intrigued David watching like a hawk. “ You don't mind that I'm not ready to change fully?” You stop in your tracks staring up into Micheal with a gentle yet firm look plastered on your features. “ I'm sure Star has already told you and the books I gave have confirmed it. You can't go back from being a vampire. But you still have a choice of when and what vampire you'll be. I don't mind helping like I did with Laddie but I won't intervene with your choice unless I think you're going in a direction you don't want. “

“So if I almost attack my family you'll stop me. Or another human. “ Your hand pulls him to your chest staring into his deep baby blues. “ If that's what you ask of me then I will. Though I barely know you and you barely know me so I'm sure you don't know whether to trust me or not but why don't you let me show you with my actions rather than my words. “ You finally get to the table piled high as you start digging in now that you have an actual appetite again. Micheal looks to Star for direction but she's busy talking to someone else so he turns to his side to see Volk piling food on his plate. Dwayne comes behind you pulling you in close leaning his head against you. “ I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were doing this for us. “ You chit your teeth together before handing him a glass bottle. “ You can apologize and suck up to me after you actually understand the importance of things. This should have been your sires job but obviously everyone can tell he doesn't care. “

Dwayne is hurt as you pull away from him examining the bottle before opening and smelling your blood. He starts chugging it down desperately like if he stops it will disappear his body tensing as he feels like he's getting high from it. “ Don't drink so fast you'll throw it up. I didn't make a ton of bottles for you guys to go through it in one night. “ Marko looks up with Paul as both are four bottles deep and David is on his second. “ We can't help you taste amazing” Your face heats up as the demons around you snicker, Volk almost spitting beer out his nose as he's chatting with Micheal. Suddenly gloved hands feel your legs up landing on your hips before a familiar voice is in your ear. “ Isn't she marvelous? A whole new species of succubi with the durability of an insect demon. Truly an intoxicating genetic mix. “

Your face is red as you feel your anger snap quickly tossing your assaulter over your shoulder placing them in an arm bar. “ How many times do I have to tell you not to grope me unless you're paying you bastard priest!!!?” The holy man starts to laugh before kicking his legs saying uncle trying to get you to let him go. Paul's glass shattering in his hands as he's pissed this guy was blatantly feeling you up while Volk shakes his head sighing motioning for the three boys following to come closer. “ I told you she attracts weird ass clients. Micheal this is, Father Stienfield. He is Santa Carla's head exorcist and also the teacher of these three apprentices. These little shits were running around saying they were gonna kill the vampires so I sent them his way.” Edgar trys rescuing his corrupt teacher from the angry succubus but can't unlock her limbs from trying to pry the man's arm out his socket.

“ I told you boys my tamer demon was a genetic beauty. '' Allan and Sam join in trying to rescue him as Steinfield continues laughing between his pleads for help. “ Preteen apprentices, are you serious Stienfield! I mean I guess it's better your creepy ass likes groping demons and not young choir boys!” Eventually you let go of the priest as the young boys sigh. “ She sure doesn't seem to like you Father Steinfield. Again are you sure she's your familiar she just tried to pry your arm off. “ Sam says exhausted from the amount of work has to be put in to rescue him. “ Sam!?” The boy looks up only to make eye contact with his older brother. The same brother for the last few weeks he's been giving the cold shoulder to after he discovered he was a vampire now. “ What are you doing here!?” Both say in unison pointing accusing fingers at each other. “ No I asked first! What in the world are you wearing!?”

Micheal pushes past the group of demons now standing Infront of his brother who's dressed in a peculiar formal priest outfit embellished with red accents. “ For your information it's my apprentice exorcist uniform. Now answer what you're doing here fang face. Here to betray your family even more. “ Micheal's face twists into anger and hurt as he goes to grab his brother on the collar before a white light burns his hand. “ Not so fast blood sucker. Keep your undead hands off our brother in arms. “ Allen says confidently pointing his finger at Micheal with a glowing rosary tightly wrapped around his knuckles. Edger grabs Sam, yanking them back to safety before shoving a cross up between the three and a very angry Micheal. Volk sighs while the vampires minus Star start to get riled up. “ These were the dweebs threatening to kill us in our sleep. “ Marko says standing in front of Micheal.

You help Steinfeld up looking at him with silent confusion in anger as he raises his hand motioning towards you to stop the fight from escalating. With swift motion a line of blood whips between the opposing forces as Steinfield stands confidently giving you the command to part the seas. A wall of blood shoots up covering the parties' views of each other as giant hands push the groups away causing shock and confusion but successfully breaking the fight up. “ Well it seems like we've hit a conflict. My apprentices versus the vampires they have sought retribution from for turning Sam's brother into a creature of the night. Now my lovely servant from hell, how do you think us mortals should seek contributions?” You stand by Father Steinfeld's side looking at Volk. Those sneaky bastards hid the kids from under your nose this whole time.

You process the information you've received by gritting your teeth as you know you would have killed them without realizing Micheals brother was one of them. You promised to help Micheal out and here it appeared you set this up to antagonize him. The said half vampire turns to you waiting for an answer you don't know how to give but you steal your emotions. “ We will train the Vampires of Santa Carla till they hit the status of not being ferals. They have committed no crime by adding to their ranks but as his vampirism is incurable it will be up to the victim to decide his fate rather he becomes a day walker, a regular vampire, or chooses execution to preserve his human integrity. I've arranged this month of training to break the vampires from their ignorance and convert their last members so they aren't a danger to the public's safety.” You turn your head away from Micheal as you can't look him in the eye as it sinks in that he has a month left of being a half vampire and his humanity is truly gone.

Volk moves to your side squeezing your shoulder as he looks up on the underworlders and humans. “ The apprentices will get plenty of time to train their skills as well as take their frustrations out on the vampires till it seems that a settlement has been reached. As a leader of Santa Carla I announce the punishment for The Vampire coven is to take place in rehabilitation training till they understand our society and rules so they may not cause chaos to us again. “ Father Stienfield smirks standing tall as the crowd of creatures look upon him with hatred and curiosity. “ And I as head exorcist take full responsibility for the ignorance of my apprentices. For even their threats of taking a underworlders life unjustly had threatened the thin layer of peace between us mortals and the society of underworlders who inhabit this pardoned land with us. For centuries us humans have been at war with forces we can not understand nor compete with but thanks to people long since gone we have found peace in places like Santa Carla. So let's repair our peace through the language of learning and battle. Something we can all understand “

The crowd erupted into cheers and chants as the vampires looked upon the three apprentice exorcists before the first night of hell began. Sam and Micheal are not even able to look each other in the eyes as they are pulled away by separate groups.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you serious! Why do we have to spend the whole month with these creatures from hell. “ Edgar says as The werewolf's stand before him ready to take him away for quality time. “ Because You three decided to run around announcing a genocide in a pardoned town. I've already explained this lesson to you. Exorcists are the protectors and peacemakers for human kind. The gods have blessed us with this ability to bridge the gap. I cannot allow you to run around with this biased hatred for creatures you don't even understand. “ Edgar tries to stand his ground before he's tugged away while the witches take off with Allen leaving Sam standing next to you. “ Why do I get assigned with your tamer chick? Don't succubi kill humans. She protects the vampires who took my brother from me. “

You sigh flicking your tail. You were ready to do flight exercises already as the vampires are being stretched and warmed up in ungodly positions by Veve who decided watching was boring. “ If you don't want to that's fine by me. But your brother isn't gone. You are just choosing to push him away. “ Sam turns your direction, glaring at you. “ Would you butt out demon. I'm trying to talk to my mentor here. How would you know anything of what I'm going through? “ You turn to the boy leaning down slightly to mock him as your eyes glow with intensity. “ Your right pipsqueak, I don't know what you're going through. Not at all. But then again you don't know what I've been through. I've been alive for 200 years. I've lapped human lifetimes like it was a joke so I know a thing or two. Your having a tough fucking time because you care about your brother. If you keep damaging your relationship though, someday you'll die and regret it. You could say something you regret and because human and even demonic life's can be cut short he’ll be to fucking dead to hear your apologies.”

Sam's face is white with fear and guilt as your low threatening tone rings in his ear. “ I just don't want my mom to get hurt. I don't want my brother to change. “ You let out a sigh as your heart hurts. This was a kid you were talking to a mortal one at that who can't possibly understand the complications of vampirism and immortality. You ruffle his head as you walk him over to the group. “ He's always gonna change because everyone grows up and changes. Even demons like me. It's the gift that is life and the thing that connects every living being and that's change. Your brother is a vampire now there's no going back but that doesn't mean he still can't be as close to human as he can be. If he becomes a Daywalker he can still walk in the sunlight and he can live off demon blood instead of humans. But you have to be open with him right now because he's just as lost as you. He's just a dickhead who hides it. “

Sam seems to worry a bit less at your kind words but is still upset with the vampires though. “ What about David and them? They did this and they deserved to be punished in some way. They made him into a monster. “ You tilt your head looking at the young exorcist. “ Punch them in the dick. I don't know. Sure seems like effective payback. Or just keep bullying them till you get your preteen anger out. Hey I'll even give you brass knuckles if you want or I'll hold David down. “ This makes Sam laugh. Was the person who was supposed to be protecting the vampires, a creature of the night, really telling him to just punch David in the dick till he felt that was a good enough punishment. “ What if he attacks me? What will we do then. “ You grab the boy's shoulder pulling him in close as you join in his laughter.

“ You're my partner in crime for a month, kid. If you think David's gonna out fly me you're wrong. If he fucks with you he's fucking with me and then I'll kick him in the nuts. “ The two of you finally are standing In Front of a pack as they look thoroughly tortured from Veves stretching training. “ Bodies are not supposed to bend that way. “ Micheal says flopped on the ground holding his thighs from the torture he just went through. “ I don't think my bones are in their sockets. “ Marko mumbles trying to limply crawl away. “ Welp looks like Michael's brother is my buddy for the month so everyone this is Sam. He's technically my responsibility like Laddie is so if anyone fucks with him I'm obligated to kick your ass even if David and me have that binding vow. “ The three blondes growl in response but you stare them down with a silent threat.

Sam tugs on your arm trying to get your attention as he hides behind you. “ What's a binding vow?” Micheal sits up letting out a huff of annoyance. “ They're basically playing demonic chicken. If either breaks the promise they will become inverted porcupines. Because I guess that's what underworlders think is funny. “ A frown finds its way to your face as you can see Micheal starting to give you the cold shoulder again. Reaching into your bra you pull out your cigarettes and your trusty lighter. Quickly pulling Michaels face to yours before sliding a cig between his lips lighting it for him as his face explodes into shock and blush by the closeness with you. A heavenly scent he's been keeping away from was so close flooding his nose. God why did you have to be so close he couldn't control himself last night and here you were practically trapping him under you.

He could see down your leotard, your breasts being so close to him along with the way your delicate clawed hands traced against his jaw holding him in place. So tantalizing and arousing. Acrylic nails danced along his lips keeping the cigarette in his mouth. This man was enamored with you in such a desperate and pathetic way as he tried fighting his attraction to you with his anger. It wasn't working though as anytime he was near you a animalistic part of himself he was trying to suppress wanted nothing more than to rip into that soft forbidden flesh. “ You need to chill out, pretty boy. You're so round up tight you're gonna pop a blood vessel at this point. “ Red hot smoke fills his lungs as his eyes don't dare move from the hued animal-like orbs piercing into him through delicate lashes. His muscles relax as his head becomes fuzzy leaving Michaels to feel light and airy before the cigarette is pulled from his mouth and placed between two plump glossed ones.

David stands up moving closer to look at the blissed out brunette as the instructors come to pick their victims. “ What did you do to him?” The blonde says examining the scene in front of him before red smoke blows in his face as well. It was the same herb you smoked the night at the brothel. “ Tch. Same thing I did to Paul and Marko earlier which had you freaking out. Basically numbs someone out before replacing how they were feeling before with a nice high. It won't impair you unless you smoke enough to do that. If he gets too emotional right now he's more likely to go berserk and I know he doesn't want to drink blood so I'm keeping him at a baseline. “ Sam goes to his brother, shaking him by the shoulders. Micheal only responds by trying to bat him away but not really getting angry.

David is suddenly whisked into the air by a hulking ghoul as a Frankenstein-like creature stands next to it.” We call dibs on the cranky one first for boxing. “ The witches encapture Dwayne in a binding spell, floating him in the air towards them and Allen. “ Well we want the quiet one. Magic and Mental training seems like it will be fun with this one. “ Paul tries to run off but is quickly snatched by Puck and Volk as Edgar stands next to them begrudgingly. '' Guess we take the glitz and glam here. Hope you're ready to do lifting laps. “ Poor Marko still splayed out on the floor trying to wiggle away but having no fight in him after stretches accepts his fate as Father Stienfield stands above him. “ Don't worry you'll have plenty of time to rest your body before rotation time. Hope you're ready to take a test on your knowledge. “ The corrupt priest holds a big packet as Marko groans in response.

Star and Micheal turn to you expecting someone to also take off with them before you laugh. “ Don't worry you are on light work since we're trying not to trigger you going berserk and go full vampire. Well of course not till you're comfortable choosing what vampire you'll be. So you're stuck with flight training with me first. “ You wink at the pair as you pull them to your area that's been set up with you and Calypso. “ Sam, this is Calypso. Santa Carla's Ocean protector and ambassador. He's the person who throws all the trash out the ocean and helps lost sailors, surfers, or divers. “ The giant mercraken stairs down at the boy cracking his knuckles. “ And I drown thugs who decide to fuck with my home. Remember that punk. “ Sam gulps a bit at the sight of the giant mercraken as he stairs the boy down before laughing his ass off.

“ You see that (Y/n) I scared the piss outta the kid. Don't worry y'all Emerson's are cool with me. Your mother used to clean the beach all the time when she was growing up so y'all get family passes. “ Micheal and Sam turn to the Kraken, confused looks mirroring on their faces. “ You know our mother?” Micheals interest peaked. It never occurred to him that the underworlders would know anything about his family. “ I don't know her personally though my wife practically baby sat her growing up thanks to Miss Emerson and her being friends. I used to be on "don't let the kid drown" duty when the girls would get together to chat all the time sharing recipes.” Sam jumps at the opportunity to hear more. “ Does Mom know about Santa Carlas under world?! Why would she never tell us. “

“ Because she doesn't know. “ The pair's interest is further peaked by you even knowing something about their mother as they quickly direct there attention to you. “ How do you know that? Have you been in Santa Carla that long. “ Micheal moves closer to you almost trapping you as you fiddle with getting your hair up. “ I've been in Santa Carla for 60 years but my clan has had people in this town since its founding. Santa Carla is the place misfit exorcists get sent since normal exorcists usually get driven nuts by not being able to do much but policing in a pardoned town like this. If your the Emerson's we think you are. You are the grandsons of Santa Carlas previous head exorcist. The one who trained that pervert Steinfield. “ Sam is taken back in shock. He thought he was the only exorcist in the family now the idea that Grandpa was one to gets him excited yet frustrated with not knowing this side of the family.

“ Yeah, that doesn't explain why she doesn't know, especially if grandpa was the head exorcist.” Sam wanted answers since he had family history he didn't even know about. That now he was accidentally following in the footsteps of. “ Us underworlders have no clue. We just know he told us to keep her outta trouble but keep her unaware. He had werewolves, ghouls, witches, and even the fae specifically keeping your mom away from the vampires. “ Calypso set down the finale object for training prepared for the night as he crosses his arms. “ All I know is from my connection to Steinfield. He mentioned one time he was the stand in for Father Emerson's kid because she wasn't exorcist material. You'll probably have to ask him.” You turn your attention to Star who's been uncharacteristically quiet all night as Micheal and Sam pester Calypso for stories of there family. She's barely even talked to you all night and you were worried your talk in the bathroom had scared her away from you.

As you walk towards her she shys away from your touch. “ Hey starshine. You okay? Did I upset you the other night with our chat in the bathroom. “ You whisper to her as you move closer to touch the vampiric fledgling but her body jolts again. “ No no I'm okay. It's just everythings a lot right now. I didn't think we'd only have a month left after yesterday. “ You gently lead her to sit with you on a log as you reach to pull things from your bag of holding hoping to get your hair tied up. “ It's okay. I promise both you and Micheal that I'll do everything I can to help you through this. I don't mind being your support beam right now. God dammit why won't my hair just work with me. “ Star smiles as she gently takes the hair tie and red braided rope from you. Instinctively you look at the red braided rope eyes pinpointing at it as your breath hitches. “ Please be careful with the rope. It's something special to me. “

The girl curiously examines it before giving a gentle nod and smile to you as her delicate hands softly pull your hair up into a messy bun. Star was trying her best to tame your jungle of hair but it too was giving her some difficulty but the time between you was peaceful and almost intimate. “ If you don't mind me asking ( Y/n) what makes this rope special to you. I assume someone who's lived as long as you this rope has some special story. I kinda wanna hear about your life. “ You pause for a minute with soft hands fiddling with the antique ring on your finger. “ It's from someone I loved a lot. It's all I have left of him. “ Star pulls her hands away from your hair cupping them to herself nervously. “ I'm so sorry I didn't mean-” You quickly turn to her, grabbing her hands. “ No no you're okay. You're not the first person to ask. Honestly I'm the only person who keeps their memories alive so I don't mind remembering them. I hope you're not planning to do training with all that gorgeous hair in your face though. Why don't I help you tie up yours?”

Stars face is warm with blush as she accepts the favor. She didn't mean to upset you she just wanted to know more about the women she had a crush on that was dancing through her daydreams. You were harsh and direct but could be so soft with her and Laddie. Your hands tangled in her curly locks felt heavenly as she wanted you to play with her hair even more as your scent wafted into her nose. It filled her with a sense of calm like someone she's known for ever while also somehow being a stranger to her. Your scent reminds her of a warm fall memory, a dream she couldn't quite understand. All she knew was every time she was close something about you had her following behind you wanting more. “ Have you ever loved humans before? Or were all your past lovers demons. “ A soft chaste laugh comes off your lips in response as your hands work.

“ Actually I've never loved any demon before if you'd believe how silly that is for a succubus. A hundred years ago I loved about six different mortals in my life. It's kinda of tragic. There gone and yet I'm still here. No one even remembers them except me and the small objects I've kept intact through time. This rope wasn't even a rope when I got it; neither was the lighter I have. I've altered them slightly so I could always keep using them. “ Stars heart feels heavy hearing the way your voice sounds. For some reason even though your voice is gentle and upbeat she can hear the aching sadness behind it. “ You must have loved them a lot. Is it hard remembering them after a hundred years? Living a long time seems like you'll forget things. “ Stars eyes look to the sky as she thinks of the people she's left behind on her journey. A vagabond always feeling like she doesn't fit anywhere hunting for some sort of passion she's missing. Her life used to be consumed by her illness but after she was turned she realized there wasn't much left to her after that.

A long pause follows as your voice goes stern, shaking as you stare into the void hearing their screams in your head with a violent ringing drowning the world out. “ Never. I remember every last detail of each one. I- I can't let their lives mean nothing. Because.. they were my everything. “ Your face is void as heavy tears fall down your eyes. Stars head snaps towards you as she quickly goes to wipe your tears away. She's never seen you cry and yet your face didn't have a ounce of emotion on it just heavy tears as she trys snapping you out. “ Oh my goodness I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bring up any pain. (Y/n)! ( Y/ n)!” You can faintly hear someone calling to you from the darkness. Your heads vibrating as the screams of your lovers echo your own voice calling you a monster before a light shines In Front of you. You can almost hear Stella and Misha calling for you.

That's not possible. There dead. Gone. Because of you. Because you loved them. Because you couldn't keep away. You were a monster. A killer. How would they ever forgive you. Why would you try again. You couldn't even avenge them or atone by killing your- You're violently pulled back to reality as Micheal and Star are collectively shaking you back. A cold wave of water hits you before Calypso is standing above you as you shake cold and wet back to reality. “ We have training to do you three. We keep goofing around with stories the other vampires may get pissed your on easy time. “ You grab your head pausing before putting on a fake smile, grabbing Calypso's hand. “ Okay well let's see what you two got for the day. Fly up wards as high as you can and come back down. Do that five times. “ The pair looked at your smiling face that was creepily sincere but they both knew there was no way you were okay right now.

The rest of the hour with you not much meaningful conversation happens with the fledglings as you keep to yourself and Calypso. That fake sincere mask still hanging on your face as you teach Micheal to fly on command and he luckily gets it down a little bit. Sam cuts in left and right as you have him practice with his rosary against a spider demon you conjured of your flesh. Once the hour is up you let out an audible sigh as the vampires are rotated around. “ Thanks for bringing me back. “ Calypso sits on the log drinking a thing of rum as he pats your back. “ It's okay. I could see you spiraling and all us fight clubbers know you're working out bad shit. Just proud you held it together while they were here so they wouldn't feel guilty.” You chuckle taking the bottle from Calypso as he offers. “ Everyone's got shit to work out. I just don't wanna add mine to anyone else's plate. Hey I need to blow some steam off though and I couldn't really practice with those two here. Mind helping me before Dwayne makes it over here. “

The giant man before you smirks cracking his knuckles as he stands up. “ We talking all out full force or you want me to go soft on you.” You put your hands on your hips. “Let's give them a show.” Dwayne's head was ringing at this point. He wasn't that talented with magic and ended up pushing himself too hard and threw up. On top of that battling some one's telekinesis sucked and his head and body was sore from being knocked back repeatedly. He was excited to at least be around his favorite girl as he enjoyed just spending time with her but before he could get even close to you. BAM! A huge shockwave backwards and strong gust sent him grappling at the ground to keep footing. A flash of light zoomed from through the clouds going higher and higher.

You were soaring through the skies as fast as you could. Flying makes you feel so free. Something about the clouds always made all your problems seem so small and far away. It probably also helped that the sky was the only place you knew you were truly safe and free. No one could deny your aerial advantage in fights and right now you were gonna go all out to reset yourself so you could focus on the present not the past. A hundred years was enough time for healing to be in better control of yourself and you needed to get better. That's what you demanded of yourself anyway. A feat that was easier said than done. Rain starts falling from the sky around you as orbs begin blocking the path, a smirk coming to your face. About time that damn octopus started the fight.

The sky was rich with battle as Calypso hurled objects at the demonic woman using his manipulation of water to stop the succubus from fighting back by thinning out her blood. “ What are you standing there staring at? You came here to train didn't you. Why don't you start doing laps.” Dwayne looks into the sky at the battle going on, only really being able to see the dark sky illuminated by (Y/n)’s glowing wings. “ How am I supposed to make it between you two. “ A sharp bone spear slices Calypso's cheek as the demon moth flies above the pair. Close enough to where she was just barely visible in the night sky. ( F/C ) Smoke poured from her mouth. Dwayne instinctively tried to fix his eyes on her face. Something was different about her.

It wasn't until she spoke did he realize (Y/n) still had more surprises up her sleeve. “ Cₒₘₑ ₒₙ Dwₐyₙₑ. ᵢ ₕₐᵥₑ ₛₒ ₘᵤcₕ ₜₒ ₜₑₐcₕ yₒᵤ. “ She drew him in her voice buzzing and reverberating. How could her throat even do that? He thought it wasn't natural but then again the woman who took over his mind wasn't human in the slightest. Sometimes the boys had to remember they were human once and in this new world they have fallen into they are the made ones not the natural born. The underworlders came in human disguise while never knowing a semblance of humanity and it was the same for her. Dwayne wanted to see you kill. He wanted to see what a demon from hell could do and right now he is witnessing the power. Blood morphing to bone shooting down out the sky like darts shooting at a board.

His chest was hurting and the air became harder to suck in. He had to halt his pursuit. “ I've never been this high” Dwayne coughed holding his throat before clawed hands held him in place from behind. The same clawed hand he had seen at the brothel when you tried to rip David's eye out. “

Dₒₙ'ₜ ₚₐₙᵢc. Cₐₗₘ yₒᵤᵣₛₑₗf ₐₙd yₒᵤᵣ ₘᵢₙd. Wₑ'ᵣₑ ₜᵣₐᵢₙᵢₙg yₒᵤᵣ ₗᵤₙgₛ fₒᵣ ₕᵢgₕₑᵣ ₐₗₜᵢₜᵤdₑₛ. ᵢ'ₗₗ ₛₜₐy wᵢₜₕ yₒᵤ ₜₕₑₙ wₑ cₐₙ fₗₒₐₜ dₒwₙ ᵢₙₜₒ ₐ ₘₒᵣₑ ₒₓygₑₙ ₕₑₐᵥy ₗₐyₑᵣ.” The unnatural reflections of your voice sent a chill up Dwayne's spine, something that wasn't easy to accomplish. “ I'll gladly stay up here with you. “ Dwayne kept fighting the burning and tightness in his lungs just to stay here in the moment with sweet monstrous armored arms hanging around him in the sky. “ ₐᵣₑ yₒᵤ ᵣₑₐdy ₜₒ dᵣₒₚ? “ The dark haired vampire nods his head. Armour hands pinned him to your body. “ ₛₜₒₚ fₗyᵢₙg ₐₙd ₜᵣᵤₛₜ ₘₑ”

As Dwayne's head was now fuzzy from the lack of oxygen up here all he did was let his body limp into the demon's arms as the pair started falling through the sky. It was terrifying like when he first turned but adrenaline was addictive and the trust he had to give you just to not let him fall too far. It was strangely romantic. Further and further they fell ( Y/n) shouting and hollering at the excitement till she let go of Dwayne now spinning him around to hold his hands in a sky diver position. Dwayne's eyes open wide now, finally able to take your new face in. You definitely looked demonic now bone like armor lacing your body and covering your jawline forming tusks around your mouth. Her eyelashes now a Neon ( F/c) hue emphasized by her black sclera and neon iris.

You were otherworldly and beautiful. Every look felt like it was piercing through the vampire something that set electricity off in his system. Dwayne couldn't help but join in the fun screaming and hollering. The hour spent dodging objects in the sky, hair raising death drops, and overall doing tricks getting used to turning off and on flight at the drop of a hat. When you finally touched feet on the ground as the time was over Dwayne was over both of you couldn't stop laughing and shouting in excitement. It was like you had been on a thousand roller coasters and your mood has definitely improved. Calypso was glad and Sam was in shock by your change of appearance and skill. You didn't want Dwayne to go but as Paul practically tackled you there wasn't much choice.

“ You look so hot like that baby girl! Also save me! Those werewolves had me lifting heavier and heavier stuff! They made me try and push a huge ass boulder while lecturing me about social etiquette. And don't even get me started those witches forced me to go against them in some weird mental mojo fight and had me trying magic which made me feel so fucking sick. This shit blows. “ Paul was allowed to catch his breath before flight training with him began as well.

—---------------------------------------------------------

First day of training was eventful and exhausting. Even if it was only five hours long consisting of the vamps taking a hour in each course then switching out for the exception of Star and Micheal who were kept together since both hadn't turned yet. It was overall winding down by the time you and David got out the sky as you felt like you needed a bubble bath from all the exercises. The three junior exorcists also looked exhausted by all the stuff that had to do with you keeping Sam busy with his rosary training for the night trying to catch a moving target. “ Dude this shit blew major ass. Do we really have to do this for a month I just feel like this is torture. “ Paul said gingerly taking a cigarette from you as a beer gets tossed to Dwayne who's sprawled on the ground.

“ That Steinfield guy said I should be ashamed to call myself a vampire. Stronzo! What does he know he's fucking human. '' Paul leans over to Marko who's fuming over a bottle of blood as he's soaked in sweat. “ So what score did you get? I got a 30 . Don't feel bad bud. “ Markos face goes pale as he flops against the wall mumbling into his bottle. “ I got a 10. '' David almost spit some of the blood out of his mouth from the bottle he was drinking. “ How the fuck did you get a ten. Please don't tell me that's the total of all the tests. '' Marko turns his face not looking at his leaders face as more shame washes over him. “ What the fuck Marko! '' Paul starts laughing and Dwayne joins in chuckling over his plate of food as David snaps at the other terror twin. “ Your not much better, you got a 30 overall! “

Paul waves his leader's hand away. “ No, that's just on my general vampire knowledge test. I did do shit on the others though. At least I didn't get a ten overall. Ha!” This comment earns him an ass kicking from Marko who's pissed off. “ Well I did better boxing then David. I didn't go down in the first three minutes. '' Marko sticks his tongue out flipping off the others going back to his bottle as David glares. “ Those things don't move like humans do. That wasn't a fair fight. I wasn't expecting the things joints to rotate like that. “ Dwayne mumbles into his drink. “ I actually pushed the boulder. David did better then all of us at telepathy training and Paul actually did the best boxing Marko.” The curly blondes face heats up as he gets up to protest but the said aforementioned flying teacher cuts them off by placing a fat kiss to the side of his face. “ Don't worry Marko, there just mad you did better at flying training. I'll tell you a secret: you're the only person to thread the needle with me. “

“ Okay that wasn't possible, how are we supposed to fly through a rotating car in mid air. “ Marko smirks at Paul. “ We don't have wings. So in theory we can do it. Oh wait guess it isn't a theory since I pulled it off. “ The two start fighting each other before David points to his lips questioning the succubus. “ Why does he get a kiss and I don't. I'm perfectly good to feed off sweetheart.” You lean close enough to David's face, close enough to kiss his cheek but before he can try and turn his head to steal a kiss you blow pheromones in his face. “ Cause Marko tastes better than you and you sir smell like sweat and musk again. Also if I feed off any of you right now I'll put your ass in a coma for the next week and you have training tomorrow as soon as the sun goes down. “ David growls at you before you swipe a kiss on his knuckles to fuck with him before Dwayne is leaning into his beer questioning.

“ What do we do for the rest of the night. What if we decide not to show tomorrow. “ Steinfield startles the group as he cocks a gun in their ear as the three apprentices stand behind him. “ Then we hunt you down and take you out one by one. This punishment isn't really anything you can get out of. I can't allow feral vampires in the town who expose the underworlders disturbing the peace now can I.” This earns growls and groans from the men as (Y/n) threatens to put Steinfeld's gun were the sun doesn't shine. “ Oh you must be flirting with me. Will you be at the brothel tonight I was hoping to pay for the evening with you since Volk has been hogging all your time. “ The vampires glare daggers at the priest with this comment as the man eagerly extends a wad of cash; luckily Veve steps in to not cause a fight.

“ Sadly it's ladies night tonight so our girl is gonna be on stage doing what she's best at.” Dwayne hisses at this. “ Do you really need to keep doing that? We can give you everything you need if you allow us. “ You look at the man as his eyes stare passionately into you before you turn away. “ Damn straight I am. Some old ladies gonna slide a 100 down my bra and ask for a lap dance and I don't really care if I'm in my female or male form. Money is money and I haven't had a good meal in a bit I'm just absolutely starving. “ The boys cringe at this comment but Marko kinda laughs at this even if he doesn't wanna. “ Remember that time (Y/n) when that customer was obsessed with you and swore to high heaven she was having your child. “ Veve giggles at this unable to control her laughter. “ Dumb human broad thought my female form and male form were siblings and would get pissy with me if I was a girl. Then came in pregnant trying to say it was mine. The reaction on her face when I said ain't possible as I was infertile. Made me take a test just to prove it. “

“ I remember she was so red in the face. She got laughed out the building by everyone. Turns out she was popping holes in condoms and thought eventually (Y/n) would get her pregnant instead of her dead beat boyfriend. “ You laugh with your cousin as the men around you look uncomfortable except for Steinfield. Valentina sneaks behind you, hooking her arms around your waist joining in the laughter. “ Yeah I remember exactly what her reply was. ‘ Come back in 9 months baby girl I'm sure the next will stick’ then she proceeded to fake thrust. Bitch never came back.“ You three snicker as David gets upset more and more with the idea of anyone else touching you. “ Actually you think I could convince Star to come to Ladies night. I think she'd have a blast. We can leave little man with Volk so he can take the boys to the arcade. “ Veve slaps your arm as you let out a wolf whistle.

“ Hey hey. I can't help she's exactly my type. Sweet, naive, and she smells so good. I don't even care if I'm just eye candy for her all night. I'll even pay for her drinks and food. “ Valentina pouts at this as you blow smoke in her face. “ Aw. She's gonna take all your attention why don't you be my sugar mama for the night. I want free booze and lap dances. “ The tall Latina sways with you side to side as Paul's jealous he isn't a woman right now. “ Nah you just want my organs like Steinfield. But I will sell you some after I get some energy in me. “ Steinfield gets upset at this. “ Why does she get to buy organs from you! I want more demonic organs to sell to the vatican. “ David stands up pulling the woman off of you in a angered daze your binding vow stinging you on the wrist. The vampire pulls you into his lap as he holds up you and his binding vow flashing it to the pair.

“ If anyone has a say in who's she's giving organs or being a sugar mama to I'm first in line. I have a binding vow and everything. I'll pay for Stars date and I'm taking Laddie to the arcade. “ You turn to glare at the blonde but something about him being jealous was attractive to you. Looking at his serious rugged face and his hypotonic voice it was stirring something in you. But you wouldn't admit shit to this cocky manipulative prick. You place your hands on his chest pushing yourself from him. “ What are you my pimp David? I'm your whore now you're taken a cut of my organ profits. How about you choose my clients next. What gonna tell me to blow Paul. Oh yes pimp David I’ll do my duty as a whore of the night and blow your fellow bitch. “ This little theatrics gains a pinch from David on your love handles as he growls in your ear obviously pissed at you for calling him a pimp.

“ Hey! What's your damage beautiful why am I getting brought into this. I didn't do anything.” Paul huffs out fake pouting as Marko sneers and snickers. “ Probably cuz her brains on about giving you a blowjob. You know succubus get real hungry. “ You stick your tongue out at Marko as you can't free yourself from David. Before you can wiggle your way to freedom one of the witches is running over to the group. “ Hey Valentina. ( Y/N) I don't think the girlie over there is doing well. We told her not to push herself with the grimoire we gave her but before we knew it she was throwing up from mana sickness and she hasn't stopped like the others. “ David immediately released you standing up to go over there but he wasn't faster than you. You're zipping there like a bat outta hell kneeling by her and patting the poor girls back as Micheal is doing the same.

“DAVID! Grab the girl some water! VOLK! Bring me a rag now!” The men are instantly doing as there told while you and the others attempt to tend to her. “ What's wrong with her?” Micheal says panic lacing his tone hiding his anger. “ Mana sickness. It's what happens when you use magic and your body isn't used to it at all. I'm worried about her being this weak though and the food leaving her system. “ Star continues dry heaving as everything leaves her body but nothing was coming out. She could only be at the mercy of her bodies reaction and her limbs started to shake. “ Hey sweetheart. You okay? “ You take the rag and water from the pair pulling the girl into your lap away from her bile on the floor as you try cleaning her up. She was burning up which you knew wasn't good you were very well accustomed with what this was starting to spell out.

Sam tries to come close to look at what's going on but before he and the others can step closer you've already used your blood to create a huge rhinoceros beetle charging the group away as Star plunges her fangs into your exposed flesh. In a frenzied state she makes a attempt to lunge for your throat but the coller zaps her burning the berserk vampire as you use all your strength and panic to hold her into your chest. You struggle with her for a few moments, no one else's voices registering in your head as you feel her devouring you from your chest cavity inwards. You knew she was gunning for your heart beating in your ribcage gulping blood and using her teeth to carnally rip soft supple flesh to get to it. This would have hurt worse if you weren't accustomed to pain and shutting pain receptors off. People are crowding around attempting to pull her away from you but the beetle keeps them away and so does your thrashing tail of spikes.

Everyone was panicked, even Volk was, the only person not screaming was Steinfield. As he stood silently watching as Star transformed quickly into a day walker. Her strength and teeth changed with each piece of your flesh that slipped through her lips sliding down her throat as she growled animalistical pinning you in place with her hands digging into your waist. She finally made it through your ribcage teeth sinking into your heart as you finally let out a yelp as her eyes started focusing back in. The vampires around you attempting to get towards you fully convinced you were dead or dieing as David screamed at Star to stop. You could feel her stopping her onslaught as the majority of your heart was missing. Blood covered everything around you seeping out from you. Laddie was crying, the boys were screaming and Volk was attempting to throw the beetle away Veve stood silently covering her mouth. She never could get used to your ability.

Gently you trace up the girls back to her hair as you feel fat tears and shock seep into her as Stars vision focuses on the Gorey sight in front of her. Star was panicking that she had killed you. She had taken her crushes' life and she was a monster. The girl started to violently shake not daring to look you in your dead eyes. You laid motionlessly as chaos and pure bliss existed around you. I guess you never really did show Volk the extent of damage you could take. Only Steinfield had the guts enough to torture you to find out how far you could go. It was cruel to torment the vampires around you with thinking you were dead but this warm feeling. It was euphoric. When you turn off pain receptors the only thing left for your brain to process pain is adrenaline and pleasure. “ God gorgeous. I like to be wined and dined before you eat me out. “ Stars eyes darted to your face as she panicked. She had to be hallucinating. Your heart was gone. Most of your chest cavity destroyed and here you were making jokes. A big fat smile on your face as you placed a kiss to the blood girls forehead.

“ (Y/n)! Stop making those gross jokes. Your chest cavity is damaged you asshole. Did you really have to scare everyone. “ Veve yells at you as you laugh at your cousin quickly sitting up with Star dazed and confused as you cradle her in your lap happily. Gore blood and viscera on full display for the horrified vampires and werewolf's In Front of you. You gently held Stars scared bloodied face as before everyone's eyes your blood flowed back to you, organs, bone, muscle, fat, and flesh regrowing Infront of them till you were back to normal not a bit of damage evident. “ Your healing time was impaired. Was it the training or maybe the lack of food in your system. This is such an interesting phenomenon. I must pay for a night with you to test this new development. “ Steinfield happily pokes at your exposed chest that's only covered by bone armor to not scar the children too badly from what's occured.

This prompts Volk to quickly kick the back of the priests head as Steinfield laughs in glee and curiosity running away from the angry werewolf. “ Why do you all look so surprised. Never seen a dead girl walking?”

( Chapter 8 coming soon )

If you made it this far thank you for reading my little passion project of mine. These series really is all about the creativity that I can do with the ideas I have for the lost boys. I'm happy to share this story I've had in my head for a while and the places it takes me.

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

I completely agree with you about the casting for Abby. She'd be perfect for flashback and young Abby. Nothing against the actress, but Naughty Dog could have done better.

Every single day I have to swallow down opinions about HBO's The Last of Us because I am tired and don't have the mental energy to organize a full length essay explaining what a horrible adaptation (and independent show aside from being an adaption) the fucking thing was.

Like - the characters clothes all looking brand new even though they're supposed to be in a 20 year long apocalypse, the endless product placement taking up space where sweet character building moments were, Joel's entire character arc being fucked to the point where he is cold and rejecting toward Ellie more than halfway through the story (and for more than half the story, it seems like they don't even like each other because they missed so many key moments), casually adding in the theme of disability euthanasia, the seasons being way tf off even though seasons is a central important theme of the game, them adding physical conflicts between Ellie and Joel when he never used physical violence as a way to communicate with her in the game (ever), Joel trauma dumping on Ellie that he failed at killing himself and she's basically the reason he's 'okay' now (when in the game, she had to beg and pry to get him to open up about himself. big yikes).

The show is a whole ass dumpster fire.

But yeah - she is not a good choice for casting, and I really hope that they only intend her to be younger Abby in the flashbacks. Otherwise, idk what they're gonna do. Even something I forgot to mention in that original post - Abby and Lev's relationship is supposed to parallel Joel and Ellie's relationship from the first game. If Abby is very petite and very young looking, then the Abby and Lev dynamic will not have the same impact as it did in the game. It will not come off as an adult taking care of a child (as it is supposed to, as it's supposed to parallel Joel and Ellie) - it will come off as two young people struggling together, and it just won't work.

Especially because one of the most important moments is - Abby carrying Lev down the beach after Ellie unintentionally freed them from the Rattlers, and even if it's unspoken, it's very clear that Ellie sees herself and Joel in those moments - and that is why she targets Lev in order to provoke Abby into a fight. Because she knows that one of the only ways to provoke a tired, broken down, exhausted Joel into a fight would have been someone threatening her life. And if Abby is some tiny, petite little girl instead of her usual towering self - those moments will not have the same impact. At All.

Anyway - people who like the show probably haven't had any proper contact with the games to know how good they are, or they are just thirsting over Pedro Pascal. idk. season two is bound to be a dumpster fire as well

also, okay - with the casting for Abby, I feel like somebody has to talk about Abby vs conventional attractiveness. because when TLOU2 first came out, there was the endless flood of 'Abby is a man' comments about her muscles, and I feel like the producers of the show are just downright cowards for not casting someone thick and muscled to play Abby in the show because it is an important part of her character, and because - it's giving in to all the backlash about her looks from the game.

casting someone petite and thin - someone who is very conventionally attractive - is a very cowardly move. because Abby is not supposed to be a conventionally attractive woman. she is supposed to be a brute, scary woman with a surprising soft side. (and I know, the lesbians are gonna be flooding my comments being like "I think Abby is attractive!!" but I am talking about attractiveness in terms of typical Hollywood casting.) it is just stupid not to cast her accurately to avoid backlash or because you think the character suddenly needs a makeover according to Reddit fanboys

like wtf