#two psychopaths equal big mess

[sweetestlamb]

Try A Little Tenderness

Summary: Han Seo gets treated with kindness and affection and he doesn’t know how to process these foreign feelings. Also he gets a first eye contact of the mafia couple. 

Author's note: A few of you said you would like to read this so I popped it out real quick in between real life and all that mess, I did something like this for IOTNBO and really enjoyed that sometimes it’s fun to see a relationship from an outsider’s pov. I also saw a few people say that they ship our puppy with a certain someone so I threw in some crumbs because the visuals would be very pretty and good for my health. It has talks of past abuse (see psychopath brother) but I don’t think it’s any darker than the regular show. Happy reading! 

He keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to realize that he's nowhere near good or smart enough to keep alive such less work so closely to them and listen to their plans. They trust him, he can tell by the way that conversations don't taper off if he comes into the room with another question about how to use the copy machine- there are so many buttons and it's confusing figuring it out by myself.

This first time he sheepishly asks for help after reading articles online and coming no closer to understanding the massive machine, he expects more fanfare; a slap on the cheek, a rap on the forehead or just a simple sigh and "idiot" that he would smile in the face of but the word would stick to his heart for days on end. His eyes were glued to the ground after his inquiry so he missed whatever look they originally gave him but surprisingly enough Ms. Hong stepped forward, he almost flinched as the hand approached his view but instead of pain he just felt warmth on his shoulder.

Guiding him with the hand on his shoulder, she led him back over to the machine and patiently explained all the buttons to him, even smiling gently when he pulled out a little notepad to write down the many directions.

"You really only need these three buttons this is the power button, but this thing is ancient so sometimes it may need a good kick." He jumped marginally at the loud bang of her foot against the side, quickly writing that down as well.

Really old. Needs kick.

"Then you press this button to choose the amount of copies, choose double or single sided and choose with staple and that's it." His eyes darted rapidly trying to keep up with her directions while taking his notes. It sounded simple enough but his brother had taught him that if there was a way to fuck something up, he would find it, naturally. So his nerves skyrocketed when she turned to him with a grin and said, "Are you ready for another test? Make 20 copies of these." She handed him a small stack of papers. 

His heart jerked in his chest and suddenly he was fifteen years old again staring at a test sheet and knowing none of the answers. It was hard to study with the fear of Han Seok barging into his room at any moment to do another sick experiment on him, once he had sliced his finger just to watch it bleed. He'd told his father that he accidentally cut himself while cooking and let the shame wash over him as he got a look that screamed that he was incompetent and pathetic.

"Han Seo? Are you okay? You seem like you're a million miles away." The pretty lawyer's concerned voice brought him back to reality and he could feel the stares of the other men in the room on his skin, Vincenzo being the heaviest. He really didn't want to look stupid on front of the man for some unexplored reason. He swallowed hard before facing the machine, feeling like he was going off to war.

He pressed the big power button, shaken when nothing happened but suddenly remembered his notes and with an almost unnoticeable glance he found his answer, swiftly kicking the beast of a copier he watched it roar to life and almost on autopilot he mimicked the motions that Ms. Hong had just demonstrated and watched in terror as the paper was swallowed and the copies were spit out from the compartment in the bottom.

I did it.

Everything seemed to be in order and the machine hadn't exploded. Yet. 

"Oh."

The triumphant smile that had graced his face slide off like rain on a windowpane.

"I messed up. I'm sorry. Please let me try-"

He was bowing before he could stop himself, shame a familiar friend at this point in his life. There were very little moments that he didn't feel a tsunami of shame crashing over him in a thick heavy sheet.

"You just forget to select stapled. But that's minor, we can just staple them by hand." She responded nonchalantly picking up the copies and bringing them over to the table, "Good job though. Next time you'll probably get it perfect right?"

It was pathetic. He was pathetic. There was no reason for pride to grow in his chest like a mustard seed, he had only completed a basic task. Something that even a monkey could, actually monkeys could do even more complicated tasks.  It was nothing to be proud of. He shouldn't have been smiling as largely as he was, they would think he was insane and kick him out.

But.

She'd said he did a good job. That wasn't a phrase he was used to hearing, he wasn't someone who did anything worth praising. He shuffled away back to the shelves that needed to be organized in alphabetical order, moving a large file to the front of the row unaware that there was an equally huge smile on his face. It stayed there for the rest of the day.

Working there was different from working with his brother. Astronomically. Nobody hit him there, even when he made mistakes. Instead he just got three heads over his shoulder helping him fix said mistake or Mr. Nam pushing his chair out of the way and taking over with only a gentle chide of, "Be careful next time." And it's clear that they all care for and respect each other. It's evident in the way that there's no clear hierarchy at the law firm, when they have meetings they alternate on who makes the coffee for the team, take turns buying meals and they are all allowed to speak and share their ideas without waiting for approval. It's nothing like he's used to and it makes him wonder if this is normal and what he's used to is...not.

It's enough to overwhelm him.

Then something catches his attention in the peripheral of his eye, Ms. Hong impatiently goes to take a sip of her coffee ignoring Vincenzo's firm warning against doing so and she flinches at the heat of the beverage, sticking out her tongue instantly after the first sip, blowing and huffing theatrically- something he's grown used to seeing from her. This isn't what shocks him though, it's Vincenzo's reaction. Immediately he walks over to the water cooler, filling a little paper cup before bringing it back over to her and thrusting the cool liquid into her outstretched hands.

"I told you to be careful." He says voices filled with exasperation as she gulps down the water, shooting him puppy dog eyes.

"I thouf it mould be cool enouf." She replies around her extended tongue and he watches the interaction with wide eyes, that only grow larger when the murderous Mafia member picks up the lawyers mug of steaming liquid and starts to blow on her coffee, his lips puckered into a perfect o. Ms. Hong watches absently as if this is expected behavior and after a few minutes, Vincenzo takes a sip of her coffee deeming it cool enough before handing it back to her. She takes a sip dangerously close to the spot his mouth had just occupied and hums at the temperature, shooting him a brilliant smile. To his utter surprise the usually stoic Mafia member smiles back fondly, before walking off to make a call. Ms. Hong watches him walk away before realizing that he's watching their interaction and a delicate blush blossoms in her cheeks before she stutters walking off to her table.

He glances between the two with his head tilted. Feeling curious.

Once he starts looking it's almost indecent how often the two touch each other, Vincenzo's hand never too far from Ms. Hong's back or arm and she never reacts to the sudden touches, no flinching or tensing up when a foreign hand is suddenly on her person. That's a new concept for him, he doesn't like surprise touches.

Then there's the fact that Mr. Cassano never allows Ms. Hong to hold anything, when she comes bustling through the doors with bags in her hand the smell of pasta permeating the room the older man is already making his way across the room tugging the bags from her hands wordlessly. He places them carefully on the table before smoothly dragging out her chair and guiding her into it with a hand on her waist.

"I brought your favorite. Authentic Italian food." She smirks up at him, opening the containers and he feels his mouth water at the tantalizing aroma that fills the room even more than before.

"It smells amazing! Where did you find authentic Italian food?" He asks inserting himself into their conversation and for a minute, he second guesses himself gearing up for a blow. But it never comes and Ms. Hong waves him closer, pushing a container of thick noodles in his direction.

"Are you hungry? Here have some!" She shoves chopsticks into his hand and watches him eagerly and he can do nothing but follow her orders, stuffing the tomato sauce drenched noodles into his mouth. When he looks up he sees that they are both watched him avidly, awaiting his review and he smiles around his bulging cheeks putting up two thumbs.

"It's delicious! Best Italian food I've ever had!" He stares excitedly and he's unprepared for Vincenzo's sudden glare, it's the first time the man has thrown such a look his way he gulps nervously at the unnerving sight.

"What- did I say something wrong?" He warily asks watching the Italian man angrily stomp off whilst muttering something indecipherable to him but that makes Ms. Hong smile mischievously, grabbing the container and chasing after the fleeing man.

"Stop being a snob! Have some, say ahhhh!" He can't comprehend the sight that he's watching, dumbfounded as the petite lawyer hangs on Mr. Cassano's arm and tries to feed him the Italian food.

"No! I don't want it, stop! Why do you keep bringing that here?" The Italian Mafia boss whines pushing her away but he notes that he never pushes her too hard, his shoves are very soft barely rocking her slight body. When she starts to chase him around the room, Han Seo can only watch in shock the behavior too childish for him to reconcile that these are the same people who have been thwarting all his brother's plans. Not even Mr. Nam entering the office is enough to stop their shenanigans and in the end it's Vincenzo who admits defeat, backed into a wall. Han Seo waits for her to give him the food and for this moment to come to an end. But neither one of them make a move, frozen against the wall staring at each other looking a million miles away.

It's then that it clicks for him.

They are more than just partners. 

When one of the various plaza tenants burst through the doors only then is the tense moment severed, Ms. Hong jumps back flustered thrusting her hand at his face and Mr. Cassano has to open his mouth lest he get smashed in the jaw. He watches amused as a grimace crosses the older man's face as he swallows the food as if it's poison.

Ms. Hong flies across to help the cute pianist that he's seen around a plaza a few times. He stares at her from under his bangs, looking away when she catches his eyes. Coughing loudly he walks away to do something important that doesn't involve losing his wits because of a pretty girl. Maybe he can talk to Mr. Cassano later just to ask about her, there's nothing wrong with being curious about your neighbors after all.

He doesn't know where else to go so he comes to Jipuragi, letting out a sigh of relief when he sees all the lights off. He pulls the key that Mr. Nam gave him from his pocket, still in disbelief that they trusted him enough to give him a key to the establishment. He had blinked away tears when the older man pushed the small metal object into his hands, it felt like a huge responsibility. Almost like he was being accepted into their makeshift family. It was far more than he deserved. 

Sitting down on his chair, he lets the agony wash over him. His cheek is throbbing, sore and swollen from the open handed slaps against the skin. Their stocks had dropped again from all the accusations and bad publicity, and his brother had once again taken it out on him berating him like a dog before kicking me out. It's nothing new, nothing he's never experienced before but it feels worst. Now that he's been around people who don't treat him like he's dirt, it hurts even more to go back to the old ways. He's so lost in thought he doesn't notice the door opening or the person creeping inside.

"What are you doing here?"

He jumps at the unexpected voice, twisting in his seat panicked. His heart rate settles once he sees the cool eyes of the man he's grown to respect. Vincenzo Cassano. He slumps in his seat, no excuses coming to mind and then it's too late and the other man is crossing the room and taking a seat across from him.

Those cold eyes narrow as they search his face, "What happened to your face?"

Images of his brother looming over him and slapping him on the ground flood his mind, along with his screams of pain as he pleads for him to stop. Then visions of a much smaller version of himself pleading similarly as his brother pulled his hair and laughed at his cries. He's crying before he ever realizes that the tear has condensed. 

Vincenzo tenses across the table, looking lost and uncomfortable.

It only makes him cry harder. It's so much better than getting hit.

Without a word the Mafia boss stands up pushing his chair away, stomping powerfully to the door. He watches alarmed before finding his voice and calling out, "Where are you going?"

The man looks at him darkly answering, "To kill your brother."

He gapes at the statement said so matter of fact and a bubble of laughter rises to the surface, making him chuckle through his tears. He rears back further at the other man's blatant confusion following his outburst, feeling freer than he's ever felt because this is the first time someone has tried to defend him.

It feels nice. Better than nice, unbelievable.

His heart thumps as he looks at the other man that he has every reason to be scared of but instead he feels safer than ever in his presence, it almost feels like what a brother should. A real brother not the one that he has who would kill him tomorrow without batting an eyelash.

"He's not done suffering yet. But thank you." Vincenzo shifts awkwardly at his show of gratitude never accepting of thanks something he has noticed while observing the enigmatic man, he vaguely wonders what this man has been through to make the complicated person he sees in front of him. Maybe one day he'll ask.

"Well if you're going to stay here, there's a bed up there."

Impulsively he replies, "Have you ever used it before? Is it really okay for me to use?"

He's met with a puzzled look, which he returns with a calculating one and then he spares a quick glance over to Ms. Hong's table and the gears click and Vincenzo is tomato faced and yelling, "Watch your mouth you brat! Do you want a beating?"

It shouldn't be funny with his face still throbbing from a beating just hours earlier, but he laughs so much his stomach hurts and that pain dulls the ache in his face.

"Oh my goodness what happened to your face?" He's barely able to get out an answer before Ms. Hong is jogging across the room, ever so gently catching his face in her small warm hands. Immediately he's reminded of his mother and he has to look away before he embarrasses himself.

He mumbles a lie about tripping but she's already sending a ferocious knowing look over to her partner and he watches their silent conversation with large eyes, until her voice breaks the pregnant pause.

"I can't wait until we kill that punk. How dare he put a hand on you? I'll go get some medicine, you-" she points to Vincenzo, "get him some ice before it starts to swell." The man automatically follows her instructions, looking like a dutiful husband.

And that's how Mr. Nam finds them, Vincenzo pressing ice wrapped in towels against his cheek as Ms. Hong squeezes creamy ointment onto her finger and smears it across his cheek. He blames his glossy eyes on the pain in his cheek and not the one in his chest.

It's his first time walking around the plaza and he tries to ignore the suspicious eyes that trail him, he knows that they know him as their enemy's brother and underling so he doesn't blame them for not trusting him, he would do the same. The clang of piano keys catches his attention and leads him to the source of the noise like a siren luring lost men, he watches transfixed through the glass as delicate fingers fly across the keys in a frenzy. It’s mesmerizing. 

He was forced to get piano lessons when he was younger, he was surprisingly good at it even better than Han Seok thus his brother became enraged and smashed his fingers putting a permanent end to his lessons.

The music lulls him into a sense of comfort so much so he doesn't realize when it ends and the small pianist notices that she has an audience.

When he finally looks up and catches her eye, he freaks out expecting her to look at him like all the others have today so he's unprepared for the door to slide open and for her to beckon him in with a crooked finger. He walks in almost as if in a trance, she's so pretty it's almost unnatural a supernatural glow surrounding her in her white flowing dress.

"How does it feel working at Jipuragi?" She asks suddenly catching him off guard, he sputters before taking a deep breath and looking away before replying, "I feel useful. It's....new."

That's all he can disclose and honestly it's more than he intended on saying but a knowing smile stretches across her pale face.

"Vincenzo, he's someone special who can make others feel special too." He smarts at the clear adoration in her voice, of course. She liked Vincenzo too. Every woman at this plaza probably did, the Italian was much more appealing than he would ever be- naturally charismatic and handsome, every woman's dream.

He smiles defeated stepping further into the space, running his fingers longingly across the piano keys. Something else that just wasn't meant for him.

"You like him too. It makes sense, he's really cool." He whispers, self deprecation swaddling him like a blanket. 

It's obvious who else he's referring to only Vincenzo and Ms. Hong seem to be in denial at this point everyone else assuming that they're already dating.

She doesn't deny his accusation. It's his own fault for having hope but that knowledge does nothing to tamper the hurt that rumbles in his chest. 

She hums before walking closer to him, fingers trailing across the black and white keys.

"I did. But they're good together."

He stills in shock, lightly pressing down on the key beneath his finger the sound vibrating through his skin. Then she presses another key that rings harmoniously with his and he can't not look over at her and he jolts breath stuck in his throat when he finds her already staring at him with a serene smile, "There are a lot of interesting people here though, someone else has caught my eye."

He plays the final note to fulfil the chord they started and their eyes never leave the other, music floating on the air between them.

Full. He’s never known what that felt like before but now he feels full of everything and he can't go back, can't ever go back to the way things once were.

There’s no looking back, only forward. 

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Hiii!! I really love your tumblr posts and I'm pretty new to the Batfam (meaning I have only read fics and textposts about them, no comics) and I wanted to ask about the year Bruce/Batman gets "lost in time". I know general things of what the kids have been doing–Dick became batman and fired Tim from robin, giving it to Damian, everyone thinking Tim was crazy for believing Bruce was alive, (don't really know what Jason was up to though, was he still murderous towards Tim? Does the pit still affect him? Also I have no idea about Cass and Duke, were they introduced at this point??) Anyways, my real question was why was Bruce lost in time, what villain put him there? And how did he get out? And how long was he "dead"? Was Bruce in another reality or like just asleep the whole time? Oh! And how soon did this happen after Damian got introduced to the family–a couple months?

I'm so sorry this is so long, but I hope you answer and thank you!!

(I’m going to try and cover all my bases here by going into how exactly Bruce “died,” what went down during the Battle For the Cowl, what the Batkids did while Bruce was gone, and how Bruce came back. Hopefully it all makes sense?? We’ll see how it goes lmao.)

Part 1 - What Happened to Bruce:

So there was this event called Final Crisis (which I won’t go completely into since it would make this post a million times longer than it already is), but the bottom line is that Darkseid wants to overthrow reality and release his Anti-Life Equation, which would overthrow the whole planet and turn everyone into slaves. (If you’re interested in knowing more about the storyline, here’s a Reddit thread that explains it WAY better than I could.) 

What I CAN tell you is that during his final confrontation with Darkseid, Bruce is hit by an Omega Beam and turned into a burnt chicken nugget killed. Poor guy.

Final Crisis #6

Clark and Diana bring the body back to the Batcave and break the news to the Batfamily. Batman #687 covers a good portion of the aftermath such as Bruce’s funeral, the Batfamily grieving, and Dick coming to terms with his new responsibility of becoming Batman.

Batman #687

Part 2 - Battle For the Cowl: 

Musical chairs time, fellas! After word gets out that Batman is gone, Gotham erupts into chaos. Dick doesn’t want to take over the mantle, Tim needs Dick to take over the mantle, and Jason says “fuck it” and takes over the mantle himself because somebody around here has to. He becomes this murderous psychopathic Batman and starts taking out criminals with deadly force because someone’s gotta do the job, so it might as well be him.

Batman: Battle For the Cowl #1

(Okay honestly, this series had some pretty bad characterization overall, which sucks since it’s such an important storyline. Jason is portrayed as this violent psychopath, which...okay, he was kind of insane after the Pit and all, but not to this degree. Personally, I choose to owe the bad characterization to Bruce’s death because as much as Jason resents Bruce for all he’s done, he does still love him and losing him would be devastating, which would exacerbate his already fragile mental health. As for Damian, this happens roughly three years after his first appearance, so we can assume it’s been a few months since he first joined the family. He’s still relatively new at this point, so nobody knows how to write him yet. He ends up being depicted as if his main two personality traits are Bratty and Assassin-Child and that’s it. It’s all just a mess.)

Anyway, Tim tells Dick to become Batman and stop Jason’s reign of terror. Dick says no, so Tim follows Jason’s lead by saying “fuck it” and putting on the cowl himself. He goes to confront Jason, which ends in Jason beating the crap out of him (again) and leaving him for dead after Tim declines his offer to become Jason’s Robin. Dick goes to save Tim and ends up fighting Jason. 

Battle For the Cowl #3

Dick wins, Jason disappears, Tim is fine, and Dick finally gets his head out of his ass and becomes Batman. 

Part 3 - What Happens to Each Batkid While Bruce is “Dead”?:

Dick: 

As I said, Dick becomes the new Batman a month after Bruce’s death. He’s got big shoes to fill, and it takes some time for him to get used to his new role. He and Damian end up flipping around the classic Batman and Robin dynamic, with Batman now as the fun counterpart to Robin’s edginess. Dick, Damian, and Alfred relocate to the penthouse above the Wayne Foundation building, operating out of a secret Bat-Bunker in the basement.

Batman #688

Jason: 

After Battle For the Cowl, Jason is still batshit insane and determined to make Dick’s already stressful life even harder by becoming a supervillain with an ugly costume and an even uglier hairstyle. (I know it’s just because the artist sucked, but still. Jason is horrifying to look at during this time.) He mostly just gets on Dick’s nerves by running around Gotham with his new sidekick Scarlet and killing criminals as Batman and Robin wannabes. Eventually, Dick has Jason committed to Arkham Asylum and he hangs out there until Bruce returns.

Batman and Robin (2009) #5

Tim: 

Tim...doesn’t do great after Bruce’s death, mentally. Dick makes Damian Robin, his reasoning being that Robin is more of a sidekick and he sees Tim as his equal. By making Damian Robin, Dick hopes that it will give him the stability he needs to keep him from straying back toward the “bad” side. (It’s the right move ultimately, although his execution was pretty messed up since he didn’t discuss it with Tim beforehand, but he’s allowed to make mistakes. Dick’s father just died and now he’s in charge of picking up the pieces of their broken family. It’s a lot to handle.) 

Long story short, Tim has a breakdown, realizes that Bruce is alive, dons the Red Robin identity, and cuts ties with his family to travel the world in search of proof. It’s a rough time. 

Red Robin #1

Damian: 

Our little guy becomes Robin! So proud of him! As I explained earlier, Dick makes Damian his Robin with the assumption that it will keep him out of trouble, and he’s right on that account. He mentors Damian, teaching him how to channel his violent instincts into something productive, and it works! Slowly but surely, Damian makes the transition from bratty assassin to actual hero!

Batman and Robin (2009) #22

Cass:

Duke sadly was not introduced at this point in time, so he missed out on all the pandemonium. Cass, however, has been Batgirl for years by now, but she got kind of pushed aside by the writers after Bruce’s death. Bruce disappears shortly after adopting Cass, but once he was “dead,” the writers sort of moved Cass around for a while, not quite knowing what to do with her. First she was with the Outsiders. Then they got disbanded and Cass tried forming a new network of heroes to take over for Batman if needed. Then she helped out in said network during Battle for the Cowl, taking care of a newly ravaged Gotham. Then Cass gave the Batgirl mantle to Stephanie Brown after she became disillusioned with the role, thanks to the loss of her father and mentor. Then Cass picked up and moved to Hong Kong to “follow Bruce’s plans” by continuing whatever work he had set up for her there. It was all very vague and confusing, and Cass more or less got swept under the rug during this time. Thanks, writers.

Batgirl (2009) #1

Part 4 - How Bruce Came Back: 

When the Blackest Night storyline happens, the Justice League realizes that the corpse buried under Bruce’s grave is apparently not the real one and that he’s actually alive out there somewhere! How wild is that! This is further proven by Dick after he places Bruce’s body in a Lazarus Pit to revive, which has the same result because it’s very clearly Not Bruce and they should have listened to Tim from the start.

Batman and Robin (2009) #9

Anyway, what actually happened is that the Omega Beams that Darkseid shot at Bruce didn’t kill him, but rather blasted him back through time to the prehistoric era with his memories wiped. The Omega Energy inside of Bruce ends up catapulting him through various time periods, which is all part of Darkseid’s plan. With each time-hop, Bruce builds up more Omega Energy in his body which, when he gets back to his original time period, will be unleashed and destroy everything.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5

It’s been a little under two years since Final Crisis, though in-universe it’s uncertain exactly how long Bruce has been “dead.” We can assume it’s been a year, give or take. The way he comes back is too scientific and complicated for me to understand, so uhhhh the bottom line is that Tim and a few Leaguers save Bruce at the Vanishing Point and the day is saved! Hooray! 

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6

(If you want to read about how it actually goes down, then I seriously recommend reading Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. It’s only six issues, so it’s a quick read and it explains the situation far better than I ever could.)

Bruce eventually reunites with his family after spying on them for a period of time as Insider to see what has changed in his absence:

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home

After that, things quickly settle back into their new normal. Dick and Damian stay on as Batman and Robin. Bruce goes back to being Batman as well, with him handling Batman Incorporated business and Dick continuing as Gotham’s defender. Tim keeps the Red Robin outfit, Steph stays on as Batgirl, and Cass becomes Black Bat. Jason stays in Arkham for a while before filing an appeal to be moved to a regular prison. He kills 82 inmates in less than a week and gets transferred back to Arkham, which he promptly escapes from. It’s a ride, I tell ya.

Aaaaand that’s about it! I hope this answered all of your questions!

[lilshitwayne]

for the bingo: "hiding injuries from the group" + Saul, perchance? 😁

Saul wasn't stupid. Really, he wasn't. He knew better than to hide an injury from his battalion and knew it was, more often than not, the type of crucial information that could make it or break when it came to keeping them alive.

But the thing was: they were going home.

The fight was over for today and he was lying on the passenger seat of Alfea's military jeep and trying to keep from wincing every time they hit a bump on the road. And because he hadn't exactly spoken aloud about his ribs, Andreas wasn't exactly paying much attention to the road.

It felt good going home after a successful mission, knowing his comfortable bed, warm shower and, most importantly, painkillers waited for him. There was no need for him to bring the mood down by complaining about sore ribs.

Hell, even Andreas was acting like a person for the first time in months! He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm was hanging out of the window. He was still partially covered in blood, but he was whistling under his breath, more relaxed than Saul remembered seeing him in far too long.

They hit a pothole and Saul's good mood flew out of the window at the same time as he bit down his lip to stop a sharp cry. Maybe it was more than sore ribs. Maybe the fucking asshole could drive with a little more care.

"Really?" Saul said bitterly, hunching forward and taking two large breaths. It felt as if his lungs were shrinking, if that was possible. Like he couldn't get in enough air.

"I'm starving. I wanna get there before sundown."

"It's going to be easier to get there if you don't ruin the wheels."

"Got your panties in a twist darling?" Andreas bit back, switching hands on the steering wheel to plant his paw on Saul's back in a friendly way.

Saul didn't even feel the hit. He waited for the force, but what he felt was horrendous hot pain. The whole world went white for a second and when he opened his eyes again Andreas was eyeing him curiously and a little... shocked.

"Aye, just a touch and you're already rolling eyes?" He raised his eyebrows and Saul looked out of the window and raised his middle finger. Even that hurt like a bitch.

"Bite me."

"Buy me dinner first."

Saul scoffed, tried to muster up an equally sassy line, but he was in far too much pain to think and exhaustion was taking him under quickly. He carefully slid lower on his seat, threw his good arm over his eyes and stretched his legs, "wake me up when we get there."

Andreas didn't answer.

He woke up several hours later with the movement of the jeep stopping. Except that when Silva raised his head and blinked to situate himself he realized this wasn't Alfea. Something akin to dread set in his stomach and he turned his head carefully, noticing the empty driver's seat.

"Andreas?"

"Oi!" His best friend poked his head from the back of the jeep and circled it, rubbing his hands together to produce some warmth, "I got good and bad news, which one you want first?"

"Tell me we're not stranded. Tell me you didn't ruin the fucking wheels."

Andreas shrugged, "Okay, I only have good news now."

"I hate you."

"I didn't see the Sleeping Beauty offering to drive," Andreas pointed out, squinting at him. Nevertheless, he looked a little flushed, running his fingers through his beard in a nervous tick that he did when he knew he had messed up big time. Saul really wanted to punch him.

"What are the good news?"

"I saw a cabin not long ago, before the car- You know. Maybe ten minutes ago?"

"At what speed were you going?" Saul groaned, trying to do the math. Andreas drove like a maniac, so if he was going at his regular speed... Ten minutes ago was actually many many miles ago.

He considered not going. Letting his stupid friend go alone to the fucking cabin and just sleeping on the car, but sadly the jeep had zero insulation and with the sun gone and the sky growing quickly pitch black, the temperature was dropping dangerously.

"Get our swords, I'm getting the bags" Andreas answered instead.

Their swords were in the backseat and the moment Saul turned around to grab them, the whole world vanished in a monumental wave of pain. Definitely not just sore ribs.

He tried to breathe through it, choked and started coughing, which only made the pain get worse and worse-

"You good?" Andreas asked when Saul finally got out of the car, holding the two heavy swords and leaning forward while panting.

"Something's on my throat."

"Here-" he threw his water canteen to Saul, who grabbed it with clumsy fingers and took one large gulp, only to immediately spit it out and cough.

"Andreas!? This is... VODKA!"

"Yeah-" Andreas grabbed the canteen forcefully from him, "good human vodka you just wasted, thank you very much. I figured it might help with that chill of yours."

"Everyday I'm grateful you're a soldier, not a doctor" Saul said bitterly and together they started to walk the miles ahead of them.

They didn't speak much. It was late and they were both exhausted, but Andreas had fully slipped back into defense mode, eyes and ears cautiously studying the darkness and waiting for any suspicious movement. Saul was doing his damn best not to cough, not only because he didn't want Andreas fussing over him, but because every time he did cough it felt like he was being stabbed with a hot knife.

He had broken out in cold sweat and started seeing little black dots when they finally arrived to the cabin. It was dark and no one answered when Andreas hit the door with his huge fist and yelled, so instead the man took a step back.

"Help me take it down."

"Just-" Saul leaned forward, hands on his knees and tried to take in a breath, "just kick near the door handle. Don't take down the door."

Andreas grumbled something under his breath that could've been an agreement or an insult, but Saul didn't hear as he went in a coughing fit once more.

When everything came back into focus he was on his knees on the cold grass and Andreas' huge hand was on his back, thumping softly but only managing to make Saul let out a cry.

"Stop- STOP!"

"What's fucking wrong with you?" Andreas asked, voice thick with annoyance and worry.

"I-" Saul rasped for air and leaned even more forward, resting his forehead on the grass, "my ribs-"

He didn't even finish the phrase before his friend was undoing the harness around his chest and tugging on his sweater, unbothered by Saul's little groans.

"Fuck me."

"That bad?"

"Definitely broken", Andreas scoffed, grabbing the back of the sweater and pulling Saul up instead of half folded into the grass, "with our luck you probably pierced a lung and is dying."

"I want to be cremated" Saul dead panned, letting Andreas throw his good arm around his neck and hoist him up, shouldering most of his weight.

"No way brother, we're going to bury you right next to me after Farah murders me for letting you die", Andreas moved his hand to Silva's belt loops, "why didn't you say anything?"

"We were going home... To the infirmary. What was the point?"

"I wouldn't have made you walk on fucking broken ribs, that was the point." but what he actually meant was that he'd have driven better and they wouldn't be in this situation at all.

"It was not-not-notHIGHK-" Saul choked with the word and started coughing again, knees buckling under him. Something hot filled his mouth and he spat it on the cabin's porch, touching his lips and gasping when his fingers came back red.

Andreas eyed the blood and let out a frustrated groan, picking Saul up bridal style now that his legs had fully given out, "don't you dare die on me, Saul."

"Tell Farah-"

"That you love her, gotcha."

"No, that I died because you drive like a psychopath."

Andreas snorted and kicked the door behind them, locking outside the howling wind and probably the possibility of Saul actually dying on his arms.

"Shut up or I will punch you in the ribs."

<< Send me a Fate character/ship + a whump prompt! >>

[ineedglasses]

VK Character Analysis: Rido Kuran

Rido is a complete, messed up, SOB, but I still like him as a character because he is simply such a fun villain. If I were to place him in that alignment chart thing, he would be “chaotic evil” without a doubt.

While he is generally seen as a creepy, sister-obsessed, maniac, I really believe he was different earlier in his life. 

This analysis is based off the Rido we see in the manga and the light novel, NOT the Rido in the anime, since the anime was trash and deviated from the manga when it came to his arc. Anyway, at the start of the post, I will go over the info from the light novel and manga, next will be my headcanons of him as a young man and at the end is my interpretation of him when he was crazy, as we see him in the original series.

                                                               XXX

The Deranged Love story in the Fleeting Dreams light novel talks about Rido’s obsession with Juri and gives some info on their past. However, when compared to the original VK series there are several points that don’t add up, and some parts of the light novel simply make no sense.

First, Both VKM and the light novel mention that Rido killed his parents and presumably devoured them to take their powers. That makes sense, it seems like something he would do. What doesn’t make sense to me is the timeline. When exactly did he kill his parents? 

All the light novel tells us is that he killed them immediately after they engaged him to Shizuka. Is this around the time Haruka and Juri got married? I always assumed Haruka and Juri have been married for a while, like at least 1000 years. If this is the case, within that time period, how can they not notice that their parents are dead and that their brother killed them? 

Or does their murder occur closer to the time Juri got pregnant? But this doesn’t make sense either because Rido referred to Shizuka as a “small child” when he killed his parents, and by the time Juri was pregnant with Yuki’s real brother, Shizuka was probably already at least one or two thousand years old. Unless Shizuka is much younger than we thought? So when exactly Rido kills his parents is quite the mystery.

Secondly, How did he kill his parents? 

I assume the older a pureblood, the more powerful they are. So how can he, by himself, kill his parents, both of whom are older and more powerful than him? I doubt his dad was a weakling because as former king of vampires, he should be quite powerful. In the light novel, it seems his parents were already wary of him and wanted to keep him away from Juri. Thus they wouldn’t completely let their guard down around him. And its not like Rido could carry around a hunter sword with him without it being noticed. Even if he was carrying something small like a dagger, his parents should have been able to overwhelm him in a fight since its 2 vs 1. 

Kaname has commented that “purebloods have equal powers, so they would only exhaust each other in battle”; basically it is hard to kill another pureblood unless you have some advantage (e.g. Shizuka being already wounded by Zero’s hunter gun). So the only logical way Rido can kill his parents is if he catches them off guard, such as when they are taking a centuries long slumber in the family mausoleum, basically doing what Sara did to Hanadagi. 

Thirdly, another point that makes no sense is that Rido in the light novel says:

“My parents had taken my precious Juri far away from me and made it so that we could never meet.” 

How exactly did his parents take Juri away and stop them from ever meeting again? Send her abroad with no intention of ever letting her return? And yet the manga clearly contradicts that, because Rido is still in contact with Haruka and Juri, he was there to see their firstborn baby!

Fourthly, this is a small detail that has always irked me: In the manga, when Yuki’s brother peed on him, Rido mentions that he used to change his siblings’ diapers when they were babies. 

However the light novel kind of contradicts that, because young Rido upon being called in to meet his baby sister says: “I will confess that newborns seemed very uninteresting to me at that time”; does this sound like an older brother that would change his younger siblings’ diapers? It sounds like a guy who would leave baby care to the nannies and stay far away from soiled diapers. 

Finally, we get to the biggest illogical point in the light novel: Rido was a psychopath that just randomly developed an obsession upon seeing the newborn Juri.

“ It was in that moment – somewhere in the depths of my being – something abruptly flared to life. […] I was overwhelmed by the urge to devour her.”

No normal person just out of the blue feels the urge to consume a baby, only crazy people do. The rest of the light novel story continues depicting Rido as a psychopath. Their parents notice there is something wrong with their son because the mom slaps Rido and starts to keep him away from Juri. Adding on to this portrayal of him as batshit crazy, after he (somehow) kills his parents, he says the following:

“That’s what you get for getting in my way, you naughty things…” 

LOL, who in their right mind would call their parents “naughty things”?

My issue is this: I highly doubt Rido was crazy from the start, because it would make no sense. If Rido was crazy, how the hell could Juri and Haruka not have noticed for over 3000 years?! Even the dumbest person would get a clue that their brother was crazy after just 30 years, much less 3000 years. They trusted him enough to let him hold their baby, so they clearly believed Rido was not crazy. There is no way that Juri and Haruka were that stupid and blind. Thus, I doubt that Rido was crazy at the start of his life. So, this aspect of the light novel is just total BS to me.

IF Rido really was crazy from the start, then his mom and dad were bad parents. Yes, it makes sense to keep Juri away from Rido if he really were a psychopath, but their other actions were just extremely irresponsible and selfish. If you know your son is dangerous, maybe you should address this issue properly. After all, he is a pureblood and if you don’t deal with the problem, there will be huge repercussions for everyone given the destructive powers of purebloods. 

But instead of taking their son to see a mental health professional like any decent parent would do, Papa and Mama Kuran decided to solve the problem by engaging him off to a “tiny child”. I’m no parenting expert, but I’m sure if your son has mental issues, you definitely should NOT marry him off to any girl. Even if they didn’t get him some help, they should have at least locked him up like Shizuka to ensure he didn’t harm anyone... but they just let him roam free.

If this is the extent of their problem-solving ability, then it’s for the best that they ended the monarchy because they must have been cruddy rulers. But who knows, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they believed the “tiny child” they chose for him has a PhD in psychology and can provide their son with the help he clearly needs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I consider the light novel to be only pseudo-canon since it was inspired by Hino but written by someone else (Ayuna Fujisaka), so I will just ignore the parts that don’t make sense and keep the parts that do.

                                                              XXX

This following section is what I believe Rido to have been like when he was a (sane) young man, based on the info in the manga and the few bits that do make sense in the light novel.

Since Rido was the oldest son and born in a time when the Kurans were still the ruling family, he probably grew up with a lot of pressure and expectations as he was the crown prince. Given these conditions, he was most likely serious and hardworking, doing his best to live up to those expectations and preparing to be the next king (kinda like Eins in The Royal Tutor LOL).

He was also probably a bit older than Haruka and Juri (because according to the manga he has experience changing their diapers and taking care of them). And since he was probably busy with his princely duties, he did not spend a bunch of time with his siblings and thus Haruka and Juri were naturally closer to one another than Juri was to him. She probably saw him a respected older brother but not as reachable and easy to connect to as Haruka.

Rido was probably arrogant, possessive, and entitled even at the start (though at much milder levels than towards the end), which makes sense given his background. Not only was he a pureblood, but the crown prince too. And since he was prince, he probably had to deal with the dog-eat-dog world of politics from a young age, so that probably made him more cynical and darker than his siblings who had much less pressure and responsibility. It would almost be shocking if he was a humble and kind person instead.

Anyway, according to the custom of primogeniture, both the throne and Juri should have been his. Since it was tradition of the Kurans to marry their siblings, it only makes sense that as the oldest son and legitimate heir, he was the one that Juri should have married. Yet for whatever reason, their dad decided to end the monarchy, which must have been a huge blow to Rido who spent his whole life preparing to be the next king. He probably drove himself to despair questioning why and if there was something wrong with him that his father would pull such a move.

Then Rido probably got another big slap to the face: Juri choosing to marry Haruka instead of him, with his parents probably giving them their blessings. So not only has he lost the throne, he also lost the fiancée that should have been his according to precedent. And Juri choosing Haruka probably made Rido lose face among their society, since people would naturally wonder why Juri spurned tradition and married the second son instead.

(Actually, it wouldn’t matter if the monarchy getting dissolved took place first or if Juri choosing Haruka took place first, the point is both happened and it screwed him up.)

Rido most likely didn’t love Juri, but simply believed he did. He probably conflated Juri with what he lost/ what should have been his by birthright and became unhealthily obsessed with the idea of her. It didn’t help that the one Juri chose was Haruka, who we know has a mild and kind personality. To someone like Rido, those are traits probably considered “weak”, and thus he probably never thought of Haruka as his rival. Therefore, the fact that he lost to Haruka of all people shocked him, and there might have been some anger and sorrow at being betrayed by a sibling. So anyway, Rido’s emotions as well as his ego got clobbered.

But fate is not done with him yet! His parents most likely decided to engage him to Shizuka “without his consent” around the time that Haruka and Juri got engaged/married. They might have rushed to engage him off to whoever was available at that time (unluckily for Shizuka it happened to be her), hoping to get him out of the way of his siblings’ happiness. Rido probably was pissed, since not only does he not get to choose his new fiancée, the one chosen for him hails from a clan with a history of supposedly going insane, instead of someone with a less problematic pedigree. His parents really doing him dirty lol.

I think he really had some deep-rooted problems with his parents. Sometimes parents just don’t like their child, because of personality and ideological differences…Anyway, they were definitely in a strained relationship which would explain why Rido could go so far to kill his own parents and feel no guilt over it.

                                                                XXX

Finally, towards the end of his life he really just lost it.

Rido probably tried to keep up appearances and act like everything is okay and that his world is not falling apart, thus allowing Juri and Haruka to still trust him. But over the years he just stewed in his anger against his parents, his siblings and the world in general and turned into a very bitter and hateful person on the inside. And although he probably tried to suppress his growing darkness, his bad traits got amped up while his better traits died. It was probably extremely infuriating for him to see his siblings so happy in their pink glittery world while he himself was drowning in darkness.

(Even Kaien was annoyed by Haruka and Juri’s “pink world”, imagine an already salty and bitter Rido seeing this type of scene for centuries and just frothing with rage on the inside LOL)

So Rido became a sadistic ass towards the end, taking his anger out on people that have nothing to do with it. He tried to make Shizuka miserable and force her to be docile and had no luck with that but succeeded in breaking Senri’s mom and driving the poor woman crazy. Though if you think about it, in a way he did succeed in breaking Shizuka too… he caused her lover’s death and when she lost her lover, she basically lost her will to live.

Hino showed how talented Rido is at antagonizing others. While he possessed Senri, he intentionally hurt Senri’s body to toy with Takuma.

Even after his death, his dregs were tormenting Kaname by pointing out all his inner concerns, taunting Kaname about how he has no hope left. 

In VKM, Yuki mentions Rido as someone “with overwhelming desires that only plunge the world around [him] into misery.” Overall, Rido probably got his giggles by making others miserable.

Besides getting high off ruining the lives of other people, he was just a bastard in general. He used everyone around him as tools, even his own sons. Unlike Shizuka or Kaname, he did not care about his subordinates at all, to him they were just “appetizers” and expendables. He also had zero reservations about forcing lower vampires to submit to his will.

Anyway, Rido probably was already a bitter jackass but he really snapped when he found out Juri was pregnant and would start a happy little family with Haruka. Maybe he was idiotically holding onto hope that as long as Juri didn’t have a kid, he still had a chance? Regardless, it was at that point that he gave up any vestiges of humanity he had left and decided to just pursue power instead.

With no hope left he just decided to give in to his primitive instincts and lust after power, at the expense of family ties. In a way, he might have felt betrayed by his family, and reasoned with himself that unlike the throne and Juri, at least power won’t be stolen away.

BTW, I think his decision to sacrifice Yuki’s real brother to ancestor Kaname was spontaneous and not premeditated. After all, crazy people are unlikely to plan things in advance and just do as their whims dictate...

Maybe it came to him right when he stared at Juri holding her newborn. 

“It’s such irony that this baby was named ‘Kaname’ like you. That’s what got me started thinking of this.”

Because his plan (if he had one) sucked. He should have known that the famished, revived ancestor would attack him, since the blood of a tiny baby was clearly not enough. And yet he made no preparations to fend off such an attack and ended up getting drained by Kaname.

As a side note, Haruka could have killed Rido right then, when Rido was badly wounded by ancestor Kaname. 

But he didn’t, and chose to have Rido imprisoned by the Senate instead. Haruka should have known that Rido would never give up on destroying his family as long as he lived, so the logical thing would have been to kill him. Even Rido mentions this later when he returned for Yuki.

While Haruka’s pacifist nature played a part in this, I think he also restrained himself from giving in to vengeful rage partly out of the fact that they are family, and more likely out of guilt. Perhaps Haruka had always felt guilty for marrying Juri and realized that he was partly responsible for driving Rido insane.

Anyway, Rido crossed the line by killing a helpless baby and basically burned all his bridges. At this point he didn’t really give any fucks anymore. 

Asato mentions how Rido was like a child, even though he has lived so long. I think the analogy fits, because Rido acted like a child throwing a tantrum, trying to destroy everything and doing whatever he pleased with no regard for consequences or others.

In a sense, like Shizuka, Rido had already lost his will to go on living. The only thing keeping him hanging on was the need to lash out. Even though he acted like he was pursuing greater power, aiming to consume Kaname and Yuki to become more powerful, he wasn’t actually trying. 

If he was serious, he would not have gotten easily distracted, suddenly deciding to have Yuki replace Juri instead of continuing with the plan to devour her. Rido also didn’t bother trying to fight seriously at the end and Zero comments on this.

Otherwise Zero and Yuki together could not have beaten him, given how Rido is much older/powerful and consumed at least 2 other purebloods. Even Sara said that Rido was acting foolishly reckless, saying he was just having fun.

                                                             XXX

Overall, given this interpretation of Rido, I actually feel bad for him. I believe that he drove himself crazy wondering why his parents ended the monarchy instead of letting him be the next king, and wondering why Juri chose Haruka over him. Those questions probably haunted him for centuries.

That feeling that you tried your best, did everything you were supposed to, but still ended up with nothing is something I can relate to. Sometimes one just wants to watch the world burn given how unjust life usually is (even though logically we know it is wrong to feel this way). So yeah, these are my headcanons and analysis of Rido, who I prefer to see as a deeper/more interesting character than just a sis-con psychopath LOL.

[idonotspeakwelsh]

i wanted to attempt writing something in a weird 4th wall breaking-ish-y way so here the result of that is

Shortened title: IWTAWSIAW4WBWSHTROTI

Dan and Phil, with the spice of projected interests and activities, do things. (Things that do not involve furry buttplugs. There are actually no furry buttplugs in this fic, just FYI.)

It was a clear, sunny day in wherever-the-fuck. It was actually raining, but if you think hard enough about it being sunny, it works. Or maybe reverse psychology could work. Why in God’s name am I talking in second person? Stop that, Dan.

Haha, fooled you. This isn’t in the point of view of a thirty year old who just so happens to be a D-list (?) celebrity.

Despite that expert fooling, the weather hadn’t changed. Dan, are you bitching about reverse psychology? No he isn’t. Probably-maybe. Way too many hyphens in here already.

Phil, shockingly, was eating a snack. Was? Is? Past tense works better here. I’ve been using it anyway. He was eating a snack. Specifically, a snack of peanut butter and juice from the back of the fridge that was definitely expired, but it worked to wash down the sticky (sticky in the sense that it sticks to the roofs of mouths, not maple syrup-y. Anyone reading this has probably eaten peanut butter before and knows what I’m talking about, but has a little clarification ever hurt anyone?) spread. If anyone ever questioned him about this combo, he’d say something about it being like a PB&J.

No, he wouldn’t. Fooled you again.

On a topic that isn’t digging (apparently figging is a word) deep into Phil’s not-eating habits, his recently-unconjoined twin was doing good, especially considering the high death rate of the surgery that had separated the two.

Jokes. Felt the need to clarify that.

Back to Dan, though. Reverse psychology hadn’t even crossed his mind in the last few days. Imagine all of the lies I’ve sneaked into this already. Be afraid.

As for what he was doing physically? Why, he was out for a jog. Duh. You know him.

All the cool zoomers nowadays call going on boredbutton.com until you circle around to the same website jogging. What are you, not hip with the kids?

(No shade to Dan, I’m sure you go on plenty of jogs and are very swole. I just don’t want to write about you sweatily grasping a door handle.)

After dying for the trillionth time on that stupid big fish game on that stupid website that is stupidly impossible and is the worst, he sat up from his desk and shut off his computer(?). Question mark due to the possibility that he uses some sort of future tech. Like a microwave that wants to meet up with lonely microwaves in its area.

(Again, no shade to Dan, I’m sure you are a master at every website on boredbutton.com.)

Dan, stop taking microwaves out of their designated areas, Phil would think. That is, if Dan was a psychopath. Would that make microwave remodelers psychopathic? Probably, who else would dedicate their entire lives to remodeling microwaves? Is that even a real job? I hope so.

Dan is still stood up at his desk. I can’t believe that, in that short time where I entertained the idea of microwave remodelers, he got stood up. This is why you don’t meet people online, kids. Take it from Dan, who has actually been a hostage this whole time.

Less messing about, more walking and saying hi to your perpetual roommate/kidnapper. Clarifying something in this for the third time, this isn’t some weird kidnapping Stockholm syndrome BDSM type thing. JOKES. Move on, Chelsea.

He (Dan, not your next-door neighbor) stretched, popping his back before returning to a sort-of-not-really-sort-of-again-with-the-hyphens slouch and heading to his door. Unsweatily, with his hand, he opened the aforementioned door. Plot twist!

I feel like I’m saying he too much. The brown-eyed man? That just sounds dumb.

The man possessing eyes and hair of equally dark shades (irony please read) walked to the kitchen. His legs were obviously tired after such intense jogging, so it took him a bit.

Once the kitchen was reached, Dan made himself a cup of coffee. He’d bought this coffee maker with his own money, and he was about to use it, dammit. Milk. Sugar. More sugar, added like Salt Bae. He swiped the sugar from the counter and into the bin, cringed at the fact that he’d Salt Bae’d his coffee, and drank a quarter of it shamefully in the kitchen.

He probably actually didn’t buy a fancy coffee maker, but let me get into the story. Stop being so judge-y, jeez. People like you are why the only things written about these two nowadays are hardcore kitten petting. Some people are ALLERGIC, you unsympathetic freaks. Gosh.

Back, again, to the story at hand.

Phil, obviously having abandoned the kitchen, (because who stays in kitchens for hours snacking and watching funny videos? Haha. Ha. :() had taken to one of their TWO living rooms. Yeah, bitch. Look at how awesome their house that I am totally not making up as I go along is. I’m sure it’s awesome anyway.

The other guy set sail for that same living room. How did he know that Phil was in that living room? Echolocation? A chip in his ear? Find My iPhone?

The television, dumbdonkey.

“‘Morning, Phil.”

Not sure what you expected, dude. It’s probably ass-o-crack in the morning.

“It’s like,” Phil paused, reaching for his phone. Dan took a very loud, very exaggerated sip of his coffee and hacked out a lung (not actually). This further delayed the phone finding, because Philip was/is/isn’t/wasn’t a horrible roommate and laughed at Dan’s demise. It took him a second to grab at it, seeing as it matched the color of the couch, but the deed was done. “Half past three. But I woke up an hour ago, so no judging here. Good mornfternoon.”

Dan squinted. “I almost just died, and you’re wishing me a good mornfternoon.”

“Yes,” Phil confirmed. I need to switch up these names. Philly cheesesteak? Dan the Man? Philled donut? danisnotonfire? AmazingPhil? I just now noticed how boring this is getting. Maybe I can the-first-thirty-minutes-or-so-of-Wall-E it. Or was that part of the movie closer to fifteen, twenty minutes? Maybe the no dialogue thing only works with animated robots.

“Also, you’re watching YouTube on the Xbox. You could’ve just pressed the home thingy and seen the time that way,” Phil’s friend, Dan, pointed out.

Phil tried to softly facepalm himself, staring at his own hand in distrust after he’d smushed his nose to the cartilage. Dan laughed. Phil glared. Dan held in his laugh. Dan stared. Trying not to laugh while staring at someone never works, science supports.

“Well, actually, come to think of it,” Phil cut through the laughtering, just then taking his hand away from in front of his face and setting it distrustfully next to him, doing the two fingers to eye two fingers to thing thing. You know what I mean. Continuing on, “it being the controller, the controller that I’m just now talking about is like, twenty-five trillion Jupiters away. You can’t expect me to get up for that,” Dan’s friend, Phil, countered, (I feel like I’m in debate club. I followed my friend to it once in middle school. It was strange. I ended up not joining any clubs.) immediately proceeding to get up from his spot on the couch, smush Dan’s nose in, and retreat back to it. Dan cradled his fallen nose in his mind arms.

This time, the ‘it’ isn’t a controller. A win for all itkind! The controller was kind of a bitch anyway. Nobody likes wires that give you heart attacks in the middle of playing Resident Evil 2 because the dumb controller unplugged. I think this is more of a bias against my own controller than theirs. They probably have wireless ones.

“Hypocrite,” Dan singsonged. Singsung? How is singsong a word, but unsweatingly isn’t? Step your game up, Merriam-Webster.

(I’m not completely sure if that line makes sense or not, but if it doesn’t, it does.)

Despite all of the happenings, he sat down on the couch next to Phil, sipped his coffee, and watched Hell’s Kitchen clips on YouTube. Nothing would ever be more appetizing than Gordon Ramsey taking a whole, disgusting-looking lobster out of some sauce. Really makes you want to go support your local restaurants. At least it’s entertaining.

Fin.

probably

[fullkingdomphilosopher]

Moriarty is not dead (yet)

Hello and a warm welcome to the three people who have somehow lost their way here. You are in for a ride. (Hope you read to the end.)   :)

Because today I feel the need to waste my time by sharing my thoughts about a fictional character into the void of the internet to get it out off my mind. It might get a little long and unstructured at points so please bare with me. But you have been warned. So without further ado let us discuss why (BBC Sherlock’s) Moriarty is in fact. not. dead. (I have read many illogical theories about this topic so I am not claiming in any way to have come up with everything myself. The following will be a mixture of canon facts,  my own thoughts and other people ideas. Irrelevant/not so convincing information will be stated in brackets or I will probably leave most of it out. Get comfortable and enjoy.)

Let us begin at the beginning by first taking a look at the information we get about Moriarty throughout the series. Please keep this general information in mind for later. (Here I will only comment if at all very superficially. Most are only general impressions I not necessarily agree with.)

(1) One can simply summarise season ones information about Moriarty the following way:  

1. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind (consulting criminal)

2. He is bored, insane, intelligent, rich and powerfull

3. Sherlock-fanboy

4. Has not too much will to live

(2) So now let us take a more or less objective look at season two or more precisely some parts of »The Reichenbach fall«.                                                  

•Near the end Moriarty sits at the edge of the roof playing “stayin‘ alive” which he then upon Sherlocks‘ arrival comments by saying: “ (...)The Final Problem. “Staying Alive”. So boring, isn’t it? It’s just… staying.(...)”.                              

This tells us the following (does it?) : 

1. Moriarty is bored of living and wants to die 

2. Moriarty has planned for Sherlock to die now

3. Both

•Later while convincing Sherlock to jump he makes the mistake to say: “ (Your death is the only thing that’s going to call off the killers.) I’m certainly not going to do it.” which leads to the conclusion that Moriarty needs to die to make Sherlock jump. And by no means do I deny that Moriarty is mad enough to go as far as to kill himself only to win against Sherlock. (If he could have been completly sure to win he definitely would do so without hesitation.) He IS insane after all.

•Before shooting his brain out while talking to Sherlock he seems very...emotional. Since he is (very quickly) convinced now that Sherlock is not an ordinary person moreover he even is HIM (Moriarty) he can/has to die now peacefully (because he doesn‘t feel alone anymore) forcing Sherlock to jump.

Okay so now let us be a little more sceptical. You are telling me that we fully accept Sherlock beeing able to fake his death with Mycrofts help and even with a list of different plans but for the guy whose LITERAL job it is to fake deaths and who has an equally high IQ (or even higher) than Sherlock, it seems unlikely? (Keep in mind Moriarty is actually the superior one in this scene. We will discuss this later.) Moriarty didn‘t even care where the two of them would meet. It‘s like you can almost hear him say: “Wherever faking your death is easier for you darling. I will win anyway.” He actually wanted Sherlock to survive because he has bigger plans for him. Just think about it: if you were a psychopath and bored your whole live and then finally miraculously you find an interesting fragile toy, would you break it quickly or rather carefully play with it for as long as it still gives you joy? Also faking ones death by a shot in the head seems possible at almost any location. Just saying. (This one is a little far stretched but if Moriarty IS Sherlock wouldn't he do exactly the same thing? Faking his death, disappearing for a while and then amazingly coming back from the dead? But let's not digress.)   He wants Sherlock to survive so badly he actually helps him by giving him hints (thats what the bored kind of criminal does). Did you notice how Moriarty after saying “I’m certainly not going to do it.” (You really think he would make such a dumb mistake while not even being pressured by anything?) turns his head back and expectedly looks at Sherlock?And he doesn't do so to watch him jump. If that was the case I believe he would give him his whole attention instead of shortly looking over his shoulder, no he waits for Sherlock to get it, to react. But let‘s continue with what happens before Moriarty “spontaneously” decides to kill himself. After their dramatic chat Moriarty shakes Sherlocks hand (which confuses Sherlock) and only lets go when he shoots himself. This might be a sign for his men/snipers for scenario “fake death” so they can shoot somewhere near him or anything like that. He could have faked his death by blood pakets in his coat, drugs, sleeping spray you name it. I don't really care how he did it (it‘s pointless to spectaculate about this) but I am quite sure if someone would find a way to do this it would be him.(Another thing is that while Moriarty drops dead to the ground he doesn't let go of the gun which is rather strange...and the blood only streamed from his head instead of splattering. But let us just write this off as a movie mistake. After all everybody makes mistakes. Also things on TV probably can't be too gory.)

(3) Season three. I think this is the most confusing season regarding the information about Moriarty. First of all we indirectly get to know from Anderson (yes I know very reliable source) that Moriarty‘s body wasn't found since his theory regarding Sherlock‘s death indicates that Moriarty‘s dead body with a sherlock mask on his face was used as Sherlock‘s dead body on the pavement. And while yes this is very ridiculous I think it is strange how Lestrade didn‘t correct him on the fact that it couldn‘t be Moriarty‘s body since it was found on the roof. (But admittedly this doesn't need to mean anything. Maybe Lestrade was just too fed up with him already.) However the confusing part just starts here. If we assume no body was found then how do they know Moriarty is dead? Who gave them this information? If you take a closer look it seems only people somehow related to Sherlock seem to know about Moriarty‘s death. But on TV they NEVER mention anything about it. They only report about how Moriarty supposedly was only an actor named Richard Brook paid by Sherlock to seem smart and about Sherlock falling or jumping to his death. Okay so they probably have got this information from Kitty but wouldn‘t it be very strange if Richard Brook committed suicide on this same roof before Sherlock jumped? Why would he do that? Also while still “playing” Moriarty since he didn't wear Brook‘s clothes? Nothing I can think of makes any sense how you could explain to the public why Richard Brook decided to commit suicide there. But then again even the papers only write about the death of the “fraudulent detective“ not mentioning anything about Moriarty or Richard Brooks death.  Why not? Wouldn't this cause even more drama? “Fraudulent Detective kills”    (or forces man to commit suicide). More drama means more readers/viewers so why not mention anything about it? Unless there is nothing to report about it since no body was found. Good you might say maybe Moriarty‘s men just took the body after Sherlock jumped but then how did Lestrade and Anderson knew he was dead? (Or was it just a ridiculous assumption of Anderson that Moriarty was dead? Well that would be a big coincidence.) Or maybe Mycroft‘s men took it and told Scotland Yard but why not make it public then? Or maybe really noone (except for Sherlock and Mycroft) knew about his death at this point? (Wouldn't Mycroft check for Richard Brook then?)  Wouldn't the reporters wanna interview Brook then? About this traumatic event he got pulled in? Drama is good not only for the press but also for an actor. Brook would love to get attention in this case wouldn't he? Wouldn't...you know Kitty notice Richard was gone and report on that if he was really dead? Wouldn't it be strange that Brook suddenly stops acting? Well we don't really get any information so from this (admitted mess) I just conclude that simply no body was found. (If you can explain this situation otherwise you are very welcomed to do so.) And you know this is really funny because a certain someone himself said that it can only mean one thing in a detective show when there is no body (looking at you Mr. Moffat) namely that the victim survived. (I suppose you could also explain everything if it indeed was twins this way: Moriarty is dead and Brook is with Kitty. But I personally am not really convinced by this. Not because Sherlock said it‘s never twins but think about it: How big is the probability for both of them beeing amazing actors? This theory that Moriarty has a twin brother is quite popular. A main argument for this is how Moriarty is left handed while Brook appears to be right handed. Well First of all he can just be ambidextrous and second Jim from IT also mainly used his right hand in the scene he was in. And the creators stated first it was planned for Moriarty to only appear in this scene as Jim from IT so it definitely is Moriarty. Or do you think Moriarty would want his twin brother to meet Sherlock? That would miss the point. Moriarty is fascinated or rather obsessed with Sherlock that‘s why he wanted to meet him. Also if you watch closely you can see how he grins when leaving turning away from Molly. His (probably nonexsistent) twin brother wouldn't have any reason to do so. So we know he is quite good at acting/manipulating. Also if you think about it it is the exact same strategy: He finds a person that is useful to him, wins their trust and gets into a relationship with them to be able to get what he wants with their help. The exact same thing he did with Molly he now did with Kitty. So that underlines that it indeed was him and not a twin brother. Also wouldn‘t a twin brother...you know...ruin the joke of the name “Richard Brook”? Anyway after faking his death he probably just stayed with Kitty and then broke up with her/left her after the situation calmed down again.)

(4) Ah yes now on to my favourite part: Season four. What do we get to know in season four? Right! EVERYTHING WAS PLANNED! So Moriarty knew(/hoped) Sherlock wouldn't die there and he also probably knew he had to fake his death because otherwise Sherlock couldn't fake his. So he had way more than enough time to plan how he is going to do it. Why don't we deal with why Moriarty killed himself now. The obvious answer in season two is that he kills himself so Sherlock has to jump and Moriarty beats him this way. Some may say he hadn't any other choice which I don't agree with. If there was a code to stop the killers then there also was one to make the killers shoot the victims immediately. Moriarty could have just counted from 5 downward and if Sherlock didn't jump in that time he would just give the command to kill John, Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade. I mean what did he had to be afraid of? Beeing killed by Sherlock? Now that wouldn't make any sense would it if he decided to kill himself instead anyway? (Also it totally makes a lot of sense for Moriarty to squeak afraid when Sherlock holds him over the edge. That totally is what a person indifferent of life or without any future plans would do.) So you might be asking yourself why he would go as far as to make Sherlock believe he is dead especially when he knew Sherlock would survive the fall anyway? Why the struggle? Well that‘s simple. (That‘s the final problem: Staying alive.) He is playing a game. In case you didn't notice Sherlock played dumb/clueless in season 2 episode 3 with not only Moriarty but everyone around him since he couldn't be sure when Moriarty listens and wanted to have the upper hand in their little game. But everything Moriarty said on the rooftop was an act as well and if that is really the case he is not simply a good but a BRILLIANT actor.He had the upper hand all the time no matter what Sherlock did but he wanted Sherlock to believe that he is dead so Sherlock would feel he was superior over Moriarty. Great minds think alike. Also while yes of course Moriarty would be crazy enough to kill himself you can not tell me he wouldn't want to see Sherlock play with his sister, to see him struggle and fail. I mean his whole life purpose since he found Sherlock was to beat him so you're telling me he wouldn't wanna be there when what he has worked for finally happens? (I mean come on: he even paid over 30 million pounds in season one just to get Sherlock OUT to play and now he is fine with not seeing the ending? Why not watching Sherlock ‘fall‘? It is no secret he is OBSESSED with Sherlock.). He could still have killed himself afterwards. Also does he really trust Eurus THAT much? Okay so now you might ask why he didn't show himself in season four then. (No rush.) Patience is key my friend. (One last not very convincing thing in season four I just want to throw in: In one of Moriarty‘s recordings in Sherrinford in which he immitates a clock he stops after Sherlock screams. I guess it could be a coincidence but regarding none of the other recordings stopped showing only a quietly at the camera starring Moriarty it must be a gigantic one.)

So now if you think I am done then think again and get ready for the unstructured part of my little essay. (Yes even more unstructured than everything before.) Here follows other short information about Moriarty and clues why he is still alive from the whole show in no special order:

(- I will start with one not very convincing one you might actually have already known since you are on tumblr. The lyrics of the song “Who you really are” which plays at the end of episode three of season four repeatedly states:         “Moriarty is alive”. While I believe it probably somehow is possible to change the lyrics for anyone I don't really get why anyone would wanna do this unless it is official or someone is just trolling. Or both.)

-Moriarty is soo changeable

-Moriarty is a good hacker

(-What is this strange “Surprise, you didn't think I'd just dissappear did you?”-clip that was played after season three I believe? If it is supposed to be just one of the clips Moriarty filmed for Eurus why is the background different? I think there are actually clips of him with three different backgrounds? Why? Too much to shoot in one day? If you have any thoughts on this please let me now.)

-Contrary to some others I don't believe Moriarty is just Eurus puppet. I don't see any need for that. Eurus is just Moriartys client like many others on the show. They both have the same goal. Eurus actually was so interested in him because she noticed his interest in Sherlock so it is not that everything from the beginning was Eurus‘ brilliant puppet show. If any then it was him who used her but I don't want to dive into this topic now.

-Moriarty‘s problem is that he is supposedly the best and everyone else around him is boring and can't get to him. He is lonely and depressed. But why would he still want to kill himself after meeting Eurus?                                                     Isn't she interesting enough? Or did he still think Sherlock would beat her too? But wouldn't there then again be a point in living to beat Sherlock or kill him like he promised in season one?

-In the special “The abominable bride” I think Sherlock isn't looking after the answer to the question how Moriarty killed himself rather than why he did it.   And the Moriarty in his head turns around showing him the hole in his head asking something like if it was very obvious and saying maybe he just needs a Good back comb. Back comb. Comeback. Sherlock concludes in this moment that Moriarty faked killing himself to have a good comeback. So he actually does know now that Moriarty isn't dead.

-Moriarty IS the main villain/antagonist of the show. Even after his supposed death in season 2 he still reappears or gets mentioned in most of the other episodes and even at the end with Eurus. Why would a writer do that if it was pointless? I don't think they would want degrade him if Andrew Scott‘s amazing performance even made them rewrite the script to have more Moriarty. Mister Gatiss and Mister Moffat are the real Moriarty fanboys here. They just build up tension very slowly while also getting the attention mostly off him for now. Moriarty is Sherlock‘s equal. His shadow. So he SHOULD be endgame. It is simply impossible to create a bigger villain now since he reappeared in all the seasons until now. Unless the writers plan to write at least 5 more seasons of course.

-In season four Eurus tells Sherlock Moriarty wasn't interested in living but in the impact he would have by dying. But does he really trusts her so much?              Is he really okay with gifting her his favourite toy? Or is he maybe just using her as he does with everybody else? Maybe she isn't lying but simply  doesn't know he is still alive.

-You might say: “But Sherlock clearly says that Moriarty is dead. Especially after the special.” Well yes he does. But (1.) he was on drugs. (2.) he really needs to believe (or rather not really Sherlock but the audience) that Moriarty is dead. Otherwise his (anticipated) comeback would be too predictable and boring. (3.) Sherlock isn't always right but I admit he is most of the time so most importantly (4.) he still keeps playing. The game isn't over yet and he needs to play safe. He keeps on playing dumb/clueless like he did in “The Reichenbachfall” where he even lied to John about Moriarty not touching or writing anything so Moriarty feels superior. We never get the IOU conclusion he worked on all the time. He kept everybody including us clueless just as he does now in season 4 to have the upper hand again or at least not to be in disadvantage.

-Then you also might say something like: “But this isn't like in the Canon.” Ah yes. The Canon. (1.) Remind me again where does it say this in the Canon? Before the secret, psycho genius sister held captive in a maximum security prison on a secluded island or after?...You get the point? (2.) Originally even Sherlock should be dead in the Canon (Which I actually think might happen in season five). (3.) It isn't even against the Canon since in the Canon Moriarty dies in “The final problem” and not in “The Reichenbach Falls”. Him dying in season two would actually be more against the Canon.

(-Since Mycroft was with Eurus alone before and isn't really on her side maybe he actually is controlled by her too without knowing so? Maybe he unknowingly even helped Moriarty? But this seems rather unrealistic. Just a thought.)

-Now something I don't really get: Eurus said apparently she was Moriarty‘s revenge on Sherlock. His revenge for what? Killing himself for no real reason? That seems not very smart. Beeing his distraction in the big boring world? Or maybe they have a history we don't know of? It seems quite possible. If Sherlock was able to delete Eurus from his mind why couldn't he have done the same thing with Moriarty?

-Why does Eurus mention Moriarty has a brother who was a station master? Why was he jealous of him? Why WAS he a station master? Is he dead now or does he just got a different job if he isn't one anymore? Why is there all this train imagery in Moriarty‘s clips? Why is that important at all? Is this foreshadowing, simple taunting or am I missing something completely? (The last thing at the end of season four we see is Sherlock and John running out of a train station but I don't know if that has really anything to do with that.)

-Fight me on this one but the ending is too perfect. I didn't buy it for one second. I mean character development and friends bla bla but you want to tell me Sherlock suddenly wouldn't be bored without Moriarty? Sure the normal cases will keep him occupied for some time but eventually sooner or later they will just bore him again, don't you agree? You can't “cure” a sociopath. And without the right stimulation he might become the “bad” guy himself or simply die of boredom.

-Moriarty WANTS Sherlock dead. Just in a slow fun way. On John‘s blog Moriarty even wonders how Sherlock‘s skull would look like on his wall. He is obsessed obviously.

-Don't get me wrong I am not sad or mad about the fact Moriarty is supposedly dead. But rather on HOW he died. His death should be something big something grandiose. I am talking a whole city exploding why fireworks spell out his name -grandious. (Well maybe not that extra but you get the point.) I refuse to believe he would be fine dying in such a simple way without the world even knowing his name. Come on. It‘s “I-dance-while-stealing-the-crown-jewels-Moriarty” not “Jim-from-IT”. If he is still alive I am sure he will die in the last season but in a more exciting way.

(-While trying to get out the information if he really has a sister out of Mycroft Sherlock let's one if them say: “Nothing is impossible.”)

-Let‘s talk about my favourite clue at the end now because I am tired. Do you remember a certain little conversation Sherlock and Moriarty had when evil queen Moriarty came to visit and dishonored Sherlock‘s apple? Let me remind you:

JIM: You know when he was on his death bed, Bach, he heard his son at the piano playing one of his pieces. The boy stopped before he got to the end ... SHERLOCK: ... and the dying man jumped out of his bed, ran straight to the piano and finished it. JIM: Couldn’t cope with an unfinished melody. SHERLOCK: Neither can you. That’s why you’ve come.

Does any bell ring with you?  Sherlock is playing Moriarty‘s game: The death of Sherlock. But he doesn't play it to the end. So Moriarty will return to finish it. After all as Sherlock says Moriarty can't cope with an unfinished melody so he wouldn't die before finishing it.

All that beeing said I still also wouldn't be surprised (just disappointed because I feel Moriarty is the only one who is a match for Sherlock and could do so much more entertaining things.) if he really was dead. Because after all this is only fiction. In fiction there are often many logical explanation for events but only the ones the writers decided on will be the truth. (Unless you guys are up to rioting. Anyone has their adresses? Just kidding of course for legal reasons. I think they do a really good job with the show and while I must say I hate liars I respect artists. Imagine they would just tell us everything that would happen from the beginning. That would be boring. Looking forward to season five. I am sure we will get it before 2050. :))

So thanks to coming to my TED-talk. If you have any other helpful information I have missed, questions, opinions on this, criticism or anything else feel free to write me. And please tell me if you have really read to the end. I am curious if anyone has. :)

(Sorry for grammar mistakes and such. It has been a while since I wrote this much in English.)

[z3ld4]

Mercy Me - Part One

Summary: Jacqueline Laymore can’t really tell when it started to hurt to call Spencer her friend. But that didn’t really matter after she got kidnapped. Right now all that matters is getting home and getting Spencer Reid.

Warnings: Angsty? Mentions of self harm, suicidal ideation, death, kidnapping, is catholic guilt a warning? culty vibes, mentions of torture, and a very small mention of rape and gouging one’s eyes out.

Word Count: 1.3k (its a babey for the first part)

A/N: this is one of my first fanfictions on tumblr and in this fandom, so idk be nice or like really mean, criticize me, i don’t really mind. i used to write aphmau fanfiction nothing really hurts at this point. also this is an original female character fic because i for real can not write fic in the y/n format and i’ve had this idea for a while. it took a lot of effort to post this without puking in anxiety first but i hope it goes well ig.

If Jacqueline was going to die right then and there, she would have frankly been pissed. Sitting in the bathtub with blood seeping out of shallow cuts on her thighs would not be a great way to go. It’s especially stupid because they weren’t even new. Jacqueline knew better than to cut in the tub.

Especially since she’d been clean before the incident.

She wondered if that was the time to back up and take a second to think. Think about her wrongdoings.

Of course, Gabriel doesn’t give her the release of death and instead shot himself in the neck. Her eyes, always the worst part of her body, follow the arterial spray as it stains the yellowing ceilings. She almost wants to take the revolver and shoot herself in the head, but that would contaminate the crime scene.

Jacqueline is smarter than that. But the revolver is so close to her. Yet just out of reach. 

Everything seems to be just out of reach when you’re kidnapped. 

But everything is moot compared to the digging feeling in her stomach telling her that the gun still has five more rounds. 

She doesn’t. Of course, there is more to her life than being a martyr for another’s sins. That isn’t what Father Julien said when she was younger, but Father Julian also tried to gouge out her eyes in the town square.

Father Julian did a lot of things, talking about the grace of God wasn’t one of them. But what can you really expect from a man that creates a psychopath? Jacqueline dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, creating swirling patterns behind her eyelids. Phosphenes. She can hear him say it. Spencer always made sure to tell her the weirdest facts he could remember. She can’t remember most of them but sometimes his voice pops up in her head reminding her of them.

A lot of things pop up in Jacqueline’s head these days. She smoothed her hair back with the water on her hands and stepped awkwardly out of the tub. Taking two towels from the rack on the wall, she wrapped up her hair and body. Carefully stepping around Gabriel’s body and blood pool she enters the bedroom. For a cheap motel, it was quite clean. Frankly, it wouldn’t be half bad if the carpet wasn’t a brown color and she didn’t come with the guy who kidnapped her. She dug through Gabriel’s luggage until she found yet another, white cotton sundress. It wasn’t a bad dress, quite pretty in reality. It was the situation that made it the ugliest rag Jacqueline had ever seen. It fell to just below her knees and the bodice fit her waist perfectly, the spaghetti straps dug into her shoulders but it could have been much, much worse. 

Jacqueline would have liked the dress in another life. However, Gabriel had a thing for the whole ‘white equals purity’ thing and tortured her in a dress similar to the one she was putting on.

She stopped putting the dress on. Blinking through the tears forming in her line of sight, Jacqueline searches for a shirt and a pair of pants that could maybe fit her. She found Gabriel’s taupe button-up and slipped it over her shoulders, buttoning the front up to the third button. After digging a little more she finds a pair of army green pants, a little too high waisted for such a masculine man but she puts them on. Luckily Gabriel also had a pair of hiking boots which Jacqueline took the shoelace out of and used it as a belt.

The sandals that she wore when out with Gabriel would have to do, though it looked a little silly. Jacqueline took her hair out of the towel and ruffled it up a little, she always hated leaving her thick, wavy hair without product in it but it’s better than brushing it. The bangs brushing against the bridge of her nose are going to make her cry though. She used to hate how she looked in bangs but now, with Gabriel’s praises ringing in her ears, she almost likes the way they frame her face.

Almost.

Jacqueline grabbed Gabriel’s wallet on the way out of their hotel room.

The secretary looked at Jacqueline funny as she checked out. Granted, it was well deserved, Jacqueline looked like a mess of men’s clothing. She also was leaving without Gabriel, which sounded a little unheard of considering he didn’t even let her speak when they checked in.

Jacqueline wanted to call the police so the maid didn’t get a nasty surprise. She didn’t have a phone on her but she walked to the payphone on the street corner and quickly called 911. 

“Hi, Hello. Y-yes… I… I need to report a suicide at Maple Leaf Motel, room 3C. My… My p-partner shot himself in the neck!” She wailed into the phone before hanging up. She was always good at faking things. Right now, faking composure seems to be the only thing keeping her sane.

Time to catch a flight to Quantico, Virginia.

Or, more likely, hitchhike. If there was anything Jacqueline had learned in her nine years with the BAU is to not hitchhike. But she had about two hundred and fifty dollars and the clothes on her back. And if anything she could pay for some gas and maybe use the self-defense that Morgan taught her. She knew that from where she was it would be around twenty days by foot. A twenty-hour car ride. And maybe a five-hour flight depending on the airport. The closest 'big' town near Maple Leaf was Lexington. 

And deep down, Jacqueline really wanted to take a road trip. Nebraska is quite a pretty state. Though walking would be a little excessive considering she's technically been off for two months already.

The fact that she’d been with Gabriel for two months sent shivers down Jacqueline’s spine. The bureau wouldn't take her vacation days away for being kidnapped but you never really know with the government, do you? She started walking to the library when she realized that she could email Strauss and talk about her job and how fast she can be reinstated. Luckily the library was a few blocks down the street.

"Hello, dear! What can I help you with today?" The elderly woman behind the help desk smiled. Jacqueline figured that they didn't get that many people inside the small library. 

Jacqueline forced a smile and walked up to the desk, "Can I use one of the computers? I need to email my boss about my... vacation."

The librarian gives Jacqueline a sugary sweet smile. "May I, Deary," The librarian corrected.

"Right," Jacqueline drawls. The librarian walked her to a clunky old computer and logged on before shoving Jacqueline down into the seat. Jacqueline goes through google to find her email service and quickly write one to Strauss. Strauss responded quickly, a short email reading:

Dear Agent Laymore,

You're thought to be dead. I can not grant you the ability to step into your building for recertification and discussions of reinstating you until you prove otherwise.

Erin Strauss

Jacqueline responded:

Dear Erin,

You're supposed to be nicer to people who are held as a hostage. Anyways, I guess a way to prove my identity would be that I can sing 'On My Own' from Les Mis perfectly, I know you have heard me do it. And that your husband divorced you after he gave you half of his liver due to your liver cirrhosis. You told me this one night when I was crying over my brother killing himself and getting disowned. I am the only person on the current team (I assume, though I'm sure Rossi knows ;D) who has that information on you.

With love,

Dr. Jacqueline Laymore PsyD

Ps. Please don't give my job away because I made a joke.

Erin responded with a very annoyed emailing detailing what they will discuss once Jacqueline reaches Quantico. With a valid ID of course.

Now the hard part, finding someone who wasn't a serial killer to hitchhike with. For at least twenty-four hours. In a car.

Spencer's voice called out in the back of Jacqueline's head, reminding her that there is a 0.0000086% of being killed or raped while hitchhiking.

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Broken Families (Favored Ones, Part 16.)

Series description: Many things were surely fucked up in the year 2038, but no-one ever told anyone how all of it went down. What happened before a group of people left for Seattle to handle personal matters? Why did one girl refuse to leave all of it be? And why there were so many dead in the end?

Part summary: Abby stayed true to what she said. She made you scream in pain that day.

A/N: So, Abby is here. And she’s here to play some golf, y’know. She likes iron clubs better than iron ones and... Just kidding, Owen and Tommy are about to play a game.

Warning: Gore, blood, some torturing, Abby; Tommy and Owen playing golf. 

Word count: 4.2 K

Tagging:   @nemodoren @xxgoldenhour @missdictatorme​​ @peakymarvels​​ @davnwillcome​ @pickleriiick​ @jodiereedus22​ @gladiosamicitias​ @tamkashi​ @eternallyvenus​ @avengerssstuff​ @fangirl-inthe-us​ @avery-miller​ @mikah-writes​ @mad-hatter-98​ @sadiaafrin99​ @flavorishy

Series master list: H E R E

Joel Miller’s playlist for the bonfire occasions: H E R E

Youtube playlists: JACKSON DAYS | SEATTLE DAYS

Another steel nail under your nail. How many of them were already there? Twenty? Thirty? Jesus, it was hard to count at that point. Especially, when you had a problem to even breathe or to see what was happening around you. The woman didn't lie. As soon as she told Tommy what she wants to do with you, she started with it. Her comrades took the jacket, gloves, and pants off of you, no matter how hard you tried to fight back, taping you to the chair with silver duck tape.

First, she was punching your stomach while the man named Owen held the chair, so you wouldn't fall on your back as he told you some nasty things. When your stomach was fucked up enough for you to spill blood, she moved to punch your face. Yeah, you couldn't see with one eye and your nose surely broken at one point, since the blood was all over your breasts. Or was it the one you spat? Jesus, it was so hard to tell.

Then, to keep you breathing and full of consciousness, they brought nails and a small hammed, and oh boy, that was where the fun started. You didn't scream until that point, but now, every inch of the nail digging into your meat was followed by a high-pitched cry. You were trying to wiggle out of the chair, but Owen was leaning into it with his full weight. It appeared as if it made Abby happy to see you scream in pain, crying, and bleeding. Either she was happy or she barely notices. Both of the options were equally probable.

Abby was trying to break Tommy down. It wasn't about you, no, you were just Abby's plaything. One of you had to know Joel and sooner or later, one of you had to spill the truth. They chose to torture you since you were the smaller, more fragile one. It must've been so hard for a man to see a woman he cared about getting hurt without having a chance to help you. Well, he had a chance, but he didn't.

They handcuffed Tommy, so he would sit in front of you, and they taped his head to the wood, so he couldn't see anything but you.

Yet, for how fragile you might've seen at the beginning when Abby was choking you, you haven't said a word. Which was surprising for both of you. You wouldn't suspect you could have so much willpower inside of you. You were looking at Tommy, your look alone was telling him not to say a word. Where, for the love of God, was the girl who almost broke down when Harry was killed by the infected?

Everything about your posture was telling Tommy that you'll make it. You could take in a lot, right? You were a survivor, it wasn't too wise to fuck around with you or your family. If they killed you? You were madly in love, you didn't honestly care. As long as Joel was away from that place, you could take it somehow. Sooner or later, Ellie, Dina, Maria, or Jesse had to show up to look for you.

"Why the fuck are you still smiling, huh? Puta." - The Hispanic man tugged your scalp harshly, spitting in your face. You could barely feel the warmth of the spit since you had dry blood everywhere.

"Maybe you took a mentally ill one, Abs. Maybe she just doesn't know." - Owen mumbled from smoking a cigarette. The short-haired woman asking you about your well-being left what seemed hours ago after she almost threw up. Whoever she was, she didn't seem to take the sight too well, which made her different than Abby and Owen. These two were fucking psychopaths. You were smiling for the last half of the hour, yeah. Because you knew that once Joel will get to know about this, Abby is done. You didn't know what he'll do to her, yet you know she won't be smiling after he'll be done with her. Also, there wasn't enough oxygen in your brain anymore, so you maybe were starting to get delusional.

"It's taking too long, we've been here for hours. We need to leave this fucking place before the people in town notice they're missing." - A woman of color said, looking Abby in the face. The woman seemed to be shaken with the scenery as well. - "Finish this fucking mess, I can't look at it anymore." - She spat in the tall lady's face, leaving the room.

In the begging, Tommy was begging them to stop. He was pleading for the love of God for them to let you be. They should do all of this to him, not to you. But he was silent for hours now.

Abby was looking at you for a small moment, having an unreadable expression on her face. She was thinking about what Nora had just told her. The woman was right, probably. This was taking way too long. Whether you were a damn psycho or you didn't know any Joel Miller, she didn't care - she took a knife from the counter, pushing it right above your knee. The pressure was quite painful.

This action made you open up your mouth while a horrible scream came out, as you held the chair with your palms. The woman kneeled beside you, steadying herself to turn the knife inside the meat of your thigh. The blood was dripping around as she motioned the Hispanic man to drag Tommy away to show him some manners. Manny knew where Abby had her golf club packed and she knew that Owen will gladly show Tommy some of his favorite tees.

Your screams slowly stopped, since your vocal cords were too tired to make such a sound. - "I told you I don't want to kill you. You're innocent. I'm after someone else. Don't you understand?" - Abby mumbled and started to turn the knife around, making you almost faint at one moment. - "If you won't stop dodging the answer, I will pop your knee off."

"Why don't you tell me, where is Joel Miller? I'll let you go, I swear. Me or my friends won't come after you or your friends. That's a promise." - She stopped, holding the chair in place with her hand. Abby knew what she was doing. If she'd turn the knife around too fast or if she wouldn't stop for a small moment, she'd make you numb to the pain. And the last thing she needed was to let you lose your consciousness. Her eyes widened when a whisper came out of your lips.

"What? What did you just say?" - She mumbled frantically, looking at your destroyed face. It was horrifying to see you like that.

"I was saying..." - You coughed, looking away from her to spit another blood out of your mouth. - "That he'll fuck you up once he gets to know who you are and what you've done. You're a walking dead man." - And you carried on laughing. Who the fuck were you? How could you even develop enough capacity to say such things? With that, Abby shook her head, tears appearing in her eyes, and pushed the knife deeper, just behind your knee, twisting it with hatred in her face. You were screaming like a fucking animal. Just when she was about to slice your throat like a pig's, Melanie's scream stopped her.

"Someone's inside the house! Move it, run!" - Owen yelled over the building. Without second thoughts, she threw the knife away, picked her stuff, and ran into the woods through the big windows, leaving you exposed to the ice-cold air.

A few hours ago, Jackson:

Maria was getting worried. You left early in the morning. It was already six o'clock in the evening and you were nowhere to be found. Ellie, Dina, and Jesse had already got back from the patrols just as the other did. Where did you two got stuck? When others found out you're missing, they immediately called everyone to a meeting. Yet no-one had the slightest idea where you were at the time.

"I told you I saw lights in the fucking house. What if they're there?" - Ellie asked with hatred, pointing her finger on the map. Dina was kissing her shoulder, trying to calm her down, but it wasn't helping much. Tommy was her fucking uncle and you were her best friend.

"Why would they go in there? It's completely out of the way for them." - Jesse asked back. Yeah, there was something fishy going on. If one of you'd die during the hunt, one of you'd be already back. If you'd got lost, he knew that Tommy would find the way back.

Ten patrols searched through the surroundings of Jackson, coming back empty-handed. The house was the only reasonable location.

"Maybe one of them got hurt? They would never leave the other somewhere out there if one of them bleeding or something like that." - Dina asked silently, trying to calm them down. Ellie took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. After a while, she moved from the desk, looking at her friends. - "I'll tell Joel that we'll be going on a patrol to search through the house. Maybe the old man will want to join us? It's his brother and his girl, in the end, we're talking about."

"That's a good plan, yeah." - Jesse agreed, watching as she left the room. Ellie was not having a good feeling about you and Tommy just disappearing one morning. She was with both of you on a patrol multiple times and neither of you hasn't done anything like that before. It was like a magic trick - you disappeared in the thin air. She ran up to Joel's house to be there as soon as possible - the longer they would hesitate, the longer was the probability you'd be found dead. The old man opened up the door within a minute after she knocked the first time.

"Hey, hey." - He mumbled, putting his palm on Ellie's shoulder. She looked weirdly off to him. He had a free day thanks to you, but it was making him worried you weren't back just yet. It was maybe the morning blizzard or the fact that most likely, you needed to maneuver a lot around the horde to lower their numbers. But this was making him think that just maybe, you weren't hiding from the weather after all. - "You good? Did somethin' happened, kiddo?"

Joel was getting into his more worried and protective mood within seconds. Ellie nodded and motioned for him to come inside so he could at least sit when she'll tell him. - "Is it somethin' about you and Dina? Did Tommy do some bullshit? You know you can tell me." - The man looked into her face, offering her at least a glass of water.

"More or less. It's about both Y/N and Tommy." - She mumbled, looking the tip of her boots. Jesus, Ellie was tired as a dog. The hangover was terrible, she could barely hold her eyes open, her body was hurting and she only had a few hours of sleep. Joel was confused, yet his expression was telling Ellie that he's not making too much out of it. - "She told me that they're goin' on a patrol because of some infected. I think they just got a bit stuck there."

His small girl nodded at that, thinking about the best way to tell him. After she took another sip of the water, making herself just tell all of it to Joel. - "We searched the place, we haven't found neither them nor the horde. They are MIA a the moment." - At that, Joel stopped making a joke out of the situation. It wasn't the weather, but the infected. Were you two even alive? Were you all alright?

"The last place were looking into is the house an hour away from Jackson. You know which one I mean. Are you coming with us?" - And this question Joel needed to hear. Of course, he was about to search for both of you. It wasn't likely that you'd split, even if something happened. Tommy surely kept you by his side the whole time, making sure you're all right. Finding Tommy meant that they'd find you both.  

Everyone gathered at the stables in the next ten minutes - there was Ellie and Dina, Jesse, Joel, Maria, and Diego, everyone ready for any inconvenience to come. During their journey to the house in the mountains, everyone was awfully quiet. Everyone had their ears ready to hear for any kind of strange noise, but none had come. The first sign of someone coming through were dad bodies put on fire laying at the gate. These were infected - which meant that normal people are inside the guarded building. Yet there was nowhere to be seen.

"This isn't our technology." - Jesse said after looking at the bodies. - "I would recognize her handwork everywhere. She hadn't made this and Tommy doesn't know how this works. Someone we don't know is in there and we don't know if they're friendly or not yet." - The young boy stood up and looked at everyone.

"Then we should leave horses here and try to get into the building unnoticed. If they're friendly, they won't hurt us when they find us sneaking around, right?" - Ellie asked everyone and they needed to say that this is a reasonable plan. The people divided into two groups - one consisting or Maria, Joel, and Ellie, the other one having Dina, Jesse, and Diego in it. They were ready to roll.

It was taking quite a long time before the two groups met at the back of the house where a window was opened - which, in translation, was the only way leading inside the house. To get there without making too much noise was kind of fun, but in the end, everyone got there safe and sound. It was just when Ellie and Dina were slowly opening the window when the first screams filled the air. It sounded awfully like a young woman's accompanied by dull loud noises coming from downstairs.

"Okay, let's calm down first. We need a plan," - Ellie whispered before she leaned her shoulder to Joel's chest to stop him from just running there, killing everyone in an instance and probably getting himself killed as well. - "You are going to calm down first. We need to be careful here."

"And listen to her gettin' killed any moment? No." - Joel answered back immediately, just to have Maria's hand on his shoulder too.

"Ellie is right. This house is huge, there's probably ten to twenty of the people and we have two people to loose here. I'll stay with Joel, makin' sure he'll behave. Ellie's coming with us. Jesse, you're taking the right side of the house, were heading right? If you find something you won't do on your own, the first thing you do is to yell at us. It will probably make them realize were here, but that can scare these fucks off." - Maria put an end to the argument, making everyone calm down immediately.

Jesse looked at his group nervously. Dina was excellent in silent killing, while he and Diego were more of the fistfight and gun guys. But they were about to make it. Just as Maria told them, their ways parted.

They tried to be as careful and as quiet as possible. Every moment built up the tension inside of Jesse, he had the feeling that each of their steps is as loud as a thunder. Which wasn't a comfortable feeling at all? The left side of the house was emptied - the rooms were empty, there was no kind of civilization in sight. It was when they arrived at the stairs when Dina noticed heavy footsteps walking up. Her nails dag up to Jesse's arm as she motioned on her arm. Jesse closed his eyes, listening to the surroundings, nodding at Dina in the end as everyone his behind the walls to take cover.

Dina did her best to quietly put the suspenser on her gun, making sure that her knife is ready for any case. When she was sure, she leaned her back to the wall, taking in a deep breath as she stood up. When the guy walked in, he didn't look around and behind the walls - he was just patrolling. It was this weird, disgusting dude with a baseball cap, whistling a song as he walked forward. Dina jumped on his back, covering his mouth and shooting a bullet right into the man's brain. His body relaxed in a second as the life left it, his back falling on Dina's chest. She huffed a bit, slowly laying the man down.

"Ever told you you're fucking good at this?" - Jesse looked at his ex-girlfriend, now covered in blood, who just grinned back as they quietly made their way through the halls and corridors. The dark-haired girl smirked at what Jesse had to say, shaking her head. - "Focus, 'kay?" - She whispered, but suddenly, as they were about to enter some white door, they heard some person yelling.

"Someone's inside the house! Move it, run!" - Each of them stopped in the middle of what they were doing, hoping that any of the running people won't meet them. But it had to happen, hadn't it? It was a short-haired, small, fragile woman who had her eyes red with tears. As soon as she realized she doesn't know any of the young people and Dina pointed her gun at her, she rose her palm in the air. For a moment, they were staring at each other before the woman turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

"Why didn't you shoot her down? She can alert the others."- Diego whispered into Dina's ear angrily, but when he was about to chase after the woman, Jesse's hand stopped the boy. - "She was scared. Did you see the look on her face? Maybe something real bad happened here." - Dina told to Diego, turning around to open up the white door.

All of them stopped and looked into the room, thinking that they may be dreaming. Dina knew she knows the person dressed only in their top, with a knife sticking out of their thigh. It was a girl... Dina suspected, but it was hard to tell honestly. There was blood everywhere, small nails and a hammer laying on the ground, the window was open and the snow was now falling in, making the person freeze.

"Joining the party? About fucking time. Sadly, you missed the main program." - The person told them, coughing some blood, spitting it on the ground. Jesse's face stiffed in horror as he realized who's he looking at. It was you. Their best friend. The girl who wore the worst cowboy shoes ever to every dance there was in Jackson. The boy ran to you, quickly, looking at what they had done to you. There were tears in his ears when he looked at the hematomas on your stomach, seeing the swelling part of your face. - " I didn't tell them, I didn't say a word, Jesse, I..." - That was all you were repeating the whole time Dina and Jesse were strangling your thigh and preparing pieces of cloth to cover the wound. The girl sighed and nodded at Jesse, who gently turned your face at him. - "I know you didn't say them a word, you've done so well, come on, stay with me, look at me, that's it, that's it." - The boy whispered as Dina gently pulled the knife out of your thigh, making sure she won't do you more harm. But the screaming filling the room was terrifying. Jesse, even if he didn't want to hurt you more, pressed his finger into your cheek to keep you from looking on your leg as Dina put gazes around it with swift movements.

Diego was checking for clues of who they've might be, but these people didn't leave anything behind. That was nothing. No badges, maps, instructions... What were they after? You did know by the looks of it, but it wasn't probable that you'll talk in the following few days, maybe even week. And where was Tommy? There was an opened door leading to the garage, which they also opened as they ran away, and Tommy's horses was somewhere there as well. And they were about to get to know as Ellie ran into the cellar after them, opening the white door with a loud bang. - "We had... Found... Tommy." - She said slowly, looking at her friends taking care of the hurt person.

It took her a whole to recognize your face, but when she did, she helped Dina with making you stand up and put your clothes back on you. The rage was stronger and stronger within her. If you and Tommy wouldn't be in such a bad state, she would go after the duckers immediately until she'd chase them down. Joel couldn't talk when they found his brother.

He was laying in front of a fireplace with his hands duck taped behind his back, beaten up like a dog.  He was still alive, for now, but... You were looking good in comparison to Tommy. Someone brutally beat up Tommy with a metal golf club, almost beating his skull open. The people who did this to you had been stopped in the last moment - there was a small stand of blood on your neck, telling them that the person wanted to slice your throat. And Tommy, he was still breathing, but his skull was almost cracked open. The girl was shaking and crying when Dina started to nurse you as you kept on repeating them that you didn't tell them, whatever you were talking about.

Jesse took Ellie's face to his palms, looking her inside the eyes. - "Tommy, is he alive?" - Jesse asked, but the reality around Ellie was blurry. Her heart was aching with every small move it made, she couldn't take in one deep breath. - "Hey. Is Tommy alive?" - Jessie tried to ask again, but Dina knew she wouldn't answer. The process that Ellie was going through was undescribable - there was this mix of anger, fear, and hatred inside of her, so it would be better to let Ellie be for the moment. - "Jesse, help me get Y/N on Sadie. We need to ride back to Jackson, she won't make it otherwise." - Dina begged Jesse. She knew she can ride you back on her own - they'll have a harder time figuring out how to help Tommy... If he wasn't beyond saving at the moment.

Jesse left Ellie with Diego, helping you into the saddle. The screams were horrifying and he was sure that Maria is holding Joel back from running directly to the garage. But neither of them tried to stop you from screaming, it would be meaningless. As soon as you both sat on Sadie, Dina rode to the snow and Jackson, knowing shes running out of time. - "I didn't tell her, no, no, she doesn't know, I swear, I didn't." - You were still whispering, but soon, Dina felt the weight of your back on her chest. She didn't know if you'd have just passed out or dead, but she couldn't stop the tears from falling off of her eyes either way.

The ride was almost endless, but just when the light was disappearing, the gates finally showed up just a while from where you were. Saide was getting more nervous and tired - Dina was making her go the whole the time, not stopping for a single second and the journey was quite long. There was the danger of both of you being thrown down off of the horseback any minute. It was refreshing to see the gates opening as you rode in. People were calling out to Dina, they were trying to ask about what happened, but the girl was just shaking her head, riding directly to the hospital.

"Bobby, call Bobby!" - Dina yelled on the way. By the time you arrived there, almost everyone was ready to help, not knowing what happened. But Bobby's eyes widened as soon as she saw you. - "Bring her in, the second floor. I'll need to check her to see what's going on." - "Are those nails?" - Nancy asked when she rose one of your palms to the level of her eyes. When she saw the state of your fingers, she quickly turned around and puked to the nearby snow. Dina got off Sadie, walking straight to Bobby.

"Just don't let her die, 'kay?" - The girl whispered with her voice broken, getting a hug from the old lady. After that, Bobby disappeared to the house and started to take off your clothes, looking at everything these fucks had done to you.

[thehollowprince]

Hate when Stiles is made the moral barometer of the world in fic. This story is so blatant that Black characters are only "good" if aligned with Stiles (Deaton, Boyd) but ones like Braeden or Morrell are "bitchy" and "psychopaths". Not that "good" ones are treated well, they're flat + there to service yts (Deaton as magic negro, Boyd as cuddly pet friend to Isaac). In these stories, it's like a grand crime to not be deferential to Stiles on par with murder almost

there's also another layer of white saviorism at play in this fic ("it came from the trees") with Stiles as a white boy espousing pseudo white Christian beliefs telling Black Muslim women that slavery (of their male members cuz they're ~misandrists~) is wrong. Said woman tried "hypnotizing" Stiles but he is too pure/virtuous. Two Black hijabis die but it's made all about how the yt Hales feel. And just very rosy colonialist ideas about "conquering" land and living off the "fat" of it. A MESS

This story *really* goes out of its way to show us that Kate is good here "she's not like other Hunters or most Humans, she's *never* killed a supernatural, she's accepted by the Hales". Yet the way Braeden, a canon good guy, is portrayed? A murderous, rapist pedophile was made a good guy cuz she's white, but the black female love interest of Derek is an abrasive, bitchy, cocky, rude person + ~inferior~ to Stiles, not a prodigy like him blah blah, doesn't have his ~heart~ 🤢🤮

Now, I say this with love and affection, but maybe stop reading it.

I understand, I truly do, that spite is a big motivating factor. I find myself doing stuff like that more often than I'd like to admit. But every once in a while, I have to pull myself back and remind myself that the whole reason I'm here (the Teen Wolf fandom) in the first place is because of my love for the protagonist, Scott McCall, not out of hatred for the fandom and how they view him or try to boost his friend above him.

I do call those things out when I see them, because it is important to call out racism and the racial bias when we see it, but its equally important to remember why we started watching in the first place. Otherwise, you'll find yourself being twisted into something else entirely, concerned more with tearing down Stiles (rather in the same way they tear down Scott) rather than trying to support Scott, which was the goal most of us had when we started calling out said racism.

Take a break.

Filter your searches and just read something that uplifts and cherishes the characters you like, if for nothing else than your own sanity. I know what spite-reading and hate-watching does to a person, and I wouldn't want that to happen to you.

Also... this fix sounds like utter garbage and I don't know that I could read it at all. Sounds so badly written that I probably wouldn't have made it past the first chapter.

[almostafantasia]

from the same star

a villaneve soulmates au | read on ao3

In a world where your soulmate’s initials appear on your skin after you meet for the first time, Eve’s life gets turned upside down when the single letter ‘V’ appears on her abdomen on the same day that a senior MI6 official gets assassinated just down the road from where she works.

- - - - -

chapter eight - assassin radar

“We’re getting nowhere,” sighs Eve, slumping back in her seat dejectedly. “I really thought we had her when we got the sketch drawn up but there’s nothing. No name, no DNA. Nothing.”

“She may as well be a ghost,” Elena says unhelpfully.

“Except that I know she’s real. We met her in that coffee shop, remember?” Eve runs an exasperated hand through her hair, loosening it from the confines of the elastic and running her fingers through their curly lengths, before she lets out another groan of frustration and says, “We met her and we’ve still got nothing on her.”

“We’ll get her eventually,” says Bill. “We just need to know what we’re looking for.”

“Did you get anything on the Ukrainian guy’s son, Kenny?” asks Eve, although she already knows the answer. It has been more than a week since they added Artem Kravchenko’s strangled corpse to the board, and Eve knows that Kenny would tell her the moment he found anything suspicious.

“Nothing that I can find,” answers Kenny, with a regretful shake of his head. “I’m going through it all a second time, just in case I missed something the first time, but he’s clean. His finances are a mess so he’s definitely got the motive of inheriting his father’s millions, but his emails and phone records are all in order. If he’s involved in something dodgy, he’s doing it from burner phones and secret accounts.”

“Well I can’t go to Carolyn and tell her that we’ve hit a wall,” says Eve. “She’s trusted us with this. But at the moment it seems like we’re just waiting for the killer to strike again and hoping that she slips up next time.”

“I’ve started compiling a list of influential people who have died over the last few months,” Bill tells her. “None of them have stood out to me yet but I’ll send across what I’ve got so far if you like and you can take another look at them. You know her better than I do.”

“Thanks, Bill,” says Eve, smiling her thanks at him. “But right now it feels as though I don’t really know her at all.”

The office falls silent for a few moments, filled only with the sound of computer keys clicking, until it is broken by the chime of Eve’s computer telling her that she has a new email.

“There you go,” says Bill. “See if any of those light up your assassin radar.”

Bill is right about the first two on the list. The first is a man in his late sixties who seems to have suffered from a heart condition, while the second was killed in an incident involving a drunk driver. Eve ignores them both and moves onto the third death on Bill’s list instead.

As soon as Eve reads that the third person died from a gunshot wound to the head while visiting a German art gallery, she is interested. Their assassin, after all, is earning herself a reputation as somebody who likes to kill in public places. And even if this isn’t their girl, it still fascinates Eve as she starts to look into it further. She stares at photos of the crime scene with a morbid fascination, unable to tear her eyes away despite the gruesome smear of blood across the floor from where he was shot to where his body was found.

A gunshot wound to the head - surely that would have killed him almost instantly, which rules out the possibility that he crawled away himself, before dying moments later against a nearby wall? But that means that his killer would have been the one to move him.

Why move a body after the victim is already dead? Eve can only think of one reason for moving a body, which is to dispose of evidence that it was ever there in the first place, but that was clearly not the murderer’s aim here. 

Eve tries to put herself in the killer’s position, desperate to understand their rationality. If she had just murdered somebody, particularly in a public place such as an art gallery, she would want to remove herself from the scene of the crime as soon as possible. She definitely wouldn’t fuss around with moving the body several feet away from where it fell, only to leave it slumped against a nearby wall. 

Eve squints at the picture of the crime scene again, enlarging the image so that she can zoom in on the body. But on closer inspection, it is not the body that attracts Eve’s attention, but instead the painting that the body has been moved to sit beneath. She paid very little attention to it before, a dark canvas with a few blocks of much lighter colour that had been too distant for her to discern what it was before. Now that she sees it up close, Eve realises that it is a portrait of a woman. Her nude torso is the most prominent part of the painting, surrounded by black, while the woman’s face is almost creepy in the way that it is shrouded in shadows. Eve is captivated and intimidated by the woman in the painting in equal measure, unable to tear her eyes away.

It’s probably nothing, but the fact that the killer has moved the body to sit beneath this painting in particular is playing on Eve’s mind. She crops the picture of the crime scene until it is just the painting, then opens up a search engine and runs a reverse image search. The results that pop up are pages of similar paintings, portraits of other people that use almost identical dark colour palettes.

It isn’t until Eve reaches the bottom of the second page of images that she finds what she is looking for. An identical image to the painting in the photo of the crime scene almost jumps out of the screen at Eve and she cannot click on it quickly enough. It leads her to a page of German text that Eve doesn’t understand, but there is also a larger version of the painting, as well as a caption giving the title of the painting and the artist's name.

DIE SÜNDE - FRANZ VON STUCK

Eve looks at the painting again and feels the hairs on the back of her neck slowly rise to attention. She shudders, an awful chill running down her spine as if somebody has just slipped an ice cube down the back of her shirt. The woman in the painting is creepy, but that’s not quite it. Eve feels as though she is being observed from a distance, an unsettling feeling bubbling away in her gut. This feels like their assassin, but Eve isn’t sure where the instinct that is screaming that at her is coming from, because it’s just a dead body slumped beneath a painting of-

“Wait,” says Eve, feeling her pulse quicken as she realises what she’s looking at. “What about this one, Bill?”

“Which one?” Bill asks, as he looks up from his computer.

“The German art gallery shooting that took place two days ago.”

“You think that could have been our assassin?” asks Bill, frowning as he gets to his feet and crosses over to Eve’s desk. He peers at her screen as Eve switches back to the crime scene photos, then he comments, “What a big mess.”

“Let’s see,” says Elena, rolling her chair over and craning her neck to look past Bill at the pictures. “That’s a lot of blood.”

“This one bothered me when I saw it but I wrote it off as irrelevant because there’s no way that he was killed by a woman,” explains Bill.

“Why not?” asks Elena.

“Because the killer moved the body,” answers Bill, pointing at the trail of blood across the floor to where the body rests. “The victim was a big chap. He would have been difficult to move and I think it’s unlikely a woman was able to move the body.”

“Unlikely, but not impossible,” points out Eve. “It bothered me too because why would you move a body? She shot him in the head and he would have died pretty much instantly. Surely she would want to get away from the scene as fast as possible?”

“She?” Bill repeats back at her, raising an eyebrow at Eve. “You’re sure that our assassin was responsible for this one?”

“She moved him to that painting,” says Eve, pointing at the image on the computer monitor of the victim’s body slumped below the painting of the half-naked woman. “Why that one in particular?”

Eve minimises the photograph and opens up the webpage that she found from the reverse image search. The text at the side of the screen is all in German that Eve doesn’t understand, so she just looks at the painting instead and the words beneath it.

“D- die …” Eve attempts to read.

“Die Sünde,” Bill reads aloud, in perfectly accented German. “‘The Sin.’ Hang on, is that a snake around her neck?”

Eve squints at the picture and recoils when she realises that the dark shape surrounding the woman’s body has a pair of eerie eyes that she hadn’t previously noticed. It makes sense now, knowing who the woman in the painting is.

“Wait, the sin?” Elena speaks up. “You’re talking about the original sin, right? The woman in the painting is Eve? I mean, not our Eve. But Eve Eve.”

“Adam’s Eve,” explains Bill. 

“Hey!” protests Elena. “Let’s not define women by the men in their lives. Eve was a big girl who doomed humankind all by herself.”

Eve has never felt any particular kinship with her biblical namesake, but she cannot help but wonder if that is the message that this assassin is trying to send. And if it is, then it means that the assassin has learned of Eve and the team’s effort to hunt her down and is taunting them. 

A performance - that’s what each kill is to this psychopath. And this kill is a performance specifically for Eve.

“Bill, can you get on the phone to the German authorities and ask them to send across everything they have on this case?” Eve asks. “I want to find proof that this is our killer’s work.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Bill says as he returns to his desk.

“And what if it is her?” asks Elena, worry etched on her face. “Is she trying to send a message that she knows about you? About us? Aren’t you worried? What if she comes for you next?”

“She won’t,” Eve insists. “She likes the attention. It’s all a game to her and if she hurts us then she loses her players.”

“I just don’t want this to come back and bite you on the arse,” says Elena, before her eyes widen and she adds, “Or worse!”

“It won’t. If this kill is her, then I don’t think it’s a bad thing that she knows I’m on her trail. This proves that, don’t you think?” Eve gestures at her computer screen, where the website showing the painting is still up. “She’s showing off for us now, and it’s only a matter of time before she gets careless.”

“Or a matter of time before she gets bored and comes after you personally,” Elena counters with a grimace. “I don’t think I like the idea of playing games with an actual psychopath but it’s clearly getting you excited.”

Choosing to ignore Elena’s comment and Eve returns her attention to her computer. She opens up the website showing the painting and, realising that it is the website for the very art gallery that the murder was committed in, she uses her mouse to highlight the block of German text and pastes it into an online translation tool. The resulting paragraph in English is full of grammatical errors that could be much better translated if she asked Bill to do it, but it makes enough sense to confirm that the painting is depicting the biblical Eve and the serpent who led her to temptation.

Is the message that the assassin is trying to send by moving the body beneath this particular painting as straightforward as simply making a connection between names and showing off that she knows Eve is on her trail? Or is it more than that? Is the assassin trying to lead Eve astray in the same way that the serpent led the other Eve into the path of sin?

“Eve?” says Bill, from the other side of the office, pulling Eve out of her musings. “The German authorities have emailed across some more information about that murder and I think you’re going to want to see this.”

Eve can feel each ominous thud of her heart against her ribcage as she gets to her feet and crosses over to Bill’s desk. The crease of his frown fills her with anxiety as she approaches, tentatively moving to stand behind him so that she can see the screen. She is vaguely aware of Kenny and Elena coming to stand beside her too, the whole team huddled around Bill to see what he has discovered, but Eve shifts her entire focus onto the image on Bill’s screen.

If it were possible for Eve’s heart to leap out of her body via her throat, then it would in this moment. It takes a few seconds for her to realise what she is looking at, but when she does, it stuns her into disbelief.

On the screen of Bill’s computer are two photos side by side, almost identical in nature. They show the body of the man who was murdered in Munich, but the pictures have been taken from much closer up than the one Eve previously saw, cropping out the painting below which he is slumped. The new perspective allows Eve to see something that wasn’t visible in the more distant shot, with the photo on the left side of the screen revealing a patch of blood soaked into the front of his shirt over his abdomen. The second photo has been taken from the same angle, but a hand wearing a latex glove reaches in from out of frame and peels aside the bloodstained shirt to reveal the source of the blood.

Oh shit.

There, on the victim’s stomach, just to the right of his navel, are the letters ‘EP’, carved into his flesh with a blade.

Eve feels herself start to go a little bit lightheaded. She reaches out with one hand and grips the back of Bill’s chair for support, while her vision starts to blur in her peripherals until the only thing she can see is the picture. 

Those are her initials. The assassin has carved Eve’s initials onto the man’s stomach, immortalised in blood. And there must be hundreds of different two letter combinations that she could have gone for, which means that fact that she has picked these particular two is too improbable to be a coincidence.

Of course, just as damning is the fact that the killer has carved the letters onto the exact spot where Eve has the ‘V’ on her own stomach.

Her skin burns where the mark is, as if somebody has set fire to the front of her shirt. Eve lifts a hand to her stomach and rests her palm over the mark, the skin sensitive to her touch, even through the material of her shirt.

“Well I guess that answers that particular question.”

Kenny’s voice is what snaps Eve out of her trance, voicing aloud the same conclusion that she has just reached in her own mind. Eve looks away from the screen quickly, only to find that the other three are all watching her intently, gauging her reaction. She drops her hand from her stomach and tries to act indifferent.

“So what?” Eve shrugs, unable to make eye contact with any of her colleagues, so she settles for staring at the wall beyond Bill’s computer instead. “We already had suspicions. Like Kenny said, now it’s just confirmed.”

“Eve, you know this means that she’s got one too, right?” says Elena, resting a concerned hand on Eve’s arm just below the crook of her elbow.

“So it’s professional,” says Eve. “I’m destined to be the one to catch her.”

“Do you think she sees it like that?” asks Bill.

“This is big, Eve,” continues Elena. “I know I’m always the one preaching that these marks mean nothing, but she’s a bloody psychopath. You have no idea what she thinks of these marks. Or what she’s going to do next.”

“It’s fine,” says Eve, sparing one final glance to the gruesome letters on the victim’s stomach, before she forces herself to look away and return to her own desk. “She’s just trying to send me a message.”

“Exactly,” insists Elena, following Eve across the office and leaning against the side of Eve’s desk. “She knows your name and she’s probably got your initials on her body. What next? What if she comes looking for you?”

“Then it’ll make our job a hell of a lot easier!”

“I really think we should tell Carolyn,” says Elena. “This is a big development and I think she needs to know.”

“No!” protests Eve. “Carolyn doesn’t need to know. Not yet, at least. This is my mark and I don’t want her to know about it.”

“Back me up Bill!” pleads Elena.

As both Eve and Elena turn to look at Bill, he just shrinks back in his chair and holds his hands up in surrender.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” he replies. “If Eve doesn’t want Carolyn to know then it’s her decision.”

“Kenny?” says Elena, in one final plea.

Kenny hesitates before answering, his eyes flitting between Eve and Elena. There is a brief moment in which Eve wonders if the mark on his arm, though concealed by the sleeve of his polo shirt, will persuade him to sign with Elena, but he eventually shakes his head.

“Sorry Elena,” says Kenny, shooting her an apologetic glance, before he elaborates by saying, “I don’t think that we should tell Carolyn about this. And I trust Eve.”

“Thank you Kenny,” says Eve, giving him a grateful smile. She can’t imagine how mortifying it would be to have to admit to Carolyn Martens that the assassin she has asked them to trace has Eve’s initials on her stomach.

“Fine,” Elena says with a frown, disgruntled at being outvoted three to one about telling Carolyn about the marks. “So what is our next step?”

Eve pauses for a few seconds to collect her thoughts, which feel a little bit as though they’ve been put in a blender and torn to shreds by this latest discovery. The confirmation of the one thing that Eve has been trying to pretend isn’t real may have answered one question, but it’s raised a dozen others too. 

What does the ‘V’ stand for? That is the biggest question on Eve’s mind. The killer must know Eve’s name now, for her to have connected a mark on her stomach to somebody who might learn about the body in the art gallery. And with Eve’s name, the assassin would only have to do a little bit of digging to gain access to all sorts of other private information. All Eve has is a letter on her stomach and the memory of a face.

There are other questions too. Why has the universe, after more than forty years of letting Eve quietly get on with her own life, decided to pair her with an actual psychopath? How did the assassin find out about Eve? Why has she decided to etch Eve’s initials onto this particular body?

Well, there is one thing they could do to get answers...

“We go to Munich,” Eve answers Elena’s question. “She wants my attention, so let’s show her that we have it.”

“All of us?” asks Kenny. “Shouldn’t some of us stay here and continue working on what we’ve got already?”

“Probably,” Eve concedes.

Eve glances across at Elena, who immediately shakes her head and holds her hands up in protest.

“Don’t look at me!” she says, shaking her head at the suggestion. “I’m not chasing a deadly assassin across Europe. I’m very happy with staying at home and staying alive. Anyway, Bill is the one who actually speaks German.”

Eve acknowledges this with a small incline of her head, then shifts her attention onto Bill instead.

“She has a point,” Eve says. “What do you say, Bill? Fancy a few days in Munich with me?”

“Are you sure you want me there?” asks Bill, a slow smile spreading across his face. “I mean, I don’t want to be a third wheel for you and your soulmate.”

Eve glares at him, unimpressed.

“Okay, for that you don’t get a choice,” she tells him. “You’re coming with me, end of discussion. Kenny and Elena, are you both alright to hold down the fort here for a couple of days?”

Eve doesn’t miss the way that Kenny and Elena make a point of not looking at each other as they both nod, and she remembers that they have each other’s marks. Neither of them have spoken to Eve about it since that first day, and Eve wonders if they’ve even mentioned it to each other yet. Eve knows that they both claimed indifference to the marks, but there is a part of her that thinks they would make a cute couple and wonders whether two or three days alone with each other will be enough to give them a nudge in each other’s direction.

“Fine with me.”

“Not a problem.”

They both mumble their responses at the same time, and Eve smiles past the ache in her abdomen that has been there since she saw the assassin’s artwork on the newest body. 

At least this case has some direction now.

“Let’s go to Munich!”

- - - - -

There are few things that Villanelle enjoys more than being correct. Being right about something is basically just evidence that she is amazing.

Being right about Eve Polastri being the woman from the coffee shop is a euphoric feeling. Villanelle lurks outside the gallery and waits, nearly going giddy with excitement when a taxi pulls up across the street and the woman she’s been thinking about every time she masturbates for the last few weeks gets out of the vehicle. She looks even more majestic than Villanelle remembers, and though her hair is pushed back into a bun on the back of her head, there are a few loose flyaways close to her hairline that bluster about in the autumnal wind. Villanelle’s hands itch to touch it, to wind one of those curls around her fingers and loosen that thick mane from its elastic confines.

Eve’s clothes leave something to be desired. It seems that Villanelle must have conveniently pushed that part of their first encounter out of her mind, and she screws up her nose in disgust at the practical waterproof coat that doesn’t quite manage to conceal the crinkles of the blouse she wears underneath. It’s difficult to tell from across the street, but Villanelle suspects the shirt may be a cotton-polyester blend, which makes her feel a little bit nauseous.

Villanelle will have to do something about this awful wardrobe when they’re together.

A man follows Eve out of the taxi, in his sixties and balding on the top of his head. The pair seem close, laughing together about something that Villanelle is too far away to be able to eavesdrop on, and she sincerely hopes that he is just a work colleague and not anything more.

Eve and her companion are greeted by an official looking man in a suit at the entrance to the gallery, then all three of them bypass the sign left outside the door to let visitors know the gallery is closed until further notice, and disappear inside the building.

Phase one of Villanelle’s plan - lure Eve Polastri to Munich - has been a success. And that was probably the hardest part. Phase two - to get Eve alone and actually have a conversation with her - will be much easier now that they are both in the same city. The companion will have to be dealt with, of course, because Villanelle cannot let her first proper conversation with her soulmate be interrupted by somebody completely irrelevant, but Villanelle is certain that she can find a way to make sure he stays out of the picture.

Eve will be occupied for much of the day, and it excites Villanelle to know that Eve will spend the entire day talking about Villanelle, admiring Villanelle’s latest kill, trying to work out who Villanelle is.

Well tonight Villanelle will show her.

There are some preparations that she needs to make before she is ready to introduce herself to Eve. She will have to make a trip to the pharmacy, and she mustn’t forget to book the hotel room.

But first of all, Villanelle needs to buy a costume.

- - - - -

“You’ve got her on CCTV?”

Eve doesn’t know what she was expecting from their visit to Munich, but to be told that the kill was caught on camera within minutes of arriving at the scene of the crime was definitely not it.

“Yes, I sent the video across to Bill with all the other files,” says Weber, the German BND agent who is liaising with them on the case. 

To have footage of the assassin actually killing could be a complete game changer for this investigation. To be able to see more of her at all would be progress, but to actually watch her in action? Eve is … well, to say that she is excited about the prospect of watching a man get shot in the head is probably a little insensitive to the victim, but Eve wants to see this footage more than anything else in the world right now.

This CCTV is the breakthrough that they need. They’ll be able to study the assassin - her movements, her mannerisms, her kill style. And not just the kill too. If that has been caught on camera, then the staging of the body after she shot him will have been filmed too. Eve will get to watch the killer as she draws Eve’s own initials on the man’s abdomen with a knife.

Carving those letters into the victim's stomach is far more intimate than anything that Niko has done for Eve in at least the last five years, if not ever.

Eve turns to Bill, her eyes wide.

“CCTV?” she asks him. “Why didn’t we know about this sooner?”

“The German investigators were very thorough,” Bill answers with a shrug. “They sent over a lot of stuff. It’ll take Elena and Kenny a while to go through it all.”

“I will find it for you,” says Weber. “You can watch it now.”

He summons one of his colleagues with a wave of his hand. The pair start speaking in rapid German, which Bill appears to be following, and Eve is grateful for the distraction brought by her ringing phone. When she reads Elena’s name on the screen, Eve answers straight away.

“We were just talking about you,” says Eve. “How are you and Kenny getting on?”

“I’ve already told you, Eve,” comes Elena’s indignant reply. “There’s nothing going on between me and-”

“I meant with the investigation,” Eve cuts in, smiling to herself at Elena’s misunderstanding and making a mental note to revisit that topic at a later date, because there is clearly something going on, even if it is just in Elena’s mind. “Have you discovered anything useful?”

“Oh, not really.”

The embarrassment is evident in Elena’s voice, even over the phone, and Eve doesn’t need to see Elena to be able to picture the flustered expression that will no doubt be plastered across her face.

“There’s a lot of information to sort through,” Elena presses on. “We’re still trying to sift through it all to work out what’s important and what isn’t, then we’ll go through everything in the important pile in greater detail.”

Eve hums in approval and says, “Sounds good.”

“Oh, by the way, Kenny stumbled across something interesting. Apparently there’s CCTV of her … you know, actually doing it. Killing the guy. It confirms that it’s a woman - blonde hair, mid-twenties, athletic build.”

“Blonde?” queries Eve, because her own memory of the assassin from their admittedly brief encounter is of a brunette with bangs.

“Well we know that she likes a costume,” Elena points out. “She probably uses wigs too.”

Eve considers the idea for a few seconds, then concedes, “Yeah, I can see blonde hair working, actually. It would suit her complexion.”

Hearing Elena snort on the other end of the phone, Eve’s cheeks flush when she realises that she said that aloud, and she is quick to press on to avoid Elena commenting on it.

“So, have you seen the CCTV footage?”

“No, they didn’t send it to us,” answers Elena. “That’s why I called you. Kenny found some notes that were made from the footage - her description, her movements through the rooms of the gallery, and so on - but there were no video files in the stuff that the German authorities sent across.”

“That’s weird,” Eve says, with a frown. “Our contact here says it was sent to us. They’re just finding it now so that Bill and I can take a look.”

Hearing his own name, Bill’s head turns towards Eve and he walks towards her.

“Hang on, just give me a second,” Eve says to Elena, before lowering the phone. She covers the speaker, then hisses at Bill, “What’s happening? Have they got it?”

Bill grimaces and shakes her head apologetically.

“Apparently they’ve lost the footage.”

“Lost the - how do you lose CCTV footage of a murder?” Eve lifts the phone back to her ear and says, “Sorry, Elena. I’ll call you back in a bit.” Ending the call with a tap of her thumb against the screen, Eve turns her attention back to Bill and adds, “Elena said that they never sent it to us either.”

“Really?” asks Bill, his eyebrows shooting up across his forehead. “Now that’s interesting.”

“How does a federal government agency lose CCTV footage of an assassination?” Eve groans, running an exasperated hand through her hair and loosening the hair tie keeping it out of her face.

“They don’t,” Bill answers, with a simple shrug.

Eve’s eyes widen as she realises what Bill is implying.

“You think it never existed?”

“I think that it did exist, but somebody has gone to great lengths to make sure that it doesn’t anymore.”

Eve glances over at Weber and his colleague, both bent over a small laptop and murmuring conspiratorially with each other. Could one of them, or somebody else working in German intelligence, have removed all traces of this vital evidence from their systems? Eve cannot imagine that whoever ordered this assassination will want footage of the killer doing her thing to continue to exist, especially not when she has been completely anonymous for so long. But to get that footage removed before it can be shared around must mean that either the hit was ordered by the German authorities, or that the people responsible are powerful enough to have significant influence over the German intelligence service, perhaps even moles inside the organisation. And if they have people inside one government authority, how many others are they controlling from within?

“Who are we dealing with?” Eve asks Bill, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Somebody very powerful, which is why we need to be careful,” Bill answers. His eyes flick down to Eve’s stomach, then back up to her face, before he adds, “Especially you.”

“I’m always careful,” counters Eve.

“And I hope that you don’t live to regret those words.”

[basil-films]

08-06-2020

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

i could cry tears of joy with this movie. it’s beyond anything i could’ve expected and more. the relationship between Clarice and Dr Lecter is peculiar to say the very least and i’d love to spit out some ideas about it on here.

A Climb to Success

we open to a scene of Clarice running up a hill, as a part of her completion of an obstacle course. throughout the film, we see her struggle to make it as a female FBI agent (trainee) amongst a sea of (literally) huge men. sexism quite obviously plays a part here, but so does Jodie Foster’s petit figure and 1.61m height - adorable. i highly doubt they would’ve been able to find a better Clarice for the part.

as an opening to the film, the physical expression of struggle in her face is absolutely perfect, cause it really perfectly sets the scene and hints at the difficult journey to FBI-ism for a woman in the 90′s.

Eye Contact

if you take a minute to notice the number of times men we deem to be in a higher position of authority than Clarice choose to make direct eye contact with the ‘camera.’ this is a slightly more indirect way of asserting dominance in a situation, as eye contact, regardless of if it’s in a film or in person, shows self confidence and determination. i forget his name, but Clarice’s boss was the first example i picked up. he would often enough only address Clarice through the lens of the camera, almost as if he’s dumbing this down for her and using eye contact as a way of checking she understands what he’s saying. this is kinda like the way a teacher will look at you when they’re explaining something for the third time and really slowing down for you. the fact that this only really happens with men in a higher ranking position within the FBI and Hannibal, goes to show that Hannibal, despite being a serial killer, is still a man worthy of respect, at least to Clarice.

alongside that, the eye contact suggests the story is being told from Clarice’s perspective and that everybody is talk to her.

The Big Bad Wolf

this is probably a stretch but hear me out:

HANNIBAL: May I see your credentials? Closer...closer.

this INSTANTLY reminded me of the Little Red Riding Hood story. at this point in the film, Hannibal is nothing but a mysterious figure to Clarice, so when he said this particular line while questioning her qualifications, my mind chose to connect it to the wolf from the big bad wolf from LRRH. personally, i think this is a pretty fair similarity and i’m convinced of its validity cause just think about it: as far as she’s concerned, he may as well eat her up, just like the wolf would’ve.

“Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view.”

the one line that almost makes you feel some kind of pity towards face-eating Dr Lecter is this one. i say “almost” cause i don’t know you and you might still not care even after this, but i think it’s safe to assume it makes you feel something. the only thing Hannibal ever mentions wanting is a view to reference when drawing, instead of relying on a combination of his imagination and memory. all the man wants is a view, not even freedom, just a way of having a view. this seems to be his only weakness, as agent Starling later uses it to her advantage to bribe him into giving her more information, something that only just got past him since he is easily the most intelligent of all the characters.

HANNIBAL: Memory, agent Starling, is what i have instead of a view.

A Dangerous Game of Patience

this is another minor point, but i couldn’t help but notice how one of the most dangerous aspects of Hannibal’s personality is his patience. he’s been in that one room for so long at this point that he really has nothing else to lose. he plays this game of patience with Clarice as he reveals more and more about Buffalo Bill, almost as if he finds the situation amusing and like a good pastime. another memorable quote from Hannibal reads: “how much are you willing to wait?” absolutely terrifying, can you imagine a serial killer saying that to you? *shudders*

A Student // Teacher Relationship

an interesting perspective to look at Clarice’s relationship with Hannibal is the whole “student // teacher” exchange kinda way. in exchange for his (knowledge on Buffalo Bill and) wisdom, Clarice gives him something he wants, whether that be personal details about herself or a “view.” this exchange is noteworthy, as it’s the singular thing that makes an FBI trainee and a deadly face-eating dude equals.

it’s really interesting to watch their relationship unfold, especially while this remains the one consistent element throughout. everything else seems to be pretty unpredictable, can’t lie - but their student // teacher exchange is established from the beginning and doesn’t seem to change from start to finish.

The Pen of Intelligence

quite possibly one of the best scenes showcasing Hannibal’s character, the way he eyeballs the pen during his potential transfer really says it all and i love love love this scene for it. we never really know what’s going on in Dr Lecter’s head; however, his intentions were always clear. when he looks at the pen with such curiosity (yet determination), we suspect another brilliantly executed masterplan to take place. we were right. the way a man that’s quite literally being treated like a dangerous animal with his mouthguard and chains manages to plan his escape for a scenario he doesn’t even definitively know will take place is just another reminder of his intelligence. the pen is a symbol of this, with it’s basic appearance we don’t really suspect much of it, later finding out we really underestimated its capabilities - just like Hannibal. Dr Lecter is like a freckin pen and i love it.

Silence of the “Lambs”

the lamb story from Clarice is quite obviously where the title of the movie came from, but what does it mean?

first of all, the fact that the lamb story is one of the personal details Clarice is forced to reveal to Dr Lecter, despite being thoroughly warned ahead of time to refrain from mentioning anything personal, is a reminder of their peculiar relationship. think about it. isn’t it weird that one of the smartest people, let alone a woman *gasp*, decided to ignore all warnings and form a personal relationship with a face-eater? yeah, thought so. the personalness (i googled it that is in fact a real word) of the story is a direct reminder of their close relationship and is what makes the storyline that much more interesting.

now a closer look at the actual story behind the lambs. i’m not too sure if what i’m about to say makes any sense but this was my thought process: the lambs that were being ‘silenced’ via murder, symbolically represent the women being killed, and therefore also silenced, by Bill. while Hannibal and Clarice’s ever-developing relationship is a major part of the storyline, without the case regarding Buffalo Bill, it would all be nothing. the title is a direct reference to Bill’s torturous intentions.

another more literal side to the title comes from the whole ‘shearing women’s skin to make clothing,’ as one would with a lamb or a sheep. the women are just like the sheep, getting sheared for their ‘wool.’ hilarious right? it really is though. in fact, during her raid of Bill’s house, Clarice yells at the woman in the ditch(?) to shut up so she hunt down Bill before trying to help anybody else. this is her silencing the lamb.

Insecurity

one of the most important aspects of the entire film, yet the one i understood the least, was the root of Bill’s intentions with his skinning. on one hand, he’s a psychopath and literally one of the most damaged characters you’ll ever hear of in your life, fictional or real. on the other hand, there is a root cause of all this: insecurity (mixed with a bucketload of mental illness). Bill’s identity crisis and fragile relationship with his femininity is what leads him to literally strip women of their womanhood and keep it for himself. one of the few instances we see Bill expressing actual human emotion is when he was looking down at the girl he had trapped in his home and starts crying as she begs him to free her. Bill saw something in the girl that he presumably sees in himself, which is why the whole encounter was interestingly uncomfortable for him, despite being a serial killer. this all boils down to his insecurity with himself and is probably the root of all his problems.

Bill’s Green Goggles

one final point about Bill (as he’s easily my least favorite character in all this, what a psycho), has to do with his goggles. while he was scoping out his next victim AND trying to hunt down Clarice in the dark after she broke into his little messed up dungeon, he uses these green night vision goggles. yes, the green is merely a coincidence as most night vision goggles have this lens color; however, it’s worth noting the psychological side of this too. in films, most people automatically associate the color green with perseverance and envy. the only times Bill uses these goggles are quietly obviously to see in the dark, but these two occurrences also happen to be when he is at his most animal-like. he wants what the girls have, both physically and ‘socially.’ he wants their skins but he also wants their femininity and womanhood, something he clearly lacks. he envies them and the bright green of the goggles is a constant reminder of this insecurity.

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

(2/2) especially given that the first thing i shipped once i knew what shipping was comes from the realm of daytime soaps, where people are betraying and backstabbing each other constantly lol. for me, i think it comes down to framing. if the show frames a pairing as abusive/toxic, i can deal with it a lot better than with fandoms and shows that romanticize it or sweep it under the rug. that, and of course, chemistry, is a big part of the reason i hate ships like c$ but can enjoy a pairing (2/3)

So, Tumblr ate some of your asks again (damn this hellsite lol) but we spoke on PM’s and you explained that in your other asks, you discussed toxic/dark ships, asked me what makes a dark ship work for me and the darkest ship I’ve ever shipped. You also said that some of the toxic ships you like such as Todd/Blaor and Joker/Harley work for you because of the framing of those ships.

I want to start off by saying, thank you so much for this ask. It’s such an interesting topic to discuss and I feel like it’s very relevant in fandom. There’s this hysteria around “abusive”, “toxic” and “dark” ships with people misusing or misunderstanding those words. I briefly discussed this previously in an ask I recieved about Stelena being abusive, which you can read here if you’re interested.

Overall, I think dark ships are brilliant because when they’re done correctly they can be the most intruiging, complex, authentic and gripping relationships in television. There’s no getting around the fact that love is tricky and complicated, and it can lead people down dark paths. Also, everyone has their issues, insecurities and scars, which often bleed into their relationships. So it’s only right that these sort of relationships should be portrayed in the media.

I feel very much the same as you about what makes a dark/toxic ship work for me. It’s all about the way that it’s portrayed and written. I can’t ship a dark or toxic ship when it’s romanticised or when the toxicity is glossed over or ignored, which is the case with ships like Ross/Rachel (Friends), Damon/Elena (The Vampire Diaries), Spike/Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer - although my only qualms with this ship are in season 7, I actually think they were well written in season 6), Edward/Bella (Twlight) and many more. I have a particular issue with this because I think of all the young people that watch or read about these kind of relationships and aspire to have them and it concerns me. In my opinion, nobody should aspire to have a relationship like any of the ones I’ve just named or any other like them. 

Dark ships work for me when they’re authentic and realistic. These types of relationships are intense and passionate, but they’re also exhausting and very detrimental to the people involved. So when I see a ship like this I expect to see that. I expect to see the consequences, to see the people change as a result of the relationship and be pushed to the extremes. I’ve discussed this previously in response to an ask about Delena which you can read here (be warned, it is anti-Delena). In that ask, I use Jax and Tara as an example of a toxic ship that works, and I stand by that. What makes Jax and Tara work so well as a toxic ship is that it’s constantly acknowledged and we see the devastating impact their relationship has on both of them, but Tara in particular. Yet with ships such as Damon/Elena or Emma/Hook, all I ever see is their love being glorified and romanticised. 

I have to admit, I don’t have a tendency to ship dark ships. I’d say the only ships that I have that could fall into this category are Cook/Effy (Skins), Damon/Katherine (The Vampire Diaries), Dexter/Debra (Dexter), Ben/Callum (Eastenders) and Henry/Anne (The Tudors). There may be others, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head. There are different reasons as to why I still ship these couples despite them being dark and/or toxic. I’m going to analyse these ships one by one. Feel free to skip over this, because it’s going to be long and I’m literally just using this as the perfect excuse to talk about some of my favourite ships lol.

Cook and Effy (Skins)

I’ve spoken pretty in-depth about Cook and Effy being toxic and bad for each other previously. However, I’ll do it again because there are little things that I missed from my previous meta. Cook and Effy are toxic for one another at points, and this stems from the fact that as individuals they have a lot of issues and they use each other as a buffer for those issues. The reason they enter into a sexual relationship in season 3 is because they both use sex as way to deal with the disconnect they feel with others, but also because Cook wants to get one over on Freddie and Effy wants to deny her feelings for Freddie. As a result, they both unintentionally hurt each other. Cook knows that Effy is using him, but he allows it to happen which feeds into Effy’s pain about Freddie, whilst simuetanously causing himself pain, because he has genuine feelings for Effy. Their communication throughout season 3 is poor and they’re rarely honest with each other. Cook knows that Effy is in love with Freddie, but neither of them address this and it causes them both a lot of hurt. They also use each other as an escape. They run away together at the end of season 3; Effy to get away from Freddie and Cook because he wants to pursue the fantasy that he and Effy are going to live happily ever after. Although Effy willingly stays with Cook during that time, he does take her away from her home and loved ones and isolates her to an extent, because he wants to pursue this fantasy by any means necessary. He knows Effy doesn’t love him the way he loves her, but he goes into denial because he’d rather live a lie than lose her.

In season 4, when Effy finally admits her feelings for Freddie and gets into a relationship with him, she continues to cause Cook pain because she never validates his love for her. Instead, she ridicules and belittles him for it and downplays their relationship. When he tells her he still loves her, she tells him to piss off and later on she tells him that he was never good for her. Instead of admitting that what they had was real, but that she simply loved Freddie more, she makes Cook feel stupid as though what they had meant nothing. This leads to Cook once again going into denial. When Effy is suffering from mental illness and appears to not remember him, he plays along with her because it enables him to be with her, even if just for a short time.

The reason I’m still able to ship Cook and Effy is because despite the toxicity, there’s an equality present in their relationship. Everything that happens between them is mutual. Cook loves Effy but he never actively manipulates, coerces or pressures her to be with him in any way. In fact, he respects and accepts that she loves Freddie even though it hurts him. Effy hurts Cook by undermining their love, but excluding the one occassion where she tells him to piss off, she respects him and treats him with kindness. Cook and Effy never purposefully hurt each other or try to keep each other harm. The hurt they do cause each other is more an extension of their individual issues which have a knock on effect when it comes to their relationship. It’s not their relationship that’s toxic, it’s them as individuals. But also, the narrative never portrays Cook and Effy as being anything other than they are. We see the detrimental impact of their relationship and we hear Effy admit that they were bad for each other and would’ve never worked.

Damon and Katherine (The Vampire Diaries)

Once again, I have discussed Damon and Katherine’s relationship in-depth over at my writing side-blog, so don’t need to go into too much detail. I don’t think any explanation is needed here as to why Damon and Katherine are toxic. From the moment Katherine meets Damon she uses him for her own amusement, she sleeps with Damon and his brother at the same time without any regard for Damon’s feelings, controls every aspect of their relationship to suit her, fakes her death and lets Damon think she’s dead for over a century, continually plays with Damon’s feelings to get the reaction she wants, is continually dismissive of his love for her and rubs the fact that she loves Stefan in Damon’s face. And that’s just the aspects of their relationship that are toxic from Katherine’s side. Damon’s love for Katherine is so consuming that he goes to terrible lengths to be with her and when she rejects him resorts to violence and cruelty.

But again, the reason I’m able to ship them is because Damon and Katherine opearate on a level playing field. At the start of their relationship when Damon is human, Katherine definitley has an upper hand, but later on it’s tit for tat. They both hurt and manipulate each other, and in fact, they almost thrive on it. It’s part of how they communicate and relate to one another. Over the years, their feelings for each other become so twisted that they can’t express their love in the correct way anymore. Most importantly, just like with Cook and Effy, the narrative never strays from what Damon and Katherine are. They’re not true love, they’re not good for each other, they’re not healthy or a love to aspire to have. They’re profoundly connected and have a dark, twisted and complex history which is underlined with love but that manifests itself in often awful ways.

Dexter and Debra (Dexter)

These two are by far the darkest and most controversial ship I’ve ever shipped. As adopted siblings, there’s an incestious nature to the relationship which immediately creates toxcity in their relationship, but as individuals Dexter and Debra are both really messed up. Dexter is a self-proclaimed psychopath and serial killer, and Debra endures a lot of trauma throughout the series which deeply impacts her. Dexter and Debra have such an unhealthy and co-dependent relationship, it’s actually kinda crazy. Dexter lies to Debra and keeps an entire aspect of himself and his life a secret, he kills for Debra, he fails to validate or understand her feelings for him and he emotionally blackmails her. Debra lies and compromises her entire identity and morals to protect Dexter’s secret of being a serial killer, she murders an innocent woman to protect him and harbours a wanted criminal for him. Dexter and Deb will quite literally do anything to protect each other, but the result is devastating. You only have to watch Deb in season 8 to see just how damaging and toxic her relationship with Dexter is to her. Dexter and her love for him quite literally destroys her.

So it begs the question how and why do I ship these two? Well, the answer is the same as always: because the narrative doesn’t portray them as anything other than exactly what they are. Their relationship and Deb’s feelings for Dexter are completely fucked up and we’re told and shown that repeatedly. They’re not romanticised in any way, if anything they’re written in a way that would make most fans and viewers despise their relationship, particularly the romantic aspect of it. The show is true to them as individual characters and the toxicity of their relationship is authentic and understandable. I’ve briefly spoke about this previously, but Dexter and Debra’s relationship is supposed to be completely messed up because it’s an extension of them. Dexter, in particular, is damaged beyond repair and destroys everything he touches. Debra is part of that. Likewise, her falling for him makes perfect sense in the context of what she endures. Deb is a naturally self-destructive and self-loathing person, and loving Dexter is the biggest act of self-destruction she could ever enter into. In my opinion, of all the dark ships I have, Dexter and Debra are the perfect example of it being done right. They’re so dark and they love each other so much, but every step of the way the toxicity of their relationship is acknowledged and explored properly.

Ben and Callum (Eastenders)

I love Ben and Callum so much, and as far as they’ve come in their relationship, I can’t help but see the toxicity of it. In the beginning, Callum was unsure of his sexuality, was extremely closeted and carried a lot of internalised homophobia and self-hatred. This impacted on his relationship with Ben who had struggled with the same issues and didn’t want to return to that sad, lonely and miserable place. Callum’s relationship with Whitney and inability to admit his feelings for Ben made Ben feel rejected, sidelined and frustrated. At the same time this was going on, Ben’s issues of being afraid to love and let someone in after his ex was murdered, meant that he was unable to be completely open to Callum. By the time Callum was ready to come out and embrace his feelings for Ben, Ben was scared and backed away from Callum. Since the two have entered into a relationship, there’s been so much hurt and so much back and fourth. Ben is so afraid of hurting Callum and bringing harm to him, that he constantly pushes him away. The issue is that whether they’re together or not, Callum and Ben get hurt simply by loving each other. When Ben breaks up with Callum or pushes him away, they’re both heartbroken and long to be together again. But when Ben and Callum are together, their differences causes issues, and Ben’s actions put Callum in awful positions. Callum’s been forced to keep an innocent man’s murder a secret (he wasn’t really dead, but Callum didn’t know that), and now Callum’s been kidnapped and beaten, his life threatened, because of Ben’s actions. Ben has gone to extremes to save Callum including holding a gun to his own dad’s head and threatening to pull the trigger.

Unlike the other ships I’ve already discussed, the reason I’m still able to ship Ben and Callum isn’t because the narrative acknowledges they’re toxic for each other. It does acknowledge it, but the main reason I’m able to ship them is because none of the hurt they bring to each other is ever intentional. The hurt that Callum caused Ben before they were together was something he couldn’t control. He couldn’t force himself to come out and break up with Whitney. He had to come to terms with it in his own time and come out when he was good and ready. Likewise, Ben never intentionally hurts Callum. He does everything he can to protect him. Sure, he makes mistakes in trying to protect him, but all he ever wants is the best for Callum. A lot like Cook and Effy, the toxicity of Ben and Callum’s relationship doesn’t come from their relationship itself, but them as individuals. More specifically, Ben. Ben’s lifestyle, choices and actions have a detrimental impact on him and everyone around him (the mother of his child was also kidnapped not too long ago), including Callum.

Henry/Anne (The Tudors)

These two are a weird pairing to analyse, since they’re technically a real-life historical couple, but I’ll obviously be discussing them purely from a fictional stand-point and how they’re portrayed on The Tudors.

Henry and Anne are toxic as hell. Their relationship develops because Anne’s father uses her as a pawn to seduce Henry for the benefit of his own political career. Henry is also married to Katherine when their romantic relationship develops, so there’s infidelity and lies involved. Henry pursues Anne and although she falls for him, she actually has little agency in the early days. She’s told to entertain Henry and play on his attraction to her by her father, and later on, she has to submit to Henry because he’s the King of England. As the King of England, Henry has more power than any person should ever have and his arrogance and self righteousnous means that he’s more than happy to play on his power and use it to his advantage, even where Anne is concerned.

In the early stages of their relationship, considering the type of person he is, Henry is reasonably generous and gentle when it comes to Anne. He respects her, he listens to her and she has a voice in the relationship to a greater extent than Katherine did. But the moment that Anne challenges him or speaks out of turn, he shuts her down and forecfully reminds her that he’s the one with the power. He tells her to shut up and endure like her betters before her and he threatens her by telling her he can bring her down as quickly as he raised her. When she miscarries, he makes her feel that she’s a failed as a wife, mother and queen. He makes her feel embarassed, ashamed, anxious and unloved; the exact opposite of how she should feel during such a traumatic and painful time. Things only get worse when he proceeds to cheat on her whilst she’s pregnant. And we all know how this relationship ends. There are a lot of toxic ships out there but very few who actually kill their significant other, so Henry and Anne take the top spot for that alone. 

The question arises again, why do I ship this? And it’s because a) they have amazing chemistry b) the ups and downs in the relationship are portrayed fantastically c) you visibly see the downfall of Anne as a result of her love for Henry. Anne is destroyed, both metaphorically and literally, by her relationship with Henry. None of the bad aspects of their relationships are ever masked or ignored, they’re laid bare, but we see that despite how bad they are for each other, they have a deeply intense and passionate love which neither of them can fight against.

So if you’ve read all of that, I guess I’d say that when it comes to dark/toxic ships, they don’t always work for me. I take them on their individual merit. Sometimes they work and other times they don’t. It all depends on how they’re written and portrayed, and how their relationship develops overtime

[tvdversefanfiction]

Canary Carnage

Fandoms: Arrowverse, DC Universe, TVDverse and The Originals

Chapter Six: Carnage of Bane

Warnings: I don’t own any of the rights, content or characters belonging to any of the DC content I use within the story along with not owning any rights, content or characters within The Vampire Diaries, Originals or Legacies.

18 Rating: Moderate/Graphic displays of violence, sexual innuendos, sexually charged scenes, SMUT, strong language and potentially triggering scenes.

Pairings: M/M, F/F, M/F.

Marcel Gerard had survived centuries as a vampire who claimed himself the king of New Orleans the city he was born and had dealt with the Mikaelson family many times having seen Klaus Mikaelson as his father figure while finding himself falling in love with Klaus’ favorite sibling Rebekah.

He had seen the family of original vampires come and go from his city a few times now and despite his fondness for Rebekah or his complicated history with Klaus New Orleans often came first to the upgraded original and it was due to his loyalty towards his city that he wasn’t willing for their recent return to lead them to regaining any more control.

In the years since the Mikaelson’s fled New Orleans Marcel had constructed a perfect city of his own idealism with the help of Hayley Marshall and many other New Orleans residents and it was his love for this city that cost him his love for Rebekah so when the originals returned home he knew he’d need to make new alliances to keep Klaus from dethroning him once more.

Marcel knew Hayley’s dedication to the Mikaelson family especially her daughter was stronger than her commitment to the city knowing she’d take their side over his in a heartbeat and therefore he needed people he could trust starting with the girl he loved like a daughter the wonder witch Davina Claire who returned to the city reclaiming her title as Regent with the New Orleans witches.

One thing was for sure in Marcel’s mind if he was going to keep the Mikaelson family in line especially with Elijah’s recent return he was going to need all the alliances he could get even if it meant partnering with the canaries in order to do so which despite Davina’s fondness of the Black Canary and the White Canary had Marcel less than pleased due to being forced to work alongside the Red Canary who didn’t exactly make the best first meeting with the upgraded original.

“Is there a particular reason you’re standing outside of this hotel in particular?” Laurel Lance questioned Marcel after speeding to the front door of the hotel her and her siblings had called home, only to find Marcel stood there waiting, while holding a large brown envelope. “If you’re here to claim revenge on my brother then you’re out of luck he’s still not back from France and I’m not sure he’s going to be coming back.”

“Let me guess your little brother has a tendency for disappearing and leaving you to clear up the mess?” Marcel asked the Black Canary. “I’m here for you actually…I have gift for you that will help you level the playing field against a certain family of originals you’ve sincerely pissed off.”

“I thought you were a part of that family or did all that change when you upgraded?” Laurel wondered, knowing she trusted Davina who trusted Marcel but also knowing Marcel’s beef with her brother making her uncertain of whether to trust him herself.

“You and your brother are now the proud owners of the New Orleans Voyage hotel I was going to put your sister down as co-owner too but there’s no point now she’s a vampire.” Marcel informed her while handing the envelope to Laurel. “You’re a lawyer so you’ll know all the paperwork is above board I even changed property details ever so slightly so that this business now classes as a home.”

“This is a very generous gift why would you do this for me or my brother especially my brother?” Laurel questioned the upgraded original while opening the envelope and checking the deeds to the hotel.

“Because now you can walk into the Mikaelson’s home whenever you want but they can’t come into yours.” Marcel answered her. “Also, because I want to align myself with you not so much your brother but I’m willing to compromise.”

“Okay, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here…” Laurel scoffed before Marcel interrupted her.

“No games I know you’re a good-hearted gal who just wants to protect the world which means you also want what’s best for my city and that’s me.” Marcel replied to the Black Canary. “I don’t want the Mikaelson’s dead at least not anymore but I want them out of this city just as much as Davina does and rumor has it your sister’s got you banned from your old home so I thought giving you a new one would be a good gift.”

“I honestly have no idea what to say…” Laurel admitted, in shock by her latest alliance proposal. “I’m not sure I can trust you and trust is a big thing for me.”

“Laurel Lance I’m the only person both outside this hotel and inside it that you can trust.” Marcel told her honestly. “I know you don’t trust your brother because you’re not a fool and you don’t know your sister any better than your enemies around here.”

Marcel had a genuine point and they both knew it, after all the years her sister Sara had been missing and the secrets that had been exposed since her return it was never going to be easy for Laurel to just trust her blindly especially when last time it resulted in her sister sleeping with her boyfriend and although Lucas had been recently showing some hope of not being an entirely emotionless psychopath she’d be a fool to give him any of her trust.

The only person so far that had proved themselves trustworthy to Laurel Lance was the wonder witch Davina Claire and she knew Davina loved Marcel like a father, a love he must of earned and if he could earn that maybe he could also earn her trust.

Elijah Mikaelson was torn about his recent return to New Orleans on one hand it was great to be back home and surrounded by his family once again but on the other he had experienced life without the constant betrayals, deaths and sacrifices that came along with being by his family side and although he’d never admit it to his siblings a part of him wished they had never found him.

As usual with his family the noble original returned to them learning news of yet another war they had found themselves in although this time their opponents intrigued Elijah who had never heard of other worlds or meta-humans and wanted to learn more about his rivals, that’s if his brother Klaus allowed them to live long enough for Elijah’s curiosity to be fed.

Elijah had already met Lucas Lance whose scream banished the hollow from within him before the Red Canary’s blood kick-started the original vampire’s memories and he couldn’t help but wonder what else Lucas and his siblings could do especially his sister Sara who had recently turned vampire.

Elijah was devastated to learn of his sister Freya’s death and her lover Keelin’s and wanted revenge just as much as his siblings perhaps even more he considered as he quickly realized Rebekah had struck up somewhat of a friendship with Laurel and Klaus found himself enticed by Lucas, Elijah had no personal attachment to either of the three canaries so he was willing to do whatever it took but unlike his fiery siblings Klaus, Rebekah and Kol he wanted to play this at his own pace with as little emotion as possible.

“Clearly whatever the bloody hell Lucas did to your mind has clearly fried it somehow.” Rebekah snapped at her older brother Elijah as the two of them stood opposite the fountain within the Mikaelson compound. “Freya died because of that bitch and I’ll be damned if your return pulls the break on my revenge!”

“It’s nice to see your still very much the same Rebekah.” Elijah said with a smile, amused by his sister’s outburst. “I want revenge more than anything but let’s be logical for a moment think more like Niklaus perhaps.”

“Oh god,” Rebekah replied while looking at the noble original with disgust. “That canary blood has done some terrible damage to you Elijah.”

“So far their screams banished the hollow and their blood returned my memories as well as tasting very delicious I must add.” Elijah tried to explain to the original female vampire. “Their talents may perhaps come in useful yet why not figure that out before instantly killing them all? Besides it would give you more time to bond with Laurel Lance about your shared struggles of having siblings.”

“Firstly, I wasn’t bonding I was distracting I just happened to get lucky with her having siblings almost as terrible as mine.” Rebekah snapped. “Secondly, you just want this feud to last as long as bloody possible so you can prolong your conversation with Hayley.”

“That is completely not true Rebekah.” Elijah lied; Rebekah was too correct for his liking. “I simply just want my siblings to think before carnage ensues straight away.”

“They killed Freya we kill them it’s really that simple.” Rebekah corrected her brother. “Take the rest and lock them up as lab rats for all I bloody care but I want Sara Lance dead by the end of today and I don’t mean undead!”

“Very well.” Elijah caved while rolling his eyes at his sister, knowing he would have to compromise with her. “Just keep the other two alive…for now.”

Lucas Lance had taken his recent trip to France as an opportunity to spend some time away from New Orleans and reconsider his strategies going forward after almost dying at the hands of both Klaus and Elijah he considered it was time to start taking them as serious threats and to get into survivalist mode.

He had considered leaving his sisters Laurel and Sara to fend for himself while he found somewhere far away from the originals to call home but as much as Klaus Mikaelson infuriated the Red Canary he was just as equally fascinated by the original hybrid and deep down for once in his life he didn’t want to run from his family, well at least not for now.

After a few days recharging his batteries as he prepared for an inevitable war against Klaus he decided it was time to return to New Orleans not sure what to expect as he walked into the reception area of the hotel he and his sisters had claimed for their only to find nobody there as he feared his time away may have resulted in some trouble for Laurel and Sara.

His fears were quickly cut short as he walked into the hotel’s bar to see both Laurel and Sara sat at the counter drinking bottles of beer, much to his momentary relief as he walked over to them quickly realizing questions were going to be asked.

“A text or a call would’ve been nice to know you made it out of France alive.” Laurel snapped at her brother as she stood up for face him, making it clear she was far from happy with her youngest sibling. “I thought Klaus had killed you.”

“Oh, calm down Laurel you thought I was dead for a few days it’s not like I went missing for a few years taking your boyfriend with me.” Lucas replied to Laurel, while making a dig at Sara at the same time.

“Do you want to tell me when the bloody hell you spiked me with vampire blood?” Sara demanded from the Red Canary as she too stood up, clearly also pissed at her brother. “You don’t just go spiking people with that kind of shit!”

“I guess we’re back to the old days with sister act taking on the littlest prey well guess what guys I’m not one of you and nor do I ever want to be one of you. Laurel you’re such a doormat you were mourning instead of celebrating the deaths of two backstabbing bitches who never cared about you enough to stop sleeping with each other.” Lucas snapped back at them both before turning his cruelty towards Sara. “As for you, you’ve clearly killed a lot of people as an assassin and instead of embracing who you are your running from it trying to be someone who quite frankly neither of us ever cared for.”

“Hold up you turned me into a vampire a freaking vampire and you want to come at me because I want answers.” Sara shouted at her younger brother. “Just because I’ve killed doesn’t make me a killer…I never enjoyed anything I did while with the league of assassins, but you clearly enjoy every twisted little thing you do!”

“Well I don’t enjoy everything I do for example I’m clearly regretting keeping you alive when I should’ve just waited for you to wind up dead.” Lucas cruelly replied to the White Canary. “I had come here with a plan of action a way to win this war that you technically got us into but on seconds thoughts I’d rather just go solo with this one and see how long you last.”

“Lucas!” Laurel shouted over them both, demanding her siblings’ attention before going on to ask her brother. “What plan have you come up with now?”

“Like I said I think I’m better off going solo with this one.” Lucas answered his oldest sister before super speeding his way out of sight.

“When the hell did, he get so bloody twisted?” Sara asked her sister while rolling her eyes, trying to calm herself from her argument with Lucas.

“Hard to tell really but I do know that’s him saved us both now and we’ve not given him the credit for it.” Laurel replied. “I’ve waited a long time to see some good in him Sara and since we wound up here, I’ve not only seen it but I’m seeing it grow.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me Laurel he turned me into a bloodsucking monster!” Sara moaned at her sister.

“You’re also still breathing because of it just like I’m still breathing because of his actions when Rebekah and Kol tried to kill me.” Laurel explained to her sister. “I’m not trusting him or anything stupid like that, but we are down one canary cry now you’re a vampire and he is the reason we’re both still in this fight.”

“I don’t know if I can forgive him for this Laurel, what he’s done it’s changed me forever and he didn’t even tell me beforehand.” Sara told her older sister, hoping for some wisdom from the Black Canary.

“What you did to me stealing the man I loved then being presumed dead before I found out and stealing my rage from me in the process that changed me in many ways, some for the better and some not so much.” Laurel stated, making it clear she was taking her brother’s side for once. “Except what you did wasn’t to save me it was to destroy me…if anyone has valid reasons to be pissed off at either of use it’s me!”

Klaus Mikaelson was thrilled to have his family back under one roof barring his daughter Hope who was in Mystic Falls attending Salvatore Boarding School and his eldest sibling Freya who had recently died at the hands of the White Canary. Despite this loss Klaus had found himself happier than he had been in a long time because now he had Elijah, Rebekah and even Kol back in his life as they fought together against their common foes.

However, Klaus couldn’t help but notice Elijah wasn’t quite himself and was having a hard time readjusting to life back in New Orleans as the original hybrid hoped his elder brother would settle better once he was reunited with Hayley Marshall who was currently visiting her and Klaus’ daughter Hope.

For once in Klaus Mikaelson’s thousand year existence he had began to wonder whether or not vengeance was the correct thing to preoccupy himself with at that moment, he considered going to spend some more time with his daughter or concentrating on helping Elijah get back to his normal self but deep down he knew why he was attempting to prolong his revenge against the canaries and that reason was none other than the Red Canary himself.

Klaus didn’t know how but Lucas Lance had managed to get under the hybrid’s skin when he wasn’t expecting it, he saw the darkness the Red Canary battled with, the weaknesses within he tried to hide and his hatred yet twisted devotion he had towards his sisters and found himself wanting to learn more about the youngest canary.

He wanted to know how this man found himself down such a dark path why his blood-lust was as bad as his own and how he managed to prove himself quite the foe against Klaus and his family time and time again.

Of course Klaus was fascinated with the canaries in general, their abilities were unlike anything he had ever seen and they came from another world he never even knew existed but it was the Red Canary that managed to claim most of the original hybrid’s fascination.

“Don’t tell me you killed the bartender just to get some time to yourself to drink.” Klaus joked after vamp speeding into Rousseau's to find Lucas sat at the counter drinking a bottle of whisky to himself. “My family have grown rather fond of Josh I’d hate to have to add another reason to kill you.”

“Don’t worry I just claimed the place today under the promise of not destroying anything again besides you already have plenty of reasons to want me dead.” Lucas replied before taking another drink from the bottle. “Question is are you here to kill me now or are you just looking for a drink?”

“I was simply looking for a drink had I known you’d be in here I’d have gone somewhere else.” Klaus lied to Lucas as he walked towards the Red Canary and sat down next to him, having been told by Josh already who was residing within Rousseau's. “Are you going to share that bottle or start screaming at me?”

“This isn’t some play is it because I thought you’d be wiser than to try and play me again?” Lucas wondered as he handed Klaus the bottle of whisky, which Klaus grabbed with forced grabbing Lucas’ hand in the process as the two stared at each other intensely.

“You’d love for me to really play with you, wouldn’t you?” Klaus asked with a flirtatious smile on his face, knowing exactly what he was doing.

“You only flirt when you’re planning on killing a sister of mine but luckily for you, I’m not in the saving sister mode today.” Lucas replied as he moved the bottle from Klaus’ grip, placing the bottle on the counter and began to lean slowly towards the original hybrid.

“I guess your back to trying to murder your sisters yourselves then?” Klaus scoffed for a moment before beginning to lean towards Lucas, the two meeting in the middle as their lips were mere inches away from meeting once again. “Maybe that means I don’t have to waste time distracting you?”

“Maybe it does…” Lucas teased with a flirtatious smile, only for the two of them to be interrupted by the door to the bar flying of its hinges as Lucas’ old ally turned enemy Bane walked into Rousseau's wearing his usual attire and causing both Lucas and Klaus to rise to their feet to face one of the infamous Batman’s greatest foes.

“It’s good to see you again Red Canary.” Bane said through the mask which changed his voice, making him sound even more sinister than he looked.

Bane was often referred to as one of Batman’s greatest enemies who managed to break the bat not just physically but also mentally.

He was feared by many due to his seemingly unmatchable strength, his ever-growing kill count and the sinister mask he wore which was attached to a tube at the back of the head leading downwards to his wrist, the mask also giving the villain a terrifying voice that even the villains of Gotham City were afraid of.

One of the few people who wasn’t terrified of Bane upon first meeting was none other than the Red Canary Lucas Lance who was fresh off a partnership with The Joker and Harley Quinn and eager for a new partner in crime.

Lucas Lance was a hyper active individual who often talked too much even in Arkham were very few talked to each other, he also never failed to get his flirt on even when the prison guards at Arkham Asylum would torture him it was almost like the Red Canary enjoyed his time in there and that baffled Bane.

Bane liked his peace within the asylum in fact that was the only thing he enjoyed about being held prisoner there and with dampening devices, gasses and materials layered within the walls of the asylum he couldn’t beat the canary into silence so instead he found himself debating with him instead which led to an inevitable team up between the two leading to an escape plan.

However, Bane became one of many who quickly found themselves double crossed by the Red Canary who used Bane to overpower the guard and break the two free as the two villains made it outside of the building Lucas was quick to take advantage of his recently returned power and canary cried into his partner’s ears until Bane gave in and was left unconscious giving Lucas the opportunity to get far while Bane dealt with the staff inside Arkham Asylum.

“One could presume it’s safe to say this guy is from your world.” Klaus stated as he and Lucas stood side by side in Rousseau's while Bane stood in front of them both staring Lucas up and down, clearly wanting revenge.

“Is this your new partner?” Bane asked while looking Klaus up and down. “You’ve clearly ran out of willing participants.”

“Yeah I’m not his partner I’m his enemy just like you I’d assume.” Klaus snapped back at the mysterious mountain of a man standing in front of him.

“When did you get out of Arkham? Better yet when the hell did you get here?” Lucas questioned his former cellmate with a clear look of terror on his face, a look that didn’t go unnoticed by Klaus.

“I’m here to kill you Lucas Lance!” Bane announced before charging towards Klaus and Lucas, Lucas instantly launching a canary cry towards his enemy making Bane stop in one spot.

Lucas continued to use his cry with more and more intensity the strength of the vibrations growing stronger and stronger as glasses all around the bar including the glass windows exploded while the ground beneath them all shook viciously as Bane stood there barely effected at all and much to Lucas and Klaus’ horror began to walk forward pushing past the force of Lucas canary cry before Klaus grabbed a hold of Lucas, stopping his cry in the process and vamp sped into the backroom with the Red Canary slamming the door shut and speeding to move a large table in front of the door hoping to hold Bane from getting in too soon.

“I’ve never seen anyone fight back against your cry before and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you scared before.” Klaus said to Lucas as Bane began crashing up against the door, making it clear to them both it wouldn’t keep him out for long.

“You’ve never met Bane before even Batman is scared of Bane and Batman’s scared of nobody.” Lucas mumbled to Klaus, a look of terror still paralyzing the Red Canary. “I really need to stop screwing over everyone I meet.”

“Who the hell is Batman?” Klaus wondered why launching the cellar door in the backroom leading to the tunnels open with force just in time for Bane to burst into the backroom.

“I’ll explain later.” Lucas answered as both he and Klaus sped down into the cellar towards the tunnels, eager to leave Bane behind who grunted a large scream of frustration before walking towards the cellar door.

Klaus Mikaelson had worked relentlessly to strike fear in the eyes of each canary since they arrived in his city and somehow had failed much to his own fury so when the day came when he saw Lucas terrified he’d thought it would bring him nothing but pleasure but instead he found himself anything but happy to see the fierce and fiery canary left broken by a mere encounter by Bane.

Normally Klaus would’ve stayed put and fought against Bane whether Bane turned out to be stronger than the original hybrid or not Klaus wasn’t scared of him for he knew he couldn’t die and he was curious to see if this mountain of a man could take him but instead of fighting he chose to run and it was becoming painfully clear to him that the reason he ran was for Lucas Lance, to keep him safe.

Whether he liked it or not no matter how big a betrayal he believed it to be he had found himself well and truly growing fond of Lucas to the point where he didn’t even want to kill his sister Sara, fearing whatever was growing between them would quickly be destroyed if he did what was needed to get revenge for his fallen sister Freya Mikaelson.

“Please do go ahead and tell me why we are providing a safe haven for the brother of the woman who murdered our sister?” Elijah asked as he handed Klaus a glass of whisky in the dining area of the compound while keeping a glass for himself before sitting down at the table, sitting next to his younger brother. “I’m all for discovering more about them to feed our own curiosities but the plan is still very much to kill them all, not protect them for those who want to kill them.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m some kind of child you need to put in line if anyone knows anything about how to handle their enemies Elijah then it is me!” Klaus snapped at Elijah before taking a drink. “When Lucas Lance dies it will be at my hands and my hands only, I’m simply preserving him for a later kill.”

“Yeah you see I don’t believe that for a second Niklaus in face I think you saw a look of fear in his eyes and you’re attached to his first sign of weakness if anything you’re growing fond of him.” Elijah argued with his brother, knowing Klaus better than Klaus would like to admit. “I say we meet with this Bane man and give him exactly what he wants that way we can focus on the other two canaries who are frankly a lot more predictable and easier to deal with.”

“It was Sara Lance who killed our sister not Lucas!” Klaus shouted as he slammed his glass down on the table and stood up. “If our vengeance should be focused on anyone it should be her!”

“Exactly! That’s why we get rid of Lucas now while an opportunity has risen then use Laurel as our lab rat and seek vengeance on Sara.” Elijah snapped at his younger brother as he stood up to face him. “None of them are innocent over what happened to Freya and we will make them all pay for that.”

“Of course, I know that Elijah!” Klaus replied, as he rolled his eyes in frustration over his brother and the predicament, he had found himself in.

“It’s not as black and white as that though Elijah none of this is!” Hayley argued after vamp speeding into the room, shocking Elijah in the process, as this was the first time the former lovers had seen each other in almost a decade. “Laurel is a good person and the only reason any of you were reunited she doesn’t deserve to be somebody’s test rat just because of her sister and as for Lucas he’s probably spilled as much blood as the rest of us and you don’t see any of us turning on the other over it.”

“Freya is dead Hayley and she’s dead because of his family.” Elijah replied to Hayley, clearly uncomfortable with arguing with the woman he loved.

“Actually we’re as much to blame as everyone for Freya’s death for we jumped straight into this stupid war just like Lucas did and as for Sara although I despite her with every bone in my body for what she did to Freya she was only trying to protect a sibling something which have driven you to do some terrible things yourself.” Hayley continued to argue with Elijah much to Klaus’ amusement, Klaus didn’t fully agree nor disagree with Hayley’s words. “I think if we’re wise here, we should start trying to repair our former alliances with them instead of going to war.”

“Okay I didn’t quite say end the war I was more thinking of postponing it for now.” Klaus butted in before Lucas sped into the room.

“I’m always down for a new partnership especially if it keeps me alive.” Lucas stated with a sinister smirk that made everyone feel uncomfortable about the idea of ever trusting him. “I promise not to try screw use over like Bane of course that promise is purely based on getting rid of Bane.”

“Not a chance in hell!” Elijah snapped at the Red Canary.

“Hey dude I’m the guy who brought you back into the fold show some more appreciation.” Lucas replied before throwing his arm around Hayley, turning his attention to the female hybrid. “Clearly you’re the brains of this operation.”

“Maybe we should just kill you right here and now.” Klaus suggested, clearly as unamused by Lucas in that moment as Elijah.

“Yeah now you could do that Klaus, but I doubt you would.” Lucas replied before removing his arm from around Hayley’s shoulders and walking over to the original hybrid. “I mean after all you’re fond of me right now, but I can promise you’ll be even fonder in the future.”

Lucas Lance’s arrogance annoyed them all deeply especially Klaus which was rather ironic considering he was often considered arrogant himself but with his arrogance he was convinced he had earned the right to be.

However, despite how much Lucas’ arrogance annoyed Klaus he was somewhat happy to see him back in the fighting spirit which infuriated him at the same time as he started to realize just how fond he was growing towards him so much so that he found himself agreeing to an alliance with Lucas and his sisters as they prepared to go up against Bane.

[tinsley-goldsworth]

you live like that, you live with ghosts (chapter 1)

this is part of the ricky goldsworth case files series! read the first two books here!

read on ao3!

Summary: c.c. passed the test but does he have what it takes to keep his act up?

Wc: 1798

Tw: description of a severed head?? Kinda graphic 

a/n: just a friendly reminder that i have no idea how gangs work and i’m not sticking to the canon at all oops just imagine this as a separate universe from ours!  

C.C. expected more from Maizey. As an infamous gang leader, she should have arranged some sort of elaborate plan to meet with a new recruit. Instead, C.C. was told to simply wait outside the back door of an abandoned building. He shouldn’t have expected more or less to be honest as having a giant hideout was probably out of Maizey’s budget but a man can hope.

Ricky should have chosen C.C.’s outfit because C.C. was unsure how well he blended in. The absence of a coat bothered C.C. and his head felt bare without his fedora. He stood outside the back entrance of the building, waiting for Maizey as he was instructed. As he waited, C.C. tried to count how many words were graffitied onto the wall to distract himself from thoughts about meeting the person who killed Lucy. Finally, Maizey walked up to C.C. with her fluorescent green hair in a tangled mess and a gun still in her hand. She took out a key from inside her pocket and opened the door with it, walking inside and gesturing for C.C. to follow.

As C.C. walked into the building, what felt like a thousand eyes turned towards his direction as a bunch of people began to scrutinize him and without him saying anything. The air was dusty and it took all of C.C.’s willpower to not cough with every breath. Maizey shut the door and faced C.C., momentarily ignoring all the other people in the room.

“Now that you’re going to work with us, I have to set a couple of ground rules. One, we’re only going to help you take down Ricky and Night Night and we don’t see each other again. Two, no stepping out of line or not following the plan. Three, don’t go around telling people. I think that third one is a given. These are some pretty simple ground rules and there are more rules I can lay down later,” Maizey twirled the gun in her hand casually, as if it wasn’t a weapon and rather a toy. Her emotionless eyes stabbed into C.C. as she maintained eye contact so intense, one would assume she was trying to win a staring contest. C.C. nodded to show he understood and Maizey’s eyes turned towards the rest of the people in the room. “I suppose I should introduce you to the rest of the crew. Or let them speak for themselves.”

Maizey gave a pointed look at the guy with sunglasses and he stood up straighter, his hands brushing against the knife tucked under his belt. He cast a hasty glance towards the rest of the people before facing C.C., obvious suspicion flashing in his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.

“I’m Brandon. Don’t get too comfortable around here,” Brandon’s brushed a lock of his mahogany red hair out his face and his lips were set in a tight line. C.C. glances at the plates of metal embedded in Brandon’s arm and Brandon’s glare only grew more venomous. The detective sealed his lips and didn’t ask about it.

“Mike. I agree with Brandon,” The guy with a worn swamp green fedora spoke, giving C.C. an equally unwelcoming glare. Even though his eyes were empty but young, the bags under his eyes signified that he was a lot older than he sounded. The backs of Mike’s hands had scars on them and his knuckles were bruised. C.C. definitely did not belong with this crowd of people but he just pushed his nerves aside and nodded calmly. He wasn’t too bothered by their threats as he faced criminals who claimed they would murder C.C. and everybody he loves once they got out of prison but the part C.C. was most worried about was keeping his cool at all times around these people.

One by one, each person went around and offered an unfriendly introduction and clearly, nobody wanted to work with C.C. They probably were all suspicious of his motives and were waiting to see if he was going to turn on them. C.C. was determined to not give them the satisfaction of being correct (obviously they were but C.C. couldn’t let them know) and didn’t react to any of their warnings as they expected him to. The last person to introduce themselves was Gene.

Gene was the most welcoming out of everybody and it was clear that he was new to the world of crime as C.C. noted the absence of any scars or marks on Gene’s skin. He was a rather bulky guy and had french-fry yellow hair that contrasted with his ketchup red shirt. Gene had on a pair of wacky glasses that took the edge off his appearance. He had greeted C.C. enthusiastically, earning him withering looks from the rest of the people.

After everybody introduced themselves, Maizey handed C.C. over to Gene to show him around the facility. Gene was more hyper when his colleagues weren’t around and he ecstatically ushered C.C. up the stairs into the upper level where the weapons were stored. Gene rambled on about his favorite weapons and which ones were the deadliest while C.C. glances at them wearily, hoping that he wouldn’t be forced to use them but knowing Maizey, he eventually would.

Then, Gene took C.C. to another room that had a case with somebody’s head in it. When C.C. first saw it, he was so horrified he almost stopped in his tracks. The head was of a woman and her eyes were open and empty. Her mouth was slightly open as if she had been caught off guard. Gene almost squealed with delight and walked up to the case, gesturing to it as he vividly explained, “This is the head of Pam! She was the second biggest rival gang, placing after Night Night’s, and she killed Brandon’s parents, Dan and Rebecca. She also killed Gebra, Maizey’s wife, and we took down their gang within a week! It was the coolest day of my life.”

“Sounds fun,” C.C. tried his best to sound energetic rather than horrified and Gene beamed, obviously buying the act. He continued to walk through the room, encouraged by C.C.’s approval, and rambled on.

“It was actually the first big thing I was part of! I just joined this gang a couple of months ago and I was only doing small things. It really was the best day of my life,” Gene smiled dreamily and C.C. decided that he really needed to finish this mission as soon as possible so the only psychopath he could be around was Ricky. Even then, Ricky was a reasonable psychopath, unlike the people in Maizey’s gang who apparently had a thing for cutting off people’s heads and putting them on display.

Once Gene finished his tour, C.C. returned to Maizey to receive more information. Maizey gave him a brief rundown of when to meet in the next couple of days and promised that they would take down the gang in the next three days. She didn’t give him a very specific plan and only vaguely explained that her plan consisted of attacking Night Night in their home base with their best weapons. C.C. had a feeling that if he pressed for more details, Maizey would start to get suspicious so he just accepted her hazy outline.

Gene was more enthusiastic about C.C. than the detective expected because after he talked to Maizey, Gene brought him over to the closet of clothing and explained that C.C. should change his look to look more intimidating for when they killed Night Night. C.C. barely got a word in before Gene tossed C.C. some clothes and ordered him to change into them. Reluctantly, C.C. changed into the clothes that Gene picked out for him. When he stepped out with his new clothes, Gene proudly complimented his outfit and when C.C. turned towards the mirror, he looked like a totally different person.

The jacket Gene picked out had a few specks in blood on it but made C.C.’s shoulder appear broader. The pants were a little tight but made C.C. seem taller, even though he was already ridiculously tall. Overall, the outfit made C.C. look tougher and more intimidating. C.C. thanked Gene and Gene beamed, joy practically radiating off his body.

Finally, it was time for C.C. to head back to his hotel and he set up the decoy body before heading out to meet Ricky in the dark night. Ricky hadn’t noticed C.C.’s outfit at first and asked, “How was it? Did you figure out the plan?”

“It was fine. They’re just a bunch of psychopaths that’s all. Nothing too bad. Maizey didn’t give me the specifics but she said the attack should be in about three days,” C.C. informed and Ricky’s mouth fell open slightly. There was a beat of silence before Ricky spoke up.

“Your outfit,” Ricky managed, looking C.C. up and down with emotion stirring in his eyes. C.C. blushed, feeling a little embarrassed when he realized he was so worn out he forgot to change out of the clothes Gene forced him to wear.

“Oh yeah, one of the guys there chose it for me. He said I’d look more intimidating-“ C.C. was cut off by Ricky kissing him passionately. He was caught off guard but reciprocated, feeling Ricky’s hands clutch the fabric of his jacket as their lips locked together.

“You’re so pretty,” Ricky mumbled between kisses, basically inhaling in C.C. as they kissed. It had been a while before the couple had gotten a chance to get intimate after Lucy’s death but C.C. didn’t mind Ricky’s passion. Unfortunately, C.C. couldn’t spend much time with Ricky so he had to pull away.

“I’m not too sure about the exact plans but I’ll update you when I find out more information,” C.C. promised and Ricky glanced at his watch, a frown appearing on his face when he saw that their time was up already. All C.C. wanted to do was kiss that frown off his face and hold Ricky in his arms forever, promising that everything would work out. But they were out of time and could only sneak in a quick kiss before C.C. had to leave to lay in his bed, lonely as usual. He just had to remind himself that after all this was over, he would be able to spend the rest of his life, undisturbed, with Ricky. At least he hoped so.

~

taglist: @hot-mess-writer @thesevensins-1990

chapter 2 is out now!

[dalekofchaos]

My biggest problems with the Tim Burton Batman movies

Batman 1989 and Batman Returns are viewed as classics and helped restore Batman as a dark hero. And they are far better than the Schumacher movies.  Today, most people remember Schumacher as having ruined the legacy of the cinematic Batman, and with good reason. After all, he is the one that put nipples on the Batsuit, gave Batman a credit card, and showed us all the Batsmile. He took a tortured, haunted character with psychological issues and turned him into a real life cartoon. The absurdity of Schumacher’s films also retroactively made Tim Burton’s films better in the minds and memories of fans. Compared to the colorfulness and camp of Batman Forever and especially Batman & Robin, Burton’s films were suddenly remembered as having been dark and brooding affairs that treated the material seriously. But not really. Tim Burton is a legendary filmmaker, a visual genius whose work has changed Hollywood. He brings strange and offbeat but lovable characters to life within universes that look like something from our imagination. Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish alone are a treat for the eyes. Yet his two films set in Gotham City, 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, were not nearly as profound — or as good — as your recollection would have you believe. They’ve aged poorly, yes, but they were not all that good when they were released. It puzzles me that anyone finds any of these movies better than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight. These are my biggest issues with the Tim Burton Batman movies.

The villains are more focused than on Batman. I don’t like it that we know more about The Joker than we do about Batman. We are never supposed to get a definitive origin for The Joker. And we have less focus on Batman as a character, I mean he’s reduced to a side character in Batman Returns. We barely know ANYTHING about Keaton’s Bruce Wayne, let alone his Batman. Burton not understanding the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman is one thing, but he doesn’t even care about him. Perhaps the biggest issue with the films is that he is completely focused on the supporting characters. There are three origin stories in those two films — one in Batman, two in Batman Returns — and none of them tell the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman. All we learn about Bruce Wayne is that his parents were murdered through a flashback and a scene of Alexander Knox and Vicki Vale reading old newspaper articles. Who is Bruce Wayne? What role did his parents play in his life? When did he dedicate his life to fighting crime? How did he come up with the symbol of the bat? When and how did he construct the Batcave? Does he have any training?  We know virtually nothing about the titular character. Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins goes to great lengths to explain how Wayne got his hands on all of the gear and gadgets that he would use in his war on crime, but Burton never once takes the time to analyze how Bruce Wayne turned himself into the Caped Crusader.  I think the worst thing about these movies is Burton doesn't care about Batman as a character. There is no origin movie so we do not see why he chooses to become Batman, the only reason we get is "just something I have to do" no mention of training his entire life. We meet him as an adult Batman and all we know is he likes to play dead, he's rich and a bit crazy and he iis what the plot needs him to be. Every time Michael Keaton tells people “I’m Batman” I cringe, Keaton you were not Batman, you were Burton Murderman.

The Joker is an eccentric mobster, not The Joker. While I enjoyed Jack’s Joker, he just seems like a mildly crazy eccentric mobster. In my opinion The Joker should be a psychopathic killer clown who symbolizes the randomness of crime, who thinks life is the joke and death is the punchline, with Jack’s Joker we get the twisted sense of humor, we don’t get the randomness of a crime we get a crazed eccentric mob boss. And when I think about it, Jack Nicholson just did not play The Joker. He changes from scene to scene, with no defining characteristics. The only really clear thing about him is that he is pining after the same woman as Bruce Wayne AND Batman. Worst of all, we are given a definitive origin of his character, including a name, an explanation for why his skin is white and his hair is green. And in giving him these characteristics, we never get a fully-formed Joker. He always remains nothing more than a mentally-ill gangster, out for revenge. Sure, The Joker is the same villain whose identity is ever-evolving. But here, he doesn’t even seem to remember that he IS The Joker. And this is tragic, as he’s being portrayed by Jack Nicholson. Imagine if Nicholson had the chance to play a version of The Joker who made sense, and who matched the villain we know from the source material.

The Joker kills Thomas and Martha Wayne. I feel like this was solely done just so Burton can have the excuse for Batman to kill Joker and criminals in general. Even screen writer Sam Hamm came clean and said he did not have Joker kill Batman’s parents, it was Tim Burton’s idea. You know it’s stupid when your own screen writer throws an incompetent director under the bus. 

Bad fighting. Batman isn’t that great at fighting. There are very few fight scenes in either film. When we see Batman fighting, we see a slow, lumbering, cumbersome Batman that throws a punch or two and maybe a kick before running away. He also loses as many fights as he wins, getting pummeled by the Joker’s henchmen and having his batarang taken away by a small poodle. Several times, he defeats the bad guys not with skill or training, but through gimmicks or luck. 

Batman kills. Batman kills. I don’t think Batman should ever kill. In both of the movies he’s a mass murdering thug. He  kills Joker’s thugs in Ace Chemicals without remorse and practically blows them up. Knocking that one Joker thug against the cathedral bell pretty much killed him and while he was trying to capture The Joker, he pretty much killed him. Oh god it gets worse in Batman Returns. He incinerates one of Penguin’s henchmen with the Batmobile and straps a bomb to another. Batman killing is boring. Batman not killing is what makes him so compelling, if he kills criminals, there is no moral conflict,  if he kills criminals, there is no moral conflict, he is no better than the Punisher, Wolverine or any other dark edgy hero. Burton making Bruce a killer, making the conflict as simply as Batman wants to stop and kill The Joker because The Joker killed his parents does not do justice to their fascinating dynamic.

I do not like how The Penguin have clown henchmen and The Joker has just regular thugs for henchmen. Seems like it’s reversed.

As much as I love Burtonverse Batmobile, I do not understand HOW the armor functions properly in real life, nor do I understand the pole in Batman Returns fits in the Batmobile like really? HOW?????

Batman and Gordon's relationship. Jim Gordon is made into such a completely irrelevant character. They took one of the most important aspects of the Batman myth and made him into a bumbling, slapstickish cartoon police chief. If Burton had treated his source material with more respect, Gordon wouldn’t be such an irrelevant character. Commissioner Gordon is one of the first two characters in Batman, ever. He and Bruce Wayne appear on the very first page of Detective Comics #27 together. He has a major role in every great Batman comic and graphic novel of all time. Instead, he is made into an incompetent joke who you probably don’t even recall being in Burton’s Batman. He also has virtually no interaction with Commissioner Gordon. Historically, Gordon, the only honest cop in Gotham, and Batman have had a strong bond, formed and fortified through their shared goal of cleaning up the city and their experiences therein, but in Burton’s films, Gordon is just another hapless cop that Batman largely ignores and occasionally tolerates. And in the Schumacher films, Gordon is a bumbling stooge who needs Batman to clean up his mess.

The complete waste of Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent. Has no interaction with Batman and never works with him. He barely has a presence. This could've been fixed by making him Two-Face, but Harvey Dent needed to have a presence in Gotham before becoming Two-Face for his fall to mean anything

The Penguin isn't his own villain. He is a puppet for Max and that's just dumb, as enjoyable as Walken was, his character really should not have existed at all. Being born with deformities is fine, but what is overkill is being thrown down a sewer and being raised by Penguins. Burton took Oswald Cobblepot, an overweight, but well-dressed criminal mastermind with a large vocabulary, and turned him into a dirty circus sideshow, an “aquatic bird-boy.” His vision of the Penguin bleeds black and green, has flippers for hands, lives in the sewer, wears a filthy onesie, rides a giant rubber duck, and is obsessed with sex. He also wants to murder sleeping children, but not before blowing off their genitalia: “Male and female! Hell, the sexes are equal with their erogenous zones blown sky high!” That’s an actual line of dialogue. The Penguin should be a gentleman of crime and mockery of high society with an affinity of birds.  Duplicitous mob boss. A guy who EVERYBODY knows is dirty, but he’s smart enough to make sure that there’s just enough deniability for him to get away with it. And JUST enough too, ‘cause he likes rubbing it in Batman’s face that nothing sticks to him. He is a criminal mastermind who is so smart that Batman considers him to be equal or smarter to him. Cares nothing for money or wanting to fit in, all he cares for is a complex caper, wanting to wet his beak and to rub it in Batman’s face.

Catwoman's origin. After being pushed out of a (tiny) window from the top floor of a building, Selina Kyle plummets to the concrete…only to be brought back to life…by cats? And then she goes home in a zombie-like state, rips her clothes apart, shoves her stuffed animals down the sink, spray paints her dollhouse, and sews together her suit? This is important, but knowing how and why Batman came to be doesn’t matter? Catwoman is a sleek, deceptive cat burglar, but Tim Burton decided to take the name literally, turning her into a half-cat, half-woman that drinks milk, eats birds, has nine lives, and doesn’t steal anything. 

[fadedtoblue]

Some spoiler-y thoughts on DDS3

I finally got a full night’s of sleep after being awake for about 24 hours lol, so I think I can start communicating like a regular person again. I feel like I still have a lot to process about DDS3 overall, but I thought it might be nice to share a few thoughts while it’s semi-fresh, and maybe later I’ll try to expand on them as need.

Anyway, spoilers below the cut....:)

Overall, this was a wonderful and satisfying season of Daredevil - it felt like they took the things that were notable about S1 and S2 and improved upon them by leaps and bounds. The result was a S3 that was sharply focused and consistently written, plotted like a single focus story (a la S1) while in actuality serving a broad group of equally important characters and intertwining storylines (like S2) - yet I never felt like they lost their grip on the steering wheel. There would be moments in the plot where I’d think, “Wait, are they going to address that plot point / answer that question, etc?” and in the next scene or at least by the next episode, they did. Whoever was in charge of keeping their scripts consistent and not leaving plot holes, extra gold stars to them b/c they did a fucking fantastic job. Kudos to Erik Oleson for coming in with a very clear and intentional plan and executing the shit out of it. 

Here are some things that were notable for me this season:

Matt Murdock. Look, I was pretty worried coming into this that we were getting Dark!Matt and not much else - I love my emo son as much as the next person, but it was hard for me to imagine how we’d get to a positive ending if all we were getting was dark and more dark. And while yes, we did get a lot of dark and emo and raging at God Matt, there were clear and purposeful moments of growth he made throughout the entire series to get from the Matt that washed out of Midland Circle, barely alive, broken and bereft over losing Elektra to the Matt at the end, accepting who he is as DD AND Matt Murdock and ready for whatever the future holds for him and his friends. 

Quick aside for my Mattelektra peeps: I wish he could have actually talked about the events of Midland Circle and better processed the trauma of that and losing Elektra - for the most part, it all gets grouped under ‘general rage at God and life’ during the early episodes and none of the people around him at the time, namely Sister Maggie and Father Lanthom, actually understand what happened with Elektra. BUT we do get shown a bunch of Mattelektra scenes from DD and TD and I realize that the show really didn’t need to do that, so I’m trying to be grateful that we were shown that little glimpse into Matt’s mind right before he comes to. Because it was necessary reminder that part of why he’s broken is not just that he lost some of his senses and abilities, but because he lost Elektra - again.

Thanks for indulging my moment there everyone lol. Anyway, Matt Murdock was A++++ in all scenes and states of clothedness. In conclusion: I still love him. 

Avocado Trio feels. As someone who has always enjoyed this trio, but maybe not as much the individual characters on their own, I am really pleased that they actually got the band back together again, and not only that, I came out of this season with positive vibes for both Karen and Foggy but ESPECIALLY Foggy. Goddamn, Foggy was the fucking MVP. First, he looked damn good this year. The haircut and the suits are working for him. But also, this particular team of writers actually wrote Foggy in a way that feels more true to what I had always wanted from Foggy - someone who was smart, resourceful, caring, and most of all, THERE FOR MATT. I felt like his decade long friendship with Matt finally paid off in his characterization and he wasn’t being pushed off to the side to further someone else’s narrative. My favorite moment was when Karen was ready to throw in the towel, but Foggy talks about how everyone has abandoned Matt and he’s not going to do it too. It warmed the cockles of my cold, cold heart. 

I’m also pretty satisfied with how they finally revealed Karen’s backstory and damn if they didn’t make me feel sad and impressed with her at various points - her phone call with her dad / her dad telling her to leave after Kevin’s death and the 1v1 face off with Kingpin being two such examples. She might not ever be a favorite of mine but she was represented well this season for sure. I’m also grateful that they actually allowed her and Matt to air their shit out in a semi-realistic way. They acknowledged there was a lot of shit and baggage and didn’t just try to rush them to some kind of romantic conclusion. In fact, this season was refreshing in that romance was never a primary plot for any of the characters! There was enough going on with the story that the sort of angsting that kind of plot usually brings would have just been distracting. Any relationships were contained to people who were already in them, like Foggy and Marci, or Kingpin and Vanessa. The focus for these characters was really on rebuilding trust and the overall friendship / family bonds between all three. That was one of my hopes for the season and it delivered :). 

Okay, I’m getting to the point in this post where I’m getting tired with my own babbling LOL, so I’m gonna try to bullet point some more notable moments:

Kingpin - Smart and menacing and I loved the take on him as being this ultimate spymaster. It was really well done and I think once you saw the full breadth of the conspiracy - it was really good. And I guess in this same point I’ll shout out Vanessa - I was SO glad to see her again and dang, she just has a presence on screen that is hard to match. I am looking forward to seeing her as badass Vanessa Fisk - maybe she hires a freelancer named Elektra Natchios as her own personal assassin since Bullseye is gonna have it out for both Fisks?? Would that not be an AMAZING duo?

Dex aka Bullseye. I loved how they established his origin and his psychopathy - it made a lot of sense to me how this inherently broken, mentally ill person could have flown under the radar for as long as he did, and that someone like Fisk would be able to manipulate him to his own ends. Wilson Bethel is easy on the eyes for sure, but I thought he did an amazing job playing a guy who always seemed on the edge of cracking. He played all the shades of Bullseye very well. I’m looking forward to seeing him again as the primary big bad and GIVE ME BULLSEYE v ELEKTRA YOU COWARDS. Speaking of which, that reminds me, I want to point out the Bullseye was literally a diagnosed psychopath who was incapable of showing empathy whereas they kept trying to tell us Elektra was a sociopath but she clearly is not - she definitely had some sociopathic tendencies, which likely developed from her very messed up upbringing and exposure to violence, and when they bring her back, she will probably keep on some of those characteristics b/c of the sort of fighter than she is, but let’s just put it to rest already. And yeah, I want those two to give me a 1v1 fight for the AGES. DD who? 

Sister Maggie. LOOK. I don’t feel like I should have been surprised with any of the stuff that happened with Maggie but everything about it was a HIGHLIGHT. I loved the way Joanne Whalley conveyed the character - every time I saw her and Matt interact, I knew it was gonna be good. When they finally reveal her as Matt’s mom (whew!), I was genuinely moved. When she realizes that Matt has found out her secret and is gone, the way she runs to his bed and completely breaks down at losing her son again? I WAS A BLUBBERING MESS. The forgiveness and acceptance in their reconciliation was something my soul desperately needed and I’m so glad we received. We better see more scenes of the Murdocks together in the future!

Ray Nadeem. Um, who would have thought I'd be so sad to lose Ray by the end of the season! The overall FBI conspiracy felt surprisingly fleshed out and was something I got pretty damn invested in (SO MUCH better than the conspiracy in TPS1). All the shifts and turns and betrayals of this particular storyline could have been very cheesy, but they ended up being working because they were almost character moments first? Because we know Ray and his relationship with Hattley, with Dex, even overall with the FBI, and then of course knowing his home life and his family...every time shit hit the fan, or a personal betrayal occurred, it really hurt. And that we got that super fun escape sequence with Ray and Matt in their civvies and then Ray’s final act of heroism with his dying declaration...RIP Ray. You will be missed. 

God, I haven’t even touched on the non character stuff, like the fights and shit, but I gotta wrap it up now before I bore myself to death :). I’m curious what everyone else thought of the season - feel free to hit me up if you wanna chatter about it!!