#one of those days it's supposed to reach 104....why me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

davidlikesguys02 · 3 years

Text

We Interrupt This Program

M/n= Male Name

Bold- Means its on a tv screen.

GIF Not mine

Word count: 2,932

“No, I can't leave Monica.” “mom? It's ok, I can stay with grandma and…” “I can't leave” “maybe I'll build a spaceship. I wanna be an aircraft pilot.” “when they were handing out kids they gave her the toughest one. Lieutenant trouble.” Monica wakes up breathing heavily and hearing crashing and people screaming as she makes her way towards the door and walks out. “Excuse me….” “they're all coming back. We don't have the capacity” the doctor tells her

“Excuse me. I'm looking for a patient. In room 104…” she asks a nurse “who, my wife? Do you have a phone?” “no” “i have to call my wife.” she makes her way towards the front desk “watch out” she bumps into a man, they both fall backwards grunting “let me help you. Are you ok? You ok?” “I got him. I got him.” “Are you ok?” she asks as she gets up groaning. She turns to the lady in the front desk.

“Excuse me. I'm looking for a patient in room number 104.” “I don't know what to tell you” she starts looking around her “Monica?” “oh, Dr. Highland, thank god!” “I can't believe it, where did you go?” “well, in her room since she came back from the surgery. I mean, I might have fallen asleep, but no longer than 20 minutes. Dr. Highland, where's my mom?” “your mom, she died honey” “what? No, no, no, no you're mistaken. My mother...the procedure went well. You said so yourself. Clean margins. You’re discharging her today”

“The cancer came back.” “Okay, stop, stop. No youre...my mom is Maria Rambeau. Look it up. I mean look it up. Maria Rambeau.” “Monica, I don't understand what's happening, but you need to listen to me Marian died three years ago.” “three? No. no. no…” “which was two years after you…” “after i what? After what?” “after you disappeared.”

Monica is walking towards big metal doors. She takes out her keycards but it beeps so she tries again but it beeped again “Ma’am? Over here please” she walked over to him smiling “hi, good morning. I work here. And…” “if you did, your badge would work, wouldn't it?” “right um… I have a meeting with…” “hey. You know who this is?” “..this guy” “Captain Monica Rambeau.” “Director Tyler Hayward”

“Acting Director. You haven't aged a day” “and you look old as hell” Tyler chuckles “come on, let's catch you up. It's been three weeks and you're the first to report. Cant say I'm surprised captain.” “How are the numbers for the astronaut training program?” “ Dismal. Lost half my personnel in The Blip and half of those remaining have lost their nerve. The program hasn't been the same since you've been up there, Rambeau. We shifted away from manned missions and refocused on robotics, nanotech, AI. Sentient Weapons, like it says on the door.”

“It also says observation and response on that door, not creation” “worlds not the same as you left it. Space is now full of unexpected threats” “always was full of threats. And allies” “Listen, Monica, I just wanna acknowledge the awkwardness of the situation. I know S.W.O.R.D.'s your home. Your mom built this place from the ground up. You grew up here. You should've been here to help name the replacement.” “you were the obvious choice”

“I was the only choice.” “I wasn't gonna say it. Look, Tyler, you know the job you have to do. I'm here to do mine.” ”Let's get you back out there.” he takes out his keycard and opens the door to his office. “The FBI is in a tizzy over missing persons case up in Jersey…” “missing persons?” “I know. But they have requested use of one of our imaging drones, and I need a chaperone.”

“Tyler, drones usually chaperone me.” “i get it” “look, if this is because of...you don't have to worry about me. I'm good.” “There's no easy way to say this, but you're grounded.” Monica chuckles “you're kidding. For how long? Who whose protocol is this?” “Your mother's. She implemented guidelines in the event vanished personnel ever returned. Look, I know it's a raw deal, but there is one positive takeaway.” “what's that?” “she believed you'd come back. You'd be doing me a big favor with this FBI thing, but if you need more time…”

“No. no. I'm good to go” “excellent. Keep me updated, captain.” Monica finally arrived at Westview “James E. Woo, FBI” “Monica Rambeau, S.W.O.R.D. what's the story here, agent woo?” “I've got a witness setup down the road in Westview, and this morning, it looked like he flew the coop?” “Your missing person is in the witness protection program?”

“I have contacted known associates, relatives…” “and let me guess, none of them have seen him either?” “No. None of them have ever heard of him. Something seemed hanky to me, so I took the first flight out of Oakland to interface with local law enforcement, which is when I encountered a new wrinkle.” “what's that?” “Pardon me, Sheriff. Would you mind repeating your claim about Westview to my colleague here?” “no such place” “you're saying the town of Westview, New Jersey, does not exist?”

“It's what I keep telling your G-man here, but he won't listen.” “I see. and , um, I'm sorry, what town are you from?” “Eastview” “Thank you, Sheriff. I'll reach out if we need any further assistance. I, uh, pulled phone numbers for all the residents. I'm only through the D’s, but so far I got Diddly Squat.” “So you can't reach anyone inside and everyone on the outside has some sort of selective amnesia?”

“This isn't a missing person's case, Captain Rambeau, it's a missing town. Population: 3,892.” “Why haven't you gone inside to investigate?” “Cause it doesn't want me to. You can feel it too, can't you? Nobody's supposed to go in.” Monica walks over to her car and pulls out a drone. “What about you?” “Me? Well, I'm from Bakersfield, originally. Growing up, other kids had Michael Jordan posters on their walls, but I had Eliot Ness.”

“No, no, no, no. I mean, why is it that you have an awareness of Westview? Or me, for that matter? Is it because we are outside of a certain radius, or maybe because we don't have a personal connection?” She looks at the screen but the drone malfunctions. She looks up and it's gone “Wait, where'd it go?” “It was right there.” she walk towards the town but stops as she hears electricity bussing “whoa..”

“What is it?” “some sort of energy field” “Careful, Rambeau. Captain Rambeau! Watch it. Rambeau! Captain Rambeau! Captain Rambeau!” she sticks her hand in and it pulls her in and she disappears.

24 Hours Later

“Hey. What's your field?” “We're not supposed to talk to each other.” “hmm? Boy scout leader. Got it. And you” Darcy asked a woman next to the boy scout leader. “Nuclear biology” “artificial intelligence” “astrophysics. We got the full clown car. It means whatever the threat is, S.W.O.R.D. clearly has no idea what they're dealing with.” “I'm a chemical engineer” “no one cares”

“Alright grab your gear.” Darcy walks around the S.W.O.R.D. camp. “Ms. Lewis?” “Dr.Lewis” “we have your gear set up inside.” the man walks Darcy inside a tent “those drones you're sending in, what kind of data are you getting?” “I'm afraid that is highly classified.” “You can't see anything? FBI, Army. I saw the Air Force Office of Special Investigations out there. Research Lab, Space Command, too. A bona fide, joint, multi-service response. Really looking forward to the commemorative T-shirt. Is there somewhere a lady could get a cup of coffee? You guys look like you might get down with those little pod things. Horrendous for the environment…”

“Make your assessment, please” “whoa… I mean, whoa..” “what are you getting?” “a colossal amount of CMBR” “CM…” “Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.” “we've been told the radiation is within a safe limit” “uh, it is… for now” “wait what do you mean” Darcy shushes the man “there's are longer wavelength superimposed over the noise here” she looks under the desk and struggles to get something “I got it”

“I need a TV. an old one. Like, not flat.” After a few hours it started raining. “Are you good to go?” Hayward asked an agent “yes, sir” “these sewers will take you straight into town. Try to find anything you can on Rambeau” “copy that” “keep me updated” Hayward says as he walks away. “Director Hayward, between you, me, and the bedpost, I am not confident about this mission.” “Thanks for the feedback, Jimmy. If only my drones were as forthcoming.”

“There's no reason to suspect the perimeter doesn't extend subterraneous.” “There's no reason to suspect it does.” Jimmy sighs “We don't know enough about the nature of the threat to send in another agent when the first is yet to return.” “Someone must really miss you back in Quantico.” “No, sir. Softball season's over, sir.” “what do we have up?” Hayward asked agent Rodriguez “Radar, sonar, infrared” “cycle through. Will someone get me a useful visual, dammit?”

Everyone hears a studio audience laughing in the tent “what is that?” “Can I see you in the kitchen for a moment, sweetheart?” “Who is doing that?” “Who are those people?” “What are you wearing?” “Why are they here?” “Well, it's our anniversary!” “our anniversary of what?” “Well, if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you!” “is that..” “ yeah, it looks like him.” “you move at the speed of sound and i can make a pen float through the air, who needs to abbreviate?”

“Look , I know it's been a crazy few years on this planet, but he's dead, right? Not blipped, dead.” “excellent plan. Where's the tenderizer” “what am I looking at? You? What is that? Where's this coming from?” “out there” “you didn’t answer the back door. For your upside-down cake. oh hi, I” “is it authentic?” “I'm not sure how to answer that” “is it happening in real time? Is it recorded, fabricated?” “I don't know. I don't know. And I don't know” “what do you know?” Hayward said annoyed “My equipment registered an extremely high level of CMBR. That's…”

“Relic radiation dating back to the Big Bang.” “Yeah, entwined was a broadcast frequency. So I had your goons pick me up a sweet vintage TV. And when I plug this bad boy in, voilà, sound and picture.” “Dinner is served” “So you're saying the universe created a sitcom starring two Avengers?” Jimmy asked, confused “It's a working theory” “Get me a transport back to headquarters now. Are we recording this?”

“Never stopped.” Darcy says “I need immediate analysis. Now, people. Let's go!” “He’s a charmer.” “great work” “hey, thanks, maybe I could get that cup of coffee now? Or not. It's cool.” ”Aw” Darcy turns to the screen to see you and Vision kissing “Aw”

“First and foremost, our main objective is to get any intel on Captain Rambeau, but originally, this case was a missing person, so we're going to start there. We've successfully identified two individuals inside the Westview anomaly. Let's keep going.” Jimmy says as he puts two pictures up of you and Vision. “This guest is leaving your home” “yes, thank you for coming” “Mr. and Mrs. Hart. played by Todd and Sharon Davis.”

“Computational forms. And no one can process the data quite like you do, pal.” “Agent Woo” “you're like a walking computer.” “Abilash Tandon is Norm” “Harold Proctor is Jones” “we got Isabel Matsueida cast as Beverly” “John Collins as Herb.” Darcy gasps, dropping her Noodle cup and calls Jimmy over “Really?” “Does she seem okay to you?” “Well, she doesn't appear to be harmed in any way, but that is definitely not the boss lady I met yesterday.”

“So what, deep cover? Monica has to play along?” “With whom? Or else, what? All right. Brass tacks, Dr. Lewis. What are we looking at here? Is it an alternate reality? Time travel? Some cockamamie social experiment?” “It's a sitcom. A 1950s sitcom.” “But why?”

“Hey, man, we're working with the same scarcity of intel. But, listen, I do have an idea. So, you've seen that radio in M/n’s kitchen counter, right? The next time he's washing dishes, which, by my count, happens about once an episode, barf, we'll shoot a signal to that little guy. This transmitter will mimic the frequency of the broadcast, and if my theory is right, allow us to speak directly to her. This is totally gonna work. Don't touch that.”

“Agent Woo.” agent Rodrigues hands Jimmy a folder inside the folder there's a colored image of a retro S.W.O.R.D. drone “Is this from the current episode?” “aired about two minutes ago.” “What is it?” Darcy asks “what does it look like to you?” “like a retro version of a S.W.OR.D. drone?” “bingo” “but how did it change and why” “uh, to go with the production design” “or render it useless”

“why‘d you colorize it?” “I didn't” Darcy heads back to the tent. “Let's get this show on the road. Jimmy, you ready?” Darcy asks through an earpiece. “Ready” “bigger and better every season” “uh, Jimmy, Monica is talking to M/n. she's got a speaking part now.” “what is she saying?” “those jeans are peachy keen” “she likes M/n’s jeans” “we only have a few hours” “M/n’s at some sort of swim club. We've never been here before.”

“Is it the 60’s still?” “uh, uh, M/n’s with another character.” “real person?” “ohh, uh, radio on the side table. start talking.” “M/n. M/n, can you read me over?” “I don't...” “Can he hear me?” “I don't think so, keep trying.” “M/n?” “M/n?” “M/n. Who is doing this to you, M/n? M/n? Can you hear me? I'm here to help” “please give us a…” “pop quiz M/n how does a housewife or in this case househusband get a bloodstain out of white linen?”

“Wait” “what?” “I don't know” “by doing it yourself” “that's weird” “what was?” “Nothing, it's over. Mission failure” “it was worth a try. Good effort, doctor.” “yeah come in”

Both Jimmy and Darcy are watching you and Vision on TV “darling, do you think it's time to..” “call the doctor?” “yeah” “yes, I do dear” “1950s, 1960s, and now the '70s. Why does it keep switching time periods? It can't be purely for my enjoyment, can it?” “I cant believe M/n and Vision are having a baby” “you want any?” Jimmy chuckles

“Heck, I thought about it for sure. A little Jimmy Woo. Get him a tiny little FBI badge. Oh, you... Chip? Sure.” “you're doing great. You're doing great. Look at me. Look at me.” “The jig is up” you scream. After a few minutes you hear the baby cry “hi, oh, he's perfect” “what a twist.” Darcy says as she's tearing up “What? I'm invested” “he was killed by Ultron, wasn't he?” “Did she just say the name Ultron? Has that ever happened before? A reference to our reality.”

“No never” “hey I'll take a shift rocking the babies” “no I think you should leave” “oh, M/n, don't be like that” “who are you?” “M/n” “wow this is different” The Tv cuts and Monica is gone “what happened? Where she go?” “god not again” Darcy replays the footage back “who are you?” “M/n” “there's nothing here. One second, Monica is standing right there, and the next she isn’t. Someone is censoring the broadcast.”

“But where's Rambeau?” they suddenly both hear the alarm “Alert! Boundary has been breached! Alert! Boundary has been breached!”

Inside Westview

“Who are you?” “I don't..” you walk closer to her “who are you?” “M/n i'm just your neighbor.” “Then how did you know about Ultron?” you start to see the familiar red glow around your hands “You're not my neighbor. And you're definitely not my friend. You are a stranger and an outsider. And right now, you are trespassing here. And I want you to leave.”

Your familiar red glow wraps around Monica Sending her back through every wall and fence. You gulp “I… I…” you raise your hands and start to fix the hole on the wall as if it never happened. You walk over to your babies hearing them “M/n?” Vision comes in through the door turning back to his synthezoid form “where is Geraldine?” “oh she left honey. She had to rush home”

You turn around to look at Vision and you gasp making you look down “what? What is it? What's wrong?” Vision asks you concerned “Uh..” you slowly look up at him and see that he looks normal again “we don't have to stay here. We could go wherever we want” Vision tells you “no, we can't. This is our home” you move your hand to crease his cheek and he holds onto your hand “are you use”

“oh, don't worry darling. I have everything under control.” you walk over and grab Tommy “oh hi” you turn to Vision smiling “what should we watch tonight?” you walk over to the sofa, Vision sits next to you. He puts an arm around you.

Outside of Westview

“Monica, are you okay?” “it's M/n. its all M/n”

#Marvel x male!reader #Marvel x male reader #WandaVision x male reader #WandaVision x male!reader #Vision x male!reader #Vision x male reader #male!reader #male reader

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breakingsomething · 4 years

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the fall - part six (i'm taking the chapter titles seriously now, i swear)

basic summary: everyone's mad at anti and marvin.

trigger warnings: suicidal ideation, hospitals

tagslist, because i apparently have one of them now: @synonymsforzombie @spicydanhowell @skyewardlight @dreaming-of-stories-and-stars @cest-mellow

they recovered slowly. very, very slowly.

it was a long process for all of them. not just physically - in fact, the physical recovery was the easier part for most of them. chase and henrik were ok after a few weeks in hecate's hidden wing of the hospital (they really did think of everything), and marvin was let out after a couple days. luckily, the explosion hadn't been big enough to do any serious physical damage. no, most of the problems were mental.

henrik had it worst. seeing his big brother the way he was had absolutely crushed him, like it had set back all progress he'd made since anti had had him despite jackie not even laying a finger on him. he hardly spoke, and refused to trust any of his brothers, even chase. and despite marvin and henrik's rocky relationship, it broke his heart, seeing him in such a state. marvin couldn't help but feel it was partially his fault.

"i'm sorry," he mumbled to henrik a few days after he got out of hospital. he had barely spoken to henrik recently - with chase still in hospital, it was just the two of them in the house, which made for some awkward times. chase would have been disappointed in how little they were managing to get along. "really, i - i wish things could have been different."

henrik had been sitting at the kitchen table drinking a coffee, but upon hearing marvin's words, he leapt to his feet and got right into marvin's face. "why did you have to rescue him?" he spat, much to marvin's surprise. "why couldn't you have left him, why couldn't we have -"

he let out a frustrated scream and slapped his hands over his face before running from the room, no doubt to go cry silently in the bathroom and then pretend nothing was wrong afterwards. marvin didn't stop him. he couldn't act like he hadn't wondered the exact same thing himself.

why had he saved him? anti didn't mean anything to him. all anti had caused them was pain. he'd never done a good thing in his life, as far as marvin knew. why did he risk everything in his life to rescue him?

was it really because he hated to see anyone hurting, or was it just because it was jackie behind the knife? if it had been anyone else torturing anti, would he have stopped them?

marvin didn't like to think the answer was a straight up no. but it certainly seemed the most likely.

chase wasn't doing too well either, for mostly the same reasons. he had to stay in hospital a few days longer than henrik, and marvin only figured out why right after he himself was released from hospital. the doctors of hecate told him that chase had had an illegal acquired weapon on him, which they had confiscated. marvin had been confused until they told him it was a gun.

chase has gotten slightly upset when marvin confronted him about it.

"why the fuck does it matter why i had it?" he had shouted defensively. marvin motioned for him to be quieter so as not to disturb the doctors, but chase didn't listen, sitting right up in his bed and getting even louder. "i was going to protect us, you wouldn't have been complaining if i'd saved us with it -"

"chase, i'm not complaining," marvin tried to explain, sitting down on the chair next to his bed. chase just stared at him, eyebrows furrowed in distrust, shoulders at his ears. "i was just… you're legally not allowed to possess a gun, and the last time you had one, you -"

"you're legally not allowed to possess black magic!" chase shot back, drawing in on himself. marvin blinked, mouth parting slightly. "yet you do it anyway, and look where that got us!"

marvin was at a sudden loss for words. "that's - that's different and you know it," he said weakly.

chase scoffed. "oh, is it? if you didn't have black magic then jackie wouldn't have been able to pay off those guys and get that shitty fucking necklace! that's your fault, that's on you!"

once he'd finished his outburst, he sat back, eyes wide. marvin couldn't breath.

"chase - what do you mean, "those guys" - who?"

chase was quiet, breathing heavily.

marvin leaned over, grabbing chase's arm desperately. "chase, tell me!"

to marvin's horror, tears fell from his brother's eyes and he began to cry silently, head bowing to his chest and shoulders shaking. marvin let go of his arm and gently placed a hand on his back, rubbing it in circles to try and soothe him. "i - shit, bro, i'm sorry. i didn't mean to upset you."

"not you," chase choked out. "jackie, he - he explained everything to me and henrik, he… marvin, i'm sorry, i'm sorry."

through his tears, he told marvin everything, occasionally stopping to sob into his hands when it got to be too much to speak aloud. marvin just listened, feeling more and more numb as chase explained what jackie had done. by the time he was done, marvin had almost completely shut down, his stomach roiling. he stared ahead at the window, looking out at the grey skies and swaying trees and tops of monochrome buildings. he nodded, head spinning with all the knowledge he'd just been given.

"well, that explains the missing pages of my book," he mumbled, rubbing his arms to try and ground himself.

chase sniffled, rubbing his eyes. "do you have a copy?"

marvin nodded. "mhm. i kept a copy of everything. all my copies i kept in a secret place that i only trusted jackie with the knowledge of." he gave a choked laugh that sounded more like a sob. "oh, the irony of that, huh."

chase sat up again, looking at his older brother with big blue eyes. "i'm sorry," he murmured. "i - i don't understand why he did what he did. any of it. marvin, i'm sorry, i'm sorry…"

"not your fault," marvin reassured, to which chase promptly started sobbing again, and they sat in silence for a while.

after a few minutes, chase began to calm himself, grabbing at marvin's hands. "i'm not just sorry for that," he mumbled, and scrubbed at his face with his arm. "i'm - the gun. i had - i was - marvin, i was going to -"

"you don't need to tell me," marvin said hurriedly, suddenly unable to bear hearing chase say it. he held his brother's hands tightly, looking him right in the eyes. "we're gonna get you a new therapist, ok? i know you don't like dr kimble, and if he's not good for you, then we'll find someone else. someone you can really talk to. ok? ok?" he was rambling, tears rolling down his cheeks. "i'm sorry we didn't realize how bad it was getting, i'm so sorry, we should have known, i should have known -"

"no, it's - it's ok," chase mumbled. "i've not exactly been open about… anything. and, uh, being a father and running a happy youtube channel makes you wanna hide how you're feeling. i should have told you, though." he hiccuped and let out a shuddering sigh. "jackie… asked me a couple weeks ago, how i was doing. it's so weird to think that during that time, he was…"

he trailed off. marvin's vision blurred as he stared into the distance. even jackie had noticed. even jackie…

"oh, like you'd fucking notice! you don't ever notice anything!"

jackie's words washed over him, and he slumped over in his chair. yet another strike for the asshole marvin list.

wordlessly, he reached over and enveloped his brother in a hug, chase making a noise of surprise at the sudden contact. they stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other.

eventually, the three of them were at home again, henrik practically gluing himself to chase's side at times and disappearing at others, chase spending most of his time recording or in his room alone. it was miserable, as marvin had expected it would be. no one seemed to want to talk about what had happened, which he supposed was understandable. he was almost glad he had anti as a distraction.

anti was doing worst out of all of them. he had somehow gotten even sicker, and the doctors were mildly concerned. "his temperature has gone up to 104," said anti's main doctor, who's name was dr reid and was far too nice. marvin hated her. "it keeps spiking then going back down again at random times. there seems to be… no pattern to it, really. it's strange. he also refuses to eat, so we had to sedate him briefly and put him on fluids." she hesitated. "we believe he may be dealing with suicidal thoughts, as he has attempted to hurt himself and, uh, a few others at several points. would you know anything about this?"

marvin was too tired to deal with this. "listen," he started, turning to the surprised doctor. "anti may be our brother by blood, but he's an absolute fucking asshole. he kidnapped chase's kids for three weeks once. he held henrik in a fucking basement for two months. he's killed multiple people and put our cre- our fr- our other brother jack in a coma." he paused to take a breath, deliberately not looking dr reid in the eye. "i don't know why i saved him from ja- from - fuck, i don't know why i saved him. i don't fucking know anything anymore, apparently." he blinked rapidly, cursing himself for getting so easily upset. "but we don't want to see him, or deal with him, or anything. he's a terrible person and i honestly can't say i give two fucks about what happens to him now."

he could almost feel the doctor judging him. could feel her analyzing his words. then she said "ok," far too quietly, and turned to leave.

"wait!" marvin said without thinking, and she turned back to him, eyebrows raised. he blinked foolishly, clearing his throat. what had he called her back for?

"get him something electrical," he sighed, defeated. "something you don't mind being damaged. he needs to consume electricity to survive or something. probably why he's still so sick." he sighed. "figured that'd help you. if it doesn't, then i really don't know."

the doctor's lips turned up, and she nodded. "thank you, mr mcloughlin," she said. "we will certainly try that."

she left then, probably thinking marvin secretly did care about anti's wellbeing. he didn't. he just figured he'd make life easier for the poor fuckers that had to look after the bastard glitch on the daily.

really, marvin didn't give a shit what happened to anti, and he didn't want to deal with him. but he still called the hospital for updates on him, and hung around the hospital under the guise of visiting him when really, he just needed something to distract him from his grief. with his brothers so distant, it was really all he could do.

naomi was the only other thing keeping him sane.

when he wasn't at the hospital not visiting anti, he was usually at naomi's shop. she swore she didn't mind him being around so much, but he couldn't help but feel he was just annoying her. although really, marvin was starting to feel like that a lot lately.

"have you been feeling better?" naomi asked him one afternoon, about a month and a half after jackie's disappearance. she was sitting on the counter next to the cash register, cross legged with one of her plants on her lap. the store was technically open, but barely anyone ever came in here, so she and marvin just kind of did what they wanted until someone came in and they had to act professional. she even had marvin wearing an apron with a nametag so he could say he worked there. marvin joked that at this point he practically lived here as well as worked here, and naomi told him the shop barely made enough money for her alone. and of course he'd been joking, mostly, but he kind of wished he had an excuse to hang around the shop more without seeming like a clingy weirdo.

"don't know what you're talking about," marvin mumbled. he was standing on a stool on the other side of the shop, rearranging flowers on the top shelves. honestly, he practically did work here at this point. "i've been absolutely fine."

he heard naomi sigh noisily. "i am not a dumbass, pyro. i've known you long enough to know how you think. and you've absolutely been blaming yourself for what happened to jackie."

marvin didn't say anything. he kicked the stool over a bit, glad naomi couldn't see his face when he was looking at the flowers. he was long done rearranging them, but he didn't want to go and face his friend. "no i don't," he lied. "jackie made his choice. i don't give a shit."

"lies and more lies," naomi sang, and marvin rolled his eyes at the potted chrysanthemums he was shifting around uselessly. "marvin, i get it. you don't have to hide your feelings behind your manly bastard facade with me like you do with your brothers."

marvin barked out a shocked laugh. "wow. getting personal, are we?"

"simply stating facts," naomi said. "i've let you be all "oh, look at me, i'm marvin the magnificent and i'm a cocky asshole, i don't feel anything, blah, blah, blah" for ages now, pye. but fuck, there's got to be a point where you realize you need to stop."

marvin stayed very still. he didn't reply.

naomi continued. "you're one of my best friends, marvin, you know that. we've been watching each others back since you wandered in here with your paper cat mask and accidentally set the door on fire." she laughed at the memory before going quiet. "and i love you a lot, marvin. i want what's best for you. so seeing you hurting so badly and still saying nothing for the sake of your brothers… it… ahhh." she sighed. "i wish i could help you more."

when marvin still didn't reply, she swung herself off the counter onto the floor and walked through the shelves to get to where marvin was standing. "are you sulking? come on, you know i'm right. if you wanted, i could -"

she stopped when she saw that marvin was crying, elbows on the shelf and face buried in his hands to muffle the sounds. she softened instantly, gently placing a hand on one of his shaking shoulders. "oh, marvin," she murmured. "i'm sorry. here, come and - come upstairs. you can sit in the living room, i'll make you tea."

he let her wrap her arms around him and guide him up the stairs to naomi's place, all the while desperately wiping away the never ending stream of tears and stifling his sobs. the embarrassment of letting naomi see him in this state was already hitting him, but he had cried so many times in the past month that he was starting to not care. "wait, wait," he managed, grabbing the railing. "you're, uh, the shop's still open."

"i can close early," naomi said, too brightly.

"you can't afford to do that." and it was true. florists weren't exactly in extremely high demand, and he knew naomi didn't make a lot of money off the shop. "let's just sit on the stairs and then we can listen if there's a customer."

she slowly nodded, forcing a smile before plopping down at the bottom of the stairs. she patted the area next to her and he sat down, opening the door so they could see into the shop properly.

it was a few minutes until naomi broke the silence. "how's anti?"

marvin groaned. "don't give a shit. last i heard, he was still sick. still in hospital. he's got a lot of injuries to recover from, but he's not cooperating with the nurses." he went to run a hand through his hair before remembering he had it up in a bun and he'd just completely messed it up. for a moment he forgot naomi was even there, just frustratedly messing with his hair, until she cleared her throat and he jumped. she raised an eyebrow, amused, and marvin flushed.

"uh, yeah," he mumbled, glancing away. "i don't care anyway. i don't know what he's gonna do once he's recovered and i don't care. he's not coming anywhere near my family is all i know."

naomi shifted on the wooden stairs. "if you don't care, then why do you go visit him in hospital so much?"

"i don't go visit him," marvin said. "i go into the hospital, get an update on his condition, hang around for a bit until someone tells me i have to leave, ect ect."

naomi giggled. "well, what's the point of that? might as well just call." when marvin didn't answer, she cleared her throat and scooted slightly closer to him, bumping his shoulder. "hey. tell me what's up. i can see gears turning in the big head of yours."

marvin rolled his eyes and elbowed her, but felt a very small smile on his face. "shut it, you. and…" he considered telling her he was fine again, but figured that wouldn't fly. "i have a lot on my mind, ok? lotta stuff happening. you know, what with chase being suicidal, henrik losing his goddamn mind, finding out my closest brother was holding our other brother captive in a high security basement thing underneath a music shop and torturing him with black magic that he was apparently given from some secret dark organization that provided him with power in exchange for spells that he stole from me, all that shit." he gasped for air, realizing he'd been talking so fast that he hadn't breathed in about ten seconds. "you know, the usual."

he scrubbed at his face, embarrassed. it was a little while before naomi spoke. "i feel like, maybe, you should try and visit anti."

marvin whipped his head round, and was about to launch into a rant when naomi clamped her hand over his mouth. "no, let me speak. just let me speak for a second. and i swear to the gods, if you lick my hand, i will make tubers grow out your ears."

marvin raised an eyebrow, and naomi rolled her eyes. "ok. so… ok, this might be about to sound very condescending. does that make sense in english? i don't know. anyway." she hesitated. "have you and your brothers ever been… close to anti?"

she took her hand from his mouth, and marvin shook his head. "no. jack was, before anti put him in a goddamn coma. chase and henrik knew him, before, and look where it got them."

naomi bit her lip, nodding. "ok, ok." marvin knew she only knew a little bit about jack - marvin had told her that he was their brother too, and that he had been close to anti. he didn't dare to say much more in case he sounded like a weirdo under the delusion that jack had brought them all to life. that'd be fun to explain.

naomi sighed. "what do you know about anti?"

marvin blinked, scrunching up his face. "what do i - naomi, i've told you all i know!"

she held up her hands as a sign of surrender. "i know, but -"

"he's not normal, naomi!" marvin said loudly, and naomi reeled back slightly. "he's - i don't even know if he's human, he's like some kind of fucking monster! need i remind you that he's killed people? he's -"

naomi tried to interject. "ok, but, listen -"

and then marvin snapped. "no, no, no!" he clapped his hands to his face, groaning in frustration. "fuck, he's not someone you can just reason with, nai! ok? he's - he's hurt us many times, you can't just talk to him and expect it to be ok!"

"did you ever even try?" naomi said. "did any of you -"

"nai, the first time he met me, he stabbed me!" marvin cried. "i wouldn't have time to bloody reason with him -"

"ok, i'm just trying to find a way to help you!" naomi insisted. she leaned back, hands still beside her head. "i don't want any of you to hurt -"

"if any of us deserve to hurt, it's anti," marvin spat, leaping to his feet. he was suddenly so, so angry, practically shaking with everything he wanted to scream. "it's not fair, none of this is fair! i was put in the position of - my brother, jackie is my brother far more than anti ever will be, it's not fair that it was him! it's not fair!"

"marvin," naomi said gently, tapping his leg.

marvin gave a gasping sob. "it shouldn't have to be me! i shouldn't - jackie can't have just left me! he can't - he can't just go fucking insane and leave me here to clean up the mess he made!"

he buried his face in his hands, leaning against the wall. it was only after a minute of stifling rage at himself at and everyone else that he played back what he'd said and realized, head shooting up.

"shit!" he gasped. "nai, i'm sorry -"

"it's ok," naomi said, very quietly. she stood, not looking at marvin. "you were angry, you didn't mean it."

"no, no, that doesn't give me an excuse!" marvin said, hands flapping uselessly in front of him. "i know you don't like that word, i shouldn't have - oh, nai, i'm -"

"i think, maybe," she said, staring up at the door to her flat. "you should go and come back when you're not going to explode at other people."

marvin's shoulders sagged with guilt. he nodded quickly, already stepping down towards the bottom door and then glancing back up at naomi, who hadn't moved. "i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to take it out on you, i really didn't."

"that's ok," naomi mumbled, not facing him. "can you flip the sign to closed on the way out? i'll lock up. just… yeah."

she made her way up to the top of the stairs and disappeared from his view.

marvin just stood there for a moment. then he did what she'd asked, burning with self hatred like all the anger he'd felt just minutes before was now being directed inwards at himself.

that one should count for at least three strikes on the asshole marvin list, he thought bitterly as he left the shop and the cold air hit him. he knew about naomi's past and why she didn't like that word, and yet - fuck, he was such an idiot.

it was summer. yet the shameful walk home was colder than he'd felt all year.

a few days later, he made another decision.

this was definitely a dumb idea, and if he was being honest, it was partially made out of boredom. he hadn't spoken to naomi since he'd yelled at her, having been too afraid to go round the shop or call her in case she was still angry at him. like a coward. chase was rarely in - he was mostly out god knows where, probably filming with his cameraman daniel and the rest of his crew, and henrik wasn't speaking to marvin either. marvin had spent his time sulking, avoiding calls from kazuki and staying in his room away from henrik. it was pointless, and boring, and marvin just wanted something to do, even if that something was visiting anti in hospital.

the receptionist recognized him instantly and nodded at him as he came in. marvin nodded back, saying hello to the nurses he recognized, until he came right outside anti's room.

"excuse me," came a voice, and marvin whipped round to see dr reid, smiling softly. "hey. sorry for startling you. are you going inside?"

marvin nodded. "yeah, uh… yeah, i am," he mumbled, staring at his feet. "apologies for snapping at you the other day, doctor. i'm under a lot of stress, which obviously isn't an excuse, but -"

"it's alright, mr mcloughlin," she said, shaking her head and chuckling. "i've heard much worse. go inside if you want. are you alone?"

he paused before nodding. "yeah, i'm alone," he said quietly. "don't think my brothers really want to visit."

she nodded along with him. "understandable."

he was procrastinating going inside, he knew. dr reid probably knew too, but said nothing. marvin took a deep breath and opened the door, cautiously stepping inside.

anti looked to be asleep, curled up under a blanket on the bed. marvin took a few hesitant steps forward, noticing as he got closer how sick anti looked. his right arm was wrapped in a cast, and his hair was even longer looking than when marvin had last seen it, spread out on the pillow. he was extremely pale, his freckles almost unseen, and he had big bags under his eyes and a nasal cannula on. the two most unusual thing was that his beard was entirely gone, as was the signature wound on his neck. his face and neck looked almost empty without it.

"we had to help him shave in order to properly deal with the wounds on his face," dr reid explained from where she'd suddenly appeared beside him. "it seemed that they were already dealt with in part by - uh, yes. you're also lucky you got charlotte to look him over, or his arm fracture could have gotten worse and may have healed wrong, resulting in infection or worse. she - it appeared she also managed to fix the wound on his neck, the older one. we have no clue why it hadn't healed previously, but it was nothing a bit of healing couldn't fix."

marvin had no clue who charlotte was. he assumed she was the doctor naomi had gotten to look over anti while he tried to find his brothers. "mhm," was all he could manage to say. "can you, uh… can you go?"

she nodded and left the room, leaving marvin and anti alone. marvin was already beginning to regret coming here as he walked over and gingerly sat down in the plastic chair beside anti's bed. with his beard gone, he looked about ten years younger. marvin snorted at the sight.

he wondered what henrik and chase would say if they knew what marvin was doing right now. he wondered what jack would think if he could see anti in the state he was in. jack, who...

anti stirred, making a small noise in his throat. marvin leaned back, hardly daring to breath in case he woke. after a moment, anti went silent, and marvin decided that yes, this was definitely a bad idea. as he was standing up to leave, however, his chair creaked and anti's eyes flew wide open.

marvin stayed very still as if anti were an animal that could only detect him if he moved.

anti blinked, raising his left hand to clumsily sign. "j-a-y?" he signed, eyebrows furrowed.

marvin shook his head, stepping back towards the door. "nope. i'm not, uh, whoever you think i am. i'm leaving, didn't mean to come in here. sorry, bye."

"j-a-y," anti insisted, and struggled to sit up in the bed. his body began to glitch wildly the more he tried to move, and marvin could hear the hum of static from all round. he held up both hands, still creeping backwards.

"sorry," marvin said. "sorry."

he was about to slip out when anti signed something that made marvin pause.

"what was that?" he said slowly, closing the door again. anti did it again; his left hand making a "d" shape and tapping on his right wrist. marvin didn't know the sign, but he was sure he could guess.

"dapper," he murmured, and the reaction in anti was immediate. he nodded quickly, the sound of static spiking.

marvin rolled his eyes. "ugh," he groaned dramatically, before walking back over and plopping down on the chair again.

"dapper's not here," he said, in a mocking, babying tone. anti didn't seem to notice, his eyes wide with fever. they were a bright blue at the moment, for whatever reason. "dapper is all gone, don't you remember? you were the one to drive him away, after all."

anti shook his head. "j-a-y," he signed, and his head flopped down against the pillow again. he was breathing heavily, like he'd just run a marathon. marvin watched him curiously, titling his head.

"wow, you are really sick," he said, resisting the urge to laugh. he couldn't help but feel slightly bad for the glitch; all that power he'd had over them, drained away. maybe he didn't feel too bad. "maybe we should just kill you while we have the chance."

anti's eyes fluttered closed, and he gave a small nod. "maybe," he signed, his hand shaky. "might as…" he trailed off, hand falling to his chest.

marvin raised an eyebrow. "are you coherent now? gonna say something that makes sense?"

anti flipped him off weakly, and marvin laughed. "alright, guess that's a clear enough message."

"here to mock me?" anti signed slowly. "b-i-t-c-h."

marvin leaned back in his chair, sniggering. "that's just sad. where's all your usual pizzazz, anti? come on."

"up your -" anti started coughing before he could finish that sentence, slapping his hand over his mouth. marvin just watched, not certain if he was supposed to do anything.

"are you ok?" he asked. then, because he needed to add a sarcastic element to it, "are you gonna live?"

anti flipped him off again before sinking back down on the bed weakly. his face was screwed up in pain, and he was biting his lip so hard marvin could see blood. he suddenly felt slightly bad for making fun of him.

"water," anti signed, pointing to the bedside table marvin had his arm propped up against. he hesitated before handing him the plastic cup, watching him try to take it with shaking hands.

"do you… need some help there?" marvin asked uncertainly. this whole thing was starting to become a lot weirder than he'd wanted. with everything he said and did, he kept thinking of his brothers and what they'd think of him right now. he pushed the thoughts away and focused on anti, who was rapidly shaking his head. he lifted the cup up and promptly dropped it, groaning as the water soaked into the bed and his black t-shirt.

"well done," marvin said. anti flashed him a look, a spark of his old rage lighting up in his eyes as he hit the button to call the nurses with far more force than necessary. then he wrapped his arms around his stomach and curled up so his head was almost touching his knees.

marvin sighed. "do you want me to stay here?"

anti didn't move to answer. marvin made a face, feeling slightly awkward as a nurse marvin didn't recognize came in, flashing him a small smile before walking round the side of the bed. "are you alright? ah, you've spilled - it's ok, although you know you're not supposed to try and drink without help. here, shift over, i'll get your sheets."

anti rolled his eyes in marvin's direction, and moved over towards him so the nurse could take the blankets off. marvin hadn't ever seen anti in short sleeves before, except in his original videos (which jackie showed him), and he was surprised to see raised scars over the areas where jack's tattoos were. anti saw him looking and flipped him off a third time, to which marvin snorted. "you ever gonna come up with a better response?"

"want me to break your nose and force it into your mouth down your throat?" anti signed painstakingly. marvin couldn't help but giggle.

"is that possible?" he asked.

anti shrugged and fell back against the pillows, sweaty hair falling in his face. marvin was about to reach out and stroke the hair away before reminding himself that this wasn't jamie, wasn't jackie, wasn't chase or henrik. he clasped his hands in his lap, suddenly feeling sick.

"i think i'll go," he murmured, standing too suddenly. "thank you, nurse, uh, but i gotta -" he clicked his fingers and pointed them towards the door.

"oh, of course," the nurse said, nodding as the folded up the blankets in her arms. "will we see you tomorrow? it's extended visiting hours then."

marvin glanced back at anti, who was curled up again, looking half asleep. he glanced up just slightly to raise an eyebrow, and despite it all, marvin could see the smallest hint of the old anti in his face.

"yeah," marvin said, and anti's eyes gleamed with a smirk. "i think maybe you will."

#jacksepticeye #boop writes #marvin the magnificent #antisepticeye #naomi gudmundson #the fall

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justanotherlifeff · 4 years

Text

Levi Ackerman × reader

Genre: Angst, Hurt/comfort, Fluff, matured themes, slowburn

Warning: There's mentions and descriptions of underage rape and suicidal themes and self harm.

Levi POV

At the moment, I was in the Trost district with Pastor Nick. I showed him the evacuation of people from Wall Rose in Ehrmich district last night. It made him talk about a certain Krista Lenz from 104 training Corps. (Y/N) must know her. Pixis was in Trost and Erwin asked me to be there with him as the Garrison was involved in finding the hole in the wall. Now that I was sure about what to do about (Y/N), all I could do was wait for her to return. I didn't distrust her abilities. I knew she was a very efficient and lethal soldier, however, the only thing bothering me were her injuries.

She kept the sprained leg in check with a bandage but how long would that hold up? In case of combat, it would be a nuisance and decrease her abilities by a lot. There are possibilities that she won't be able to walk for a long time if she puts too much strain on herself. I wasn't a doctor but watching Hanji heal so many of our comrades gave me a vague idea on such things.

I was sitting on the cart with the pastor and talking to some military police soldiers when a messenger came rushing and said "THE ADVANCE PARTY IS BACK! SOMEONE TELL COMMANDER PIXIS!". I wanted news about (Y/N) as soon as possible but I decided that looking too eager would raise suspicion. After Pixis and Erwin came down from the wall, the messenger continued, "W-we found no holes or any other irregularities in the wall.. B-but the situation has turned into an emergency! On our way to report to Trost district, we encountered a Survey Corps team led by Hange! There were a number of unequipped recruits and one equipped but badly worn out recruit from the 104th with them, but among them three of those soldiers were titans!" the messenger quivered.

She was alive. The soldier mentioned to Erwin that they were the Colossal titan but the fight didn't go well. "Was anyone killed?" I asked the soldier. "Yes heichou. One member from the Garrison was eaten by the colossal titan. Many are injured from the steam released by the colossal titan." the soldier quivered. Now I was sure that she was alive. Now I have the chance to make things right when she returns.

A few hours back:

(Y/N) POV

We were travelling to the wall to be safe from any remaining titans on the ground. Garrison members were gonna meet us up there with food and information about the location of the hole in the wall. I was tired and hungry because the last time I ate anything was bread that I bought from a store inside wall Sina on my way to the safehouse. I fought all night with only an hour of sleep. I felt dizzy and passed out on the cart while we were on our way to the walls.

My parents were going on a date. I was 8 years old. They kept a babysitter to take care of me. His name was Jacob. My parents went on dates once a week. They used to keep this lovely lady named Miriam who used to read books to me but then she stopped coming and Jacob replaced her instead. My parents told me that they will keep me safe and I trusted them but I felt uncomfortable with Jacob around. He used to hug me for too long, ask to kiss his lips because he said I would be a bad girl if I didn't listen and my parents will leave me back to that horrible place.

My parents said that Jacob is a nice person and I felt like they really would leave me if I didn't listen to him. So I did what he asked for the last two months. Today it was the same but something felt different about Jacob today. I was in the kitchen eating an apple when someone hugged me from behind. I didn't do anything because Jacob always did that. I was always uncomfortable about it but I didn't dare to say anything. Jacob made me sit on his lap this time. He didn't do it before but it made me more uncomfortable.

Suddenly he turned me around to face him and horror struck me when I saw his face. His round fat face had that look which I saw too many times in that place they rescued me from. Before I could react, my clothes were torn, my hands were held firmly, my legs were stuck between his and I saw his penis was already out. I knew what was going to happen. "Not again" I thought. My eyes were tearing up. I felt helpless until I remembered that there was a knife on the kitchen table just behind me. I could use it to threaten him and get out of the house.

"You did all kinds of things in the underground didn't you? Well, lowlife sluts like you deserve that. I wonder why Mr and Mrs Hertz don't use you the way you are supposed to be used." he said touching me all over. "He's wrong" my mind screamed. "I won't be touched again" my mind kept screaming."Not today" I snarled in my mind and hit his head with mine as hard as I could. It hurted me like hell and I felt dizzy. It made his hands loosen but not his legs and I knew I couldn't reach the knife this way. I had to escape this.

"YOU BITCH" he shouted and before he held me again, I stabbed two fingers from two hands in his eyes. This involuntary movement was caused by the fact that I was scared he might hurt me much more due to this act of resistance. He shrieked and I got scared as I realised what I had and curled my fingers into a fist. His eye balls came out and were hanging by two nerves in each eye socket. He let go of me completely and was shrieking and withering.

I ran to the kitchen table to get the knife as I was scared of him and what I had done. He was screaming in pain and saying words that I couldn't make out. I assumed that he was cursing at me. Suddenly, I felt calm. I stopped him. I remembered everything he said moments ago. Did I deserve what he was about to do to me? I remembered things that were done to me. How much it hurted. How the pain never stopped. How I grew used to the pain. Maybe I did deserve it. But that doesn't mean I can't avoid it. With the knife in my hand, I approached the withering disgusting man.

"(Y/N)! Wake up!" I heard Hanji shout. I opened my eyes to see the massive wall. A lift was getting everyone up on the wall. I remembered the dream I had. It was a memory that I had always wanted to forget but never managed to. I suppose deep down, I didn't want to forget because I didn't regret it one bit. "Is there food up there?" I asked Hanji. "Yes the Garrison soldiers are supposed to bring food for you lot. It's field rations so don't expect anything tasty" she told me with a smile and went back to check on the others.

The sun was up properly. I assumed it had been an hour or two. My leg still was hurting but I could walk. I walked on to the lift and it was pulled up. The view from above the wall was as spectacular as always. I sat on an edge waiting for the Garrison's advanced unit to arrive. A few minutes later, they arrived with news that there was no hole in the wall. As they were discussing it, I waited for them to bring the food out as I was famished and weak.

Eren was talking to Reiner and Bertholdt about something and he looked kinda flustered. I was looking at them when suddenly Reiner removed his bandages and his hand was steaming like Ymir. I stood up shocked. Does that mean Reiner is a titan shifter? Suddenly I saw Mikasa charge at Reiner and Berthold slashing Reiner's hand and some of Berthold's neck. She charged at them again shouting at Eren to run and just then, they transformed into the armoured and Colossal titan.

I stood there dumbstruck as the armoured titan grabbed Eren. I knew I couldn't fight so I tried to run as far as possible from the colossal titan. My sprained leg made it difficult but I was doing my best. I saw Eren transform in Reiner's hand and fight him. I decided to process all that information later as I had to survive first. I had to see Captain Levi again.

The colossal titan threw a fist on the wall and I was far enough to not get hit. I didn't have any gas in my 3DMG so I knew I couldn't fight anyway. Running was my only option. I kept running away from it, making as much distance as I could between us. Hanji and the others were trying to fight it but just like the last time, it emitted a gust of steam making it impossible to get close and giving everyone burns.

That's when everyone went to fight Reiner but none of their blades were working because of his hardened skin. I regretted the fact that all I could do is watch. "Just like that day" I thought, remembering the dream I had earlier. But this time I knew better. I couldn't make reckless decisions because for the first time, I had something to lose.

It seemed like an eternity of sitting down. The fight was over. Eren and Ymir were kidnapped by Reiner and Berthold. I saw everything and couldn't do anything about it. I was given food and water and I waited for someone to come and take me back to the base. I was tired and my body ached. I wanted to go home.

Five hours later:

I dozed off for a while but the wall wasn't too comfortable. I had a dreamless uncomfortable nap before waking up to the sound of horses. Other survey Corps soldiers were here along with the military police. Levi Heichou wasn't here presumably because of his injury. I was able to go back to a remote cabin where Eren and Historia/ Krista would be hidden. Apparently they are a part of the new Special operations squad. When I came in, I found Levi Heichou sitting on the dining table which is the first room after getting inside the cabin. He had stacks of papers that he was working with. As soon as I got in, he looked at me.

We made eye contact for a brief moment till he looked back at the paper he was working on and stated, "Take a bath. You look like shit. After that, come back and report everything to me. The bathroom is on the second floor, and your room is the one to the right. You're the second in command of my squad now so you will get your own room.". I murmured a "Yes heichou" and headed to the place he mentioned.

So, he decided to make me second in command now? He did mention that I had the capability to get that position. I hoped it had nothing to do with our conversation that day and everything to do with my abilities. I felt weak and dizzy after taking a bath but I went downstairs to report everything. Levi Heichou was sipping a cup of tea while I briefed onto everything. When I told him about my titan kill count, he mentioned that it was quite impressive that I was able to do that and I might break squad leader Mike's record this way. I heard from him that squad leader Mike was dead.

When I was done, and leaving, he said, "(Y/N), wait.". There was something about his voice that I didn't recognise. It wasn't his usual bored voice. It was booming, demanding and powerful but it had something else. He stood up, looked straight at my eyes as if to assess something. Then he walked right at me and kissed me.

Levi POV

I thought all day about what to say to her. I couldn't deny my attraction towards her anymore. I just didn't care anymore about the complications. I couldn't stand the thought of her dying alone. I wanted to be there for her till the end, no, I needed to be there. I knew I had to man up and be there for her and face the consequences. The only problem was, till the last moment, I didn't know how to express it all. After she was done reporting, I asked her to wait. I stood looking at her trying to find a way to tell her how I felt about that morning and her in general but that's when I realised that I could show it to her instead of saying mere words.

I came to her trying to contain myself but when my lips met hers I lost all control and gave up all the passion and lust that was built up over time inside me ever since I laid my eyes on her. This beautiful strong creature squirming in my arms was everything I could ever ask for and the one thing I desired was to get lost into the bliss that I was in right now. Wait, why is she squirming?

I removed my lips from hers to find a scared crying (Y/N) trying to get out of my grasp. I quickly removed my hands from her waist as she looked at me with fear in her eyes. My heart sunk at the expression she gave me. I remembered what she said about her past and realised what grave mistake I made. "I'm sorry (Y/N). I just wanted you to know how I feel about that morning. It was wrong of me to behave so coldly with you that day. I'm not good with words so I thought I could show you how I feel. You understand that right? I'm sorry I got carried away. I understand if you don't feel the same way or if you want to take it slo.." before I could finish, her lips were on mine.

She wasn't going for a passionate or dominating kiss but rather something soft. I liked it for a change. I had never kissed a girl like that. She removed her lips after a few moments and I could clearly see the blush on her face. "I feel the same but please don't scare me like that. I avoided any physical intimacy for years and it is all very sudden for me. Please give me some time to process everything?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Okay. I can go by that pace. However, no one can know about us. You're my subordinate and not to mention you're a lot younger than me. The situation we are in is complicated enough and this will complicate things more. We have a lot of enemies now and I'm not talking about titans. If anyone knows, you could be a target and I don't want that. Do you understand?" I explained to her. She gave a weak smile at me and answered "Yes I understand." "Go get some rest. I'll cook something up before the new squad arrives. They should be back by evening. Get up after a few hours and eat." I stated and she replied with a "Yes heichou" before going upstairs. I needed to ask her to call me just Levi when there was no one around.

To be continued...

Taglist: @kingtamakimurder @realityisoftendisapointing

#levi aot #levi heichou #levi ackerman #levi x fem!reader #levi×reader #captain levi #aot anime #aot fanfiction #aot #aot x reader #attack on titan #levi attack on titan

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kpop---scenarios · 5 years

Text

Bad Habits

This was requested by a lovely lady!

Moodboard was done by the beautiful: @lovely-kpopp-blog

Pairing: Chanyeol x reader/ Siwon x reader/ Surprisr x reader.

Warning: Cheating, SMUT, light stalking, swearing.

Word Count: 11.9k

Everyone has bad habits, whether its smoking, drinking, drugs, or stealing.

And others, like you, it just so happens to be sleeping with a man who is engaged. You never planned on being a mistress, in fact you had always hated those who cheated, but everything that happened in your life led you up to where you are now.

Always remember, there’s two sides to every story.

All your life you’d looked up to the man who raised you, your father. He was a king to you, the one who would always be there for you, the one who scared away the monsters. He was the one who protected you from all the scary things as you grew up. He was there for you everyday when you got home from school with a warm smile on his face and his arms outright, ready to embrace you.

Until one day he wasn’t there. And the next day he wasn’t. It had been months since you had seen your father, and your mother refused to talk about it. She would only shake her head and weep if you brought him up, so eventually you stopped asking. Until about a year later, when you were 18, you had gotten a phone call from him. He wanted to see you and explain his absence. You were hesitant, rightfully so bit you ultimately agreed to meet him.

A part of you was excited to finally see him after countless returned letters, and unanswered phone calls. You arrive at the coffee shop he suggested meeting at and the first thing you see is a smile that you would recognize anywhere. Your father, was laughing with another woman. He had his arms wrapped around a woman that was not your mother, and that’s when it hit you.

He really had been cheating on your mom. He had really left her for a younger woman. You wanted to deny it all this time, refusing to believe that your father would do anything like that. Until now, when it smacked you in the face and you couldn’t fight back the tears. As your father waved at you, anger immediately took over your body. You stomped over there, the tears flowing. Your dads smiling face faltered to confused and upset, seeing you in the state you were in.

“Y/N, what’s.. “ he began before you cut him off.

“So this is why you disappeared? You left mom and I for some fucking hussy" you spit, gesturing to the woman who now looked uncomfortable.

“Its not what you think" your father tried to explain. “Just let me explain" he tries.

“Fucking save it" you spit. “I don’t want to see you ever again" you cry. Turning around you storm out of the shop, running down the sidewalk, blinded by your tears.

You hadn’t seen your father in 7 years. It’s not as though he hadn’t tried to reach out to you. He tried constantly for the last 7 years, including the other day, but you refused.

Now you were happy. You had put enough of your past with your father behind you to have a relatively healthy relationship and did your best to trust him. You and Chanyeol had been together for almost 3 years and you’d never been happier.

You had just transferred to a new company, and he was the first person to show you around and be nice to you. After that first day, you always ate lunch together, you went out on weekends, went for coffee. You two were constantly together. You had fallen fast and easily for him. You were hesitant when he asked you to be his girlfriend because you weren’t sure if you could trust him.

Would he hurt you? Would he treat you right? Would he leave you? All those questions swarmed your head, but despite all your hesitations, you said yes. And you were so glad you did.

The life you had built with him was so amazing. You were beyond happy and could see a life going further with him. He had recently been bringing up the possibility of marriage and children and your heart fluttered. You were happy.

You were, until tonight.

You had been working a little later than usual, It was a Sunday, but your boss had needed you to come in and help him with some case studies. Being a secretary to a lawyer was exhausting. You worked long hours, most days. However, he was going away for a few weeks so that meant you had some paid time off, and you couldn’t wait. You sent Chanyeol a quick message telling him you’d be home around 9pm and he replied he wanted to have a movie night and cuddle. After the week you had, you looked forward to it immensely.

To your surprise, you had finished work rather early, around 7pm. You happily packed up your belongings and head home on the bus. You only lived a few blocks away from work, which was handy but you weren’t in the best neighborhood so the bus was a safer option for you.

You were excited as you walked up the stairs to your front door.

You were excited as you turned your key in the lock.

You were happy as you slipped off your heels and your jacket, before reaching around and unhooking your bra, taking it off and throwing it onto the couch.

You were happy until you noticed another bra on the couch. One that definitely did not belong to you.

You were happy until you heard the familiar moans of Chanyeol. Him growling the same words he said to you as he fucked you. The same names he called you in and out of bed.

You burst through the door, to find Chanyeol fucking some girl from behind.

More specifically, your best friend.

“Y/N. It’s not what it looks like" she cries as Chanyeol pulls out of her quickly, scrambling off the bed.

“I can explain baby" he huffs, finding anything he could use to cover himself up with.

At this point you were numb. You just stared at the two people in the world you thought would never hurt you. The two people you thought you could trust with anything. They knew your past. They knew you had a hard time trusting people, but these were the only two that you had opened up too, spilling your deepest, darkest secrets. You told everything to them.

“How could you?” you ask. You want to cry. You want to scream, but you couldn’t. “After everything I’ve told you. You knew everything about my past and you go and do this? The two people I’ve trusted the most betray me in the worst possible way.” You whisper.

“Please Y/N, please let me explain. It was a mistake. It was never supposed go happen" Minsoo, your best friend.. ex best friend cries.

“Really? Then what was supposed to happen?” you spit, the rage finally building up. You clench your fists, tightly. How dare they try to excuse this?

“He called me a few weeks ago to help him plan the proposal he was going to do.” she whispers.

“So it’s been going on a few weeks?” you scoff. “You claim you love me and want to propose and have fucking children with me, but you can’t keep your fucking cock in your pants?”

“She kissed me first! She said how she wished she had a man like me!” Chanyeol yells, in an attempt to defend himself.

“Why didn’t you just, I don’t know.. push her off? Or are you just fucking clueless?” you scoff. “And a man like him?” you ask, pointing to Minsoo. “So what, you just decide to take him for yourself like the greedy bitch you are?”

“I never meant too..” Minsoo begins before Chanyeol cuts her off.

“We can work through this.. all of us. We can put it behind us. We can get married and I will stay away from Minsoo" Chanyeol offers.

“Or.. you can both get fucked. Oh wait, looks like you’ve already done that.” You spit, storming out of the room.

Everything was blurry, you could barely see through your tears. Somehow you ended up a nightclub. The music blaring, women smiling as they danced on men, who would likely fuck them over.

As you ordered your fourth tequila shot, the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. What the fuck, is all you could think. You huffed as you pulled your phone out of your pocket.

71 missed calls. 104 new messages.

You read a few from Chanyeol.

Please baby.

I’m so sorry.

I love you.

And you read a few from Minsoo.

It was a mistake.

I can’t lose you over a guy.

Please talk to me.

You scoffed at both of them. They were likely still at the apartment, telling each other what to say. You wished them well. You were sure she would end up knocked up by him, he would cheat again and leave her to take care of their kid. They had a bright future together.

Tossing your phone on the bar, you groaned as you dropped your head into your hands. You wanted to scream and curse, but instead you looked up and ordered another shot.

“You okay?” the man beside you asked, sipping on his drink.

“No" you say, your eyes still shut.

“Ahh. Trouble in paradise?” he chuckles.

“Paradise?” you laugh. “You mean hell? I caught my boyfriend and my best friend fucking in my bed tonight.” You declare.

“Fuck, they sound shitty" He sighs. “Bartender, another round for my friend here" he says.

You look at him, seeing an extremely handsome face. His suit was tight, showing off his large muscle. “Shitty? Try tasteless, foul, sleazy scums of the earth.” You say.

He laughs. “Fair enough. Could I interest you in a dance? Maybe take your mind off things, at least temporary” he offers.

“I don’t even know your name" you say, looking him straight in the eyes.

“Choi Siwon" he answers, extending his hand to you.

“Y/N L/N" you say, returning the shake. “If you buy me another drink, I’ll consider it" you smirk, raising an eyebrow.

“Bartender. Two more shots please” he smiles, his eyes never leaving your face.

Twenty minutes later, you’re doing your best to casually walk out of the men’s bathroom, your lipstick smeared and your hair a mess. You try to adjust yourself, to make it look like you hadn’t just been fucked hard.

As you’re walking through the small hallway, a smile forms on your face as your think about what happened only minutes ago, and what led up to that moment.

*You and Siwon taking a shot, your eyes never losing contact.

You licking your lips as you stare at his.

Him cocking his eyebrow as he puts his hand on your thigh, slowly rubbing his fingers up and down.

You getting off the barstool, excusing yourself to the bathroom and ‘accidently’ rubbing your ass against him. You peering over your shoulder as you walk away, your hips swaying.

Siwon grinning as he quickly follows you.

Him grabbing your shoulder and spinning you around before you’re able to walk into the women’s bathroom, nudging his knee in-between your legs, your wrist pinned against the wall.

“You sure about this?” he had asked you.

“Fuck me" you whined.*

Sitting on the same barstool, your pussy aches for more as you think about how he sat you on the sink and hiked up your skirt before moving your panties to the side. His tounge licking you, his mouth sucking your clit. The way he only undid his pants enough to allow his cock to spring free, before entering you raw. The way his large hand clamped itself over your mouth, as he pounded his cock into you.

You ached for more. However, he had disappeared after you had left the bathroom. What ever happened to the dance you were supposed to get? You assumed he had just gotten what he wanted and you were now going to head back to your apartment to deal with the shit show that was your life now. Nodding at the bartender, you just want to pay your tab now and get this shitty conversation over as quickly as you could.

“I’d like to pay my tab" you half slur.

The bartender chuckles. “It’s been taken care of, by your friend. This is also for you" he tells you, sliding a napkin towards you.

Opening it up you see a phone number with a short message. ‘Let’s do it again. 2262836375. - S'

A smile plasters over your face as you shove the note into your bra, getting up to head out. Arriving back at your apartment, you’re met by a crying Chanyeol and Minsoo, both still crying but finally dressed.

“Is there a reason you’re both still crying on my fucking couch?”

“We’re too distraught to do anything else” Minsoo cries.

“Well you can both do whatever the fuck you want. I’m grabbing your shit and you can get out.” You snap at Chanyeol, walking into the bedroom.

You’re immediately disgusted as you stare at the bed you once shared with Chanyeol. It was once a special place for the two of you, the secrets you shared, the laughter, the tears. It was all now tainted by the two people you trusted most. Now you were going to have to burn it. After grabbing everything he had left there, you roll his suitcase out into the living room, where the two are still sitting on the couch, crying.

“Please Y/N. I love you" Chanyeol says, looking at you with the puppy dog eyes that used to melt your heart.

And now you just felt rage. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have fucked my best friend. Sorry, ex best friend" you spit, glaring at Minsoo. “I hope the two of you have a terrible fucking life together. You deserve it. Now get the fuck out" you snap, practically shoving the two of them out the door. “Fuck you" you smile at both of them before slamming the door.

You slide down, bringing your knees to your chest. You didn’t want to cry, you were a badass bitch. What you needed was another distraction. You pulled the napkin from your bra, looking at the note from Siwon again. You pulled out your phone, deleting all the messages from Chanyeol and Minsoo that were begging you to forgive them. You type in Siwon's number, sending him a quick text, wondering why he gave you his number after he disappeared right after he got what he wanted.

[2:05am] You: Why would you leave your number, if you just left right after we were finished? – Y/N

[2:07am] Siwon: I didn’t disappear, you left me. I felt rather hurt and betrayed, if I’m being honest.

[2:09am] You: When I turned around you were gone. If anyone should be hurt and betrayed, it should be me.

[2:10am] Siwon: Let me make it up to you. Dinner this Thursday?

You smiled as you reread his text. You really shouldn’t be doing this, considering you just got out of a serious relationship. However, what better way to get over someone than to get under someone new?

[2:12am] You: Sounds good.

[2:14am] I’ll text you details later. Get some sleep, beautiful.

You plugged your phone in before grabbing spare blankets and a pillow from your closet. You would have to get rid of your bed tomorrow and all your favorite sheets and pillows.

Monday you had a hard time concentrating due to your phone constantly buzzing with pleas from Chanyeol for you to just sit down and meet with him. You finally turned your phone off. You didn’t want to see him face to face yet.

Tuesday was the same.

And so was Wednesday.

You finally decided Thursday you would meet up with him after work, since dinner with Siwon wasn’t until 8pm. You sat in the café with your hands wrapped around a coffee mug. You had gotten there 20 minutes early and had yet to have a drink of your almost cold beverage. You felt like your stomach was going to drop from the anticipation of Chanyeol’s arrival.

The moment you saw him, you felt like you might actually end up punching him in the face. He looked worn out. His hair was a mess and greasy, the bags under his eyes made him look like he hadn’t slept in days.

“Hi” he whispered as his slide into the seat across from you.

“Hello" you answered back, avoiding eye contact.

You stared at your mug, finally decided to at least have a sip. Your mouth was dry. “I don’t know what you want me to say to you. And there isn’t really much you can say to me to make this better, Chanyeol.”

“I know I can’t make it better. But I want to at least try to have you forgive me, or explain my actions.” He says, maintaining eye contact.

“Say what you need too"

“I firstly want to apologize again. It was never my intention to do that. You need to know, I do truly love you. I did try to refuse and get her to stop but she told me you were seeing someone else and that it could be payback.” He tells you. “I realize now she just said that to get me into bed. I’m not excusing my actions, I should have known better"

“Yeah you should have. I never cheated on you. I never once even thought about it. You knew how I felt about cheating. How I watched my mom suffer because of my fathers infidelity.”

“I never wanted to make you feel like that. At the time I was hurt and confused and thought of it as revenge.” Chanyeol whispers.

“Well that’s just stupid. I thought you knew me better than that. Guess I was wrong.” You say.

“Is there anyway we can start over? Clean slate?” he wonders.

“No. There’s nothing you could ever do to make me trust you again. Frankly I don’t even want to be around you. Goodbye, Chanyeol" you finish, standing up and walking out the door with your head held high.

Going home, you sat on your couch for a few minutes, trying to process what he had said. Could you trust him again? Possibly. Did you want to trust him again and be with him? Absolutely not.

Standing up, you take a few deep breaths, getting rid of the sadness you were feeling over a lost 3 year relationship. You walked towards your room, plugging your phone in and began to play a playlist that made you feel good. You opened up your closet, deciding what to wear tonight.

You had no idea where the two of you were going, so you opted for a red dress with spaghetti straps and an open back. It fell mid thigh and hugged your curve perfectly, while the back was a little looser. You decided on no panties tonight. Dancing your way into the bathroom, you sing along to one of your favorite songs, All I Wanna Do by Jay Park. You did a smoky eye and red lipstick to complete your look.

You took your hair from the bun you had it in for work, letting your hair flow down into a natural look. Glancing at the clock, you see it’s about 20 minutes until your date. You walk to your phone, checking to see is Siwon had messaged you, and he did. He told you the location was a surprise but he asked for your address to pick you up. You sent him your location before heading back to your closet to pick a pair of shoes. You decided to go for a pair of black pumps that accentuated your legs.

Grabbing your purse, you head down to the front of your building to wait for his arrival. A part of you wanted to go to dinner, get drunk and eat some good food with some pretty good company. But the other part of you, the dirty girl wanted to have Siwon in between your legs again, instead. As a car pulled up, the passenger side window rolled down, revealing a smiling Siwon.

“Well hello there"

“Hi" you smile, climbing into the front seat.

“You look amazing” Siwon purrs, eyeing your body.

“Well thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself" you say, buckling yourself in. “So where are we going?” you ask. Your curiosity was definitely getting the best of you.

“It’s a surprise" he winks.

“I also have a surprise for you" you say in a seductive whispe, feeling brave. New you, new attitude.

"Oh? And what’s that?” he asks.

“I’ll have to show you" you smirk, grabbing his hand from his lap while you part your legs, placing his hand on your bare pussy. “Surprise” you say.

You didn’t know what it was about Siwon. You had only known him for a few days, your relationship with Chanyeol freshly over, and here you were being a hoe for a man you didn’t know at all. But yet, you couldn’t help it. He brought the dirty girl in you out to play. The adventurous one that you couldn’t be with Chanyeol because he was to nervous about being caught. You needed the excitement of possibly being caught, you loved the thrill of fucking anywhere you wanted. And that’s what you got with Siwon.

“Oh fuck. You’re a dirty one, aren’t you?” he asks with a smirk. “You’re going to be the death of me" he says, as he begins rubbing your clit. “I don’t think we’re going to make dinner" he growls, pulling the car over on the side of a relatively busy street. “Backseat" he demands.

Giddy like a child on Christmas morning, you got out of the front, moving your way to the backseat. Before you can even close the door to the backseat, Siwon has your dress almost ripped off. His moves your bra out of the way, sucking harshly on one of your nipples as he massages the other one. You throw your head back as you begin to palm his already hard cock through his pants. Likely from your stunt a few minutes ago.

“What do you want baby?” he growls, nipping at your earlobe.

“Your cock. Let me suck your cock" you moan, needing to feel it down your throat.

“Fuck" he says, undoing his pants and yanking them down quickly. His cock springs free, and you immediately lean forward, licking the red tip. “Shit. Don’t tease" he begs, bucking his hips, needing you to suck it harder.

You wrap your lips around his cock, swallowing as much of him as you can take before bringing your head back up, keeping your cheeks sucked together. Using your tounge you swirl it around as you continue to bob your head up and down, while massaging his balls.

“Fuck" he hisses, bucking his hips once again, shoving his cock down your throat even more. Before you can lick your lips, his mouth is on yours, and he’s leaning you back. He grabs your legs, bringing them up as high as he can before lining himself up with your entrance.

“Dirty girl" he purrs, slowly entering you. His cock stretching you out, filling you up more than you ever have had before.

“Oh my god" you cry out, your eyes almost rolling to the back of your head. “Your cock feels so good" you moan, as Siwon begins thrusting himself into you.

“Do you want me to fuck you hard and fast?” he pants.

“Yes, please” you cry. Siwon slams his cock into you slowly but harshly, jolting your body with every thrust. You reach in between your legs, rubbing your clit, chasing the anticipated high you know is coming. Your legs stiffen as his grip tightens around your ankles, pounding into as hard as he can, needing his release just as much as you. His thrusts become erratic and slow down right as your orgasm washes through your body, tingling you everywhere, his following not far behind.

As Siwon pulls himself out of you, you both sat in the back huffing, your bodies sweating. “You’re going to be an adventure” he laughs. “I can feel it" he finishes, getting himself dressed as you put your dress back on. “Would you still like to go for dinner?” he asks, slipping his shoes on.

“Absolutely. I’m famished.” You smile, slipping your stilettos on before getting back into the front seat. Arriving at the restaurant, you immediately know the place.

Chanyeol took you here often. He always paid as he had a way better paying job than you. You groaned at the sight of it.

“What was that groan for?” he asks.

“This is a very expensive restaurant” you mutter. He laughs.

You like his laugh.

“It is” he states. “What’s the problem?”

“I can’t afford it" you say, embarrassed.

“Did you really think I was going to make you pay? I wouldn’t have asked you out if I expected you to pay for yourself. Order whatever your little heart desires. I got it" he winks, grabbing your hand to take you inside.

The two of you are seated in a semi private section, where it’s not so loud. As the waiter hands you your menu’s Siwon checks to see what kind of wine you like before ordering the most expensive bottle.

Chanyeol would always order what he liked and you would either have to drink it or just have your water. You smile as you read the menu. Finally you’d be able to order for yourself. It’s not that Chanyeol was controlling or abusive, he just had a habit of ordering for you while you were at restaurants. He always insisted you’d love what he picked and sometimes you did, sometimes you didn’t. He wanted you to try new things.

Your wine is poured for you, and you and Siwon place your orders. He orders another expensive thing, along with an appetizer for the two of you to share. Of course he made sure you liked what he picked before he ordered it. It was different, and you liked it.

“So what do you do to be able to afford such a luxury as a place like this?” you ask, taking a sip of your white wine.

“I’m a lawyer. Defense attorney” he tells you.

“Really? I work for a defense attorney, as his secretary.” You tell him.

“Who?”

“Kim Junmyeon" as the name slips from your mouth, Siwon’s face turns sour.

“You work for that fuckbag?” he scoffs. “He’s such an ass and well..” he pauses.

“Well what?” you ask.

“I’m not really supposed to say" he admits.

“Tell me" you pressure him with a dazzling smile.

“He’ll be getting fired, tomorrow actually" Siwon tells you.

“What? So I’ll be out of a job until they find someone new?” you ask, not really asking him but more yourself. “Well shit that sucks" you groan, drinking the rest of your wine in one sip.

“They’ve actually already found someone" he says, taking a sip of his drink.

“Who?” you ask.

“Me" he chuckles.

“You? You’re going to be my be my new boss?” you ask, trying not to choke.

He just nods his head.

“Well I guess this ends here. I can’t be fucking my boss" you say with a sigh.

“I’ll make an exception and let it slide. I’m sure you’ll be a very attentive secretary” he winks.

“I can assure you, I will be there for your every need" you say, licking your lips.

The two of you are there for a few hours, laughing, eating and just all around having a wonderful time. As Siwon gets up to use the bathroom, you hear someone clear their throat from beside your table. Looking up, you’re met with the angry eyes of Chanyeol.

“Who the fuck is that?” he snaps, quietly as to not make a scene.

“What does it matter to you?” You ask, looking past him, you see Minsoo sitting at a table by herself avoiding eye contact. You notice Chanyeol’s jacket on the chair across from her. The one you had gotten for him for his birthday last year.

“So what, are you two together now?” you ask, resting your chin on the palm of your hand.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you seem to have moved on, awfully quick.” He says. “Maybe she was right and you were fucking someone while we were together.” He snarls.

“Oh fuck off Chanyeol. It’s okay for you to be dating the girl you cheated on me with but god forbid I go on a date with someone" you scoff.

“When did you meet him?” he asks.

“The night I caught you fucking her" you say. “Anymore questions?”

“Did you fuck him that night?”

“Maybe I did. Why does it matter to you? Do you want to know all the details? How many times he made me cum? What do you want?” you snap.

“You’re such a fucking whore" he spits. Right as he finishes his sentence, Siwon was at the table.

“Is there a problem here?” he asks, his voice low and annoyed.

“Not at all. Just wondering why my girlfriend is on a date with someone else" Chanyeol says, his eyes never leaving you.

“Ahh. Is this him?” he asks you.

You nod your head.

“I believe she’s your ex girlfriend. Because you know, you fucked her best friend” Siwon says, his eyes dark.

“I’d like to finish my conversation with her, alone” Chanyeol says, looking at Siwon annoyed.

“I don’t think so. She doesn’t seem to be interested in hearing your shitty excuses for your shitty behavior” Siwon tells him. “Now you better be getting back to your date and leaving mine alone before there is a problem" Siwon says, waving the waiter over. Siwon hands him a credit card to pay the bill, not even knowing the cost.

“I’ll be seeing you later " Chanyeol mutters to you, his eyes wide, before glaring at Siwon.

“Not likely” Siwon says, grabbing his card from the waiter before helping you up and wrapping his arm around your waist to guide you out of the restaurant and that situation. But before you left, you made eye contact with Minsoo on your way out. "Just so you know, your loser, cheating boyfriend begged me to take him back today. Enjoy your dinner, fuckers"

Everyone else stared at you in horror, as Siwon laughed the two of you out of the restaurant.

"Are you okay?” he asks once you’re back in the car.

“I’m fine. I just don’t know why I’ve let him get under my skin like that.” You say, annoyed.

“Would you like me to take you home?”

“Please.” You sigh. As he pulls up outside your apartment, he puts the car in park before turning off the engine. “He seems rather unstable” Siwon blurts out.

“He does, doesn’t he? I wasn’t sure if it was just me" you say, looking him in the eyes.

“Do you think he’d come here tonight?” he wonders.

“I’m not sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to be honest.” You say, a little terrified to be alone tonight.

“I can stay with you, if you’d like?” He offers. “Only if you want. No pressure"

“Please. I’m a little nervous to be alone tonight” you mumble. Siwon smiles as he gets out of the car, following you up your stairs to your door. Walking into your apartment, Siwon looks around as you go to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Placing your glass in the sink, Siwon slides his hands onto your hips, working their way up your to rest on your stomach.

“You can keep going up" you breathe. Siwon moves his hands up, cupping your breasts.

“Are you not wearing a bra?” he asks.

“I didn’t put it back on after you fucked me in your car” you huff as he pinches your now perky nipples.

“How did I not notice that?” he growls, nuzzling his face into your neck, peppering it was kisses.

“Clearly you’re not very observant” you moan as he bites and sucks on your earlobe.

Siwon grips your hips, setting you down on the counter. He moves himself in between your legs, leaning himself in close to you. You had thought he was leaning in for a kiss, but his hand reached behind you, turning on the kitchen sink. You look at him with an eyebrow raised as he chuckles at you.

“Trust me" he whispers, checking to make sure the water was not too hot. Flipping a switch, Siwon grabs the hose while also turning your body around to face to sink. He smirks as he spreads your legs and then your lips, before placing the hard water stream over your clit.

“Oh my god” you shudder, your head hanging back as you clench your entire body. “Fuck that feels amazing" you cry out.

“Mhm I thought you might like it" Siwon groans, as he watches you come undone by the pulsating water. Your hand grips his bicep as you begin to feel like you’re about to explode. “How do you like this?” he asks before he inserts two fingers into you, pumping them in and out as the water hits the right spot everytime.

“Fuck I think I’m going to cum" you scream, everything becoming too much. Siwon quickens his pace as you scream out, your orgasm tearing through your body. You’re trying to catch your breath as he turns the water off and places you on the floor, bent over the counter. Your legs feel like jello, but he keeps a hand on you as he pulls down his pants, freeing his throbbing cock.

Siwon lines himself up with you, pushing his way in, hard, allowing you no time to rest. “Fuck baby girl" he grunts as he holds his shirt up, and you while slamming his thick cock into your pussy.

Weakly, you reach your hand up, gripping the counter top, trying to keep yourself from collapsing. Siwon releases your body from his hand and wraps it around you, reaching down to rub your clit. The overstimulation is almost too much as you cry out, still tender from the massive orgasm you just had.

“Please" you whimper, Siwon doesn’t slow his pace down as he pounds himself into you and rubs your clit fiercely. “I can’t. Please” you cry out, wanting to cum but also wanting and needing to not.

“Tell me to stop and I will" he growls, his pace slowing.

“Don’t stop, oh god" you scream, your second orgasm coming so quickly.

“You gunna cum for me baby" he growls, his pace picking up again.

“Yes yes" you scream, your eyes tightly closed as it washes through your body, again. Your eyes remain closed as Siwon finishes fucking you, releasing his hot cum inside of you, coating your walls.

Exhausted, you drag Siwon to your room and your brand new bed. Both of you are still naked and too worn out to get dressed.

“Heads up, I have to be at work for 6am tomorrow" you sigh, as you wiggle your body closer to Siwon, who groans at your statement.

“Why so early? So you’re going to have to get up at 5?”

“Mhmm" you say, dozing off, considering it is already 1am.

“You really are going to be the death of me” he says. It’s the last thing you hear before you doze off.

5am comes awfully quick. You want to cry as your alarm blares throughout your room.

“Oh my god" Siwon whines. “Does Kim make you work so fuckin early?”

“He does" you yawn, trying to crawl over him to get ready. He holds onto your hips as you straddle him, his eyes closed.

“I’ll never make you work this early. That way we can happily sleep in" he sighs.

“That sounds great, but you need to let me go so I can go shower to wake up" you whine.

“Can I join you?” he asks, opening one eye.

“No funny business. I have to leave in 40 minutes if I’m going to catch my bus.” You state.

“Forget the bus, I’ll drive you.” He says, letting you go before getting up himself to join you in the shower.

“Are you sure no funny business?” he asks, hoping for your answer to change.

It didn’t.

Your work day, surprisingly went by rather quickly. Well the morning at least. In the afternoon you had to listen to Junmyeon being fired in his office and his aggression getting out of hand. It was painful to listen too. The number of insults he tossed out there and the rather impressive unique names he called the men were cringey. The worst of it all was when he started crying and begging for them to let him keep his job. You had been texting Siwon the entire time, giving him a play by play.

[1:13am] You: They just informed him he was fired. He’s yelling. Very loudly.

[1:16pm] You: He is absolutely losing it. He call Mr. Byun a cheating fuck.

[1:21pm] You: Oh my god. He told Mr. Park that his wife’s been cheating on him.

[1:38pm] You: He told them both they were shitbags, but not human shitbags, but dog shitbags. 8/10 on the insult from me.

[2:04pm] You: He’s crying. Loudly. Pleading for his job. It’s rather embarrassing if you ask me. Be a man.

[2:17pm] You: It’s silent. I think he might have accepted his fate.

[2:18pm] You: Nope. I spoke too soon. He’s calling them shitbags again. You had to run to the bathroom and quickly before they all heard your laughter at Mr. Kim’s unfortunate news. Siwon had texted you back laughing at the entire situation earlier. As you were checking yourself in the mirror, your phone buzzed again. Siwon.

[2:57pm] Siwon: Where are you?

[2:59pm] You: Checking myself out in the mirror.

[3:01pm] Siwon: Send me a picture. Please.

You decide to take him up on it. You lock the door to the bathroom before you unbutton your shirt enough for your breasts to pop out. Thank god you decided on a cute bra. The next picture you took, you say on the counter with your legs spread. The picture you took showed enough pussy and panties but still left a little to the imagination, although he’s already seen it and fucked it before. Pressing send, you do yourself back up before heading back to your desk.

You were just in time to see Mr. Kim being escorted from his office with his box of things in his arms.

“So sorry Mr. Kim" you say.

“Fuck off" he snaps at you before getting on the elevator and leaving. You sit at your desk, impatiently waiting until 5pm when you can go home, when you hear the elevator ding again. Out walks the higher up boss, along with Siwon who is checking his phone. You straighten yourself up before standing up to greet them.

“Ahh Y/N. This is Mr. Choi. You’ll be his new secretary.” Your boss, Mr. Jeon tells you.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Choi.” You say, with a smile but through gritted teeth.

“Nice to meet you too, Y/N. I look forward to working closely with you" Siwon smiles.

As Mr. Jeon continues to walk into the office, Siwon waves his phone, giving you a wink before mouthing “thanks.” You could just kill him.

The weekend you spent in your apartment, ordering take-out while binge watching your favorite shows and movies. Siwon had told you he had to go out of town for a conference, which wasn’t unusual so you didn’t really think anything of it. It’s not like the two of you were truly in a relationship anyways, he had no obligation to tell you where he was or what he was doing. The weekend passed in a blur of junk food and movies.

You felt relieved and rested now that you didn’t have to get up at 5am every morning and could sleep until 8am before having to get up to go to work. You were chipper on your way to work Monday morning. Knowing that you didn’t have to deal with the insufferable Junmyeon made it that much better. However, you weren’t entirely sure how working for Siwon was going to be, but it excited you, the unknown.

That morning you showed up in your usual work attire but your skirt was just a little bit shorter than your others, it was still professional though. You sat down at your desk once you arrived, going through your calendar to see what was planned for today. Siwon showed up a few minutes after you arrived, giving you a nod and a sly wink before entering his office. The butterflies in your stomach were very much present. Once he was settled he called you into his office to go over the plan for today. He had a meeting all morning that he asked you to attend with him, which was weird for you since Junmyeon had always refused for you to come when everyone else brought their secretaries. When he finished speaking he just stared at you for a moment before peaking out his door to make sure no one was around.

“You look so good today" he whispers, biting his lip.

“Well thank you, Mr. Choi.” You smile. “Oh sir, your plaque is crooked. Let me fix that for you" you say. You were standing beside him behind he desk, and instead of going around to fix it, you leaned directly over his desk causing your skirt to ride up to reveal a very racy pair of panties.

You could hear Siwon inhale sharply at the site of your exposed self. He wanted to fuck you, so badly. When you moved yourself back to standing up, you smiled at him, as he glared at you.

“You’re going to make working here either extremely pleasant or extremely hard" he tells you with a sigh.

“Likely both. I aim to please" you say with a small wink before walking to the door. “Let me know if you need anything, sir". The last part you partially say as a moan, just to tease him. The meeting was absolutely boring. All you did was take notes, however you missed quite a bit due to Siwon rubbing his foot against your leg. You glared at him every chance you got. Luckily for lunch, you got to order whatever you wanted and didn’t have to pay for it yourself. The only downside being that you couldn’t drink any wine, since you were still on the clock.

Siwon had also made sure to give you quite a substantial raise. A lot more than Junmyeon ever paid you, he was so cheap. The next few weeks flew by. You write enjoyed working for Siwon, it wasn’t awkward like you thought, although the sexual tension between you two was so strong. You hadn’t been able to hook up since he had taken on a extremely high profile case and it took up all of your free time. The two of you had planned a night after the last trial date, on Friday and you were so ready for it. You yearned for his touch, his tounge between your thighs, his cock inside you.

Thursday was slow for you as Siwon stayed in his office preparing, only calling for you if he needed notes or coffee. You sat at your desk, answered the phone, constantly telling anyone who called that you had to take a message and you would have him call them back. You were bored until a relatively attractive women stood at your desk. You smiled at her, greeting her appropriately.

“Hello ma'am, how may I help you?” you asked.

“I’m here to see Mr. Choi" she tells you, with a slight smile.

“Mr. Choi is extremely busy preparing for the trial tomorrow, he has asked that I not let anyone in so he can concentrate.” You explain with a smile.

“I’m his fiancée, I think it’ll be okay if I visit him” she partially laughs. Your body immediately freezes. Fiancée? He was engaged? What the actual fuck.

You maintained your composure as you forced a smile, and getting up to knock on his door. You peeked your head in to see a stressed out Siwon.

“Yes, Y/N?” he asked.

“So sorry sir. Your fiancée is here to see you.” You spit through a clenched jaw. Siwon quickly looks up at you, his eyes wide and panicked. Before he could say anything, the woman he is supposed to marry barges in through the door.

“Hello, darling.” She says, kissing his cheek. “Your secretary is awfully pretty. Why didn’t you tell me?” she chuckles, giving you a half glare. You fight back the tears that are desperately trying to escape from your eyes.

“Well if you don’t need anything else from me, I’m going to take off.” You huff.

“Y/N..” he begins.

“I’ll see you tomorrow” you whisper, leaving the engaged man with his confused fiancée.

“Is there something going on between you two?” Jennie asks Siwon. “She seems to like you.” She finished. Siwon can’t say anything, he can barely process what just happened. You thought he was in love and going to get married, but that wasn’t the case at all. He didn’t even love Jennie, it was an arranged marriage that both their parents had set up for a merger of companies. Siwon’s father owned the largest defense attorneys office, while Jennies father owned the second largest. The two men wanted each of their oldest kids to take over the companies and merge, which meant also making everyone family. Neither Siwon nor Jennie had a choice in the matter. Siwon had only taken the job where you worked because his father wasn’t ready to retire, for a year. A year until the wedding, and his fathers retirement. He didn’t want to marry Jennie which is why he never told you about her because to him he was still single. But Jennie was rather excited about the wedding and marriage.

“I thought I told you to not visit me at work" he snap. Jennie let’s go of him, taking a few steps back.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me" she says, her face a little sad.

“I’m near the end of a huge case and now you decide to come disrupt me?”

“Its because of her, isn’t it.” She wonders.

“Who?” Siwon sighs.

“Your secretary. You’re fucking her aren’t you?” she snaps.

“You’re insane. Just go please. I’ll speak with you later” he says, focusing on his work once again.

Once Jennie leaves, his head is in his hands as he sighs. He wanted to be the one to tell you. He didn’t want you to find out like this. He didn’t want Jennie. He wanted you.

You cried the entire way home. Yes you’d only known him a few weeks but you had fallen rather fast. He seemed so different, like he wouldn’t hurt you. But you were wrong, yet again. Thinking he was different than Chanyeol was laughable. Yes he didn’t cheat on you, but he cheated on someone he was engaged too, with you. You never wanted to be a mistress. Curled up in your bed, you’re annoyed at your phone constantly going off and ringing from what you could only assume was Siwon.

[3:19pm] Siwon: Just let me explain, please. It’s not what you think.

[3:21pm] Siwon: Answer your phone and let me explain.

You scoffed as you read his messages. He sounded just like Chanyeol and Minsoo. You finally answered your phone on the 10th time he had called. “What?” you snap. “Finally" Siwon sighs. “Please meet me and just let me explain.” He begs. “You can say what you need to over the phone. I don’t want to see you" “Jennie and I are engaged, yes. But it’s not how you think. I don’t love her. It was set up by our parents so both their companies can merge together.” He explains. “I don’t want to be with her, but my father is sick and he wants to see the merger before he passes" he tells you. A part of you wanted to believe him. You did believe him. But what if it wasn’t true? What if he was just lying to you to have you not leave him? “Prove it.” You say. “I’ll send you everything to prove it. But can I please see you?” he asks. “I just need sometime. Maybe after I look at everything but for now no.” you whisper. “Okay. I’ll send everything to you now. I’m sorry Y/N. I wanted to be the one to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out like this" he tells you. “Just send the papers over, Siwon" you sigh before hanging up. You’re still curled up in a ball and hour later when your doorbell rings. You groan as you struggle and squirm to get yourself out of the nest and cocoon you had made with your blankets. Swinging the door open, you’re met with a frightened looking young man with a stack of papers in his arms. You pull the papers from him before muttering a thanks and slamming the door in his face. Sitting down at your kitchen table, you begin sorting through the documents Siwon sent over. An hour later, after you had looked at the papers at least three times, you knew he was actually telling the truth. You weren’t sure if you felt relieved or if you were mad that he didn’t tell you the truth to begin with. [4:59pm] Siwon: Do you believe me now? [5:00pm] You: Yes. [5:02pm] Siwon: When can I see you? [5:05pm] You: I’ll see you at the trial tomorrow. [5:08pm] Siwon: And after? [5:11pm] You: I’ll let you know. You turned off your phone, and cocooned back in your bed. You didn’t feel like eating dinner, even though he did sort everything out and turns out he was telling the truth, you still felt somewhat betrayed. You knew how Jennie would feel, since the same thing happened to you. However, Chanyeol claimed to love you, and you did love him, and Minsoo knew that. You knew that this was just a business arrangement to them and there were no feelings involved, so why would you feel guilty? You shouldn’t but you sort of do. You were conflicted. You wanted to see him more. He was fun and refreshing and he seemed to understand you. But did you want to be a mistress? At this point in your life, you finally just wanted to do what you wanted, without having to please anyone but yourself. Maybe that made you a bae person. Maybe you were shitty for sleeping with someone that was engaged, but you were okay with it. As it turns out, he wasn’t such a bad guy and he was just doing what made him happy. ** The next day at the trial, everything went as it should have. Siwon won the case as was on a high that came from it. You had agreed to go out with him again that that night. The two of you met at a pub to have a few drinks to celebrate his win, but also talk about things. After you had celebrated for a little bit, things got serious between you two. “You know I was planning on telling you" he says, taking another sip of his drink. “Were you though?” you ask, not sure if you truly believed he was. “I really was. I’m not the type to cheat, if I’m serious about someone. But Jennie.. I’m not interested in her. I’m interested in you.” He says, shrugging his shoulders. “Interested in what exactly? A relationship? A fuck buddy?” you wonder, sipping on your martini. You were curious as to what his answer was going to be. “Whatever you want, baby girl” he purrs. His voice sent shivers down you spine. “So if I said a fuck buddy, with occasional dates, you’d be fine with that? “Absolutely” Siwon states. “Like I said, whatever you want.” “Fine. Then that. But warn me if she’s going to come into the office again. I don’t want to deal with it" you say, finishing your drink. “Done deal.” Siwon smiles. “Have you fucked her?” you blurt out the question. It had been on your mind and you weren’t sure if you had wanted to ask, but apparently you did. “What?” he asks. “Have you fucked her since we were last together, since it’s been a few weeks?” you question. “No I haven’t fucked her. Not in the last few weeks, not even in the year we’ve been engaged.” He tells you. You can tell he is telling you the truth, which makes you feel relieved. “Okay" you say. “Just curious" you laugh. “So back to your place?” he asks, lifting his eyebrows. “Not a chance.” You giggle. “Please?” he asks, giving you a sad face. “You have 30 seconds to convince me. And go" you say, staring at your watch. “I’ll eat your pussy and fuck you so good, you won’t be able to walk tomorrow. And I’ll make you breakfast in bed" he says, his face believing he’s convinced you. “Mhm, you’re good at getting your way. You better bring your pussy eating A game" you say, standing up and swaying your hips as you walk away from him. Siwon takes a moment to watch and appreciate you shaking your ass before getting up to follow you from the pub. The two of you were all over each other in the cab on the way back to your place. Your hand rubbed Siwon’s clothed cock, as he slipped his fingers in between your legs and into your pussy. Your face rested in the crook of his neck as he slowly and discreetly pumped his fingers in and out of you. Every time you wanted to moan, which was often, you bit his neck. Partly because you didn’t want the bad driver to know, even though he likely did but also you secretly hoped that Jennie would see it. “Don’t stop" you moan into his neck as he continues to pleasure you. You feel as though your entire body might combust right there. It’s been a few weeks since you had been with anyone, the urge to cum more apparent than ever. “Here we go" the cab driver coughed, uncomfortably. Siwon takes his fingers from inside you, handing the cab driver a $100 for a $15 dollar ride before scooting you out of the car, quickly. He effortlessly picks you up, carrying you up the stairs as you giggle. Your skirt flowing in the wind, showing off your ass cheeks to anyone who happened to look their, but neither of you cared. In this moment you two were blissfully happy, and extremely horny. The two of you dont even make it into the bedroom, inside he lays you on the floor of the hallway in your apartment, quickly sliding into you. He fucks you hard and fast, both of you needing to cum quickly. You and Siwon lay there, your chests heaving as you try to catch your breath from the hard and fast fuck the two of you just had. “That was..” Siwon begins. “Amazing" you finish his sentence. The two of you laugh while Siwon stands up, extending a hand for you to help you up. You cling to him for dear life as your legs are extremely wobbly. “Shower?” he asks. You nod your head. Siwon scoops you up, whisking you away to the bathroom for a nice hot shower. Once your shower is finished, the two of you lay in bed and talk. For some reason you bring up what happened with your father. Siwon doesn’t much except you should hear his side of the story, since you only knew your mothers. You shoved that thought to the back of your head. ** He stayed with you the entire weekend. When you asked about Jennie, he told you that she thought he was on a business trip. That’s all you needed to know. Your weekend was filled with cuddles, laughter and fucking. You dreaded Monday, only because you had to get out of the little bubble that the two of you had enjoyed so much. On Monday Siwon constantly texted you, in detail all the dirty things he wanted to do to you, which you appreciated but it would be rather frowned upon to fuck him in the office.. while everyone was there. On Tuesday he asked you to stay late to help him with a case. Looking at the clock, you see it’s 8pm and the last person in the office is finally leaving. Both of you said good bye to Mr. Son as you continued your work. At 815pm Siwon had pushed himself away from his desk, groaning as he rubbed his face. You took the opportunity to stand in front of him and extend yourself over his desk, parting your legs, allowing your skirt to ride up, exposing your very small, leaving little to the imagination panties. “For me?” you hear Siwon ask, as his chair rolls towards you. “Mhmm. You’ve been working so hard. You deserve a treat” you moan, shaking your ass slightly. “You’re so good to me" he says, his hands planted on your ass. Siwon moves your panties to the side before he kneels beneath you, laying his head on his desk. Extending his tounge, he licks a strip up your already wet pussy. You let out a small gasp at the feeling. “Mr. Choi, you’re so g-good to me" you breathe as his tounge continues to flick your clit. “Mhm" he moans as his lips latch onto you, sucking your clit harshly. Your hands grip onto the desk, holding whatever you can tightly as he devours your pussy. His movements slow down, so you grind yourself on his face, bringing the much needed orgasm closer. “Fuck fuck fuck" you cry out, your body tightening as you cum all over his face, your orgasm washing through you. Siwon briskly stands up, undoing his belt to pull down his pants. His cock springs free, making your mouth water. “Sit on the desk" he demands. You shuffle yourself into the sitting position as he walks towards you. He bends his knees slightly, pushing himself into you. You throw your head back at the feeling of him stretching you out. “Wrap your legs around me" he says. The moment you’re secure around him, he picks you up, walking you over to the large window in his office. He slams you against it while he fucks you, hard. “Fuck baby girl, your pussy feels so good" he growls, thrusting into you. You bring your hand up, getting your fingers tangled in his hair as he thrusts become harsher. Mid fuck, the two of you hear his office door opening. Opening your eyes, you see Chanyeol standing there, his body vibrating with rage. “What the fuck are you doing!?” he screams. Siwon sighs as he knows exactly who it is without even turning around. “What the fuck Chanyeol. Go away” you groan, Siwon still inside you. “Get off my girlfriend you piece of shit" Chanyeol yells at Siwon. “Ex- girlfriend, and she seems to like my cock very much, so I’ll continue. Feels free to stay and watch if you want" Siwon groans, pumping himself into you again and again. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Y/N" Chanyeol growls before slamming the door shut. You don’t let his interruption bother you. This was your time. You were having fun, doing things you wanted to do. And what you wanted, was for Siwon to finish fucking you. “Do you want to stop?” Siwon asks, pausing his thrusts. “Don’t you dare.” You growl, gripping him tighter. Siwon’s hands leave your body, and he presses them against the glass and he fucks you until you both cum. It’s 10pm before the two of you finish your work and head home for the night. Siwon unfortunately had to go back to his apartment while you went your separate way to your own. The next week dragged by. Chanyeol was still constantly showing up places, calling you names, trying to get you to talk to him or anything really. No matter how many times you told him you wanted nothing to do with him, it never really sunk in. ** You and Siwon had been fucking for almost 6 months now, and things were mostly great, but also not. You found yourselves arguing often, about anything and everything. Even though you weren’t together, you both still acted like you were. You weren’t sleeping with anyone else and neither was he, despite being engaged. After your fights, you always found yourselves angry fucking, no matter where you were. It’s what you did when you knew you needed to talk things through but didn’t want too, you fucked. You both knew it wasn’t healthy but neither of you were willing to stop. After 7 months you had a big fight in the car in a parkade about something minuscule which led to the two of you fucking on the hood of the car. After 8 months the two of you fought about the fact the Chanyeol had yet to let you go and Siwon was annoyed as fuck about it. It’s not like you weren’t either but you could only do so much to stop him. You two were walking home through a park from a date. You rode his cock in the field at night. After 11 months, the two of you fought about the wedding he was supposed to partake in, in less than 1 month. Neither of you were sure on what to do. There was a serious conversation that needed to be had between you two, but not before he pinned you against the wall in the bedroom of hi apartment. “Why do you always have to bring this shit up" he growls, roughly cupping your breast underneath your shirt. “Because its fucking important” you snap, unbuckling his belt and pulling his pants down just enough to allow his cock to spring free. “You infuriate me" he snaps, hiking up your skirt and moving your panties to the side. In one swift motion, Siwon enters you harshly. You wrap your legs around his waist so he can pin you fully against the wall. Neither of you speak, the only sounds that can be heard are moans and skin slapping. He roughly thrusts into you, before pausing and telling you to be quiet. Just then the two of you hear footsteps walking from the kitchen, to the living room, to the hallway towards the bedroom. Siwon takes you from against the wall, running both of you into the closet quickly before shutting the doors and pressing himself against you. “Yeah, I want beige” the two of you hear Jennie speak as she sits on the bed. Siwon doesn’t stop fucking you. He slowly and quietly pulls himself from you before harshly but silently slamming himself into you. You try your hardest to stifle a moan. You can see Jennie on the bed of their shared apartment, trying on different shoes as she talks about the wedding. You can see in the way she speaks about it that she’s excited and happy. “Yes, lillies and Rose’s. I think those will look beautiful” she gushes as Siwon continues to fuck you. His face is buried into your neck, as your hands wrap around his head, gripping onto his hair. His hips snap into you, his cock always hitting the right spot regardless if he fucks you roughly or softly. You grind yourself onto him, trying to block out the noise coming from the bedroom. You try to focus on your impending orgasm that is coming quickly. “Don’t stop. Fuck please" you cry out in a whisper. You keep circling your hips as you ride through your high as quietly as you can when all you want to do is scream out in pleasure. Siwon doesn’t take too much longer after you, spilling himself into you, biting your shoulder to make sure he’s quiet. The two of you stand there, quietly panting while Jennie wraps up her conversation and stands up to leave. “Mrs. Siwon Choi" she says with a smile before walking out of the room and out of the apartment. Siwon pulls out of you, looking at you with a sad face, while you’re feeling ever so guilty. “Has she always been excited about the wedding?” you ask, adjusting your clothes. “Not until recently" he admits, tucking his cock back into his pants. “Are you excited about the wedding?” you ask. “I don’t know.” He says. “I think we need to talk.” You sigh. “I think so too.” He agrees. Siwon left town a few hours after you parted ways. He told you that the two of you would talk when he was back in town, in a few weeks. YYou were pretty sure you knew what you were going to do, you had just never said it aloud. A part of you wanted to tell him to not get married, that you two would be able to make it work. But you knew that was a lie. The two of you fucked, you were great at fucking eachother but being in an actual relationship wouldn’t work. You knew you two were toxic together. In the time that Siwon was gone, you had applied for a job just outside of Seoul. It happened to be your dream job and you applied on a whim. You knew there were likely more qualified people who applied and that you’d never get it. But you heard about it a few hours before you left to meet Siwon, the night he had arrived back in town. 1 week before his wedding. “Hey" he says with a smile, leaning down and kissing your cheek. “Hi" you say, looking up at him with a forced smile. Tears brimming in your eyes, knowing that this would likely be the last time you saw Siwon. “How was your trip?” you ask. “It was boring. We really need to have a discussion now though. We can’t put it off any longer” he sighs. “You’re right. We can’t. You’re getting married in a week.” You whisper. “Am I? I can call it off. Just say the word baby girl and it’s done" he says, his eyes hopeful. “And do what? We run away together and continue to fight and fuck the rest of our lives? That doesn’t sound like a life either of us want to live" you sigh. “We can make it work. We could be great" he tells you. “You will have a great life. With Jennie. Maybe you don’t love her now, but if you try to get to know her, you might. We aren’t right for eachother.” You whisper. “But..” Siwon begins before you cut him off. “I won’t tell her, or anyone about what we had. A part of me will always care for you. You helped me through what I thought was the worst time in my life. You also made me see that there are two sides to every story, and maybe I should hear my fathers side of his story. I’ll always remember the time we had together, but we can’t be together.” You say, a tear slipping down your cheek. “What are you going to do?” he quietly asks. “While you were gone, I actually applied for my dream job Sokcho-Si and I found out I got the job tonight. I’m leaving in the morning" you smile. “We’re really ending this?” he asks, devastated. “We are. Maybe one day I’ll see you in the future. Try things out with Jennie, I think you’ll be good for eachother” you say standing up. You take his face in your hands gently, placing one last kiss on his lips before leaving him behind. ** You had been living in Sokcho-Si for a month now, and had heard nothing from Siwon in that time, except for the day of his wedding, asking you if you were sure about this. You were. Sitting in a Café, you were flipping through a magazine, not paying too much attention to it, when you heard someone stumble from side you and sigh. Looking up you see an extremely handsome man, muttering swearwords while trying to wipe coffee from his tie. You chuckled as you stood up, running to the counter to ask for a ice cube and a cold cloth. You went back to the man, standing infront of him. “Can I help?” you ask with a smile. “I learnt this trick years ago" you say, placing the ice cube on the back of the tie and the cloth on the front, allowing the coffee to soak into the rag. “Amazing. Thank you so much. Your husband is a lucky guy" he chuckles. “No husband" you say, finishing up helping him. “Boyfriend?” He asks, cocking his head to the side. You shake your head. “No girlfriend either. Single" you explain. “I’m Zhang Yixing" he smiles an amazing smile at you, extending his hand. “Y/L Y/N" You say, shaking it. “Would you like to have dinner with me, Y/N?” He asks, his hand still holding yours. “I would love too" you smile. ** 3 years later, you and Yixing are a few days away from your wedding day. He stood by your side through everything in the last 3 years. Finally filing a restraining order on Chanyeol for stalking. Meeting up with your father and allowing him to explain himself. As it turns out, your mother had cheated on him and kicked him out, when her new boyfriend was supposed to move in. However, the boyfriend broke up with her and she just decided to blame it all on your father and say that he left her high and dry. Because of your mother and her lies, you lost out on almost 10 years with your father. But now thanks to Yixing, your relationship with your father is being mended, after having him back in your life for 2 years. He was going to be the one to walk you down the isle. You had been nervous to tell Yixing about your relationship, or whatever it was with Siwon. You worried he would think you were a bad person, and decide to not be with you. Luckily for you, he understood you had just been going through something and it was what you felt you needed to do at the time. ** The day of your wedding, you’re standing at the altar with Yixing, your now husband beside you. Your friends and family, along with his surrounding the two of you. One person in particular stood out to you, Siwon. Yixing had told you to invite him if you wanted too and you did. You hadn’t thought he would have shown up but there he was. With his wife Jennie, and their newborn baby. They looked happy. Just as you finally were. Sometimes our bad habits lead us to the place that we were meant to be.

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lux-ace · 4 years

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Minthe’s unknown lineage and possible backstory in Lore Olympus

The color of her complexion “red” has a positive and negative meaning behind it, THYNOVEL stated her old thoughts on the color red and how it influences certain characters in the Lore Olympus story just like any other kind of color you can think of. Next is how her eyes genuinely looks like, close up, to anyone that is figuring out the right color palette. Lastly, her known abilities tied to the river that she was conceived from. When it comes to unpleasant emotions, Minthe’s hair as well as her skin becomes liquid-like as the river she originated from. THYNOVEL remarks, “While in distress, her anxiety shows through her hair, which spreads and taints just as Cocytus does.”

🤑fandom_freak.geek😜’s version seems to be quiet fascinating to me. For instance, she looks as an untamed beauty that wasn’t ruined by Deity Society as well as her own volition, not yet at least.

Minthe’s behaviour appeared to be similar to a cat, recluse and moody. The first picture describes the Naiad being annoyed, for someone is staring at her while she’s eating. The next picture of her being frightened by an intruder, she decided to hide from that person. The final picture describes the playfulness she displays to her companion.

The flower used on Minthe’s head is a red hibiscus flower with a yellow anther. The name is derived from the Greek word “hibiskos”, meaning “mallow”, while the red color for this particular flower represents passion and deep romantic love. The meaning behind this particular flower is femininity, beauty, and glory.

Her Family is unknown to the webtoon readers, so lets state the obvious facts in Greek Myth. She is the daughter of Cocytus, one of the five Underworld River-Deities.

In the Greek Mythology Wiki on Minthe, It states that Cocytus procreated with someone in order for this nymph’s existence. During Episode 52, she clearly finds Persephone’s container cute. She even comment that her (supposedly) mother would have. Imply in that comment that Minthe had a mother at one point, then she was gone (died or left), causing the Naiad to lack a genuine mother-figure.

[THEOI’s Encyclopedia “C”] [Nymphes of the Underworld] [Underworld River Nymphs - Cocythiae] : Next, is the possibility that the other two nymphs that Minthe is hanging out with may have been her fellow Cocythiae or old friends back home.

Then there’s Minthe’s possible cousin, Ascalaphus. An Underworld Daemon, son of Acherôn & Gorgyra, and the orchardist to Hades. They might have been distant towards each other as cousins, but maybe been close-like siblings.

Last but not least Styx, the goddess of oaths and the River Styx. Her first debut was in a banner poster at Underworld Corp in episode 33 and full appearance at Acherôn in episode 57. Hades settled, “She’s the underworld’s most powerful river. She carries all the boats further into the underworld for judgment.” Not only is she bind oaths between deities, but escorts the shades ferried by Charon for their grand trial with the King of the Underworld. Styx’s four children reside in Olympus as Zeus’ enforces after the Titan War, they’re possibly childhood friends to Minthe and Ascalaphus.

Here’s —thynovel’s take on the Titans, especially the Oath-bounder. Styx’s hair tends to be incredibly long to turn liquid down and her skin tends to constantly glisten with water. Carmen said, “Her hair is incredibly long and appears to melt into the River Styx.” This Titan’s seem to overpower the other River-Deities and may possibly be their leader.

Then there’s Minthe, her Naiad-form appears oozing and flowy connected to genuine negativity. —Thynovel explained, “Minthe’s appearance becomes runny and gooey when stressed. She’s going back to her most comfortable and primordial form.”

One of the many literature tools any compelling character, either a protagonist or antagonist, is their personal background. Especially if someone is meant for a tragic fate, it’s to understand what lead to “that very moment”. Whatever kind of backstory this Underworld Naiad has allows the readers the choice to sympathize or criticize towards her.

In Episode 104, Thetis gaslighted Minthe in order to assert dominance as the leader of Snarky Chat. The reason this Nereid did this to a fellow member is because put the Naiad in her place. Stated if Thetis hadn’t found her, Minthe would stay a nobody and prejudiced her social class. The only comeback Minthe said to her “supposed” best friend is:

This may be a piece of her past that she would like to bury, as mortals would entomb their dead. Minthe may have prefer being a miserable nobody than being manipulated any further by Thetis.

Although other LO fans like their spin on Minthe’s backstory, so let’s see it for ourselves.

♏whore♍olympus♎’s verion: Cocytus created Minthe from his river or procreated with another nymph. He’s a river-god of lamentation that wants his daughter to take over the river, but she refuse, resulting to an argument.

hades_is_a_thot’s version:

I know a lot of you are probably wondering by now why I've spent so long chasing after Minthe. Today, I have an answer for you.

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

I met Minthe on my weekly rounds one evening when I was passing by the Cocytus river. I'd never paid much attention to any of the nymphs before until that day. She was alone; her body racked with sobs. She reminded me of myself really. She'd barely noticed who was watching her, and instead of looking first, she snapped and threatened me with a dead fish. In the moment, I couldn't help but laugh. A small river nymph threatening the king of the Underworld with a fish. She was a flustered mess until I spoke. Minthe was rather petite even then, her beauty and pain was what drew me to her that day. Though, she held quite the attitude when I asked why she was crying. Somehow, I convinced her to walk with me. It didn't last long though. When I tried to reach out to her, she pulled away with that same sassy attitude. You wonder why I stayed with her for a thousand years. At that time, she'd already had someone, someone who didn't treat her well. Every day I would check up on her, and every day there would be new bruises or burned cigarette marks in her skin. It pained me to see her so afraid, so alone and distraught. It might not have been my best moment, but I sent him to live in the deepest pits of Tartarus for a couple hundred years. Because even in those moments, she was still the most beautiful creature I had ever laid my eyes on. You would've done the same for someone you loved.

sundayxl’s version: Minthe was new to the rural-part of the Underworld, the need money seemed to cross the Naiad’s mind. It lead her to make a dangerous deal with “someone” in order to secure her place in the Underworld Corp, so she could be paid highly as an intern. She has to transfer him all the money, however, this Naiad ran out. But surprise! surprise! Thanatos comes knocking on her car door. He demands to have his money this instance, making her agitated towards him.

Extra: Here are other artists’ take on the Underworld River-Deities and the Map of Hades.

#my stuff #l-a analysis #lo #lo underworld #lo analysis #lo minthe #lo cocythiae #lo underworld river-deities #lo thetis #lo thanatos #lore olympus #lo underworld corp.

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themurphyzone · 4 years

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104 Words for 104 Days: Dynasty Part 1: Princess

AN: Takes place in Doof Dynasty time period. Artistic liberties have been taken, and by that I mean a LOT of artistic liberties have been taken. Also, I really wanted to write something with Isabella as the protagonist and this seemed like a good place to do it. Since this turned out much longer than I expected, I decided to just divide it into two parts.

Dynasty Part 2 Coming Soon!

“Sir! Our defenses have been compromised!” General Carl shouted, rushing into the royal palanquin and collapsing into a dead faint in front of Regent Monogram.

Princess Isabella moved her ink pot before Carl’s head could smash into it. Sensing that the calligraphy lesson was over, she carefully put the materials away while Monogram waved a jar of incense in Carl’s face.

“General, don’t faint until you’ve given us the necessary exposition first,” Monogram scolded. “And especially not in front of the Princess.”

Carl nodded weakly. “Of course, sir. My apologies, Princess.”

“Accepted,” Isabella said. “What’s this about our defenses being compromised? Surely Master Perry wouldn’t leave our country unprotected.”

“Princess, are you sure you want to hear about this?” Monogram coughed. “You’re not much more than a ceremonial figurehead until you’re of age. Until then, it’s perfectly acceptable if you want to lavish in luxury and leave the worrying to the professionals.”

Isabella fixed him with an icy glare. “Regent, I respect you and your administrative decisions. But I’ve fought Doofus Khan in a terracotta warrior before and if you’ll pardon my unprincess-like language, kicked his sorry butt back to the steppes of Mongolia. Those commoner boys fought for the Tri-Province Area and me when they were hardly trained, and I intend to do the same.”

“How old is she again?” Carl whispered to Monogram.

“Older than a child but younger than a teenager,” Monogram whispered back. “It’s the bow, I think. Throws everyone off.”

“Your report, General,” Isabella demanded.

Carl stood up and bowed his head. “The commoner boys who saved the Tri-Province Area were building the northern tower of the Great Wall near the Large Bamboo Forest of Largeness when Doofus Khan kidnapped them. Master Perry is currently training at the Loud Waterfall of Loudness, which is notoriously difficult for even the most fleetfooted messengers to access. Doofus Khan left this scroll, most likely to demoralize us before swooping in for his conquest.”

He handed the scroll to Monogram, who unfolded it and grimaced at the ink picture of Doofus Khan sticking his tongue out with a finger above his lip in an obvious mockery of his mustache.

“This means war,” Monogram huffed. “My mustache and beard combo is highly fashionable in this day and age.”

“There’s a message at the bottom,” Isabella said, placing her finger in the blank space to avoid smudging the ink.

Mwahahaha! If you want the boys back (lousy defense system by the way, do you guys really not have a militia?), send Princess Isabella to my Inescapable Fortress of Inescapableness! I wanted to call it the Inescapable Fortress of Doom, but my new scribe is defensive of his names. Just head due north. That’s all the directions I’m giving you. Don’t worry, you can’t miss it. Or do worry, cause I’ll be taking the Tri-Province Area soon enough! Have a bad day!

Wishing you all the misery in the world,

Doofus Khan

“Without Princess Isabella’s undeniable charm, our country will fall to ruin!” Monogram groaned. “We can’t abide by this fiend’s terms!”

“You aren’t stopping me,” Isabella declared. “I’m going to save my friends and the Tri-Province Area!”

“But-“

Isabella held up her hand to silence him. “I appreciate your concern. But I can take care of myself.”

“Very well,” Monogram sighed, the scroll dropping out of his hands with a dull thud.

Carl raised a hand sheepishly. “Sir, I believe I have the solution. Lady Firesong has trained a squad of preteen girls in the art of bodyguarding, self-defense, survival, pottery, gator wrestling, and decorative cupcake making. This would make for an excellent training exercise for the girls. I’ll send her a message after I’m finished fainting for the second time.”

Then he fainted again.

“I still think we’re doomed,” Monogram muttered.

o-o-o-o-o

The training complex wasn’t anything grand, especially compared to what Isabella was used to, but they had enough equipment that would make an entire Roman army jealous. Many silkworm cocoons lined each plant in the garden, and Isabella plucked one off the leaf out of curiosity, slipping it into her flowing sleeves while Monogram’s back was turned. He led them through a lantern-lit path until they reached an ancient portrait, which depicted an elderly woman in a flowing purple robe.

To Isabella’s surprise, the portrait bowed.

“I am Lady Firesong. Welcome, Princess Isabella. I’ve received word that you wish to perform a rescue mission. The girls who volunteered to accompany you are highly skilled in many areas. I hope you’ll find their company adequate,” the elderly woman rasped, then turned and clapped her hands. “Alright, girls! The Firesong anthem for the Princess, just like in rehearsal! One, two, three!”

Five girls in matching orange robes hurried into formation, singing the cutest song Isabella had ever heard in her life.

“-and it’s not too terribly long!” they chorused with a banner of the Tri-Province Area in the background.

Isabella applauded, much to the girls’ delight. Monogram didn’t look too impressed though. “Yes, yes, that was great. Princess, will you be okay?”

“Failure is not an option,” Isabella replied.

“Good,” Major Monogram said, reaching into his robe and pulling out a ribbon-tied scroll. “Deliver this scroll to Doofus Khan, will you? I, uh, have a very important message for him.”

“You can count on me!” Isabella exclaimed, taking the scroll.

Monogram nodded in approval and left, confused at the angry looks that were thrown his way when he still didn’t acknowledge their song.

“Well, it looks like my work here is done!” Lady Firesong exclaimed, settling back into her chair. “I am so glad I can rest here and let children handle matters of national security.”

o-o-o-o-o

Isabella’s clothing was custom-made by a tailor who exclusively served royalty, so creating her own Firesong robe was an entirely new experience for her. If Regent Monogram could see her filling baskets of cocoons, he would be horrified at the manual labor that a princess of her caliber certainly shouldn’t be doing.

But if a princess could operate a terracotta soldier, then she could easily create a robe out of raw silk. Besides, it was a great opportunity for learning about the other girls. She committed Gretchen, Holly, Katie, Ginger, Millie, and Adyson’s names to memory, only mixing them up twice when she was too busy taking the silk threads out of the boiling water.

“-and that’s why Lady Firesong trains us from birth. As a result, none of us really know who our parents are, but the rewards are worth it,” Gretchen explained as Isabella removed the finished robe from the loom. “I’ve always been told I’m more of a second in command type anyway.”

“Are you sure?” Isabella asked, stepping behind a bamboo screen to try on the robe. It was shorter than what she was used to, just barely reaching her knees, but much less restricting than her royal clothes. “I wouldn’t want to take your leader position just because I’m a princess.”

Gretchen smiled. “No, I can give orders, but I lack the charisma of a natural born leader. I should know. I’ve been trying for the Charisma Patch for years.”

“Well, I can always teach you,” Isabella offered. “It takes skill, confidence, and taking advantage of our naturally cute dispositions, but I’m sure you’d be able to learn!”

“Thanks! So, what do you think of the uniform?” Gretchen asked.

Isabella pushed the screen aside, twirling in her Firesong robe. “It may look delicate, but it’s durable,” Isabella said. “Also, I never knew I pulled orange off this well. I’ll have to ask my tailor for more clothing in this shade.”

Gretchen nodded, then poked her head in the doorway. “Katie! Are the accessories ready yet?”

“Right here!” Katie shouted, hurrying into the room and handing an orange sash and hairbow to Isabella.

“These sashes are the most important part of the Firesong uniform,” Gretchen said, pointing to her own sash. Unlike Isabella’s, hers was decorated with several colorful patches. “They’re proof of our accomplishments and fairly useful in a fight. Plus, we pooled our silver pieces for a hairbow. We just thought it’d look good on you.”

“Aw, you girls didn’t have to go that far!” Isabella exclaimed as she put on the sash. She let Ginger tie the hairbow, since the girl seemed enthusiastic about touching her hair.

Now that she couldn’t be recognized as a royal, they were ready for action.

“Storm the base!” Adyson shouted.

“Bring lots and lots of weaponry!” Holly suggested, pounding her fist into her hands.

It seemed they didn’t have much of a head for strategy. But Isabella supposed that was what a leader was for.

“Our main objective is infiltrating Doofus Khan’s fortress and rescuing the boys so they can complete the Great Wall,” Isabella said, and silence fell instantly. “But we need to pack only necessary items because a giant desert lies to the north, and we’ll need to cross it in order to get there. In other words, no more than what a two-humped camel can carry.”

“Katie, fill the water flasks!” Gretchen barked. “Ginger and Adyson, grab the food! Make sure you include lots of ox jerky!”

Adyson groaned. “I really hate ox jerky...”

“It’s a start, but there’s a necessary stop we should take before heading north,” Isabella continued. “Master Perry is currently training at the Loud Waterfall of Loudness, so we’ll need to go there first and get his help. What do you girls think?”

“Let’s go!” Millie exclaimed. The other girls echoed her battle cry.

Ginger held up a lute. “I’m in charge of the travel music!”

The other girls glanced at her.

“What? Travel music and a montage are necessary items too!”

o-o-o-o-o

Ginger’s idea of travel music was playing ‘You Snuck Your Way Right into My Rice Paddy’ over and over again. Sure, everyone liked the song, but after two hundred repeats without taking requests from anyone else?

Not so much.

Everyone was relieved when the roar of the waterfall drowned out her lute. Unfortunately, it drowned out everything else too.

Relying on finger signals and other forms of non-verbal communication, they made their way through the lush undergrowth. Millie and Holly used sharp rocks to mark every tree they passed to make the return journey faster, Katie scouted ahead, and Gretchen and Ginger dragged Adyson between them, who was still recovering from a nasty fall in a ditch.

When they finally arrived at the riverbank, they found Master Perry meditating underneath a pounding waterfall.

“Master Perry! The Tri-Province Area is in trouble again!” Isabella shouted, but couldn’t make herself heard above the waterfall.

Everyone except Adyson added their voices, shouting as loud as they could, but neither the platypus or panda were paying attention.

Isabella silenced them with a wave of her hand. It just wasn’t enough of a hook to nab Master Perry’s full attention. They needed something more.

Isabella inhaled and screeched in the deepest voice she could manage.

“YOUR FORMER STUDENTS ARE IMPRISONED IN DOOFUS KHAN’S FORTRESS!”

Master Perry’s eyes snapped open. He dove into the water, resurfacing with a topknot and traditional warrior’s outfit.

The group went back to the main road so they could talk without screaming over the waterfall. Adyson muttered something about salamanders, her head lolling against Gretchen’s shoulder as her sandals dragged against the leafy soil.

“How did you do that?” Holly demanded, her hair still frizzed from the waterfall.

“I’m excellent at breath control. Plus it’s great for scaring Regent Monogram,” Isabella said. She turned to Master Perry and bowed respectfully. “The Firesong Girls and I wish to accompany you to the fortress. It is my duty as a princess to protect my subjects, and I cannot do that from a palanquin. You’ve trained the boys well back when they rescued me from Doofus Khan’s evil clutches. I will repay the favor.”

Master Perry stared off into space, several vibrations rippling through the air.

“Is that an attack?” Gretchen asked. She pulled off her sash, looping it around her hand and twirling the other end in the air.

“Stand down,” Isabella ordered. “He’s having a flashback. Just wait it out.”

Gretchen reluctantly obeyed.

A few seconds later, the rippling dissipated and Master Perry bowed.

“He’s done, hopefully,” Isabella said. “Phineas mentioned he has a habit of doing this. So, guess we’re heading due north now. Do any of you know where we can rent some camels?”

Master Perry gestured for everyone to follow him.

“Who’s ready for more travel music?” Ginger asked. She tuned her lute, smiling brightly as she strummed a chord.

“NO!” Millie and Holly screamed.

“Hehe, the salamanders are doing opera,” Adyson giggled.

o-o-o-o-o

Turns out Master Perry knew a faster way to transport them to the fortress. One that involved a massive red dragon that resembled the ones at Chinese New Year (but since it’s China, they just call it New Year), but much larger, more metallic, and without relying on people’s feet for an energy source.

“Master Perry! So good to see ya! Finally come out of retirement, I see! ‘Bout time! Never approved of you giving up on saving China after one little incident,” a jovial woman exclaimed. “And you brought an entourage this time! Name’s Glenda, so don’t forget it! What brings you girls to the Dragon Train?”

“We’re going to Doofus Khan’s fortress to rescue our friends. But isn’t this a little advanced for 1542?” Isabella asked, pointing to the giant dragon that Glenda called a ‘train’.

“Yes, yes it is,” Glenda said, her eyes widening. “Did you say Doofus Khan’s fortress, girlie? Don’t you know that place is inescapable? I deliver supplies there myself. Don’t look at me like that, a woman’s gotta make her living somehow.”

“It’s only inescapable because nobody’s ever tried it before. It’ll be completely escapable by the time we’re finished,” Isabella said.

Glenda slapped her knee and laughed. “I like your gumption, girlie! Climb aboard! It’ll take twenty minutes to get there, so just kick back and let the Dragon Train do the work.”

“Twenty minutes? That’s so fast! And I was planning on a day and a half’s hike,” Gretchen said.

“It’s coal-powered,” Glenda shrugged. “Convenient for us, but makes a heck of a mess in the air. Ah, well. Problem for a future century.”

“I’m game!” Adyson shouted, snapping out of her salamander delirium. “Never been on a train before, but who cares? Better than relying on ox jerky!”

“Man, I would’ve packed my mahjong board if I’d known we’d be taking a train,” Holly grumbled.

Isabella turned to the north, signaling Gretchen and Ginger to wave their fans behind her and produce a dramatic wind. “My name is Princess Isabella, and we’re going to defeat you once and for all, Doofus Khan! You won’t pillaging anything by the time we’re through with you!”

#phineas and ferb #isabella garcia shapiro #fireside girls #major monogram #carl karl #fanfiction #104 words for 104 days

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phoenix-downer · 5 years

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Of Which Reason Knows Nothing - Chapter 2

I’m happy to post the second part of the project @chibiranmaruchan and I collaborated on! (You can find the first part here). They drew the art, and I wrote the fic. Working with them was a lot of fun, and I’m really happy with what we’ve created. I will also be posting this story to FFN and AO3 if those are your preferred reading spot(s).

Length: ~3000 words

Summary: Kairi may have lost someone important, but she isn’t alone, and she isn’t without hope. And her mysterious dreams just might have a clue as to Sora’s whereabouts…

Characters: Kairi, Sora, Riku

Additional Info: Implied Kairi/Sora, Riku and Kairi friendship. Post-Kingdom Hearts III. Referenced Character Death. Guilt, Grief/Grieving, Angst, Comfort, Dreams, Friendship.

Enjoy!

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That night, Kairi wore Sora’s hoodie to bed again. Maybe it wasn’t related to her dream at all, but it couldn’t hurt to wear it, just in case there was some sort of connection.

As her eyes flickered shut, she murmured, “Sora, if you’re out there… if you’re trying to reach me… I’m listening.”

Neon lights, flashing colors. An enormous city with skyscrapers pointing towards the moon, trying to reach the heavens but getting pulled back down to earth. Water on the ground in puddles as raindrops splashed into them, disturbing the surface of the water, reflecting the surroundings like a mirror.

She was back. She was back in the same place as before.

White paint on the ground. Lots of lines running across the street. Big billboards running dozens of different ads at the same time. Cars with bright lights, too bright in the dark. The sky a strange shade of purple with ominous black clouds. A big white tower with the numbers 104 in neon red letters.

She glanced at one of the puddles nearby. A face with blue eyes and spiky brown hair stared back. Lifting her hand, she gasped at what she saw. It wasn’t her hand. It was Sora’s, and he was holding a small black pin with a skull-looking emblem on it. He turned it over, and the whole world seemed to go wonky.

“Huh?” He dropped the pin and clutched his head.

“Sora!” she cried, but he couldn’t hear her. His Gummiphone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out.

The message said:

Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure.

—The Reapers.

“Huh?!”

He put his phone back in his pocket. Pain shot up his arm, and he winced and looked at his hand again. Engraved into his palm were black numbers with yellow outlines and a red background.

59:49. 59:48. 59:47. They kept changing, kept… going down. Kept decreasing with each passing second. When he looked at the 104 building again, it said YOU HAVE 7 DAYS in big red letters against a black background.

“Sora!”

But the dream was over, and her eyes flew open. Fingers shaking, she grabbed the Gummiphone on her bedside table. The phone rang and rang and rang as her heart raced because of her dream.

“C’mon, Riku, please, please pick up—”

A few moments later, and he did.

“Kairi?” came his familiar voice, if a little groggy. She glanced at the little time display at the top of the screen. A few minutes after six. The video kicked in, and he yawned as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

“Riku, I had another dream about him again,” she said, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

Riku perked up immediately at that. “You did? What was it about this time?”

“He was in that city I saw before, only this time there was more.” She closed her eyes and pictured it now. The busy crosswalk, the building with 104 written on it, all the colorful lights and sounds. And the red and black numbers carved into his palm. “There was a countdown, on his hand,” she added, trying to include as many details as possible.

“A countdown?” Riku repeated, his voice rising.

Her eyes flew open. “Yes. I’m not sure why, but—”

“Kairi, I think I know where he is. I think I know where he is,” Riku said, and his voice had more energy and hope in it than it had since… well, since everything had happened.

She tugged at Sora’s hoodie and sat up straighter at that. “W-what? But how?”

“When we were taking our Mark of Mastery exam, he met this guy named Neku. He told me later on that Neku talked to him about a game.”

“And?”

“There was a countdown on Neku’s hand that was a part of that game.”

She thought about this for a moment. “So you think he might be playing the same game as Neku?”

Riku nodded. “Yeah. He said Neku was from this place called Shibuya. If we can find that, we can find him.”

This was it, this was their best lead ever since he’d disappeared. She said goodbye to Riku and threw on some clothes. They had to go see Master Yen Sid about this. Their friends all deserved to know.

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Kairi waited with bated breath as Master Yen Sid closed his eyes and stroked his beard. Stealing a quick glance at Riku, she wondered if he was feeling as wound up as she was right now. His face was a calm mask, but then again, he’d never really worn his heart on his sleeve the way she and Sora did.

“So, you are convinced Sora is somewhere called Shibuya, playing some sort of game,” Master Yen Sid said.

Kairi nodded. “Yes, Master. I know it may seem a little crazy—”

“On the contrary, where else would a heart go after fading from the Realm of Light? Sora did not die a normal death, and there are legends of the same thing happening to others.”

“Really?” Riku asked. “Like who?”

Kairi knew what he was thinking. If it had happened to someone else before, there might be clues as to how to save Sora.

“There was a man who called himself the Master of Masters,” Master Yen Sid said. “He had six Keyblade-wielding apprentices, all named after the Seven Deadly Sins. Ava, Luxu, Invi, Gula, Ira, and Aced, with him as their leader: Superbia. Legend has it that instead of dying, he simply faded away, never to be seen or heard from again.”

Kairi and Riku both waited to hear more, but it soon became clear that was all.

“That’s it? That’s all?” Riku said, echoing her thoughts. “This… Master of Masters guy never returned to the Realm of Light?”

“Well, there is more to the story, but it relates to the events of the Keyblade War, and the two of you would be here for days if I were to recount it all to you. I do not think a history lesson is what you want right now. I shared this with you so you would know that the same fate that befell Sora has befallen someone else before, if the legends are to be believed. That was why Mickey tried to warn him against doing what he did, but as the philosophers say, the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.”

Master Yen Sid smiled sadly, and Kairi’s heart sank. They had warned Sora not to save her and he still did? Why?

“I know it should be him here with Riku instead of me,” she said. “But if there’s anything I can do to—”

“Incorrect. You are exactly the person who should be here with Riku right now,” Master Yen Sid said. “For if Riku is to dive into realms unknown, who better to keep his heart tethered to the Realm of Light than a Princess of Heart?”

“I can do that?” Kairi said.

“You kept Sora tethered to the Realm of Light, did you not?”

“Well, yes, but… that was different, Master. My powers don’t work on other people the way they work on Sora, and I’m not really sure why, though I do have a few guesses.”

Riku raised an eyebrow but thankfully kept his mouth shut.

“As I said earlier: the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing,” Master Yen Sid said. “But no matter; in keeping Riku tethered to the Realm of Light as he descends to the depths, you will be helping Sora. Surely you can see how your powers could still be used in this manner.”

“I suppose…”

“Have some faith in yourself, Kairi,” Riku said. “You kept Sora alive, and that let him save the rest of us. I know you’ll be able to pull this off.”

Kairi’s hand fluttered to her necklace. “But what if I can’t? What if I screw up again? I already lost Sora because I was too weak to stop myself from dying. I can’t… I can’t lose you too, Riku!”

Riku put his hand on her shoulder. “You can do this, I know you can. You’re not alone. Together we’ll find Sora and bring him back.” His expression softened. “And you know how I know that?”

“How?”

“Sora believes in us. He believed he’d find you when you were lost. He never gave up on me after all the crap I pulled. So let’s believe in ourselves the way he does.”

Riku was right. Even though Kairi had trouble believing in herself, she couldn’t deny that Sora believed in her. And she believed in him. She believed in Riku, too. And maybe that would be enough.

“Okay, I’m willing to try,” she said, and Master Yen Sid and Riku both nodded.

“We must begin preparations at once,” Master Yen Sid said. “There is no time to waste. The sooner we can reach Sora and bring him back to the Realm of Light, the better.”

Finally. They finally had something to do besides sit around at home and grieve. Taking action felt so much better than doing nothing.

As she and Riku made preparations, she couldn’t help but reflect back on those words she’d told Sora and Riku before. This time, she wasn’t just going to protect Sora. This time, she wasn’t just going to fight. This time, she was going to act. She was going to be the one searching for Sora for once instead of the other way around.

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The night before the mission, Kairi dreamed of Sora again. He was still in that same city, but he wasn’t at the big crosswalk anymore. He was on a side street, fighting some strange-looking creatures Kairi had never seen before. They weren’t Heartless or Nobodies, but they did look like large frogs with elaborate red and black tattoos where their legs should’ve been. And even through the dream, Kairi could sense how the atmosphere surrounding them felt. Her skin crawled and her mood dropped, and she could only imagine how Sora felt fighting them.

When he had destroyed the last of them with his Keyblade, he stumbled against a nearby building, a store with bright red letters. His bangs were stuck to his forehead, and he was breathing hard. How long had he been fighting? How many of those things had he already fought?

But what really drew her attention was when he reached into his pocket and pulled out her lucky charm. Her heart soared at the sight of it. He still had it. He still—

“Why can’t I remember you?” he said, and his voice was anguished.

Her heart sank. Sora didn’t… remember her?

Why not? What had happened to him? Were all his memories gone?

“Sora?” she said. “Sora, I’m here!”

But he couldn’t hear her, and he tucked the charm back into his pocket. “Doesn’t matter. Whoever gave this to me has to be someone important to me.” He looked right at her and made a guts pose, even though he couldn’t see her. “Whoever you are, I’m gonna get home to you, some way, somehow.” He smiled, and it was so good to see his smile again. “I promise.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but the dream was over, and her eyes flew open. She rolled over onto her side, still wrapped in Sora’s hoodie, and huddled beneath her blanket as light poured through the window.

Did Sora really not remember her? Her lower lip trembled at the thought. How could he have forgotten her after everything they’d been through? This was like when she’d forgotten him, and a lump built in her throat when she remembered how awful that had been. The memories slowly slipping away from her. The day she’d forgotten his name. The night she’d forgotten his face. The moment she realized she couldn’t hear his voice anymore. All of that came crashing back to her, and her eyes welled up with tears.

But she and Sora had gotten through that, in the end. And his promise did make her feel a little better. Maybe the memories were all scrambled up, but they weren’t gone for good. They had to still be in his heart somehow. The bond they shared couldn’t be broken that easily.

The important thing was that he was fighting to get back to her. So she would fight to reach him, too. Whatever obstacles they might face, she and Riku would bring him home.

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“You ready?” Kairi asked as she held her hands out to Riku. They were back in Master Yen Sid’s study, and everyone else was here too – King Mickey and Donald and Goofy, Terra and Aqua and Ven, Naminé, of course, and Roxas and Xion and Axel. Even Isa was present. Admittedly, that made her feel a little uncomfortable, but at least he had the good sense not to try to talk to her.

“Ready if you are,” Riku said with a half-grin. How he was so relaxed about this, she’d never know. Her hands were shaking a little, but when he grabbed a hold of them, a wave of calm washed over her.

“For Sora?”

“For Sora.”

Her eyes fluttered shut, and she pictured Sora searching for her in Shibuya. Pictured Riku, pictured his heart.

There. She could see his Station of Awakening now with its stained glass-like panels showing the people that were most important to him. Friends and family and memories spread throughout his heart. Taking a deep breath, she reached out with her light, tethering her heart to his. His memories started flowing through her mind, and she opened her eyes.

“Okay, I’m connected to you now. Whenever you’re ready.”

He looked around at their friends. “Hey, why the long faces? Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back here with Sora in no time, you’ll see.” He looked at Kairi one more time and smiled. “We won’t give up on him, because he never gave up on us. And he’s helped every person here in this room at one time or another. Now it’s time we return the favor.”

There was a general chorus of agreement and well-wishing at that. Letting go of one of Kairi’s hands, Riku summoned his Keyblade and opened a large portal above them complete with swirling colors and elaborate designs of a bygone age.

“Stay safe, Riku,” she said. “See you soon.”

And with that a great beam of light shot down and pulled him into the portal. Her hand was now empty, and she rested it over her heart.

“Well?” King Mickey said.

She smiled. “He’s okay. I can feel him.”

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“And… I can feel Sora’s heart, too. He may not remember me yet, but I know he will soon.”

“That’s the magic of the paopu fruit!” Goofy said, then slapped his hands over his mouth as Donald tapped his foot.

“Hey, you weren’t supposed to tell everyone that,” Donald scolded, and everyone laughed as Kairi blushed. Great, did all their friends know about the paopu fruit? Well, not surprising. Juicy gossip had a way of spreading like wildfire.

“Hey, if the Wayfinders can bring me and Aqua and Terra back together again, imagine how powerful the real thing will be!” Ven pointed out. “Especially because you and Sora—”

“Less teasing, more practicing with your Keyblade,” Aqua chided, but she was smiling, and Terra grinned and ruffled his hair. Ven pretended to protest, but it was obvious he liked the hair ruffling and playful scolding.

As the others started up conversations with each other, catching up on how everything had been going since everyone had last seen each other, one person in particular sought Kairi out. Naminé, still holding her sketchpad and pencil but wearing a cute new dress, blue and yellow and white.

“Kairi?”

“Yes Naminé? What is it?”

“I know you’re feeling sad about Sora forgetting you, but I doubt those memories are gone for good. Look at Xion,” she said, gesturing at their friend, who smiled and waved at them. “We all thought no one would remember her, and yet here she is now. Sora’s memories of you will come back, I just know they will.”

“Thanks, Naminé. And when Sora finally comes back, he can thank you properly, too.”

Naminé smiled, and Kairi went over to talk to Axel and Roxas and Xion some more, then to King Mickey and Donald and Goofy, then lastly to Terra and Aqua and Ven. She had something very important to ask, something she wanted to do as Riku searched for Sora and she kept him tethered to the Realm of Light.

“Master Aqua, please take me on as your apprentice,” she pleaded as she bowed low. This was her best shot, her best hope at becoming a better Keyblade wielder after the disaster that had happened at the Keyblade Graveyard.

When she straightened, her throat dry, Aqua was beaming down at her. “I thought you’d never ask.”

She clasped her hands and thanked Aqua profusely. Here was an opportunity to get better, to improve, to become a better fighter by the time Sora and Riku returned. She wasn’t the weak girl that had gotten kidnapped and killed anymore. She had the heart and will to be strong, and she was going to prove it.

However long it might take, however hard she would have to work, it didn’t matter. Someday, she would fight by Sora’s side again. Someday, she would be able to spar with Riku and give him a run for his munny. Someday, the three of them would be together again and all would feel right in the worlds.

And someday, she and Sora would finally be able to make good on the promise they’d made. They’d be together every day, and nothing would be able to keep them apart anymore.

For that, she would train and fight for as long as it might take. Now was the time to step forward like she’d said she would. Now was the time to act. The fight was in her hands, and she was ready at long last.

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A/N: A big thank you again to @chibiranmaruchan! And thank you to everyone who read, reblogged, liked, and commented on the story! Hope you enjoyed :)

#kingdom hearts #kairi #sora #riku #sokai #implied sokai #destiny trio #kairi and riku friendship #kh fanfiction #phoenix writes #phoenix-downer #chibiranmaruchan #collaboration #long post #kh3 spoilers #twewy references

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lavieenprose · 4 years

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on being ill

“On Being Ill” isn’t just making a case for illness as a literary subject, but for the brute, bare fact of the body itself. By insisting we acknowledge that we sweat and crave and itch all day (“all day, all night”), Woolf reminds us we have the right to speak about these things—to make them lyric and epic—and that we should seek a language that honors them. The man who suffers a migraine, she writes, is “forced to coin words himself, taking his pain in one hand and a lump of pure sound in the other.” What does it sound like, this strange, unholy language of nerves and excretions? How do we articulate the kind of pain that refuses language? We throw up our hands, or we hurl our charts: one through ten, bad to worse, from the smiley face to its wretched, frowning cousin.

Woolf’s argument may have been more urgent in her time than in ours—we have more records of the “daily drama of the body” now than we did then—but when I first read her battle cry, her call to arms (not just arms but legs and teeth and bones), it felt like encountering a long-lost relative: the banner I’d never known I’d always been fighting under: Bodies matter—we can’t escape them—they’re full of stories—how do we tell them? Her argument might have the urgency of a battle cry but it’s also vulnerable; it’s posing questions; it’s got mess and nerve—it’s leaking some strange fluid from beneath its garments, hard to tell in the twilight, maybe pus or tears or blood. Even her syntax feels bodily—full of curves and joints and twists, shifting and stretching the skin of her sentences.

People have often told me my own writing seems to be all about bodies. A woman from a writing workshop once suggested I call my collection of stories Body Issues. (I didn’t have a collection of stories: If I did, I wouldn’t have called it that.) But I’ve never wanted to write about “the body,” by which I mean I’ve never set out with that explicit intention; I’ve only ever wanted to write about what it feels like to be alive, and it turns out being alive is always about being in a body. We’re never not in bodies: that’s just our fate and our assignment. (In her beautiful memoir The Two Kinds of Decay, Sarah Manguso writes that she despises “the body” whenever it describes anything but a corpse, and I love that, though I use the phrase constantly anyway.) To my mind, the more aggressive choice is writing that isn’t physical; this insistence carries the burden of intentional absence.

All that said, I’ve always felt a certain shame about the ways my writing keeps coming back to bodies, which is why I loved finding Woolf. My shame felt such relief at the prospect of her company. My first novel was all about addiction and eating disorders and sex, and there was food everywhere, some of it gone rotten. I used the word “sweat” too many times (my editor told me); there were too many fluids (my editor told me) and far too many bruises (my editor told me) and even worse, too many of these bruises were “plum-colored”—for this last one (my editor told me), we would both get mocked, if we didn’t get rid of some of these plum-colored bruises right away. A certain shame hung over the whole narrative, like a faint body odor I couldn’t smell because it was mine: There was too much body, and this too-much-body risked banality and melodrama at once. I’ve always wondered if this shame about writing about the body is connected to the shame of quasi-autobiographical writing, that sense of failing to imagine beyond one’s own experience. Is writing about bodily experience somehow the extreme form of this failure, the ultimate solipsism? You haven’t even gotten beyond your own nerve endings; it’s no accident they call it navel gazing.

I often think of an old painting I once saw that shows an injured body pointing at its own open wounds. The most graceful victim, of course, is the one who doesn’t need to point at his holes or ask for sympathy—who doesn’t take up the lump of pure sound, who just keeps quiet. The way I imagine being scolded goes something like this: There’s something selfish about talking about bodies too much if the bodily experience fueling everything is your own.

I often think, also, of a cross-country race I ran in 10th grade: I tripped on a slab of concrete sticking up from the dirt, about a hundred meters after the start, when the pack was still dense; and I was trampled by the horde of 15-year-old girls running behind me. It was pretty minor, as tramplings go. But still, it was a trampling. I got up to run the next three miles of the race but I was shaken up and bleeding. I wasn’t running well at all—nothing close to what I’d need to do to place well for our team.

When I reached my coach, who was calling out our one-mile splits, she said something to the effect of “Why are you running so slow?”—only perhaps not so delicately phrased. I remember the awkward way I tried to point at my own wounds without slowing my (turtle) pace; and I remember how badly I wanted her to see the streaks of dirt-clotted blood; I almost stumbled again in my urgent need to show her the proof of my stumbling.

That memory has become the vessel for a certain kind of shame—the shame of pointing too overtly at what hurts, jamming the laser-pointer of language at some wound and then expecting it to yield wisdom or explanation. My coach didn’t want the epic or lyric account of my damaged body, she just wanted me to keep running, and hopefully pick up the pace.

I’m still haunted by the specter of myself in this moment—a mute form pointing, bleeding. A few years after that race I spent a couple months actually mute: I’d gotten jaw surgery and they’d wired my jaw shut to help it heal. During those months I wrote quite frequently but it was mainly practical, because I couldn’t talk. I requested things by scribbling them in a little notebook: vicodin, please; okay ensure (my mom was always foisting Ensure on me), but are there any cans of dark chocolate left? HATE butter pecan. I asked for sheets draped over the mirrors, so I wouldn’t see my swollen face; I asked for the pair of scissors that I was supposed to keep on-hand in case I vomited and needed to cut the wires between my teeth.

Eventually I started writing poems about those quiet weeks, and the surgery before them, the days in the hospital. The poems were full of IV lines and numbness and feeling returning after numbness like water oozing back into crab holes in damp sand (“crackling lines of hurt,” I wrote). I imagined myself the bard of swelling; I wanted to write toothache lyrics for swelling—to evoke the chronic panic of its deforming sculptural practice: it shapes you into something like you, but not you. I wanted to bring that aching knowledge to my nonexistent reading public.

I turned the poems into a series and then I turned them in to my undergraduate writing workshop. The series was called “Waiting Room,” meaning the waiting room before surgery but also the injury afterward as a waiting room—get it?—the aftermath as the cramped little chamber where you wait to get better; where you have to keep waiting even once it seems like you should already be there.

I wasn’t satisfied with the poems. Pain was hard to describe. I encountered Elaine Scarry’s famous formulation—“pain does not simply resist language but actively destroys it”—which recognized but did not solve the problem. My workshop wasn’t satisfied with the poems either. Everyone wanted to know: What were they about? I thought it was pretty fucking self-evident, but no, it was a different problem: My classmates got that these poems were about pain and injury—maybe in a dental office?—but what were they really about? My workshop was thinking everything must be a metaphor for something else: the cut lines on raw gums, the self-quieting sparkle of anesthesia. But in truth, nothing was a metaphor for anything. It was more or less this happened, and it hurt. There was nothing below the surface.

At the time I took this as a verdict of poverty and lack—which is why I loved finding Woolf, so many years later, who seemed to be saying, the surface of the body isn’t poverty; it isn’t lack. She rose from the dead for the express purpose of silencing that workshop, or at least arguing against the notion that there had to be something besides bodies for these poems to matter. She was saying the surface is poetry; bodies are poetry; or poetry can be made of what these bodies need and crave and bleed and feel.

I felt her summoning an army, everyone I’d ever read whose language does some justice to the way our bodies are, the ways they betray us or bind us together: Walt Whitman’s greed to catalogue the physical forms of his countrymen, William Faulkner’s fixation on muddy drawers and the waft of honeysuckle; Marcel Merleau-Ponty’s insistence on the body as an “eloquent relic of existence.”

Woolf writes: “It is not only a new language that we need, more primitive, more sensual, more obscene, but a new hierarchy of the passions; love must be deposed in favour of a temperature of 104; jealousy give place to the pangs of sciatica.” I can see the way these marching orders have infected my own prose—even this piece, with its twisting, bodily contortions—and the way they’ve helped me claim a dialect I’d been afraid was junk, a ledger of the body’s travails, not the “Waiting Room” poems (which weren’t really that great) but the notebooks I kept when my jaw was wired silent, full of their banal complaints and requests: Vicodin, please. Where are the vomit scissors? These are daily dramas of the body, charged with force and longing; the record Woolf never found, the words that pain and pure sound made.

#Leslie Jamison #virginia woolf #being ill

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peachymess · 5 years

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If attack on titan was in the Harry Potter universe, what subject do you think the veterans would have been teaching at Hogwarts (like all the veterans including Nile, Hannes, pyxis and such) and what houses would 104 been in? It’s okay if you don’t like au’s like that then you don’t have to reply, hope you have a good day :) !

Hi, anon! Finally, I’ll be answering your Harry Potter AU ask! I knowit’s been ages and ages – I’m really sorry about that. To pay you back for thelong wait, I’ve done headshots of the entire 104 plus some of the vets for thisAU. Please accept my apology-drawings, haha. Art posts for vets here, and 104 here.

For the vets, I assigned each of them one of the HP subjects, and I’m reallyhappy with where they ended up. I can see them all in these positions, and Ihope you can too; if you’d like a deeper explanation as to why some of themended up with what they did, just shoot me an ask about the specific charactersin question and I’ll be happy to explain.

Erwin (Slytherin): Defence against the dark arts

Levi(Hufflepuff): Potions

Hanji(Ravenclaw): Transfiguration

Moblit(Hufflepuff): Muggle studies

Mike(Gyrffindor): Herbology

Nanaba(Gryffindor): Flight class

Nile(Ravenclaw): History of Magic

Pyxis(Slytherin): Astonomy

Hannes(Hufflepuff): Groundskeeper

Petra(Hufflepuff): Divination

Oluo(Slytherin): Charms

Eld(Gryffindor): Arithmancy

Gunther(Gryffindor): Apparition lessons

Ness(Hufflepuff): Care of Magical creatures

Now, forthe houses, and where to put everyone: I have to talk about how I view the HPhouses first…

To start off, I’m not the biggest fan of dividing young, impressionable kidsinto groups based on personal traits to begin with. I feel like it’s likely toshape – and restrict – how the kids view themselves and the people around them.I feel like someone who’s more like, say, a Ravenclaw, at eleven years old,might develop into more of a Gryffindor during their years of schooling (atwhich case, it would be inappropriate for their development, to put them intothe house they not yet fit into, just like moving them mid-school would be). Notto mention it can restrict what social interactions they allow themselves; onegroup villainizing another, or avoiding befriending those they won’t share acommon room with, etc. Even more, I feel like saying people are EITHER brave ORsmart OR driven OR loyal, is doing the complexity of personalities a massivedisservice. If I had a dollar for every person who’ve ever told me they areboth one house and another, or a little bit of all, I’d be… well, richer than Iam now. So. My point is, I’m not a fan of saying someone is one thing, as it can sound likeI’m saying they’re NOT the other three things – which simply isn’t true. HarryPotter houses is something a lot of people have a lot of emotional investmentin. As such, I’m sure some of you will disagree with where I personally see theSNK characters. That’s ok. For most of these, I struggled to settle on onehouse, and I’d probably be swayed to change my mind on many of them, ifpresented with the right arguments. However, I have set some guidelines formyself, and I’ve landed on something, following these:

I’veseparated the HP houses into two categories: action-driven (active) houses andREaction-driven (passive) houses: Slytherin and Ravenclaw are action-driven:while Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are REaction-driven.

Beingaction-driven, in this context, means you actively seek out something. ForSlytherins, this is a personal goal. Be it a wish to become the most powerfulwizard alive, the richest, or for your moral compass to be universallyacknowledged and followed. If your path is dictated by where you want to endup, your path is unfolding through the actions you take to get there. This isSlytherin. Ravenclaws, similarly, are first and foremost seekers of truth andknowledge. They spend their time actively improving their insight into whateverfield they find most worthwhile; their path is created from the steps they taketo improve on this knowledge.

Being REaction-driven,on the other hand – in this context – means that you are mainly passive,waiting for something to occurs that requires you to react; you respond to anenvironment, rather than cause an environment to occur. For Gryffindor, whosemain trait is their unwavering drive to withstand and overcome even thescariest, most personally endangering obstacles, this means they’ll REact tosaid obstacles by tackling them head-on, because it is the right thing to do(even when it’s also the hardest thing to do). Hufflepuffs, similarly, willrespond to an environment by letting their loyalty tell them how they shouldrespond, when situations occur.

Using theseguidelines, I’ve ended up placing the characters like this:

Eren(Slytherin): Let’s start this off by getting one thing straight: being aSlytherin and being driven by a personal goal, does not have to be a bad thing!By placing Eren in Slytherin, I am in no way saying he’s a bad guy or that Idon’t support him. No. Eren is here, because, after thinking about it, I can’tdeny that his drive, is an intense, active personal goal of making things rightin the world. Sure, his goal of making the world titan-free (and seeing thefree world later), has taken him down a dangerous path that requires him to bebrave – but he’s not driven by bravery as much as an idea that he just “has todo this, danger level being whatever it is”, for his goal to be reached. He’snot wrestling his fears as much as he is wrestling the danger of not winningwhat needs to be won to advance towards his goal. Lucky for us, his personalgoal, is to give all of us the justice and freedom that is our birthright. Eren’sstrength, is his relentless strength to pursue this freedom.Armin(Gryffindor): I’ve got two names for you to suck on: Hermione and Neville.These characters have taught us that there is no such thing as being “toointelligent” or “too scared” to have the brave heart of a lion. Armin is veryintelligent, and he’s also very human in the face of danger. He also has a dreamto explore (which could make you advocate for Ravenclaw), but more thananything, his dream remains a backseat driver to his rising to the occasionsthat occur; saving humanity before pursuing his own dream. He uses hisintelligence to very skullfully aid in the brave battles he end up in. His maindrive, is wrestling his personal demons, and rising to the occasions. He’sbrave – so incredibly brave – and he’s a Gryffindor.Mikasa(Hufflepuff): A friend of mine said “anywhere but Hufflepuff” when we talkedabout Mikasa. But I beg to differ. Mikasa is strong, and she’s proud. But she’sloyalty bound most of all. She has amazing skills that take her far in battles– but they are not the product of her facing her fears and being brave, butrather the product of her being willing to give it her all to defend what she’semotionally bound to. She’s peak Hufflepuff, because she’s got the skills toback up what she’s loyal to. Honestly, I’d say EMA are all the peaks of theirhouses. Jean(Gryffindor): I’d got Slytherin, had it not been for the fact that once hispersonal desires had to face off against the world’s need for him to rise to adifferent standard, he answered. Jean puts on a good “bad guy slytherin”persona, but his actions say something else. He’s very human, and he’s a slowgrower (as I’ve talked about before), but he DOES grow – and it’s in responseto the world’s need for him to, not for his own personal goals and gains. He’sa Gryffindor.Marco(Ravenclaw): To be honest, we just need someone in Ravenclaw at this point. Ibased this off of Isayama’s HS AU; Marco and Armin are both smart guys, butwhile Armin is shown to be a geek (more devoted to his interests outside ofschool; not being defined by his cleverness), Marco is a “nerd”; school smart –defined by his intellect. I’d say this is better shown in the AU than in canon,but then again, Marco didn’t have much time to blossom. That’s why I’ve chosento go with the context Isa has given us, and say he’s someone who strives toalways be better, learn more, gain knowledge – be it how to fight better, howto strategize more, or how to read situations.Sasha(Hufflepuff): Sasha very nearly ended up as a Gryffindor for me. I held backpartially because I love the idea of her and Connie being Huff-buds. And atfirst I felt like I was cheating; after all, the ways she saved that child andtook out a titan on foot, is still one of the most amazing moments of thisstory for me. Like if you cry every time… But I had to take a step back andremind myself that Hufflepuff is not BELOW Gryffindor. Hufflepuff is not alower tier than any of the other houses. It’s supposed to be your main note.And for Sasha, what we see her do most of, is being a very quirky, goofy, funnygirl who enjoys the simple things (good times with friends, food, etc.). To me,that’s a Hufflepuff. She’s sweet, and she’s fierce. Precisely like a Huff who’sthrown into a world where her loyalty is called upon a lot.Connie(Hufflepuff): He’s in the same boat as Sasha; he’s brave in the face of danger,and he’s the Lion’s heart worthy, but more than that he’s a simple guy who’soften shown to fit snugly into the simpler times-life. Who said Hufflepuffscan’t also be brave when they’re called upon by something or someone they careabout?Reiner(Gryffindor): To be honest, I’m the least sure about the BRA trio. Partiallyfor the sake of mirroring the EMA trio, I decided to put them all in differenthouses. But also, I partially wanted to emphasis that they all have differentpersonalities. Lumping them all into Slytherin and calling it a day, woulddoing them and their individual causes a big disservice. And at the end of theday, while Reiner was the left-over after I placed Annie and Bert, I do thinkReiner’s struggles warrant recognition in the Gryffindor way. After all, nobodyworked harder to get a spot amongst the shifters than him, he took on the roleas Marcel 2.0 after BRA were thoroughly lost, he kept going even after theintense mental struggles he suffered from that point onward, he genuinely triedto be just be best tm - even though he’sstruggled to find out what IS the best. I’d say he’s got a drive to mimic aSlytherin, but on the other hand, he became very passive inside the walls, oncehe found a comfortable place to play pretend, so I’d say he’s more a re-actor.Annie(Slytherin): Since the beginning, we’ve seen that Annie does not put much stockin loyalty for the sake of loyalty. Sure, she can stick to a side/idea once shedecides on it, but how she decides on it, is driven by her own interest. Shejust wants to be ok, and to have a better life for herself. She’s not exactlyshooting for the stars with this goal, but it’s her final compass none theless. Again, she’s not bad; wanting to wathc out for yourself is not inherentlyevil – it just is what it is.Bertolt (Hufflepuff): Bertolt is loyal to the side he’s picked, preciselybecause it’s what he’s decided to stick with. Loyalty for the sake of loyalty.He says he’s not sure what’s the right thing anymore, but he sticks with Marleybecause that was his entry point. He’s also – while powerful – more of areactor; doing the work he knows he has to do, once it’s possible or asked ofhim. He’s a Hufflepuff to me.Ymir(Slytherin): Ymir’s selfishness is a front she puts on. It’s aself-preservation mechanism that kicks in, understandably, after everythingthat’s happened to her. She’s not a Slytherin because of this. She’s aSlytherin, because at the end of the day, she’s made the choice to follow thatfront’s example, and put herself first for once. Perhaps she’s a convertedGryffindor. All I know is, she’s chosen to put herself and her interest(s)first, and she’s actively sought out these benefits – Slytherin by fomula – butthe more I think about it, the more I want to replace her in Gryffindor.Historia(Slytherin): Historia may appear to be a selfless, brave Gryffindor, and sure,she’s in dangerous situations, like everyone else in 104 – but she’s therebecause that’s her goal. Her personal goal is to appear selfless. To me, herentire arc was about accepting and beginning to love and blossom as herSlytherin self. A Gryffindor wouldn’t say they didn’t care if someone was indanger in their stead (Armin standing in for her), nor would a Gryffindor telltitan Ymir to tear down the tower to save herself, dooming three other people (Connie,Bertolt, Reiner) to death in the process. Historia is not a selfless personfirst and foremost – and while I personally don’t appreciate her, I’m not goingto say she’s in Slytherin for being selfish. No; she’s there because her drivehas been facing inwards, and that’s ok. She’s had little choice but TO have herown back. And she was a child, and can thus not really be blamed for ending uptrying to tend to herself in a harmful way (attempting to die in a heroic wayfor how that will appear outward). But she is, in the end, a character drivenby self-preservation and (the search for) self-acceptance. And that puts her inSlytherin for me.

… And that’sit, anon. I hope you found this interesting and/or entertaining. I put quite abit of effort into this, and I hope something positive will come from it ^^

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per-ineptia-ad-astra · 5 years

Text

Star Trek Episode 1.21: The Return of the Archons

AKA: In Star Trek, Neural Network Trains You

Our episode begins with two men running frantically down a deserted, old-fashioned-looking street. The men look a bit old-fashioned themselves, wearing tall boots, waistcoats and tricorne hats, but when one of them trips and falls we see that the other one, stopping to help him up, is Sulu. In and of itself I wouldn’t find this terribly surprising since I just assume 19th-century themed LARPing is the kind of thing Sulu does on his days off, but they both look pretty freaked, so there’s probably something else going on here.

“O’Neil, we’ve got to keep going,” Sulu says, but O’Neil’s feeling a bit less plucky about the situation. “It’s no use, they’re everywhere!” he bemoans as the two of them back up against what appears to be a store window, albeit one completely empty of any merchandise. The desperate urgency of this statement is somewhat undercut by the fact that the camera then shows us all of one person, an anonymous figure wearing a brown hooded robe and carrying a big metal rod, pursuing them down the otherwise empty street. I say ‘pursuing’ but really, it’s more of a mosey than anything.

“Captain gave us an order! We’ve got to find some clue!” Sulu admonishes O’Neil, but O’Neil only reiterates that “It’s no use!” Then he points out another hooded figure approaching from a different direction. Oh, there’s two of them? Oh, well, I stand corrected. You’re definitely screwed.

[ID: An empty street with a large, old stone building at one end, in front of which a single figure in a brown hooded robe is standing.]

ahhhhh the endless hordes ohhhh nooooo

While Sulu and O’Neil are standing around waiting patiently to be cornered by the slowly advancing figures, Sulu kills some time by calling the ship to get them beamed up. Specifically, he calls the bridge, gets Kirk, and tells Kirk they need to be beamed up so that Kirk can then call the transporter room and tell them that the landing party needs to be beamed up, because just calling the transporter room directly might actually have gotten them out of there in time. Naturally, as soon as the situation calls for them to stay where they are so they can get beamed out, O’Neil immediately changes his mind and decides that actually he’d quite like to run away. Sulu yells after him desperately, but it’s no use; O’Neil has scarpered, leaving Sulu to face the approaching figure alone. The very slowly approaching figure.

Despite Sulu’s heroic last stand (heavier on the ‘stand’ than the ‘heroic,’ it must be said), one of the hooded figures manages to reach him, threateningly raising the big length of metal pipe they’re carrying to...gently tap him on the shoulder with it. Evidently this has more serious effects than Sulu being declared It now, because there’s an ominous sound effect and Sulu goes rigid for a moment. Then his expression turns into a blank, empty grin just as he finally gets beamed up.

Upon arrival, our still-grinning navigator staggers somewhat drunkenly on the transporter pad as Kirk hurries in, wanting to know what’s going on, and where’s O’Neil? Yeah, Mr. Transporter Man, where is O’Neil? This need for people to remain perfectly still for the transporter to lock on to them has rather suddenly come out of nowhere, considering a few episodes ago they were able to pluck a man flying a jet fighter out of the sky with no trouble. O’Neil might have run off pretty quick but I rather doubt he was traveling faster than an F-104. Damn thing must be on the fritz again.

Neither Sulu nor the transporter operator answer Kirk’s questions. Sulu just looks at him dreamily and says, “What? Who?” I don’t know what the transporter operator’s excuse is. Then Sulu looks a little more focused (it’s a very low bar) and says, “You’re not of the Body.”

At this point Kirk quite sensibly decides to ctrl-alt-del this entire conversation and just calls for McCoy to get down here pronto. Meanwhile, Sulu has rounded on a nearby blueshirt who’s just hanging out in the transporter room for some unknown reason, and starts yelling, “You, you did it! They knew we were Archons. These are the clothes they wear, not these!” (So, are you saying those clothes were...anarchonistic?) Then he throws his tricorne at the blueshirt and starts taking off his coat for good measure, because taking off his clothes is just how Sulu reacts to being under alien influences. This time he doesn’t get quite as far as in The Naked Time, though, getting distracted partway through by some thought that makes him look up to the ceiling and start grinning again while saying, “Landru...Landru...”

Kirk manages to get Sulu to sit down on the transporter pad and attempts to pry some kind of useful information out of him, but all he gets is some rambling about how “They’re wonderful, the sweetest people in the universe...” and “It’s paradise, my friend.”

McCoy gets there in the middle of this and reacts about how you’d expect.

[ID: McCoy raising an eyebrow and glancing to the side in bewilderment while saying “da fuck.”]

“Sulu, where’s O’Neil?” Kirk asks once again.

“Paradise...” Sulu says happily.

We never get to find out what McCoy considers to be the appropriate medical response to this situation, because at that point the scene cuts to the titles. Afterward we get a captain’s log to shed a very small amount of light on the situation:

“While orbiting planet Beta 3 trying to find some trace of the starship Archon that disappeared here a hundred years ago, a search party consisting of two Enterprise officers were sent to the planet below. Mr. Sulu has returned, but in a highly agitated mental state. His condition requires I beam down with an additional search detail.”

I don’t know if I would call that agitated, per se. It’s sort of the opposite of agitated, really. But never mind that, let’s talk about the fact that the Enterprise has been sent to investigate the whereabouts of a ship that vanished a century ago. At that point we’re well past there being any chance of actually helping any survivors and into ‘historical mystery’ territory. Sure, it’d be good to find out what happened, but was there really not anything of higher priority for the Enterprise, of all ships, to be doing? This is like telling an active Navy cruiser to stop everything and go look for the USS Cyclops. (Look it up.)

Well, Archon or no Archon, there’s clearly something weird going on here and whatever it is ate our best navigator’s brain, so there’s only one thing to do: send even more critical personnel down right into the middle of it to check it out. So Kirk, Spock, McCoy and three other dudes we don’t know beam down all dolled up in what could be called period dress as long as you don’t ask too many questions about exactly what period it is. Special shout-out to Spock, who’s chosen to hide his ears in the most conspicuous manner possible:

[ID: A landing party of six men assembled in two rows on an old-fashioned city street. In the front stand McCoy, wearing a a gray suit with a black bolo tie and carrying a medical case; Kirk, wearing a dark blue coat over suit pants, a patterned gray waistcoat, and a black bolo tie; and Spock, wearing a black knee-length cloak with a square hood over gray suit pants and dress shoes. In the back row are three more crewmembers wearing similar clothing.]

SPOCK SMOCK SPOCK SMOCK SPOCK SMOCK

Incidentally, if any of these streets and buildings look familiar, it’s because the exterior of the town was filmed at RKO 40 Acres, the same multi-purpose backlot that provided the set for Miri, which you may recall also served as the town of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show. It kinda makes me wonder if the Andy Griffith crew ever got annoyed at the Star Trek crew for trashing their town multiple times.

As the party gets their bearings, a man holding one hand to his chest wanders past, apparently too busy staring dreamily into the distance to take any notice of the new arrivals. Spock and Kirk take immediate notice of how much this resembles the state Sulu was in. “If everyone on this planet is like him...” Kirk muses, but doesn’t bother giving us the end to that sentence. Probably it wasn’t supposed to be “...then where can I get some?” but that’s the first thing to come to mind.

They head off down the street, and soon encounter another local wearing the same vacant expression, and also a bowler hat. This one actually stops and addresses them, though, saying, “Joy to you, friends,” with the hand-on-chest gesture the first guy was doing. Well, when in Rome, etc, so Kirk also puts his hand on his chest and replies, “Joy to you,” while behind him Spock chimes in with a distinctly half-hearted attempt at the same gesture.

The local continues, “You be strangers. Come for the festival, are ya?” For some reason the actor here has chosen to go with the most goofily over-enunciated accent he could possibly manage. It sticks out like a sore thumb because no one else in the town sounds remotely like that; they tend to sound a bit spacey, but nothing more than that. Indeed, I’m quite sure that no real existing human being has ever naturally sounded like this dude. But hey, I guess that’s one way to make your five minutes of screen time memorable.

Kirk’s happy to go with this conveniently offered explanation for their presence. Sure! Festival! Definitely! That is definitely why we are here, absolutely.

The guy then asks if they have a place to “sleep it off” yet. When Kirk shakes his head, the guy suggests they go find the house of someone called Reger. “He’s got rooms...but you’ll have to hurry. It’s almost the Red Hour.” Oh, that sounds...fun.

Sure enough there’s a clock on the nearby building reading about two minutes to six, which is barely enough time to put directions to Reger’s house into Wayz, let alone to get there. Unfortunately the party is still trapped in the iron grip of small talk with a dude who clearly sees no reason whatsoever to draw any association between “you’ll have to hurry” and “now it’s time to stop casually chatting.” But that’s small towns for you. I have occasionally come pretty close to having to gnaw my own arm off to escape conversations at the library check-out desk, and were meteors to start falling outside I would not expect the lady scanning my books to speed up one little bit.

At that moment, a couple of women come drifting serenely down the sidewalk nearby, giving Bowler Hat the chance to rope even more people into the conversation. “Tula, these folks come for the festival,” he says to one of them. “Your daddy can put them up, can’t he?” Tula, who looks slightly less spacey than Bowler Hat (a low bar) asks if the party is from the valley. One of the three as-yet-anonymous crewmembers, eager to make a contribution, chimes in that they’ve just arrived. Sure is convenient that everyone around here only asks leading questions.

Tula says sure, her dad would be happy to put them up. But it’s too late: just as she says this, the clock begins tolling six. The effect on the town is immediate. Tula, Bowler Hat, and everyone else in sight break into a frenzy, screaming, throwing hats and gloves, hitting each other, breaking things, and generally rampaging like an Instant Angry Mob, Just Add Water. The stunned landing party run for cover while people go wild all around them. Unfortunately one of them does get beaned by a remarkably soft bit of debris in the process.

[ID: A gif showing the landing party, led by Kirk, running through a street while various debris gets thrown around. One piece hits one of the crewmen in the head, causing him to throw his hands up, but not stop running.]

They find a nearby building to run into, quickly close the door, and only then turn around to see three very confused older men standing there staring at them. Kirk apologizes for bursting in on them, explaining that they weren’t prepared for “this kind of a welcome.” One of the men asks if they’re strangers and Kirk says yes, they came from the valley and they’re here for the festival. This answer doesn’t seem to satisfy the men as well as it did Bowler Hat, though, because the speaker asks, “How come you here?” Before Kirk can try to answer this, one of the crewmembers (the same one who spoke before, of course; what, you think they could afford to have all three of them talk? Talking’s expensive!) asks if the guy is Reger. The guy says yes, and then confirms that Tula is his daughter. “Well you better do something!” the ‘shirt yells. “She’s outside!”

Reger, however, doesn’t look at all taken aback by this news, just sad. “I know,” he says. “It’s Festival. It’s the will of Landru.”

At that point, one of Reger’s companions interrupts, pointing out that these new strangers are “young men, not old enough to be excused.” Oh, that’s okay, we’ve got McCoy here, he can write everyone a quick doctor’s note. Reger points out that they’re visitors, but the other man isn’t about to be content with that. “Well, have they no lawgivers in the valley?” he demands. “Why be they not at the festival?”

Rather than attempt to navigate the weird backroads of this conversation any further, Kirk aims to distract by telling Reger that they heard he might have some rooms for them. Reger looks relieved at this. “You see, Hacom?” he tells the complaining man. “They’ve merely come looking for a place to rest afterwards.” Hacom is still not appeased: “The Red Hour has already struck!”

The third man steps in then and tries to help soothe Hacom, telling him that “the valley has different ways.” But Hacom’s got a good head of outrage built up by now and he’s not about to concede it for anyone. “Do you say that Landru is not everywhere?!” he demands, with much the same kind of self-righteous huffiness of a man bitching out a Starbucks barista for wishing him happy holidays instead of merry Christmas.

“No, of course not,” the third man says, still gamely trying to defuse things. “It’s simply that they have different ways.”

“They’ve come looking for shelter,” Reger says, with what he clearly hopes is a sense of finality. “Can I turn them away?”

He turns and makes as if to lead the landing party up the nearby stairs, but the concerned ‘shirt stops him and asks again about Tula. “She is in Festival, as you should be!” Hacom snaps. As Reger finally manages to get the landing party upstairs Hacom turns to the remaining man and says that “the Lawgivers should know.” He is distinctly not amused when the other man tries to point out that surely the Lawgivers already know since they’re infallible, which Hacom takes as mockery toward the Lawgivers. “The strangers are not of the Body!” he yells as he stalks outside in a huff. “You will see!”

Upstairs, Reger has taken the party to a room with several beds, where he putters around opening the windows (revealing that somehow, full dark has fallen in the five minutes or so that they’ve been inside) and saying that the group can come back there after Festival, when they’ll be in need of rest. Kirk tells him they have no intention of attending Festival. This leaves Reger stunned and confused, but not nearly as stunned and confused as he is a moment later when Kirk says that he’d like to know more about the Festival, and about this ‘Landru’ person. At that, Reger freaks out, slamming the window closed again and spluttering incoherently before finally managing to say “Well...you’re strange.” Then he tries to ask, “Are you...are you...” but can’t quite make it. Undaunted by this, Kirk asks about Landru once again, causing Reger to freak out even more.

Outside, meanwhile, it’s still total chaos. Things are on fire, people are screaming, the works. Special shout-out to the guy who just straight-up throws himself through an entire window.

[ID: A gif showing a man running past a glass window with a chair right before another man runs up and jumps through the window, shattering the glass.]

And now, the weather.

By the time we cut back to the landing party, some time seems to have passed, as Reger is absent and Kirk is busy brooding at the window. Having evidently seen enough, he turns back to the group and says, “My guess is we have until morning. Let’s put the time to good use.” He tells McCoy to take some readings to see if there’s anything in the air that might account for all this and Lindstrom—the ‘shirt who was concerned about Tula—to “correlate everything that you’ve seen with any other sociological parallels, if any.” Oh man, Lindstrom got the hard homework. Kirk then turns to Spock and says, “You and I have some serious thinking to do. When we leave here tomorrow, I want to have a plan of action.”

Apparently all that thinking really takes it out of you, because the next thing we see is the gas lamp by the door having burned out, while in the interim almost everyone has passed out on some piece of furniture or another. Kirk remains somewhat awake, leaning half-asleep against the post of the bunk bed with a blanket wrapped around him, while Spock is laying flat on his back on a top bunk with his hands on his chest and his eyes wide open like Dracula. I don’t know he’s awake or if that’s just how Spock sleeps. Could go either way.

Kirk meanders sleepily over to the window and looks out. The rioting is still going strong, even though the sun has risen and the town clock is reading a few minutes to six. As the clock strikes six a moment later, the people below all suddenly freeze where they are. Then they all begin to calmly meander off in different directions, the rioting over just as abruptly as it began.

Kirk goes to wake up/get the attention of Spock, then rouses Lindstrom and then McCoy, who’s fallen asleep in some kind of chair-bed thing. The silence is suddenly broken by the sound of a woman crying loudly downstairs, which accelerates the waking-up process considerably. Everyone hastens downstairs to see Reger holding Tula, who’s sobbing hysterically, while Reger’s friend from last night hovers awkwardly patting her on the shoulder and such. McCoy gently pulls Tula away into another room, and when Reger tries to follow Kirk stops him, saying, “He’ll give her a shot, it’ll calm her down. Trust us.” Yeah, Reger! Trust the total strangers to medicate your daughter! What could go wrong?

Lindstrom breaks in angrily, demanding to know what kind of father Reger is that he didn’t even attempt to rescue Tula last night. Reger helplessly says that it was Landru’s will. Lindstrom, I know you’re righteously angry right now, but there’s a thing called “making half an effort to blend in with the locals so they don’t cut your head off.” Here, let Kirk show you how it’s done.

[ID: Kirk standing slightly behind Reger, a concerned looking middle-aged white man with brown hair in a dark gray suit, and another, older white man with gray hair and a similar suit. Kirk is saying, “What about Landru? Who is he?”]

oh for fuck’s sake

“So it’s true then,” Reger’s friend says. “You didn’t attend the festival last night?” No, Kirk says. “Then you’re not of the Body,” Reger muses. “You couldn’t be...”

The two of them hurry off in consternation, and the rest of the party follows, into the side room where McCoy and Spock have taken Tula. Speaking of Tula, she’s now thoroughly passed out. Evidently McCoy wasn’t kidding around with that shot.

“Are you...are you Archons?” Reger asks Kirk.

“What if we are?” Kirk replies, smoothly sidestepping out of that minefield of a question.

“It was said more would follow,” Reger says uncertainly. “If you are indeed--”

“We must hide them, quickly,” his friend interrupts. “The Lawgivers--” Kirk tries to assure him that they can take care of themselves, but assured he is not. “Landru will know,” he says. “He will come.”

Turns out that wasn’t hyperbole, because all of about two seconds later, a couple of the same brown-hooded figures that were harassing Sulu and O’Neil come bursting into the room, metal rods at the ready.

[ID: The landing party along with Reger and his friend all assembled in an old-fashioned sitting room and looking towards the doors, which are flanked by two men wearing brown hooded robes and carrying tall metal rods.]

NOBODY EXPECTS THE LAWGIVER INQUISITION

Accompanying them is Hacom, the damn narc, who smugly proclaims that Reger’s friend has been mocking the Lawgivers, and also those punks over there didn’t attend Festival like good citizens. “Tamar. Stand Clear,” one of the Lawgivers intones at Reger’s friend, in a robotic and slightly reverb-y voice. Both Reger and Tamar look stricken, but after a moment Tamar slowly says, “I hear and obey the voice of Landru,” and steps out in front of Reger. The Lawgiver raises their Rod of Lordly Might and the end of it fizzles and pops like a handful of cheap sparklers, which is probably exactly what it was. Tamar collapses on the spot, dead.

As Reger and Kirk grab Tamar and gently lower him to the ground, the Lawgiver speaks again. “You. Attacked. The Body. You Have Heard The Word. And Disobeyed. You Will Be Exterminated Absorbed.”

“What do you mean, absorbed?” Kirk asks. I’m going to give you a tip for free here: if someone tells you “you will be absorbed” that is not the time to stand around asking questions. Get out of there and you can figure out the details later, cause one thing you can be sure of is that there is no scenario where that could possibly end up being a good thing.

Hacom immediately crows that this is proof the strangers are “not of the Body” but the Lawgivers don’t seem to pay him any attention. “You Will Be Absorbed,” Kirk is told. “The Good Is All. Landru Is Gentle. You Will Come.”

After the break, Kirk, still looking unimpressed by all this, tells the Lawgivers, “We’re not going anywhere.”

“It Is The Law,” the Lawgiver tells him. “You Must Come.”

“I said we’re not going anywhere,” Kirk repeats calmly, while Reger clings onto his arm with a look of absolute terror.

But instead of resorting to force, the Lawgivers turn to face each other and just stand there for a moment. “Evidently they’re not prepared to deal with outright disobedience,” Spock notes curiously. “How did you know?” Kirk replies that everything they’ve seen so far indicates that the people in this place have a compulsive stimulus of some kind towards actions beyond their control, so he banked on the Lawgivers not being able to deal with people who couldn’t just be ordered around. Absolutely nobody feels inclined to take advantage of this brief respite by, say, climbing out the convenient nearby window or anything.

Eventually the Lawgivers turn back to the party. “It Is Clear That You Simply Did Not Understand,” the speaking one says. “I Will Rephrase. You Are Ordered To Accompany Us To The Absorption Chambers.”

“Why did you kill that man?” Kirk demands.

“Out Of Order,” the Lawgiver says. “You Will Obey. It Is The Word Of Landru.”

“You tell Landru,” Kirk says, “that we’ll come in our own time and we’ll speak to him.” Then he grabs the Lawgiver’s staff and hands it to Spock, who starts poking around with it.

“You Cannot,” the Lawgiver says. “It Is Landru.”

At this point Hacom evidently loses his nerve and rushes out of the room, whimpering, “Landru!” Meanwhile, Spock observes that the Lawgiver’s staff is just an empty tube without any kind of mechanism inside it.

The Lawgivers have to stop and buffer once again, only this time they’re making a strange noise. “They’re communing,” Reger says. “We have time, come with me.” He can take them to a place where they’ll be safe, he says, but they have to hurry before Landru comes.

So he leads them outside, where he starts walking casually down the street, smiling and nodding and doing the ‘peace’ gesture at people as they pass. Kirk puts rather less effort into being surreptitious and keeps loudly talking to Spock while they make their way across town, asking him what he makes of all this weirdness. Unsurprisingly, Spock finds it all “totally illogical.” Yesterday, for no apparent reason, the entire town broke out into total havoc. “Yet today, now--” “--Now, they’re back to normal,” Kirk finishes. I mean, if you want to call that normal. Arguably the way they’re acting now is less normal than the rioting and screaming.

As they walk, Bowler Hat Man approaches them with a cheerful “Morning, friends.” Reger greets him back casually, but Lindstrom recognizes him and rushes up to Reger, saying, “Your daughter—that’s the man!” The man who...well, we didn’t see what happened, exactly, but we did see Bilar grab Tula while the whole town was breaking out in a wild frenzy, and the next time we saw Tula she was sobbing frantically, so...draw your own conclusions.

But Reger seems neither surprised nor upset by the accusation. “No, it wasn’t Bilar, it was Landru,” he says impatiently, before telling them all they need to hurry. Which is easier said than done—moseying and hurrying at the same time is a difficult proposition.

Despite their best efforts, the group hasn’t gotten much farther before Reger stops and says, “It’s too late—look!” For a moment it doesn’t look as if anything much has happened, but then the party realizes that everyone on the street has stopped dead in their tracks. It’s Landru, Reger says—he’s summoning the Body. Or, as Spock helpfully chimes in, “Telepathy, Captain.”

A moment later, the townspeople all start reaching down and picking up bits of the debris that’s littering the area. Specifically, the bits that are rather heavy and blunt, like bricks and bits of masonry and big sticks. Oh dear. “Phasers on stun,” Kirk says. Yeah, no kidding.

Abandoning the pretense of normality, Reger leads the group off at a jog down the street as the dead-eyed townspeople advance on them. It’s admittedly a bit creepy. There might not have been enough extras to sell the idea of an entire town in full riot, but there are enough to make a decent-sized mob. It’s just a shame they advance so very slowly. And that, when the party turns into an alley and sees more people coming up it from the other end, they just kind of stop and hang out there for a moment to let themselves get cornered, even though the rest of the mob isn’t nearly close enough behind them that they couldn’t just turn around and keep going in another direction.

[ID: The landing party and Reger huddled in a group at the mouth of an alley while a mob slowly approaches from several yards away.]

had a D&D game once that ended up remarkably like this

Kirk says he doesn’t want to hurt them, and tells Reger to warn them back, but Reger says “They’re in the Body, it’s Landru!” In other words, they’re possessed, and not about to listen to Reger or anyone. So the group has to fire on the townspeople approaching up the alleyway. Evidently Landru’s powers over people don’t extend to making them phaser-proof, because everyone hit by the beams drops where they stand, only for them to be immediately replaced by more townspeople in their wake. The whole ‘unstoppable zombie horde’ vibe is, again, unfortunately a bit diminished by a sheer lack of numbers—given the population of this town as we’ve seen it so far, and how slowly they move, the party could probably just easily stand there and keep firing until the whole town is unconscious. It’d probably take about five minutes, tops.

Also, one of the supposedly stunned townspeople rather noticeably catches himself on the way down.

[ID: A gif showing several townspeople at the end of an alley, all holding aloft various sticks and bits of debris, as a stun beam hits them, causing them to fall to the ground. A man in front catches himself with one hand and lowers himself the rest of the way.]

Despite my tactical advice, the crew decides to make a run for it down the alley after clearing away some of the mob, but as they’re on the move McCoy stops suddenly and kneels by one of the fallen men. It’s O’Neil. Evidently running didn’t turn out any better for him than standing still did for Sulu. Kirk tells Reger that this is one of their men, but Reger says that he isn’t, not anymore. “He’s one of them!” he cries. “Landru will find us through him! Leave him there, he’s our enemy, he’s been absorbed!”

Yeah, three guesses as to whether Kirk is about to leave one of his crewmembers laying unconscious and brainwashed in the path of a relentless mob, and the first two don’t count. One of the ‘shirts does point out, though, that now that they’ve found O’Neil they could go ahead and beam the heck outta this whole mess. Kirk says no, because they still haven’t found their answers about what happened to the Archons. I mean, sure, but...is that really more of a priority right now than escaping the mob that’s out for your blood, and getting to a safe space where you could regroup, tend to your unconscious party member, and question Reger without having to worry about some hooded jerks with big sticks bursting in on you at any time? Apparently it is, because a couple of people haul O’Neil off the ground and they all hurry off.

Exactly where Reger’s hiding place is we don’t get to find out, but evidently they get there alright, because the next thing we see is him pushing open a heavy stone door that leads into a distinctly dungeon-ish looking room. Everyone hurries inside, and Reger pushes aside an old bedframe to get to an alcove where someone’s left a big plastic square wrapped in heavy cloth. At least, it looks like a big plastic square, but Kirk identifies it as a lighting panel and it does, indeed, light up. “Amazing in this culture,” Spock comments. Yeah, it is a bit anachronistic next to the brazier over there.

Reger hangs it up on the wall to illuminate the room and says that it “comes from a time before Landru.” Asked just how long ago that was, he says that no one knows for sure, but some say it was as long as six thousand years ago. Six thousand years and it still works? Man, and I thought the Centennial Light was impressive.

Kirk has the two still-nameless ‘shirts go stand guard at the door while he and Spock muse over how weird it is that the lighting panel clearly came from a much more technologically advanced culture than the one currently occupying the place. Meanwhile, McCoy has had O’Neil brought over to what remains of the bed and is busy examining him. He gives Kirk an ‘in a minute’ gesture, so Kirk goes back to pacing and speculating, wondering if the Lawgiver’s rods might be some kind of antennae or broadcasting devices for transmitting the power of Landru in all its sparkly glory. Meanwhile, Spock is looking at his tricorder, which is apparently picking up “strong power generations...near here, but radiating in all directions.”

McCoy interjects to say that O’Neil will be coming around soon. “He must not!” Reger protests frantically. “He’s been absorbed!” This is followed by a dramatic chord and Kirk turning to Reger and going “Absorbed??” as if Reger didn’t already say the exact same thing twice back in the alley. I suppose he was a bit distracted at the time, but still.

“The Body absorbs its enemies,” Reger explains. “It only kills when it has to. When the first Archons came they were free, out of control, opposing the will of Landru. Many were killed, many more were absorbed. When he regains consciousness, Landru will find us through him. And if the others come--”

What others? Kirk asks. Reger explains that he means other people like him, who oppose Landru. They’re organized in threes—Reger was part of a cell consisting of him, Tamar, and one other person whom he doesn’t actually know, because Tamar was his contact. Evidently they’re doing the standard Resistance thing of limiting what individual members know in case they get captured, which is even more important when your adversary can control minds.

McCoy interrupts to say yeah that’s all great, but he needs a decision here, because O’Neil is coming out of it. Reger protests once again that O’Neil can’t be allowed to wake up, and Kirk mulls it over for a moment before telling McCoy, “Give him a shot. Keep him asleep.” Man, McCoy’s handing out sleepy shots left and right this episode. He must have a stash hidden in that waistcoat somewhere.

While McCoy does that, Kirk draws Reger over to a nearby table and says that he wants some answers. For one thing, if Landru’s so powerful, how is there a resistance movement at all? Reger doesn’t know how it happened, only that some people have escaped “the directives.” “It was that way when the first Archons came,” he adds.

Reger’s obviously not entirely clear on what was up with the Archons, understandably given that it was a hundred years ago and detailed history is probably hard to keep track of around here if you’re not part of the hivemind, but he says that “Landru pulled them down from the skies” and that they invaded the Body but at least in part resisted Landru’s will. Kirk gets interested in that first bit, interpreting it as Landru bringing down a starship. Spock confirms that the power readings he’s getting are over nine thousand powerful enough to destroy a starship. Kirk sure doesn’t like the sound of that, so he calls up the Enterprise to check up on how un-destroyed it is. The answer’s not real great: Scotty picks up and reports that the ship is under attack by “heat beams of some kind coming up from the planet’s surface.”

The shields are holding so far, but keeping them up is taking all of the ship’s power, so much so that if they can’t even move without being burned up. Oh, and the orbit is failing, because of course it is, you can’t keep an orbit going round here for anything. Although presumably they are still in an orbit right now, which begs the question of where these heat beams are coming from that they can stay locked onto the ship no matter which side of the planet it’s facing. I guess Landru really is everywhere. Anyway, if they can’t shake the heat beams long enough to use the engines, Scotty reports grimly, they’ve only got about twelve hours left before the orbit decays and they hit the atmosphere. Cool. Were you gonna like, call up and let the landing party know about this at some point, or…?

Kirk basically tells him to hang in there, since there’s not exactly much more that they can do, while the landing party works on taking out those heat beams at the source. Scotty starts to talk about how he tried the emergency bypass circuits, but they weren’t effective—they never are, I don’t know why he even bothers—but then he starts breaking up. Spock reports that he’s picking up some very strong sensor beams—something’s probing them, and it’s too strong for him to block it.

Just then, there’s a strange whirring noise, preceding the arrival of a holographic image (or, possibly, ghost) appearing against the wall. Specifically, it’s an image of a dude wearing a purple and pink-cape-toga-thing and looking incredibly smug for someone with no apparent arms.

[ID: A semi-transparent image being projected onto a stone wall, which shows a middle-aged white man with thick light brown hair, wearing a long purple robe over a black high-necked shirt, with a shiny pinkish-orange cape on top.]

“I am Landru,” the image announces.

Spock is unimpressed. “Projection, captain,” he announces. “Unreal.”

“But beautiful, Mr. Spock, with no apparatus at this end,” Kirk muses. I dunno, man, the pink cape thing is certainly a bold choice but I think ‘beautiful’ is a bit of a stretch.

“You have come as destroyers,” the projection of Landru continues, heedless of the commentary from the audience. “You bring an infection.” Kirk insists that Landru release the Enterprise, but Landru carries blithely on. “You have come to a world without hate, without fear, without conflict. No war, no disease, no crime. None of the ancient evils. Landru seeks tranquility. Peace for all. The universal good.” Yeah, it looked real peaceful and conflict-free last night.

Kirk tries to tell Landru that they mean no harm, and that theirs “is a mission of peace and goodwill.” (That’s why we brought phasers!) Landru just keeps talking about good transcending evil, etc, etc, until Spock points out that “He doesn’t hear you, Captain.” Honestly not sure if he means that Landru literally has no way to hear them or if he can hear them but just keeps right on monologuing anyway cause, y’know, we’ve all met That Dude.

“Maybe he’ll hear this!” Lindstrom says, charging forward with his phaser out. Oh yeah, great job there Lindy, let’s SHOOT the HOLOGRAM. Kirk tells Lindstrom to cut that shit out so he can get back to talking to Landru which, admittedly, is really doing just about as much good as shooting the wall would.

“You will be absorbed,” Landru says. “Your individuality will merge into the unity of good, and in your submergence into the common being of the Body, you will find contentment and fulfillment. You will experience...the absolute good.” See, I told you it wouldn’t mean anything good.

At this point, a high-pitched whirring noise that’s been steadily but mostly unnoticeably rising through the background music suddenly peaks, causing everyone to start clutching at their heads in pain. The two ‘shirts guarding the door are the first to drop to their knees, with the rest of the party succumbing quickly afterward.

What follows is a wonderful opportunity to observe several different styles of Slowly Passing Out. Nimoy looks like he’s going to go one way but then changes his mind and falls backward onto the table instead until he’s laying on his back looking up. Christopher Held (Lindstrom) takes the bold move of just falling straight to the ground in a dead drop, while Kelley, no fool he, is back there doing a complex maneuver involving hanging onto the bedpost to slow his own descent. Shatner, of course, goes for the most extra route possible, pitching forward onto the table while clutching his head and then slowly falling down into the chair. I give full marks to everyone except Harry Townes (Reger) who was already sitting down and didn’t have very far to go in the first place.

[ID: A gif showing Kirk, Lindstrom, Spock, McCoy, and Reger clutching their heads and slowly collapsing on and around a nearby table.]

After the break, Kirk gives a captain’s log, which is quite impressive considering he’s currently unconscious.

“The Enterprise, still under attack by some sort of heat rays from the surface of Beta 3, is now being commanded by engineering officer Scott. The shore party has been taken by the creature called Landru.”

We briefly see the Enterprise in orbit around the planet (heat rays not pictured), before cutting to the landing party, now relocated to an even more dungeon-like room than the one they were in before. Kirk wakes up, staggers out of the alcove he was laying in, and goes to investigate the other end of the room, where Lindstrom and one of the unnamed ‘shirts are passed out in another alcove. Some further investigation reveals that Kirk is no longer carrying either phaser or communicator, and that the only apparent exit to the place is less of a door and more just a giant slab of stone in a doorway, which Kirk predictably has absolutely no luck moving. Eventually he gives up and goes back to wake up Spock, Lindstrom, and the other ‘shirt, who he addresses as Leslie.

We’ve seen Leslie quite a few times already—actor Eddie Paskey was a recurring extra who frequently filled the role of oddjob Enterprise crewmembers whenever one was needed. Like in the case of Kyle and the other TOS background regulars, it’s difficult to tell how many of Paskey’s appearances should actually be taken to be the same person, since not only does he go through a couple different names before ‘Leslie’ finally gets used, but for all of his characters to be Leslie would require him to go through jobs at a rate unlikely even for Enterprise crewmembers. Still, he gets referred to as Leslie more often than he gets called anything else, so he’s probably Leslie at least most of the time.

Spock, noticing that they’re a couple of heads short all of a sudden, asks where McCoy is. Kirk tells him he doesn’t know, since McCoy was gone before Kirk even woke up, along with O’Neil and “the other guard.” Oh yeah, “the other guard.” Great job remembering your crew’s names there, captain. Actually, said guard is probably named Galloway or possibly Galoway, yet another one of those amorphous extras; Galloway, however, is pretty consistently a security officer (aside from a brief stint as transporter operator) and while he won’t be referred to by name until his next appearance, he’s not called any other names until then, so in this case it’s fairly reasonable to assume that all or least most appearances of actor David L. Ross can be taken to be the same character. Not that it makes any real difference, since he has no personality whatsoever.

Anyway, Spock thinks McCoy and Galloway must have been here but were removed at some point. Kirk wonders where “here” is. “Evidently a maximum security establishment,” Spock replies. That may or may not have been sarcasm. Honestly it’s hard to tell with Spock sometimes.

Kirk also informs Spock that “all our phasers are gone, I checked” even though we’ve been watching him this whole time and he definitely didn’t check anyone but himself, but never mind that. Lindstrom and Leslie finally make it up, looking rather the worse for wear, with Lindstrom mentioning having a killer headache (Leslie probably has one too, but we’d have to pay him more if he said anything). Spock says that this is because they were all subjected to a hypersonic attack, which probably would have killed them had it been any stronger. Instead it just knocked them out, and possibly gave them tinnitus.

Enough about sound waves, Kirk wants to focus on coming up with a way out of this dungeon. He hopefully mentions the way the Lawgivers seemed unable to react to anything unexpected, but Spock shoots that one down, saying they shouldn’t count on it happening again because “in a society as well-organized as this one appears to be, I cannot conceive of such an oversight going uncorrected.” That said, he still finds that behavior to be very interesting, because the way the Lawgivers reacted was a lot like the way a computer would react to being given insufficient or contradictory data. He doesn’t think this means the Lawgivers themselves are computers—but it’s definitely an interesting data point.

At that moment, the door opens and a Lawgiver escorts McCoy and Galloway inside. Kirk rushes over to them, only to see McCoy smile blandly at him and say, “Hello, friend. We were told to wait here.” Oh dear.

Now real concerned, Kirk starts to say “Doc--” but McCoy just turns to him and says, “Can I help you, friend?”

“Don’t you know me?” Kirk asks desperately.

“We all know one another through Landru,” McCoy replies.

Just like Sulu, Spock observes grimly. But Kirk’s having a hard time holding onto his objectivity. It’s one thing to hear Reger talk about Landru doing this to people, even to see it happen to members of his own crew—but this is McCoy. His friend. Kirk grabs him by the shoulders and yells at him to remember—but McCoy just looks confused and asks if Kirk is from “away” because he speaks very strangely. Then even that brief moment of emotion fades away and he returns to smiling. “Ask Landru,” he says. “He remembers. He knows, and he watches.”

Kirk eventually has to give up and leave McCoy sitting in the alcove with the guard. He turns to Spock, but before they can even begin to confer on this problem, the door opens again to admit a couple of Lawgivers. One of them points their rod threateningly at Kirk and orders him to come with them. Kirk tries his previous trick of just refusing, but as Spock predicted, that bug has evidently been patched, because this time the Lawgiver calmly replies, “Then You Will Die.”

It seems there’s not much choice but for Kirk to get going, so with one final order for Spock to see if he can do anything about McCoy’s whole situation, he follows the Lawgiver out the door. Spock watches him go before turning to McCoy and asking what’s going to happen to Kirk. “He goes to joy, peace and tranquility,” McCoy says happily. “He goes to meet Landru. Happiness is to all of us blessed by Landru.” Spock gives this statement the side-eye it deserves.

We then see Kirk in another room, standing up against a wall with some heavy-duty wrist restraints in place.

[ID: Kirk standing up against a wall, being restrained by two large bars holding his wrists in place, while two Lawgivers stand in front of him, pointing their rods at him.]

This is only happiness to a very specific subset of people.

But before Kirk can meet his grim fate, the Lawgivers are interrupted by someone else coming in. This is not another Lawgiver, however, but a bald man in bright orange robes, who speaks—well, I can’t exactly say he speaks normally because no one around here does, but he at least doesn’t sound like he’s speaking through a knock-off toy Darth Vader helmet. “I am Marplon,” he tells the Lawgivers. “It is your hour. Happy communing.”

“With Thanks. Hap-py Comm-uning,” one Lawgiver replies, and they both head off to take a smoke break or whatever the Lawgiver equivalent is. Marplon steps into the nearby control booth and flicks some switches, causing the booth to slowly rotate around to face Kirk (presumably with the aid of an extra and a pulley somewhere behind the camera) while a dramatic sting plays.

Meanwhile, back in the dungeon, Spock is poking around at McCoy. Evidently someone leaning over you and almost poking you in the eye as they put their hands all over your face isn’t considered bothersome behavior under the directives of Landru, since McCoy seems perfectly fine with it and just sits there calmly while Spock does whatever it is he’s doing. Eventually, Spock grimly pulls his hands away and says, “Impossible. He’s under extremely powerful control.”

You kind of have to wonder what Spock saw in there. The nature of Landru’s control is a bit vague on the details—do members of the Body possess any degree of personality and individuality, smothered though it may be under a stupor of happy-happy-peace-and-tranquility thoughts? Or are they all being outright puppeteered by Landru? They at least seem to have enough personality to have names, and the fact that they stop and have discussions with each other seems to indicate that they aren’t a total hivemind—Tula has to be informed out loud by Bilar that the landing party are strangers in town, rather than her just knowing it automatically as soon as he knew it. But McCoy doesn’t show any sign of retaining any amount of McCoy-ness after he gets taken. He doesn’t remember Kirk and Spock at all, he doesn’t use any of his usual mannerisms, he doesn’t—as we’ll see in a bit—respond to perceived threats the way McCoy usually does, and in general he doesn’t act like McCoy-but-unnaturally-happy-and-calm so much as he acts like a completely different person. So when Spock says he’s under “powerful control” it’s hard to say whether he means that he saw McCoy being forced to feel peaceful and loyal to Landru, or if he saw McCoy in there, somewhere, possibly even aware, but no longer able to control his own actions. Either way, it’s a pretty damn creepy thought.

Unsatisfied with Spock’s analysis, Lindstrom asks if they’re, what, just going to stand around here and do nothing? Spock replies that there’s not a lot they can do, unless Lindstrom has any bright ideas about how to get through a solid stone door. Lindstrom clearly does not, because instead he just splutters about how “This is simply ridiculous, a bunch of stone age characters running around in robes--!” as if he’s got half a mind to just march out there and tell everyone to stop all this nonsense and behave, at which point presumably the Lawgivers will drop their rods and shuffle away in embarrassment. I can only conclude that Mr. Lindstrom has not been serving aboard the Enterprise very long, otherwise he would know that this is hardly any more ridiculous than the usual kind of thing they get up to. You notice Leslie over there isn’t saying anything. Leslie’s seen some shit.

Spock coolly points out that these “stone age characters” are in command of some powers that the Enterprise crew have so far been helpless to understand or resist. “Not simple. Not ridiculous,” he says. “Very, very dangerous.”

On the one hand, this could easily just be your standard sarcastic Spock response of the sort commonly seen whenever someone decides to start running their mouth off in his vicinity, but you have to wonder if he’s not also feeling particularly ticked off at Lindstrom scorning this whole situation, considering that Spock just got done with a close examination of exactly how powerful a grip Landru currently has on the mind of one of Spock’s two close friends. And his other close friend has just been taken off to have the same thing done to him, with Spock powerless to stop it. I mean, let’s put that in non-science fiction terms: imagine you woke up to find you’d been taken captive, and some of the people you were with, including a friend of yours, aren’t there. And then your captors show up and throw them back in your cell, and when you examine your friend you realize that, while you have no idea what happened to him while he was gone, he came back so badly concussed he doesn’t know who you are or where he is, and can’t even answer a simple question. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Your other friend has just been dragged off for the same treatment, and there was nothing you could do about that, either. And as you stand there, desperately wracking your brain for any way out of this, trying not to think about the state your other friend will be in when he comes back, this punk starts whining about how ridiculous the situation is, as if he’s more upset about being bested by what he views as an inferior opponent than by the damage those opponents have already caused, and the very real threat those of you remaining are still facing. Granted, I don’t think that’s what Lindstrom actually meant; he was probably just expressing understandable if poorly-worded frustration at being helpless to do anything in a situation where it feels like you really should be able to do something. But it’s not real surprising that Spock would feel rather cheesed at him about it. Y’know, if Vulcans felt cheesed, which of course they don’t.

At that point, the door opens and two more Lawgivers come in. One of them points their rod at Spock and orders him to come with them. Spock more or less shrugs and follows them out the door, leaving Lindstrom and Leslie alone to ruminate about how screwed they are.

The Lawgivers take Spock to the brainwashing room, where Marplon is releasing Kirk from the restraints. Kirk walks over to Spock with a vacant smile and tells him, “Joy to you, friend. Peace and contentment will fill you. You will know the peace of Landru.” Spock doesn’t say anything, but his expression indicates that he’s gearing up to end somebody over this.

[ID: Spock, being escorted by two Lawmakers, watching as Kirk tells him, “You will know the peace of Landru.” Spock has a particularly murderous expression on his face.]

Spock is gonna KILL GOD.

After the break, things look grim, with Spock—looking highly unimpressed--restrained against the wall while Marplon makes the lights flash and the Lawgivers point their rods at Spock for good measure. But when the Lawgivers have left, Marplon looks up and says, “Have no fear, friend. The effect is harmless.” He introduces himself and explains that he was unfortunately too late to save McCoy and the other guard, so watch out for them. But, as it turns out, he wasn’t too late to save Kirk, who was just faking for the Lawgivers.

Marplon goes on to explain that he is actually the third man in Reger’s triad (wow, small world), and that they’ve been “awaiting your return.” Spock tells him that they are not the Archons, although, really, who or what exactly these people think the Archons are is still pretty hazy. And indeed, Marplon himself doesn’t seem real fussed about the distinction, saying that, “Whatever you may call yourselves, you are in fulfillment of prophecy. We ask your help.” The poor guy is practically trembling with a mixture of enthusiasm and desperation.

Spock asks where Reger is and Marplon says that he’ll join them, adding that Reger is immune to absorption. Exactly why this should be is never explained, and neither is the question of what exactly happened to Reger after the group got captured. One would assume that being in the presence of said group would rather give the game away, but maybe Marplon was able to cover for him somehow.

But never mind Reger—what Spock really wants to know more about is Landru. But upon being asked about him, Marplon gets even more panicky and says they can’t discuss that just now because Landru will hear. Although if Landru could hear them in here, they’d already be screwed, given everything Marplon has just admitted out-loud. My best guess would be that Landru isn’t quite as omniscient as all that and the resistance members are just (understandably) a bit paranoid and superstitious, although I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that, true to form for vengeful deity-types, saying Landru’s name attracts his attention.

Marplon hands Spock a couple of the confiscated phasers, which Spock stows away just before the Lawgivers come back in. Marplon just has time to warn Spock to behave just as he saw Kirk doing before slipping back into his own charade to tell the Lawgivers that “It is done!” Spock obligingly spouts the standard peace and contentment and so on, although I can’t say he puts a great deal of effort into it. The Lawgivers seem to be satisfied, though, because they take him back to the cell without fuss.

Back in the cell, Spock meets up with Kirk. They exchange a bit of “peace and tranquility” talk very loudly to satisfy McCoy and the other guard, before Kirk drops it and mutters, “Are you alright?” “Quite alright,” Spock replies. “But be careful of Dr. McCoy.” Indeed, as soon as he says this, McCoy rises up in the background ominously.

[ID: A gif of Kirk, Spock and Lindstrom standing in a half-circle near an archway. Spock says, “Be careful of Doctor McCoy.” As Kirk replies, “I understand,” McCoy stands up in the background.]

“I FUCKIN HEARD THAT”

Kirk tries to question Spock, who says he has a theory about Landru, but he’s cautious about sharing it with McCoy hovering in the background glaring at them like that. “You speak in strange whispers,” McCoy says as they turn to look at him. “This is not the way of Landru.”

Of everyone we’ve seen being or pretending to be Landru-possessed in the episode so far, the acting choices have mostly fallen on a spectrum ranging from Takei’s “incredibly high” to Nimoy’s “barely even bothering.” (Shatner falls somewhere in the middle, around “comfortably buzzed.”) Kelley, on the other hand, opted for a direction I can only describe as “intensely Southern passive-aggressiveness.” Perhaps it’s the increased Georgia drawl, but Possessed!McCoy feels eerily familiar, like someone I’ve definitely encountered at the Dollar General before. It’s the exact kind of sinister watchfulness not quite masked by a cheerful, friendly exterior that you would expect to find in that lady at church who would never say the world ‘hell’ but gets a little too excited during the bits of sermon about damnation and is currently engaged in complex political machinations to backstab Becky from next door because she lets her kids play too loudly and sold more brownies at the last bake sale (or just in the average head of a homeowner’s association.) I half expect him to start handing out Chick Tracts at any moment.

Before that can happen, Kirk is able to pacify him with more peace and tranquility, then dramatically claps his hands on Spock and Lindstrom’s shoulders and declares “MY FRIENDS” as he ushers them away to a slightly more private corner of the cell. There Spock is able to go into his theory, such as it is. “This is a soulless society, Captain,” he explains, and given that Vulcans have quantified the existence of the soul he probably knows what he’s talking about. “It has no spirit, no spark. All is indeed peace and tranquility—the peace of the factory, the tranquility of the machine. All parts working in unison.”

“And when something unexplained happens...their routine is disrupted?” Kirk muses. Spock agrees, and says that someone must be giving the orders—but who? Landru, presumably, but Spock says there is no Landru...not in the human sense.

“You’re thinking the same thing I am, Mr. Spock,” Kirk says. “The plug must be pulled.” But if Spock is thinking that, it’s not without some reservations. Because, you know, that whole prime directive thing. They’re really not supposed to go around deposing/assassinating political leaders, even really obnoxious ones. But, Kirk says, after all about two seconds of reflection, that directive is meant for living, growing cultures, which this one ain’t. This would be a fascinating ethical point if it wasn’t so obviously a quick justification to let them get on with saving the day without all that pesky worldbuilding getting in the way.

Conveniently, before Spock can say anything in response to this, the door opens again, but this time instead of more Lawgivers it’s Marplon and Reger. McCoy immediately stands up and says, “JOY TO YOU FRIENDS!” like that guy at Wal-Mart that you were really hoping to avoid having a conversation with but you didn’t sneak out of the cereal aisle quickly enough and now he’s seen you. Marplon and Reger keep up the smiling act until they make it over to the Non-Brainwashed Club at the back of the room. Marplon’s brought them their communicators, which is helpful, but Kirk has something more in mind. What they really need, he tells them, is more information about Landru. Marplon and Reger shake their heads frantically, mumbling about “the prophecy” but Kirk isn’t interested in prophecies. “If you want to be liberated from Landru,” he tells the two men, “we’ll need your help.”

It seems he said that just a bit too loudly, though, because McCoy springs up from his seat, points dramatically, and yells, “You’re not of the Body!” Kirk tries to calm him down, but McCoy isn’t having any more peace and tranquility. He screams for the Lawgivers before rushing Kirk and trying to throttle him, screaming “TRAITORS! TRAITORS!” all the while. (See what I meant about him not responding to threats normally? McCoy wouldn’t bother to try to strangle someone if he could whack ‘em with a hypospray instead.)

The other guard joins in, taking a swing at Kirk, but Spock intercepts and tosses him to the floor. He’s a lot less helpful with McCoy, mostly just kind of standing there watching as McCoy manages to back Kirk up against a wall, still screaming. “Doc, I don’t wanna hurt you,” Kirk begs, but of course, this does nothing. In the end, Kirk has to punch McCoy and then put him in a chokehold until he drops. Kirk slowly lowers him to the floor, sadly muttering, “Aw, doc...”

Just then there’s a noise of someone approaching, and Kirk and Spock quickly duck into cover in the corners. A pair of Lawgivers enter and walk right past them, demonstrating why it’s not a super great idea to dress your law enforcement in big peripheral-vision-obscuring hoods, not to mention why most jail cells aren’t designed to have lots of great hiding spots. The Lawgivers promptly get ambushed; Kirk deploys the good old fashioned Neck Chop, while Spock, surprisingly, forgoes the usual nerve pinch in favor of just straight up decking the guy. One suspects Spock is feeling a bit crabby at the moment.

[ID: Kirk and Spock fighting Lawmakers between two arches in their dungeon cell. Kirk is standing over an unconscious Lawmaker, who is laying next to an unconscious McCoy, while Spock is leaning back to punch the Lawmaker he is squaring off against.]

DIRECT ACTION

With phase one of the classic “mug the guards and steal their uniforms” maneuver successfully completed, Kirk moves right on to phase two, stripping the robe off one of the fallen Lawgivers and putting it on over his waistcoat. While he’s doing that, he asks Marplon and Reger where Landru is. The two of them stutter fearfully a bit, but Marplon manages to explain that they never see Landru, only hear him, in a place called the Hall of Audiences--conveniently located in this very building! “You’re gonna take us there,” Kirk says, leaving the poor bastards looking like they’re about to cry. When one of them makes a noise Kirk grabs them by the shoulders and yells at them to snap out of it and start acting like men. The empathy on display here is staggering.

Spock, meanwhile, has gotten in touch with the Enterprise and asks them for a status report. Scotty’s apparently been trying to get in contact with them for quite a while now, not that he has anything particularly new to tell them: their orbit is still decaying, the heat beams are still locked onto the ship, and they’ve now got about six hours left. “You’ve got to cut them off or we’ll cook, one way or another,” he says grimly.

Kirk tells him once again to stand by and then asks after Sulu. “He’s peaceful enough, but he worries me,” Scotty replies. Kirk orders him to put a guard on Sulu, which stuns Scotty, but Kirk doesn’t offer any useful information about the situation. All he says is, “Watch him. That’s an order,” and then he hangs up.

Kirk then turns back to Marplon and Reger and says, for the umpteenth time this episode, asks them to tell him about Landru. Which at this point is starting to sound like a repeating dialogue option.

[ID: 1. A shot of Kirk with a video game-style dialogue selection in the bottom left corner, with the option ‘Ask about Landru’ highlighted and the options ‘Ask about Archons’ ‘Ask about Lawgivers’ and ‘Remain Silent’ listed below it. 2. The same shot of Kirk, now saying, “About Landru.”]

“Well...there was war...convulsions...the world was destroying itself,” Reger says. “Landru was our leader. He saw the truth. He changed the world. He took us back, back to a simpler time. A time of peace and tranquility.” Oh fuck, he was one of those dudes. Of course he was. “Everything will be alright if we go back to the old ways, when things were good and simple and peaceful because everyone was busy dying of polio.”

Asked what happened to Landru, Marplon says that he’s still alive. “He is here now. He sees, he hears.” Then he begins to break down, crying, “We have destroyed ourselves! Please, no more.”

“You said you wanted freedom,” Kirk tells him sternly. “It’s time you learned that freedom is never a gift. It has to be earned.”

Yes, yes, very pithy, but I can’t really say I’m here for listening to Kirk tell people who have lived their whole lives under a horrifying totalitarian regime that they need to Man Up. I mean, regular human totalitarian regimes fuck people up enough, let alone one where everyone is literally being mind-controlled. Can you imagine what life is like for these guys? We know that Landru will try to kill anyone that can’t be controlled, so for Marplon and Reger to still be alive means pretending, every day that they were free of Landru’s control—which, depending on whether they somehow broke free or were born immune, could be their entire lives—pretending to be controlled, pretending to be just as happy and tranquil as everyone else, never able to let slip the slightest trace of fear or anger or grief at everything you saw happening around you, lest any of the constantly watching eyes all around you catch on and you either get executed by the Lawmakers or, if you’re not so lucky, slaughtered by the angry mob that just detected a traitor, traitor in its midst. And they were still trying to resist, still working against Landru despite him being, near as they could tell, all but omnipotent. And Kirk’s gonna stand here and lecture them about courage? Sure, they’re afraid—who could blame them? Sometimes people are afraid. Sometimes people need help.

And, well, Kirk’s not helping. Oh, in a broad sense, sure, he’ll save the day and defeat the bad guy for them (spoilers). But as far as Marplon and Reger specifically are concerned, Kirk has really not bothered to help them. He hasn’t made even a pretense of answering any of their questions. He hasn’t explained anything about who the Enterprise crew are, why they’re there, what their theories are about Landru or what they’re planning to do to defeat him. He hasn’t reassured them or made any effort to quell their fears, even though from the perspective of Reger at least, the landing party arriving has directly led to a lot of those fears coming true—since they got here, they’ve drawn suspicion to him that led to his friend being killed and him being pursued and captured, probably to be executed if Marplon hadn’t happened to be around. Kirk hasn’t shown hardly any sympathy for their situation, not directly—oh, he’s muttered to Spock about what a shitshow this whole society is, but he’s not once given Marplon and Reger themselves so much as a “wow, that sucks.” Mostly his interactions with them have ranged from “a bit condescending” to “barely even trying to pretend to be patient.”

And I know I’ve just spent the last two paragraphs ranting at Kirk, but Kirk isn’t really the focus of the problem here. This kind of writing doesn’t feel right for him. Does Kirk sometimes dismiss smaller, individual problems because he’s more focused on the bigger picture? Does he sometimes push people around him a little harder than they can handle because he’s busy pushing himself too hard at the same time? Sure. Those are understandable, human character flaws that are natural extensions of the character strengths that make him a good captain in the first place. But the attitude of this whole episode feels like it has very little to do with Kirk as a character, flawed or otherwise, and much more to do with an obnoxious combination of the lofty moralizing that Star Trek sometimes dips into mixed with an especially 60s-flavored American outlook on Freedom, subsection: The Costs Of. Yeah, we know all about fighting for freedom! We know all about what it costs! We’re the big strong heroes who are gonna save you from Nazis and Communism cause someone’s gotta do it and that someone is us! TROOPS!

As for the lofty moralizing, well, the behavior of our protagonists in this episode feels rather like the other end of the Metron problem in Arena. Our heroes sweep into a Less Advanced society, decide they’re gonna fix everything for them, and proceed to do so without putting much effort into actually including the members of that society in their plans. Heck, how much time have Kirk and Spock spent in this episode chatting about the flaws and foibles of this culture right in front of Reger, Tamar and Marplon, because it’s not like they’re gonna understand us anyway, right? Of course, I’m not saying that they’re acting as bad as the Metrons—they still haven’t been that obnoxious. And of course there are extenuating circumstances; Kirk’s got crewmen down here and a ship up there in immediate danger, he’s short on time and him being frustrated with not getting the help he wants out of the locals is understandable enough. I mean, at the end of the day, whatever they do to Landru is unlikely to be worse for this culture than having the Enterprise crash into it, which is what will happen if they don’t do anything. But again, the writing of the whole thing doesn’t make it feel like our protagonists are actually being driven by desperation, danger and their own flaws; it feels like an attitude that exists on the same kind of spectrum as we saw with the Metrons: there are cultures that do things Right and cultures that do things Wrong. Some of them are more Right than humans so we should aspire to be like them someday, and some of them are more Wrong so we should help get them on the right track. The extraordinary speed with which Kirk brushes aside the question of whether they’re breaking the Prime Directive speaks to the fact that the episode isn’t interested in exploring that question in the first place. It just wants to get on with dropping cool one-liners and defeating the villain.

Kirk says they’re going to find Landru now, but Reger finally reaches his breaking point and starts yelling that he was wrong, he’ll submit to Landru, and tries to run screaming for the Lawgivers. He doesn’t get very far before Spock nerve-pinches him, while Kirk sternly says, “It’s too late for that.” Hmm, I wonder if this could possibly have been averted at all if we’d done anything to help calm him down instead of telling him to tough it out like a real man? Nah, I’m sure it was unavoidable. Kirk then turns to Marplon and says it’s up to him now to take them to Landru. Marplon looks like he’s regretting every single one of his life choices.

But evidently either persuasion or intimidation was effective, because the next thing we see is Marplon leading Kirk and Spock, both now all robed up, down a very orange corridor. He stops at the door at one end of the hall and tells them that this is the Hall of Audiences (fastpass available). Kirk, naturally, tells him to open it. “But this is Landru!” Marplon pleads. Unimpressed, Kirk tells him to get on with it and open the thing already because seriously, there’s only like ten minutes of episode left, we don’t have time for this.

So Marplon performs the Sacred Gesture of Door-Opening, which is to say he folds his fingers and bows, and the door opens. Kirk and Spock hustle in behind him and immediately discard their entire disguises, which may not have been the best idea, practically speaking, but it’s understandable enough; the Hall of Audiences doesn’t look real well-ventilated.

On a side-note, Kirk was definitely not wearing his coat when he put the robe on, but evidently it respawned in his inventory at some point because he is wearing it when he takes the robe off again.

[ID: A comparison between two images. On the left, Kirk putting a Lawgiver’s robe on over his shirt and waistcoat. On the right, Kirk dropping his robe to the floor in the Hall of Audiences, showing his coat on over his shirt and waistcoat.]

One small problem: the room is completely empty, with no sign of any Landrus anywhere. Kirk starts yelling for him, saying that they are the Archons (sure, why not) and they’ve come to have a chat. A moment later, Landru’s projection appears against the back wall. I’m not sure if they intended for his shirt to blend in with the wall so well that it looks like his head is floating, but that’s what they achieved.

[ID: Another projection of Landru, this one a headshot in which the color of his shirt matches the wall behind him so well it’s barely visible.]

a true figurehead

For a moment everyone just stands around staring at Landru, although Marplon is multitasking and also having a massive panic attack. Then Landru finally speaks up. “Despite my efforts to save you, you have invaded the Body, and are causing great harm,” he says. Kirk says they have no intention of causing harm, but Landru keeps right on going. “Obliteration is necessary,” he says. “The infection is strong. For the good of the Body...you must die. It is...a great sorrow.” Oh, well, if you feel bad about it, that’s okay then. Carry on.

Kirk says they don’t intend to die, either, but as you might have worked out by now, Landru’s not listening. “All who saw you, all who know of your presence here, must be excised,” he says. “The memory of the Body will be cleansed.”

Before Kirk can keep this one-sided conversation going any longer, Spock tells him it’s useless—this is only a projection. “Yes, Mr. Spock,” Kirk muses. “Let’s have a look at the projector.”

The two of them take their phasers out and shoot the wall Landru’s projecting onto, blasting a big hole in the masonry. For once, shooting the hologram actually turns out to be useful, as it reveals the real Landru: a giant computer. Kirk and Spock exchange some pretty smug looks. “Of course. It had to be,” Kirk says. For, as Spock points out, this whole society has all along been run to a computer’s concept of perfection—peace, harmony, all parts working in perfect unison, and absolutely no soul.

“I am Landru,” the computer trills at them. “You have intruded.”

“Pull out its plug, Mr. Spock,” Kirk says, soaring clear over not only any ethical dilemmas here but also over the question of whether “pull out its plug” is even a metaphor that would make sense in the 23rd century. But when they raise their phasers again, there’s a flash of light, and not like the kind there’s supposed to be when you fire a phaser. “Your devices have been neutralized,” the computer informs them. “So it shall be with you. I am Landru.”

Kirk, barely missing a beat over the devastating failure of his cool one-liner, says, “Landru died over six thousand years ago.” The computer insists that it is Landru. “All that he was, I am. His experience, his knowledge.”

“But not his wisdom,” Kirk says. “He may have programmed you, but he could not have given you a soul. You are a machine.”

Landru 2.0 says that this is irrelevant, they will be obliterated, and that the good of the Body is the prime directive. Okay, first of all, that’s copyright infringement. Second of all—what, exactly, is the good? The computer stutters over this, repeating, “I am Landru,” before finally managing to spit out, “The good...is the harmonious continuation...of the Body. The good is peace, tranquility. The good of the Body is the directive.”

“Then I put it to you that you have disobeyed the prime directive,” Kirk says. “You are harmful to the Body.”

“The Body is! It exists. It is healthy.”

“The Body is dying. YOU are destroying it.”

“Do you ask a question?!” Oh, bad move, that’s a sure sign you’re losing the argument. Kirk, sensing weakness, takes a moment to get into a proper computer-dissing stance before asking his next question: “What have you done to do justice to the full potential of every individual in the Body?”

[ID: A gif of Kirk standing in front of a large hole in the stone wall before him, one leg propped up on the bottom of said hole. When Landru 2.0 asks, “Do you ask a question?” Kirk puts one hand on his leg and the other on his hip, and pauses deliberately for a moment before responding.]

Landru 2.0 doesn’t know what to do with that, so Kirk just continues anyway. “Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity! Without creativity, there is no life. The Body dies. The fault...is YOURS.”

Spock chimes in at this point to ask, “Are you aiding the Body or are you destroying it?” Landru 2.0 says it’s not programmed to answer that question. At that point a couple of Lawmakers come running in, but they’re not looking nearly so intimidating anymore, yelling, “Landru, guide us!” in a panic. Kirk turns toward them and pulls out his phaser (presumably out of force of habit, since it doesn’t work anymore) but Spock says they needn’t bother anyway—the Lawmakers have no guidance, probably for the first time ever in their lives, and thus are not much of a threat at the moment. Also, they don’t even have their giant sticks, so what are they gonna do? Headbutt the intruders to death? So Kirk dismissed them and turns back to Landru 2.0, ordering it to answer the question.

“Peace, order, and tranquility are maintained,” Landru 2.0 says, having had a bit of time of think about it. “The Body lives, but I reserve creativity to me.”

“Then the Body dies,” Spock says. “Creativity is necessary for the health of the Body.”

“That...is...impossible!” Landru 2.0 cries desperately.

Marplon, who’s been standing in the back looking real worldview-shattered this whole time, finally speaks up to ask if this is truly Landru, like someone who just met their favorite celebrity and got real let down. “What’s left of him,” Spock says. “After he built and programmed this machine six thousand years ago.”

“You must create the good,” Kirk tells Landru 2.0. “That is the will of Landru, nothing else.”

“But there is evil!”

“Then the evil must be destroyed. That is the prime directive, and YOU are the evil!”

“I think! I live!”

“You are the evil! The evil must be destroyed! Fulfill the prime directive!”

At this point Landru 2.0 starts smoking, as computers are well-known to do when they think too hard. Kirk keeps yelling at it to “Fulfill the prime directive!” and Landru 2.0 eventually just starts yelling, “Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me!” until it explodes in a giant shower of sparks.

[ID: A gif showing Landru 2.0, a large boxy computer sitting behind a hole in a stone wall, sparking wildly and catching fire. The gif cuts briefly to Kirk watching, before cutting back to show Landru 2.0 smoking as the sparks die slowly.]

Yeah IT’s probably not gonna be able to help with that one.

Kirk and Spock step inside to take a look at the remains (probably not a good idea, the air quality in there cannot be good). Evidently satisfied that Landru 2.0 is well and truly busted, Kirk turns to Marplon and says, “Well, you’re on your own now. I hope you’re up to it. You can get rid of those robes, and if I were you I’d start looking for a new job.” Gee, thanks.

He then calls the Enterprise to see how they’re doing. Scotty reports that the heat rays are gone, and Sulu’s all back to normal. To demonstrate this, Sulu shrugs at the camera so exaggeratedly I half expected a laugh track to follow it, before clapping the current helmsman on the shoulder and hustling him out of his chair so Sulu can get back to work. SERIOUSLY? I’m well used to Trek blowing off the effects of things that really ought to be pretty traumatic, but even for TOS this is pretty extreme. I mean, even putting aside the whole matter of recovering so quickly and easily from incredibly powerful mind control stripping away your entire sense of self in subjugation to a mindless collective, how did he get up there so quickly? The Enterprise is a big ship! You can only get from Sickbay to the bridge so fast! Landru’s been out of commission for what, two minutes? Five minutes, generously? Hell, he didn’t even get to take the rest of his shift off? Man, they really keep your nose to the grindstone on this ship.

Kirk, evidently more satisfied with this than I am, tells Scotty to stand by to beam them up, then hangs up and says, “Let’s go see how the others are doing. Marplon can finish up here.” We don’t get to find out how the others are doing, or indeed what the heck “finish up” is supposed to mean in this context, because the scene cuts immediately back to the bridge sometime later, where Kirk is giving a captain’s log.

“The Enterprise is preparing to leave Beta 3 in starsystem C-111. Sociologist Lindstrom is remaining behind with a party of experts who will help restore the planet’s culture to a human form.”

“Marvelous,” Spock comments as Kirk finishes. “The late Landru—a marvelous feat of engineering. A computer capable of directing the lives of millions of human beings.” Pretty impressive indeed—heck, just building a computer that’s still running after six thousand years is quite incredible. Would have been nice to study it. Pity someone blew it up.

Kirk’s not feeling real sentimental about it, though. It was still only a machine, he says. “The original Landru programmed it with all his knowledge, but he couldn’t give it his wisdom, his compassion, his understanding...his soul, Mr. Spock.”

Yes, yes, so you’ve said a bazillion times already, although it’s quite a large assumption given they have no idea what the original Landru was actually like. I mean, we do know this was a guy whose response to a world in crisis was to take everybody back to “a simpler time” aka the imaginary dreamland of bitter conservatives everywhere, and that he was so convinced his method of running that society was the only correct answer that he built a computer to go on micro-managing that society in his name forever. Not to mention, y’know, the mind-controlling powers that he apparently built into it. It’s entirely possible that Landru 2.0 was not an error of programming but in fact was running exactly as intended.

“Predictably metaphysical,” Spock says, apparently forgetting that he made the exact some observation himself earlier. “I prefer the concrete, the graspable, the provable.”

“You would make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock,” Kirk says fondly. Spock, of course, looks immensely pleased and replies, “That is very kind of you, captain.”

Before these two dorks can get any further with their sweet-talk, Lindstrom calls up to say good-bye. Asked how it’s going down there, he says, “Couldn’t be better, captain. Already this morning, we’ve had half a dozen domestic quarrels and two genuine knock-down drag-outs. It may not be paradise, but it’s certainly human.” Huh. I guess that’s better than laying in the fetal position crying, which is what I would be doing in that situation. Still, good to see that this society is acting properly human now. This...non-human society.

Kirk wishes him good luck and leaves him to it. As they prepare to head out, Spock muses about, ““How often mankind has wished for a world as peaceful and secure as the one Landru provided.” “Yes, and we never got it,” Kirk says. “Just lucky, I guess.” Yes, yes, no such thing as a utopia, and all that. Personally I just fantasize about a world where I earn a living wage, but I suppose that would make for a rather more boring episode.

They exchange wry looks, and the episode ends. There’s no sign or word of any of the crewmembers who got Landru’d throughout this scene, so who knows how they’re dealing with all this. I’m assuming McCoy is off somewhere getting super drunk right about now.

The Return of the Archons is an episode that always feels to me as if someone started writing it with no idea of where it was going and just made it up as they went along, but without the bit where you go back at the end and edit everything to match. There are a lot of things that either seem odd in the context of what we learn later, or just get brought up and then never explained. The biggest offender is the Festival, which dominates the first act of the episode so much you figure it has to be important, but then it just gets dropped with no answer as to what purpose it serves, how often it happens, why older people are exempt, etc. (The James Blish novelization takes a crack at it by having Lindstrom postulate that having everyone wildly run amok for one night a year was a form of population control. Which...seems suspect to me, but hey, he tried.) But there are plenty of other questions as well, like, where’s the ‘valley’ that everyone talks about, and who, if anyone, lives there? Why are some people immune to being Landru’d? Why is there a whole special chamber that our heroes get dragged off to one by one to get absorbed, when the Lawmakers are capable of doing it just by tapping people with their rods? Why is Hacom so grumpy and un-tranquil despite apparently being a member of the Body, none of the rest of whom show that amount of individualism? Considering Landru 2.0’s range apparently extends far enough for Sulu to still be controlled while up in orbit, why didn’t it ever try to use Sulu against the Enterprise? Why does Sulu, even after being absorbed, yell at that guy in the transporter room about having the wrong clothes? How do the Lawgivers do that robo-voice thing? I’m used to having to fill in some gaps on my own to make TOS episodes make total sense, but even for TOS this one has an abnormal amount of unanswered questions, which makes it difficult for me to take it seriously as a story, even aside from my problems with the whole “FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM LIKE REAL MEN” thing. On the plus side: waistcoats!

Landru’s circuit-popping demise has brought our Bluescreen Monologues tally up by one. No crew deaths this time, everyone escaped the clutches of Landru more or less intact. Next time we’ll be seeing the origins of a particularly iconic foe in Space Seed.

#star trek #star trek TOS #star trek season one #star trek TOS recaps #1.21 The Return of the Archons #1.21 The Return of the Archons recap

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themoonandotherslikeit · 5 years

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The Hand That Reaches for God- Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

“I’ve come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is, and always will be, yours.” – Jane Austen

-106 Days After-

“I used to think that love was complicated.”

The aisle was sprinkled with fallen leaves, lined by the candles from inside that burned brightly, the wax bleeding and melting into the crimson blades of grass.

Pheli looked at Sam like he was the only other person in the world, because, to her, he was.

“I didn’t think it was real . I always thought it was playing pretend. It was just another game, another mask that people put on to seem like their life is worth somethin’. I thought love was just a word.”

Sam smiled back at her, stroking the back of her fingers with his own. His cheeks were pink, and his long hair caught the breeze, sweeping across his forehead.

“But I was wrong. Love is a person. Love is everything.”

-104 Days After-

Sometimes all it took was a single look to know all that is needed to know about another person. The week that Ophelia had been staying in Emerson’s bed had resulted in Dean and Emerson communicating only by looks. There was a tension building up between them that could be cut with a knife, and she was dying to cut into it.

The girls were going into town; they had the Jeep packed for the day and their guns loaded. There hadn’t been an incident since before they arrived. The town appeared to be abandoned, so the brother’s weren’t as worried as they usually were for the girls to be alone. Emerson was leaning against the drivers-side door as her sister and Sam sucked face in her peripheral vision.

Dean walked to her with his hands in his pockets, he looked at her sheepishly. “Need something, Winchester?” Emerson asked with pursed lips, trying to hide a growing smirk.

“Yeah, I do,” he said, putting his hands on her hips.

“How can I help you?”

“Be safe,” Dean whispered, closing the space between them with a kiss.

It was weird, how things had changed. Emerson’s eyes flickered up to Deans, her eyelids heavy from the kiss. The world felt as if it was full of possibilities, and her heart squeezed at the implications. There were so many imperfect moments that lead up to the moment they were in, where they stood together, but none of them mattered. The only thing that mattered was Dean.

“I will be.”

He pressed his forehead to hers and exhaled a sharp laugh through his nose. “Better be. Can’t lose you, Em. I won’t do it.” His rough fingers tickled the back of her arms and down into her palms as he laced their fingers together.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, Dean.”

It hung in the air between them, a shared thought that neither of them could say out loud.

Something already has happened.

“Yeah,” he agreed tightly.

Saying goodbye was the worst part. The thing that none of them had considered was that, even before the explosion changed everything, life was already uncertain. Dean almost died at war. He did die that day in the hospital. Life wasn’t a guarantee. It never was.

“Hey,” she whispered, placing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Soon we will be a part of a really lame wedding. We will have to get all dressed up and probably dance. I’m not going to die, but I may wish I had while that’s going on.” Emerson smiled at him, wrinkling her nose.

“Sounds awful.”

“It will be.”

“I’ll try to make it better.”

“You make everything better,” Emerson whispered back, kissing him one last time. It was a pressure against his mouth, his lips were warm and soft against hers. She could feel him sigh against her kiss, letting his worries melt into her. She would be damned if she let fear ruin another thing in her life. She’d spent every day of her life letting fear rule her, and she was fucking done.

-4 Years Before-

Emerson didn’t know it, but Dean was there.

It was her high school graduation. He was able to swing some leave before he shipped off to his first real assignment. He was wearing civilian clothes, his favorite t-shirt that now fit just a little too tightly around his newly strengthened biceps.

He went to see Sammy graduate, but there, next to his mother, sat his father with a possessive hand curled around her wrist. He would fuck everything up, so he stood in the background.

His eyes scanned the program, and he felt this big stupid grin grow on his face. Commencement Speech by Emerson Maklen. He was so damn proud of her. They walked two by two up the row to their seats, and even in the rows of identical black, boxy robes his eyes locked on her. He could pick her out of a line up blindfolded. She’d been catching his attention her whole life, after all.

She looked bright and happy, the sun catching the gold in her hair. Hers was the face he thought about on the worst nights of basic training, when all he wanted was to go AWOL and hide in the fucking mountains. It was her smile, her annoyance that lived in her bottom lip, and the judgmental quirk of her eyebrow.

They announced her, and she walked up to the stage, adjusting her cap. Emerson wasn’t like Ophelia, she wasn’t effortless and perfect, but for Dean, that was a lot of her charm. She took the stairs one by one as to not trip, and when she reached the podium she gripped the edges with white knuckles.

You’ve got this, Em.

“Good afternoon.” The microphone hissed with feedback and she adjusted accordingly. “I was asked to speak today… scratch that. I was forced to speak today. If any of you know me, you know that I’m a twin. My sister Ophelia is a force . When she wants you to do something you say yes. No if ands or buts about it. So when she said she thought I should speak… well, here I am.” She laughed breathlessly into the microphone.

“The truth of the matter is that when you love someone, no doesn’t even come to mind. No matter what she asks me, I’ll do it, because that’s what you do for your family. Love isn’t a word, love is other people. Love is your teacher staying late to explain the concept, love is your mom cutting off the crust to your sandwich, love is laughing until your sides ache,” Emerson said, her voice trailing off as her eyes scanned down to the podium. She had this smile, it was the smallest smile that, if Dean hadn’t been watching her for most of his life, he wouldn’t have noticed. But he had been, so he did notice. “Love is someone who will sit up on the roof and talk about your fears with you. Someone who believes the stars are in your eyes.”

It was like having all of the breath knocked out of his body. His mouth went dry, and his hands began to tremble. Is she saying what I think she’s saying? He didn’t think she could possibly know the effect that she had on him, how the world seemed to be brighter when she was in it. He wanted to believe her, to drink her in. He wanted to run up on that stage, rip the cap off her head, and kiss her. She was graduating alright, they both were.

She looked back out to the crowd. “We have spent the last four years growing, changing, and looking to the future. So, class, the only advice I have for you moving forward is to not spend all of your time staring ahead of you, because the moments that we live in are leaving us just as they begin. So be cautious, because in my own pursuit of love and passion for the future, I missed the love that was already here in the present. I missed the joy that the last four years have brought, and no matter what you do, you can’t turn back time. You can’t undo or rewind, you can just make sure to not miss the next opportunity. So let these years ahead of us be the best yet. Take those opportunities as they come, and enjoy them, because, trust me, you’ll miss them when they’re over.”

It was only a fantasy. He couldn’t run up onto the stage and kiss her, because she just talked about wanting to live in the moment. He wasn’t a part of her present, he was her past.

He knew that she was right, though, love was a person. Love was Emerson.

-104 Days After-

“Ew, gross,” Ophelia commented, pulling Emerson out of the bubble that she and Dean were in. “Can you guys quit sucking face for five minutes so we can go shopping?”

Emerson smiled up at Dean with rosy, embarrassed cheeks. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you,” Dean agreed, his hands falling to his sides.

Emerson let her gaze linger on him for just a second more before hoisting herself into the Jeep. She adjusted the gun that was strapped to her thigh and started the Jeep. She glanced at Dean in her rear view mirror and watched him throw up a small wave.

“You two seem to be getting along,” Pheli said in an accusing tease.

Emerson snorted, rolling her eyes. She put the Jeep in gear and pressed her foot on the gas. “Yeah, so?”

“So? So?! You’re infuriating, you know that?”

She glanced at Pheli with a raised eyebrow. “You’re really bothered by this.”

“Yeah, I fucking am!”

If Pheli was in a cartoon, smoke would be pouring out of her ears.

“Why?”

“Watching you two fight it is exhausting. It’s like watching the longest slow burn of all time. Why don’t you just be together? What are you waiting for?”

“What do you mean?” Em asked, shifting her weight uncomfortably. “We are…”

“ Together? Are you really? I’ve never heard you say that you love him or called him a pet name…”

“Just because we don’t look like you and Sam, doesn’t mean what we have isn’t real.”

“I know that,” Pheli murmured softly, her face turning toward her lap.

Emerson focused on the road in front of her. The asphalt was covered in fallen leaves. It would be cold soon, winter was coming and it was something that was frequently on Emerson’s mind. She never let herself focus on relationships and more than anything, she felt as if there were bigger things to worry about. “I know how I feel about Dean,” she admitted quietly. “I know you think I’m fighting it, but I guess I just think that we have what we have. What am I supposed to do- marry him, have babies?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Doesn’t that feel just a little… pointless? Look at the world Pheli! It’s so fucked up. You can’t seriously think that some flowers and a white dress will change anything.”

“I do,” Pheli snapped, turning toward her sister in her seat. “Pull the fucking Jeep over now.”

Emerson glanced at her sister in surprise and did what she was told. She put the Jeep in park and turned toward Pheli. “What, Ophelia?”

“I know you think I’m being shallow, okay. I know you’ve always thought I was shallow. Sweet little Ophelia is too soft to be involved in anything real, if you put her out in the rain she’ll melt. I have news for you Emerson. I know that the world is fucked up. I have two eyes. So, do I think that a wedding will help? Yeah, okay, I do. I think if I’m going to tell Sam how much I love him, I should do it before something horrible happens and I lose him. If I can find an hour, a minute, a second of joy in this goddamn horrible place that we are in, then I’m going to take it. So call me shallow or stupid, or pointless if you have to. I get it, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth something.”

For the first time in her life, Emerson realized that she misunderstood her sister completely. She spent her whole life trying to be tough, wearing her suit of armor while Ophelia wore her crown of flowers and played the role of the princess. She always thought that their roles were determined by what they could handle, but it turned out that they each shouldered something. Pheli was the joy. Without sugar a cake would be bitter and horrible, and although they wouldn't still be standing without Emerson’s strength, they wouldn’t have hope without Ophelia. She’d been wrong. The whole time she’d been wrong.

“I’m so sorry,” she gasped out, covering her mouth. It was like everything inside of her was crumbling. She didn’t have to be the strong one. The two girls came together, their arms tangling in a desperate, rib crushing hug.

“Em, it’s okay,” Phel whispered.

For once, she was inclined to believe her sister. She didn’t mean to sob into her hair, snot and all, but once it started she wasn’t able to turn off the faucet. She had twenty-three years of pain bleeding out of her.

They sat there for what felt like a lifetime, and Pheli let her sister cry it out until there was nothing left. Em felt drained, like the life had been sucked out of her body through a crazy straw. She turned her face and buried it deeper against the crook of her sisters neck. She didn’t have it in her. She had nothing left but a single breath of strength that she was saving. It was her last straw, and she couldn’t use it yet. She knew she would need it and like a proper hoarder she kept it there, hidden behind her ribs right next to her heart. “I’m good,” she said through a shaking, pained exhale.

“You sure?” Pheli pushed her hair out of her face and wiped her tears from her cheeks.

“Yeah, I think so.” Her throat was aching from the sobs, and she knew that her eyes were swollen. “Let’s go get ready for this wedding. You’re right, we deserve some joy.” She took the Jeep out of park and took her sisters hand in hers, squeezing it tightly.

Pheli scooted closer and rested her head on Emerson’s shoulder as they drove into town.

As long as they’d been at the cabin, no one had seen another person in the town. It seemed to have been evacuated months previously. There weren’t a lot of supplies left, but the rest of the town was mostly intact. “Where did you want to look?”

“I think there’s a bridal boutique downtown.”

It was an old town. The streets were brick, and the buildings were all old, most of them seemed to be the original structures in the town. Emerson pulled the Jeep over and parked in front of the boutique. It was small and locally owned, but it appeared to have survived the looting. The front door looked normal. “I don’t suppose its unlocked?” Emerson questioned, not asking anyone in particular. She tugged on the handle. It was locked. She glanced around before crouching down and grabbing a piece of brick on the ground. With all of the force that she had she slammed the brick into the glass. It fell away easily, and she stuck her arm through the new opening, unlocking the door from the inside. “Bingo.”

“I hate when you guys do that,” Pheli complained, grabbing her sisters arm. She examined it closely, and when she determined that no damage had been done, she released her grip.

“A necessary evil.”

The girls walked through the front door. The shop looked untouched by time and pain, and Emerson understood more than ever why the wedding was a great idea. She walked to a mannequin and ran her fingers along the white satin fabric, her callouses catching on the fabric. She never thought that she’d be the girl that would obsess over a dress, flowers, or the right guy. She didn’t see herself spilling over bridal magazines or trying to find the perfect curtains to match her couch in suburbia. She wasn’t that simple. But there was something about what Pheli said that dug into her, burying itself deep within her. It wasn’t about the dress, or the flowers. It wasn’t about the house or the curtains. It wasn’t so vapid and pointless. It was an outward description of the way that she felt, and if the aching in her chest was any indication, than she should be wearing a princess gown adorned with jewels.

“Em?”

“Huh?”

“Look,” Pheli said. Her voice was soft as she held a dress to her chest. “It’s everything.”

“Try it on,” Em suggested with a warm smile.

She wasn’t adorned with jewels. She was hiding behind a veil of darkness and fear, because even after every moment that brought her to the right answer, she still ended up growing into a girl that she never thought she would be. She was worse than vapid, she was broken. For the first time in her life she wished that she could be the simple girl who wanted the wedding dress and the floor length curtains. She wanted anything other than what she had. She wanted to be brave enough to let Dean love her, because even though he said that he would, she knew that he couldn’t wait around forever.

Pheli bit her bottom lip. “You think?”

“Come on, why not? That’s why we’re here.”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know this seems stupid.” Pheli exhaled in a single huff, and Emerson would’ve thought she was itching for a compliment if it weren’t for the tears lining her bottom lashes.

“What’s going on, Phel?”

“It’s just… I know that we’ve always known that she wasn’t going to make it, but I still wish Mom was here.”

It was something so normal, that it hadn’t even occurred to her, and the weight in Emerson’s chest pressed down harder, taking her breath away. “Me too.”

She wished a lot of things.

“I always thought she would walk me down the aisle, and I guess it’s stupid since it isn’t even real…”

“Hey,” Em said, stopping her. “It isn’t stupid, and it’s real. I’ll walk you down the aisle.”

Pheli sucked in her nose, sniffling a bit. “Thank you,” she whispered. It was like she needed her sister’s permission to be happy.

“Now go try it on before the Rogues come here and fuck up our fun!”

“Right, right,” Pheli said sarcastically, with a wide smile. “I’m going.”

As Pheli disappeared behind the curtain in the dressing room, Emerson wandered. “I’ll be right back!”

She opened the front door and stood outside, taking in deep breaths of crisp fall air. There was an antique shop across the street that she wanted to check out. She crossed the street, a little more languidly than usual. It was the peace of the town, the way the cool breeze pushed the leaves, and the way that no sound seemed to penetrate the bubble that they were in. She felt safe, even though she should’ve been on her guard.

The door to the antique shop had already been busted, so she pushed in, her boots crunching on the stray pieces of glass from the broken door. Leaves had blown into the hole in the door, entire shelves had fallen, or been pushed over. The store was a mess, to put it simply, but Emerson was looking for something specific.

She stepped over fallen toys. Wooden horse heads on sticks, dolls with missing eyes, and a lonely tricycle. She climbed over a stray chair and overturned desk. She spotted what she was looking for midway into the shop, and she was going for it, taking the quickest route. There was a glass case toward the back of the store. She placed her palms on the top of the glass and shifted her weight so she could hoist herself over behind the counter. The keys were still in the lock. She turned the key and slid the backing of the case away and looked in through the back. It was dark in the shop from the overcast autumn day, but she was still able to pull each item out and examine it.

There was a set of old pearls that were coated in dust. She pulled her shirt out and wiped them clean, squinting to try to see if they were worth pocketing. She dug around some more and found an aged crystal brooch, a small beaded bag, and a crystal hairpin. Bingo. She blew the dust off the hairpin, exposing a beautiful aquamarine crystal. “Something blue,” Emerson murmured.

There was a crash deeper in the store, something fell over, and it pulled Emerson out of her quiet moment alone. She shoved the pin and necklace in her pocket and unclipped her gun from her thigh holster. Her fingers were trembling as she pointed the gun toward the noise. Her finger hovered over the trigger, as her thumb clicked the safety off. She wanted to shout out, but if it was a Rogue, that spelled trouble. She preferred not to use the gun at all. The less noise the better.

She didn’t hear anything else coming from that area. Nothing else had toppled over and there was no groaning. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip and slowly hoisted her leg over an overturned chair to get out from behind the counter. She glanced behind her, realizing that if she got into a chase that she would be royally screwed. There was no quick escape route through all of the random items that had been toppled during an earlier raid.

Emerson swallowed hard and moved forward, stepping over fallen items, keeping her hands as steady as she could on her weapon. She pushed a fallen rack of fabric out of the way with her gun, causing dust to invade the air. She coughed a few times, covering her mouth with her bicep. When the air cleared she found herself staring at the back well, the door to the alleyway out back was ajar, but other than that she was completely alone.

She frowned and squatted down finding an old model car that looked like it may have recently fell. It’s spot on the shelf had an empty space where the area around it was covered in a thick layer of dust. She stood up, and her eyes caught a smear on the edge of the door, like a hand had been pulled across the edge, disturbing the settled dust. She walked towards it and placed her own fingers over the smudge. It was easily a size and a half larger than her own hand. Her fingers curled in on themselves, and she put her gun back in her thigh holster before heading back toward the front of the store.

“Em? Emerson!?”

She heard Pheli calling her name from outside of the shop, and her heart picked up in her chest. She picked up speed, jumping over pieces of furniture. She pushed through the front door. “Phel?”

Ophelia stood in the middle of the street looking frantic, her dark eyes wide. “Where the fuck were you?” She asked, running to Emerson. She threw her arms around her sisters neck, squeezing her tightly. “I thought you were toast.”

“No,” Emerson whispered, hugging her sister back. “I’m okay. I’m all good.”

She pulled back from the huge and took in Pheli’s appearance.

She was wearing a long, champagne lace dress, that had a v-neckline, and capped sleeves. It fit her like a glove. Seeing her in it made Emersons chest squeeze. She didn’t have to be one of those girls, but Pheli deserved it. She deserved to be the princess that she spent her entire life pretending to be. “Phel.”

“What?”

“You look so beautiful.”

“What?”

“The dress,” Emerson whispered with a smile. “Spin around.”

Pheli looked down, as if it occurred to her for the very first time that she was wearing a wedding dress. She spun slowly, and Emerson grabbed the zipper, pulling it all the way up. “You can’t do that again,” Phel said quietly.

“Do what?”

“Disappear.”

When the zipper was in place Pheli turned back around and stood face to face with her sister. “I’m sorry,” Emerson said quietly, but smiled. “I was just getting you something.” She dug in her pocket and held out the two items that she stole from the antique shop. “Something old and something blue.”

Pheli ran the pearls around her fingers and held the pin up to the light. She sucked in her breath through her nose and smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Emerson met her sisters smile, but there was still a hint of something else, something that she couldn’t quite name. It was the thing that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. It was a pair of eyes watching her from the darkness. It was fingers swiping through dust. It was the knowledge that everything was always going to end up the way that it did, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing that she could do about it. “Now lets get home and get you married.”

“Not until I get you an outfit, Emerson Mae. It will be a big night for you, too.”

As she laced her fingers with her sisters and walked back into the bridal shop, she knew, deep down in her soul, that Ophelia was right. It would be astronomical.

—————

Authors Note: Hey y’all! Thank you so much for reading! I just wanted to give you a little update. I have one more chapter planned out for this fic. I do plan on doing a part two, that I hope to begin in about a month. October is really busy for me, and I have a lot of projects, so I’m giving myself a beat to get the next section in order and write a few chapters ahead so I can get back on a regular posting schedule. So stay tuned! I’ll have more official details at the end of the next chapter. <3 Thank you again for all of your constant support, it truly makes this all worthwhile!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

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