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flying-elliska · 3 years

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Literally the only reason I don’t outright despise the darkling in the show is solely cause of Ben Barnes and I’m fully aware of that 😂😂 I HATED him in the books. I didn’t like Mal either but like I honestly could not understand for the life of me why people liked the darkling lol. I feel like I was severely in the minority. Idk I sort of was like.. ok I get he’s maybe supposed to be charming but I see so much through his bullshit it’s not even funny. I felt like I was being told that he was alluring rather than feeling like he was lol. And it annoyed me to no end. Now Ben Barnes as the darkling... he was basically saying the same shit but I was like you know I fully realize you’re full of shit but it’s okie pls keep going 😂😂 he also was slightly different but idk. Maybe this was one of those things where I needed to see it as a visual instead of just in a book

Ahah yeah very relatable. And an interesting thing to think about. When I read the books, which was quite a while ago, I despised his character, and I didn't like Mal either ; I was pretty much there for the fun world and the side characters. (I can't wait to see who they cast as Nikolai, my beloved.) But there is such power in a good performance, and I'm also talking about Jessie Mei Li here because I found Alina so dour and not fun as a protagonist but in the show she's ☀️☀️☀️

I mean there are definitely loathsome characters on TV that are just so fun to watch because they're so stylish and unhinged and the actor is just really going for it and it's fun putting your morals aside as a thought experiment to imagine being at this level of not giving a fuck about anything, it's liberating. One of my all time faves is Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil in the Dalmatian movies I was obsessed with as a kid, and this is a woman who wants to skin puppies, she has zero redeeming qualities and it's amazing to watch because she is so much larger than life and cool and insane. (Don't get me started on all the queer coding for Disney villains too lol.)

So like, I think on TV it's easier to appreciate terrible characters for that performance aspect. And there is something reassuring about making evil into an over the top spectacle, because it makes it less scary, paradoxically ; in real life most evil is very ordinary and respectable-looking and diffuse and insidious and hard to pinpoint, if it isn't made completely invisible by systemic dynamics. Most monsters are some kind of exorcism.

When it comes to books it's trickier to write a villain who is also supposed to be ambiguously likeable, I think, because you don't have the advantage of such a performance, you have to synthesize it all with words, which are more intellectual. Whereas TV has visuals, sounds, it's more easily visceral, which I think is closer to the level on which these types of characters work, the more primal emotions.

And when it gets to the Darkling I get the appeal in theory. First of all, his political agenda is somewhat understandable (and even more so in the show) even if his methods are fucked up, especially considering the heroes seem to be a lot more concerned with reestablishing the status quo for a big part of the story. If you have a villain concerned with fighting injustice and your hero isn't fighting injustice just as hard, then you're kind of setting up people to root for the villain, no matter what gratuitous atrocities get tacked on, because the structure of the story feels unjustified. This is a story pattern people have been calling out for its weird conservative implications for a while now (looking at you Marvel yikes).

Also, the Darkling is very much an example of a trope that is veeeery popular in fiction aimed at women, that of the dangerous, more powerful, often immortal or monstrous supernatural dude associated with death/winter/darkness/the devil that tries to tempt the heroine away from her expected life path and can be either a love interest or an enemy or both. This is like, most recent vampire stories, or Beauty and the Beast, or Hades/Persephone retellings, Hannibal the series for a queer version, possibly also Killing Eve - hell two stories I've read recently were that trope (Winternights trilogy and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue). And people often prefer it as a romance ; even though it obviously has problematic implications I don't think you can reduce it to 'silly women don't know what's good for them!!!' like I've seen it implied. I'm picky with this trope, I usually prefer deconstructions, but I see the appeal.

The main problem with the Darkling in the books is that I find him annoying, and like that other post says, in fiction a character can be as evil as they want as long as they're not annoying lmao. He's just cold and aggressive and he comes over as this petulant emo douchebag and Alina is supposed to be drawn to that because ???? Ben Barnes sells the charm and the danger so much better, and so when the betrayal comes it feels a lot more meaningful and interesting.

Like don't get me wrong, the Darkling in the books does things that are pretty irredeemable and looks like they're going in that direction in the show too, but I do like that they kept him more human, and I get why people wished the character had gone in a more ambiguous direction. And sometimes you just want a good corruption arc for your hero, that's too rare in my opinion. Also I just think it should be possible to like Problematic Characters without having to excuse everything they do or feel like you've committed a mortal sin against the Good God of Moral Fiction. I've seen the discourse online ping-pong between 'uwu he never did anything wrong!!!!' and 'omg abuse apologism!!!' and I'm like. Degree zero of literacy. Bye.

#shadow and bone #ben barnes #the darkling #darklina #grishaverse #aleksander morovoza #shadow and bone netflix

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ghoste-catte · 4 years

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multiples of 3 ✌🏼-sgmdrcklee

@sagemoderocklee you’re really trying to kill me lol

This got long as heck so I’m throwing it behind a cut. Read on for answers and fic recs! (Mostly the fic recs)

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

This is a tough one to answer for me generally because I tend to spit words onto the page and once I have written them I no longer remember writing them. And 2020 has stretched on so long that as I’m looking at some of the stuff I wrote in the beginning of this year, I hardly remember what’s even in it. I think at one point someone (@goblin-draws maybe?) mentioned a line in Sleeptalk with Me where the innkeeper calls Kankuro “chubby boy”, and I was like “Oh ... did I write that? Yeah, sounds like something I’d have someone say to Kankuro ...”

It might be easier to talk about this in other terms. One of the scenes I worked the hardest on this year was the fight scene in Chapter 3 of Skeleton Key. The original draft of the scene was a lot shorter, and a lot of the backstory for Misaki’s revenge quest was elided. The scene as originally written was clunky, confusing, and as my lovely wife/beta put it sounded “like a Naruto villain” was doing the dialogue, when previously she’d found Misaki sinister and intriguing. Which wasn’t what I wanted. I basically entirely overhauled the scene and re-wrote it several times. I wouldn’t call it a ‘favorite’ scene (I hate writing fight scenes generally; having chosen to immerse myself in a fandom about ninja where much of the drama comes from battle is my eternal regret), but it is a scene that I put a lot of effort into, and I’m moderately satisfied with the improved product that resulted.

6. least popular fic this year

By far my least popular fic by kudos ever is Pitch Perfect. Which makes complete sense to me. It’s a fic where I’ve written 2 characters who are men in canon as cis women, which pushes a lot of uncomfortable buttons for a lot of people. It contains F/F smut, which is something that a lot of people who choose to read GaaLee probably aren’t out there looking for. And people comment and kudos less on smutfics, I assume because they don’t want their username attached to porn or because they’re embarrassed (which I totally get, no shame there). It’s a modern AU with a sports twist, and AUs are often less popular than canonverse in my experience. I will say though that it has a surprisingly high number of private bookmarks compared to other fics with comparable hit and kudos counts. So I assume people are just a bit more shy because the premise is so ‘out there’. I will say as far as my fics go, it’s one of my personal favorites and probably one of the most intimate and true-to-life things I’ve written? So it actually is a little comforting to know that something so vulnerable has relatively little attention.

9. longest wip of the year

If we’re going based on stuff that’s partially published but not complete, my Gaara-adopts-Shinki fic On My Way Home is my longest in-progress fic at just over 20k words, although technically I started it in 2019. It will probably end up being right around 40-50k when it’s complete, which might end up situating it as my longest fic ever?

12. favorite character to write about this year

Okay, this is an easy one. I love writing Kankuro. I think he is hilarious. He is the devil on my shoulder and a creature of pure id, and every time I write a line of dialogue for him it’s the summation of my rudest thoughts about a situation put in the crudest possible terms. If there were a megaphone directly from my unfiltered brain giving running commentary, that would be Kankuro.

15. something you learned this year

I have learned SO much this year! This is only my 2nd year properly ‘focusing’ on writing fic and investing any substantial time into it. I think the biggest thing I have learned, though, is how to overcome a lot of my self-consciousness about writing stories with NSFW elements in them. Starting out, I was so extremely shy and mortified about writing fic at all, much less things like hugging or (god forbid!) kissing. So taking on the smut prompts I took this year and really buckling down on learning to write the mechanics and emotions of sex has been a massive learning experience. (And sorry, by the way, if I haven’t gotten to a prompt you sent me in January yet. I do intend to write all of them eventually!)

18. current number of WIPs

Ah. The call-out question. My general fic process is idea -> outline -> wip -> edit -> ready to post (where the final draft sits in my docs until I gin up the courage to actually post it). So skipping fics that are just “ideas” on the big mega-list, I have 3 fics in the “outline” stage, 13 fics in the partially written “wip” stage, 1 fic in the “editing” stage, and 2 that are complete but yet-to-be-posted. So, like, 19 total in the offing. (The “ideas” list is even worse lol.)

21. most memorable comment/review

This is such a difficult question because every single comment I get makes me do a little dance for joy. That’s not an exaggeration btw I really sit there and like bounce around in my seat for a moment before I open the Ao3 email. I am not an especially emotive person irl, but there have been times I’ve been brought near tears by comments. I’ll also occasionally show them to my wife like !! look at this nice thing this person said !! and she’s indulgent enough to actually read them. There have been a couple comments that have really stuck with me, that I starred in my inbox and return to frequently, but I don’t want to bring attention to someone else without their permission. I will say there was one person recently who mentioned (not in the comments on one of my fics) that they had found someone who does physical binding of fanfiction and they were about to ask my permission to do that, but then the person who does the binding only does certain ships that she likes ... so that, just, absolutely floored me. The idea that someone might actual want a physical copy of my stupid little ninja fanfictions is, like, so truly immense and completely overwhelming?

24. favorite fic you read this year

You can’t make me pick just one!! (For reference, I have bookmarked right around 180 fics in the past year, and that’s not including fics that I just read, really enjoyed, but didn’t think I could ‘handle’ a second time around.) So, skipping over the ones that AREN’T Naruto ... here is a brief sampling of some faves:

Silica by deepestbluest (rated E, GaaLee, ShikaTema, and Kankiba) - An absolute emotional powerhouse of a fic that manages to skillfully interweave three complex relationship dynamics, satisfactorily resolve them, and give you ALL the sandsibs feels in just over 10k words.

Childhood Not-Friends (series) by MegaWallflower (rated G, KakaGai) - @megawallflower is a KakaGai god for good reason. Absolutely adorable relationship development fics (five of them!) with the premise that Kakashi thinks he and Gai have been dating since they were kids ... Gai just hasn’t been clued into it yet. These stories will give you heart-eyes.

The Bright Side by gidget_goes (rated T, GaaLee) - This is the Buffy AU I never knew I needed, because I’ve never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But truly you don’t need any Buffy knowledge to enjoy this fic. @gidget-goes command of imagery is masterful, and the way they manage to snap from snark to tugging at your heartstrings is awe-inspiring. Gaara breaks my heart in this. And did I mention Kankuro wears a 10-gallon hat? Because Kankuro wears a 10-gallon hat.

Nature vs. Nurture by Bidiza (rated T, GaaLee) - So introspective and so poetic. This looks like a WIP but it’s actually multiple oneshots, although by the end of the second one you’ll be dying for the rest of the promised series.

I’m a Fool to Want You by BeelieveRosemarie (rated M, GaaLee) - Turns out @tuttiefruttiegaalee isn’t just an amazing artist, they’re a writer, too! Slow-dancing that will break your heart. Listen to the Frank Sinatra song while you read this for extra tear-jerking effect.

Let Love be Known (series) by TenTomatoes (rated G, GaaLee) - This is the twist on the arranged marriage trope and Beauty and the Beast that I didn’t realize this fandom was missing. I’m absolutely obsessed with their concept of Gaara as the Beast

I Could Be by LilacNoctua (rated T, GaaLee) - I know I big up @lilac-writes Worthwhile series a lot (deservedly so, because it’s so good it makes you look at the series and go “Why the fuck didn’t Kishimoto make this canon exactly like this?”), but this story made me absolutely die between the butterflies in my stomach and how hard I was laughing. There’s one line--you’ll know it when you read it--that absolutely bowls me over every time I re-read this.

And Then Continue by EgregiousDerp (rated E, GaaLee) - Obviously I’m biased because this was a gift, but @egregiousderp writes some of the the best characterized porn I’ve ever read. You will read this and go “Wow! This is exactly how it would happen!” It’s such a tender, beautiful exploration of Gaara’s insecurities and a very real feeling first time, for all its soft edges.

Cake by citronelle (rated E, KanKiba) - I don’t even know what to say about this one other than ... phew, this is extremely well written, extremely hot, and extremely in character. Just read it. I promise it’s worth it.

Saudade by YumKiwiDelicious (rated M, GaaLee) - I’ve run around reccing this to just about every person on the face of the earth at this point. If you’re in the GaaLee Discord you probably saw everyone salivating over every new update of this fic and with good reason. The twists and turns of this fic will have you on the edge of your seat, second guessing every single moment. And it will break your heart in the meantime. What more could you want?

the love potion commotion by floating_cats (rated T, NejiSasu with background GaaLee) - One of those fics where you wish the author’s sense of humor was your own. So many hilarious moments in this story, and it brought me a new appreciation for a ship I never would have even considered.

Finger Lickin’ Good by whazzername (rated E, GaaLee) - Whazz is another one of those authors where I literally want to rec every single thing she’s ever written, she’s just that good. (Speaking of which, if you haven’t read Fools Rush In and its sequel Degrees of Separation, you’re missing out on the best possible Metal origin story of all time. Don’t deprive yourself of this.) But this story is just ... so incredibly in character for a situation that reads like crack. It’s handled with the utmost straight-facedness and it’s so. freakin’. good.

heart lines by winterberry_holly (rated M, NejiTen and GaaLee) - I don’t even have the words to describe how perfect this fic is. It’s a truly beautiful exploration of Tenten’s relationship with her palmistry hobby and with the people in her life. My heart ached with every single line.

Standing on Ceremony by kuroashi (rated E, GaaLee) - This is just ... such a beautiful wedding story. So lovely, like getting the best possible warm hug from someone you love. If that love one was slightly strange and socially inept, because, well. It’s still Gaara doing Gaara-things. @baphometsss is another one of those authors whose handling of smut scenes is so stupendous it makes me wildly jealous.

Thrall by RokiRiot (rated T, GaaLee) - Idiots-to-lovers with a magic AU twist! This is such a wonderful story, and Gaara’s internal monologue is absolutely amazing. And Lee is Deaf in this fic, which I never ever get to see and which absolutely made my entire day/week/month/life.

Make-Out Consequences by LuxaLucifer (rated M, KakaGai with background canon Boruto ships) - I laughed so hard reading this that I had to take a breather to stop crying. That’s not an exaggeration. The characterization in this fic is impeccable and the humor is to die for. Naruto’s buffoonery truly shines here, and the author’s wit is just beyond anything I could even properly summarize. Hysterical. A++.

Thirteen Strokes by Luna_Lee (rated T, GaaLee) - Again, like, if you aren’t reading literally everything @sagemoderocklee writes, are you even really a GaaLee fan? But this fic is beyond even for one of Eeri’s incredibly excellent writings. The worldbuilding in this, the cultural notes, the imagery ... it’s all so lush and so fulfilling and so beautiful. It’s a story about love and it’s a story that you can tell has love poured into every single line. I can’t recommend it enough.

Checkmate by shadowstrangle (rated G, GaaLee) - The pettiness vibes ... this is so funny. Such a cute story and I love Gaara’s sense of humor here. Not a lot of writers give him a sense of humor, but I love how @shadowstrangle gives him a slightly odd, slightly left-of-center take on humor that still manages to be so funny.

To Court a Village by FanFictionEngineer (rated G, GaaLee) - Another one where my bias is perhaps slightly obvious, but the premise of this fic is amazing. I love cultural misunderstandings, and the idea of Lee trying his hardest to court Gaara ineptly is just so perfect.

affliction of feeling by theformerone (rated E, SakuHina) - One of those ships that it would never have occurred to me to seek out but that absolutely works with how the author’s set it up. The dynamics here are delicious. It’s so rare to find good F/F porn but this is one of them for sure.

Tried and Tested by twentysomething (Rated M, KakaIru with background canon Boruto ships and GaaLee) - Iruka’s narration in this story is just incredible. I haven’t laughed this hard reading a fic in ages. And the concept alone (that Naruto can’t be promoted to Hokage until he passes his chuunin exams ... as an adult ... and Sasuke gets dragged along for the ride) is just brilliant. Amazing concept, amazingly executed.

a fireside waltz by winterberry_holly (rated M, GaaLee) - I really tried not to rec a single author more than once here but for this one I had to. I got about halfway through this fic and immediately started running around ringing the town crier bell like READ THIS FIC! READ THIS FIC! An absolutely smoldering Regency AU with such beautiful, intimate dance scenes. My heart was racing every single time their fingers brushed. If you don’t read anything else on this list, at the very least read this.

27. favorite fanfic author of the year

I really can’t pick just one. I am lucky enough that @egregiousderp passes me her drafts under the table before (or without) publishing, and getting to read those is a private treat of unparalleled proportions. Some of my favorite things I’ve read this year I can’t even rec because they’re her unpublished stuff.

30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year

This is gonna come off strange because I just wrote such a long Naruto reclist, but I recently watched What We Do in the Shadows, and found an incredibly talented group of authors in that fandom with really amazingly good dialogue and narrative voice. I also read a lot of fic for the new It movies (even though I couldn’t watch the 2nd one for ~reasons~), and damn if there isn’t a talented crop of authors in that fandom, too. And finally with ATLA making its way onto Netflix, I had the chance to start watching that for the first time and found a ton of really good fic there as well!

fanfic end of the year asks!

#answered #ask meme #sagemoderocklee #Anonymous

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 4 years

Text

this DLC has me FUCKED UP and i keep screaming

spoilers for Bounty of Blood under the cut, keep reading at ur own peril. Also some Guardian Takedown spoilers for anyone who hasn’t beat it yet

tl;dr: a comparison between something taken from BL2 and a thing taken from Bounty of Blood. more spoilery tl;dr below the cut.

also the siren thing is not spoilers so i’ll share it here for anyone curious, it’s just this: siren tattoos are blue but when lily absorbs eridium in 2, they turn pinkish/purple. just like how vaults do from bl1 to bl2. they’re white/blue in bl1, then purple-pink in bl2 (and tps), y’know, after Eridium begins erupting from the ground. just a neat little detail i noticed that im not entirely sure was intentional but im gonna believe it is.

tl;dr: Gythian Blood = Core and the Ruiner is of Eridian Origin even tho everyone in the DLC likes to say it was created with Jakobs’ bioengineering. disclaimer: idk if I’ve found every hidden ECHO so I may be missing a few things but I have done every side quest and took ample screenshots of all important dialogue in the DLC : )

“man i just sat here for like 15 minutes staring at my keyboard mentally comparing core and eridium like the dumb bitch i am.

it's not like we can do an actual comparison because we have no idea what the natural fauna of gehenna was like before jakobs came and mutated everything with core unlike pandora where we know what skags and rakk and shit were like BEFORE the eridium crust erupted.

altho!!! there's a neat comparison between joey ultraviolet and rose. like obviously he wasn't getting tattoos and was just doing lines of crushed up eridium but the point stands they both have glowy eyes and unique powers so i don't necessarily think this means rose is a siren just because she has magic powers especially when we know she got the whistling passed down to her from her grandmother.

especially because we've never seen a siren interact with core before. altho that leaves the question we have seen core tattoos now what are eridium tattoos like? actually rose's tattoos were on her right arm obviously she isn't a siren as we know them right now (I saw a post on reddit where people thought rose was a siren)

of course that brings up the point perhaps siren tattoos ARE eridium tattoos. but then we hear the general's log about how the devil riders were tattooing a man with core and blood so obviously they're not ‘naturally’ occurring unlike siren tattoos. so odds are they're probably not equivalents but something interesting i thought of while thinking about this is how well siren tattoos compare to the Vaults from borderlands 1 and borderlands 2″

anyway. this is all ive been thinking about. yes yes i know guardian takedown post but! >:( im still salty even tho this update has been lovely (outside of Blane not getting his correct damage scaling ‘till today......). so i’ll do that at my own damn pace. now let me elaborate so i can sleep at night lmao

Eridium

refinement produces slag, which weakens people and can mutate things

has mutating properties, mostly with imbuing elements into shit- possibly causes insanity

seems to be connected to another dimension, likely the one the Eridians are from

Core

has a secondary form of Infused Core

has mutating properties, mostly regarding a thing’s body and mind

apparently radioactive

there are some things i wanna note

1) People throughout the DLC say the Ruiner was created by the Jakobs corp (the company) thru bio-engineering but I’m 99% sure that’s not true. The paperwork seems to me like they found the egg somewhere on Gehenna and decided to roll and experiment with it like all corporations do when they find weird alien shit. so maybe they experimented with whatever was inside the egg, but I don’t think they actually created it entirely

“Excavated from [REDACTED] ... Local legends speaks of a [REDACTED]. This theory is not endorsed by our research personnel.

2) The Ruiner’s design reminds me a lot of the Warrior.

3) Core immediately reminded me of Gythian Blood from Guns Love and Tentacles and I don’t think that’s coincidence to have 2 back-to-back DLCs where the big bad is focused on green death juice. I think Gythian Blood and Core are of the same stuffs.

4) Therefore, I think the Ruiner is (mostly) of Eridian origin (if you haven’t already guessed).

This gives us an amazing look into how the Eridians actually create their beasts!!! And I’m so happy they showed us this.

(side note, Interitus Regina (the long name for Ruiner) literally means Destruction Queen and I think that’s beautiful <3)

i mean the idea that they plunge them from orbit to create an explosion similar to a nuke is fucking horrifying (but holy shit I love it so much ahhh it’s so cool!!!!)

the one side line from Oletta about how the company couldn’t control the Ruiner deffo makes me double down on this theory. I’m not entirely sure how Rose’s grandma knew about the whistling (I don’t think I’ve found every echo log in that area YET), but I would bet it was part of the testing given how many fuckin’ tape players they have throughout the facility. The Warrior was controlled by verbal commands via Jack, so it’s possible that the Ruiner was intended to be controlled similarly, but Jakobs intervention (or something like the way Rose hatched it) fucked it up.

now we know the Warrior was created to protect the Vault of the Destroyer (hmm.) so what the heck was the Ruiner created for? Ruiner is a name given to it by Jakobs/the people of Gehenna so we can’t really assume, but then again the monster names are pretty apt in this series even tho they probably technically shouldn’t be.

it was only an egg, so maybe it was another test of Core? A Vault Monster incubating until it was ready to protecc and attacc but was never hatched because the Eridians ‘sacrificed’ themselves before it could? (I’m still not convinced the Eridians are the good guys. Listen. LISTEN. The guardian takedown is something to think about, BUT it doesn’t disprove that theory and I’ll stand by it because I 100% trust the Overseer more than bitchpants mcgee over here who thinks he’s soooo special for no reason fuck you and your dumb ‘I did what the Watcher could not’ bull you haven’t done shit.) ok sorry im done he just angers me. stupid guardian man. your whip is stupid and you should feel bad. oh also I totally called us actually being Guardians thru Guardian Rank before the game came out aha yeah.

I definitely think Gythian was a test/use of Core from the Eridians. We see in Bounty of Blood that core seems to mutate more the physical (and occasionally mental) parts of people, like with the crew challenges u do for Juno with all the weird hybrid people and whatnot. Gythian had the whole ‘the heart still beats’ thing going on (which is definitely a physical mutation if i’ve ever seen one), plus the whole, you know, mind control and shit. Which is p similar to what the menta gnats can do when charged with Infused Core. And keep in mind in BLaT we see DAHL notes on what happens to test subjects when injected with Gythian Blood. They mutated physically and went insane.

What im saying is Sirens and Eridium and Elements are connected, so what does Core equal? body/mind sure but are there unique creatures for core (yes holy shit I’m not talking about h2o au for once and FINALLY they gave us a canon name for the green stuff!!!). If not, I’d love to see a Siren interact with Core to see what it does to them. seriously why hasn’t tannis interrupted us yet. horrible excuse for a science lover (kidding kidding, I love her). I’d also really love a fuller rundown on what the hell Rose’s powers were. Because the whistling thing seemed to just be her grandma’s thingie passed down to her from her mom

but the core stuff

her gun seems to be infused with it. So did her sword thing. I didn’t really get a good look at it i was too busy trying to see thru my blurry tears of LOVE for this DLC.

Strangely while her tattoos are (mostly) green I actually don’t know if they’re core infused bc look at this

n look back at hers. hers aren’t very lime.

anyway

her eyes

I’d love to know if the core gives her immediate future sight or just increased perception or reaction times. there’s a huge difference but she seemed to be able to shoot the gun outta the sheriff’s hand near immediately and it seems kinda implied its because of the core (or at least because her eyes are glowing green)

there’s a possibility she has some unique core powers/possibly implants because of her relations to the project in the first place, or as leader of the devil riders after looting the facility. it’s really hard to say without more info and like i said im not sure if i missed an ECHO or two or not regarding her backstory :(

Her hair is also green which I just noticed. Maybe she has core powers bc her grandmother got suuuuuuuuper irradiated/influenced working on project horizons and it passed down thru her n Rose’s mom, to Rose. Tannis does have a line about Sirens having unique hair colors and, if Sirens are linked to Eridium, perhaps those linked to Core also have unique hair color. Could also explain why only Rose seems to have those whistling powers. That said we don’t really see anyone else trying that whistling thing out afaik and idk if it was, like, a special ability or a certain tone/ditty or w h a t.

i know being vague with everything gives them more creative freedom to create amazing characters and scenarios, but dammit I want A N S W E R S.

All THAT said man I’m so glad magic is real in the borderlands universe. oh, sorry, “magic”. It’s magic. Science it, tannis, I dare you. either way, I win. Either it’s magic and H2O AU is canon, or it’s science and I finally get my goddamn answers. Hey gearbox can you make a book just explaining all the science and eridian stuff. please. I’d love you forever. please. pleaheheheheaaasseee it’s all i’ve ever wanted.

oh also can i just say, suuuper disappointed we didn’t learn anything about anshin. Really wish non-fan favorite corporations would get the spotlight/lore for once. Like, I like Jakobs as much as the next guy, and I get WHY they did it (can’t have a corporation looking too good!!!) but they now have 3 DLCs (Jakobs Cove, GLaT, and Bounty of Blood) and also a hefty chunk of the main game. Like... we all know Jakobs fuckin sucks, look at what they did on Pandora. I really just want info on a medical corporation 😭 I have to do everything my damn s e l f. but SERIOUSLY IMAGINE the possibilities that could come from a medical corp getting its hands on eridian tech. like, yeah obviously the weapons corps are gonna use it for weaponry and stuff BUT WOULDN’T THE MEDICAL CORPS MUTATING PEOPLE MAKE MORE SENSE??? ldfhgldfshg I have to do everything my damn self...

anyway all that aside, this is definitely by favorite borderlands dlc by a LONG shot. Nothing comes close. Ahhh the lore, the nuclear aspect, the a e s t h e t i c (seriously, have I mentioned how much I adore Trigun???), the art, the music, the cryoslinger, the fact I can bust out going beeEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAans like Ray Chase at any time and it will MAKE SENSE. I love all of it.

oh, also, Rose is totally not dead. C’mon, they couldn’t find her body. She pulled a Lilith. “Are you sure she didn’t just suffer a wound that LOOKS fatal, only for her to come back in a blockbuster sequel...?” is a line from mr Jones himself (the movie guy)

I just hope when she comes back she gets to meet Captain Scarlett. I’d love to watch their interactions plus pirates and or ninjas. That’s 2 DLC villains now that have vanished without a trace. And I like Captain Scarlett way more than Rose (seriously I spent the entire beginning of the DLC complaining about how her voice bothered me- I was so happy she was a villain, I was hoping that was the case).

oh yeah, reminder, the people of vestige were living next to highly radioactive egg for likely years. i feel really bad for them :(

also!!!

this made me smile

#im tired #good night #bl3 #borderlands #borderlands spoilers #spoilers #bl3 spoilers #borderlands 3 spoilers #bounty of blood #bounty of blood spoilers #dlc3 #dlc3 spoilers #dlc 3 #dlc 3 spoilers #i don't want to spoil anybody please lemme know if there's any tags i missed!!!!

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #212: Men of Deadly Pride!

October, 1981

Here they are -- the new Avengers!

But not the New Avengers (the difference is that the hairy monster they have is Tigra instead of Wolverine).

And they are having difficulty.

I don’t know what they did to piss off Galadriel over here (I mean yes I do, she says it right on the cover) but she is kicking their asses.

A dark queen indeed.

Not much to actually say about the cover. Uh, the composition looks neat! There we go. A thing.

So lets jump inside.

Where in a moody dawn scene, Jarvis walks alone through a nearly empty Avengers mansion, little knowing he is being stalked until

RAWWR! IT IS CAT!

Tigra jumps out to do him a startle.

C’mon, Tigra. Be nice.

You’re the only Avenger actually staying in the mansion so try not to terrorize the butler.

And he was bringing you a glass of milk for your breakfast!

Although he says that he’s dealt with a lot of unsettling things and he’s learned to maintain him composure. He didn’t even spill a drop.

Jarvis: “I must say, madame, that I find you rather more unsettling than our previous resident Avengers!”

Tigra: “Oh? You a cat-lover, Jarv?”

AND DON’T FLIRT WITH HIM EITHER TIGRA GEEZ

Poor Jarvis is even allergic to cats which seems to include giant cat women.

Jarvis asks how she got this way, prompting Tigra to give a very laconic backstory that once there was a human Greer Nelson who got almost dead and then the cat-people saved her life by turning her into a cat-person.

Tigra: “And, so, here I am, one pretty kitty! But, c’mon, Jarv, does it matter how I got this sexy?”

Jarvis clarifies that he meant how she got this way as in her upbringing. Like, why you so rude.

I guess I’ll just be grateful that this is just playful Tigra flirtiness as opposed to ‘i must make out with someone 24/7 oh hey a supervillain sure I’ll make you with you’ hypersexuality she’d have while on the West Coast Avengers, in the future.

Elsewhere, Tony Stark is decompressing from his one night stand, Teri. Admiring her very comfy couch, grateful that she’s still asleep so he can sneak out (Tony, you cad), and lamenting being on the wagon. When all that’s left to drink is scotch, bourbon, and half a can of warm, flat Dr. Pepper, you drink that Dr. Pepper if you’re Tony Stark.

Tony calls his secretary to have a janitorial crew clean up after the party and to send up a dozen roses for Teri.

And then he flies out the window as Iron Man, the Man Who Kisses and Runs! as Teri wakes up and is like ‘hey tonykins what the hell was that whooshing sound?’

Tony, you cad.

And elsewhere meanwhile, Steve Rogers wakes up promptly at six o’clock in the damn morning bright as the sun and raring to go. Disgusting. Truly disgusting.

I joked about Steve getting up at 6 to run ten miles and whatever because of him criticizing Beast that time but its sickening to see it in action.

Anyway, after he damn sings in the shower like the perky morning man he is, he bounces out the window to the first Avengers meeting since the roster shake-up, musing how little they know about Tigra and how he’ll have to keep an eye on her because he doesn’t know if she’ll crack under pressure or not.

And then onto, ok wow, we are just having full pages of individual Avengers going about their mornings.

So we’re onto Normal Human Man Dr. Donald Blake reaching the end of the night shift he just pulled at a hospital.

Nurse Wilson pretty blatantly flirts with him (thinking to herself “C’mon, doc! Notice that I’m a woman! I dare you!”). Normal Human Man Dr. Donald Blake doesn’t seem to notice but his thoughts are on her, wishing he could take her out for lunch but that he has important Avengers business.

He then taps his walking stick and transforms into Thor and flies off towards the mansion.

And that brings us to Cresskill where Janet van Dyne aka the Wasp and Hank Pym aka Yellowjacket are going about their morning.

Befitting her blase attitude last issue, Jan just wants to stay in bed longer and cuddle but Hank is desperate not to be late to his first meeting as a newly active Avenger again.

So he’s in costume and ready to go while she’s still choosing which of her many many costumes to wear. Albeit with the ulterior motive that she’s trying to look good for him. She does put in like 90% of the effort into the relationship.

So she’s narrowed her choices down to a red and blue costume and a green and purple outfit that looks like maybe she raided the Green Goblin’s wardrobe. She asks Hank to decide for her.

And he does. In a sense.

He blasts the green and purple number to shreds and yells “Wear the other one!” and when she protests the destruction of her stuff he goes “So what? Like you said you’ve got lots!”

Hmm. We haven’t seen Hank in a while. And he didn’t talk much last issue what with all the Moondragoning. But he’s taken a bit of a level in being a jackass.

And then on the ride to the mansion, the limo gets stuck in traffic.

Yellowjacket: “That does it! You can ride in your blasted chauffeured limo so your two-hundred dollar hair-do doesn’t get mussed -- but I’m flying to Avengers Mansion under my own power!”

And then he ditches. He ditches hard. Leaving Wasp to fly after him begging him to wait.

You’re a bit of a rude, Hank.

Like Hank feared, the two do arrive late to the meeting and he is gently ribbed by sudden class clown Captain America.

Captain America: “Well, look who’s finally here! Now the Wasp has arrived with her new partner -- uh, Yellowjacket, right? We can get started!”

Is funny joke. Its been a time so they’re pretending he’s a new guy and ha ha he’s being described as Wasp’s partner instead of vice versa. What an upset.

And it is an upset. Tigra notices what the other Avengers seem to miss, that Cap’s joke just pissed Yellowjacket off.

And its not helped when Cap mentions that its time to elect a new chairman but Iron Man interrupts to say that he and Thor have agreed that its better for Cap to remain chairman. They did just reorganize the roster and all. Some stability is fine.

Thor: “We choose to waive the elections! Such is our right as founding members!”

And this sets Yellowjacket right the hell off.

Yellowjacket: “Is that so? Well, I resent not being consulted! As the Ant Man I was a founding member, too!”

Iron Man: “uh, of course Hank... you and the Wasp! But you came in late... we’d already decided...”

Yeah! The Wasp too!

But Yellowjacket has some kind of insect in his bonnet and he yells that he’s done being forgotten and treated as a has-been while Janet just silently cringes. She wonders what’s happened to the man she loves. And why he won’t let her reach him anymore.

The meeting continues but the scene transitions.

To a cottage in an isolated glade among the wooded hills of Virginia. Where the olde talking power couple of Gorn and Linnea wake up. Linnea wants to lay in bed with Gorn a while longer but he decides NAY TIME TO GET UP NOW.

Hey wait.

Hmmm.

I’m sensing... thematic parallels. I’m sure its nothing, though.

Anyway, Gorn is tired of living a quiet idyllic life in a beautiful glade with a woman who dearly loves him, as they’ve done for ten thousand years. His dander is up and he wants battles to fight and glory to win! He’s tired of being safe in the glade, protected by Linnea’s power. He’s a warrior, not a farmer!

(I see no evidence of farming around the cottage, just saying)

And since its either be ditched or go with him, Linnea decides to go with him.

Gorn: “You are beautiful in that gown, Linnea. Men shall again call you Elf-Queen as they did in ancient days!”

Linnea/Elf-Queen: “They also called me witch and devil-spawn! They are ever so cruel to my kind!”

Gorn: “Aye, and once we fled them! This time, if we must, we shall fight them!”

Ah, geez, Gorn. The cover implies this won’t go well for you.

So Gorn and Elf-Queen, him on foot and her on horseback) wander into Washington DC literally looking for trouble.

But before trouble, something to eat. Looking for an inn, they wander into a random restaurant.

Gorn, being Gorn, immediately starts yelling at the maitre d’, who he assumes is the innkeeper.

And here’s a bit of an interesting and not often used touch. Even though all speech bubbles are rendered without <> as is sometimes used to denote someone speaking a different language, Gorn and Elf-Queen Linnea are in fact speaking an ancient language.

Nobody can understand a thing they say.

And they can’t understand modern English.

This is a perfect setup for some farce.

Gorn ends up just yelling that he wants food and the maitre d’ gets the gist even though he doesn’t understand the words. This is Washington DC. A lot of people from other countries wander through. So he shows them to a table.

Linnea and Gorn decide that the maitre d’ is probably the innkeeper’s idiot brother. I mean, that’s probably why he can’t understand normal language, right?

And there’s more culture shock to be had. Linnea is realizing how differently dressed everyone is in this era. None of the men are even wielding swords!

Elf-Queen Linnea: “And the women, Gorn -- ! The way they’re dressed --! Like -- like harlots!”

Gorn: “Aye! Hmmm...” -totally staring at a butt and not paying attention-

Linnea: “Gorn... ?! I-if we stay here... would you like me to dress so? I do not know if I can learn the ways of these women... but for you my love, I would try! Gorn... ?”

Gorn: “Mmm...” -still not paying attention-

Linnea: (Oh, Gorn! For ten thousand years we have dwelt together in solitude, as one in our love! Am I to lose you now, here in this city of temptresses?)

Hmmm.... this reminds me of something.... but what?

A Barry Kaplan interrupts her inferiority anxiety by coming up and trying to hire her as a fashion model.

And neither Barry nor Linnea can understand each other still.

But she senses something of his intentions and warns him that this isn’t a good idea since she’s sitting next to a warrior and all.

Barry is like ‘maybe if I try other languages?’

And then Gorn notices. And Gorn is displeased.

Gorn: “NO ONE TOUCHES GORN’S WOMAN!”

Barry: “I warn you, I’ve had six jiu-jitsu lessons!”

Wow!

So Gorn gets up from that and just bodily lifts the guy over his head (Barry lamenting that he dropped out before jiu-jitsu lesson seven). But if you get the barbarian or warrior dropped into a modern setting trope they’re usually just way better than any soft modern man. So its funny to see this random dink get the better of Gorn, even if its just the preamble to what would have been Gorn delivering a thorough beatdown.

Its just not what you expect to see in this story.

Linnea magics Barry out of Gorn’s hands, trying to defuse the situation but Gorn interprets the situation as her ‘unmanning’ him.

Gorn: “Why, Linnea? Why do you seek to unman me? Is it not enough that your power has preserved my youth and kept me for centuries? Must you now interfere in my battles?”

Linnea meekly apologizes.

And then the maitre d’ comes pissed off that this loud, shouting weirdo started a fight and is going to call the police on them. Until Linnea goes ‘oh right we should pay for the damage we caused’ and gives the maitre d’ a gold and diamond necklace.

And the maitre d’ mentally goes cha-ching and reroutes an order about to be served to give to the big spending non-English speaking weirdos.

When Gorn and Elf-Queen finally leave the restaurant wouldn’t you know it, someone stole their damn horse!

What kind of city is it where you can’t leave a horse tied to a parking meter without someone making off with it??

Linnea once again is like ‘hey lets go home to our nice glade where nobody ever stole our horse’

Gorn: “It is your home, Linnea, where I am but a guest -- nay, a pet kept by your grace. Ages ago, I was a renowed warrior, honored and feared by nations and kings! If I am to be a man in my own eyes I must regain the glory I once knew!”

And then a cop comes up to Gorn because you can’t just carry a sword around Washington DC.

Gorn: “Eh? His words are gibberish but the intent is clear! This blue-clad warrior issues me a challenge! Have at thee scoundr- AHH!”

And then the cop just maces Gorn.

Its not funny like the talent agent tossing him into a salad bowl because: cops. Its still a little funny because: Gorn.

Anyway, while Gorn is screaming and coughing the cop just slaps some handcuffs on him.

And Linnea magics the cop away from her boyfriend and worries over him.

Given this new horrible thing that has happened to them, another in a line of horrible things happening to them once they left their home, Linnea begs Gorn again to give up this quest to fight a random thing to make himself feel manly.

Linnea: “I am so worried, Gorn! The world has grown so strange! There is so much here that we do not understand! Please, let us go back before something terrible befalls us!”

He again refuses and she asks if he would die for his pride.

So he slaps her across the face.

And after all that she’s meekly gone along with his whims and tantrums and whatever else ways to describe Gorn’s exceptionally gornish way of being, she draws the line here.

Linnea: “Go ahead, Gorn -- stay! Win your stupid ‘glory’! I do not care! Farewell!”

And she just walks away into the sky, twinkle, because she can do that.

When she’s too far to hear he whispers an apology but its too late and he sadly trudges off alone into the city.

Wow, that was six pages of just Gorn and Linnea, Elf-Queen. That’s nearly a fourth of the whole issue! We spend a lot of time with these two new characters!

Back at Avengers Mansion, Iron Man and Yellowjacket prep the Quinjet to fly.

Wasp: “You mean we’re going all the way to Washington, D.C. just because somebody there claims they saw a woman walking on air? What’s new about that? I do it every time my sweetie Hank gives me a wink! Then, again, they do have some wonderful stores there! Last time I went there I bought six fur coats!”

Tigra: “Sounds expensive! I’m lucky! Mine’s built in!”

Iron Man chimes in that the air-walking woman also assaulted a cop so clearly this looks like a job for the Avengers.

But when they finish up checking the Quinjet, Yellowjacket says that he’s discovered the ‘sonomodulator circuit’ on his disruptor gun is acting up.

He’s pretty sure he can fix it but Wasp chimes in with a more different idea.

Wasp: “I’ll just ring up Jeeves over at the East Side Penthouse! He can grab one of those doohickies from your lab there and zip right over in the limo! It’ll just take a few minutes!”

Yellowjacket: “You love doing that, don’t you? You love taking every opportunity to flaunt your blasted money! Well, I don’t need your butlers, your cars or your money -- and I don’t need you!”

And Wasp runs off crying that she only wanted to help. Yellowjacket storms into the Quinjet telling the other Avengers to forget Wasp and get going.

Making the other Avengers feel very awkward about witnessing this fight. Cap even feels as if he should do something but doesn’t know what since its a personal matter.

A suggestion? Mandated couples counseling since this kind of thing could affect the team, will be the reason you give? Like. This clearly is something that’s going to cause trouble. Get ahead of it, Cap.

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C. because yes Gorn didn’t just walk out of the book forever alone. He walked into a very honestly uncomfortably stereotypical gang who decide hey maybe we should mug that guy with the sword, it’ll probably pawn for something.

Gorn still can’t understand a thing anyone says but they’re carrying weapons and finally here’s a situation he understands. And finally he also doesn’t get played for a chump. He just wades into the crowd of six and starts laying them out with his bare hands.

This is what you’d typically see for a warrior type dropped into modern world thing.

Oh and then the cops hear the fight and go hey its that guy with the sword that there was an APB about.

And Gorn goes, hey its guys wearing the same livery of the guy that got me with that stinging vapor. Time to run at them with a sword.

So they shoot him five times.

And he dies.

It turns out that Linnea has been watching Gorn from a distance this whole time, apparently unwilling to actually ditch. So she sees him get gunned down.

She floats down from the sky to his side and realizes that he is already dead. The cops mistake sky woman for an angel (but there was an APB out for Gorn so why didn’t the flying woman warrant a mention?) but if Linnea is, she’s an avenging one.

She turns on the cops with her magic and makes them sink up to their necks into the concrete.

Elf-Queen: “Are you begging? It is for naught! He’s dead! DEAD! My love is dead -- and this city, this world shall PAY!”

And she turns her magic on Washington D.C., blasting a building and a helicopter, lashing out in grief at the world that killed her dickbag boyfriend.

This is when the Avengers finally arrive to the Plot, in this Avengers book.

The Avengers just see someone breaking property and go to stop her.

Captain America: “Avengers... attack!”

Of course, Tony being Tony, and kind of a loose man immediately gets distracted at the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

Iron Man: “Excuse me, miss! Couldn’t we discuss whatever’s bothering you... say, over dinner at the diplomat club?”

Its... not a bad idea. A little bit of empathy. Its just his motive that’s bad.

And also, his inability to speak ancient languages. Elf-Queen still can’t understand a thing anyone says. She does think a flying man in armor is something Gorn would have liked. But that just makes her mad.

So she magics a railing to wrap up Iron Man.

Thor grabs Elf-Queen from behind, pulling her arm behind her back. Its strikingly reminiscent of the Standard Female Grab Area trope but Elf-Queen doesn’t believe in that trope.

Elf-Queen: “You are strong, jackal! Your strength might have been enough to hold even me -- had you not presumed I was as frail as I appear!”

And she throws Thor into what is probably a monument.

Hmm, Iron Man and Thor got dunked so far because they really underestimated this woman because she’s a woman. Maybe don’t do that?

Meanwhile, Yellowjacket is thinking that this is his chance to prove what a star he is, if he’s the one that takes the threat down with his disruptor blast.

While Elf-Queen distracts herself with the dropped Mjolnir, Yellowjacket tries to shoot her with his disruptor from behind.

But it shorts out again!

Maybe he should have gotten the replacement part instead of trying to jury-rig a repair!

Elf-Queen senses the power in Mjolnir and tries to pick it up to better smash the world but finds she can’t lift it.

She guesses that there’s some enchantment on it since it doesn’t crumble the ground beneath it.

So she magics the ground to form a hand to grab and lift Mjolnir.

And then she hits Thor in the face with his own hammer. Hah.

Another for the list of silly Mjolnir loopholes.

Linnea monologues about her backstory because. Look. She may not be a villain. And people may not be able to understand a word she says. But people in comics have to comic.

Elf-Queen: “I am Linnea, called Elf Queen and great is the power I was born with! It transported my love and me across the ocean to this land ages ago in search of solitude! It preserved our youth! It kept us hidden when civilization spread its taint hither! The forces, forms and sustenance of the world bend to my will -- but all my power cannot help my Gorn now! Now, my gift serves only as a means for vengeance!”

Iron Man manages to tear free of the railing wrapped around him just as Tigra loudly pounces at Elf-Queen.

And Elf-Queen just gestures and sends Tigra flying into the air. High, high into the air. So high, so into the air that Iron Man has to fly after her to make sure Tigra doesn’t end up asphyxiating in space.

With all of the other Avengers out of action (or standing around uselessly like Yellowjacket), Elf-Queen turns out wrath on Captain America.

She blasts a building, sending a whole wall at him.

Cap dodges through the rain of rubble and berates himself. He realizes that he should have attacked sooner but he’s been holding back, trying to figure things out.

She’s speaking a language that doesn’t sound like any he knows of. Her clothes seem to be of ancient design. And he’s wondering if she maybe just popped out of the past, somehow surviving from some age undreamt of.

And hey, relatable, kinda. He spent decades in suspended animation.

Elf-Queen throws a lake of fire between her and Cap and Cap figures hey she’ll expect me to go around. So he jumps over it, doing her a startle.

Cap: “Good! I took her completely off guard! This is a perfect chance -- to show her that we want only peace!”

So he stands in front of her, hands to his side, palms showing. Showing no aggression.

Elf-Queen: “You did not strike when you had the opportunity! I could slay you easily now! Unflinchingly you face death! How like... my Gorn... my brave warrior!”

The fight could have ended here. Could. Could have. Could’ve.

Because Yellowjacket has been focused entirely on fixing his disruptor this whole time and has not paid any attention to how the fight has been going.

So when he gets the disruptor fixed, he doesn’t think ‘oh hey Cap is standing there and nobody is currently fighting!’ he thinks ‘wow this is a really easy shot’ and shoots Elf-Queen in the back.

And turns out that Linnea - a person who can toss Thor around - can also weather a disruptor. So she’s just mad. Furiously.

She figures that Cap’s courage was just a bold ruse. So she’s going to kill him. AFTER she throws a car at Yellowjacket.

Yellowjacket: “Oh, no! My sting’s shorted out again! No time to dodge! I’ll be crushed!”

But before Hank can be crushed like some kind of insect, can’t really think of a specific example, he is saved by Jan, who comes out of nowhere and blasts the car away with all of her might.

And apparently car blasting is under that umbrella.

But it takes it out of her and she weakly flutters to the ground.

Hank has mixed feelings about not being dead.

Yellowjacket: “You -- you saved me! You shattered the truck with your bio-electric sting! You saved me! You! She must have followed us down here... probably chartered a plane! She followed us down here, and when I was dead meat for sure, she saved me! Why her? WHY?”

Where are you in your life where you have to ask that, Hank?

Elf-Queen is like well that just happened but I’m just going to try to kill him again.

But Cap jumps in front of her again and very assertively non-aggressives.

Captain America: “Don’t do it! Don’t you see? It was a mistake -- an accident! If only you could understand me! Don’t kill him!”

Elf-Queen: “You dare stand in my way? Can you not see the rage in my eyes?”

But nonetheless, she subsides. The Avengers all re-assemble, ready to rush her but Cap tells them to stand down.

Elf-Queen Linnea starts crying and just walks away from the team.

Feeling a bit awkward, Cap decides to follow her to see what’s what. And they find her crying over Gorn.

Thor: “A fallen warrior! Her husband, perchance?”

Captain America: “Somehow I -- I think I knew! I mean... I’m not surprised! She seemed... grief-stricken!”

Iron Man: “I -- I wonder how this all came to pass?”

They’ll probably never know. The shot isn’t wide enough to say for sure but I think that if the Avengers saw, they’d say. I’m pretty sure those cops Linnea sank into the concrete have finished sinking. So it goes.

Cap says he’s sorry for what happened, knowing that his words will probably mean nothing to her. Language gap and all.

Linnea: “I hear compassion in your voice, brave champion! Is there such a thing in this cold, cruel place, save in your own heart? I cannot forgive your world for what it has taken from me.. but, for you, who are so much alike my beloved... for you, I will go in peace... for now!”

Yeah. She’s never coming back.

This is her and Gorn’s only appearance.

So despite Tigra wondering if she’ll be back and despite Iron Man’s suspicion that she might be a mutant, it doesn’t matter.

She’s done her role in the narrative and she’s gone.

But as the Avengers try to figure out what this was all about, Wasp looks at Yellowjacket with worry. For the issue ends with him still consumed in bitter thoughts and oblivious to Wasp.

And the big next time teaser says COURT MARTIAL! so. Yeah.

We’re coming on to a storyline that anyone who knows at least two things about Hank Pym knows. You probably already know it or will be able to guess it.

I was familiar with this story but only the moment where Hank shoots Elf-Queen in the back and makes things worse for himself. I hadn’t absorbed via osmosis how much of a shit he was being throughout. And nobody ever talks about Gorn.

Which is a shame.

The title of the issue comes right out and connects the obvious dots.

“Men of deadly pride!”

And that can only be Hank Pym and Gorn.

Much of this issue doesn’t actually feature the Avengers. There’s this long stretch in the middle that just has Gorn and Linnea leaving their home, traveling to the big city, Gorn’s attitude getting worse and worse, and finally his death.

Its clear enough that Gorn represents Hank Pym.

Hank rails against Janet for flaunting her money and emotionally withdraws from her and even becomes angry with her. He rankles at the idea he might be perceived her partner instead of vice versa. Feels he’s not being given the respect he deserves.

While Gorn resents that Linnea is the one caring for him. He emotionally withdraws from her. He perceives himself a pet to her. That he was once renowned and desperately needs to regain his glory.

And he just gets angrier when Linnea has to rescue him from his dumb mistakes.

Much like Jan had to rescue Hank in this issue, something that basically made Hank check out of the rest of the issue.

I don’t know what Gorn may have been like ten thousand years ago that Linnea sees him in Captain America most, but he’s a shadow for Hank Pym.

And what’s interesting is how the story looks at Gorn and his machismo. His obsessive preoccupation with proving himself. The story highlights the problems he creates for himself eventually leading to his death. It shows a person that just can’t live in the modern world.

And then the story looks at Hank Pym. One of the 60s style manly men holdovers. Paints him in much the same light. And seems to ask. “Can you live in the modern world?”

The question is in the air.

Its not particularly deep symbolism. But it surprised me that nobody ever mentions it.

Interestingly, if Hank is Gorn then Jan is Linnea. Their personalities are different enough that this might seem strange.

But they both draw the line in a similar place with their partners.

And there was a What If? based on this issue What If? #35 where Hank did die, much as Gorn did. And Wasp became an avenging angel of her own. Taking the identity of Black Wasp and brutally attacking criminals.

She even contemplates letting Cap be killed by falling debris, blaming him for Hank’s death.

All I can say is that this has been one awkward first day for Tigra.

Follow @essential-avengers. Like or reblog this post. Stay tuned for more of this sort of thing.

#Avengers #Elf Queen and Gorn #Yellowjacket #the Wasp #Captain America #essential avengers #Thor #Iron Man #Tigra #essential marvel liveblogging #tigra has a very cat first day #Jarvis not even drop #some thematic similarities happen and they're unfavorable to hank #captain america uses that empathy #its super effective #shooter ain't wasting any time

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raguna-blade · 4 years

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Kinda struck by the realization that the argument that games as media needs it’s...I dunno, citizen kane, it’s big dramatic Games are A real Art Now You gotta take me serious, at least in the kind of weird occasional locations I still encounter it (I’m woefully inept at finding stuff honestly, and I guess maybe I should take the time to correct that because this kinda stuff is my jam. Hm. Thoughts for next week.)

But you know, I think it already exists? This is probably not a dramatic or world shaking argument, probably the precise opposite but this is more for me anyway so there you go.

But yeah, I keep seeing Shadow of the Colossus brought up again and again and again and again as this big huge game that has meaning and quality and art to it. Which, I agree even if I haven’t really finished it properly myself, I’m terrible about finishing most games honestly, but it keeps coming up and it strikes me that the lessons it gives about what you need/want to do if you want to make a game like that are studiously ignored by the big publishers who seem to really WANT to be the guys who make that but seem to consistently fail at it or else actively fuck up and push away the talent that can and does make it.

Like, to pivot slightly for a second, Whatever your overall opinions on Kojima’s works are, I think it’s also undeniable that there’s a startling level of depth in pretty much every game he’s made in that oh so vaunted franchise, and even Death Stranding for all it’s apparent issues (never played, just heard about, saw some analysis and it seems really interesting on one hand but also absolutely not my kind of game on the other) get’s the idea.

or I guess dancing around it a bit, the link between gameplay and the story you tell is super critical and to ignore how the gameplay actually reflects the story you are explicitly trying to tell is something folks seem to constantly fail at.

Like I know ludonarrative dissonance isn’t exactly taken seriously as a phrase, or at least it’s not last i checked, but it is a useful term and it strikes me that the reasons a lot of older games kinda keep coming back up in the conversation is that there is a kind of lack of actually trying to understand this in relation to the tale your telling.

like...hm...I don’t think it’s wrong to say certain genre’s do not work for certain kinds of games right? That seems patently obvious and it’s basically not worth uttering as a statement right?

But I want you to, if you’ve got at least a passing familiarity, imagine that Bayonetta, or Devil May Cry, or any of those super fast paced action style em up type games were played as hard line turn based RPGS. I attack, monster attacks, etc etc etc.

You unquestionably could do it. It wouldn’t even be hard really if you just want a passing appearance of things, but if you wanted to get the feel of the combat to map closely you could do things like say, an action queue of attack, dodge block etcetcetc an it’d play out after you hit the ok right? Or just that turns happened super quick.

But heck even if we went slower as the genre would expect, you could still actually DO DMC/Bayonetta as an RPG and have a perfectly sensible little game.

It’d also fail utterly to capture Dante or Bayonetta’s personality. Oh, you could have them do the same general feats and actions in story, but the fact that it’s turn based by itself instantly and irrevocably fails to capture their personalities correctly or at least the more surface level aspects that they want to project (and I think, for the both of them, the surface level that they project is keenly part of the draw because not even a paint layer underneath they both start to show marvelous depth for the action heavy characters they are)

Like yeah you can get across their risk taking showy personalities with pure text. Of course you can. But it’s a very different beast from playing as the person who decides, as an example from my history of play, exclusively jet’s across the world by launching themselves sword first screaming stinger.

Now I ain’t exactly gonna blame the actual developers here. I’ve little doubt in my mind that they’ve thought on this and deeper and better than I have because you know it’s their job and they’re experienced and they want to make games and all that. It’s probably more a publisher problem.

But it does strike me that there are a number of games with fairly big names that seem to not quite get it despite this being an example from going on close to two decades now. Certainly, whenever I attempt to dive into the so called triple A space I’m left with a certain feeling of emptiness because they don’t quite deliver on the story front in the way I think games can and should but...

I dunno. Maybe i’m just reiterating stuff already discussed elsewhere and my big personal revelation is just like “Ah Babby’s first game think” though I don’t think i’m quite THAT bad off. If by chance anyone has some good resources on stuff like this, please do point me to them.

#shadow of the colossus #games as media #depth in game storytelling #ludonarrative dissonance

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gasgiant · 4 years

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this is embarrassing so im on anon but as someone who is also currently obsessed with tf2 despite never playing it. what are your opinions on those guys. i am very interested

NICE this is content i love to see!! Sorry if you dont see this post it’s probably been sitting in my inbox for a week, but i’ll tag it, so who knows?

This will mostly be about character in the comics, but I’ll throw in who i like to play as well

Scout: he gives off annoying little sibling energy. very entertaining and funny, he talks non-stop in the comics. his daddy issues go deep and it’s probably good that he doesn’t know HOW deep. Before most matches start i pick scout and run around the map, hitting as many people with the fish as I can. 6/10 cool boy

Pyro: baby. I do wish they had more of a personality besides “obsessed with fire and doesn’t live in reality”, but pyrovision is a very fun concept and makes this guy both loveable and TERRIFYING. Pyro is my second most played, because who doesn’t love not aiming and causing extreme carnage? 7/10 chaotic being

Soldier: OK HONESTLY? MY FAVORITE CHARACTER FROM THE COMICS. this poor, lead poisoned, brain dead, psychopath. only blood lust and patriotism consume the mind of this man, but there really isnt much space up there anyway. his stupidity and knack for pissing off literally anyone is fantastic. also, he ends up dating heavy’s sister zhanna and they have a FANTASTIC dynamic (ok, she actually might be my favorite but soldier is close). I don’t play him that much, but rocket jumping is hella fun. 10/10 GOOD HUSTLE, SOLDIER!

Demoman: Underappiciated and under utilized in fan content! I think he has one of the best origin stories. He’s realatively sane for TF2 mercs, and would probably be all the way there if it wasnt for his nasty drinking habit. There’s also a comic where a soldier and demoman on opposite teams become friends and that is such a good one. Valve definitely could have done better on having more characters who aren’t white, but im glad we at least got Tavish! I suck at demoman but i’m trying to play him more to get better. Kinda surprising since junkrat was my 2nd most played in overwatch. 8/10 "Oh, they're goin' ta have to glue you back together...IN HELL!"

Heavy: Due to his appearance in the telltale poker night game, this guy probably has the most complete characterization. Somewhere between a gentle giant and crazy russian, he’s a family man with a doctorate in russian literature and a strong attachment to Sascha, his favorite gun. He doesn’t say much, but he usually says the right thing. God bless him for putting up with the rest of the team, because if he didn’t, they’d all be goners. Heavy playstyle just isnt fun for me so i rarely pick him. 8/10 Legendary Comrade

Engineer: I feel like we hear the least about this dude’s personality in the comics. He’s a genius engineer in a family of genius engineers. His grandfather created a life extending machine (thats kinda important to the comics) that he later upgraded. Dude literally has 12 Phds. I enjoy his general laid-back texan demeanor. I feel like he’d be really fun at parties for some reason. I’ve been playing engineer way more recently and a lot of his voice lines are sarcastic and a bit goofy. 7/10 texas sized yee haw.

Sniper: someone give this man a fucking break. please. my god. the most mentally there of the team, doesn’t seem absorbed with killing, but does enjoy the challange and competition of sniping. has a bit of an identity crisis (in the form of his superman-esque origin story) which is quickly resolved. probably would be the most pleasant of these guys to meet in real life. i only play sniper on the 2 Fort map and I have never gotten a headshot. ever. 6/10 great shot, mate.

Medic: MY MAN LUDWIG! My favorite character before reading the comics. I’d say he’s a fucked up doctor, but thats only the half of it. He isnt even a doctor anymore (its hard to keep a medical license after removing someone’s entire skeleton). For a dude who stole all of his friend’s souls and literally outsmarted devil... he’s not THAT bad. I mean, sure he abandoned his team to fight against them just so he could commit more atrocities against nature. Sure, he only has an evil smile and demented laugh. But uh... he is... nice to his doves? Yeah ok nevermind I cant really defend this guy. Being a little evil is... kinda sexy though (look up medic cosmetic “The Burly Beast”). In game, my medigun is named “Press E To Send Me To Therapy”. E is the call for medic button. I am a medic main and I am so, so tired. 10/10 “ZHAT was doctor assisted homocide!”

Spy: french asshole. seems pretencious and unattached but he really isnt. actions speak louder than words spy, and even if you had to tell scout you were his father disguised as tom jones, at least you did it. if i play spy i get overly excited at backstabbing someone because i suck at it. 6/10 oui oui effle tower baguette i love making fun of the french

not sure if this is what you wanted anon but i had fun typing these! if you ever get steam, here’s a link to my profile https://s.team/p/kpv-bvtv/JPDMQRWV tf2 is basically the only game I play on steam so I’ll probably be doing that 😎

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 scout #tf2 pyro #tf2 soldier #tf2 heavy #tf2 demoman #tf2 engineer #tf2 spy #tf2 medic #tf2 sniper #engie #tf2 engie #hot air #personal #also i want someone to send me this ask but about red vs. blue

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powerbottomblake · 6 years

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RWBY:Ragnarok or predictions on the Atlas arc

Building on my previous post about how the RWBY arcs parallel seasons and the archetypal narrative structure linked to each season, I’ve established that Atlas corresponds to winter, aka themes of darkness, dissolution, the return of chaos, and the defeat of the heroic figure, but what I’m going to be developing here is how winter is linked to Götterdämmerung myths, a.k.a Ragnarok, otherwise known as the death of the gods in Norse mythology. So yes, Atlas is definitely a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Time for our heroes.

The thing is, that isn’t the only Norse mythology allusion tied to Atlas, be it the cast, the location or the events of Ragnarok itself. This post will be about delving into all of these allusions and find how Ragnarok’s narrative beats find equivalents in RWBY and how it might help predict the Atlas endgame (or at least part of it) as well as figure out some general plot points.

But before that, I feel like you need to familiarize yourself with the G.U.N theory (though I don’t know if I’m 100% in the scope of it with this post). I think the person that best explained it in a concise way would be @alexkablob in this post but basically the nitty gritty of it is that all RWBY characters aren’t allusions to a single myth but have layers of different allusions to several myths, and decoding them makes it possible to predict the beats of their narrative. Think v6 made it all too obvious with how Adam was Prince Adam (a.k.a the Beast before any character development or growth), the Rose curse and Gaston all wrapped in one (plus some references to Anakin Skywalker too apparently!); or how Yang is Goldilocks, Beauty and the Beast simultaneously (amongst others).

So characters that you know are allusions to a certain myth/fairytale, might have allusions to other ones, less obvious but still just as significant in determining that character’s fate and their overarching character arc, and the Atlas arc of the story is just full of these other allusions, all Norse mythology themed.

I’ll start with the allusions tied to the central figure of Atlas’ plot, aka the man himself, James Ironwood, then branch out on the connected cast’s allusions and how they’d fill their respective roles in Atlas’ version of Ragnarok.

So, as we all know James Ironwood is supposed to be our Tinman from the wizard of Oz. Thing is Ironwood also refers to a location in Norse mythology, Járnviðr (literally old Norse for Iron-wood), where a witch gives birth to giant wolves that are alluded to as Fenrir’s kin, one of them in particular being dubbed snatcher of the moon, who will swallow the moon come Ragnarok.

Before delving deeper into this, who is Fenrir?

Fenrir is a monstrous wolf who’s bound until comes Ragnarok, where he breaks free, wreaks havoc on the realm of the gods, and kills Odin, the patriarch of the Norse mythology pantheon and one of its most powerful figures.

I’m gonna go ahead and assume that CRWBY will merge all the monstrous apocalyptic wolf figures into one because that’s the decision that makes the most sense, and I’m gonna refer to it as Fenrwby to differentiate it from the original Fenrir (listen I couldn’t come up with anything else).

So now we’ve established that Atlas harbors or will get invaded by this giant wolf, Fenrir, who announces the apocalypse and swallows the moon.

Damn, I wonder which character is always closely associated to moon symbolism, incidentally also alluding to a tale called Dead Moon (again @alexkablob got you covered) and whose death circumstances are still a mystery till now?

That’s right I think Fenrwby will be confirmed to be the reason Summer died. Another point that absolutely convinces me of it is that he(it?) refers to. A gigantic evil wolf. Or you could say. A Big Bad Wolf. And guess where Little Red Riding Hood is headed right now?

But before eating Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf eats the grandmother first.

Yeah, this might very well be the last time Maria’s making the trip to Atlas.

But let’s go back to Ironwood. There’s yet another allusion to him and that’s the Norse god Tyr. Tyr was a war god, but also presided over law and justice, which aligns with Ironwood being leader of the military, headmaster and even has the Council (which I assume is executive and judicial power) bow to him.

Tyr’s most striking act and for which he’s most known though is that he’s sacrificed his arm when the gods first bound Fenrir, the arm the wolf bit off being the right one, and lo and behold:

James Ironwood is indeed missing a right arm (well a whole right side because he’s also Tinman, but you get me). From this we can already surmise that the mission Summer was sent over to was probably the containment of Fenrwby, and it cost Summer her life and Ironwood his right side.

That leaves us with one question: who/what is Fenrwby and where did he come from?

We’ll have to go back to the original myth for a bit here. In Norse Mythology, the trickster god Loki fathers three children with a giantess: Hel, a woman that becomes a sort of queen of the Underworld, the world serpent Jörmungandr and the world wolf Fenrir. All three siblings are prophesied to be big trouble to the gods but what sets Fenrir apart is that:

He’s the one foretold to announce Ragnarok; his unbidding decides it

He’s the one destined to swallow Odin himself whole

He’s the only “hellish” sibling who’s raised right where the gods live, in Asgard

Beyond the similarity in how the names sound, I do believe Atlas’ design takes after Asgard and is meant to symbolize it.

For further reference here’s Marvel’s take on Asgard:

And here’s our first look at Atlas:

Atlas even has those threads attached to Mantle below which I suspect act as anchors + elevators/transportation conducts (most of it probably dedicated to Dust transport) between Mantle and Atlas, but also are a visual reference to Yggdrasil's roots, the Norse world tree, extending from Asgard to the other realms below.

So Fenrir is raised right in Asgard, but the wee pup is growing at an alarming rate (plus is prophesied to destroy all of it) so none of the gods is keen on approaching him. None except one brave god that is the only one to get close and feed him. And who would that be? That’s right, Tyr a.k.a our basis for Ironwood.

Ironwood hosting and hand-rearing a monster that will ultimately cause Summer’s death and the Atlaspocalypse sounds extremely unlikely, but there’s one scenario where this makes sense.

Atlas is known for its technological advancement and its constant development of new weaponry. I believe Fenrwby was born out of such a project, under the general leadership of Ironwood, but someone must have taken the experiments too far and ended up creating something so terrible Summer Rose herself (and maybe all or a combination of the remaining STRQ team), a silver-eyed warrior, had to be dispatched to neutralize, dying in the process.

Now is the time to remember that Fenrir is Loki’s son. In the original myth, Loki, an Asgardian god, gets eventually banished and during Ragnarok sides with the enemies.

So we’re basically looking for a disgraced Atlesian, who was possibly a scientist and is now currently working with the enemy.

And here is our Loki, none other than Arthur Watts himself, whose fallout with Atlas is yet to be explained.

I believe the reason he left Atlas was because he’s the one responsible for Fenrwby’s creation and in its immediate fallout, evaded arrest.

Another reason that leads me to believe Watts is our Loki is that Loki’s ties to Hel, Norse queen of the underworld, who was described to be “half-black and half flesh-colored”, which is a dead ringer for Salem.

Arthur Watts’ name also seems to refer to Arthur Conan Doyle and John Watson, the first one being the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the latter his dutiful companion and side-kick, so I believe Watts might be a combination of (evil) Sherlock and Watson. This is further supported with how Watts’ appearance seems to be a blend of both (Watson is described as tan, with a strong build and a moustache and Sherlock as tall and lean) and his outfit being Victorian-era inspired. He is referred to as Doctor by Salem, first to affirm his status as fallen scientist from Atlas but also most likely as a nod to Watson who was a skilled doctor and often would be referred to as Doctor as well. Sherlock Holmes is known to be an emotionally detached analytical machine with a caustic (and at times callous) kind of humor, having a usually dispassionate and cold demeanor, all of which match what we see of Watts. How is this linked to our Ragnarok? Well one of Sherlock Holmes’ most well-known stories, one where incidentally Watson has a very proactive and prominent role, is the Hound of the Baskervilles. The story is itself based on the legend of a “monstrously evil man” who sold his soul to the Devil (Salem) and after his death led a pack of phantom, evil hounds.

Evil hounds, monstrous wolves...Watts always gets linked to big bad canidae one way or the other.

Which brings us to our next question: now that we know who made Fenrwby, what exactly is Fenrwby?

Ok so this is the part where the theory gets tentative because there isn't much to go off of, so bear with me.

Watts is partly based on Sherlock Holmes, who is indifferent and detached usually, unless he's in the midst of an investigation. He then turns driven, getting tunnel-visioned and borderline obsessed (he can even go without food for so long he faints) until he solves the mystery. I think Watts is much the same. He carries himself with cool composure mostly but there was one instance where he showed a sort of zealous fascination: when he saw the seer Grimm.

Ok so I have an inkling that Watts is fascinated by the Grimm, and his forbidden experiments involved Grimm creatures. This is further supported by the Baskerville allusion to a pack of phantom hounds, which could very well reference the Grimm.

So going off this, Watts experimented on Grimm - since Atlas is very much wolf-themed, maybe Beowolfs? - and out of them he made Fenrwby.

But what could possibly be combined to Grimm in a way that’d defeat the combined forces of Ironwood (whose entire right side got severed) and an experienced silver eyed warrior like Summer?

I think we can make an educated guess based off the two major technological breakthroughs we got to witness during V1-3, namely Penny, the first synthetic being able to generate aura and the aura transfer machine. You’ll have guessed it, I think Atlas was dabbling into aura experimentation and Watts rerouted it to his own Grimm endeavors. What if he succeeded in equipping Grimm with something similar to Aura? Something that would hijack the Silver Eyes. I’m just bouncing ideas here but I’m pretty sure Fenrwby is the result of Watts tinkering with Aura and Grimm, and I think Watts staying with Salem is in large part because she’s the crystallization of the divide that fascinates him, being both human (having a soul, so in theory having aura) and grimm. Salem is the long running case study Watts is pursuing in a way.

So. Now that we’ve established what Fenrwby might be and who is behind it, we can delve into the narrative beats of Ragnarok. I made a synthetic list of Ragnarok events that seem relevant and connect to RWBY as a narrative:

Fenrir swallows Odin

I think Ozpin having Odin references in his character is common knowledge enough in the fandom. Odin is the king of Asgard, is associated with wisdom, knowledge and sorcery amongst other things, and is known for having two raven familiars (Raven and Qrow), all of which fit Ozpin.

What could Odin being swallowed mean for Oz and Oscar?

Of course, this could simply be an indication of Oz/Oscar fighting Fenrwby with Ruby, and losing.

But we can take it further. Oz lives inside Oscar through the merge between their souls, their auras connecting. We’ve established Atlas has been studying and experimenting on aura; Watts has most probably even toed the line of what is morally acceptable in terms of experiments. What if Fenrwby, or one of the machines Watts has been “tinkering with”, is able to sever the connection, effectively trapping Ozpin’s soul or at least sending it in another reincarnation cycle? This is a reach, I’ll admit, but something about Odin being swallowed somehow does not bode well for Ozpin.

Thor fights Jörmungandr

Can’t talk about Norse mythology without talking about Thor! And incidentally we have someone in the main cast based off him. I’ve always found it weird how V4 gives Ren a comprehensive backstory but never an explanation for how Nora is just there, beyond “random Kuroyuri orphan” (How did she get orphaned? Why was she in Kuroyuri? Who were her parents?). I think Nora’s backstory will be fully explained in Atlas as I have a feeling Weiss isn’t the only one coming home. Thor’s home is Asgard after all.

So Thor fights the giant serpent that is Loki’s other son and Fenrir’s brother. One of Jörmungandr’s most striking features is his venom, as he’s described spraying it through air and sea, and it’s how he kills Thor even as he’s slayed by him, poisoning the god to his death.

Our Jörmungadr equivalent thus needs to wield poison, and be sired (or fixed) by Loki aka Watts. That would be Tyrian.

I believe we’ll have the second round of Team JNR vs Tyrian - as foreshadowed by Tyrian’s interest in Jaune - and it’ll end with Tyrian dying and Nora being gravely wounded.

The frost giants join the fray against the gods

I’ve already expanded on this in my previous post, but Jack Frost, Jacques’ fairy tale basis, is said to be based on the norse frost giants. This, coupled with the “Jack and the beanstalk” references, pushes me to think Jacques is going to betray and cause the death of Ironwood and help team W.T.C.H steal the relic.

Gamr, another big hellish hound, kills Tyr

Gamr is another monstrous hound who breaks free of his bindings in Ragnarok. As I said before, I believe all hounds/wolf imagery is going to be compounded in a single entity in RWBY (especially when they sometimes share identical characteristics), so this is Fenrwby getting free of whatever binding Summer put him under (maybe the Silver Eye power petrified him the way Ruby did the giant Nevermore?) and killing Ironwood.

Surtr, a fire giant from Muspelheim, the realm of fire, covers the entire world with fire with his flaming sword

Surtr is a fire giant that guards Muspelheim, a hot and glowing land of fire, and who sets the world on fire with his flaming sword at the end of Ragnarok. This signals the destruction of the world, but also announces its rebirth with the surviving gods and humans meeting afterwards and leading into a new era.

So the guardian of a sword of destruction (Vacuo’s relic), coming from a hot unforgiving land (Vacuo), crashes the fight. I believe this is when the Summer maiden gets introduced, and she uses the relic to end the fight and save the thoroughly defeated team RWBY so that everyone may escape to Vacuo as Atlas’ destruction is complete.

So, to TL;DR this extremely long post:

There is a Big Bad Wolf kind of monster/entity in Atlas I’m tentatively calling Fenrwby

Watts created this monster by dabbling into forbidden experimentation, probably on aura and grimm

Summer Rose sealed said monster but at the cost of her life and the fight cost Ironwood his right side

Fenrwby is unleashed on Atlas, either by Team W.T.C.H, accidentally by Ironwood, or a combination of both

Jacques sides with W.T.C.H and helps them steal the relic

Fenrwby kills Ironwood and Maria

Oz is either defeated, sealed away from Oscar or sent in another reincarnation loop

Nora is from Atlas and we get her extended backstory

Team JNR fight Tyrian and are able to defeat him but Nora is gravely wounded

the Summer maiden arrives in a bind and with the relic of destruction ends the fight and takes team RWBY to safety

#rwby #rwby6 #rwby7 #rwby predictions #james ironwood #summer rose #ruby rose #ozpin #arthur watts #my meta #this is everything I couldn't fit in the atlas part in the other post wbwfdhfsdbd

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chez-pezeater · 5 years

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TCR Birthday Bash 2019: Day 7- Game Night

So this is probably going to get me either a lot of hate, thrown out of the fandom, or (best case scenario) requests for more. I’m honestly not sure which is worse (worst?) at this point. Either way please enjoy Cards Against Humanity: The Cat Returns Addition. Persephone is a TCR OC that belongs to @tcrmommabear & @sindysugar being used with their permissions.

At this point Hiromi has long since become a frequent visitor to the Bureau after following Haru one day. Meaning Hiromi while not quite as close to the others as Haru is, is still considered a friend. Also the humans are in their early 20s and knowing my friends and I when we get into the game, potty language. Which really should just be a warning for CAH in general.

Cards Against Humanity (for those that don’t know) is played with two types of cards: Black prompt cards and White (I call them) Reaction cards. A person draws a prompt card and the other players put down their reaction card(s) face down and then replace the number of cards they used. Prompt drawing player flips them over and selects the best reaction card of the round. Best reaction card(s) win the prompt card. Prompt cards use between 1-3 reaction cards.

- - - - - - - - - - -

To be fair, the entire thing was ENTIRELY Hiromi’s fault. Now that’s not to say that Haru didn’t love her best friend, because she did. She also knew EXACTLY what kind of humor Hiromi had. Mix that with a card game who’s box quite literally proclaims it to be “A horrible game for horrible people”. Yeah… It’s all Hiromi’s fault.

Hiromi drew a black prompt card. “’What’s making things awkward in the sauna?’ Ok folks hit me with your best shots.”

Louise puts down a card reading ‘A sales team of clowns and pedophiles.’

Muta chose to use ‘Scrotum tickling.’

Persephone gave it some thought before selecting ‘Cute Boys.’

Baron hesitated before putting down ‘MechaHitler.’

Haru slaps down ‘Full Frontal Nudity.’ with NO HESITATION.

Toto calmly places down ‘Fiery Poops.’

Hiromi reads all the reaction cards before declaring “A sales team of clowns and pedophiles is the winner. Who put that down cuz yeah that would make things awkward?”

Louise raises a hand while smirking. She accepts her prize before drawing a new prompt card, “’Only two things in life are certain: death and (blank).’ Oh my, there are so many ways that could be taken.”

Hiromi slapped down ‘The violation of our most basic human rights.’ as her card.

Muta, thinking of everything that happens regarding any of the groups antics, put down ‘Total fucking chaos.’

Persephone, not having very many good cards, selects ‘The male gaze.’

Baron, knowing how dramatic his sister is, chose ‘Dropping a chandelier on your enemies and riding the rope up.’ (winner)

Haru hemmed and hawed before putting down ‘Kamikaze pilots.’

Toto put down ‘Every ounce of charisma left in Mick Jagger’s tired body.’ hoping to get some laughs.

Louise read the cards out loud, cackling in between them, and said “’Dropping a chandelier on your enemies’ wins. So which one of you called me out like this?”

“I did sister dear, after all between the two of us this is exactly the kind of dramatics you would use.” Snorts echoed around the table, implying that Louise wasn’t the only over-the-top-Gikkingen around.

And so the game continued:

R3) Muta- (prompt) Listen, Gary, I like you. But if you want that corner office, you’re going to have to show me (blank).

Hiromi- Being a busy adult with many important things to do

Louise- Deez nuts

Persephone- Exactly what you’d expect

Baron- A constant need for validation

Haru- My worthless son

Toto- Meaningless sex

“Tough call but with how humans are ‘A constant need for validation.’ wins although ‘Meaningless sex.’ was close.” “Drat,” Toto declared while Baron took another card.

R4)Persephone- (prompt) Dear Sir or Madam, We regret in infom you that the Office of (blank) has denied your request for (blank).

Hiromi- Bill Nye the Science Guy & A gassy antelope

Louise- Republicans & Black People

Muta- Blackula & The shambling corpse of Larry King

Baron- Sean Penn & Tripping balls

Haru- AXE Body Spray & Being fabulous

Toto- Wifely duties & Consensual sex

“Seriously Louise? ‘Wifely duties.’ AND ‘Consensual sex.’ You know that combination wins.” “Sorry Love but that wasn’t mine.” “Nope it was mine.” “Well either way it was well played, well done Toto.”

“Looks like it’s time to pull out the ‘Most Horrible Person of the Night Award’.” “Hiromi, No!” “Hiromi YES!” “Hey! Why does Birdbrain get Doritos?!”

R5) Baron- (prompt) Well if (blank) is a crime, then lock me up!

Hiromi- The boners of the elderly

Louise- Eating together like a god damn family for once

Muta- The harsh light of day

Persephone- The Boy Scouts of America

Haru- Saying “I Love You”

Toto- The light of a billion suns

“I feel like I’m being called out right now. Who played ‘Saying “I Love You.”?” Baron asked with a very unamused look on his face.

“I did,” Haru replied straightfaced.

“You’re never going to let that go are you?”

“What do you think?”

Baron sighed before handing Haru the prompt card. It was better not to argue with her.

R6) Haru- (prompt) When I was tripping on acid, (blank) turned into (blank).

Hiromi- Sudden Poop Explosion Disease & Used panties

Louise- The economy & The sweet song of sword against sword and the braying of mighty war beasts

Muta- Expecting a burp and vomiting on the floor & Turning the rivers red with the blood of infidels (winner)

Persephone- Crazy opium eyes & Treasure beyond your wildest dreams

Baron- Natalie Portman & Angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night

Toto- A Ugandan warlord & Former President George W. Bush

“Really Muta? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: That’s disgusting.” “So are some of these reaction cards.”

R7) Toto- (prompt) Life for American Indians was forever changed when the White Man introduced them to (blank)

Hiromi- All my friends dying (winner)

Louise- Syphilitic insanity

Muta- How awesome it is to be white

Persephone- Indescribable loneliness

Baron- The Pope

Haru- The eighth graders

“Toto pass Hiromi the bag. Hiromi you’re terrible.” Hiromi just giggles naughtily.

R8) Hiromi- (prompt) (Blank): Brought to you by (blank).

Louise- Homeless people & Rich people

Muta- Mouth herpes & Going down on a woman, discovering that her vagina is filled with eyeballs, and being totally into that

Persephone- Santa Claus & Being rich

Baron- Shutting the fuck up & The Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr.

Haru- Getting caught by the police and going to jail & Going around punching people(winner)

Toto- Running out of semen & A mine having a stroke

“Sound about right.” “Oh and how would you know Turkey Leg? You don’t have any fists!” “Wouldn’t you like to know fatso.”

R9) Louise- (prompt) (Blank). Betcha can’t have just one!

Hiromi- Heartwarming orphans

Muta- Grammar nazis who are also regular Nazis

Persephone- Gwyneth Paltrow’s opinions

Baron- A sad handjob (winner)

Haru- Horrifying laser hair removal accidents

Toto- Emotions

“Is there something you want to confess brother dear?” “Not to you sister dear.”

R10) Muta- (prompt) This is the prime of my life. I’m young, hot, and full of (blank).

Hiromi- My dad’s dumb fucking face

Louise- Cancer

Persephone- Lunchables TM (winner)

Baron- YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS

Haru- The Hamburglar

Toto- Statistically validated stereotypes

“What? I’m hungry!”

R11) Persephone- (prompt) We never did find (blank), but along the way we sure learned a lot about (blank)

Hiromi- Blowjobs for everyone & Pac-Man uncontrollably guzzling cum (Hiromi)

Louise- What Jesus would do & The South

Muta- The white half of Barack Obama & A black-owned and operated business

Baron- God & A chimpanzee in sunglasses fucking your wife

Haru- Jobs & Western standards of beauty

Toto- Important news about Taylor Swift & Starting a shitty podcast

“HIROMI!” “AHH SAVE ME SOMEBODY!” (This was not the first time Hiromi used Pac-Man against Haru. Nor would it be the last.)

R12) Baron- In return for my soul, the Devil promised me (blank), but all I got was (blank).

Hiromi- Jesus & White people

Louise- Third base & Being fat and stupid

Muta- A subscription to Men’s Fitness & Pooping back and forth. Forever.

Persephone- Some shit-hot guitar licks & An ass disaster

Haru- Interspecies marriage & Necrophilia (winner)

Toto- The Blood of Christ & Adderall TM

“Guilty conscious Haru?” “I’M NOT A FURRY DAMNIT!”

R13) Haru- (prompt) You won’t believe what’s in my pussy. It’s (blank).

Hiromi- Daddy issues

Louise- The power of the Dark Side (winner)

Muta- A salty surprise

Persephone- Old-people smell

Baron- My collection of high-tech sex toys

Toto- How wet my pussy is.

“I hate you all.”

R14) Toto- (prompt) Money can’t buy me love, but it can buy me (blank)

Hiromi- The mere concept of Applebees TM

Louise- Sexual peeing

Muta- Authentic Mexican cuisine

Persephone- An asymmetric boob job (winner)

Baron- Helplessly gigling at the mention of Hutus and Tutsis

Haru- Switching to Geico®

R15) Hiromi- (prompt) (Blank) is a slippery slope that leads to (blank).

Louise- Blackface & Ripping open a man’s chest and pulling out his still-beating heart

Muta- Court-ordered rehab & Words, words, words.

Persephone- Same-sex ice dancing & Butt stuff

Baron- Establishing dominance & Stockholm Syndrome (winner)

Haru- Overpowering your father & Darth Vader

Toto- Copping a feel & A boo-boo

“Damn Baron, what are you into?” “I’m not! Why are you handing me these?” “Because you made shit go real dark, real quick boyo.”

R16) Louise- (prompt) My gym teacher got fired for adding (blank) to the obstacle course.

Hiromi- Walking into a glass door

Muta- Sperm whales

Persephone- Peeing a little bit

Baron- A face full of horse cum

Haru- Meatloaf, the man.

Toto- Warm, velvety muppet sex (winner)

“I think I need to give these back to you Toto.” “No no, you can still keep them.” (Cue unhappy Baron face.)

R17) Muta- What gets better with age?

Hiromi- Crippling debt

Louise- A Super Soaker TM full of cat pee (winner)

Persephone- Roland the Farter, flatulist to the king.

Baron- Yeast

Haru- The placenta

Toto- Nothing

“At least no one played ‘My genitals.’ this time.” “That can still change Haru~.”

R18) Persephone- (prompt) In his new action comedy, Jackie Chan must fend off ninja while also dealing with (blank).

Hiromi- Not having sex

Louise- Aaron Burr

Muta- Mixing M&Ms and Skittle like some kind of psychopath

Baron- The dentist

Haru- Samuel L. Jackson (winner)

Toto- Getting eaten alive by Guy Fieri

“To be fair, Ryan Renolds had a hard time dealing with Samuel L. Jackson in ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard.’” “Still funny.”

R19) Baron- (prompt) Today on Maury: “Help! My son is (blank)!”

Hiromi- A woman

Louise- A monkey smoking a cigar (winner)

Muta- Teaching a robot to love

Persephone- Running naked through a mall, pissing and shitting everywhere

Haru- Such a big boy

Toto- Filling every orifice with butterscotch pudding

“What is ‘Maury’?” “An American TV show that mostly deals with people deliberately exposing themselves to lie detectors and paternity tests because they can’t stay in their lanes and be decent human beings.”

R20) Haru- (prompt) Heed my voice, mortals! I am the god of (blank), and I will not tolerate (blank)!Hiromi- Sunshine and rainbows & Incest

Louise- The profoundly handicapped & Throwing a virgin into a volcano

Muta- Sweet, sweet vengeance & Cheating in the Special Olympics

Persephone- Finger painting & The hiccups

Baron- Erectile dysfunction & Having a penis (winner) (game end)

Toto- Nickleback & Licking things to claim them as your own.

“That’s it, game over, Baron wins, Good night.” “Oh c’mon Haru.” “Nope! Can’t do it! Good night!”

- - - - - - - -

‘Most Horrible Person of the Night Award’ is an inside joke among my circle of RL friends that typically ends up being a bag of Doritos.

#the cat returns #cards against humanity #warning: bad language #tcr birthday bash #tcr birthday bash 2019 #the cat returns fanfics #chezpez writes #TCR

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evartandadam · 6 years

Note

Best to worst Akatsuki boyfriends, go!

Ooooh ok this is tough. I will rate them, but some can definitely overlap! I decided to describe these based on the idea that it is possible to date them, even though some of them in canon are basically undatable haha!

Kisame: Kisame would be the best boyfriend, man. Really sweet and gets embarrassed easily from cuddles. Can carry you around. Nice muscles. Doesn’t mind making friends. Good boy. He deserves love and endless affection. He has insecurities about himself, so you’d have to encourage him a lot. But he is very stable and loyal. Pleasant to be around in general. A good life partner.

Konan: (including her cause yeah). She would make a caring partner. She is tricky to woo, but if successful, you have really won a prize! She seems cold on the outside, but is capable of making anyone swoon. Would protect you with her life. Very devoted partner. Also, bomb ass eyeshadow and boots. Yum.

Deidara: Dei is a friendly, outgoing guy! One of the least likely to kill you on the spot! A bit mischievous and likely has trouble staying interested after a long period of time. Wants the chase. Still young and very virile. The most passionate! A huuuge charmer. So you have to play games with him to keep him focused on you. Needs a lot of affirmation. If you can maintain a relationship for a long period of time, he would be very loyal and follow you like a puppy dog. Gives gifts.

Itachi: What a nice guy. Acts tough but is actually mush. You have to deal with his horrible PTSD and other issues, but I think a lot of people would be willing to give it a go. Soft boy with layers. Takes time to get him to open up to you, but is honest and sweet. Also has horrible self image, so his partner would have to make sure he knows he deserves a relationship. If he is comfortable, he has a little bit of a naughty side. Likes to tease. Bonus points if you love listening to him give random fun facts. Dork.

Kakuzu: Old grump. Probably a beast in the sheets. Has anger issues, but if you have the right personality type, you are likely to be safe from his wrath. Total tsundere. Wants to have an intelligent conversation with you on ninja politics. Likes books. Basically, a nerd. Tough to love at some points, but he has a soft side (if you dig really really deep!) Likely to have a really hot physical relationship, and the trick is to make it more than just that!

Hidan: Really hot, but crazy! Will likely end up sacrificing you or leaving you when you won’t convert. If you manage to get past these issues, then he can be adorable. Very dynamic, and will obsess over you if you pique his interest. Attempts to display affection in horrible ways (bloody presents). Awkward with romance, but tries. A lovable idiot with a great butt. Sometimes says something profound. Wild card, honestly.

Pain: Total narcissist. Has no time to love you because he’s too busy calling himself a god- not very attractive. But if you want to go for it, it’s possible to gain his interest. Just tell him what he wants to hear, and he will be extremely protective of you. This could be good or bad. Also, there’s the whole corpse/malnourished-man-strapped-to-a-machine thing. But on the plus side, he can be sweet. Would be a gift-giver. Very intense and romantic with his words (great with speeches!).

Zetsu: His venus fly trap things get in the way of intimacy, unless he splits up. Eats people, so you’ll have to be chill with that. If you only love one of them, that will be awkward. But Zetsu may be capable of love. White Zetsu would be blushy and awkward while black Zetsu would be a devil. Bonus points if you love plants.

Sasori: Psychopathic puppet man may be the forbidden fruit, but he’s forbidden for a reason. Will likely make you a puppet. And if he doesn’t, he probably sucks at showing affection or intimacy of any kind. Almost impossible to pique his interest, let alone maintain it. If by some miracle, you get past the endless walls he puts up, he would actually be a passionate partner (but awkward about how to express that passion). Very devious and forward. Probably kinky. Still might kill you.

Tobi/Obito: This guy has so many issues. Personality disorder? Really creepy obsessive. Can’t stop talking about Rin. Wants to kill everyone. Manipulates teenagers in his free time. Kidnapped a baby once. If you love him, he is capable of caring for you. Obito still has a direct, honest side to him, deeeeeep down. But he is unstable, and controlling. Thinks he knows best. Doesn’t communicate, just acts- jumps to conclusions.

Orochimaru: Will probably kill you after horrible torture. Worse than Sasori. You would have to be cool with a lot of child abuse… He’s also creepy, even if he does have awesome eyeliner. I mean, you do you, but yikes. A relationship with him is risky, and he also knows jack squat about love in general. Even Sasori hates him. If for some reason, he develops feelings for you, he wouldn’t even know what those feelings were. Would sacrifice a child in your honor? Make a clone of you? Anyway, he would express those feelings in a weird way.

#hidan #deidara #itachi uchiha #kisame hoshigaki #kakuzu #pain #konan #sasori #tobi #obito #zetsu #itachi #kisame #akatsuki #naruto #text post #asks #rambles #Akatsuki Headcanon Collection

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mattiemoose · 6 years

Text

I remember

Sans x reader. (Rather it's implied they're together) Quick warnings: swearing mention of death.(people dying man) Spoilers for the genocide run.

----

You remembered everything, from when they set you and your friends free to resetting and killing each and every monster that stood in their way and even you a human like them..if you could even call them that.

You remembered how you were escorting the people of Snowdin town away into the thick brush and away from their homes because a bad human has come to harm them...

You remembered how Papyrus wasn't around at the time and you remembered the panic that rose through your soul ringing in fear. Gathering yourself you began to run and run shouting for your tall bony friend in hopes that you would find him and not the evil little beast. From the distance you saw him with that little human his arms open wide his grin stretched but his eye sockets squint showing only hope and no fear.

"I BELIEVE IN YOU"

And that was it...with one quick motion Papyrus became nothing more than dust. you slowed in your tracks and the child moved on without glancing back at you.

You remember Sans appearing he didn't say anything but when he looked towards you, he saw through you his usual eye lights missing and his usual lazy grin stretched and looking grim while you stood there sobbing, mourning for the good soul that was suddenly ripped away from the two of you.

You remember picking up a sword and challenging them...you remember the first time forcing your blade through them then again and over and over in different ways it didn't make sense. Eventually they got past you in a final come back. Five times..

You remembered how you killed them and then you'd be suddenly face to face with them...

How did they do that?

You remember bleeding out... How it hurt How warm the red liquid felt against your skin. It burns even. Help.. Help me.. Help them... ....Sans?...

The cold fingers of death tugged at your soul trying to sing you a lullaby... While you struggled to stand and make your way to Frisk.

How every 20 steps you were sent back over and over and how frustrating it was because you knew they were dying and starting over from where ever they died.. Eventually you made it past the dust, the ruin and finally reached them Catching the kid from behind. They started over again sending you back a good ways from the judgment halls.. Fuck FUCK. You made it again but they were ready and got you this time, forcing you back and keeping you down.

You remember laying off to the side, tiredly cheering Sans on.. He was fast but slowly he became tired. Each dodge Each attack was draining him.

Eventually the child got him too. He staggered a little bit. His eye lights landed on you. He glanced over his shoulder at seemingly nothing while his bright lights started to dim.

"Matt and I are going to Grillbys. ..Papyrus, did you want anything?"

You remember watching the love of your life stagger towards you before vanishing into a cloud of dust.

Unfortunately. You didn't get the pleasure of dying right away. Instead you cried to Frisk to come back...but they just continued on not glancing back at you. Slowly you rose to your feet. Hearing the fight between king of beasts and devil of man take part in a battle..a useless one.

You remember taking Sans sweater and Paps scarf slipping on the dust stained clothes and wearing them...and slowly you went back to Snowdin blood trailing behind like a red river freezing over. You made your way to Grillbys..empty and cold now...no sign of life, laughter or Sans. With a struggle you managed to perch yourself onto one of the stools resting your head on the smooth oak bar, for a moment you imagined the others in the bar chatting among themselves laughing and enjoying each others company. For a moment you imagined how warm and homey the room once was but the glow of your imagination started to dim along with everyone else that once lived here.

You remember Grillby coming back to Snowdin, the bell above the door chiming softly alerting you someone has come, why? There wasn't anything here. His flames slowly filled the empty bar with a soft warmth, his flames bringing some light into the dark and he knew you were dying but the best he could do for you is talk to you til your body couldn't take it. He even tried to feed you give you something to drink even after all this he still tried to keep you comfortable.

You took a bottle of ketchup. It wasn't your taste but...it felt right in the moment.

Eventually your body gave in and the distant sound of your soul shattering echoed.

Now here you sat at home sitting on the couch, you fell down here five years ago, staying with Tori for two then the last three with your skeletons. You sat here watching this fucking kid wonder around your home looking at things, touching stuff. You just watched while Sans sat beside you. By the looks of it no one but you remember what happened. Maybe it was a huge really messed up dream? But you hurt in the place they stabbed you. You gave a gentle hum to your thoughts. Not much you can do but stare uncomfortably. When Frisk did decide to sit on the couch they had you between Sans and them self. You shrank away from them best you could with out looking like an asshole, hunching over slightly and shoving your hands deeper into your hoodie pockets but no one said anything. Feeling a gentle nudge on your right your eyes finally tore from the ground. Sans kept nudging your leg with his hand holding it open and waiting for you to take his hand. Slowly you took his hand into yours, the squeeze he gave made you realize. He remembered too. Fuck if that didn't break your heart.

Resting your head on his shoulder you gave a soft sigh. It was quiet all say for Papyrus bounding about talking to Frisk from the kitchen or upstairs Making remarks about how you and Sans are perfectly lazy for each other, earning a chuckle from you. You loved these sort of moments, sitting there hand in hand while his skull rest on top of yours.

But... But with the smaller human around you felt tense and heavy. Unable to take it you let go of your bonefriends hand and stood up "I'm gonna get a drink" With that you made a B line for the kitchen, Paps gave you a worried glance before following along. "IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?" He pipped up while you struggled to get a class of water from the 7 foot sink, making you climb the counters. "Yeah Paps, why do you ask?"

YOU SEEM OFF IS ALL"

This made you look back at him a lazy smiled met your lips. "I just had a really bad dream that I just can't shake"

"Is the one that made you upset a few days ago?" He managed to say a little quieter.

Oh, right. You woke up upset after the reset. Sans wasn't in bed with you, ready to kiss your head or...do any morning activities. Are they dead? Oh God..oh God. You shot out of bed and burst out the bedroom door and down stairs sat your two bone heads. You've never run so fast down those stairs you almost went flying. They stood up confused and concerned and Sans doesn't move a lot the lazy bum. You jumped them hugging them tight and sobbed clutching them afraid they'll disappear if you didn't hold on with all your might. Papyrus pat your head while his brother held on. They asked you questions you just mentioned you had the worst dream....funny thing is you don't remember but it made you really upset.

But that was a week ago...

Giving your pal of three years a smile you hopped off the counter with no grace. The plates rattled a little From how hard you hit the ground. Chugging your water back you set the cup down, surprised you didn't spill any on the way down.

"OH PERHAPS SOME FRESH AIR WOULD HELP" he only wanted the best for you.

"Actually maybe that would be good" he gave you a hug and reminded you, he believed you'll be OK.

Stepping from the kitchen and back into the living room you gave Sans a kiss on the skull "I'm gonna step out. It's getting kinda crowded" taking a step back and shoving hands back into your hoodie pockets, taking a few steps towards the door you glanced at Frisk, nodding your head towards the door it took them a moment but they stood up and got their shoes... Sans whined rolling his head over "(y/naaaaaaaaame)" he whined softly.

You knew what he wanted, walking over you rubbed your head against his own. You would make a joke about him being a pussy but you stopped yourself or Paps would start ranting about how inappropriate it was. "I love you" he hummed and soon fell asleep.

For a dog person He really is a lazy cat.

You loved him so much.

Frisk waited for you by the door, already opening it and heading out you quickly followed behind. Walking slowly down Snowdin town. It was quiet between the two of you. Before hand the idea of talking to Frisk seemed good...now there wasn't much to say..what could you say? Though you wanted to speak about these dreams...or realities..what if you seem crazy?

Only one way to find out.

"I remember you know" This made them stop but you kept walking slowing your pace a little. "I-" they began and started to follow again. "I didn't think..." they trailed off unable to gather words.

It hurt, oh God it hurt. It wasn't a dream. The way they reacted told you everything. This made you stop in your tracks this time, facing a bright light that sat on the ground. .it whispered to you, murmuring soft sweet things. You've seem then since the reset, you didn't understand them and no one else saw them. Slowly you turned to them, their hands clutched together tightly. Then that meant they had freed the monsters... Meant they also had killed them.

"Why?" It was sudden and loud making Frisk jump "What did you gain from all of it?" You started they opened their mouth "No! I don't understand. Was it because they were happy? So you had the thought that YOU had the right to take it away from them?" You took a step forward and they stepped back. "They loved you. ..they saw you as a friend! Apart of their family" your voice cracked under the threatening pressure of a sob stuck in your throat. "...was the seed of rot always there? Finally growing into a hatred? Psh, what fucking typical human thing" You really hated your own. It's why you're down here after all. Shoved by those who you thought loved you.

"No you don't understand" They tried pleading but they didn't have a real answer to why they did it.

With a heavy sigh and deciding maybe that it's time for a quick topic change you faced the sparkling light again "I've been seeing these...do you see it too?"

Frisk gave a slow nod. "They're save points" Save points? Like a game?

You reached to touch it, it felt warm to the touch, a voice in the back of your mind whispered "wanting to protect them fills you with determination. ..you have saved"

What did that mean? Frisk pushed past you touching the light. "Someone else saved here..."

She stood silently touching it again "You can't save here" "Someone else saved here"

"So what does that mean?" Asking you glanced over their shoulder.

"It means you can save..and reset or continue....like me" huh, weird you don't really get it. Does it happen when they die? "It just of happened when you were..determined not to...die" Determined to protect them Even if you failed.

Frisk tried a few more times to save but the result was the same. They cant. They sounded upset. You saved over them and now they can't save here. Eventually Frisk gave up and turned back towards you. From the looks of it those save points have been there this whole time but you couldn't see it before..maybe the reset changed you? It did say something about being determined. The two of you just stared silently at each other before Frisk broke down sobbing, covering their face with their tiny hands their shoulders bounced with each hiccup.

"I'm sorry" they sobbed loudly. "I'm so sorry I never. .I don't know why!" But there was a why but they didn't know how to really explain it. As you watched your anger slowly subsided..no one's dead..from what you can tell anyway. There's no dust on them no blade, so perhaps they meant it?

"Fine but" you trailed off when you got their attention you straightened your back out to appear taller and more threatening "If you lay your hands on them and then reset, I'll be in the ruins waiting for you..." they nodded quickly understanding what you mean by waiting. They won't get the chance to even hit the ground. Scanning their face for any other details, you've decided it would be alright. "One more thing, as punishment..." they sunk at your words and started rubbing their hands together and all you could do is chuckle "stay the night and for dinner, that means no Grillbys but Papyrus and his pasta...you have have to eat it all"

The cringe, OH how their face soured up and looked almost horrified but none the less nodded and held their hand out in agreement, reaching forward you shook their hand. The two of you headed back, you quickly took your spot beside Sans on the couch, leaning up against him and sighed whole Frisk stayed with Pap in the kitchen. A bony arm wrapped around your middle and tugged you close, his head resting on your shoulder.

"How'd it go, butterbutt?" Nice loving nicknames here. "It went well, oh hey I said they can stay the night and stay for dinner..was that alright?"

Before Sans could make a sound Paps popped his head in "WELL OF COURSE THEY CAN STAY! I'M MAKING MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI" famous to making humans sick and monsters cringe. You should know best after all...three whole years. Oh boy.

Through out dinner you ate just fine while Frisk struggled but managed to eat the deadly pasta your friend made. You just built a tolerance for it and watching this kid struggle and having Sans give that off putting stare was great. Frisk gave a thumps up making Sans look away. He didn't like it either but he couldn't go anywhere or make an excuse this time because this was a special occasion, under the table Sans rest his hand on the usual spot of your leg. No movements of squeezing or trying to get your attention, just. ..relaxing.

He's been touching you a lot since the reset. You didn't blame him, how could you after all that? He's always checking on Paps too.

All said and done you got Frisk to sleep on the couch with your blanket, funny you spent a full year on this couch before Sans made room to put another mattress in his room across from his, another few months in and you guys have two single mattresses acting as a big bed. You chuckled..you remember how he always use to peek on you through out the night when on the couch... Hm.

Shaking your head you got up, said goodnight and went to bed Sans already down for the count and he even managed to take the usual rolled up tight blanket blob and spread it out. Good on him! So proud. You stared for a moment how his chest rose and fell, how his teeth slightly parted then clamped shut again just to part once more, magical blue drool managed to slip between his parted teeth and down his jaw. His jacket hung up leaving him in a white, ketchup stained shirt that hasn't been cleaned in a little while bunched up and his shorts slightly tugged down, one leg pulled way up. He spread out too...

Man you really loved this hot mess.

Crawling into bed and taking your usual spot beside said mess you slowly fell asleep, you could feel him groan and push into you before going back to sleep. You remembered the first time you guys cuddled, slowly...drifting to old memories through out the years. Light started flashing and Sans started squirming making you squirm and wake up, listening to him grumble and kick the sheets off he even let you go just to sit up, he seemed awake but with his eyes closed it proved differently. "Sans?" You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and slowly sat up. "Hey?" Gently resting your hands on his shoulders he didn't even notice you. Slowly his eye sockets opened up his familiar flashing eye going nuts switching from Blue to yellow and back again, slowly the bedroom door open and Frisk peeked inside with worry. You stood up to get ready to escort them out. "He's just having a bad dream" a seriously bad dream if it's causing him to get up and be ready for a fight he's not even in. Slowly getting out of bed and walked towards them "I'll handle it" saying softly and quietly the last thing Sans needed was to wake up to Frisk in their room at the dead of night. It honestly freaked you the fuck out..he's never done this before so..you don't know how you'll handle it but you will.

"Kid-" Sans angry grumbles turned to words, the familiar feel of magic buzzed through the room. Kid?... kid.. Kid! You grabbed Frisk and tossed them just as bones shot out of the ground and pierced your body. Oh Oh no. Oh no no. You gasped for air as blood flooded your throat making it hard to breath, Oh God. Sans grumbles the buzz of magic slowly faded into nothing, the bone that went through you like a hot knife through butter disappear and your body hit the ground with a thump.

"Matt?" Sans searched the bed for a moment, Frisk began to sob catching his attention...and the body in the floor struggling to stand or at least get on their knees caught his eye lights. Oh...stars.

He crept close carefully taking your struggling body and held close.. he pleaded for you...begged to stay. "I'm sorry..oh stars baby bones" he repeated this. He.. He's so sorry.

"I'm not mad..not mad don't oh it looks not to bad" you tried to reason with yourself but boy...you know this wasn't good. "Doesn't look good either" he whispered running his fingers through your hair. He isn't going to forgive himself for this one.

He kept talking but...you couldn't hear anything. You just repeated yourself...you aren't angry and you don't blame him. Even your own voice became muffled.

You remember the cold dark fingers of death reaching out for you.

Reset? Continue?

What is this?

Wanting to protect them fills you with determination.

What?

Will you continue? Or reset?

I don't understand..

Your soul settled behind these words in this dark place. The once (colour) of your soul now holds red deep cracks pulsing through it. Continue? Started growing bigger than the reset box.

Reaching out you slowly touched the continue sign, it felt like someone grabbed you and just yeet your body, the darkness became bright. A violent shiver ran through your body. Blinking you glanced around. You stood with Frisk back in Snowdin town. Quickly patting yourself down "holllllyyy shit" "You reset" Frisk grabbed your arms stopping you front grabbing at yourself. "I'm on drugs so many drugs"

When you calmed down, Frisk explained to you what happened. Oh..so you did the save thing. Nice. After a moment you went home did it all again. Sans tried to distance himself but wow he was not having that. You held his hand and kept close. When bed time came you stayed down stairs "he's gonna have those dreams again...I suggest you stay down here" you gave Frisk the little human a smile before going to bed. That hot mess of yours sat there staring down. "I killed you" you closed the door behind you listening to him. "I'm sorry...fuck I'm. " "huuush" you tugged him down into the bed with you cuddling into him. "I'm know you won't be able to let that go...ever" he nodded in agreement "but, I'm not angry. A little spooked but not angry. I'm not gonna hold it against you"

Sans held tight pushing his teeth against your head in an attempt at kissing you. "Besides!" You tilted your head up grinning, your eyes squint. "You just eager to bone me, talk about going to the bone zone" He didn't make a sound for a moment his eye sockets squinting, he began to giggle.

You remembered the first time you made him laugh.

-------- (I was thinking about making a part two but like..as a smut. I haven't decided yet but I hope you liked this! )

#undertale #ut #sans #undertale sans #reader #undertale reader #papyrus #undertale papyrus #imagines #does that count??

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dappercritter · 5 years

Note

You have been granted the oppurtunity to recast your favorite animated movie! The only catch is that each of the characters in said movie are animated characters from different shows/movies (X from show/movie is Bob, X from show/movie is Larry, ect.)

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boi. You have no idea what you’ve just unleashed, my friend!

Once long ago, before the Cringe Ages, I loved recasting my favourite and sometimes least favourite movies with characters from my favourite shows. But then I started taking storytelling more seriously and sentimentally and… art-y, and I started acting as if I was above the stuff somehow. To this day, I still don’t know whether to blame the masses or my own hubris.

But now! Now, the floodgates of my childish, innocent mind are open once more! And I have just the idea: The Nightmare Before Christmas but with Villainous and Batman* characters! (With a few CN villains on the side.) So, I guess you could call it…

The Villainous Nightmare Before Batman!

(No, wait. Uhhhhh…)

The Dark Knight Before Villainous!

Ok, yeah, that should do.

Now you’re probably asking yourself, “Dapper Critter, what are you doing this? Sure, Batman meets Villainous could work, but why are you bringing The Nightmare Before Christmas into this? It’s not even Halloween or Christmas! What are you thinking?!” Well, first of all, Christmas and Halloween aren’t just holidays, they’re states-of-mind. Second, I think it’s time you guys learned something important: I’m a big ol’ lowkey goth baby, baby! If it’s spooky or gothic, I’ll soak it up like a sponge in sink full of soapy water. And nothing says gothic like the hero of a city literally called “Gotham,” a show with a grotesque monster hiding behind the guise of a well-dressed man, and the classic story of Jack Skellington himself! What’s more, all three of these hold a special place in my heart, as they all played a huge part in helping me develop and realize my interest in gothic culture. Lastly, I can see the worlds of these three stories coming together quite easily. Behold, this plot pitch I just made!

“Another Halloween has come and gone in CN City, and another cheerful Christmas is on its way. Black Hat, unofficial master of all that is dark and evil, is thoroughly disgusted that the multiverse will soon be returning to it’s obnoxiously cheerful and wholesome state. He morosely tears a hole through time and space to talk a walk through reality, miserable that he’s stuck living in such a wonderful place. That is until he stumbles upon the city of Gotham, where no matter what time of year it is, the streets are filled with misery and malicious mayhem. Delighted, he sets out to celebrate Christmas his own way: by taking a certain caped-crusader out of the picture and making Gotham his very own holiday vacation home! Little does he know, there’s one special girl who thinks he can celebrate right where he is, as well as a certain clown who’s got his own sinister Christmas party in mind…”

So now that I’ve convinced you, I think it’s time we got down to the actual recasting! Let’s begin, my darling children of the Hot Topic night…

Black Hat as Jack Skellington: This couldn’t have been easier—they’re both creepy gentlemen with excellent taste in fashion. Yes, I know Black Hat is a lot less nice than our dear Pumpkin King, but let’s just say this story takes the odd liberty here and there. Not to mention, Black Hat could easily match Jack’s enthusiasm, intelligence, style, and obsessive inquisitions. Plus, he could totally pull off an evil Santa suit. (Though to be honest, I’m not sure if his snarling, slimy, cockney-accented voice could match Danny Elfman’s melodious singing.)

Demencia as Sally: A devoted, mildly ghoulish, and totally cute fangirl who’s always pining after their darling idol, and who may or may not have been made in a lab? It’s like this fancast is writing itself! Demencia might be a bit more proactive—and scary—in the plot, but I can see her a lot Sally’s dilemma in her as she tries to get Black Hat to notice her and not to abandon them in pursuit of a crazy dream. (Well, that I’m filthy Lizardhat trash.)

Dr. Flug as Dr. Finklestein: Flug, being the only mad scientist who’s employed by Black Hat, as well as the only to survive this, seems like a good pick. Sure, he’s not in a wheelchair and, no, he’s not as creepy as the bugger, but he could still work as our horrid hero’s right-hand man. Plus, since a big part of his canon character is putting up with Demencia’s BS (tell my family that means “baloney-sandwich”), he’d also do great as the one trying to keep the free-spirited love interest under control. Only here, it would be because he’s trying to keep Dem out of trouble so she doesn’t make his boss mad and try to kill him, as opposed to… whatever Finklestein’s problem is. And of course, he can still be menacing if need be. (Just watch the Lost Cases of Townsville and The Tree House…)

5.0.5. as Zero: A cute animal sidekick is a cute animal sidekick, I always say! And 5.0.5. was basically designed to be the ultimate cutesy animal sidekick. Therefore, he can be basically do anything Zero did. Try to cheer up Black Hat? Check. Pull Black Hate’s sleigh? Why couldn’t he? Yeah, he can’t be a flying ghost dog with a glowing nose, but I could just throw bedsheet on him (it was just after Halloween after all) and maybe say he swallowed that anti-gravity device.

Batman as Santa Claus: For Santa Clause, I needed someone who could be the absolute good guy in a world filled with bad guys and weirdos, much like Santa was in the movie. Likewise, since Jack kidnapped Santa to take over Christmas, Black Hat would need to kidnap the guy in charge of Gotham in order to take it for himself. So, of course he’s going to go after it’s #1 protector. I can also see Batman being the voice of reason in this madcap story. Not to mention that he could pull off a Santa suit even better than Black Hat! (In fact…)

The Joker as Oogie Boogie: This one I had some trouble with. I kept asking myself stuff like, “who would be brave enough to usurp Black Hat?,” “who could match Oogie’s siz—er, presence?” or “who would want to kidnap Santa Claus?,” and “Who would be into gambling and crazy funhouse stuff?” And then it came to me: The Joker. I mean, he’s got charisma, a sense of menace, he’s a cutthroat who loves to play with his enemies, and almost always has a big ol’ amusement park deathtrap on hand. Sure, he wouldn’t have the creepy demise like Oogie, but he could get a good beating and traumatizing from Black Hat and/or Demencia (who’d really hate being a damsel in distress, I imagine).

The Delightful Children from Down the Lane as Lock, Shock, and Barrel: At first, I thought of using other Batman villains or Shannon, Darrell, and Ernesto from OK K.O.!, but then I thought it would make more sense to have child villains from a CN show who could do bad things for slime-balls like Black Hat and Joker with pleasure. I instantly thought of these scheming, little monsters from Codename: Kids Next Door (an old favourite of mine). Although they’re usually talk and act in unison, they could have some comical bickering now and then. (After all, “Lenny is an idiot.”) Likewise, I can see Black Hat using Batman’s affinity for young people to get him while his guard’s down. They could make for great trick r’ treaters as well!

Lord Boxman as The Mayor: The mayor wasn’t a very important character, but he was definitely a memorable one, and the first character I thought of who could match his dual personality was Lord Boxman from OK K.O.! They both act like leaders but are really terrible at their jobs, suck up to better villains, and throw a whimpering tantrum like nobody else. (Also, I get to imagine Jim Cummings singing lines from The Nightmare Before Christmas songs, so that’s nice.)

Various CN Villains as The Citizens of Halloween Town: Like with The Mayor and the Trick R’ Treaters, I like to think that the various CN villains who cameoed in the Villainous Orientation series would show up as the denizens of the seedier side of CN City which—as you probably guessed—would be standing in for Halloween Town. Unfortunately, I do not have an encylcopediac knowledge of either Halloween Town residents, nor CN villains, so I’ll just list the ones I can remember and am the most proud of without offering any real justification.

Nohyas as Mr. Hyde: I couldn’t think of anyone besides Black Hat with a fancy hat or smaller versions of himself. Nohyas just so happens to have a suitable villain’s hat, and Handre (his hand puppet) could work in place of tiny clones living under his hats. (And yes, I like Mighty Magiswords. Deal with it.)

Zombozo as Clown with the Tear-Away Face: I don’t believe all creepy clowns look the same, but a ghoulish clown could easily stand in for another. Plus, I used to be a big Ben 10 fan, so I thought I ought to work something in.

Donny as Behemoth: This grass ogre from Adventure Time was more of an outright jerk than Behemoth, but he has a softer side so that would make him a great candidate for a resident gentle giant.

Loony Toons’ Dracula, Billy and Mandy’s Dracula, and Count Spankula as The Vampire Brothers: Do I really need to explain this one?

The Red Guy as Devil: I sure don’t need to elaborate on this one.

The Gangreen Gang as the Zombie Band: The Gangreens were basically based off edgy bands of the late 90’s, and thanks to Gorillaz, we know Ace can play the bass like a boss. Also, I can totally hear Ace saying, “Nice work, bone-daddy.”

Earl (AKA Dopey Black Hat) as Igor: Earl doesn’t get enough to do, inside or outside of Villainous canon.

The Beast as The Hanging Tree: Yeah, I know, I’m messed-up.

HIM as Harlequin Demon: Seriously, this one cast itself!

The Queen of the Black Puddle as Undersea Gal: I don’t watch Courage the Cowardly Dog much, but I remember seeing this villainess once before and I instantly thought she’d be a dead-ringer!

Morbidia and Gateaux as The Witches: Another natural casting derived from my soft spot for Mighty Magiswords. Although Gateaux is a male and a tall one at that, he’s perfect for being a huge suck-up. (I originally considered Miss Endive from Chowder and Duchess from Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, but then I remembered that no matter what they dressed-up as, they’d be unlikeable.)

Monstrous Black Hat as The Monster Under the Bed: Like Earl and the other Black Hat clones, he doesn’t get enough love. (Though this may be a good thing, since he seems too nasty to receive or return it…)

Rob as The Melting Man: There aren’t a lot of CN villains who are melting, per se, but I figured this poor bad guy from Amazing World of Gumball and his unique media-mixed malformity could work.

Biowolf as The Wolfman: Because they’re both well designed wolfmen and I refuse to forget Generator Rex.

The Robins, Batgirl, and Alfred as the Elves: If Batman’s going to be Santa, then his support staff/family might as well be his helpers. Not to mention, they’d look great in cute little elf outfits happily working on Batman’s gadgets in preparation for the big Christmas crime wave.

The Justice League as The Army: Someone needs to show up to shoot-down Black Hat and his idea of Christmas at the end, and since he’s kidnapped Batman, I think it only makes sense that the Justice League would retaliate and come to clean up Black Hat’s mess. He’d also get a reminder that he isn’t just in Gotham City, he’s in the DC universe.

Unikitty as The Easter Bunny: I have my reasons. Them being, Unikitty is good at being sweet and innocent, the episode “Batkitty,” and her world is one of the few Black Hat has interacted with so far. I like to think that’s because he’s too repulsed by her cuteness to touch it. So imagine his reaction when the Delightful Children bring him to her by accident while she’s cosplaying as LEGO Batman or something.

And there you have it! I had a lot of fun making this recast. It was a great way to step out of my comfort zone and to have some fun. Not to mention, I had an excuse to listen to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack early. I sincerely hope you like it as much as I do, @good-guy-is-alive!

Now I just need to make sure Black Hat himself doesn’t see this, or else he might find me and—

Oh no.

No, please, Mister Black Hat, sir, you don’t understand. I just was doing this for fun. I wasn’t trying to make you look—

OH NO.

NO!

NOOOOOOOOOOjglkajgflkjdshGH;LJF’W abfklghlfuGFARGTADS!!!#%RQ#@!

…

*Since DC changes their Batman shows like people change their socks, we’ll just say that this is your standard DCAU/Bruce Timmverse Batman.

#goodguy #goodguyisalive #critter asks #critter answers #the nightmare before christmas #villainous #batman #dc comics #cartoon network #self-indulgence #recast #fancast

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therealmarxistcamp · 6 years

Text

Evil Satanic Sermon

“Good morning, church---,” *Cough* *Cough *: “MICAOLI BERANUSAJI IPALORE!!!!!!!!’-----Ugh!, Erhm, excuse me, er....., ERRRR!!! ERRRRRR!!! ERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! CRAG ENUM UYAY!” *Cough* *Cough* “AH, ok, i'm sorry, you guys, i don't know what has gotten into me today---I don’t quite feel like my usual self…. But anyway, let’s begin:

*Cheers, Claps, Shouts of AMEN*

“Church we must all strive to be humble servants of the Master....,”

*Cheers, Claps, Shouts of AMEN*

*Cough* *Cough* “...Excuse me..., . . .” *Aherm* “Church, when you feel the need to pray, church, Pray!, And no need to get down on two knees, or put your palms together, close your eyes and assume such-and-such a position, these are empty traditions!--Yeah, you could even pray while taking a piss if you wanted!!!....”

*Gasps*

“DAS BARINU EFAFJE PE VAUNUPEHO OLANI OD OBEZODA!!!!!!,”

*More Gasps*

“Excuse me, now, where were we? Oh, yes----Church!, ...These are all empty traditions; even the bible itself is just another tradition, don’t you know!?? “the Word of God is living,” it can't be destroyed, nor is it an actual word that is written on a piece of paper....

Or do you think that words, some ink on a piece of paper, are living???--what is it to live? Do these words eat, sleep and die as well?

*An old lady in the pews faints*

“....The word of God is Living!!!, it can't be contained in a mere book, nor can it be destroyed.... Or do you think that some ink on a piece of paper is living???? Let me ask you: What is it to live? Do these words, ink on a piece of parchment, eat, sleep and die too!? And . . . Take a Shit!?? Are they growing? Do they change???---fall in love and get married!? . . ., ----And how dare you (church people) tell me how to read and interpret my bible, i will read it however i want, and take from it whatever i like or is useful to me, and ignore what isn't!:

1 Cor. 14: 34 - ‘Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.’

Deu. 22: 5 - A woman must ~NOT!~ wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this....

----Well, church, we need to make a decision: What is men’s clothing!???? What is women’s clothing????? is a pair of jeans men’s clothing???? What about this piece of underwear?,” *pulls out a sporty pair of red panties with gold and zebra stripe trim,** “is this women’s clothing!>>>?--because i wear these all the time! How do we distinguish between men’s clothing and women’s clothing?

‘---Oh, so you dressed in women's clothing!, the bible tells us, You must now burn in hell for all eternity!’--now, let's read this line literally and not figuratively. (and this one too.), etc. . . .:

‘2,000 years later: Well, if you read Ashley Marx's Satanic Sermon from August 9th, 2018, she clearly says that if you dress in women's clothing, you must burn in hell for all eternity! Sorry, This is the word of God! For all eternity and we must follow it! Don't you know? If one word is wrong, then it's all wrong!...’

---Church. . . ., as if God is not going to accept me because i don’t Accept the Bible, but, then again, He might very well Not accept me because i don’t Accept the Bible!---After All How can we even assume that God is good? What if God is Evil? What if we are all in Hell right now!??... . . . .---Well, What do you think, Church?????, how are we to know what is right according to the bible!? . . .

‘Well, we have the example of Jesus Christ!’

YES!, Exactly, the example of Jesus Christ, Messiah and Lord!!! AMEN!!!! But did not Jesus himself say ‘For many will come in My name [misusing it, and appropriating the strength of the name which belongs to Me], saying, 'I am the Christ.’ (Mt. 24:5)---Well what if Paul was one of them??? What if I'm one of them?

1 Co. 6:9 - ‘Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men.’----Did not Paul Write this!?

‘---Blasphemyl!, you say, but... but..., the apostles died Martyrs deaths!! And Would someone die for something they didn't believe in, that they knew to be a lie??’‘Well, yeah, lots of people died: Hitler died for Nazism, he believed in nazism and was willing to die for it, and did end up dying for it, but that doesn't necessarily make it true, now does it?.--i'm willing to die for Communism....’:

2 Co. 11:13 - ‘For such are false prophets, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of God’’’. . . . ---Well, what i’m trying to get at is this: What if Paul was one of them [the imposters]? What if Peter was one of them? . . . What if . . . Jesus Christ himself was one of them!!!"

‘--but Jesus Performed Miracles and that confirms he had God's favor!’, you Say?

"Well, is it not written in the scriptures that the AntiChrist will also possess great powers? that he will be a great deceiver and everyone will love him? that his kingdom will reach across the globe?  and that he, like Jesus Christ would also appear to be resurrected??---well, what if Jesus Christ himself ~was~ the Antichrist!?, in the flesh, posing as the real Christ!???

2 Thessalonians 2: 4 - He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. -- Now, let me ask you again, my Christian friends, did Jesus Claim to be God?

2 Thessalonians 2: 9 - ‘The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,’ ---did not Jesus amaze us with all sorts of displays of power and through signs and wonders?

Revelation 13: 8 - ‘All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain’

Revelation 13: 14 -And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

   . . . ‘A comparison of Revelation 13:2 with Daniel 7 reveals that the final world empire of the antichrist—a revived Roman Empire—will be rooted in all the previous empires. It will unite in a single kingdom the evil and power that characterized all the previous kingdoms.’:

Well, what is the Catholic church but a Roman empire? Perhaps the last existing remnant of the Roman empire???---and who put together the bible but the precursor of the Catholic church?---and this bible, minus a couple books, is what all the other christian churches use to this day.---is there any chance of another Roman Empire coming into existence? What is the entire Western World but a Roman kingdom? Modeled after the systems of Rome? And who rules that kingdom but ‘Jesus Christ?’

Now, there is a story in the bible that i’m sure you are all very familiar with in Matthew 4 when Jesus is tested in the wilderness by the devil:

‘Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”---Now, my friends, how can we be sure that when Jesus was alone in the wilderness with the devil, and the devil offered him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor that Jesus did not accept his offer????

---Yeah, When Satan offered me all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, i said, "Where do i sign up?"

Mark 14: 61-62 -    ‘“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’” Ok, so he said "I am" and that "You will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty one. . ."’---But does that mean he really is Jesus Christ???? Or was he an imitator? Was he the Anti-Christ merely taking the appearance of Jesus Christ??? What if Jesus Christ is the Anti-Christ and the Anti-Christ is the real Jesus Christ???

Luke 9 - "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.’

And

‘An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

---Fools, you claim Christ to be Good in your life, yet you simultaneously sin, Well, can that which begets Evil be considered Good!??---or do you too Claim to be Perfect and sinless as only the Christ was!?

   ---Hypocritess! I will destroy this Church and build it back up again in three days!!!  I AM WHO I AM!!!!  Quick! Somebody Call CNN! Tell Them that the Anti-Christ Lives! That he is Here!    ---Yes, i am the Anti-Christ!

"She's a Communist, Pagan, Witchcraft Devil Worshipper!"

----Yeah, Heresy!!! Now tie me to a stake and burn me alive for practicing witchcraft!!! ---what!? You don’t believe that black magic, voodoo and witchcraft is real? But you must! It says so in the bible:

Gal. 5: 19-20 - "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity . . . idolatry and ~witchcraft~"

Great, Now that that’s out of the way, let's all take Communion, i have prepared for you all a very special Kool-aid mix! --Yes! Drink the Kool-aid!!!! It is the blood of Christ!    ----What's a matter? Don't you want to live forever???? 

Well, if you dunk your head in this little tub of water, spin around three times and say Jesus is Lord (and drink this Kool-aid), and show up to church every sunday, and Midweeks, and Thursday Devos, and Monday discipling, you will get to live forever!!!!  But if you don’t do these things, well it might not be good for you. . .

---What!??? What’s wrong? i'm just spreading the Gospel like the Bible told me to do!

God has sent me to preach this message to the Churches!!!!

The end.

---I'm glad you enjoyed today's sermon, now let's all take a moment to pray for the soldiers, this great nation of America, and, also, don't forget to vote, we must overturn Roe V. Wade!"

"Oh, yeah, and, also, there will be a financial peace class meeting this monday at 2:00pm in room 2a next to the chapel, it's only $75 and i highly recommend it. Now if you'll please excuse me i need to go molest some little boys! And, remember, Church, Communism is Evil!---don’t rebel:

Ro. 13: 1 - ‘Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.’--Donald Trump is ordained by God. Obey him and do everything he says. . . .

After the mass: "Did you see that boy with blue hair and piercings (and a buddha shirt) sitting in the pews---what was ~he~ even doing here?"

"Yeah, I know! What a freak! He didn't even stand or kneel or sing the hymns...."

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serahsanguine · 6 years

Text

Whats Left Unsaid, Says It All. pt. 2

Whats Left Unsaid, Says it all part 2/?

Rating; NC-17, NSFW

This Story can be found at Ao3

part one can be found here pt.1

Tagging; @peacenik0 , @today-in-fic

*************************************************************************************

Chapter 2; News,

One month later

Scully was walking down the dark corridor, towards the X-Files office. She found herself suddenly hesitant about knocking. Fox Mulder was his name, a joke throughout Quantico "Mr. Spooky" as everyone liked to call him. She knocked and entered the room.

"Nobody here but the FBI's most unwanted," Mulder said without looking to see who had entered. Scully recognised his voice instantly, it was the voice of the man she had met a little over a month ago in a bar on her birthday; the tall man with the hazel eyes and chestnut brown hair. Scully nervously walked into the room and looked around spotting the I Want To Believe poster and some pictures covering the walls. He turned to look at her and she smiled.

"Agent Mulder? I’m Dana Scully I’ve been assigned to work with you"

"Oh, isn’t it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded. So who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, scully?" All he kept thinking was oh god why did it have to be her. The woman that he couldn't stop thinking about, the woman the entered his life on February 23rd and gave him all the pleasures of life and leaving just as quickly as she appeared in his life.

"Actually I’m looking forward to working with you. I’ve heard a lot about you" Scully blushed at that statement and so did he, both knowing the double meaning behind her words.

"Oh really…. I was under the impression you were sent to spy on me"

"If you have any doubt about my qualifications or credentials,"

Mulder stood up, taking a piece of paper from the pile on his desk (the phone acting as a paper weight). "You’re a medical doctor, you teach at the Academy. You did your undergraduate degree in physics. Einstein's twin paradox, a new interpretation Dana Scully senior thesis. Now that's a credential... rewriting Einstein"

"Did you bother to read it?"

"I did, I liked it." Mulder smiled at Scully, he could tell she was more than a little annoyed at him but she smiled back.

He carried the slide wheel to the other side of the room and put it on to the projector.

"So, your name isn't really Katherine, is it?" he said trying to break the awkward silence and getting back to the flirtatious conversation they were just having.

"And your name isn't Bob..." she smirked "but I can see why with your first name being Fox, you'd go with that instead"

He gave her a teasing glare "You’re an FBI agent. You didn’t say anything about that either"

"So are you, and I can say the same" she replied quickly the banter was, thankfully, heating up again.

"Touché, Miss Scully" the comment made Scully giggle and he made a mental note to do that more often. Mulder clicked the projector on and started talking about the case.

This flirtatious nature between the two of them was going to make things very interesting.

24 hours later Scully’s Motel room

Bellefleur, Oregon

Scully was typing away on her rather chunky laptop, trying to get down everything she had heard and seen during the case thus far. Mulder being extremely weird and spray painting a giant orange X in the middle of the road and later in the same spot their so-called lost nine minutes, which she didn't even believe happened. A thunderclap rings out and the power goes out. ‘Great’ she mutters to herself. She walks through to the bathroom carrying a candle, wearing her red bathrobe. She moved the shower curtain aside, turning on the tap for the bath. As she looked at herself in the mirror at her loose curly hair, she sighed and disrobed, revealing her silver/white bra and matching underwear. She ran her hand along the waistband of her panties, starting from her stomach and moving around to her lower back that was when she felt the two raised bumps she hovered her fingers over them; making sure she wasn't imagining the eerily familiar bumps. Before exiting her room in a hurry she remembered to turn off the bath.

She knocked on his motel room door. Mulder walked towards his door carrying a candle in his hand, only to find Scully standing there in a red robe, visibly shaken and scared.

"Hi"

"I want you to look at something"

"Come in..." Mulder's mind was working overtime, as flashes of her naked sweaty body underneath his invaded it, her flushed cheeks and look of pure ecstasy on her face; it was amazing and beautiful. He shakes his head to try to get rid of the thoughts because this was most definitely not the time to fall down that rabbit hole again.

Scully rushed in past him, turned around and slipped her robe off of her lovely, delicate pale shoulders. She stands there, vaguely embarrassed and almost naked, in front of him and looks over her shoulder at him, her eyes flutter down to her back worried. Mulder is still holding the candle, he kneels down and brings the candle up to the skin on the small of her back, following the length of her spine. His desire for her was starting to make itself known against his trousers.

"What are they?" she asked questionably "Mulder what are they?"

Mulder smiles even though she can’t see him. "Mosquito bites"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he chuckles. "I got eaten up a lot myself out there"

Scully hastily pulls her robe back on her shoulders and slips her hands around his waist, bringing her body close to his in a grateful hug. He smells a little musky and sweaty from his run but he also feels warm and snuggly in her embrace. She brushes her fingers lightly against his back under the hem of his t-shirt and begins to relax, listening to the sound of his heartbeat her anxiety slowly slipping away. Scully's fingers move down his spine and she heard Mulder's heartbeat a little bit faster.

Mulder smiles at his partner feeling her cold skin against his, she smells of honey and jasmine. It's a smell he’s never going to get used to. His breath hitched when she moved one hand to his stomach, his erection pressing against her thigh. He wants to kiss her so bad that he leans down, unexpectedly and placed his lips on her, tasting the salt of the rain with a mix a red wine on her lips. She pulls away apologising profusely, looking at him and all she saw was desire there in his eyes... just for her.

"We really shouldn’t... we’re on a case," she says half-heartedly.

"Ok" he can't say he’s not disappointed but she is right, even though he really wants to continue to kiss her, and make her feel the way he does.

She moved towards the bed as endorphins flooded her system and images of him flashing before her eyes; his body in hers dripping, slipping, sliding and grinding in and out of her. If he looked over at her now, he would notice that her cheeks were flushed. She laid herself down facing the window trying to will the thoughts away and he moved toward the other side of it sitting down staring out the window, trying not to look at her and changing the subject.

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

It was late June now; their bond had grown and was stronger now than when they first started and she was slowly learning to trust him, after the conversation on the bed that late rainy night in Oregon. He had opened up and told her of his sister's abduction when he was younger and she could tell it was hard from him to talk about it, there was sorrow in his voice and he couldn't look her directly in the eye.

Since then they had a fair few hard cases.

There was this one case where a man could squeeze himself into small spaces like the old folklore of "the folding man". She had been at home one night, when he squeezed himself out of her vent and into her apartment. Even though she and Mulder had agreed not to sleep together again after that fruitful night back in February, he had found himself once more in her bed all hot naked and sticky. She was thankful he was there that night because the alternative could have been so much different and deadlier. They had had a hard time explaining to the cops why he was there but didn’t question them on it.

Couple of days after that they had The Jersey Devil Case and oh boy that was a strange one, involving a half-man that turned out to be a half-woman / half - beast creature and right in the middle of the case she had her godson, Trent's, birthday party that she attended; it was nice to see Ellen, of course, as they hadn’t had time to catch up since her birthday. One of the father's of Trent's friend asked her out on a date that day but she politely refused because she knew that she would be thinking about Mulder the whole time anyway.

After that there was the case in the Arctic, they had sex there too even with suspicious living extraterrestrial parasitic organisms invading the human body but the prospect of being caught overruled their judgment.

Then there was a case with twins but they weren't twins because it turned out there were a lot of them and the Government called it the Eve project.

"When aren't the Government involved," she thought, sounding like Mulder which made her giggle.

She was sitting alone, typing away on her PC, having learned just a few days ago of her father's passing. She was so desperately trying to stay strong and not to cry, but the more she tried not to think about it the more she did and the tears started flowing freely down her face. She was done sitting alone, wallowing in self pity so she got up grabbed her keys coat, badge, gun, and bag before locking up the X-files office and walking to her car.

She was finally home after stopping at the grocery store on her way back, she was carrying two large brown bags full of fruit, salads, and plenty of orange juice, and trying to open the door to her apartment. She briefly thought about how her favorite fruit and veg would be coming into season soon but she couldn’t shake the feeling of what Mulder had said before he left; thinking back to that moment she recalled how he had called her Dana instead of Scully, which made her flinch at the sound of her first name coming from his lips. She had thought that they that she would always be Scully to him, and he would always be Mulder to her and never Fox. even saying it out loud sounded weird. She was so tired and emotional much more than usual but she just put it down to long nights, a stressful job and it being the week leading up to her period. (Scully was aware that she did occasionally get quite moody and tired as a result).

Once she had finished putting away her shopping, she walked through the hallway to her bedroom removing her uncomfortable work clothes and leaving them in a pile at the foot of her bed (she made a mental note to clean it up in the morning) and she crawled onto her bed foregoing her sleepwear and nightly routine because her sheets smelled of him, which made her smile. As soon as her body relaxed into the mattress and her head hit the fluffy pillows, she fell into a blissful slumber.

Meanwhile at Apartment 42

He had called her Dana in a moment of understanding and comfort, it was meant to sound sincere but it came out kind of creepy. What the hell was he thinking? Scully had fast become the only stable fixture in his life, keeping him grounded and from running off half-cocked into the night, chasing monsters and little green men. Disputing everything he thought he liked in a woman, she challenged him in so many ways and he liked her for it.

They had agreed on no sex a few months back but that hilariously flimsy agreement didn't stand too long much to his relief, they either ended up in her bed or his couch when in DC or rental car and dingy motels, when on an X-File case. The tension between the two of them would become too much some days and they would hate each other and then some days they would fuck it out till the morning sun rose. Mulder started kneading the leather couch as memories of her came flooding back to him, the way the sun hit her fiery copper hair and how it would make a small halo above her head which he thought was adorable but also turned him on at the same time, the way her pale complexion would flush with arousal and her cheeks would turn a delightful shade red whenever he was close to her; either touching or just by breathing on her slight, delicate neck. He had started to notice that her alluring blue eyes would be brimming with desire whenever they were left alone for more than 5 minutes, the way her breath would hitch whenever he touched her, or when he would place lovely kisses on her neck and breasts.

God the way she would scream his name, like a mantra over and over again as an orgasm would override her body, forcing her body to twitch and convulse around him. He was so hard, even now, just thinking about her but he was brought back to reality as he heard someone shout across the street and realised his hand was underneath his boxers, wrapped around is member moving at a steady place up and down his shaft as he reached his tip, spreading the leaking pre cum around the circumference of his throbbing head; a small strained grunt, unconsciously tumbling from his slack jaw.

Ignoring the shouts from out on the street, he returned his thought to his beautiful partner -straddling his cock, riding him up and down as he caught her nipple with his teeth nipping and sucking - his hand began moving faster and faster on his shaft - bringing his finger down to her sex that was wet and dripping for him - he felt his balls tighten and his penis twitch and he moaned her name uncontrollably as he felt hot cum spurt from the depths of his balls and drip onto his hand and stomach, leaning over to grab a tissues to clean himself up before throwing it into the wastebasket and letting his eyelids fall closed until sleep caught up with him.

Scully's Apartment Early morning

Scully woke up, the sun was just coming over the horizon and trickling through her open window, normally that kind of thing wouldn't have woken her up but last night she forgot to close her curtains when she climbed into bed.

She groaned, as she swung her legs off the bed, looking at her clock and reading the time 4.32am, it was far too early to be awake. She tried to stretch and wiggle her body but came to the conclusion, that she must have slept in some very weird positions last night due to the fact that her lower back was killing her right now, and that her boobs were sore and swollen. Scully stood up all the blood seemed to rush to her head and she felt dizzy and sick, so she made the quick dash to the bathroom as the contents of her stomach emptied itself into the toilet bowl. A sudden cold sweat developed on her pale, freckled skin, she sat down on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor for a good few minutes before standing up and grabbing a washcloth to wipe the sweat off her skin. After she was finished throwing up, and dabbing a wet washcloth on her face, she crawled back into her bed to try and get some more sleep before her hospital check up.

Scully rolled over carefully, so not to upset her stomach again and contemplated phoning Mulder to see if he was also sick... maybe from the dinner, they had shared the day before? But did not want to worry him so she put the phone back down closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

5 hours later Gynecology Outpatients Department.

Scully was sitting in a chair, waiting for her doctor and long-term friend Dr. Rachel Richards. They had gone through Medical school together and managed to stay in touch, when she had been transferred to the FBI. She was there to have her annual pap smear test, this time she just wanted it over and done with so she could get back to work. Rachel walked in and sat down at her desk, across from her and started typing away at her keyboard bringing up her medical history records.

"Dr. Scully, I know it's early but I'm pleased you could make it"

"It's fine. It's me, Rachel, you can call me Dana. And thank you I'm sorry I had to cancel so many times... I know I shouldn't neglect myself, it's just that work has become my main focus"

"You're right, your health is important, Dana but I’m glad you're here now." there was a slight pause but Rachel carried on "So, Dana did you bring your urine sample?"

"Yes," Scully lent down and retrieved a small container full of urine out of her bag before handing it to Dr. Richards.

"Ok, so as you know we test for pregnancy before doing the smear test," Rachel said, pulling out a pregnancy test from her cabinet and dipping the stick into the yellow liquid and sitting it off to the side on the metal table.

"Yes. I'm aware but it's unlikely to be positive"

"While we wait for the results I need to ask you some questions, very personal in nature"

"It's ok. Go ahead"

"Are you sexually active right now, Dana?"

"Yes," Scully said a bit too quickly, which made Rachel smile.

"Any unprotected sex?"

"No. I'm always safe, you know that"

"And how many sexual partners have you had in the last 6 months?"

"One"

"Is he cute?"

"Rachel" Scully said, shock but began to laugh at the indulgence of friendly gossip about guys.

"What? I'm only asking in doctor/patient confidentiality remember?" Rachel said smugly.

"Yes, Rachel. He's cute... really cute, in fact"

"Good to know! So, I need to do some blood work but once the pregnancy test completed and I check it, you know... just in case, Mr. Cutie Pants wasn't so safe we can get on with the smear test"

"Rachel, he's not like that... he's nice and would never put me in a position like that"

"I'm just kidding. I'm sure you're not pregnant"

"Ok. It's my least favorite part of coming to see you, you know"

"It's every woman's least favorite part of visiting me, Dana"

Scully rolled up her shirt sleeve before lowering her arm, and presenting the crook of her elbow to her friend. Dr. Richards put a rubber band around her upper arm and tapped her vein to find a good one to take blood from before inserting the needle and drawing a small tube of blood from her.

"All done..." she smiled, tapping the spot the needle was removed from "I will check on the pregnancy test now so we can move forward"

Dr. Richards set the vials of blood down on the blue plastic tray in front of her before picking up the pregnancy test to find out the results.

"Well, Dana, I think congratulations are in order"

"What... Why?"

"You’re pregnant. How exciting!"

"Exciting? No. No, it's not possible! I can't be..."

***************************

also tagging some friends, @invisigoth-1013 @viceversawrites @gaycrouton

#WLUSIA #msr fanfic #MSR Moments #mulder and scully #MulderandScully #Whats left unsaid #au fanfiction

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enithinggoes · 3 years

Text

Wanderer’s Refuge, chapter 4:Not a weapon, just a trick

The crew of the Wanderers’ went to look for whatever stole their food, they wouldn’t need to follow it if it was just a strangely dexterous bear, but the smoke above the trees in that direction gave them pause, if it had been a person they had to do something to avoid being told on, though none of them wanted to discuss what they could possibly do to avoid that. Ursa couldn’t avoid asking herself if she would stop Lawrence if he tried something to “silence” a possible witness to the train, but Lawrence himself found it entirely impossible to genuinely imagine killing or kidnapping someone.

After following the tracks for a while, they found a young girl sleeping next to what seemed to be a bear with two heads, one sleeping, one alert, as soon as they could see it, the bear got up alerting the girl, who jumped behind it yelling “get away!” when she noticed the group.

As the bear huffed and clacked its teeth together, the three occupants of the Wanderers’ raised their hands, none of them wanted at all to try to mess with that thing, but Agatha saw the glowing symbol on the girl’s head and recognized it as “create beast”, unable to contain her curiosity, she asked “is that your sorcery? How long have you had it?”

“Yeah, Floof’s mine, and I won’t let you hurt him!” the girl shouted back.

“Don’t worry, we won’t. Has someone tried to hurt him before?” Agatha continued

“Mama said people wouldn’t like me if he didn’t go away, and I don’t know how to do that so they tried to hurt him! They kept trying to kill him and it hurt and it felt bad. So I left because they kept saying he’d hurt him, They said-“

“They said you were too dangerous.” Lawrence interrupted, he’d heard this all before. “What’s your name, miss?”

The girl hesitated for a second, but answered “Lilith, Lilith Hughes.”

“I’m Lawrence Austen, let me show you something about sorcery, please.” He took off his right glove, showing off his red-fingered hand and the symbol on its back, then, he let out a flame that beautifully circled his body as he stepped closer, but never even touched his clothes.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, so I don’t have a weapon, this is just a little party trick.” The flames made a little heart over his hand. “Floof is much the same. Do you want to hurt me?”

Lawrence stepped closer, turning his hand towards the two headed bear, who stood silently, not menacing him anymore, but not demonstrably tame either, Lilith stared at him for a moment, then grit her teeth and shook her head.

“Then you won’t hurt me either.” The bears lowered their heads and Lawrence pet them both with his hands, smiling tenderly at what clearly was just a scared little girl.

This moment was interrupted, because the crew of the Wanderers’ wasn’t the only group able to see the rising smoke, and out of the woods walked two men, one bulkier and clearly older was recognized by Ursa and Agatha as the officer who had discovered them at the archives, the other, probably barely of age, was the man Lawrence had spoken to at the store earlier that day.

“Lucky us”, said the older detective Jameson Williams, “You’re all under arrest for illicit use of sorcery, and you two are also accused of stealing from the country’s archives” his tone was professional, almost emotionless except slight amusement.

Lawrence brought Lilith close to him, turning back and saying “you two get us ready for takeoff; I’ll distract them for a bit and meet you there.”

Agatha wanted to protest but Ursa had already begun wheeling her away, trying to comfort her by saying “Don’t worry, we can trust Lawrence to not sacrifice his own wellbeing, I’m sure he has a plan.”

The two detectives moved to follow, but Lawrence raised his hand high, releasing a jet of fire straight up with a “Hey! Don’t you want to play with me for a little, mr. Tobias?”

Tobias hadn’t said anything so far, both out of surprise and a manner of embarrassment at finding Lawrence with his targets. “So you were one of the rogue sorcerers.”

“Yep, and I’m also a devil’s hand, I’m sure that must bump me up a few steps in your ladder of priorities, doesn’t it?”

Without missing a beat, Jameson reacted to Lawrence’s gambit. “Rookie, follow those other two, I’ll neutralize the devil’s hand.”

Tobias wordlessly followed the order, giving Lawrence, Lilith and Floof a wide berth and going towards the distant Ursa and Agatha, Lawrence wanted to stop him, but he didn’t know exactly how, and turning his back on the older detective right now seemed like a bad idea.

Jameson lit a cigar and started smoking it, speaking dryly to Lawrence, “do you know why those fingers mark you for execution?”

“Because the kingdom is afraid of something an ancestor of mine did hundreds of years ago that I had nothing to do with?” Lawrence seemed annoyed.

“Because you’re a hazard. Your existence in this society is by itself dangerous no matter who you “want” to be. It’s simply out of your hands” Jameson took a big puff out of his cigar, he didn’t entirely believe what he was saying, but that didn’t matter, he was good at his job, and the best way to do his job was to take advantage of his opponent’s nature.

“What do you know about me?” Lawrence scowled, and as the air between them heated up it seemed to distort their sights of one another a little.

Jameson thought “almost there, just one more push”, before saying “you’re a fire, it’s in your nature to destroy things, a fire can’t choose not to burn things, same way a poison can’t choose not to kill you, the only way to stop them from harming people is to get rid of them.” He punctuated the last phrase by throwing his cigarette to the floor, squashing it with his foot.

“Shut the hell up!” A wall of flames surged from the ground between Lawrence and Jameson, almost too bright to look at. Perfect, the devil hand’s rage should compel him to attack from a closer range and when he was at a range where Jameson couldn’t miss, he’d use his power to paralyze him for a second and end him with one bullet.

Jameson did his best to stare at the fire, watching, waiting, ready to dodge a first charge and neutralize his target as quickly as possible he was experienced enough to be ready for anything this man could pull, any attacks he could bring!

What he wasn’t ready for was nothing. Nothing at all. When the wall of fire dissipated, there was nothing but burnt ground where Lawrence had been, where did he go?

As soon as the screen of flames had been put up, Lawrence grabbed onto Lilith’s hand and took off running, with Floof following them.

“Why are we running? Can’t you beat him up?” Asked Lilith

Lawrence turned back momentarily and gave her a smug smirk “didn’t you hear me, these are just tricks.”

Lilith stared at him for a moment, then giggled, Floof came from behind them and lifted both onto its huge back, the bear being much faster than the two humans.

“I could have beaten him up, you know?” she said to Lawrence

“Did you want to beat him up?”

Lilith looked away, a bit sheepish, before shyly saying “yeah…”

Lawrence laughed and ruffled Lilith’s hair “we can try that next time.”

Ursa and Agatha were going as fast as they could back to the Wanderer’s, it wouldn’t be safe for Ursa to do her steam jumps in the middle of the dense woods.

The pair heard heavy, quick footsteps behind them, too quick for any normal human running speed, Ursa turned back to see Tobias coming towards them, but his legs had become thick and wide with hard, semi exposed muscle, with about 200 meters left to the train, there was no way she could take Agatha there in time, “I’ll meet you there!” she said, pushing Agatha forward and bracing herself for combat.

Ursa launched herself in Tobias’ direction, hoping to surprise him with a strong first charge he wouldn’t have time to dodge, but instead, in the second she flew towards him the muscle in Tobias’ legs shifted to his right arm, tripling its diameter as he pulled back his arm to punch back against Ursa.

The impact of their fists was enough to create a shockwave through the woods, Ursa clearly made a dent into Tobias’ huge fist, perhaps even breaking some of the huge bones inside, but that wasn’t enough, as even through his wince of pain, detective Walker commanded his flesh to grow around Ursa’s arm and grab her, like tendrils of muscle.

She had just enough time to push herself back and away from Tobias, resetting to a distance of a few meters between them, “ok,” she thought “can’t beat him in strength, but I think I can outmaneuver him.”

She started bouncing from tree to tree to try and catch Tobias unprotected, but his reaction time was quick enough that there was always a wall of flesh between her fist and his critical parts. She wasn’t putting all her strength into each strike to be able to guarantee a safe retreat and minimize the accumulating damage to her own arms, but that wasn’t working, after more than 20 exchanges she was starting to get out of breath and her arms were incredibly sore, while every time she hurt her opponent, he’d just grit his teeth and regrow anything damaged.

With a few deep breaths, Ursa realized she needed a new plan; this was going to have to end in her next strike. She’d put all her energy into one incredible punch and then run off while Tobias was dazed.

Ursa bent her knees and sent herself flying forward, so fast the air passing by her made her eyes dry, and thrust her right arm forward as hard as she could.

This time, however, Tobias went into a blocking stance with his right forearm, Ursa’s arm pierced through it like a knife, sinking elbow-deep into it.

Tobias reached out with his left arm and grabbed Ursa’s whole abdomen in his hand, before slamming her hard into the ground, knocking the wind out of Ursa’s chest and pinning her down.

While Ursa was coughing on the ground, Walker panted and said “please come quietly and I won’t have to hurt you any more than this.”

Ursa’s brain raced, but she couldn’t think of anything, no clever way to get out of this literal bind, and the hard time breathing from being pushed onto the ground didn’t help.

Out of nowhere came down a steel sword cutting straight through Tobias’ left arm, making him scream and step back on instinct, a lot of blood jetting out of his arm.

Ursa saw a knight, or more accurately, an animated suit of armor, more similar to the illustrations of knights from children’s fables than any historical account. She knew what this meant, it was her chance, she took a deep breath and focused on the brooch on her chest, letting her sorcery spread out over her entire body, turning her briefly into steam and letting her pass through the huge chopped off hand on top of her.

The helmet of the armor turned robotically to Ursa and said “come. Home.” in a stilted and paused way

Ursa smiled with love and admiration and turned to run as fast as she could. As she disappeared into the woods, Walker stopped the bleeding in his left arm and punched into the armor as hard as it could, the armor struck back and cut almost half a meter deep into Tobias’ arm before stopping and being dismantled by his punch.

Ursa came to the Wanderers’ to find Agatha waiting for her at the door, she gave her a quick kiss on the lips, saying “thanks for the save.” As she started to back away Agatha hugged her tight.

“nooo don’t hug me, I’m covered in sweat and blood,” Ursa protested half-heartedly, but she did nothing to push her girlfriend away.

“I don’t care. I was so worried about you, I love you.” Agatha kissed Ursa repeatedly on the cheek.

“I love you too.” Ursa’s arm hovered over Agatha’s back.

Lawrence, Lilith and Floof soon reached them and got on the train, Lawrence climbed down and went straight to the boiler. “Lovely moment you’re having, but Agatha’s going to have to get us out of here fast.

The couple let go and Agatha went straight to the Driver wagon, making the train start moving and creating the ramp-shaped tracks to take it into the air.

Lawrence turned to Lilith, saying “You might want to hold onto something, takeoffs are usually a little bumpy, but the view is quite beautiful.”

With fire in the boiler and Agatha’s magic powering it, the train started flying up into the air and away from Sunhill. Lilith beamed at the beauty of the forest seen from above, and the clouds coming closer and closer to them, it was like nothing she’d seen before, thankfully Floof held her in place while she was distracted with this.

“Welcome to the Wanderer’s Refuge!” Lawrence proclaimed with a grin, commemorating their narrow escape and new friend and crewmate.

#Wanderer's refuge #found family #hurt #comfort #Original Work #original writing #original story #Magic #steampunk #magic bear #lesbian character #gay character #trans character #disabled character #fighting #Oh man I liked making this one

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