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sleeping-on-cracking-ice · 4 years

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Hello! Im glad i made it on time for request! T^TI would like to request a chishiya x female reader. Where the female reader is strong and intelligent and chishiya just basically falls in love with her. He tries to get close with but apparently reader doesn't live in beach she lives in her own homemade house. So chishiya tries really hard to find her.

Of course, here you go! 🥰

Search | Shuntaro Chishiya

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

Character(s): Chishiya

Summary: Chishiya searches all through Tokyo to find you, who he met at a game and fell for instantly.

Warnings: swearing, somewhat creepy behaviour from Chishiya, violence

Word Count: 2.2k

*reader is female

Author’s Note: sorry I closed requests for so long! They’re open again now for a few days so please send in anything you want me to write! ❤

The dark streets of Tokyo echoed the sounds of the wind travelling through the trees. The silence that filled the atmosphere was deafening, leaving Chishiya to nothing but his wandering thoughts that pottered so carelessly through his head. The occasional cry of a crow kept him grounded, always bringing him back to the reality that was in front of him.

The young man was taking yet another attempt of finding the peculiar and alluring figure that he had encountered at many games. No one had ever taken his interest as much as this, and even if they had, he would’ve given up at finding them for the fact that they live in the huge empty wasteland that is Tokyo. Any nook and cranny could have the chance of being your home, but Chishiya was determined to find you. He didn’t have anything else to do anyway. But now that he’s taken interest in you, he finally has something to work towards rather than just waiting around to die at The Beach.

He strolled effortlessly through the Shibuya crossing, recognizing the place from when he was first thrown into the game, always returning to the large open area to use as a safe space. Even after being in the game for as long as he had, it still felt foreign to see not a single soul crossing the road, very unlike usual Tokyo.

The only source of light he had to assist him was a small torch he took from The Beach and the occasional game sign pointing to some late running games. He felt unsettled every time he entered an area where no light was available, and the silence didn’t help.

“Tch,” he scoffed to himself, rubbing his sleeves over his eyes to keep them from dropping from how tired he was. He had been at it for weeks, not even getting the slightest clue where you stayed in the huge city.

“This is ridiculous, as if I haven’t found her yet.” He was becoming more and more frustrated as each night dragged on. All he wanted was to meet you in person that wasn’t in the registration section of a game, where he wasn’t even sure either of you would leave alive.

After being saved by you during a hearts game, Chishiya developed an irrational attraction to your selfless and strong demeanour. He admired the fact that you managed to look after yourself and others at the same time, always thinking of an intelligent way to make sure that everyone survived. He was impressed and taken back, for he had never met or encountered anyone like you.

Chishiya strutted over to a large building near the Shibuya crossing that displayed a screen pointing towards a game. He had to sit down for a while, he had been walking for hours and his legs were beginning to hurt. He shivered and pulled his hoodie tighter around him as he walked through the entrance of the building to find that place nearly trashed all through. Obviously some people had attempted to search the building for resources to assist in their survival.

He slowly made his way further into the building, being mindful of the shards of glass and other debris that scattered the floor. The last thing he wanted was the trip of something and ended up with sharp glass shards in his back.

Chishiya entered a large room that almost seemed untouched. Much unlike the other rooms, this room was clean and no furniture was turned over. He frowned, wondering why no one had bothered to search this room.

“Huh, must have missed it,” he answered his own question. He walked to the centre of the room and sat on a small brown couch that was placed there, rather inconveniently. The layout of the room was very scattered and random resources such as water bottles and empty cans of beans and tuna were laying around on every surface.

The cans of food looked awfully too clean to have been left there for long. The leftover specs of food remaining appeared fresh, and the smell of tuna was far from smelling off. Chishiya moved his tired eyes around the room, trying to find any more evidence of someone being there recently. His eyes locked on a small pile of blankets and pillows in the corner of the room, all bunched up together to create a comfy nest almost.

The pile seemed a bit too lumpy to be holding only blankets, so Chishiya’s curiosity got the better of him and he stood slowly to make his way over to the makeshift bed. He thought maybe someone was hiding some more food underneath it, probably planning to return some other time to collect them.

He kneeled down next to the pile, scanning the small space. His eyes widened as he saw the blanket move, slowly lifting up and down incredibly slightly. He almost stepped back in shock, but decided against it and lifted his hand slowly to lift the duvet.

He grasped the soft material and carefully pulled it back towards himself. His breath became caught in his throat when he locked eyes with what was underneath it.

There you laid, peacefully sleeping and tucked into yourself. Your legs were folded and against your torso with your arms lying lazily next to your head. You looked so vulnerable and small, especially since Chishiya just found you hiding from the world underneath a blanket. He assumed that you covered yourself so if someone was to find your hiding space, they wouldn’t see you and potentially hurt you.

Chishiya couldn’t help himself. After seeing you become so aggressive and resilient in games, seeing you so calm and at peace pulled at his heart strings. He knew it was wrong, intruding on you while you weren’t aware he was even there, but he knew that he wouldn’t ever hurt you.

His heart hurt from the sight of you holding yourself in a tight ball, obviously being anxious that something would happen while you were asleep. He pouted and tilted his head, examining you closely.

“So pretty,” he whispered. But just as the words left his mouth, his stomach dropped when he saw your eyes snap open and lock directly onto him.

Before he could even think, you had swung a fist at his face, punching him square in the jaw, making him yell in pain as he backed away while squatting on his legs so he could get up and run if he had to. He held his face in his hands, trying to reduce the pain throbbing in his jaw.

“What the fuck?!” you exclaimed, standing up out of your bundle of blankets. “Fucking creep! Piss off!”

Chishiya groaned and glanced up towards you, noticing that you were now standing over his meek body on the ground. You held a small knife in your hands, pointing the sharp object towards him in case he made any sudden movements.

Chishiya’s usual smug smirk crawled onto his face, making your frown more as he stood up slowly, hands held up in surrender. “Wow, feisty,” he chuckled.

Your angry expression softened and you lowered your weapon slightly as the bright moonlight shined through the window and painted across Chishiya’s face. You immediately recognized him as the young, white-haired man that always assisted you at games. But what was he doing here?

“What do you want?” you glowered, taking a few threatening steps towards him. Chishiya raised his eyebrows, but kept his composed behaviour as your weapon pressed lightly on his chest, making him wince slightly as the sharp point pierced his skin through his white shirt.

“Rude. I don’t even get a hello? A how are you? All I get is a knife in my face,” he smugly responded. “You did that to yourself by watching me sleep like a fucking stalker,” you hissed, leaning your face closer to his.

“I guess so,” he sneered. “By the way, I wouldn’t kill me if you were considering it. Trust me, I’m not on my own.”

You felt ridiculed by his calm behaviour, hating how he didn’t seem threatened by you at all. Out of all the people you’ve scared off, why did this skinny, short man have more nerve than anyone else?

“I wasn’t counting on it,” you reassured. You pulled back your knife slightly, but still kept it drawn in your hand in case he tried anything. You may have met him a few times in games, but trust was very hard to earn from anyone in the Borderlands.

“So, Y/N,” he started. “I’ve been searching for you for a while now. I’m glad I’ve finally found you.”

You scowled at his words. “Me? What could someone like you possibly want from me?” You watched as his pink lips curled up into a smirk, making you cringe slightly.

Chishiya turned away from you and strolled back over to the brown lounge in the middle of the room. He leaned comfortably on the back of it, facing you again. You had lowered your knife, feeling reassured now that he was further away.

“I’ve noticed you,” he started, staring holes into your eyes. You raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. “You know how to handle yourself in games, and I can’t help but become a little immersed in your methods.”

The way he spoke gave you a headache. He sounded too smart for his own good, making you question if he was bluffing just to trick you into believing that you were needed, when he would just use you then leave you in the dust.

“Yeah? And what about it?” you asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

Chishiya looked down to the ground and tucked his hands into his pockets. “I would very much appreciate it if you joined me,” he suggested. “I am staying at a hotel called ‘The Beach’, but everyone there is an idiot. If you are willing to put your trust into me, I promise that I will help you collect all the cards and escape this place.”

You kept your gaze on him, trying to see any sign that he may be lying. If he was lying, he was incredibly good at it.

“What’s the catch?” you asked, fiddling with your knife.

“There is none. Only the fact that I’m asking you to join forces with hundreds of idiotic, drunks that act like children.”

There was a moment of silence before Chishiya continued.

“But I can reassure you, if you stick by me, I will be sure to keep you safe and alive.”

You rolled your eyes at his promise. “I don’t need your protection. Look at you, you’re skin and bones. I can take care of myself.” You turned back to your pile of blankets, lifting them to search for your radio that had become lost in the sheets during the night.

Chishiya thought to himself, trying to think of something to say that would convince you to come back with him to The Beach. He couldn’t downright say that he was in love with you, because it would probably scare you off. If he wanted to have a chance with you, he first had to gain your trust. But that was deemed difficult when he was the shady character that he is.

“There’s food and water at The Beach,” he spoke up, making you freeze in your movements and turn back towards him. “There’s comfy beds and personal rooms, as well as allies and guaranteed protection from militants. If you really want to survive, you’d be best there more than out here by yourself.”

You stared at him before glancing around the room, eyes landing on the scattered cans of food and random dirty clothes everywhere. You would admit, you were lonely, and hungry, and cold.

“What makes me sure I can trust you, Chishiya?” you challenged.

Chishiya stepped away from the sofa and walked over to you, making you stand up from your position on the ground so you were at eye level.

“Because you have no other choice,” he smugly stated, “You’re lucky enough for it to only be me to walk in here and find you. Just think about it, if I can find you, so can a group of murderous people, or starving people, or people desperate for cards.”

He had a good point. You hated that you were falling prey to his manipulation, but if The Beach was even slightly better than the dirt hole you were inhabiting, you were interested enough to at least take a look.

“Okay,” you mumbled, turning away from him and leaning down to pick up the small backpack that laid next to your bed. “I’ll come, but if I find out you’re lying or trying to have me killed, it’ll be your head hanging from a lamppost in Shibuya.”

Chishiya smiled at your threat, not being affected by your violent words. “That’s the kind of talk that will get you killed Y/N,” he warned, turning around and making his way towards the entrance of the building. “Keep that up, you might be the one losing a head.”

You groaned and rolled your eyes at his warning.

Chishiya smiled to himself as he stepped out into the cold night air. He could finally relax, knowing he found you and would now be able to keep you in his sight at all times. Even if he had to tell a few fibs to make you come with him, he believes it was worth it, as now he could stay by your side.

He knew it would be a work in progress to earn your trust eventually, but he would make sure that you always trusted him over anyone else.

#alice in borderland #alice in borderland imagines #alice in borderland imagine #alice in borderland scenarios #alice in borderland one shots #aib #aib imagines #aib imagine #aib one shots #aib scenarios #chishiya #shuntaro chishiya #chishiya imagines #chishiya imagine #chishiya one shots #chishiya scenarios #chishiya x reader #shuntaro chishiya x reader

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ms-interpretation · 4 years

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Going through the screenshots I’ve taken I realized that Lee Gon literally meets a different version of each of his parents in episode 14 & 15. When he travels back to the Night of Treason there’s this moment of him kneeling down taking in the sight of his dead father, even closing the former King’s eyes. This takes place right after he has saved his younger self and ambushed Lee Lim and the other traitors (which ensured that they didn’t get hold of the piece of the Manpasikjeok his young self was hiding). The ensuing emotional beat of Lee Gon’s grief is something the drama quietly let’s play out. There’s no big dramatic scene of the dying King talking to him while dying in his arms or a meaningful inner monologue of Lee Gon reflecting on this moment (while spelling out what he feels). No, there’s only the still emptiness of loss as the snow keeps falling over them. Not to be all poetic about it but that calm emptiness is fitting, since Lee Gon was left an orphan by this event and his life has therefore been marred by absence. It becomes more and more clear to me the more I think about it why young Lee Gon would naturally start to obsess about the ID-card left by his mysterious savior. He has since grown up as an orphan and thus seeing his father like this now must be akin to seeing a ghost (insert Hamlet reference here). We already know from the flashback in episode four that his father’s death left an emotional scar, as the room had been left empty and untouched until that moment when Lee Gon decided to return to retrieve the Four Tiger Sword to embrace his destiny (while clearly still grieving, remembering his father, as he did so). After traveling through time and managing to return to the present and being reunited with Jeong Tae-eul he then meets his doppelganger’s (Lee Ji-hun’s) mother.

Their encounter is strangely moving. They are both incredibly affected by simply only seeing each other, which is not that strange given that they are each in essence looking at the ghost of a loved one. Lee Gon is seeing whom his mother could have been had she not passed away due to illness and Song Jeong-hye is seeing what her son would have looked like had he been allowed to grow up. Ghosts in literature have been metaphors and/or symbols for different things throughout the years. Sometimes they are regrets, at other times memories, or they might even be the physical manifestation of trauma (this occurs in ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, the ghost of the protagonist’s ex-boyfriend who died in such a way to traumatize her literally ‘haunts’ her for the first few episodes). In this scene and in TKEM the doppelgangers are essentially and paradoxically living ‘ghosts’. Jeong Tae-eul even went looking for her mother’s counterpart in episode six, hoping that things were different enough in the Kingdom so as to mean that she was alive and well. Doppelgangers become ghosts for the ‘world-crossers’ since they are nearly quite literally the physical manifestation of ‘what could have been’ if the world-crosser’s loved one was still there.

I’m no expert on grief nor loss but I know that a defining aspect of losing someone is of course the experience of the fact that they - to be literal - are not there anymore. The living are left with only the memories and this horrible heartbreaking emptiness i.e. the experience of the lack of that person. I would actually also argue (and contradict myself) and say that the living may also be left with the love of that person. We see this in how Lee Gon remembers and embraces his destiny by remembering his father in episode four. There is of course still that emptiness of loss left behind. Lee Gon and Song Jeong-hye are however suddenly each in turn confronted by a ‘living ghost’, by the living doppelganger of whom they’ve lost. It is regret and the horrible sight of what could have been, what should have been, for Jeong-hye and a physical reminder for Lee Gon of the absence he has grown up with (as he is confronted with the parental grief of someone who deeply loves their child, who is a different version of him). At this point Lee Gon has not only lost his parents but also his uncle Prince Buyeong, whom Lee Lim killed precisely because he wanted to break his orphaned nephew’s spirit. Both these characters, Lee Gon and Song Jeong-hye, have in common how Lee Lim almost completely wrecked their lives one fateful night. They have both suffered terribly due to his greed and have both had to live with that trauma for the last 25 years. Lee Gon, being the hero of this narrative, being currently in the process of confronting and stopping him, once and for all. They also have in common how they are haunted by the fact that there was that one person they couldn’t save. For Lee Gon it is his parent(s) and for Song Jeong-hye it is her son. And it is strange that in a way, the people they’ve lost is suddenly right there, in front of them. They are confronted with a living, breathing, thinking person who in some ways actually is the person they have lost. We don’t know much about Lee Gon’s mother, but we do know that he takes after her by being scientifically inclined and being someone with faith (episode 12). We do know from seeing Song Jeong-hye that she is also someone with faith (being Catholic) and we can determine from watching her that she is open-minded and curious as she takes the time to listen to FateKid, exhibiting the traits which probably made her counterpart become a scientist. Lee Gon thus have in common with Song Jeong-hye the traits he inherited from his mother, which are his only remaining link to her.

The doppelgangers of the TKEM universe are intimately connected, they are not simply random people with the same faces. We see this (as previously stated) in how Song Jeong-hye is, as Lee Gon’s mother was, a Catholic and in how several of Jeong Tae-eul’s work colleagues are police officers in both universes (beliefs, values and certain choices remaining the same between the two worlds). After Lee Gon resets the universes we meet a grown-up Lee Ji-hun who is in the military. Like Lee Gon he chooses to be someone who puts himself forward to protect people/the nation and very likely certain ideals. We see this brave impulse in them both early on when they are each in turn confronted by Lee Lim. Perhaps in the case of Lee Ji-hun it is also a consequence of growing up in an abusive household. Of course there’s Luna who is seemingly very different from Jeong Tae-eul, but similarly to our heroine she does actually have a good grasp on right and wrong. She is shown believing in the concept, not being amoral and she keeps herself to a sort of moral code. She knows that what’s she’s doing is wrong. Talking to Fate/FluteKid she expects to be punished for what she’s about to do (infiltrating Tae-eul’s life and possibly killing Lee Gon) and while she feels like she has been dealt an unfair hand she doesn’t (I think) ever claim that what’s she’s doing is right. Does that make her a good person? No, no it doesn’t, since she still chooses to do horrific things to innocent people. But it reveals that she is more similar to Tae-eul then what the hardened criminal/righteous police detective contrast might at first suggest. This makes the meeting of Lee Gon and Song Jeong-hye more tragic in a way, because they are almost family. The “details” of life however do, in the end, make all the difference. Our circumstances, choices and relationships play a huge part in who we become. Neither Lee Gon nor Song Jeong-hye however did tragically get to spend much time with their loved one, and therefore the people they miss do actually come closer to being each other than what one might at first think. They both miss a person, who in a sense, never existed (a Lee Ji-hun and doppelganger of Song Jeong-hye who survived). Not to become too philosophical but an identity defining difference between Lee Gon and Lee Ji-hun is the fact that the latter didn’t grow up while the former did. Similarly a defining difference between Song Jeong-hye and Lee Gon’s mother is that the latter died due to illness. There are other incredibly important differences as well, they are importantly of course separate people with different relationships and histories, which is why Lee Gon and Jeong-hye end up being closer but not close enough to what the other person is missing. I do however believe that it is good to when confronted with characters and scenes like these to truly reflect and question what it is that makes us who we are - which is what the very concept of doppelgangers invites us to do.

Song Jeong-hye’s grief is almost palpable in this scene and Lee Gon, the survivor confronted with his dead counterpart’s grieving mother, is also unsurprisingly deeply affected. He is clearly broken up about her fate, but is stopped when he tries to apologise. It is absolutely heartbreaking when Jeong-hye unfairly blames him for Ji-hun’s death. I do however believe that her parting words “I’m not your mother” and emphasis that he should not die for her reveals that parental love, as in the case of the romantic love between Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-eul, can also extend across universes. She could have been apathetic to his fate and she clearly isn’t. Lee Gon is later also quietly devastated by her death. This being a modern fairytale the story will end with Lee Gon doing what seems impossible, saving Lee Ji-hun and Song Jeong-hye. He rights the wrongs his uncle’s greed have caused and is partially able to do so thanks to Song Jeong-hye’s love for her son, which extends just enough as to move her to help Lee Gon. Love ends up conquering greed by extending beyond the latter’s reach through one mother who lost her son choosing to help a ‘stranger’. This after Lee Lim has been using doppelgangers’ love (or lack thereof in the case of Luna) for their families against them.

The fact that this meeting takes place now, so soon after Lee Gon has re-lived his father’s murder is absolutely soul-crushing. It also creates a dark and tragic context for what comes next. Lee Gon comes to believe that the only way to end it all is to travel back in time, once again but this time risk his past self dying to make sure that Lee Lim is finally stopped. That is a very drastic and dark plan, but because we have these scenes of Lee Gon with Song Jeong-hye and him literally revisiting his trauma (taking in the sight of his dead father) we can easily believe why Lee Gon is so sure that this is how it has to play out. That and the fact that he has grown up as a King in a monarchy where the monarch’s chief responsibility is to ensure the safety of their people. We can tell that he suffers badly from survivor’s guilt as he sneaks away to travel back on his own, only bringing Jo Yeong when the latter intercepts him and insists, as Lee Gon hesitates, that he will accompany him. Then when they are back in time Lee Gon’s new plan consists of Yeong being back-up, making sure that Lee Lim is stopped if he himself would fail to do so. Even then, he chooses to rather risk himself than putting his friend in danger. Unsurprisingly however Jo Yeong pales when he understands Lee Gon’s plan and simply refuses to abide by his King’s request, choosing instead to prioritize saving the young Lee Gon.

At some point I need to make a post about how all the protagonists’ heroism takes form in the choices they make and in how they are either/both saved and/or moved by the love of others’. I do hope people don’t mistake my emphasis on Lee Gon as an orphan as me invalidating his familial relationships with Prince Buyeong and Lady Noh. Lee Gon is an orphan in that he lost both of his loving parents who cared for him, not because he lost his parents-by-blood. There is also this guilt of Lee Gon’s towards Prince Buyeong because the latter had to choose between taking care of young Lee Gon or being with his immediate family. It doesn’t strain their relationship but it does in the case of Lee Gon make his remaining familial relationship heavier. In the case of Lady Noh he also feels indebted to her, as she is someone who remained in the Kingdom to look after him rather than trying to get back to her world (or simply choosing to leave the palace) after his father’s violent death. It is important to point out that of course these characters’ all freely choose to do what they do, it is part of what makes them feel truly human and heroic. Lee Gon is not to blame but of course he is still thankful and understandably, given his trauma, he still experiences some guilt. Love makes us do things for each other and as the fragile human beings that we are we might at times not feel deserving of it. Lee Gon, on his way to quite possibly sacrificing his life for everyone else, describes himself as selfish when taking leave of Lady Noh. This because he didn’t immediately return her to the Republic when he found out that that is where she’s from, being scared that she would leave. Lady Noh, unsurprisingly is not at all bothered by this revelation (and given that Lee Gon earlier asked her to ask him where he went definitely knows that he would eventually tell her) and is only concerned that he won’t be able to come back. The scene reminds me of when Lee Gon said that he won’t let Jeong Tae-eul leave, which they both knew he didn’t actually mean even for a moment. It was simply him admitting to and expressing his loneliness and fear. The consequences of Lee Gon’s trauma, being afraid to be abandoned and experiencing survivor’s guilt, is thus shown through these kinds of emotional beats and helps inform us of as to why he acts like he does. Thankfully Lee Gon is in the end able to save the two worlds, is saved himself and can even save young Lee Ji-hun and Song Jeong-hye. This due to the courage and love which moves him, Jeong Tae-eul, Jo Yeong, Kang Shin-jae and Song Jeong-hye, and which in the end causes them to prevail against the darkness Lee Lim unleashed in their worlds and in their lives.

#the king eternal monarch #lee gon #the king: eternal monarch #the acting in this scene is heartbreakingly good #ghosts and doppelgangers #tkem meta

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ser-rctslcyer · 4 years

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Sweet Home (2020)

First of all this is going to major major spoilers from the show, so don’t read if you are still trying to finish!!!

I’d like to start off by saying that this is my opinion, thoughts and feelings about the show(I watched all of it). I will be comparing events in both the Webtoon comic and the Netflix TV series. Also again it’s been awhile since I have read the Webtoon from beginning to end so sorry if there’s some misinformation (apologies if any of the names are spelled wrong or out of order too, I using the wiki page to write out the characters name from the show as they changed names a bit) but here we go.

(1) Pacing Issues

I’d like to start off and say the show has a lot of pacing issues. Throughout the show there are a lot of events that happen so quickly and sometimes bizarrely. From the transformations, to the introduction of characters, and the movement of the plot. One of the odd things that stood out was the bizarre news broadcast which was showcasing weird and scary visuals, as it explained the ‘rules of monsterization’ (you think that for global news that big, you wouldn’t want to cause global panic, but insist on showing the visuals that would put even more anxieties in the people at that time. Also why didn’t they cut it off when the dude first started having a nosebleed).

Next I know Hyun was only supposed to be there for a week before everything started going down, but literally it just felt like a day. It didn’t seem to establish enough of his situation for the audience. I understand that adaptations like this are made for the niche audience of those who have either watched/read the original source material, however everyone should strive to have a story for anyone to view that they could understand and follow. It feels like immediately we get into the craziness that is thrusted upon all of the characters.

Another thing that threw me for a loop was the way the ‘Blind Monster’ quickly transformed, it was just so fast. One moment he is the random human and then the next he’s standing up full monster. I think it would’ve been way cooler to see him transform fully, which I think would have been the first (full) transformation to see on screen. It’s one of the coolest monsters in the comic AND IT GETS PUNKED SO QUICKLY IN THE SHOW!!!

I get making the montage when Hyun met Du-sik, and how he went there to get his weapon made but it felt weird that they quickly figured out that they could use the phones to detect the monsters. It seemed so very rushed, and again one of the many things that probably would give the audience whiplash. Then when he meets up with Ji-su(Ji-soo) and Jay-hun did he teach them that the phones can work to detect monsters??? I mean they talked to each other all of two seconds before going back out to save the kids.

Hyun also went so quickly into his madness phases (his alter)? I swear they just really threw that in there so early by episode 2-3 . It seemed so random again as there wasn’t really much build up to show his ‘desires’ side. It was so abrupt especially because they hadn’t ‘laid out’ Hyun’s character yet, enough to introduce his alter ego fully like that. It didn’t really showcase Hyun’s struggle a lot to defy the his alter; mainly seemed like they used the alter to explain why Hyun is the way he is, which happens in the comic but again the show just kind of makes it feel like the alter is sorta just there to give us more exposition.

There’s a lot more pacing issues which I could get into but I think that would make this entirely much longer than it has to be.

(2) Continuity Issues

There’s also a ton of issues with continuity of the story too. The first glaring one that comes to mind is this both the power issue and the no internet service. In the show it establishes toward the end of episode one that there is no service, as the big group is on the first floor wondering why they are locked into the building. That’s at episode 1, which then in episode 2 opens up to Hyun still playing games on his computer, the group watching the news broadcast and Hyuk reading the initial first article about the outbreak being a ‘curse’. Now I’m not a tech savvy person, but when there’s no service, I’m pretty sure you aren’t able to do any of those things. Then when the Netflix original character, Seo Yi-Kyung, the ex firefighter/special forces decides to send a picture of the dead guy’s body to his family when there is no service; how is that possible? (Also was I the only one who found that to be completely odd and mean, as she saw a picture of his family? I understand it set us up for her story and how she’s trying to uncover secrets from her long lost fiance but it seems out of pocket as well as a dick move.) But that again loops back to the point that there is no service in this place, it’s been said many times so it just irks me more because that is such a big glaring issue, which should’ve been caught by someone reading the script.

Then there is when the power goes out. It shows Hyuk at the cameras when the powers go out and the cameras all shut off. But when he comes back to the camera with Seo Yi-Kyung, the camera’s are back on. Is it possible for them to be running on a separate generator, perhaps. However they showed the cameras going so then again, I can’t believe that there is a separate generator because again they showed them all shutting off; so again another continuity error. During that same scene I also could have sworn the lady also was looking at the cameras and saw the monster on screen, but apparently not because as she returns she punches Hyuk in the chest. I thought it was really weird because again he pointed and even showed which camera it was where she had to turn the power back on, yet she didn’t see the monster at all? Not only that too but I thought too she knew the risk she would be taking, as they were unaware of what other monsters could be in the building, however I guess not since she came back so defensively.

Another issue I have is the strength of Protein. Protein is first shown in episode 3 when Hyun has gone to rescue the kids and bring them back to Dusik’s room. Hyun begins to have a nosebleed and then his alter comes to him in his head and he tells the kids to go on without him. They run into Protein who if I remember correctly knocked Hyun through the door. As Hyun is still dazed and the kids are dragging him away, Protein takes about 5+ hits… to break through a wall. This giant hulking mass of a monster, takes more than 5 hits to finally bust through a wall, does that seem right to you? The later when he fights [the lady who lost her baby] and when he pouches her, it almost feels like a push with how far she flies, even though he reared up for that punch. Anyway later on in episode 8 I believe, when Protein comes back, he quickly demolishes their armored car, so much that it looks nearly if not just like a pile of scrap. One could argue that yes, when he comes back and attacks the group, he’s supposed to be in his ‘rage mode’ of sorts, so that could be what makes him stronger. However he’s a towering hulking monster, seems to not do that much damage, to both the surroundings around him and then to the few people he smacked around. It just seems weird how he had different strengths each time he appeared. I know again that sometimes adaptations do tend to nerf characters, however I found it weird how they seemingly tried to do that in the show. I was sure that Jae Heon’s sword wasn’t able to slice Protein at all in the comic (or maybe he was in his rage mode at that point) either way though the nerfing of Protein’s character seemed to flip flop from whatever they seemed fit.

(3) Monsters

Which this can lead into the monsters. Now each monster in Sweet Home has different power sets and abilities than the other, however one consistent thing in the comic at least is that most of them are actually pretty sturdy and tough for the group to beat. A lot of the monsters, it takes time, effort, and a lot of learning for the group to figure out how to kill them.

Let’s start off with the Tongue Monster. The Tongue monster is one of the first ones the group initially encounters; its terrifyingly tall stature is already unsettling enough, there’s the gaping hole of a mouth with a powerful tongue. Now the effects that for the opening of the mouth were a little wonky, but something I could look past. However my main problem was that this monster single handedly got the most kills in the show out of all the other monsters. In fact he was the only monster to get kills, which is very disappointing to see when you have all these cool monsters that could have different and interesting kills. (I’m not counting Mr. Kim and Jay hun’s death simply because that was a self sacrifice on Jay hun’s part. Nor am I counting any of Jung Wooi-myung kills because he was a half monster also he didn’t go full monster to kill anyone). In the comic, the Tongue monster had gotten 2 kills which one of those happened to be another monster (Mr. Kim).

Eyeball monster was alright, and did what it needed to do.

The Blind monster, who is for a doubt, one of the most terrifying and troublesome monsters in the comic. Like both in the show and the comic, he originally attacks Ji-su first, but then Jayhun comes and saves her by slicing off it’s head. The two leave think it was dead but that’s when the true terror starts as he was monsterized enough to survive it’s head being cut in half but unable to regenerate its head fully. Since it fully relies on sound, it makes it more deadly as it shoots out branch-like tendrils with great speed. This is deadly for the group as they have to make sure they travel quietly as possible to avoid being killed by the agonized creature. I did enjoy how the show included when Hyun first opened his door to it being right there, as that was a very suspenseful moment, and showed us another big threat that the people in this apartment building would face. The Blind monster is only around for 23 chapters in the comic which is roughly he’s in there for about 16.43% of the story (not including the flashback in the later chapters). While that number is small to you, the Blind monster is one of the iconic monsters as well as one that sets an even bigger tone for the dire situation the characters are in. He didn’t feel like much of a threat in the show, as I think also in episode 3 he gets killed by Protein after their ‘cheesy’ fight. In the comic, the Blind monster only killed one human (shown in a flashback as it was the slime monster’s mother) and was killed by Eun Lee. I will say he was one of the better looking monsters in the show and I give props for both the practical effects and special effects they used to create him.

The one I hate the absolute most is, Speed monster. His design was awful to me and sort of out of all the designs in the show he was the most out of place for me and just weird. He served his purpose though, the design they did for the show makes him comical rather than scary. In the comics, he does kill one in a flashback and then is killed by Hyun Cha.

Reach monster is another one I think the show did really well, design wise. However the narration when reading the guys journal to figure out why he had become a monster was a good idea how the execution of it seemed so jarring as we were already moving back to the characters of that scene and ultimately doesn’t get the audience to really get invested into the thought that anyone could turn into a monster over seemingly any desire.

Protein or the Steroid monster is another great and iconic monster from the comic, which in the show he seemed much less of a big deal than in the comic. The continuity with his strength seems to vary all throughout the show. He takes 5 hits to break one measly apartment wall, 1 attack to almost demolish a car (which I think he just smacked away because it didn’t seem like he rushed it), and he ended up getting crushed to death by on-fire debris. The strength and speed of Protein is what makes him another big problem for the group yet in the show, they sort of deal with him quickly. In the comic, Protein kills the Tongue monster in a fit of rage and also Seop Ahn (Seob An) who he crushes his skull with one singular punch. He’s later killed by the criminals that invade the apartment as they ram him with a bus and then eventually set him on fire. Protein was seemingly lack-luster in the show and honestly wasn’t as terrifying as I thought a 10 foot monster should be.

Mr. Kim (Security Guard) is another monster that comes back out of nowhere in the show to kill Jae-heon (Jayhun). I found it weird that they didn’t show Mr. Kim, as in the comic he’s seen a couple times wandering before it comes to the other realization that he’s in fact a monster. Also in the comic, Mr. Kim is a strong and sturdy monster, his thirst for vengeance against the tenants whom some harassed him make him out to be a very tough monster for the group to beat. When he starts rampaging to kill the other survivors it is Jayhun who rushes to try to stop him by tackling him however he’s unable to move him. Mr. Kim threw him to the ground and then stomped on Hayhun’s head, crushing his skull. It takes the Tongue monster for Mr. Kim to finally be weakened enough for them to kill him. Jayhun’s death impacts the group but also mainly impacts Ji-su and Hyun both, however in the show they don’t really show it changing Hyun. I do appreciate the different take of this in the show, in fact I think that is one of the best scenes in the show. I also think Ji-su’s pain and anguish after was really well done. I’m fine with the debuffing of Mr. Kim but I do kind of wish he played a bit of a bigger part.

The live actions’ original creepy crawly monster I thought was a pretty decent design although some of the cgi for it is a bit of an eye twitch but again I can look past it. The monster itself resembled a spider, it uses webbing to capture and hold it’s victims.

The Slime monster I think was also another monster I like how the show did. It served its purpose well, and helped a bit show how some of the monsters aren’t necessarily as evil as the survivors may think.

Seok Kim monsterization form was awful, he just looked like a giant walking talking hairball. At first I didn’t know who it was, and I found it stupid Sun Ahn (Seon Ahn) knew it was him; like how do you tell from underneath all that hair? I’m glad they kept it the same and had his wife kill him. Also wish they showed more of him losing his mind and talking to his alter, as in the show he really turned out of nowhere, kinda odd.

(4) Military Subplot

I hate the military subplot, it’s such a stupid and overused trope especially with adaptions like this and honestly in never really works for it. The whole thing with the military knowing about this monsterization process before the initial outbreak and them trying to weaponize the ‘special infectees’ just really bogs down the story in my opinion. One of the reasons why I love and adore the comic is because it’s about a group of strangers, who don’t really know each other, trying to work together as a unit to survive. They have to learn how to use the materials around them and each other to fight off the monsters. Which they do in the show but when the show’s ‘criminals’ show up and they all have guns, it gets boring for me there (I’ll go into them later). The military subplot I know is setting the series up for a second season and probably will introduce other elements as well but ultimately it takes away what the comic had originally built; the suspenseful tension of being trapped in a building with people who could easily turn on you or turn into a monster and kill you.

(5)Characters and Relationships

Now let’s talk about characters and relationships. Brace yourself, this is going to be a long ride.

Hyun

Hyun was honestly I think is the worst adapted character in the show. The show felt like it dumbed down his character greatly. He’s the main character of the comics but the show treats him like a side character, especially at the beginning of it, as it tries to push some of the other character’s narratives first. From a creator’s standpoint I think it was a poor decision because I didn’t build up the same attachment to him when I had read the comic; most of the time he was on screen I completely didn’t care. The way the show portrays him is almost delicate since he’s pretty socially inept but the show makes him feel boring and plain by this fact. In no way am I saying he was a happier more confident person in the comic but the comic had clearly shown his character development and how his growing confidence pushed him to be a better person. The show however speeds past this process which again gives the audience no emotional attachment to the character. If there had been more scenes with him and his internal struggle, that were fleshed out it would have changed his character development immensely.

Because of how the show did him, he also ends up not making friends with some of the group members as he did in the comic, Ji-su being another one of the things that irked me about the show. Hyun’s and Ji-su’s growing relationship in the comic is a big reason for his character development. Ji-su pushes Hyun socially but also Hyun finds strength to stay human as long as possible and help others. Not to mention Ji-su is one of the few that actually cared for him when everyone was against him. In the show they barely have any interaction and Ji-su acts way more defensively around Hyun. I found it so awkward when Hyun lost control to kill the other half monster and Dusik, and she was talking about how she was glad Hyun wouldn’t have to remember all of that. I know the show was trying to show her caring side for him but ultimately it’s lost to me because they never built up a relationship between the two of them. Jayhun and Ji-su’s relationship completely overshadows anything they had tried to do with Ji-su and Hyun. Hyun and Eun’s relationship in the show is kind of mediocre and I don’t really care for it since Eun’s character is very annoying to me throughout most of the show. Hyun’s closest relationship in the show was with Du-sik and even still they didn’t really build up the relationship that much. They had a couple scenes here and there but they never really showed that connection that the two of them built in the comic.

Hyun’s quick flip into madness or his alter happened relatively fast and also it didn’t seem like he was fighting internally with himself much; again something I wish they went more in depth with, showing how strong Hyun’s character really is. Even with the flashbacks to his past, that they only used for a couple of episodes, they didn’t still do much to grow his character.

The show makes him a total blank slate and a completely flat character throughout the show. He never grows to really be much of a character and is definitely a weak spot in the show.

Ji-su

Ji-su gets a decent amount of focus and attention in the show but her character does seem to be different than her comic counterpart. I think they did a good job on showing the relationship between Jae-heon and Ji-su. I think they capitalized really well on showing that working relationship. I wished they showed more of the growing relationship rather than kinda taking Ji-su out of the game with both her having her first nosebleed and then having her bursting appendix problem. Which I don’t understand why they didn’t have her get hurt in the garage raid like in the comic? They could’ve kept the reasons the same to have the group attempt to go outside but instead they took her out, just to get the group to go out? I get maybe they were trying to ground the show in a bit more of reality by trying to show how no matter what situation anything is truly possible. Still however it kinda suck not seeing Ji-su in action

Another part I didn’t understand is Ji-su’s reaction to people around her turning into a monster. When Jae-heon and her come to Hyun’s rescue and find out he’s becoming a monster, she becomes aggro and tells Hyun that she’ll kill him. However later with Im Myung Sook (the lady with the dead baby girl) who she goes to check on after she watched her attack Protein, she seems so worried. Then when she sees the claws, she goes back to being aggressive and defensive towards her becoming a monster. It seemed odd to me because why was she so harsh with Hyun but then acts worried for a lady she’s seen get tossed by a giant monster? Did she really not think that she wasn’t becoming a monster after that? Those small little character decisions really threw me for a loop because I couldn’t wrap my head around how any other person who acts these two distinct ways to both people they don’t really know. Again I wish they also tried to pursue that relationship with her and Hyun. Overall her character is done pretty well in the show, I still enjoyed her character.

Jae-heon (Jayhun)

The show I think pretty much nails most of Jae-heon’s character. I think they honestly did a great job of adapting his character. Jae-heon’s character is definitely my second favorite, as I liked the way they built him up in the story. I did enjoy the way they killed him off the show, that noble sacrifice was very well suited for him.

Lee Eun-Hyeok(Hyuk)

Hyuk is the most comic accurate character for me and definitely was my favorite from the show. I think they did a great job establishing the coldness of his character but also growing to show his true caring side. One thing I don’t understand was the fact he decided to stay behind. I understand he was going back to see first if he could convince Hyun to go with the group but also that he was turning into a monster. The rest of the group knows Ji-su was becoming a monster, why did he not just go with them as well? I didn’t see the point of letting himself get crushed by rubble whenever the group is also escaping with another person who is turning. I know this is probably to set up Eun’s sort ‘redemption’ arc in the next season and also maybe he could potentially return if they decide to bring him back. Overall I think that they did his character justice for the most part of the show, he was really well done.

Lee Eun-Yu(Eun) Eun is a completely different character than her comic counterpart. She’s a total asshole throughout most of the show up until the last 2-3 episodes though until she finally decides to show an ounce of human emotion. Honestly I have no clue why they changed her character, it seemed like such a weird thing to do for this adaptation. Her character also stays pretty flat too which is seemingly funny because when she tries to do nice things, like comfort Ji-su after Jae-heon’s death, and explain her story of how she’s trying to repay her brother, it all fails to make me want to care for her. She was so aggressive from the jump and insanely rude to everyone. Usually the ‘take no shit’ kind of characters I do tend to enjoy, if done right they can be both badass, hilarious, and one of the greatest characters in any series. In this case however I just wanted her to stop being an ass to everyone. In the last few episodes, I see how they were really trying to show the change that was going to happen to her character but at that moment I couldn’t bring myself to even try to care really for her character. She’s definitely one of the worst adapted characters in the show.

Wook

Wook I feel is an entirely different mess than Eun. I get changing things to make certain, not as fleshed out characters who are prominent in series have more importance but honestly I found it interesting they made Wook one of those, because he has a perfectly fine backstory in the comic. In the show they call him a ‘gangster’ a lot (which happens in the comic) but unlike the comic they never state that he’s an ex-police officer. It seems that in the show he’s sort of like a private detective (if you wanna call it that). The show makes him seem like this cool and collected tough loner who kinda just takes everyone else’s orders. In the comic he’s more of a secondary leader for the group which would have been a good element to see in the show is him and Hyeok butting heads. His character seems almost pointless, as he’s really only there to also do the ‘heavy lifting’ (missions) with Hyun. His character was another sort of 180 from his comic counterpart. I found his character to mainly be comical because he was unbothered by everything; he just didn’t give a fuck.

Seo Yi-Kyung

I’m probably going to be the only one that says this but I did not care nor like her character. It’s because I hate the military subplot to this story and since that’s mainly where her story lies, I can’t honestly bring myself to like her. She’s too plot convenient and honestly I’m still trying to figure out what she’s going to gain when she finds her fiancé she knows was turning into a monster and apparently ‘changed’. I understand it’s probably closure but to go as far to sell out a child who you barely even know, to people you barely even know in hopes of maybe finding your fiancé, to only be again sad when you discover you aren’t going to be able to save him as he’s already a monster, I just don’t get it. It’s a very weak plot line in my opinion and again wish they didn’t add the military subplot. Her character too is another flat character, as she doesn’t go through much change only in changing her mind about selling out Hyun to the military when she realizes that it’s essentially not worth it.

Criminals The criminals are just basic, on their very copy pasted stereotypical villain shit that we must ‘kill all monsters’ but oops we accidentally invited a half monster into our group. They annoyed the shit out of me and angered me even more as they somehow collectively got more kills than the monsters in this show.

Jung Wooi-myung (the other half monster)

So from what I could tell Jung Wooi-myung is like this leech monster that didn’t die when Hyun stabbed him with his arm wing. He also probably infected Wook’s body in the end. He plays the generic role of convincing Hyun to join his side since people won’t ever accept monsters which is true. Ultimately didn’t even care for him.

(6) Hyun’s Monster Transformation

This needed to be its own category for the simple fact that the whole scene sequence was utterly atrocious. For starters why did there need to be a mini eclipse for Hyun to transform ONE arm into this barbed spiked wing? That seemed to be thrown in for aesthetic purposes more so than having an actual reason behind it, as this was something that did not happen in the comics. Hyun’s arms transformation just seemed so bizarre. I would have been perfectly fine if the show black veins rushing through his body and him being stronger because of it, sort of like how the comic does it. However this one arm wing just seems completely dumb to me. Why would you make it a barbed wing? Why not at that point do a blade arm or like something that’s also better at bludgeoning monsters with?

(7) Final Consensus

I had initially come into watching Sweet Home with low expectations as time has taught me before that things I want that get live action adaptations may not always be that good. I set the bar low in hopes that the show would do something ultimately to get me happy and excited for watching it. Sweet home never hit that spot for me though. As I was watching I began noticing how the pacing seemed to just go out of it’s way on some points and there were continuity errors staring me right in my face. The story didn’t captivate me like the comic did, not even in the slightest. I spent most of my time watching, laughing because of the absurdities and then pondering why certain events had gone down the way the show did them. I understand that with adaptations things may change but I feel like with the adaptation with Sweet Home it changed too many key elements of the main story that were important for making the story what it is. My rating for Sweet Home is a 1/10. This definitely is not something I would watch again.

#sweet home #sweet home netflix #just my opinion #there's more i could touch on but i seriously didn't want to write any more

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captainkurosolaire · 4 years

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Breakage! The Gambit

The Seeker wobbling in distraught. Was he just going to sit here and allow his Crewmate to perish another tally? Did he learn anything? For someone of zero fear when broken and bent at concealed arm’s even the most durable foundations may crumble. The Captain couldn’t bear this anymore! He wouldn’t! Shelah was severely injured and in small tears. Preparing herself for her custom and wicked upbringing to come back in repeating. Her ruler the Banshee forewarned her of certainty all males were just the incarnation of single-minded destroyers especially the pirates who slipped themselves in unfortunately into her Isle’s proved. In a cycled pattern. She thought that self-serving and surviving for the fittest was likely in his nature especially when in this spot. Despite this, the Captain was outmatched here. He stepped forward before plummeting arch and stammered in a shout against his opponent whatever that right Red-Hand could do. “No! Don’t ye’ touch her!!!” Drawing in he’d lower in submission his forehead into the surface near the boots of the assailants right before his tone came too commanding in fight… He conceded his pride and greed into the bowels of priorities.

“Oh…?” The blacked coated individual took the chum but then sighed unimpressed, “Guessing this is one of those, kill me pleas instead of the other?” Rearranging his reckoning towards the Captain’s visage slowly in creeping unless could be convinced with raw meaning. Humiliated in this breakage but he wouldn’t… Couldn’t ever allow his vows to be broken again. He would rather charge and plunge himself and advisory into the cursed depths. Though… He had one gambit with his keen observance. “Ye aren’t any surprise contractors. Hired from below decks by Princess Unitard? Then I’ll buy yer service out. Obviously yer skilled and coming across contacts and getting gil has become redundant. Though, I can offer better than the other guy.” He’d flare and intensely flash his stare with a collective and confidence succeeding himself in all convincing. Having to result in exposing himself alive to assassins wasn’t probably the wisest. Though as often dead man tells no lies, and he very much was dead if this didn’t work! Now, this was mildly amusing and unique. The Captain would be a fool to lie to him right here in this dangerous revelation. “What makes you believe I’d ever exchange a client’s wish for slaughter?” Drawing an ilm back on his hovering hand. Captain clenched his jaw before remaining iron, “Cause ye are in business with pirates. This is a sport for you. Is your business model really that complicated t’ understand? You’d rather rake in the biggest pool. Regardless of whose life is in question, none of that is ever a concern. I know a man in your line, a bunch in fact. I’m not just some random accidental pirate ye hit. I’m yer golden ticket. I’ll exchange for our lives with the promise of relics of every single one I’ve collected in my sea-vessel. Not only do they fetch higher prices for gil but can only boost your blood-shedding possibly your enjoyment and creativity.” Swallowing under this restrictive tension. If this didn’t work, he’d have to hurl entire shoulders and body-weight and the last amount of force to bide enough for Shelah to muster a worm out if she could or accept their perish. Immersed the individual with a side of light and dark intimidatingly giving him a Gemini facepaint thought it out a split of his body. Admitting this situation was unique. They managed still even in their condition to give an actual challenge to his companion who was also barely conscious. And this pirate was willing to remove every single remaining amount of fortune for the sake of what… One woman? For the price of his past his last remaining infamy and namesake surrounding him. He’d give away all worldly possessions, a pirate nonetheless. He made it convincing enough it would have still been a ploy and last-ditch desperation for the Miqo’te. The reaping threat decided to address his own cohort. “You heard everything, didn’t you? What are your thoughts.” He’d reach in and withdraw his red-right hand and draw out that hand that always stayed in his pocket. A golden rune on the exterior flesh glowed around before replenishing and nearly instantaneously recovering his wounded partner. It only solidified Captain’s instincts and hunches they never had a chance to win this absurd encounter. Fiona felt enlightened and peace sent through her as she finally emerged once again spunky and fiery, “Blimey about o’ time. Ya’ enjoyed me squirming out in agony that you did, you’re a freaky sadistic bastard…” After an awkward gut-wrenching pause, “Honestly, I had a laugh with em’, I’d like to reclaim their heads when they’re not little bitty wounded fawns.” Ironically she looked down on them despite her loss. Everyone just glossed and internally shrugged it off. Speaking nonchalantly about their deaths. Though each of them clearly would be more thrilled to hunt and overall slay something that gave them a rush than just a few second thrill rides this was their comparable sex. “Fiona, go check out if he’s telling merit, count your blessings then for this one exception, we’ll see. Pray, you’ve enough to buy a temporarily freedom.” They’d quietly leave verifying Captain’s plunders were genuine. Now attaining an arsenal of his main-stay including his trusty Scimitars of the Voidal series, alongside any other thing that looked valuable in coffers and pouches. Though while Shelah looked a bit in disbelief, Captain reflected his own opposite in relief. He’d check on her. Now completely understanding just who her devoted Captain was at the core. Still, she couldn’t help but muster weakly in detest, “...Wh-y… --Why, you’re the leader! That was your LIFE!” Outcries ejected from her by his sacrifice of accolades, accomplishments, and ‘valued’ treasures stockpiled throughout all his legacy.

With calmness setting in and his composure shining through the crack’s from despair. “You’re my crew. That’s not expendable to me! That is a price I find boundless, that is what I value my real treasure, that’s what Worldly means to me. ...It doesn’t seem like it, but we won. Because I also believe by us just remaining breathers we’ll make sure our Navigator we owe our plausible fortune too will also remain to enable smiling a bit while longer n’ all the company ov’ our companions included. Cheer up. Ye rest assured we’ll seize th’ next wave.” He declared in his ever-evolving heart. She felt the term of ‘Outcast’ shatter in this crew’s stead. (Previous) — / References / — ♫ — (Next Page)

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philicheesecake · 4 years

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An Unorthodox Lecture (UL)

Synopsis: Warren is sick of being belittled by Eli and has become paranoid of giants, so he seeks out help from Olivia to learn more about giants and how to defend himself from them.

Warnings: Language, mentions of fatal vore, M/M soft, unwilling, nonfatal vore, near death, fear, and Eli being Eli.

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A little bell rang out cheerfully throughout the dusty shop as the front door swung open. It was after business hours , but the front door was left unlocked for a brief time, despite the little neon lights at the front window saying the shop was now closed.

The small Hunter began to stride briskly into the shop. The alchemist shop (or more publicly known as an herb shop) wasn’t a very welcoming sight. It was dull and lacked any real proper decorations. Upon entry, one would find themselves facing rows upon rows of dusty shelves with jars and containers of every kind which contained ambiguous contents.

Warren’s boots clanked against the creaky old floorboards with each stride as he made his way toward the back of the shop. Oddly contrary to his expectations, the desk in the back of the shop was unoccupied. He paused in front of it for a moment before ringing the service bell.

There was a pause.

He ventured to try it again then his hand froze as the door to the back of the shop opened.

“I don’t need to hear that bell another damn time, Wilbur.” A woman’s voice called out.

Warren turned to see the shopkeeper to the side. She didn’t look like much from what someone might assume from a powerful alchemist. She looked like she was sixty years old. Her unkempt hair was divided into twin ponytails that were slung loosely over her shoulders. Perched on her nose were a pair of buggishly big spectacles with a silver rim to them that enlarged her eyes almost comically when it hit the right angle. Despite the comical emphasis on her eyes, she looked very tired and droopy with baggy eyes. She was holding an entire glass carafe of steaming hot coffee.

“Oh— sorry, Olivia,” Warren quickly retracted his hand away from the bell. He paid no notice to her getting his name wrong. She never got it right anyways. For the reputation she held for her own intelligence, part of him wondered if she actually messed up his name on accident, or if she was just messing with him.

Olivia ignored his apology and took a swig from her carafe. She motioned for Warren to follow as she turned toward the doorway. “C’mon, let's get this over with.”

Warren sighed and followed her inside the doorway. There was a stairway leading down into a basement with a higher ceiling. This area was furnished a bit differently than the area upstairs. There were bookshelves of ancient volumes, some titles were written in foreign tongues that couldn’t even be recognized. On the far end of the room was a workbench area and some pots and alchemist equipment that looked almost like what one might find in the lair of a mad scientist. Across from the alchemist equipment, there were a couple of armchairs to the far side of the room with a coffee table between them and a book set on the table.

Warren took a seat as he was directed to one of the chairs and Olivia set down her carafe of coffee, picking up the big, heavy book.

She paused, staring Warren in the eye with a very tired sigh. “Alright, so you wanted to know about how to survive being attacked by a giant, right?”

Warren nodded, opening his mouth to elaborate, but Olivia spoke first.

“I couldn’t neglect to notice that when you were returning my silver bullets from your little werewolf hunt that three bullets were missing… and the werewolf’s body. I needed that werewolf hair for my alchemy. I would have thought that you would be more concerned about how to kill a werewolf properly than try to learn about something as random as giants, especially since their rotation has already passed this town and probably won’t pass by for another three years.”

Olivia yawned for a solid ten seconds before sighing and took another swig of coffee. Warren frowned. “But-- you know what happened last time I was around giants. They kidnapped me! They nearly killed me! And they somehow tracked me down, too! I can’t just--” Olivia held up her hand with a tired sigh, instantly silencing the young Hunter. “Look, you don’t have to explain your whole merry tale. It’s fine. I’ll teach you anyways. And I think that this would be the perfect opportunity to bring in someone who knows a lot more about the topic than any normal Hunter or alchemist.”

She sighed, her eyes rolling toward the side of the room. She glanced at her small brass watch around her wrist impatiently. “Ugh, well he’s a bit late, but he should show up any minute now. Anyways… To begin I think you should get to know the different species of giants, or at least the ones you’re most likely to encounter in this particular area.”

Warren’s brow furrowed in curiosity, wondering what sort of co-teacher Olivia had in mind to bring. Even though he knew he should figure out soon enough, his curiosity made him impatient to figure out who exactly it was. Was it one of the veteran U.L. members? A weathered hunter who had seen decades worth of hunts and slain countless monsters?

He was a bit distracted in his own assumptions as Olivia flipped through her huge book and landed on a page titled, GIANTS. There was a diagram there that portrayed the size differences of all of the different species. The book, despite being weathered and torn in some places, seemed relatively up to date and printed out in at least the past decade or so. There was a size chart that showed several different species of giants, and to the far left was a tiny human in comparison to demonstrate the scale. He could instantly recognize the giant in closest resemblance to Eli’s height titled, Wood Giant. He could at least recall Eli using that term once or twice in the past, and previously wasn’t sure if it was just a term they called themselves, or the actual title of that species.

Olivia’s bulbous dark eyes followed his and she tapped the image with her weathered fingertip. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the wood giants. They’re some of the most common these days. Most other species only have a couple thousand to a few hundred left in the wild, such as the mountain giants,” She tapped the largest giant on the page which was easily twice the size of a wood giant. Warren’s eyes widened at the sheer size. It was difficult to believe that creatures of such scale could even exist. His eye followed the page where paragraphs elaborated on each species. He stopped as he saw the information on the mountain giants. 23-27 feet tall. That was insane.

“How have people never discovered them to exist?” Warren pondered. With creatures at such scale, it sounded impossible.

“Well, they were discovered back in the medieval days. There used to be a lot more giants in the past, and they were a lot bigger too. In the late 15th century, there was a movement to eradicate all monsters, and the king of England at the time was just desperate to get rid of them, so he teamed up with the outcasts, such as alchemists and sorcerers to get rid of them. The larger species were quickly run to extinction while the smaller ones evolved to survive under the radar. Out of nowhere, they seemed to gain camouflaging abilities, which you’re probably familiar with. Camouflage varies by species. Wood giants can disguise themselves as humans for brief periods of time. Mountain giants can merge with stone and camouflage into the mountain. Kapres can merge with trees. Cave giants can turn invisible. And so on.”

She stopped to take another few gulps of coffee. In the momentary pause, she glanced up as they could hear footsteps coming from the shop and the door at the top of the basement staircase opened. A tall figure stepped through, and he could be recognized immediately. Golden eyes, spiky black hair, tall, muscular build. Eli. And he was in camo form, currently standing at 6’1, instead of his usual towering height of 13’3.

Warren’s eyes widened slightly as he saw the figure approach down the stairs. The camo’d giant was smirking. “Hey there ya little humans!” He announced cheerfully in his rough voice. Warren shot a look towards Olivia in confusion, but from her expression, he could tell that this was an expected entry.

“Speaking of camouflage, hello giant.” Olivia spoke calmly. “Warren, this is your co-teacher for now.”

“Wait-- really?”

“Who better to learn about giants, than from a giant? This is a rare opportunity, since most giants just love killing humans at first chance.”

Warren sighed, frowning slightly as the camouflaged giant came closer, skipping over to slouch against the side of Warren’s chair. “So! What are we learning about here? We doin’ those lessons ya asked about, Tiny?”

Warren narrowed his eyes at Eli, not feeling all that comfortable with Eli standing that close. “Uh, yeah, I guess that’s what this turned into then. Olivia was going to help me learn how to stand a chance against giants.”

Eli laughed. “Ohhh. Welllll sorry to disappoint ya then. Humans in general don’t stand a chance.”

“That’s not helping.” Olivia said tiredly. “You should probably know how your ancestors were driven to extinction by humans in the past, unless you’ve forgotten, or if the giants tell different tales about what happened.”

Eli rolled his eyes. “Aw, you’re no fun all talkin’ about history an’ shit. How about we talk about more fun stuff, like giants eatin’ people and all that fun jazz.” He smirked down at Warren and he scooted to the side of his seat uncomfortably. “Oh and by the way, since this room is big enough, I’m gonna get outta camo for a sec. I can’t stay in this form for very long anyways.”

Olivia shrugged indifferently, continuing to sip from her carafe. “Sure, just don’t break anything.”

Warren shot an uncertain glare toward the giant, “And don’t you dare try anything, okay?”

Eli chuckled. “Ya know I find it hilarious when ya put on that scary face, Tiny.”

He stepped away from the chair with a smirk and there was a sound of shifting and cracking of bones for a moment as his form regrew into massive proportions. He had to sit on the floor to avoid contact with the ceiling. His eyes became slitted like a cat’s, and they were lined with dark markings similar to a cheetah’s. His ears were long and pointed. His fingers were tipped with long, sharp claws. Ivory fangs protruded from his lips in a grin. Warren’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the creature at his full size again, not feeling all that thrilled to be so close to the very same creature that had eaten him twice in the past.

“That feels so much better,” the giant sighed in a deeper voice. His sharp eyes focused again on Olivia as she seemed completely unphased, even tired at the sight of the transformation.

“Can we get back on topic now?” Olivia tapped her fingers against her carafe impatiently. Warren could only guess one thing might be on her mind right now; sleep. She couldn’t seem the slightest bit interested or thrilled in the prospect of this “class” and just seemed to want to get it over with. But then again, her true expression never really changed, so it was difficult to read past this.

“Yeah, whatever.” Eli snorted. He smirked at Warren’s alerted expression, baring his fangs.

Olivia sighed. “Alright, so now that we have the species of giants out of the way, now we can work on some techniques on how to survive them.”

“Wait-- what about fighting them? I should have to know that at least…” Warren glanced at Eli uncertainly, who scoffed at Warren’s statement.

“Look, kiddo. I’ve got claws, fangs, I can run almost as fast as one of your cars for long distances, I have a lot more stamina and I’m a lot more durable than any human. Look at what you got. You’re just a soft little thing that needs all sorts of bells and whistles like guns and knives to make up for all that lot of nothin’ you’ve got goin’ for ya.”

Warren looked hurt. He looked to Olivia for some sort of contradiction to Eli’s statement, but she just shrugged. “Well he said it. That’s why knowing how to survive is more important than winning in any situation. A lot of Hunters need an assortment of tools and tricks up their sleeve in order to stand a chance. Hence why alchemists are often employed with a lot of the Legion’s affairs. Back in the medieval days, Hunters had tried to use blunt weapons, but they were pretty much useless in comparison. Giants, apart from other monsters, were the sole reason why alchemists ever got accepted as allies of the Legion.” Warren frowned. This wasn’t any sort of answer he had wanted. He would just have to get better at using his weapons effectively against giants, but against Eli he couldn’t really do that.

“So… How do you survive against giants, then?” Warren said.

“Ya don’t.” Eli quipped with a smirk. “The only chance that humans have against giants is with your little tools and tricks, and giants know that. We’ve been trained ever since we were giantlings, all of the best ways to disarm ya tiny fellas, and we know how to find any hidden knife and weapon from years of practice even before our first Bindings. We don’t just have the looks goin’ for us to be the perfect predators. We were trained for it.”

Olivia sighed, not seeming to like the interruptions. “Without weapons, there’s still a few ways. Blunt attacks such as kicking and punching won’t do much against that, so you shouldn’t waste your energy. And energy is key here. Because if you’re eaten, the temperature is high enough to send you into a coma-like state within an hour or so.”

Warren frowned, recalling how the heat had been the main thing to subdue him so easily both times, even sending him to sleep once. “But-- if you’re eaten, it’s already over though, right? That’s it. There’s no way to escape.”

“Yuuup.”

“No,” Olivia said at the same time, and gave Eli an unamused glare. “No, that’s not it. There’s still ways. Pressure points and weak points to get familiar with. For the exterior, the point between the thumb and index is a pressure point, as well as beneath the bicep. Immobilizing the arm with pressure points might aid in your release. Interior points, for instance, the lungs. If eaten, you’d be directly beneath the lungs, and continued, repeated pressure to them can be uncomfortable, even shock the giant into awakening again by changing their breathing patterns. Keeping a giant awake is your first priority. Though their digestive system varies slightly per species, for Elmo’s type specifically, wood giants only digest when they’re asleep in order to conserve energy when they’re awake.”

“It’s Eli. Ya keep gettin’ my name wrong.” The giant glared daggers at her. She ignored him.

“Another point is a cluster of nerves against the spine. Harsh enough pressure there can actually send a giant into temporary paralysis and knock them out. The giant digestive system is directly linked to their preservation of energy. Since they’re a lot bigger, their energy can only be localized to a certain number of functions. For instance, if they’re severely injured, but just ate someone, their body will divert most of the energy to recovery before digesting anything. For getting knocked out, same thing here, and momentary paralysis affects this. So by knocking them out, you can actually set back their digestive system by a few to several hours. This can really buy you time, but the key thing here is that you are actually able to stay awake for any of this.“

Eli’s brow furrowed as she spoke. “A bunch of bullshit. I’ve never had anyone do that to me before. It’s probably just a myth. Cuz they always try everything, and it doesn’t do much except feel good.”

Warren grimaced disapprovingly at Eli’s words, but at least found Olivia’s words informative. He still had reason to be hesitant to credit it however, because of Eli’s comment.

“So basically… The best chance you have of surviving a giant is if you have weapons, or if you’re already eaten… But I mean if you’re hurting them, it’s not the same as being released. It’s just… prolonging death.” Warren said, the corners of his mouth tilted in a lopsided frown.

“Not exactly. The pressure point against the spine can set them off long enough in repetition to drain them of energy overtime into eventual release, which must be timed properly if you’d have any better chance of escaping them there, or to eventually kill them slowly from energy deprivation. That could take days, though. And you’d need methods of keeping yourself awake during that period of time.”

Eli let out a very loud yawn, that was more of a statement of boredom than him actually being tired.

“Do you have something you’d like to say?” Olivia raised a brow, unimpressed.

“Nah, nah. This is riveting. Just thought it’s ridiculous that y’all think it’s possible to kill a giant from a technique as lousy as that. It’ll never work anyways. How about we get to the hands-on learning part ya told me about already.”

Olivia ignored him again, beginning to continue. Warren’s brow furrowed slightly upon the mention of hands-on learning, not because of the opportunity to learn to defend himself against a giant, but because of Eli’s uncanny enthusiasm about the prospect, which couldn’t mean anything good.

“Another technique is to block their airway long enough to get released. Giants can’t breathe while they’re swallowing someone, but can hold their breath for a very long time, up to six minutes easily. Stretching out your elbows in the throat if swallowed forward, or locking your arms around the jaw if swallowed backwards might help you buy time until they begin to run out of air.” Olivia gave Eli an almost curious look behind her tired eyes. “How effective do you think this is, with your experience?”

“That doesn’t really work all that often.” Eli huffed. “I think there was only one person who tried that against me that got close, and he was like, a football player, so he had the build goin’ for him. He just grabbed onto my lower jaw for a solid five minutes and I was really tempted to bite him in half. ‘Course I’m stubborn and prefer live prey and managed to get him down whole just by biting a tiny bit. Totally worth it though. He struggled real good. Tasted like laundromat detergent though.”

Olivia frowned slightly. “We didn’t need those details.”

Warren was listening to the story with wide eyes. “Wait— so you killed him?”

Eli snorted. “What do ya take me for? Some sorta merciful giant? Pfft. Yeah, I killed him. Oh, terrible me! What an evil giant! Who knew giants actually killed people!” His voice raised an octave in mockery and he smirked.

Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “Can we get back on topic?” She took a swig from her carafe before sighing. “So what I’m gathering from what Ethan said is that if you try to choke them, you’ll get bitten in half.”

“It’s Eli. And most giants would probably want to avoid biting you in half unless they’re desperate. We like squirmy prey.”

Warren grimaced. Olivia ignored him.

“Anyways. Onto the hands-on learning part. Edgar?”

Eli’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm, barely bothering to correct her on his name again. He leaned forward, now sort of kneeling on the floor to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. “Ah, right. The hands-on part. C’mon over here, Tiny.”

His eyes locked onto Warren’s hungrily. Warren’s heart skipped a beat and he jumped out of his seat stiffly, taking a few steps backward. “Uh-- hands-on? What… what exactly does this mean here?”

He was trying to hide the unease from his voice and expression. He knew that Olivia probably wouldn’t let the giant do anything outright terrible to him in her presence, but she also tended to be fairly apathetic enough to make things rather uncomfortable for anyone without seeming bothered too much by it.

“It means you’ll get a chance to try to ‘survive.’” Olivia sipped her coffee casually, her voice oozed of disinterest in the situation. She leaned back in her arm chair, seeming to halfheartedly be fighting off the ebbing tiredness that tried to draw her to sleep. Beneath her bulbous spectacles, there was a slight tinge of curiosity, though she dared not really show it. By principle, it was impossible to read what she really thought.

Warren’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Olivia. “Wait-- survive as in--” his eyes flitted back over to Eli who was trying to crawl towards him in the small space. His breath caught in his throat and his heart picked up pace. He stumbled backwards and quickly slipped behind the armchair. “Nononono-- wait-- Eli-- Eli stop.”

The giant rolled his eyes with an amused smirk playing over his face. “Yeah right… of course telling the evil ravenous giant to stop will work every time. You get a gold star for that, Tiny!” Warren felt a pang from his words. “But-- I don’t have any weapons! You should have told me I would--” “Blah blah, yeah keep complaining. C’mere Tiny.” The giant lunged forward in the small space, an arm reaching out to snatch the hunter. Warren dove out of the way, just narrowly grazed by the giant’s claws. He gasped, flattening himself against the wall. He glanced down at his arm that had thin lashes that shredded through the sleeve of his shirt. “Wh-- What the HELL, dude!” Warren shouted.

Eli only chuckled at his angry shouts, closing in on his prey that was now cornered. Warren could only see a small opening that led to the alchemy workbench. If he was quick, he might make it. He just had to make a run for it and hope that the giant’s disadvantage of size here could give him an opening.

Bracing himself with a quick breath, Warren burst forward. He ducked beneath the giant’s arm, flinching at the uncanny proximity to the beast. He had to keep running--

A hand roughly grabbed the back of his hoodie and yanked him backwards. Warren yelped. He struggled to pry off the giant’s grip. “Remember the pressure points,” He could hear Olivia’s voice lazily call out. Right! Think! The Hunter twisted to reorient himself in the giant’s grip. He could feel himself brought closer. The giant was now in clear view before him. Warren fumbled, recalling the pressure points mentioned. He quickly japped two fingers in between the back of the giant’s thumb and index finger to try to trigger release. Miraculously, Eli’s fingers reflexively came loose and Warren quickly tugged away. He stumbled onto his back, fumbling with his feet as he tried to get up or scoot away.

The momentary freedom was short lived as Eli’s hand clamped over the Hunter’s chest, pinning him to the floor easily. Warren pushed around the giant’s fingers trying to pry them off without much luck. He tried again to jam the pressure point, but without any success. Most of the force holding down Warren came from the arm after all, so his efforts came out useless.

“All out of luck now, eh Hunter?” The giant taunted.

Warren’s eyes narrowed. “Okay fine. You win. Let me try again.”

Eli let out a snort. “Uhh nope. I don’t think that’s how things will be working here. I’m not lettin’ ya go quite yet.”

Warren’s eyes widened by a hair. He shot a pleading look to Olivia, who appeared bored out of her wits as she sleepily sipped from her carafe. “Don’t look at me. Just practice those internal techniques we talked about.” She yawned, leaning back in the armchair, seeming almost ready to sleep.

Warren looked back at Eli nervously, but he knew nothing he said or did would change the giant’s trajectory now. He squeezed his eyes shut, taking in deep breaths. “I f-frickin’ hate this,” he muttered under his breath.

Eli disregarded the Hunter’s nerves and lifted the little human off the ground, leaning back to kneel on the floor comfortably. Warren flinched as there was a pause before he could feel and hear the hot breath of the giant waft over his face before things became warmer. His cheek was pressed against a plush, slimy surface. The tongue rose up to slide over his face, slicking him down to be swallowed more easily. And from the pleasant sounds Eli was making, Warren was once again reminded about how much the giant seemed to enjoy his taste. Disgusting.

It was even more humiliating here, knowing that Olivia was just sitting there idly watching as she would drink her coffee. Warren’s head was pushed in deeper and the tongue pushed him firmly back as the giant made the first swallow. He took in a quick breath, and his head was now stuck tight in the confines of the throat. It was too tight to breathe, so he had to conserve air.

The giant took his sweet time tasting him for a while as more swallows sounded, bringing him in deeper. It was a necessary function in order for the giant not to be harmed during this to allow his prey to be slicked up enough to be swallowed more easily.

Warren should have been used to this process at this point. He had been swallowed two and a half times already (the half was a bit of an unpleasant story). It was still frightening to him nonetheless. Not to mention, he couldn’t breathe in the tight space, and Eli taking his time with this only deprived his lungs from air even longer.

The giant had only swallowed the human up past the hips when he heard Olivia clear her throat impatiently. He shot her a confused but angered glare, pausing in his swallows. His neck was filled out with the bulge of Warren’s slightly struggling form and the legs dangling from his maw would twitch uncomfortably

“You’re taking your sweet time. You know humans can only hold their breath for so long. Take your time any longer and you’ll suffocate the poor Hunter,” Olivia muttered. Her voice was still very tired by default, but there was a strictness in it.

A muffled growl sounded in his throat and he rolled his eyes, tilting his head back. He made several more powerful swallows, gravity aiding the smaller form to sink in deeper before Eli rose up his hand to pick off Warren’s shoes. He swallowed one last time, the back of his tongue rising up to squish the little feet into the throat before they disappeared. The bulge in the giant’s throat sank in deeper before it disappeared from his neck, reforming as a small protrusion from his torso that wasn’t too noticeable, as the giant’s larger form could harbor the little human quite easily.

Warren coughed up the stale humid air as soon as his head pressed into the tight opening of a wider area. The air was hot, and already he could hear the gross, squelching sounds of the stomach as it stretched to accommodate him. He could hear the giant’s muffled heartbeat pounding nearby, and his labored breaths as he caught his breath from his airway being cleared. The rest of the Hunter was forced and squeezed inside the tight space, curled up in a puddle of clear drool. He was dripping with slime, and that gross stuff slid down the ceiling, connecting with him and getting in his hair. Warren panted for air for a while, disliking the heat and foul air that filled his lungs. It smelled disgusting.

Once again, Warren was stuck sort of upside-down in the tight space, forced to curl up so his limited mobility made it hard to right himself. He aimed an angered kick near the throat’s opening, scowling and shaking in the darkness.

Eli smirked through his fangs between breaths as he felt the small retaliation, then shot an annoyed look to Olivia.

“Why rush it? That ain’t no fun.” He huffed.

Olivia rolled her eyes, getting up from her seat with another swig of her coffee before she walked over to the giant. Her expression was unphased, though despite this, Eli could still smell a slight tinge of fear from her. This amused him.

“You okay in there, Winston?”

Warren’s face contorted into a further scowl as he heard Olivia’s muffled voice from outside. He squirmed wildly in place, trying to reorient himself in the sweltering darkness. He kicked at the tight walls angrily. “You frickin— freak! You just let me get eaten by a giant! What the f-fuck is wrong with you!” He glared up at the ceiling, grimacing as slime dripped onto his face. “And stop taking your sweet time. I’m not a dang candy!”

Eli snickered, rubbing at the form in his gut, much to Warren’s annoyance. “Nah, candies are sweet. You taste more like meat.”

Warren’s eyes narrowed and he kicked angrily in defiance. “That’s disgusting. Don’t ever call me that,”

“Ya know, I might actually have room for seconds if you were interested in learning as well.” Eli sneered at the alchemist.

“You do NOT.” Warren’s muffled voice came from Eli’s middle, punctuated by an angry kick that was visible from the surface.

The giant smirked. “Oh yeah? Wanna test that?”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed by a hair. Her voice lowered threateningly. “That would be unnecessary. And if you try anything, you’ll find yourself stuck in your camouflaged form again without even realizing what hit you.”

Eli smirked, “Aww you don’t think it’ll be fun?”

“Can we focus now?” Olivia’s voice came in a tired drawl. Any alarm from Eli’s threat of eating her was quickly gone from her countenance.

The giant rolled his eyes. “Meh, boring, but whatever.”

Olivia moved closer to the giant and poked his middle with an unwavering expression.

“Stopit!” Warren’s muffled voice snapped angrily.

Eli snickered. “Yeah, stop it, alchemist lady.”

Warren paused. “...Olivia?” He squirmed slightly in place to try to get himself at least more upright, though without much success. All that could be seen were the bulges of his form shifting around from the outside.

Olivia pursed her lips for a moment, part of her was curious and interested, and another part was a little fearful of the giant being completely capable of swallowing an entire human being. She had heard of it done before, but she had just never witnessed it. It was surreal to comprehend. The analytical, scientific side of her brain was curious about how it was physically possible, and how the hunter was even able to gather air there, despite having studied recounts of hunters who had confirmed that it was possible. It was a very curious opportunity to be able to work and study alongside a real giant. As far as she knew, giants never worked alongside humans, so this was a very rare occasion.

“Yes, that was me,” Olivia withdrew her hand, her voice returning in her usual tired drawl. Any interest she had was impossible to guess from how well she concealed it. “Are you able to get your back to face me? Just by using the poke as a point of reference.”

Warren paused, panting tiredly. The heat was overwhelming here, and being upside down, the crown of his head was half-immersed into the gross puddle of fluids at the pit of the stomach. He was getting a headache from this. The darkness here was disorienting and made it even harder to figure himself out.

“I can’t move. I’m upside down.”

“I guess you’ll die then.” Olivia huffed apathetically.

“WHAT-!”

A flurry of struggles came from the giant’s middle and Eli shut his eyes, putting his hands against his middle with a grin. “Yeah keep up that stellar fighting and that’ll magically teleport you out.” He chuckled, looking down and poked at Warren’s form. “Ya can’t just expect every giant to let you go cuz you’re a little tired, or landed wrong.”

Warren grimaced, trying to push away the contact from Eli, but was stuck in too bad of a position to reach it properly. The best he could do was kick near the stomach entrance tiredly.

“Okay, okay,” He muttered. He dug his foot into the low opposing wall, grunting as he tried to get enough purchase into pushing himself more upright. His socked feet slipped at first, just sliding against the slimy, malleable surface. He tried again a few times, finally managing to push the sides of his feet into the plush folds and tried to extend his legs just barely enough to push his upper back against the wall, sliding into a slightly more upright position. He grimaced at the gross sounds that came from this action, but at least his head was no longer immersed in slime. He panted for a while, the small change took way too much effort, and it was so hot and humid in here. The difficulty of breathing here didn’t contribute to his lightheadedness either.

“H—O-Okay, my back is facing the ‘poke’ now,” he panted.

“Wowww… you moved like a grand total of like two inches…” Eli’s voice quipped.

“Sh-shut up. You’re n-not the one stuck in here.” Warren retorted between breaths. It was taking a while to gain his bearings, and the heat was really getting to him. But at least now being somewhat right-side-up, he was beginning to feel a little less light-headed.

“Be quiet and focus, Wilfred.” Olivia drawled. “So from there, you’re in the perfect position to reach two pressure points. The lungs should be directly above you towards the front, and directly ahead of you would be the pressure point for the nerves along the spine.”

Eli’s eyes narrowed at her words, crossing his arms over his middle. “None of that’s gonna work.”

Olivia shot the giant a drained, unimpressed look. “Wilhelm?”

Warren tried to catch his breath in the darkness, putting out his elbows out to try to conserve a proper air bubble, as well as trying to keep the slime and stomach folds away from his head so he could actually hear. Olivia’s voice was muffled and he couldn’t hear it very well over the sounds of the giant’s innards and how his ears were probably clogged with the stomach fluids at this point. He was able to make out enough and pieced together the rest.

He grunted, trying to bring his legs up near the stomach entrance in a weak kick, not bothering to use his arms if he didn’t want to compromise his little air bubble. He only heard Eli’s rumbling chuckle around him in response. His eyes narrowed in the darkness and he kicked harder towards the ceiling. Heat was rushing up to his head and the air was thick and hard to breathe, making the smallest actions exhausting. There was a jerky clench around him in response to his action and he heard a small “hic—“ come from the giant.

Eli winced for a moment, but quickly smoothed out his expression with a smirk. “Hiccups, really? Wow… What a fearsome fighter.”

Warren glared. “Shutup!”

There were several more attempts of kicks and nudges that were barely visible from the surface, but were only felt as enjoyable sensations against the giant’s innards.

“This is lame. Almost relaxing. What if I just take a nap here?” Eli feigned a yawn.

Olivia glared at him, lowering her carafe for a moment. “Like hell you would.”

Warren’s struggles weakened and he rasped for air shallowly. His arms which had splayed out on either side to preserve his little pocket of air had grown too weak to maintain that position any longer. It was hard to breathe. He was exhausted.

“P-please… just let me go… so tired… I’m gonna pa-pass out. I ca-can’t breathe.” The timid voice was barely audible.

Olivia raised a brow, taking a minute to actually interpret the words because of their diminished volume. “Giving up already? You didn’t even manage one good hit.”

”What did I tell ya. It’s useless tryin’.” Eli scoffed.

“I do-don’t frickin care. I can’t bre-eathe. I’m going t-to suffocate in here. Ple-please, Eli.” Warren just gave up at this point. Whatever position his struggles had landed him in just wedged him into the folds bad enough that he couldn’t gather breath properly. Normally, this shouldn’t be as much of an issue with the esophageal sphincter currently being lax enough to allow air to pass through. His current position had him curled up downwards with his back facing the sphincter to block off the only passage for fresh air. He was running out of air pretty quickly.

Eli narrowed his eyes, at first thinking this was some sort of trick, but by focusing on the small sensations of the human’s breaths against the sensitive lining, he could feel the breaths were a lot shallower. He furrowed his brow. This wasn’t normally a problem, at least not one he commonly came across (not that he would normally care. Accidents happen after all.)

The giant sighed and rolled his eyes. “Meh, fine. You’re one pathetic human being getting stuck like that aren’tcha?”

Warren didn’t bother retorting. He was feeling lightheaded. The giant’s voice, as close as it was, felt foggy and distant.

He was faintly aware of the walls crushing in tighter as they squeezed him up into the throat. The feeble breaths he had gathered were sucked from his lungs within the tight tube. The harsh muscles tugged at his limp form, slowly dragging him out of the confines of the stomach and completely within the throat and he was carried upward.

Olivia stepped back, her expression only read of mild disgust as she watched the giant hack up the small hunter. The small bulge in his middle disappeared to reform in his throat. The fanged maw opened as the hunter was eventually emitted onto the floor in a slimy pool of drool. He wasn’t moving.

The alchemist grimaced, moving forward as the giant wiped his mouth on his sleeve. She crouched down in the gross puddle of fluids, wrapping her arms around Warren to lift his face out of the puddle. Warren seemed unresponsive, or at least mostly out of it at this point. She scowled, squeezing an almost too-tight hug around him in a swift motion, collapsing his diaphragm enough to force a ragged cough out of his throat.

Warren coughed again, spitting and rasping for air. His eyes were half-lidded in exhaustion. Olivia relaxed her grip around him with a sigh, letting him drop back to the floor on his back. She glared at Eli narrowly through her bulbous spectacles.

“That was too close of a call, Elric.”

Eli quickly caught his breath after the harsh motions of coughing up the hunter and narrowed his eyes at the alchemist. “So? Most people eaten by giants don’t even get to live to tell the tale. Tiny here just got lucky.”

Warren tried to get up, but got too lightheaded from the small action and laid back down on the floor, squeezing his eyes shut as he continued to try to catch his breath.

“I need… a… a shower.” Warren rasped quietly.

Eli smirked. “Called it. See? He’s fine. Priorities, right?”

“I am not— f-frickin— fine.” Warren opened his eyes slightly to glare at the giant, but his gaze was more weak than angry. A part of him shuddered to see the creature that had just eaten him and nearly killed him effortlessly. “I could have died— and— and I learned nothing! Y—you can’t do that to me again. I— I can’t take it.”

Olivia sighed, getting to her feet. She disregarded the gross slime that was now dripping from her clothes from helping Warren. “If you really don’t want to train with giants, you can avoid giant related hunts. Just stick with the werewolves and spirits.”

Eli snorted. “Keepin’ your nose clean ain’t gonna deter giants from huntin’ ya. Might help your odds a bit on encounterin’ em, but your fightin’ techniques are still shit.”

Warren sighed in defeat, rubbing his face as he laid back on the floor. “People are still out there... getting killed by giants every day. Dying l—like that…. I hate it that I can’t do fr-frickin anything.”

Eli shrugged, making a slight grimace of nausea as his stomach settled again. “Why bother? They’re humans. They’re gonna die anyways. ‘Sides, giants do a good enough job killin’ themselves from what ya saw at the Binding.”

The Hunter frowned at Eli’s words. He winced as he tried to sit upright again. He still felt a little dizzy and lightheaded and his senses were beginning to return in full… only to realize how gross he felt right now.

“I need to go home and get cleaned up before Rebeka comes back from work.” The young man said finally. He managed to get to his feet, but he was still a bit wobbly.

Olivia frowned slightly, taking a small sip of coffee as she finished up her carafe. She glanced at the giant tiredly. “Well, I guess class is over then. And I’ll add to the Legion’s records that those techniques don’t seem to work.” There was a slight tone of disappointment in her voice.

“You can tell the U.L. I’m done. I can’t… I just can’t do this.” He shot a wary look at Eli. Even seated, the giant was still a good three or so heads taller than him. He shuddered, still weary and recovering. He headed towards the staircase out of the basement.

“Atta boy, tiny! I knew you wouldn’t stand a chance there!” The giant cheered.

Warren turned on the stair for a moment to glare back at him. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for my sisters. I can’t do this to them. So you can shut the f...fuck up.”

He glared daggers at the giant before he stumbled up the rest of the stairs and left.

Eli snorted, rolling his eyes. “Sheesh. Humans are so dramatic.”

Olivia raised an unimpressed brow at him.

“What? Hey. D’ya wanna try out those ‘methods’ too, just for the sake of learnin’ something?”

Her eyes narrowed in mute disapproval.

Eli seemed to debate something for a while before backing down. “Fine. Fine. Some other time.” He’d rather not get stuck in his camo form again and didn’t want to give her any reason to do it.

Warren was still sticky and icky from all the gross fluids as he went towards his car. He quickly found his borrowed silver knife from Olivia and his magazine full of silver bullets. He frowned in disgust. It was a stupid idea to ever sign up for this. He had almost died and Eli wasn’t even trying.

Or was he?

The thought sickened him to dwell upon. He quickly loaded up his borrowed hunting supplies and set them down on Olivia’s desk at the back of the shop. He didn’t look back as he left them there. They were an ominous reminder of his foolishness. He couldn’t go back to that now.

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

Link to the rest of the series can be found here.

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739337369137371082 · 4 years

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Hey so I found u thru the Halved Live Funnies and I gotta ask... whose Leon? What series these dudes from?

i got this ask and then forgot about it for like 2 days. anyways.

IVE ANSWERED THIS BEFORE BUT. GOD. LEON. ok so like....... long story short last year was when i first played resident evil........ bc we got a copy of re2remake in and.... jesus christ. i hyperfixated so fucking hard for the better part of a year going on into this year. and then i watched hl/vr and well. we know where that went. but now i am once again hyperfixated and now im back to where i was in like.... june of last year LMAO. but anyways i am once again going to ramble under the cut about them <3 (seriously. its very long and doesnt go much of anywhere. also spoilers)

tl/dr:

OK. SO. resident evil. the last time i answered this ask i either hadnt played some of them or just completely forgot the plot of others LOL but now upon beating/playing a large majority of them (besides 6 which i have not touched yet, and 7 is first person and im not rly interested in it rn)...... well others have said this as well but if you like cheesy b action movies you would love resident evil!!!

the orig 1-2 are more survival horror which is what i like the most. 3 is where it starts branching into more actiony stuff but is still survival horror. but 4 and after is just like..... cheesy action stuff which is fine but not really like.... my thing. altho i do think that they are fun in a “this plot is hilariously bad” type way because i do enjoy horrible things. but people who like resident evil dont like it for the plot they like it for the characters. and for me i latched the fuck onto leon kennedy and tyrant t-00 aka mr fucking x

listen.......... you guys know me relatively well enough to know that i have a type......... and i would define leon as not really fitting under it usually because he is 1. under 6 foot 2. human and 3. very much not a villain. but something about (mostly remake) leon hits fucking different!!!!!! hes kind and means well, thinks about others constantly, looks like an actual fucking person in the in game graphics instead of being some manufactured perfect model, nice voice, etc....... i fucking care him so much. also gameplay wise i find his weapons to be more enjoyable than claires so i always end up playing his route/2nd route the most compared to hers. but i do also like claire :) shes nice and epic

i dont really like the newer leons (4 and afterwards) as much.... i mean a lot of it has to do with trauma and general “growing up” after what happened in re2 but hes just so constantly... snarky? jaded? constantly spouting lines to make him seem cool? when in my head hes very much like... a loser LMAO. i mean dont get me wrong hes a badass. he survives a fucking zombie outbreak and nearly gets murdered dozens of time. thats the definition of badass. but also you cannot change my mind that hes also a anxious loser twunk. there is literally nothing you can do to convince me he is “cool” like the games and movies want to think. this is probably heresy to re fans but this is my truth

https://youtu.be/aVZWuSfGStk?t=129

here is a vid of his cutscenes. obvious spoilers in there but you can skip around and see how cute he is. also yes in his first cutscene he is listening to butt rock. i switch between thinking hes just listening to it because nothing else is on the radio or his taste really is that terrible

also you literally CANNOT convince me that he is straight. the games try SOOOOO hard to get you to ship leon/ada or leon/claire but like...... i cannot see it. he has one of the gayest run animations i have ever seen in re2 remake and i mean... he just radiates gay trans man energy to me. also please look at this small scene from one of the animated movies where a licker jumps on top of him and he wraps his legs around its hips and lifts it off of him to not die. gay king

https://youtu.be/d-VNikxYBPw?t=9

but yes ive basically decided to ignore all characterization from re4 and onwards regarding leon at least. every leon after that is not my leon (except in special cases when im thinking about something like leon/jd from re damnation..... they did jd so dirty and they should have fucking kissed. or how cute he looked in vendetta sometimes)

ANYWAYS. MR X

so basically there are these enemies in resident evil called “tyrants” that are manufactured by the evil capitalist company umbrella that are near indestructible save for like.... rocket launchers or super heavy artillery that youre not buying at your local gun store. and in re2 one of them get sent to the police station where leon and claire are and is told to wipe out all witnesses. (i also do think that 2 or more were sent there... or at least in the area when this happened due to some very obvious plot hole stuff on each route no matter how you play, even tho the devs have come out and said that only 1 existed in the game and that each route is like “a parallel dimension” to each other. i wont go into it more than that but i choose to ignore that)

and well. when i first played it i knew of mr x but didnt like... know much about him other than that he was a monster and Tall (like 7 or 8 feet tall) and that he chased you around. that already sold me on him but then. well. you first encounter him because he lifts up an entire goddamn helicopter and then proceeds to chase you. and it was then that i knew i was in deep shit because he fucking stomped his way into my heart and never left.

mr x basically has serious Side Character Disorder where (even tho the remake made him very cool and epic and did him really well compared to nemesis in re3 remake which is an entire different can of worms) he has LITERALLY no personality or like. thoughts. or anything. hes only there to chase you around and be on screen for like 10 seconds for a couple of cutscenes and then not show up again until the very end of the game for you to fight on leons route. but god. he means so fucking much to me.

you know how people latch onto random side characters that have no personality and essentially flesh them out more than the creators ever will? thats me with mr x. its gotten to the point where certain songs come on on my spotify and i actually get EMOTIONS or even TEARS because they remind me of him, but its not even really HIM, its the fucking ideas that ive come up with regarding him because all he ever does in game is chase you around and punch you and then die and is never brought up again

but anyways. mr x is a tall monster who chases leon and claire around in their routes but mr x is leons main monster in the game (claire has a different one). he chases leon around, literally never stops looking at him as he chases him, gets hit by an entire fucking car which then explodes BUT THEN chases him down into the sewers and into a secret underground lab just to get to him like a fucking bloodhound who, once he has the scent, will never stop chasing him

(you can see why this made me kind of insane)

just. AGHHH. the tyrants in this series get treated so dirty. i desperately want capcom to give us some sort of tyrant that can actually fucking like.... go against orders and brainwashing or whatever and actually have emotions and thoughts!!!!!!!!!! but capcom would never do anything with it cause its a rough and tough action series and people arent here to see tyrants have some sort of thought process beyond punching and killing and people only want to shoot guns at them instead of thinking about the possibilities of a tyrant that goes against its programming.

i so desperately want an au where mr x got the transmitter shot off of the side of his head (and while capcom never mentioned this ever many re2 fans have since decided that it is what feeds info/orders to him. i flip flop between thinking that it either is near controlling him and prevents free will and thought or that its just giving him orders and that hes just burying/hiding/not showing free will and thought in fear of being killed. either that or someone at umbrella is “piloting” him but also the whole point of tyrants is that theyre supposed to be smart enough to think for themselves somewhat so... eh). GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

ive explained a bunch of this stuff in my other ask about it but just...... xleon means so much to me when it should not and will never be actually canon

anyways please play re2 remake at least, you dont have to know everything about re1 to like it, just go into it knowing that a few months ago in the mountains outside raccoon city claires brother chris and a few members on his team went to a mansion where they discovered umbrella doing shady zombie shit there. re2 remake was hyped up for years for a reason and it is really good, even if its short (altho i do appreciate short games in this day and age cause not every game needs to be like 60 plus hours long).

maybe one day when its not late and i can actually think i will explain all this better but todays not that day <3

(EDIT: ALSO RE DAMNATION TYRANTS ARE 14 FEET TALL. AND CHASE AROUND LEON AND ACTUALLY FUCKING RUN. FUN FACT! anyways while i do think jd in that movie and leon should kiss i also want leon and a tyrant from that movie to kiss. bye)

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hpdabbles · 5 years

Text

Bittersweet Regret P2

Five years go by.

No one has been able to find Regulus, much less heard from him throughout that time. He’s all over the papers for months after his disappearance, his parents convince he hadn’t gone willingly with a half-blood and pressure the Aurors to bring their underage son home.

As a child of an Ancient and Noble House, the search takes one of the top priorities even with the war raging on, but by the end of the first year, it’s pretty clear they won’t find him.

Sirius watches them desperately search and search from the safety of the Potter Manor. Seeing Regulus ran made it clear he should do the same. That summer, Sirius packed up his bags finally able to breathe relief when he realizes he will never have to go back, ever.

His mother shrieks she’ll disown him acting as if that would mean anything to Sirius and he has the pleasure of shouting back “It won’t matter if you do! You don’t have any sons left who want to carry your name! Unlovable Hag!”

He barely dodges the hexes and the curses she flings but he does and Sirius accepts James’ hug feeling high on the feeling of joy. He finishes his education at Hogwarts- a little disorientated when he glances at the Slytherin table and doesn’t see his brother two years below him- only slightly aware of the changes.

Around a few months after Regulus leaves, he pulls a prank on Snivellus which gets out of hand. He didn’t mean for it to get that bad, really, it was only supposed to spook him a bit not put his life in danger. It was an accident.

Luckily the whole thing is kept under wraps, so only the five students, the school healer (she looks murderous ever time she seems him afterward) and the headmaster know what could have happened. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any repercussions. Moony refuses to speak or look in his direction for months on end and Snivellus, just....never returns.

After swearing to never share Moony’s secret with a Life Debt to seal the deal, the half-blood is given a few days to recover from the encounter, choosing to go home for his rest. Sirius was so busy trying to get Moony to forgive him he hadn’t noticed the Slytherin wasn’t back after the three weeks of the prank.

Dumbledore worries that he could share the secret and sents someone over the Snape household for the student. They instead find a sobbing woman who begs them for her boy and a drunk of a father sneering that he couldn’t care less where his son went off to.

Apparently, mere days after getting home a pair of young teenagers arrived at her door. They were charming in a secretive way, refusing to come into her house but determine to speak to her son. She knew they were wizards since she could see the slight reflection of a disguising spell on their hair and eyes.

Snivellus exchanged some words with them then agree to go to the local park for a longer conversation. When he came home that evening he had been more thoughtful than she’s ever seen him, acting like someone had taken his whole viewpoint and flip it on its head.

The next morning he packed up all his belongings minus his school robes and walked out the door.

She hadn’t heard from him since.

Sirius couldn’t care less where the greasy creep went, but he held Remus’ secret and the Aurors believes his mysterious visitors could have been his wayward brother. Though what Regulus could possibly want with Snivellus was a mystery.

Not that it mattered. Moony forgave him, it took until half the year to get that kind of forgiveness, but he did. They join the Order right out of Hogwarts, because the war is getting out of hand, too many people are dying and there doesn’t seem to be a future with the Death Eaters winning more and more battles.

Sirius spent a few mornings wondering about his brother, a spare thought of what and where he could be, but he’s so busy with the war, with his relationship that starts to fall apart the longer Moony spends with the werewolf packs, James’ and Lily’s marriage, keeping Peter alive in the fights, and his own career plans of opening a store.

A book store, because they struggle but Sirius wants to spend the rest of his life with Moony. Silly romantic ideas of the two growing old with the lingering smell of books since Moony loved them so.

Life goes on. Five years past.

A part of him worries his idiot of a brother has joined the Death Eaters if only because he doesn’t want to fight him. He doesn’t want to be the one that may end up killing him.

He doesn’t see hair or tail of Regulus though, and his mother is still searching. Orion Black died wondering what happened to his son. At the funeral- one Sirius hadn’t bothered to go to but read and heard about enough- witnesses claim three unknown cloak strangers were spotted at the edge of the cemetery, many worried they were Death Eaters but the three had done nothing but watch the burial.

Once Orion had been lowered they left as silently as they came. Though the three had come close to allow one to place a red rose and a purple hyacinth on the grave.

The purebloods know the meaning of those flowers, as does Sirius. red rose meant “I love you” and purple hyacinth meant “I am sorry," "Please forgive me" and "Sorrow."

No one bothered to stop them when the three left. Though his mother had called out in a desperate voice just as they disappeared into the fog. “Regulus?”

She got no reply.

Harry is born then and Sirius is suddenly so overwhelmingly in love with the little bundle of joy he can pretend Moony hasn’t been home in months, Wormtail hasn’t smile in weeks and he has to bury some friends who didn’t move out of a cruse fast enough.

He adores the little baby, almost as much as if Harry was his actual son, and he swears if things work out with Moony the two will blood adopt. If Moony still loves him. If Moony isn’t...hasn’t...betrayed him in more ways then one.

There is a mole in the Order. They figured it out after Gideon and Fabian were nearly killed. The two had been cornered while undercover and the enemy knew everything about their operation, down to the very letter. The only reason they survived was due to some random masked wizard that arrived and fought his way through eight Death Eaters to reach them.

Now Fabian was down a leg and Gideon had yet to wake from his coma, a few months off of never waking at this rate. His family stayed at his side around the clock despite the danger

James and Lily were also in danger, though they were maybe more since little Harry, his precious baby Fawn, had a target painted on his body bigger than half the order and they needed to hide him.

Sirius figured he can be the Secret Keeper, completely prepared to go through it when suddenly He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is attacked. It comes without warning but somehow, a wizard drags out the Death Eaters, until the leader himself arrives.

It’s in the middle of Hogsmeade, civilians running in horror as a battle raged out while two sides clash against each other. It started off as a raid, aimed at the refugees that had run to the wizarding village, and the Death Eaters wanted to make an example of never escaping them.

They just weren’t expecting a waiting army ready and willing to run them out of the village. Three cloaked wizards lead a force of werewolves, vampires, Veelas and a few Squibs with muggle weapons.

The reason the Death Eaters were such a big problem was that they made an organized army against the few handfuls of Aurors, who needed years and specialties to be trained properly. There just wasn’t enough of them to stop the blood purists.

The average witch and wizard weren’t willing to join the fights- well if they weren’t the Order- and slowly they were losing the power of the streets.

This battle, however, turned the tables of the war. Suddenly the people the wizards treated the worst were doing everything they could to protect them, and they were winning.

Sirius rushes over to lead a wand just in time to watch the leader of the rebelling army force He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named to retreat, nearly beating him. As soon as the Dark Lord runs ordering his forces to do the same, the leading wizard voice commands against the fighting.

“Spead out! Give medical aid to anyone you find! We won’t lose any more tonight!”

A roar of approval break from the force that follows him all wearing the same type of cloak but none hiding their faces. Every civilian can clearly see who saved them. Can see the fangs of the vampires, can see the yellow eyes of the werewolves, the flames of the Veelas, and the lack of wands of the Squibs.

They rush about, saving as many lives as they can and they succeded. It’s awe-inspiring to see them work so easily and well in tune with each other. Healers arrive with half the patients stable, and the rumble being cleared.

The wizards and witches keep a wary eye on them, but the magical creatures barely spare them a glance. They are there to defeat the Death Eaters, defend the village and save them.

Then suddenly Sirius feels his heart stop as the three wizards leading them finally allow their hoods to drop as the Aurors demand to know who they are. The magical creatures (plus the Squibs) bristle at the wand weaver’s tones but almost as if they receive a signal all of them go to stand behind the three wizards.

A silence settles across the villages, then very slowly the three reach up for their hoods.

He almost doesn’t recognize them. Neither resembling who they once used to be. Gone is the long hair, the thinness and the haunted look replaced with people so vibrate and confident, it’s jarring.

Regulus and Snivellus, in an odd mix of muggle clothes and robes, flocking the Prongs clone.

The Prongs clone who smiles and shouts loudly “The DA”.

Sirius has one second to process that before a bright circular Rune glows under the feet of the visiting army and then they blink out of existence. Bypassing the wards that should have stopped them.

It’s been five years....and Regulus seems to be doing well for himself.

#hpdabbles #Harry Potter #Bittersweet Regret #slight angst #Feuding siblings #harry x regulus #Time travel #Hinted Harry/Regulus/Severus???#Wolfstar #But tries are hard #Part 2

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weird-incarnate · 4 years

Text

Angel.Exe: The Worst Time to Confess

I’m a sucker for angst and shipping content. Gotta make it hurt

TW: Guns, Attempted Murder, Near Death Experience, Valentine literally falls off a building

Summary: Valentine dreaded the day Damien would find her. That day happens to be today. With no where to run, will she be able to survive the wrath of the man who stole her wings?

Dr. Valentine studied the letter she received with worried eyes. The letters were written in a familiar drawl and she knew only one person on this damned planet that called her sweetheart. It meant the obvious. Damien had found her. Again. Swearing, Valentine threw the letter across the room, knowing she’d have to cancel her outing with Dr. Charles Afton. It really was the last thing she should’ve been worried about to be completely honest, but that strange doctor had come to mean a lot to her lately, as much as she denied it to Mortus. When doing procedures on patients, she finds herself wishing the doctor was there to help her, so she could witness his expertise. When cooking food she wonders what his favorite meal is, and if she could learn to make it. When she dresses up for the day, she hopes she runs into him, if anything to try and earn a compliment from him. The man was a brick wall half the time, but when she got even the slightest bit of a reaction, it made her heart flutter.

She really didn’t want to cancel on meeting with Afton at the park where they had their first encounter. He hadn’t exactly saved her life that day as she had told him. If anything saved her the pain of being stuck inside healing for several months. It wasn’t that easy to kill an angel. But by God did it take forever to heal.

Shaking her head at the memories of Afton, she moved to message the doctor on her computer hoping he wasn’t busy.

Valentine: Hey. Something’s come up with me personally. I can’t go out for a while. I’m really sorry to cancel but it’s important.

She clicked send hoping he wouldn’t ask further questions. She saw the three dots on the screen pop up, and disappear, then reappear. He was probably figuring out what to type.

Afton: S’okay. Stay safe.

Valentine rolled her eyes at his brief answer, smiling. Part of her wanted to invite Afton over to the house, but she knew Mortus would throw a fit. He wasn’t there to watch them like hawks to make sure no debauchery was afoot. Frankly, Valentine couldn’t care less about the specific “debauchery” Mortus accused her of trying to achieve. She just wanted to have some company knowing she’d have to lay low for a while.

Accepting her fate, she stood up and examined herself in the mirror. She was having a good pain day so she was capable of standing and walking for a couple minutes at a time. Vanity was never something that came to Valentine naturally because of her condition. She was scarred up from the attempts on her life, not to mention the giant scars on her back that had caused damage to her ability to walk. She turned around, craning her neck to evaluate the scars in the mirror, before admitting defeat and pulling a pink oversized sweater on over her underthings. She was completely admitting defeat at this point. May as well not bother with pants and just get some cleaning done. It’d be awhile before she could go back outside.

Or at least that’s what she thought.

Valentine had been about two hours into cleaning while streaming a random show she had found when she heard a knock on the door. Confused, she pulled on her doctor's mask and adjusted her sweater to cover her up as best as it could. She stumbled over to the door, her legs starting to complain about the strain she’d been putting them under, and opened the door without thinking. To be greeted with the worst thing she could’ve.

Damien Matterson. The man who stole her wings.

She reacted by immediately slamming the door shut, or at least trying to as she scrambled out of the entryway and into the living room.

“Oh come on sweetheart! Is that how you greet an old friend?” He cackled, his proud horns glowing red with energy as he watched her scramble away and out the back door, “So we’re gonna do the chasing game. So be it.”

He stormed after her, not noticing the purple sparks dripping from the TV as he gave chase. What Valentine lacked in speed, and dexterity, she made up for with her quick thinking and evasiveness. She had managed to shove down several random items in the back alleyway onto him slowing him down, and scrambled inside an old building that was set to be demolished in a week. Jumping inside an abandoned crate, she yanked the lid on top and tilted her head up trying to quiet her breathing. Oh she was dead, she was so dead. She didn’t have her phone with her to call Mortus or anyone who would have helped. Immediately, her brain jumped to Charles Afton. She never got to tell him she loved him. Fuck, she loved him. It was the first time she admitted it to herself, but what better of a time than when you’re about to die.

Valentine wasn’t able to think about that for much longer as Damien ripped off the lid to the crate and gripped her by the arm, yanking her out and holding her out in front of him. She tried kicking and struggling but his grip just tightened as he bore down at her with his black eyes. Valentine whimpered as he dragged her through the building, making sure to smack her against as many things he could, till she was battered and bruised. Her mask had fallen off at some point allowing her face to get scratched up. He didn't stop till they reached the rooftop of the old building, which by that point, Valentine had procured several large bruises, cuts and a bloody nose.

“Well, Miss Valentine, it’s been a fun couple centuries hunting you, but I think enough’s enough,” He hissed, lifting Valentine up over the edge of the building, gripping her by her wrist. She looked at him confused. The drop wouldn’t kill her. It would definitely kill a human but not her.

“Uh…?” She dumbly said, staring at him.

“Oh yeah that’s right… Well good thing I brought this!” He chimed with a sick happiness in his voice. He used his spare hand to reach into his satchel and pull out a silver pistol, a sigil carved into its side. Valentine felt the blood drain from her face as she recognized the symbol from a long time ago. The angel sigil of Michael. This gun would kill her near instantly with one shot.

“How did you…?” She mumbled out her eyes wide.

“An old friend of mine hooked me up with something to take out the pesky nephilim problem we’ve been having,” He responded, admiring the gun before pressing it to her forehead. The door that led to the rooftop flew open nearly startling the demon into dropping Valentine, which while not pleasant would’ve been preferable. He looked over his shoulder to the door, as did Valentine and was met with Dr. Charles Afton standing there, looking quite pissed.

“What?! Afton?! Get out of here he’s going to kill you!!” Valentine screamed, her panic starting to rise.

“Oh you know each other? That makes this so much better! Take one step closer and I’ll put this bullet in her head,” Damien threatened.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Afton said, returning the threat. Valentine shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

“No! Don’t hurt him please!” Valentine begged, she winced at the panic she heard in her voice but she didn’t care. As long as Afton stayed alive she didn’t care. Damien looked at her, analyzing her face before he started laughing.

“No! Don’t tell me! You’re in love with him! Tell me I’m wrong Valentine!” Damien screamed at her as the tears spilled over in her eyes. She looked at Damien, hatred filling her eyes, before looking at Afton who’s angered expression stopped to one of confusion, he met her gaze and his eyes widened.

“Of course, I love him… He’s saved me so many times, from others, myself… Cruel people like you... How could I not fall in love with him…” Valentine said, her voice soft and calm as she looked away from Afton and towards Damien who was laughing. He had moved the gun away from her skull to laugh at his own sick joke and Valentine realized what she needed to do. She gripped his wrist with her free hand, and fired out a light energy blast from her palm. Damien screamed at the pain and retracted his arm letting her go. She dropped off the edge, and proceeded to fall ten stories. Even though Valentine knew she wouldn’t die, a scream ripped itself from her throat as she felt the weightlessness of her free fall and her hands reached out attempting to grip anything she could but was met with air. She heard a gunshot before her body hit the ground, and everything went black.

. . .

It would take three days for Valentine’s body to heal up enough that she could become conscious. She was immediately aware of the pain in her body the moment she was able to wake up. Could she just.. Go back to sleep? Was that an option?

Unfortunately it was not as she found herself opening her eyes and being met with the ceiling of her room. There was an IV in her arm, something she assumed Mortus had put in to keep her energy stable. She was vaguely aware of the sound of Mortus talking to someone in the living room. Figuring it to be best to get his attention, she called out Mortus’s name.

She was not expecting Mortus to throw open the door to her room that quickly, but what she expected even less was Afton to come barreling in after him. She tilted her head to see them better as Mortus rushed to her side and began asking a slurry of questions. She ignored them all and reached out her arm towards Afton, now noticing just how doped up on meds she was. He hesitated for a moment before walking over to her bedside, and kneeling so he was at her eye level. He would be the first to speak.

“I… thought you died,” He mustered out.

“It takes more than that to kill me,” Valentine said, some of her words slurring together. Mortus checked her vitals quickly before nodding at Afton and leaving them alone.

“. . .Do you remember what you said before you fell?” Afton asked, his eyes reading her face for any sort of emotion. The memories came flooding back to her and she felt the tears well in her eyes again, and a squeaky sob came out.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to tell you like that but… I thought I was going to die! You… you don’t have to love me back I-I just… I’m sorry!” She babbled out, her chest struggling to keep up with her gasping breaths.

“Shhh…” He comforted, pausing for a moment, “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s okay…Would you at least like to know my response?”

“Huh…?”

“Because… I… I love you too.” Valentine looked at him, her tears running down her face, before smiling and letting out a strangled sob. He responded by petting her hair, just as he had done the first time they met and letting her sob. She would pass out soon after, leaving Afton alone with his thoughts. Admittedly, the biggest one on his mind was him scrapping the idea of using Valentine to his advantage. He had realized he hated seeing her hurt. He had realized he loved her. But the worst realization that hit was the one he was beating himself up about the most.

Damien had escaped and was still out there. Still looking to kill Valentine. And Dr. Afton was not going to let that happen.

#plague doctor #plaguecore #plaguesona #writing #Angel.exe ship tag #hhhh I wrote this in like two hours.

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The Weekend Warrior Christmas - New Year’s Edition – WONDER WOMAN 1984, NEWS OF THE WORLD, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI..., PIECES OF A WOMAN, HERSELF, SYLVIE’S LOVE and More!

Welcome to the VERY LAST Weekend Warrior of the WORST YEAR EVER!!! But hopefully not the last column forever, even though I already plan on taking much of January off from writing 8 to 10 reviews each week. It just got to be too much for a while there.

Because it’s the last week of the year, there are a lot of really good movies, some in theaters but also quite a few on streaming services. In fact, there are a good number of movies that appeared in my Top 10 for the yearover at Below the Line, as well as my extended Top 25 that I’ll share on this blog sometime next week. I was half-hoping to maybe write something about the box office prospects of some of the new movies, but after the last couple weeks, it’s obvious that box office is not something that will be something worth writing about until sometime next spring or summer.

(This column is brought to you by Paul McCartney’s new album “McCartney III” which I’m listening to as I finish this up… and then other solo Beatles ditties picked for me randomly by Tidal.)

First up is easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, or at least one that actually didn’t move to 2021, and that’s WONDER WOMAN 1984 (Warner Bros.), Patty Jenkins’ sequel to the 2017 hit, once again starring Gal Gadot as Diana Prince. I reviewed it here, but basically the sequel introduces Wonder Woman arch-nemeses Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah, as played by Kristen Wiig, and Pedro Pascal’s Max Lord and how an ancient artifact gives them both their powers, as well as helps to bring Diana’s true love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back despite him having disappeared presumed dead in WWI. As you can see by reading my review, I thought it was just fine, not great and certainly not something I’d make an attempt to see a second time in a 25% capacity movie theater. Fortunately, besides debuting in around 2,100 movie theaters across the nation, it will also be on HBO Max day and date, which has caused quite a stir. Being Christmas weekend with no work/school on Monday, I can see it still making somewhere between $10 and 12 million, but I can’t imagine it doing nearly what it might have done with most theaters only 25-30% full at the maximum and that theater count being roughly half the number it might have gotten during the “normal times.”

Paul Greengrass’ Western NEWS OF THE WORLD (Universal) reteams him with his Captain Phillips star Tom Hanks, this time playing Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War soldier who travels from town to town in the Old West reading from newspapers to anyone who has a dime and time to listen. After one such reading, he discovers a young girl (Helena Zengel) on her own, having spent the last few years with a family of Native Americans who were killed by soldiers. Together, they travel across America as Kidd hopes to bring the girl to her last surviving family members.

I already reviewed Greengrass’ movie for Below the Line, and I also spoke to Mr. Greengrass, an interview you can read that right here (once it goes live), but I make no bones that this was one of my favorite movies I’ve seen this year, and it’s not just due to the fine work by Greengrass and his team. No, it’s just as much about the emotion inherent in the story, and the relationship between the characters played by Hanks and Zengel.

I’ve watched the movie three times now, and I’m still blown away by every frame and moment, the tension that’s created on this difficult journey but also where it leaves the viewers at the end that promises that there can be hope and joy even in the most difficult and turbulent times. It’s a wonderful message that’s truly needed right now.

Listen, I’m not gonna recommend going to a movie theater if you don’t feel it’s safe – I’ve already spoken my peace on this at a time when COVID numbers were much lower – but this is a movie that I personally can’t wait to see in a movie theater. I honestly can’t see the movie making more than $3 or 4 million in the open theaters considering how few people are willing to go to movie theaters. Obviously, this isn’t as big a draw as Wonder Woman, but it is a fantastic big screen movie regardless.

Also opening in theaters this Friday is Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (Focus Features), starring the wonderful Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas, a woman who has revenge on her mind. Cassie spends her nights picking up guys in bars by pretending she’s so drunk she can barely walk, then humiliating them and presumably worse. When she encounters an acquaintance from med school in the form of Bo Burnham’s Ryan, the two begin dating, though he ends up awakening a darker side to Cassie that seeks revenge for something that happened back during their school days. (Honestly, if you’re already sold, just skip to the next movie. That’s all I want you to know before watching it.)

I was ready to love Fennell’s movie when it opened with a disgusting shot of gross stock market bros in loose-fitting suits gyrating in slow motion before one of them tries to pick up a totally soused Cassie at the club. It’s a scene that really plays itself out quite well, and then leads into Mulligan’s character allowing another clear scumbag (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, maybe as a slight-older McLovin?) before turning the tables on him as well.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about this movie after people see it, since it’s one of those great films that begins a lot of conversations. I imagine most women of a certain age will love it, but some men might see themselves in some of the characters (even Burnham’s) and wonder whether Cassie just won’t take crap from any man or if she’s a full-on misandrist. One thing we do know a lot is that she does this sort of thing a lot, and there’s something from her past that has driven her involving something that happened to her female friend in med school. I’m going to stop talking about the plot here, because I definitely don’t want to spoil anything who hasn’t seen the movie, but the second half of the movie is as deeply satisfying as Tarantino’s Kill Bill in terms of the surprises.

You’ll realize while watching what a treat you’re in for when you first watch Mulligan’s amazing transformation from pretending to be drunk to being completely cognizant and just all the emotions we see her go through after that. Of course, we never really know what she’s actually doing to the guys she lets pick her up -- she keeps a notebook with guy’s names and a quizzical counting system, so we can only imagine.

Fennell’s screenplay is fantastic but her work as a first-time director in maintaining the the tone and pacing of the movie is really what will keep you captivated, whether it’s the amazing musical choices or how Cassie dresses up to lure men. There’s also a great cast around Mulligan whether it’s comic Burnham in a relatively more serious role, but one that also allows him a musical number. (No joke.) Fennel’s amazing casting doesn’t just stop there from, Jennifer Coolidge as Cassie’s mother to Laverne Cox as Gail, her workmate/boss at the coffee shop – both of them add to the film’s subtle humor elements. Alfred Molina shows up to give a show-stopping performance, and Alison Brie also plays a more dramatic role as another one of Cassie’s classmates. I can totally understand why the Golden Globes might have deemed the movie a “comedy/musical” (for about two days before going back) , but putting so many funny people in dramatic roles helps give Promising Young Woman its own darkly humorous feel. All that darkness is contrasted by this sweet romance between Cassie and Ryan that’s always in danger of imploding due to Cassie’s troubled nature.

The biggest shocking surprise is saved for the third act, and boy, it’s going to be one that people will be talking about for a VERY long time, because it’s just one gut punch after another. I loved this movie, as it’s just absolutely brilliant – go back and see where it landed in my Top 10. As one of the best thrillers from the past decade, people will be talking about this for a very long time

Promising Young Woman hits theaters on Christmas Day, and presumably, it will be available on VOD sometime in January, but this is not one you want to wait on. If you do go see it in theaters, just be safe, please. No making out with random men or women, please.

Regina King’s narrative feature debut, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... (Amazon Studios), will ALSO be in theaters on Christmas Day, and though I’ve reviewed it over at Below the Line, but I’ll talk a little more about it here just for my loyal Weekend Warrior readers.

Yet another movie that made my Top 10, this one stars a brilliant quartet of actors -- Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge and Eli Goree—as four legendary black icons: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay, on the night after the last of them wins the World Boxing Championship against Sonny Liston in February 1964. The four men meet in Malcolm X’s hotel room to discuss what’s happening in their lives and the world in general, as well as Clay’s decision to join the Nation of Islam, just as Malcolm X is getting ready to leave the brotherhood due to philosophical differences with the group. In fact, all four men have philosophical differences that are discussed both in good humor and in deep conflict as they disagree on their place in a white-dominated world in a year before the Civil Rights Act would be signed.

First of all, there’s no way to talk about this movie without discussing the Kemp Powers play on which it’s based, and we can’t mention that without mentioning that Powers also co-wrote and co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which will be available on Disney+ this Friday. It’s a fantastic script and King put together a fantastic cast of actors who really give their all to every scene. In the case of Leslie Odom, Jr., you really can believe him as Cooke, especially in a number of fantastic performances pieces. Likewise, Goree looks a lot like Clay both in the ring and out, carrying all of the swagger for which he would become more famous as Ali.

I’ve seen the movie twice already and if you’ve looked at my Top 10, then you already know this is another one that made my cut, so I don’t think I need to give it a much harder sell. I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about this one on its journey to Oscar night when hopefully, King becomes the first woman of color to be nominated in the directing category. Or rather, she’ll probably tie for that honor with Nomadland director Chloé Zhao.

If you don’t feel like going to theaters for this one, you’ll be able to catch it on Amazon Prime Video on January 15, too… you’ll just have to wait a little longer.

Also, the new Pixar animation movie, SOUL, directed by Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) and co-directed by Kemp Powers (remember him?), will hit Disney+ on Christmas Day, and I reviewed it here, so I probably don’t have lot more to say about it, but it’s great, and if you have Disney+, I’m sure you’ll be watching it.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a screener for Matteo Garrone’s PINNOCHIO (Roadside Attractions), which also opens in about 700 theaters on Christmas Day. This adaptation stars Robert Benigni as Geppeto, who famously starred as Pinocchio in his own version of the classic fairy tale from 2002. That other movie was “Weinsteined” at a time when that just meant that a movie was ruined by Harvey Weinstein’s meddling, rather than anything involving sexual assault.

Another great movie hitting streaming this week is Eugene Ashe’s SYLVIE’S LOVE, which streams on Amazon Prime Video today. It stars Tessa Thompson as Sylvie and Nnamdi Asomugha (also a producer on the film) as Robert, who meet one summer in the late 50s while working at Sylvie’s father’s record store. He is a jazz musician who is on the rise, but their romance is cut short when he gets a gig in Paris but she refuses to go with him. Also, she’s pregnant with his child. Years later, they reconnect with her now being married with a young daughter (clearly Robert’s) and they realize that the love between them is still very real and true.

This is the first of three movies I watched this week where I went in with very little knowledge and absolute zero expectations. Like everyone else on earth, I am an avid fan of Ms. Thompson’s work both in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and smaller indies. She’s just a fantastic presence that lights up a screen. While I wasn’t as familiar with Asomugha’s acting work – he’s produced some great films and acted in a few I liked, included Crown Heights – there’s no denying the chemistry between the two.

What’s kind of interesting about the movie is that it combines a few elements from other great movies released this week, including Soul and A Night in Miami, but in my opinion, handles the music business aspect to the story better than the much-lauded Netflix movie, Ma Raimey’s Black Bottom. Frankly, I also think the performances by the two leads are as good as those by Boseman and Davis in that movie, but unfortunately, Amazon is submitting this to the Emmys as as “TV movie” rather than to the Oscars, so that’s kind of a shame.

This is a movie that’s a little hard to discuss why I enjoyed it so much without talking about certain scenes or moments, or just go through the entire story, but I think part of the joy of appreciating what Ashe has done in his second original feature film is to tell the story of these two characters over the course of a decade or so in a way that hasn’t been done before. That alone is quite an achievement, because we’ve seen many of those types of movies over the years (When Harry Met Sally, for instance).

What I really liked about Sylvie’s Love over some of the other “black movies” this year is that it literally creates its own world and just deals with the characters within it, rather than trying to make a big statement about the world at the time. Maybe you can say the same about Soul in that sense, but you would be absolutely amazed by how much bigger an audience you can get by telling a grounded story in a relatable world, and then throw in a bit of music, as both those movies do.

So that’s all I’ll say except that this will is now on Amazon Prime Video , so you have no excuse not to check it out while you wait for Regina King’s equally great One Night in Miami to join it in mid-January.

Hitting Netflix on Christmas day is Robert Rodriguez’s WE CAN BE HEROES, his sequel to his 2005 family film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – not his best moment -- which follows the kids of the Heroics, a Justice League-like super group. They’re all in a special school for kids with powers but they have to step up when the Heroics are captured by aliens. Want to know what will happen? Well, you’ll just have to wait for Christmas Day for when my review drops to find out whether I liked it more or less than Rodriguez’s earlier film which SPOILER!! I hated.)

The first thing you need to get past is that Shark Boy and Lava Girl are now man and wife, and just that fact might be tough for anyone who only discovered the movie sometime more recently. There are other familiar faces in the Heroics like Pedro Pascal, Sung Kang, Christian Slater, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and more, so clearly, Rodriguez is still able to pull together a cast.

The movie actually focuses on YaYa Goselin’s Missy Moreno, daughter of the Heroic’s leader (Pascal) who has also retired. Just as aliens are invading the earth, Missy is put into a school of kids with superpowers, all kids of various Heroic members. Sure, it’s derived directly from The X-Men and/or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, so yeah… basically also the X-Men. We meet all of the kids in a great scene where we see them using their powers and learn their personalities, and honestly, they really are the best part of the movie.Probably the most adorable is Guppy, the very young daughter of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, played by Viven Blair. Oddly, Missy doesn’t have any powers so she feels a bit fish-out-of-water in the group even though, like her father, she proves to be a good leader.

As much as I really detested Rodriguez’s Shark Boy and Lava Girl movie, I feel like he does a lot better by having a variety of kids in this one, basically something for everyone, but also not a bad group of child actors. (There’s also a fun role for Adriana Barraza.) There are definitely aspects that are silly, but Rodriguez never loses sight of his audience, and wisely, Netflix is offering this as a Christmas Day release which should be fun for families with younger kids who might see this as their first superhero movie.

More discerning viewers may not be particularly crazy about visual FX, all done as usual in Rodriguez’s own studio but some of them look particularly hoaky and cheap compared to others. (I mean, that’s probably the appeal for hiring Rodriguez because he’s able to do so much in-house. In this case, he got all four of his own kids involved in various capacities of making the film.)

We Can Be Heroes is clearly a movie made for kids, so anyone expecting anything on part with Amazon’s The Boys will be quite disappointed. It’s probably Rodriguez getting slightly closer to Spy Kids than he has with any of his other family-friendly movies, but one shouldn’t go in with the expectations that come with any of the much bigger blockbusters released these days. Personally, I enjoyed that fact, and I totally would watch another movie with this superteam.

Michel Stasko’s BOYS VS. GIRLS (Gravitas Ventures) is a fun retro-comedy that follows a war between the male and female counselors at Camp Kindlewood, which has just gone co-ed. At the center of it all is Dale (Eric Osborne) and Amber (Rachel Dagenais) as two teens who are in the middle of a meet-cute romance in the middle of a inter-gender competition called “Lumberman vs. Voyagers,” which I have no idea whether it’s a real thing or not.

I probably should have known I’d like this one from the catchy New Order-ish song in the opening credits, but listen, Wet Hot American Summer is one of my all-time favorite movies, and that was basically made to satirize ‘80s movies like Meatballs. This one falls more towards to the latter in terms of humor, but it also feels authentic to the ‘80s summer camp experience.

It helps that the grown-ups at the camp are played by the likes of Kevin McDonald from New Kids on the Block, Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is It Anyway and others, but it’s really about the younger cast playing teen boys and girls in the throes of puberty, something we all can in some way relate to. The young cast play a series of stereotypical young but there are a lot of funny tropes within them, as each of the cast is given a chance to deliver some of the funnier gags. This isn’t necessarily high-brow humor, mind you, but I love the fact that you can still make a movie about a time where you could still make fun of girl’s periods in school. (I’m kidding. I just put that in there cause I feel like I need to throw things like that into this column just to see if anyone is ACTUALLY reading it.)

The presumably Canadian Stasko is another great example of an independently-spirited filmmaker who has an idea for a fun movie and then just goes about making it, regardless of having big stars or anything to sell it besides many funny moments that can be featured a trailer, so that those who like this kind of movie will find it. Listen, Wet Hot American Summer wasn’t a huge hit when it was released. I still remember it having trouble getting a single screening at the multiplex in Times Square when it was released but over the years since it became sort of a cult hit (kind of due to Netflix having it to rent on DVD, I think).

Besides a fun script and cast, Stasko also find a way to include tunes that sound so much like real ‘80s songs we would have heard on the radio but aren’t quite the big hits that would have cost him thousands of dollars, but I really just enjoyed the heck out of the tone and overall fun attitude that went into making this movie.

Also on VOD now is Ian Cheney and Martha Shane’s fascinating and funny doc, THE EMOJI STORY (Utopia), which I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival when it was called “Picture Character.” (That’s what “emoji” in Japanese means, just FYI.) As you can guess it’s about the origins and rise of the emoji as a form of communication from its humble beginning in Japan to becoming one of the biggest trending crazes on the globe. I’m not that big an Emoji guy myself – I tend to use the thumbs up just for ease, but I do marvel at those who can put together full thoughts using a string of these symbols, and if you want to know more about them, this is the movie you should watch.

Now let’s cut ahead to some of the movies that will be opening and streaming NEXT week…

Hitting select theaters on Wednesday, December 30 and what really is my “FEATURED FLICK” for this column is Hungarian filmmaker Kornél (White God) Mundruczó’s PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) before its streaming premiere on Netflix January 7.

Written by Kata Wéber, who also wrote Mundruczó’s earlier film, it stars Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) and Shia Labeouf as Martha and Sean Weiss, a Boston couple who lose their baby during a particularly difficult home birth and follows the next year in their lives and how that tragic loss affects their relationship with each other and those around them.

As you can imagine, Pieces of a Woman is a pretty heavy drama, one that reminded me of the films of Todd Field (Little Children, In the Bedroom) in terms of the intensity of the drama and the emotions on screen from the brilliant cast Mundruczó put together for his English language debut. I’m not sure I could use the general plot to sell anyone on seeing this because it is very likely the worst possible date movie of the year after Netflix’s 2019 release, Marriage Story, but it’s just as good in terms of the writing and performances.

At the center of it is Kirby – and yeah, I still haven’t watched The Crown, so shut up! I’ll get to it!!! – who most of us fell in love with for her role in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, but what we see her go through as an actress here really shows the degree of her abilities. But it also shows what Mundruczó can do with material that (like many movies) started out as a play. For instance, one of the first big jaw-dropping moments is the home birth scene that goes on for a long time, seemingly all in one shot, and Kirby is so believable in terms of a woman going through a difficult birth, you’d believe she has had children herself. (She hasn’t.) I also don’t want to throw Shia Labeouf under the bus right now just because that seems like the trendy thing to do. (Without getting it, I believe FKA Twigs… but that doesn’t deny the fact that Labeouf is just the latest great actor that everyone wants to cancel.)

Anyway, to change the subject, we have to talk about Ellen Burstyn, who plays Martha’s meddling mother, who is quite clingy and overbearing, so when the couple lose their baby, she steps in to take to task the midwife she deems responsible (played by the highly-underrated Molly Parker). Or rather, she hires a family lawyer (Sarah Snook) to take her to court to get compensation for the loss of her daughter’s baby. The film’s last act culminates as their case goes to court.

Again, the film covers roughly a year after the tragedy and deals not only with how Martha and Sean’s relationship is affected and how it emotionally affects Martha in particular, but also how others around them start behaving towards them. It feels so authentic and real that you wonder where the screenwriter was drawing from, but Mundruczó has more than prove himself as as filmmaker by creating something that is visually compelling and even artsy while still doing everything to help promote the story and performances over his own abilities as a director. Doesn’t hurt that he has composer Howard Shore scoring the film in a way that’s subtle but effective.

Listen, if you’re looking for a comedy riot that will entertain you with funny one-liners and pratfalls than Pieces of a Woman is not for you. This is a devastating movie that really throws the viewer down a deep spiral along with its characters. The first time I watched it, I was left quite broken, and maybe even more so on second viewing. (As we get closer to Oscar season… in four months … I hope this film will be recognized and not just thrown under the table due to Labeouf’s involvement. That would be as big a tragedy and misjustice as much of what happens in the movie.)

So yeah, in case you wondered why this also made it into my prestigious Top 10 for the year, that is why. :)

Also in theaters on Wednesday, December 30 is another terrific drama, the Phyllida Lloyd-directed HERSELF (Amazon Studios), co-written and starring Clare Dunne, as Sandra, a mother of two young girls, trying to get out of an abusive marriage, while making ends meet and providing shelter for her kids. One day, she learns about a way that she can build her own home, and one of the women she cares for offers a plot of land

Another movie that I really didn’t know much about going into, other than Phyllida Lloyd being a talented filmmaker whose movie The Iron Maiden, which won Meryl Streep her 500th Oscar, I enjoyed much more than the popular blockbuster hit musical, Mamma Mia! This is a far more personal story that reminded me of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, a smaller and more intimate character piece that shines a light on British actor Clare Dunne, who as with some of the best and most personal movie projects, co-wrote this screenplay for herself to act in.

There are aspects to the film that reminds me of many other quaint Britcoms in terms of creating a story where one person’s challenge is taken up by others who are willing to help, and in this case, it’s Sandra’s desire to build a house for her two quite adorable daughters while also trying to keep it secret from her abusive ex.

Dunne’s performance isn’t as showy as some of the other dramatic performances mentioned in this very column, but she and Lloyd do a fine job creating an authenticity that really makes you believe and push for her character, Sandra, surrounding her with characters who can help keep the movie on the lighter side despite very serious nature of spousal abuse (which also rears its ugly head in Pieces of a Woman). Oh, and don’t get too comfortable, because this, too, leads to an absolutely shocking and devastating climax you won’t see coming. (Well, now you will… but you’ll still be shocked. Trust me.)

Still, it’s a really nice movie with the house being built clearly a metaphor. I know there’s a lot of truly fantastic movies discussed in this week’s column but don’t let this wonderful British drama pass you by, because you can tell it’s a labor of love for everyone who made it.

Herself will be in theaters for roughly a week starting December 30 before streaming on Prime Video on January 8.

In select theaters and on VOD on New Year’s Day is Roseanne Liang’s WWII thriller SHADOW IN THE CLOUD (Vertical/Redbox Entertainment), starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Flight Officer Maude Garrett, who is assigned to deliver a top-secret package on the B-17 bomber “The Fool’s Errand” with an all-male crew that throws her into a turret “for her own safety.” She ends up getting trapped down there as the plane is attacked by a creature that no one believes is out there, as they fight back against the unseen enemy, many secrets are revealed.

This is yet another movie I didn’t know that much about other than it has Moretz on an airplane, but there’s so much about the movie that both had me scratching my head but also has me quite deliriously amused that filmmakers could get away with some of the craziness that we witness. Maybe it’s not a surprise that the movie was co-written by Max Landis -- not exactly the most beloved screenwriter in Hollywood these days, and certainly not a critical favorite.

Again I really didn’t know what to expect so after Moretz’s character gets on the plane and is trapped in the turret under the plane, I thought that maybe I was seeing something similar to the one-location thriller 7500, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which I wasn’t too big a fan of even though the actor was good. Moretz continues to be quite a phenomenal actor, but the mix of Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper’s music, which borrows as much from Soulwax (look ‘em up on Spotify) as John Carpenter, and the sexist attitude by the male crew towards Garrett made me unsure of what the movie was meant to say.

Much of the movie just has Moretz on her own with the men’s voices over the comms, which is not something that could possibly sustain a whole movie. Part of it is borrowed from a very well-known episode of “The Twilight Zone,” in fact.

but fortunately, it breaks from out of that deceit but then just starts getting crazier and crazier. I’m not even gonna tell you about what happens or what’s in the box Garrett is carrying or where things go, because honestly, I don’t think you would believe me.

I haven’t seen any of Ms. Liang’s previous films but when you realize how much crazy stuff she’s able to get way with, I’ll be really interested what she does next. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any movie that’s quite as crazy as Shadow in the Cloud or one that makes me want to watch it again for that very reason.

Oscar-winning Icarus director Bryan Fogel’s doc THE DISSIDENT (Briarcliff), which opens in theaters Friday then will be On Demand January 8, follows the horrific assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in September 2018, thought to be the work of the Saudi kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS.

I’m really fascinated by movies like this one and Ryan White’s recent Assassins – both which could be in the Best Documentary race at the Oscars in April, by the detective and investigative work done by both filmmakers to get to the bottom of murders that shouldn’t be possible and find those that are responsible. I’ll admit that I didn’t really pay much attention to this story when it was happening a few years back, so I don’t know how much of the details are new and exclusive to Fogel’s doc. He does get access to Kashouggi’s fiancé Hatice who had gone with Jamal to the Saudi embassy in Turkey to get proof that he was single and could marry when he vanished for days and then turne up dead.

Fogel also meets with another Saudi dissident now living in Quebec who goes through the events that led up to Kashouggi’s murder that involved a social media campaign against the journalist within a country where 80% of the population is on Twitter (!).

This is another fascinating doc by Fogel that I’m sure some will be more interested in due to its subject, but when it comes to investigative pieces that really take a deep dive into news from the headlines, Fogel has created another unforgettable doc. (Also, it was absolutely little surprise to me that Fogel’s film is co-written by Mark Monroe, who has been involved with some of the best docs I’ve seen over the past 15 years or so… just look up his IMDB credits!)

Opening at the Film Forum Virtual Cinema in New York for a one-week qualifying run is Russia’s movie for Oscar consideration, Andrei Kochalovsky’s DEAR COMRADES! (NEON), a black and white dark dramedy set in 1960s Kruschchev-era Russia. It involves a strike by locomotive workers when the government raises food prices, leading to chaos and a massacre that leaves a Communist party loyalist, Lyuda (played by Julia Vysotskaya) who the film then follows. Unfortunately, I had a choice of either writing this column or watching this two-hour movie. I opted for the former (obviously) but I do hope to get to this later in the week and should be adding more on this movie once I do.

Also streaming in Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema starting next Wednesday, December 30, is Mario Monicelli’s 1960 film, The Passionate Thief.

Unfortunately, I also wasn’t able to get to Two Ways Home (Gravitas Ventures), In Corpore or Fire Will Come, which will open in Metrograph’s digital ticketing system.

Metrograph will also continue showing Tsia Ming-Liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong, and lots of great programming over the holidays. It would be a great time to get yourself or a loved one a digital membership for just $50! (James Gray is also programming some of his own films like Little Odesssa and other favorites, like Richard Quine’s Strangers When We Meet, over the holidays.)

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

#TheWeekendWarrior #Movies #Reviews #WonderWoman84 #OneNightInMiami #NewsOfTheWOrld #PromisingYoungWoman #PiecesOfAWoman #SylviesLove Herself TomHanks

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girlofmanyfandoms · 4 years

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What do you think the council's would have felt after the fight between the council and the black swan where Fitz gets impaled when there back in the lost cities and it hits them that they nearly killed a teenager and he probably has a scar from that encounter?

Ooh, buckle up, buttercup, because I have a LOT to say.

Trigger warnings: Mentions of war, Mentions of kidnapping

Warnings: Spoilers for Keeper of the Lost Cities, Looong response

Clarette was the one at fault for Fitz getting impaled. She was the one who was more concerned with the wellbeing of the Arthropleura, than the wellbeing of the boy who “betrayed” them. I, for one, think the Council was completely irresponsible. They take the Black Swan as a rebel group, but why? I can only think of one real reason.

They genetically altered an elven child, and sent her to the Forbidden Cities, bringing her back when she was 12 - Ok, so this one, I can kind of understand. It’s not right to take genes from two random elves, put the egg in a human, which they were sworn to stay away from for the protection of the planet, and leave the elf there, among the humans, only being watched on by the leader of the organization, who was disguised as an old man next door. Super weird, super creepy, not ethically correct, and illegal. But rebellious?

Sure, the Forbidden Cities are off limits, hence the “Forbidden” part of the name. But can we take a second to understand why? With the information we got in Nightfall, we know that Atlantis was sunk because they needed to cut off all connections with humans. But what happened before that? In Nightfall, we’re told of a golden statue that depicts a human and an elf, standing together in unity. Underneath lies Vespera’s Nightfall, where she kidnapped humans, brought them into what is essentially a torture chamber, and tried to understand how they could do such horrible things with having their minds break when elven minds break completing the same action. She understood how to become close to invincible, and how, in some things, humans are superior to elves.

I’m gong to give you a moment to understand how truly demented this is. Vespera is an ancient elf, just like Bronte, and was among those who got to experience a time where humans and elves lived in unity. Humans walked on the same land as elves and traded market secrets and works of technology, among other things. They were already allies, and they were pretty close, considering there was a statue of them together.

Vespera, an already powerful Empath, wanted to gain the upper hand, gain more power, and consequently gain more status and trust. Vespera wanted to rise above everyone else. Her motive, we’re unsure of, but from what I’ve gathered, she’s power-hungry. So, in order to gain that power, she spent months building her torture chamber under the symbol of the unity of the two species. It was not only the last place someone would look if any information was spilled, it had a beautifully cruel meaning to it, almost mocking. Then, she started kidnapping some human allies, ones that she knew were capable of horrid things, and locked them in the rooms full of mirrors, so they could only see the same images again and again, never knowing where they were coming from. You can also assume that there were other types of torture rooms, all centered around finding out a human’s breaking point, and how they can distance themselves from such guilt.

The Council finds out that humans are going missing, and the humans allies are agitated and enraged. What have their elven allies been doing to their species? Was this all a trap? The Council denies having anything to do with human disappearances and pledges to do what they can to find them. But this isn’t enough to satisfy the humans. They start an uprising, they revoke all resources and trades in place, they plan a defense and attack strategy. Bronte is among the Councillors at that time, and tries to urge his colleagues to take action and clear up the issues, but they’re out of ideas, and their alliances with the other Intelligent Species weaken with each human threat. The goblins and ogres are urging the elves to go to war. The gnomes heed of danger to the economy and population. The trolls and dwarves threaten to leave the alliance with the threat of war hanging over everyone’s head. The humans have powerful weapons, and with their ability of committing murder and other such acts without their minds breaking, the Council knows they won’t hesitate to use them. Besides, what do the elves have? An obscurer and some measly melders? They have no choice. They must run the last bit of humans out of Atlantis and sink the city. They do, and let a few generations pass. The secret is forgotten, and they are safe.

Eventually, they decide to try again, with the Human Assistance Program (HAP). A select group of elves, presumably Emissaries, go undercover and help the humans advance their technology, as well as their view of elves, making elves seem like a mythical creature. There were certain positives with this: electricity, penicillin, Lord of the Rings, chocolate cake, Twinkies. But in the middle of World War II, elven knowledge led to the creation of nuclear bombs. Humans kept on advancing this design, and soon enough, had enough to destroy the world. Humans continued to exploit the knowledge of the elves, and it made them more and more destructive. The Council was forced to make another tough decision. They cancelled the program.

Years later, and Bronte still lives with the guilt of this. He uses his Inflicting abilities to dodge the emotions, sure, but he’s made it clear that it’s not good to rely on your ability alone. And then Sophie came along. The Vackers, one of the most well-known and reputable families, claims to have found this elven Telepathic elf in the Forbidden Cities. The Council is terrified. They went in contact with the humans?! They need to see this girl immediately, and remove all traces of her from her hometown. They need to hide her from the public, especially the Ancients, most of which still see humans as barbarians. what would they think of an elf raised among those who threatened to end them and their world as they knew it? They send her to Foxfire, hoping she can lead a normal life and blend in with everyone else. But of course, she can’t. She gets messages from the Black Swan. She and Dex get kidnapped only to be saved by Forkle and dropped off in the middle of nowhere. They arrive in Paris, a Forbidden City. She takes a flareodon to her hometown, another Forbidden City, and makes all of the Everblaze, which the Council unrightfully presumes is the Black Swan despite knowing that there’s another group out there, disappear mysteriously, leaving only the strange flowers in their wake, making the humans confused and suspicious. And that’s only in Book 1.

What about everything else? What about what she did in Exile with Alden? How she can suddenly telepathically talk to animals? How she keeps getting sent to the Healing Center and one day after going missing with Keefe, she’s all better? When she heals Alden? When she and Fitz try to get into Fintan’s mind, but instead they end up burning down most of Eternalia, killing Kenric, one of their own, in the process.

That’s it. The public knows all about Sophie Foster. Some are scared of her, some pity her, and some idolize her. None of this is positive for the Council, and with the Neverseen after them and all of the Intelligent Species, they cannot have her, or any of her friends among everyone else in the Lost Cities. They take initiative and banish them. But what does that do? They all join the Black Swan, cause chaos in Exillium, and recruit Tam and Linh. Keefe joins the Neverseen in an attempt to get Insider Info. The gnomes, whom the elves depend on for food and maintenance, are being threatened in numbers due to a plague. Eventually, it is actually revealed that the ogres, who are supposed to be in an alliance with the elves, have betrayed them for the Neverseen, and attacked Havenfield, a sanctuary that they depend on.

Isn’t that enough to prove them wrong? No. They don’t have the antidote. So the Black Swan, along with Alvar invade Ravagog, and, after some complications, flood it. Alvar is proven to be working for the Neverseen, and the Neverseen have been working with the ogres to defend the antidote. They don’t have the antidote, and Calla has to figure that out for herself. She makes an ultimatum with the Council: Let the children return to society, and she’ll sacrifice herself to become the Panakes Tree and cure all gnomes. The Council is desperate. They need the gnomes to survive, so they have to accept the offer.

Then what? The Black Swan doesn’t stop defending their people, and continue to pursue the Neverseen. They attack hideouts, get hurt, and find Amy, Sophie’s sister, remembering her clearly. Another problem that the Council can’t know about. So, they stash her in Atlantis with Livvy and Quinlin. Soporodine, a powerful and lethal sedative, is introduced, and affects Alvar, Sophie’s human parents, and Ro. Tam takes Ro away, and she eventually awakens. Atlantis is flooding as the force fields fail, and Linh, Keefe, and Sophie stop in from going under. They’re praised, and are offered a statue to honor them. But this is not the end.

Alvar is here now, and he doesn’t remember a thing. He resides in Everglen, much to Fitz’s disappointment. Silvery goes into labor, and with the help of Luzia, who has been hiding a troll hive in Everglen. Alvar regains his memory, and helps the Neverseen broadcast the release of baby trolls right inside of Everglen, publicly shaming them. This tarnishes the Vacker name, and makes the Council look foolish and weak for not noticing this secret over centuries. Umber is down, but the damage is done. Sophie and Fitz have echoes inside of them, killing them slowly. Even though they recover, the Neverseen have recruited Tam in exchange for the lives of the baby alicorns. Not only that, but Sophie is unmatchable.

The Council is still slightly respected, but anyone can see that the Black Swan are the real leaders here. They decide the only way to gain more control over their people is to form an alliance. But they can’t have the same people that tend to cause chaos around Sophie. No, instead they assemble a team of five, with Sophie as the leader. Team Valiant. They gain the title of Regents, and are there to create order. But Sophie does something else. She becomes more powerful in Inflicting and uncovers the secret of the dwarves’ false unity. Tam is forced to help Lady Gisela “fix” her son, but Keefe ends up in a coma. Tam is freed, and Glimmer is convinced to leave the Neverseen and help the Black Swan. Sophie learns how to truly teleport, and Oralie, her number one supporter (and mom) from the beginning decides to do what every Councillor has sworn not to: help Sophie open her cache.

So, to answer your question, I think some of the better Councillors, like Oralie, Bronte, Terik, and possibly Clarette, feel guilty about harming a child, and that they were worried sick over whether or not they had killed a child. But seeing as how corrupt the elven society really is, I don’t think the Council is on the right side. Soon, they’re going to have to choose.

#sorry for the long analysis #i may or may not have the urge to write a fic involving some of the stuff here #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #sophie foster

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apple-grass-and-smiles · 5 years

Text

Shiny Toy With a Price

Once again I have committed the fandom version of a hit-and-run by delivering a single story based on a Taylor Swift song and then fleeing the scene of the crime. This one is based on/around Cruel Summer and there are a few little hints buried throughout the story that reference it. I hope you enjoy.

Summary: That summer was particularly hot and cruel and it hadn't rained since May. (Or Bruce wants to label his relationship with Selina and she is adamantly against such an idea.)

If asked to describe the summer of Year Zero, Selina would immediately respond that it was the hottest summer of her life. Whether or not this was actually the case is up for debate, but it certainly felt like the hottest summer. And a lot of Gothamites agreed. It hadn’t rained since May and by the time July rolled around, any plant that hadn’t been tended to religiously was dead and people were desperately praying for any amount of rain. The streets were full of people in as few items of clothing as they could be, water with ice in it was treated like pure gold, and people would huddle in groups to be in front of one of the few working air conditioners.

What only a handful of people knew, and one of the secrets you couldn’t pay Selina to spill, was that Bruce and Alfred’s small apartment was one of the only places with a working, refrigerated air conditioning system. Bruce has claimed the apartment early enough after the bridges blew and Alfred has booby trapped it enough that no one was ever able to really vandalize the small 3-bed, 2-bath apartment. That apartment, with it’s pink wallpaper that Alfred and Selina had painted a deep blue in the early morning one of the first days she was able to walk and the doors that squeaked no matter how much oil she and Bruce poured on the hinges, quickly became her refuge during the Hottest Summer Ever.

The apartment was about four blocks away from the GCPD and a five-minute walk if you used the roofs (seven minutes if you used the regular streets). It wasn’t unusual for Bruce to get up before the sun and head to the police station, at which point Selina, who had usually camped out on the small fire escape outside his window, would sneak in and take her turn getting a couple of hours of sleep. It was a weird set-up, which seemed fitting considering how Selina had no idea how this year would be remembered once the bridges were back and Bruce lived in a mansion that wasn’t full of board games with mismatched pieces and her clothes and the truly disgusting alcohol that Alfred had gotten from Lucius that one time. But then again, things had always been weird for them and there was nothing to indicate anything would change any time soon.

Looking back on it now, years after the incident and years after Bruce left and years after she became Catwoman and a socialite and years before Bruce will return dressed as a bat, Selina doesn’t know if she regrets the night they stole Alfred’s vodka or if she just wishes it has happened sooner so that maybe they could have figured everything out before he jumped on a plane headed to somewhere Selina wasn’t.

Rule one of nights that Alfred was out was that Selina must always supply snacks. The rule had started when they were much younger and Selina had taught him how to get snacks out of a vending machine without paying. He had, of course, refused to try this more than once because it was all about the “research” and would be “irresponsible to steal something as small as a pack of potato chips”. Selina had found the sentiment to be one of the most ridiculous ones he had ever shared and then promptly determined that she would always have some stolen vending machine snacks on her when she saw him. That had quickly stopped meaning that she brought the food back to her squat where he’d be waiting and started to mean that she snuck Twinkies and gummy worms and flat soda into his mansion where the small offerings seems stupid and inconsequential in comparison to Alfred’s expertly-made quiches and chocolates from Germany and steakss that cost more than Selina wanted to think about. But the bridges blowing had changed things and once again she was able to offer a valuable commodity and she certainly loved that more than shyly passing Bruce a half-eaten oatmeal creme pie when he could have bought the factory that made it with his pocket change.

So, it was for that reason that Selina snuck through the window that July evening with her arms full of treats with enough processed sugar to kill a man. She had found a vending machine a few blocks away that was mostly full since it has been vandalized past the point of being recognized as a vending machine many years earlier. Bruce, who looked like he hadn’t even considered sleeping for at least a month, greeted her with an exceptionally jubilant smile.

“We figured it out!” he exclaimed as he helped her unload the snacks on the small table.

“The water?”

“Yeah! We just altered one of the old water purifiers and then added on... “ he paused, looking at her with a slightly resigned face. “We made a new water purifier from some old ones and some other tech.”

“Thanks for the dumbed down version. Do you want Twizzlers or Red Vines?” Selina asked holding up one packet in each hand. Bruce paused for a moment, considering, before grabbing the Twizzlers. Selina smiled to herself; Bruce hated Twizzlers and must have known the ones he had just taken would be as hard as a rock, but he also knew that Red Vines were her favorite. Even if that wasn’t the thought process that had gone into his candy selection, she was going to assume that it was. She was in a city full of criminals, cut off from the rest of the world and would probably die of heat stroke if the weather didn’t let up soon; she should be allowed to entertain some slightly romantic ideas.

“So,�� she said as she plopped down on the couch with Red Vines in one hand and her arms and legs slung over every inch of the piece of furniture. “What now? You wanna lose another game of Monopoly?”

Bruce shot her a glare from the kitchen before he came and settled on the coffee table next to the couch. “I would have won if you hadn’t cheated and you know it.” (Selina rolled her eyes at that.) “But I actually have something much better.”

“Do tell…”

“Yahtzee.”

If Selina’s eyebrows could have risen any higher they would have touched her hair line. “Yahtzee?”

“Yahtzee. Plus some gambling.”

“Okay… Explain.”

Bruce laid out the rules. The game would play normally, but they would have to place bets on what they would roll. Each round they would bet something small and as the game went on, what they bet would have to increase in value.

By the time they had finished the first game (Selina won), the pair had discovered some issues with the rules of the game as they stood. Namely, they ran out of things to bet very, very quickly and it had reached the point where Bruce was betting Alfred’s things and Selina was trying to bet random items she found in Bruce’s room (she had bet a very pricey watch his father had bought him for his tenth birthday and her heart had nearly stopped thinking about the price what she likely saw as simply a shiny toy) and it had simply devolved into a very low-stakes game once it became clear none of the items would actually change hands at the end of the night.

Bruce, always one to try and fix any problem presented to him, searched around the apartment to find any way to spice up this game that was rapidly becoming boring when Selina threw a couch pillow at him.

“I’ve got it. You remember that vodka Lucius gave Alfred a couple months ago? The stuff they found in that raid?” Bruce nodded slowly, not entirely certain where Selina was going with this train of thought but pretty certain he would be regretting going along with it in the morning. “We play the game the same way, but, instead of betting objects, we bet how many shots we take.”

“That seems like a great way to get alcohol poisoning.”

“C’mon! It won’t kill us and we can come up with some excuse about, I don’t know, someone stealing it if Alfred ever notices that it’s gone. It’ll be fun.” Selina, who at this point was standing on the couch to talk to Bruce from his vantage point in the kitchen, did her best to give him a sweet face. Instead of a response, Bruce simply grabbed the vodka and rolled his eyes as the setting sun behind him gave him a faintly angelic halo. One day, Bruce figured, Selina would realize she wouldn’t ever have to try and convince him to join her in things. One day she’d figure out that he followed her not because he thought her ideas were good or because he was curious or because he had no other choice. Hopefully, one day she’d realize that he was ready to follow her off of a cliff not to figure out what was at the bottom of siad cliff, but because she was the one to walk off of it.

Another hour passed and as the sun finally set a cool breeze began to blow through the apartment. It was with all the windows open in the apartment and the faint sounds of music coming from the apartment’s kitchen that Selina screamed ‘yahtzee’ and emerged from the game victorious once again. Both teens laughed as Bruce finished the bottle in resignation. Neither of them were strangers to alcohol, but this was the first time they had actually been drunk at the same time. Normally they simply had angry confrontations where one was sober and the other was not, but this situation, with both more than a little high on each other’s company, the sinking temperatures, and the relief of having survived another day, was infinitely preferable to their other drunken encounters. Bruce swept the dice into the mostly destroyed box they had found them in as Selina laid back on the couch, playing with one of the die she had snagged at the end of the game.

Once the game was put away, Bruce came to sit down, lifting Selina’s legs and settling down on the couch before lowering them onto his lap. The two sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before Bruce broke the silence.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

Confused what would spark such a random question, Selina looked at him quizzically. “Uh. Yeah. Why?”

“I was just thinking that I really don’t know where you sleep and we have an extra room here and it just seems ridiculous that you’d be wandering around Gotham where you can get hurt when you could be here and with us and safe and I just don’t know why you’d risk everything just to avoid staying here-”

“You think I’m avoiding staying here? Why would you think that?” Selina was sitting up on the couch now, curling her legs under her to look Bruce in the face.

Bruce played with his hands and stared out the window, “I just figured you wanted to keep us a secret, like you did when we were younger. You didn’t like labeling things and I figured you stayed away and didn’t live with us because you were scared of being labeled.”

“Okay,” Selina held up her hands. “What exactly do you think we are? Because I thought we were just friends hanging out and friends don’t live with friends when they’re stuck on an island full of criminals and separated from the rest of humanity.”

“Really? You think we’re just friends? Then what on Earth was up with you kissing me in Haven or sleeping in my bed when I leave in the morning or coming over for a date whenever Alfred is out? Do you kiss all your friends? What are the rules here, Selina? Because you may not need to know them but I do.”

“Why do there need to be rules and labels? Can’t we just be us? We’ve never needed rules before.” Selina tries not to shout but this conversation was tired and pointless the first time they had it all those years ago and it hasn’t gotten any better in the intervening time. He knows that labels freak her out and he knows that setting rules freak her out and he knows all of this because they’ve been over it so many times that she feels like she could have this argument in her sleep.

“Are you kidding me?” Bruce stands up and drags his hands over his face. “I’ve always needed the rules and the labels! And I can’t figure out why you don’t want them. Are you ashamed of me? Am I your dirty little secret?”

Selina is up in an instant, glaring up at Bruce. “That is insane and you know it! Everyone knows we’re connected. I’m not trying to keep that a secret.”

“Then why can’t I call you my girlfriend?” Bruce’s voice is raised at this point and it’s becoming painfully clear to both parties that this has escalated from their usual labels conversation to a drunken argument.

“Why does it matter that you call me that? It’s not going to change anything!”

“It’ll change everything! I’m tired of keeping you a secret!”

“From who? Who are you keeping me a secret from? Because I’m pretty sure everyone knows that we’re-”

“We’re WHAT? When Jim asks me about you, do I say you’re just my friend? My girlfriend? An alley cat that spends more time in my apartment than Alfred does? I feel like I’m carrying us around as a secret everywhere and I can’t keep doing that. If we’re going anywhere with this, I need a label. I’m not going to keep you if it means keeping you as a secret.”

“Oh my… Bruce what does that even mean?”

Bruce’s hands are in his hair as he stares up at the ceiling in frustration. “It means that this is the ultimatum.”

Selina snorts before biting her lip and replying, “An ultimatum. Really? That’s where we’re at? I came over to hang out with you and now you’re giving me an ultimatum?”

“Yeah because every day I’m dying over trying to figure out what I mean to you and I can’t keep doing it. If I’m just your boyfriend then I’m happy to do that and if I’m just your friend then I’ll be honored to fill that role, but I cannot keep living in a realm where some days you’ll kiss me and other days you just want to be friends and then the other days where you’ll ignore me. I just need to know.”

For a moment, everything is silent except for the sound of the crickets outside and the quiet ticking of the clock. Selina shakes her head ever so slightly and stares at the ground as she whispers, “I could be bleeding and you’d be the last to know.”

“What?”

Slightly louder now as the tears begin to well in Selina’s eyes: “I could be bleeding and you’d be the last to know.”

“That’s ridiculous. What do you mean? We’re together constantly and of course I would know if you were bleeding and-”

“No,” there’s a small flame in Selina’s eyes now. “No, you wouldn’t because you don’t know that every day I’m bleeding and lying and saying I’m fine when really I'm dying and trying to figure out how I feel and waiting for you to cut me to the bone.”

“Then why don’t you tell me? Selina, I just want you to tell me these things so that I can-”

“HAVE A LABEL? Bruce, you want a label so badly and I don’t have one! We’re both feel like we’re always trying to make it work but we’re never making any progress and me sneaking in here every day is just sealing our fates so now we’re tied together and you want to know how I feel and I can’t tell you -”

“WHY? Why can’t you tell me? What could possibly be so bad that you can’t tell me?”

“What’s so bad? Bruce, don’t you get it? I LOVE YOU AND IT’S THE WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO ME!”

Silence falls over the apartment again as Bruce sinks down onto the coffee table.

And then he looks up at her, meeting her eyes with his, and grins the most devilish grin she has ever seen and, for the first time since May, it starts to rain outside.

#guys I always do this #anyway I think Cruel Summer played through all my dreams last night #silence emily #I have a writing tag somewhere buried in here but I don't know where it is #and I'm not going to go looking for it at this point in time #batcat #Selina kyle #bruce wayne #gotham

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 6 years

Text

Humans are Weird “Hell School.”

Based on a prompt from a reader hope you like :) Don’t forget to send those critiques, questions, comments, messages, and prompts!

“Adam!”

“ADAM!”

“Coming.”

Krill peered from his spot on the couch as Captain Vir made his way down the stairs quickly at the call of the Alpha female.

“I just got a call from your old High School.”

Krill watched in fascination as the man’s eyes widened his knees locked up and he skidded right into a doorframe.

He rubbed his head as the alpha female peered around the doorframe.

“Well what do THEY want…..” He frowned

“Oh, Adam, don’t sound so annoyed, you’re a bit of a celebrity, and they just want you to come and give a talk at the school about your work, no big deal.”

“I most definitely will not! I’m not going back to that place.”

***

They stood outside the massive concrete and brick building as snow billowed around them. High chain link fences rose towards the cloudy sky.

“It looks like a prison.”

“It IS a prison.” The man muttered trudging through the snow and up to the doors carrying Krill over one shoulder contained within his specialized containment unit. He shouldered open the doors into the warm entryway bombarded suddenly by an array of pulses. The doors ahead of them buzzed once and then blinked green letting them inside.

“That’s new.” The man muttered stepping into the long hallway to stomp snow from his boots on the inner carpet. Setting down the containment tube, he opened the door and allowed Krill to scuttle outwards onto the floor. He looked around in curiosity, eyes wide and wondering at the long hallway lined in doors and strange containment lockers blinking lights red for locked.

“What is this place?” He wondered following the Captain towards the first set of doors.

“Hell Krill, This is hell.” Krill kind of doubted that. Very much as they passed through the doors into a small office space with a long desk manned by two plum middle-aged human females. They looked up as he entered looking confused for a minute before.

“Adam, is that you, I barely recognized you under that.” She waved a hand up and down, “and the gaudy eyepatch doesn’t help.”

He frowned, opening his mouth to respond.

The woman nudged her companion, “Look Susan its little Adam Vir, can hardly believe it.” It was just then, she noticed Krill, and the scream she let off could have ruptured glass if there was any glass in the room to be found. “What is that?!” She demanded leaping backwards nearly out of her chair. Krill found himself oddly satisfied. A lot of Earth humans weren’t nearly as brave as their space human counterparts. He had never made a human scream before.

“That.” Vir said smugly, “Is Krill, my crew’s acting medic and, oh yeah very much an alien.”

The woman stammered for a moment before grabbing a couple of badges and tossing them over the desk towards Vir who caught them and gave a grin.

“The auditorium.” The woman said curtly before retreating further behind her desk, as Captain Vir led Krill back out into the hallway and down. Krill watched the doors pass by peering in through cracked doors at lines of desks and young humans staring glassy eyed towards the front of the room listening to a single voice droning on and on.

“Really captain, what is this?”

Captain Vir sighed, “In this country and on Earth I general, it is mandatory for everyone to receive public education up until about the age of eighteen. One this continent we have elementary middle and high school education. Subjects include science, mathematics, English, communications, linguistics, geography, health and physical education. Then we have sports teams tagged onto that for after school activities.”

“That’s…. actually quite amazing Captain, I never knew that about humans.”

“Don’t worry, it’s generally completely useless and everything about it is designed to torture your soul into apathy.”

Krill followed confused but said nothing as they were met by a man who, claimed to be the “Principal”/ He was thrown off momentarily upon meeting Krill, but eventually let them backstage giving them a place to sit and rest while he called the students from class. He warned that there would be a few more curious people in attendance. Vir was beginning to look a little green.

They waited back stage for over an hour before the principle came back patting Vir on the shoulder. In that time Vir had changed into his uniform.

Krill could hear the sounds of many voices echoing up from the chamber beyond as the principle walked out onto stage. Distantly Krill could hear the speakers booming overhead, “Five years ago, Earth began peace talks with the Galactic assembly, and it took almost two years for earth to finally accept the terms of the peace talks. The six month war with the Drev took place two months after we joined, and a thousand of our soldiers were sent in aid of our galactic allies. Much of this had been made possible by a man who graduated from this very school not so many years ago. At only age 20 Then Lieutenant Adam Vir was the first human to encounter sentient life. Two years later he fought alongside our galactic allies in the war against the Drev. He received a purple heart for injuries received and a silver star for valor in action. Two years later he was promoted to the Rank of captain, and now currently pilots our furthest reaching human space vessel. He has worked, in part, for the Galactic Assembly, and has helped with the construction of many human-related laws, now Please give a warm welcome to Captain Adam Vir.”

The man took a deep breath as the polite clapping began motioning Vir out behind him as he walked onto stage. Upon seeing Krill, the room erupted in a measure of gasping, shrieking and awes of wonder.

Captain Vir leaned against the podium and waited for the crowd to die down. Krill hid behind him.

When they finally did, he responded, “Look I don’t have a speech prepared or anything so if you want me to talk you better ask. Otherwise I can stand here for an hour staring at you and just make it weird and awkward for everyone. Don’t bother raising your hands, I’m not about that.”

Pause, “What the hell is that!” He frowned, “That is actually very rude, so don’t be a Jerk.” He stepped aside allowing the students to see Krill, “This is my crew’s acting medic Krill. If you have one of those universal translator apps on your phone, you should probably use it unless you have the implants and then, more power to you.”

The phones were already out pointed directly at Krill. Questions were shouted out at random and at great vigor.

Krill stumbled to answer most of them unsure how to answer the question. Despite his poor stage presence, the students seemed thrilled that he could even talk. There was never a moment of silence, and why would there be, this was probably the most interesting thing that happened to them all year.

“Do you wear the eyepatch because you think it makes you look cool?”

There was a pause, “I have two answers for that one. One I don’t have an eye, and number two…. Yes…. Absolutely why wouldn’t I wear an eyepatch. My question is, why wouldn’t anyone else?”

“What did you get your purple heart for?”

“Well, I got my leg ripped off by a big ass alien…. Uh sorry I mean a nine foot tall alien.”

A collective, “Woa, can we see it.”

Krill was stunned, little savage.

“Yeah, sure.” He reached down and pulled up the leg on his pants to reveal the robotic leg underneath. “It goes up to about mid-thigh, good model though.”

“Tell us your most interesting story.”

“Oh…. Well sh- I mean uh….. I have a lot, like there was the time I lost my eye, saved an alien race from bubblegum pink overlords, ran a marathon on a class A-1 Death planet to avoid dying, accidentally killed an alien pirate by spitting on him, got locked inside a Rundi prison, navigated an asteroid field manually, killed a serial killer who tried to kill me, saved an alien child from drowning, won a battle by throwing rocks, battled an underwater leviathan, survived an attack by pirates, and uh of course made contact with the first E.T. life.”

The crowd was silent before demanding that he tell them as many of his stories as he could before their time was up.

Krill was encouraged to jump in on the stories, and by the time they were done Captain Vir was significantly more relaxed than before. Krill hid behind the podium most of the time.

Eventually the Principal had to dismiss the students to a chorus of booing, “Alright, Alright, enough of that, and les thank Captain Vir, for coming to speak with us today, no, no I have already gone over all the time I am willing.”

Vir stepped down from the stage greeting and speaking with some of the students as they left. Krill stood beside him as, suddenly the man grew stiff.

“Hey look Alien Adam, Can’t believe it’s really you.” A rather large…. Mildly flabby human walked up to the two of them. He looked Captain Vir up and down, “and you finally got some muscle on you.”

“And you finally got fat.” Captain Vir responded immediately. The other human seemed surprised before his eyes narrowed in anger.

“You-“

“The captain held up a hand, “Ah ah, hold on distinguished veteran with frontal lobe damage, I can’t control my impulses.”

Krill looked between the two men, “You know each other?”

Before the other man could speak, captain Vir held up a hand, “Yes, we do, he made my life a living hell for four years all because he peaked in high school, and I didn’t. Now I’m winningly successful, and he’s been in the same dead-end job for the past seven years.”

“Brain damage?”

“No, that was all me. And one more thing. I was right.”

The man huffed, “Come on Adam, you can hardly blame me. You were a weird kid like I mean what kind of person ACTUALLY believe in UFO’s and Aliens. It wasn’t normal.”

“Oh yeah, and it was only about me being a geek, nothing about how skinny I was, or the graphic T-shirts, or how short I was, or my braces, or how bad I was at sports. And I’m going to go right ahead and point out that a lot of people believed that the sun revolved around the earth for a long time, that didn’t make them right, but you couldn’t leave it alone, and now that it turns out I wasn’t crazy you seem to think it’s just ok to come up and insult me again.”

The man worked his jaw somewhere between anger and surprise.

“What, have nothing to say now, that I won’t just lay down and take it…..” He took a slow deep breath calming himself, “I found what I was looking for, and I don’t need you explaining yourself to me. You were a jerk, and here was no reason to be. You messed me up for a long time, but I am over what you did to me, and I am done with this conversation.”

He stepped past the man with Krill at his heels Krill following after, “What was that about?”

He sighed long and deep, “I wasn’t always as fantastically awesome as I am now.” He chuckled to himself, “When I was younger, a lot of people didn’t believe in Extra-terrestrials, interstellar technology was still in in its infant stages….. And, I well, I believed that everyone was wrong. I was sure aliens were real, so I looked for UFOs, I spent all my allowance on a telescope. I was so obsessed, it came at the exclusion of everything else, health, sports, eating, I was probably really weird, and some people used that as an excuse to be real assholes to me.”

“Is that common in human schools?”

Captain Vir sighed, “All too common I’m afraid, thousands of years and we still can’t shake it…. But I was right.”

“We were never alone.”

#humans are space orcs #humans are weird #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians #earth is space australia

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