#yes the guy from wonder woman! there was no need to make him an evil god he was certified Bad News irl

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

I've only ever seen 'you get to kill one person as a baby' alternative history polls, but I think there's a more interesting version so let's play 'change one event in history'! (Go for what you think would do the most good or what would be the most chaotic choice. It's a thought experiment we're not the morals police!)

Very brief (and grossly oversimplified!) explanations under the cut.

unfortunately my education has been very eurocentric and I'm pretty hopeless at the nuances of history pre-19th century; this is as diverse as i could make it (which is not very diverse at all). Please feel free to add in the tags!

1) This assassination set WW1 in motion (triggered/enabled the first declaration of war)

2) Emmanuel de Grouchy was a general in Napoléon's army. Before the Battle of Waterloo he'd been given the order to cut off the Prussian General Blücher, but Blücher had already got to the battlefield so de Grouchy went off on a pointless search with his 40-50k soldiers instead of joining the battle, which many consider a significant reason for Napoléon's defeat.

3) i.e., make trouble after Columbus leaves for America but before he arrives there.

4) Georg Elser attempted to set off a bomb during a Hitler speech at a beer hall. (There were other attempts on Hitler's life both before and after this, I just picked this one). The explosion failed to kill Hitler as he had moved his speech up half an hour and was gone by the time the bomb went off. It killed seven Nazis and a waitress. Elser was arrested, sent to a concentration camp and murdered days before its liberation at the end of the war. This has nothing to do with the question, I just hate that everyone only knows about the Stauffenberg one.

5) This position allowed Stalin to pick functionaries for key positions in the Soviet Union and thus pave his way to becoming Lenin's successor.

6) likely preventing the USA from creating a functional atomic bomb before the end of the war.

7) Günter Schabowski held the famous press conference which communicated the GDR's intention to allow East German citizens to cross into West Germany again without having to apply for government permission. Asked when this would come into effect, Schabowski replied, visibly uncertain, "to my knowledge, that is immediately. Right away". This led to crowds overwhelming the Berlin border crossings. The officers stationed there had received orders to mark the passports of all those crossing with a stamp that would barr them from re-entry into the GDR, but did not uphold this and instead simply opened the barrier as they feared violence would break out. This became the night the Berlin Wall fell.

8) The battle was a huge deal for German propaganda both at the time and later on and made especially Hindenburg a war hero, but I mostly picked it because I figure it'd be easiest to get them both at once during a battle. Both men were central to the decisions the German Empire made in WW1 (to such a degree that people have argued they effectively led the country) and both played a role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power: Ludendorff lent his credibility and fame to Hitler's Munich Beer Hall putsch in 1922, and Hindenburg went on to become the last president of Weimar Germany and appointed Hitler chancellor in 1933.

[thehollowwriter]

I think we should talk more about the mysgony when it comes to parents in media, and how fathers are favoured and praised for the most the most basic shit while mothers are demonised for making mistakes or being bad. This is gonna be a long one, buckle up.

I hate Mrs Rosehearts as much as the next guy, but it's unfair that Mr Rosehearts is not given similar criticism for allowing his wife to treat Riddle the way he does. I hardly see people bring him up apart from mentioning that Riddle's parents probably have an unhappy marriage, and some people say something along the lines of "poor Mr Rosehearts, struggling with a wife like that".

Of course, we don't know enough about his character to gauge how Mrs Rosehearts treats him, bit it's clear he just passively stands to the side when it comes to whatever Mrs Rosehearts wants to do with Riddle. That itself is very harmful and it's own form of abuse, imo.

The same applies to Alador Blight from the Owl House. He's praised for being a wonderful dad that finally came through and stood up to his "horrible wretched bitch of a wife" (who, if she was a guy, would probably have more people analysing her and trying to find ways to sympathise with her just saying)..

And while, yes, he did stand up to her and that's a good thing, the general consensus is he was a brilliant dad from the start that was held back by his wife's wicked ways. But... that's not true? His first appearance is him telling Amity to stop being friends with Willow. He ignores his children constantly, and, like Mr Rosehearts, stands passively to the side when Odaliah treats her children like her property.

He's a neglectful parent at best and just as concerned with image and status at Odaliah at worst. But... that stuff is just forgotten. Most people just say "we thought he was bad but it turns out he was manipulated by his wife". He is HIS OWN PERSON. You cannot just blame everything on his "evil manipulative wife" (which is also smt that sometimes happens irl when both parents are abusive). He is still fully capable of making his own decisions.

And again, it's unfortunate, but if Odaliah were to be given his treatment or if Alador were a woman, the general response would be "That's sad but not an excuse! I can't believe she was forgiven!"

The worst I can think of atm, is Silco and Vi from Arcane. Now ofc they're not married. But the circumstances are similar.

Silco is praised to the high heavens for being one of the best dads in animation (#1 goes to Doofenshmirtz ofc, which I agree with) and the reasons for this are because he... shows his care, puts Jinx first, and loves her. Wow. Fucking groundbreaking am I right. The bar is soooo high/s

The thing is, Jinx is a child soldier. She works for Silco, protects his shipments of Shimmer, takes out the enemies that need taken out, etc. He found her as a young child, and when we cut to the present, she's murdering people without so much as flinching, even delighting in it, and suffering badly from trauma and hallucinations.

Obviously, Jinx was not given the care she needed, and was instead trained to assist Silco.

Am I denying Silco loves her? Of course not! He clearly does. But that's just not good enough. He's a loving dad, but not a good one. He's not the father that neither Jinx nor Powder needed.

Meanwhile, we have Vi. Vi loves Powder, protects her, cares for her, tries to keep her out of harm, stands up for her, and so on. She cares so deeply for Powder, and you can see it. The moment she got out of prison, her first goal was to find Powder.

However, because she hit Powder once, and shouted at her, she's apparently an abusive monster who never cared about Powder. Reminder, she hit Powder because her entire family was killed in front of her and then she learned Powder was the reason that happened. She was like... 14? And she immediately left to calm down. She did not abandon Powder, she left to take a breather because she realised she was too angry. And when she came back, she was drugged and arrested.

Silco is a grown adult who purposefully flooded the streets of the Undercity with a highly addictive drug, turned Powder into a soldier, and is generally a terrible person, even if he is a three dimensional amd well written antagonist.

Vi started the story as a teenager suffering poverty and discrimination just like Silco, had to deal with her own parents death, then her adoptive family was killed in front of her, and then she was forcefully taken from her sister. And yet, people are convinced Vi is a terrible and abusive sister who never loved Powder?

The only example worse than this, methinks, is Stella and Stolas from Helluva Boss.

Stella is a shitty mother who ignores her daughter, which the the audience is shown via a scene were Octavia is having a nightmare and she tells Stolas to deal with it. She frequently screams and swears at Stolas and throws things at him, with no regard for her daughter's presence or feelings.

This is pretty terrible, right? Of course! Everyone knows Stella is a horrible mother.

Stolas on the other hand, is praised for being such an loving and caring father, who tries his best. He even has a song with Octavia!

Well, he also: openly talks about having sex with Blitz and how much he likes it while she was right there, told her people want her money and her body, generally doesn't pay much attention to her either bc he's wallowing about Blitz not loving him back, and doesn't give her feelings much regard.

And yet, the misogyny extends beyond just Stella because people generally agree that Octavia is ungrateful and doesn't appreciate Stolas enough. They get mad at her for disliking the fact that Stolas is cheating on her mother with an imp who's been nothing but rude to her and ruining their family further, and even mock her for feeling unloved. Hell even Brandon, one of the creators, has allegedly recently called her a "cockblocking slut" which, frankly, is a disgusting thing to say about a 17 year old girl.

Idk man I'm just tired.

[igniferrus]

God. So I've been thinking about BBC's Arthur Pendragon. I work a job heavy on the manual labour and light on the mental labour, so I have a lot of Free Brain Space.

But I started off wondering why there are so many fics about Arthur learning how much Merlin does for him, and so few of the reverse. Because there is no way that Merlin isn't in trouble 89.2% of the time, in some way or another. We see Arthur protect Merlin after his dumbass confession to Uther, and also bodily haul him out of the throne room for safety reasons. No body else could get away with stealing the Prince's food, or disappear or days and keep his job!! And Arthur doesn'teven know they're bound by destiny, he just really likes Merlin! He's just some guy Arthur found and chased around a market.

And then I remembered that so many people forget that Arthur Pendragon is fundamentally A Good Man. I know the show refused to give him permanent character development, but even his base character is a good guy! The most assholish thing we see him do is in the first episode, throwing things at the servants. And then, compared to the rest of the series, that feels very out of character!

Yes, Arthur uses Merlin as a training dummy, but I'm sure that's just to get him to quit. And it's only shown early in the first season. Arthur is consistently shown as caring for his people (refusing to enforce Catrina's tax increase, willing to die to fix his unicorn mistake), more fair about magic users despite only seeing it used for evil (saving Mordred and the woman who gave him the Horn of Cathbhadh. He even tries to give Kara an out, for Mordred!), and cares deeply for those around him! He loves Gwen. He loves Morgana. He loves Merlin. He loves his knights. He even loves Uther!

It's not his fault that the people around him refuse to allow him to make his own choices. Gauis, Uther, and Merlin all lie about his mother. Merlin and Morgana don't tell him about their magic. Morgana doesn't see him as any other than an extension of Uther, despite knowing him for years.I t's so easy to judge him as an outsider with all the facts, but we should remember that Arthur's is intentionally left out of the loop and judge him from that perspective. He does the best he can, with what he knows!

Merlin, despite being repeatedly told that he and Arthur are in this together, and need each other, does not tell Arthur anything! Arthur is not allowed to make an informed choice and he shouldn't be punished for that. Even when Merlin finally comes clean, Arthur doesn't rage! He's hurt and upset that his "only friend", the "only one [he] can trust" have been lying to his face for a decade, which, understandable, but he chooses Merlin anyway! He wants to be held by Merlin at the end, thanks him, and asks him to stay they same after Arthur's death!! Because he still cares for Merlin!

Arthur Pendragon's character development is stymied at every turn by the show and its writers, but even then they couldn't stop him from being a good man!!

This was more rambling and less coherent than I wanted, but it's been hot out lately and my brain is cooked.

Anyway, I am first and foremost an Arthur Pendragon apologist.

[cer-rata]

Fic WIP(maybe): "World's Okayest"

"So," Conrad started, eyes bright and excited, "I think the three of us are like, a thing."

Jon slowly turned away from the diner’s window to look at him, mostly in horror and confusion. Mostly. "...W-what? You...you're not suggesting...what?"

"Like, you know, Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman. The big three."

Jon let out a sigh of relief. "Oh. oh okay, I thought you were trying to say--"

Damian snorted. "Yeah, considering what Conrad writes in his spare time, maybe you shouldn't relax so quickly."

"DAMIAN!"

Jon blinked. "...Conrad--"

"Don't listen to him! He's evil and he lies and--"

"He's quite prolific." Damian laughed as Conrad missed him with a thrown French fry.

Jon shook his head. "I don't even want to know. Um. Conrad, where were you going with--"

"Oh! Right! Before SATAN took the wheel--I dunno, I just think we work together pretty well, maybe we should do it more consistently.”

“I’d like that.” Jon really did enjoy spending time with them, even when they were getting shot at.

Damian shrugged. “I mean, I don’t think we need to imitate those old bags and Diana, but sure.”

“But I don’t think it’s imitating, it’s pretty natural. Jon is ‘Angry Superman--’”

“Hey!”

“You’re ‘GNC Wonder Woman--’”

“Wh-wait--”

“And I’m ‘The Batman Who Fucks.’”

Damian stared at him. “...Are you insane?”

“Yes, that is exactly why I’m Batman.”

Jon snorted and covered his mouth.

“Conrad, there is no way--” Damian leaned in angrily, “How the hell am I not Batman?”

“Batman is scary. I’m scary. You’re not scary.”

“I beg your pardon?!”

“If both of us are dangling someone off of a roof, which one of us might actually drop them?”

Jon looked mildly alarmed. “...Neither of you? Right?”

Damian groaned. “...Okay, but that’s not a good--Batman doesn’t kill people!”

“I never said I’d allow them the release of death. But see, right now: You’re even-tempered, relatively normal, patient even though I am going out of my way to irritate you--that’s Diana, bro.”

“Are you saying I’m Diana because you think I’m boring?!”

“No, Diana’s not boring, you being boring has nothing to do with it.”

Damian sighed and leaned back in his seat. “Oh, Conrad. Conrad, Conrad, Conrad…”

Jon looked back and forth between them a couple of times. “Wait, are you guys actually arguing or--”

Conrad turned to make eye contact with him and smiled. “The trick is to get him ready to kill you. He won’t, so he has to resort to something else and--hey, no, D, your side of the booth is over there, across from me where I’m safe--”

Ah no, it was flirting then. Again.

Damian slid into the booth next to him, and Conrad scooted over into Jon, who didn’t budge at all and just watched with amusement and maybe something a little more…sour.

Conrad laughed and curled up against him. “Damian, I’m sorry!” 

Damian slid closer, appearing perfectly relaxed and normal when compared to Conrad’s giggly hysterics. “What’s wrong, beloved? I’m not doing anything.”

“Oh no! You only call me that when you’re worried or I’m in trouble!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Conrad squeaked and pressed his cheek into Jon’s shoulder. “Sammy, help!”

Conrad was the only person Jon would let call him by his middle name. He even liked it, actually. He tried not to ponder that, but failed, and his smile started to wilt. His guts felt tight. “Eh, I think…I think you’re fine…”

Conrad sat straight up so quickly that he and Damian knocked foreheads. “Fuck, my bad--”

“Ow! Why!?”

“Sorry, I just…” He turned to look at Jon. “What…what happened?”

Jon stared at him. “...What?”

“You just uh…you got a little…uh…” Conrad suddenly looked trapped and Jon couldn’t figure out what on Earth that was about.

Damian leaned over to look at him too and raised an eyebrow. “That’s...just a Midwestern thing, Conrad, they always look a little lost.”

“I’m not from the--” Jon made eye contact with Conrad again, and caught the violet flash of his irises. Then Conrad nodded gently and turned back to Damian.

“Ah, I guess you’re right. You can go back to mauling me if you want.”

Damian shook his head. “No, you killed my momentum, I’ve added it to my bank of cruelty and spite to be spent later at my leisure.” 

The lunch went on from there, their rambunctiousness settling some. Still, that look Conrad gave him, combined with the glow of his eyes unsettled Jon a bit. Did he get a vibe from him? What would he even have felt that would alert Conrad? Sure, he was a little queasy for a moment but…

“...Okay but the problem is, I wasn’t planning to make my next moniker a front-facing one.” Damian explained. “The ‘Trinity' thing is mostly for the public to have something to cling to, and well, frankly to make my father seem less…like a terrorist.”

“But I’ve seen the costume you’re thinking of, babe, if you’re trying to be hidden, why the red and white and the big yellow ‘I’ on your chest? And it glows?”

“Symbols are important--” 

“But it all suggests that you want people to be aware of you.”

Damian sighed. “It’s a complicated…thing.” He paused. “I don’t want to scare civilians, but I also don’t really want to be paraded around as some symbol of morality. I don’t think I can be that.”

Conrad shrugged. “I mean I’m on lunch boxes now, and I’m…maybe a little less…restrained than you are.”

“Which you’re working on.”

“It’d be easier if you’d start restraining me inst--”

“Jon is sitting right there!’

“Fuck, right, sorry buddy.”

Jon waved them off and took a long drink of his soda and desperately wished it was socially acceptable to anxiety crunch on glass in public. 

Conrad’s gaze lingered on him again before he continued. “...I’m working on it, yeah. But like…my point is that no one has a problem with me, why should you need to be sneaky?”

“Because…because I’m good at it, I was trained to be precise and quiet and--”

“You really should lean more in Dick’s direction.” Jon said. “He’s still intimidating and civilians love him.”

Damian looked away and Jon heard him swallow. “I…I’m not inspiring like that.”

Conrad growled and angrily called Damian a word only he could say, which caused Jon to gasp and Damian to flinch. “--please, if I weren’t so inspired by you, I’d have probably turned into hotter, more effective, cooler, funnier, more stylish, significantly scarier Red Hood.”

“Well…well…we can’t rely on the general public being bewitched by me.”

“Cause you’re too much of a little bitch for a crop top--ah! No! Stahahahahp! Damian!”

Jon closed his eyes and sighed while the ‘Lovebirds’ went at it again. He found himself wishing that Jack or even Lor was there, and then with horror realized that not going for Darla instead probably implied something. He could only be so avoidant, he wasn’t Damian. Ugh. It wasn’t even that he couldn’t see her that way, on occasion he did--but it wasn’t the same energy, which was probably good, because having some form of distracting emotional entanglement with everyone he worked with sounded like a horrible time. Still, watching Conrad giggle while Damian’s hands roamed around with a playfulness that Jon had apparently never earned from his best friend made him feel some sort of way. He acknowledged that was maybe…a little gay. 

Maybe he was a little gay. 

Jon groaned loudly enough that the couple stopped what they were doing and looked over at him.

“...Jonathan, is something actually wrong?”

“No!”

Conrad managed to steady his breathing. “C’mon dude, we’re your friends, I can’t have two emotionally constipated--”

“I think I like boys!”

Damian looked completely blindsided, and maybe a little afraid. Conrad looked kind of…guilty?

“Oh. Um.” Damian’s eyes flicked around rapidly like he was desperately searching his brain for something. “Uh…exclusively?”

Jon dropped his face into his hands, muffling his words into his palms. “I dunno! I don’t think so! I think Darla is really pretty, and Devyn, and Kathy--”

“Still?” Conrad didn’t manage to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“Shut up!

Damian raised an eyebrow. “Who is Devyn?”

“Oh, she’s just a girl at my school. So like, I think girls are pretty, and I think if any of them asked me out, I’d probably say yes, but also--”

“You’re somewhat attracted to all of your friends, and the the intensity varies.” Conrad finished quietly, sounding ashamed like he was revealing that he’d eaten the last cookie after all.

Jon bit his cheek and looked away. “...Something like that.” 

Damian sat with that for a moment. “...So you’re actually ‘Disastrous Bi-Panic Superman.’”

That was dumb enough to snap Jon out of the beginnings of a spiral, and he laughed. “I hate you.”

Damian smiled. “So Kathy is the last one of us to only do things as God intended.” 

Jon pursed his lips. “Uhhh…no, I think she’s ace, actually.”

Conrad shook his head. “No, no, Kathy just doesn’t like humans.”

Jon blinked. “Wait, really?”

Conrad nodded. “Yeah, she said she’s ‘not a monster fucker.’”

Damian nodded sagely. “Wise.”

Jon squinted. “I don’t…Kathy looks just like us--well okay she’s really green, but otherwise--”

“I don’t think you mom’s a monsterfucker, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Conrad offered. Jon was impressed that it sounded like he genuinely thought that sentence would be comforting. 

“Okay! Okay violently moving on--”

“Oh. OH!” Damian sat up a little straighter. “That’s why you always wear skinny jeans, despite them being a number of years out of fashion! It’s an expression of your flammable nature.”

Jon blushed. “Wh--flammable--”

“Babe, skinny jeans are coming back.”

“You lie.”

“It’s kind of a ten year cycle for popular items.”

“But skinny jeans? Really?”

“You’d look great in skinny jeans.”

“I look great in everything. I could wear Vandal Savage like a coat and make it...what, make it fashion? That doesn’t mean he’s valid.”

They both startled at the loud crunch Jon made when he bit directly into his glass.

[weirdcat1213]

Ok now onto trigun and religion before I forget. Someone may have said all of this before lmao

So we all know vash is Jesus and wolfwood is judas, that one is clear for all of us. But I think there's even more funny parallels.

The 12 assassins (ww included) are the 12 apostles yeah but if jesus is vash why are they trying to kill him? So from knives's perspective HE IS jesus and the gun ho guns are the ones helping him, and one of them betrays him.

It's interesting to me than the guy who is literally jesus feels like the worst person ever but the guy who is evil as hell thinks of himself as jeesus who needs 12 little people to spread his message of hate.

Speaking of evil let's talk about the devil, who was first an angel who was casted away. We could say knives vanished himself when he got knowledge of what humans did to tesla...but what would vash be? Would he also be a fallen angel because he found out the truth? I wonder if there's a story of about 2 angels falling together.

Speaking of falling together, we still got Adam and eve. No they're not a couple get out of my house although vash would be eve cuz feminine trauma yes thanks nightow when both vash and knives figured what happened to tesla they didn't literally fall (that's later) but it's true that their paradise breaks. They weren't cast away by God but rem did try to keep them away from the truth like God did.

Speaking of God, who's God in trigun? The plants are clearly meant to be angels and rem is clearly meant to be Mary (had kids without doing the devils tango and was a selfless and nice woman you know the deal). Knives thinks of himself as God and although he says vash is his only equal cuz he's a plant he still sees his brother as someone beneath him. Hell in stampede he straight up calls himself God and calls vash jeesus, implying he is his father, someone above him.

Speaking of implications let's go back to ww being judas again. He is judas cuz he betrayed his mission and values for someone who is a literal opposite of him but again it depends on who's jeesus on your perspective. If knives is jeesus then yeah, wolfwood betrayed him for the Gay Thoughts TM (I'm joking but I'm not actually) and mf paid for it BUT if vash is jeesus then wolfwood didn't betrayed jeesus specifically but himself, and again he paid the price for following someone who was so different of what he knew.

(Ik wolfwood could also be considered as saint nick aka the reason why Santa exists and it would work cuz they both have as their mission to help children and make them happy but you will only find sad gay angst here sorry. Plus idk if saint nick and jeesus have history together)

I may do a part 2 if I think about any other things

[bolton-buried]

Okay. Someone will have a way to make sense of this. Forgive the sloppy editing, but here's the footage from The Bookend.

[[OOC: As always, no real video, but you can have the video description.]]

Video description:

A woman with curly blonde hair is sitting in a room with white-bright fluorescent lighting. She looks like more shawls than woman, and people who have seen HuntingHauntings before would recognize this as Angie. A man, dripping wet in a black trench coat, is applying her makeup, mumbling to himself about how terrible of a room this will be to start in because of how much makeup Angie needs to use.

An older woman's voice comes from off-screen. "I hope you kids don't mind me leaving these books out here? My shelf in the back for Jurgen Leitner's books is covered in cobwebs, I have to put these somewhere."

As she speaks, she walks into frame. Her grey hair hangs loose and she carries a binder and two old-looking books.

Harold starts to reply. "As long as they won't disrupt filming it's-"

Angie cuts him off. "Oh, these would make wonderful props for our episode!"

"Or we could leave the-"

A woman's voice comes from off-screen, recognizable as Charlotte.

"Harold, I pressed one of the buttons on this camera, and now there's a blinking light. Is it going to explode?"

Harold looks up at the running camera, sighs, and walks over to turn it off.

Cut to:

Charlotte stands in front of a bookshelf, hair back in a tight bun and hyper-reflective bag over both shoulders.

"It's running?"

Harold's voice comes from offscreen. "Yes, it's running. Say your spiel."

"Tonight, Angie and I will be investigating the spirits rumored to reside in this library where two murders occurred recently. According to those close to the killer, he was possessed by an ancient evil in the building, and his attempt to plea insanity seems to support the idea. Let's get into it."

Harold speaks from behind the camera after a moment. "The murders were eighteen months ago, Charlotte. That's not exactly recent."

"Oh, you can just fix it in post."

"Not what that means. If you want to change the line, I need a new shot."

Cut to:

A window is open in what looks to be a basement room, letting in the sound of rain. The room is not well-lit, but not for lack of trying.

Angie sits at a table in the center, holding open a book - a large black book that the librarian was holding earlier. It's opened to the middle, and Angie is reading from it.

"Howl ye, woe worth the night! For the night is near, even the night of the Dark is near, a cloudy night, it shall be a time of us..."

As she speaks, the room gets darker and a faint buzzing noise is heard as the lights from Harold's rigs start to go out one by one. The camera footage gets grainy and distorted. Harold shouts.

"Charlotte, get away from my plugs! I don't want to redo any shots down here!"

"I'm standing over here."

"And the eclipse shall come upon-"

The footage cuts out.

Cut to:

Angie is flipping through the binder from earlier at the table in the brightly-lit room. "This Robert Kirk guy has some really interesting..." she murmurs before the camera is turned to Charlotte. She is holding a featureless book with a small brass plate on the cover.

Harold's voice comes from behind the camera.

"Okay, so you're going to - put that book back, you don't need it. We just need you to say the line while you walk towards me along the bookshelf."

"Well, I thought I could be reading it as I speak, just for-"

"Whatever. Just start. I don't want to come back here tomorrow."

Charlotte starts walking towards the camera as Harold walks away. She opens the book before she starts speaking, but freezes after a few words.

"But why did the spirits cause him to... It doesn't matter, I guess."

An emptiness seems to start slipping out of the book, like white ink spilling from the pages and making the world disappear where it touches.

"What the fuck?" The camera starts backing away from the encroaching nothingness, increasing in speed.

"We all barely exist, really. In the grand scheme of it all."

The camera runs into the rain, but the nothingness stops its approach at the first bit of rain on the sidewalk. So Harold stands and records, the video slightly distorted by rain on the lens.

Harold calls out. "Angie, are you?"

"It doesn't matter." Charlotte says, standing in view of the door. "We might as well not even be real."

"You're not real!" Angie shouts, jumping into the frame and tackling Charlotte. "I'm - I'm the only one!"

When Angie tackles Charlotte, they both tumble into the white nothingness that had replaced the ground. The book Charlotte held fell to the ground, closing on the impact, and the world was normal again. Sans the two paranormal investigators.

"What the fuck..." Harold mutters.

Cut to black.

[blasphemecel]

hi, i would like to request a funny romantic grimmjow oneshot if that’s okay, thank you.

i really enjoy reading your grimmjow oneshots they’re so funny.

It is not often that the likes of Yammy, Ulquiorra and Aaroniero to rendezvous anywhere together. Well, Yammy and Ulquiorra sometimes get paired on missions (and really, there's no one else among the ranks Yammy gets close to tolerating), but Aaroniero? No one ever wants to hang out with him. But allegedly what Yammy had seen was so terrifying, he needed to gather anyone willing to listen to him.

On the off chance he has a real, grounded concern, Ulquiorra asks, "What is it?"

Yammy points ahead.

"It's just Grimmjow and that shinigami," both of Aaroniero's voices say, unamused as the likelihood of this being a waste of time is getting higher.

Ah yes, one of the many kidnappees roaming Hueco Mundo. Sometimes Yammy wonders if Aizen really is that bored. Though, unlike the ginger woman, you don't seem to value friendship or other similar sentiments as much, nor are you under the unyielding impression someone will come save you in the nick of time. It is a given you're a questionable character, though, considering you apparently served under the ever-sneering Gin Ichimaru before all this. It's almost like you're in kahoots with him for a nefarious purpose outside the scope of Lord Aizen's knowledge, but that would be ridiculous... Of course.

Then again, Yammy must be really desperate for entertainment to be looking into this at all.

Ulquiorra almost turns around to leave.

"Aaroniero, look at them you stupid creature!" Yammy says, clearly irked. "They're weird."

The other two stare on ahead vacantly. "Weird, how?" Aaroniero asks after not gathering anything of value with his blatant staring. On a good day he would've put Yammy in his place for such an insolent comment, but right now it appears the Tenth Espada's minimal attention span is focused on another topic, and so the effort is not worth it. 

Sure, he supposes it is strange that you're conversing with Grimmjow at all, or that Grimmjow hasn't found an excuse to kill you considering you appear to be bickering with him. Is it not proper hostage etiquette to keep from getting chatty with someone involved in your misfortune? And even worse, why is Grimmjow entertaining you? Ulquoirra is a stickler when it comes to his 'bad evil guy' duties, and Aaroniero would've expected Grimmjow to try to outdo him as usual.

"No idea." Yammy scratches under his lip like he's deep in thought. "It seems wrong, but I dunno why. So I thought I'd investigate."

"And is this investigation in the room with us right now?" asks Aaroniero again, taking into account they haven't made any progress on the case at all. And Ulquoirra is kind of just creepily standing between them with this unreadable sort of look on his face that could give even Barragan the creeps.

Yammy huffs and strains. Aaroniero is unsure if he's on the brink of shitting himself or if thinking causes him physical pain, though again they all find themselves focused on you and Grimmjow, and the way you're interacting with each other.

Up until now it appeared to be some ridiculous, prolonged argument. Again, what confused Yammy is that Grimmjow made no attempt to smite you or otherwise hurt you over it. You nudge him with your elbow and Grimmjow shoves you harder, in a way that's challenging but not particularly combative. Then you laugh and make a weird face as you say something which appears to catch him off-guard.

Okay, Aaroniero decides, maybe Yammy was right for once in his miserable life. This really is odd.

Taking the opportunity, you pull him closer and press your lips against his cheek. That makes his skin flush before he yells a barrage of choice words at you ― many of which put your sanity into question, and they can make out his curses even from a distance ― until you run away, laughing some more. Once you're out of view, Grimmjow exhibits behavior that is very strange. And concerning.

He lets his fists rest in his pockets and grins in a way that's not wide or sharp or murderous, staring at the spot you'd been standing in seconds before, something unbelievably vulnerable about him. Hollows don't blush and Hollows definitely aren't wired to gawk after the object of their affection like fools once they turn their backs like they're shy. This is all... unnatural.

Wait. Yeah, Grimmjow isn't supposed to have an 'object' of 'affection' at all.

At last Ulquiorra's thorough examination of the blank wall in front of him seems to pay off because he says, "That's inappropriate," in a flat tone. Then Ulquiorra rustles to move like he's about to make his way there and scold Grimmjow over his visible unprofessionalism towards you. (As stated earlier, he takes his current occupation of 'creepy abductor' very seriously, and you're not exactly being a 'traumatized victim' either. Maybe he should have a word with you as well, and maybe with his constructive criticism it'll come to your attention that you're supposed to be upset, not flirty.)

He is the most overt choice when it comes to recognizing what is going on, between the three of them. In the moment Grimmjow is acting the way Orihime does whenever Ichigo Kurosaki is involved, to the point Ulquiorra finds it quite obvious when he so much as crosses her mind. Emotion ― such a feeble, weak thing. If he was capable of it, or even if he cared about Grimmjow in any capacity, he would've said he's disappointed by his weak-mindedness.

"Ha! Does little Grimmy have a crush?" the deeper voice of Aaroniero says, thoroughly amused by the stupidity he just witnessed, while the higher-pitched one says, "...I wish someone liked us instead."

Sometimes what he wishes is for his other half to keep quiet. And when he says sometimes, he means all the time.

The illness seems to be spreading because Yammy then goes on to cross his arms and pout like this turn of events affects him on a personal level. Ulquiorra raises a pointed eyebrow at the reaction, mouth still set into a tight line. "Could it be that you secretly desire companionship?"

Yammy flails his hands around before saying, "Shut up! I'll pummel you!" like that'll convince anyone Ulquiorra's deduction had been wrong. As if. Inconsiderate brute like him.

Before a brawl can break out, Grimmjow approaches them with a much more feral expression on his face. Certainly he hadn't looked at you with such thirst for blood at all. "What are you idiots yelling about?" Then, he allows himself a wild laugh before turning a corner and disappearing as unceremoniously as he had appeared. "God, I hate you all."

There is... a moment of silence. It might not be calm, but it's definitely silent, a stalemate.

Aaroniero offers, "At least he never changes?"

Needless to say, it doesn't help.

___

LOL sorry if this isn't good I tried to come up with something that would be both cute and funny but romance is not my strong point so I try to emphasize the 'funny'. I kinda feel like Yammy and Aaroniero are half-out of character but it was for the sake of comedy which I allow myself

[so-i-grudgingly-joined-this-site]

I love Dream but he can be dark, he can be cruel and he's done some very unforgiveable and monstrous things. He is not your average good guy or heroic character. Yes sometimes he can be the most kindest, empathic and wonderful conceptual being but he can be the opposite and it makes sense since Dream is made up of every wonderful, fantastical, magical thought, imagination and dreams but he's also made up of the disturbing, the vile and the monstrous.

Yes, exactly! Honestly, even without delving deeper into potential motivations or biases that he might have been written to have, his basic, on-the-page actions are pretty extreme! Banishing your girlfriend to 10,000 years of torture in hell for saying "no" is incredibly dark! The fact that Desire is able to casually toss the insult "Killed any girlfriends lately?" might also be a hint that Nada isn't the only one. Also his best human friend started the transatlantic slave trade, and the woman who, per Lucien, broke his heart like no other is a brutal murder-loving witch who is also probably transphobic. Something about "you reflect the company you keep" there...

Really, it's weird to see people get all defensive of Morpheus when he makes other notorious "problematic fandom boyfriends" like Anakin Skywalker, Kylo Ren, or pre-character-development MCU Loki seem like tame, sane options! Sure, those guys could kill you, but none of them seem able or keen on ruining your after-life as well!

And as for what you say about how he embodies the collective thought... I suspect that The Sandman Companion's darker and less charitable claims about Morpheus having racist and sexist tendencies were *intended* as a reflection of that. After all, if general culture nowadays has a racism and misogyny problem, then a being made of the collective subconscious thoughts of a culture might also have a racism and misogyny problem. I haven't read the excerpts from the Companion in full context yet (haven't yet reached that chapter in my own copy) BUT the Companion's analysis does appear to fumble in that it flips the script: rather than Morpheus reflecting society's biases, instead society's biases are the result of Morpheus' anger towards Nada warping all of reality to permanently curse all people "like Nada" to have terrible fates. So rather than him reflecting reality's issues, he CAUSED them to exist! That makes him WAY worse!

I'm hoping to examine the evidence for this further once I get to that part of The Sandman Companion, because yeah, that's some "yikes" writing if it's supported by the actual text.

So yes, Morpheus is canonically an incredibly dark character, and the intent of his writing may paint an even worse picture still. He can be good and caring and loving when he wants to be, but to ignore that he's just straight up evil sometimes would be to ignore canon.

EDIT: Also, I feel the need to point out that a lot of this is about BOOK Dream! The show already appears to be attempting to stop any "Dream is racist" issues by having his sister, niece, and nephew all now be black, and changing his trusted confidant Lucien from being a white man to being Lucienne, a black woman. While the show isn't free of its own possible moments of accidental anti-black writing, it definitely seems to be making a concentrated effort to avoid interpretation of Dream himself as prejudiced in the same way that the books might suggest.

[stray-kaz]

On Blind Faith : a Matt Murdock x reader FF : TWO

Matt walked with you out of the bar; you noticed he didn’t even bother with the cane.

“Why are you trusting me with this?” he asked you. “We’ve just met.”

You shrugged.

“Foggy trusts you, so that’s good enough for me. And you’re a lawyer not a mobster, so you know.”

He smiled faintly.

“So how did you end up with Leo Ricci? Someone who grew up with Foggy doesn’t seem the type.”

You smiled ruefully.

“A lot of girls go through a bad boy phase, Matthew. Unfortunately for me, Leo turned out to be not just a bad boy, but a bad guy. He was lovely at first, you know. He wooed me properly, showered me in chocolates and roses. But when I became pregnant with Luca, he changed, got mean. The first time he hit me, I knew I had to get out of Chicago.”

Matt’s hand gripping the folded up cane tensed at the thought of a man abusing you.

“Did you make a plan?” he asked next, struggling to maintain an even tone.

You nodded and your shoulder bumped his arm.

“I have a cop friend in Chicago. She helped get me out after Luca was born. She snuck us out of the hospital.”

“Why didn’t you leave before then?”

“We needed time to figure out where I would go and we needed Leo and his family not to suspect anything. If they realised I was planning to leave, they would have killed me, Luca or no Luca.”

The way you spoke was neutral, practiced, but Matt could hear the skip in your heartbeat and smell the fear you still had of losing your son. He turned toward you, your body’s heat map blurring like fire across his vision.

“So you came home” he prompted, after a short silence.

“So I came home. Here I have Foggy and his family, and my parents, too. Here I have people looking out for me and I’m not alone.”

“And now you have lawyers, if something were to go wrong.”

You raised your eyebrows and then remembered he couldn’t see that.

“I can’t pay you. Luca and I are living with my mom and dad, and my job doesn’t pay much.”

Matt shrugged.

“Foggy and I do a lot of pro bono work” he told you. “People pay us in chickens and cake.”

You laughed, caught off guard, and he grinned, dimples showing and weakening your knees. You stumbled a bit and he caught your wrist, propping you up with his arm.

“Thanks” you mumbled. “I could pay you in songs?”

Matt’s grin softened down to a smile and he nodded.

“Songs would be great. You sing any Stevie Wonder?”

“Why, ‘cause he’s blind?” you retorted.

“Yes” he shot back.

You snorted, amused.

“Sometimes.”

“Van Morrison?”

“I do a mean ‘Brown Eyed Girl’.”

He laughed, fingers slipping off your wrist; you instantly missed their warmth.

“You know, you don’t have to walk me all the way home.”

“It’s not safe for you to be out here on your own at night.”

“No offense, but you are blind. How could you protect me from an evil assailant?”

“No offense taken. But I can handle myself.”

You shrugged, not quite believing him. You felt safe, though, walking in the dark with this man you’d only just met.

Fifteen minutes passed and you stopped with your hand resting on a low gate that opened onto a short path leading up to the steps and front door of a skinny brownstone. A light burned yellowly under the eaves.

“This is me” you told Matt, just as the door flung wide and a harried middle aged woman stepped out, a crying baby in her arms.

“Thank goodness you’re home!” she exclaimed. “Luca has a cold and he won’t take a bottle. He only wants you.”

You glanced at Matt, whispered a hasty goodbye and thank you, and rushed up the path. Luca’s cries faded when he touched his mother’s face and Matt smiled to himself as he turned away, the image of you surrounded by flames branded in his mind.

You sat in a rocking chair by the window in your childhood bedroom, now shared with Luca. You fed him quietly in the dark room, the space illuminated only by the moon above.

Thoughts of Matt continued to swirl in your mind: how carefully he had treated you, his smile, how well his shirt fit across his shoulders and the casual strength he had displayed to keep you from falling. You wished he had let you see his eyes, blind as they were. He was the first man to show you any genuine interest since Luca’s birth, but you wondered with a wry, deprecating smile what he would think if he knew that you sometimes still leaked milk through your bras.

Luca pulled away, his milk drunk face calm and sleepy, little snuffles issuing through his nose. You lifted him and gently set him down in his crib, his arms and legs star fishing.

With a sigh, you removed your boots and padded into the adjoining bathroom to wash away your makeup, another day, another gig done.

On the other side of the city, Matt was stripping his clothes for bed, his thoughts occupied also with you. He wanted to see your tattoos, not just know they were there on your skin, part of you. He wanted to hear you sing again, talk to him again. He wanted to knock heads with Leo Ricci, he wanted to protect you. He wanted to lay you down on his bed and map out every inch of your body with his hands and maybe his mouth, too. He wanted to know how well you sang when you shattered apart.

He sighed and sank down onto the bed, leaning over to switch off the bedside lamp. The room seeped away into an even deeper darkness and he closed his eyes, giving himself over to it.

Tagging: @succsessions​

[greenlantern94to04]

Guy Gardner: Warrior #20 (May 1994)

"EMERALD FALLOUT," Part 3! The "Emerald Twilight" tie-in storyline kicks into high gear as Guy is joined by the Justice League, some former Green Lanterns, a (not so) secret villain, and, at last, new writer Beau Smith! Nothing against Chuck Dixon as a writer, but it's under Smith that Guy Gardner truly became a Warrior.

At the end of GG:W #19, Alan Scott met Guy at the JL's HQ to ask for his help with figuring out what the hell's going on with the Green Lanterns these days. Alan mentions the green dome that covered what remains of Coast City (GL #48), and Guy answers: "Whaddya mean 'remains'?" Yes, Guy is just learning that a major American city where he lived for several years has been totally destroyed...

...but, to be fair, he'd been replaced by an evil alien clone when that happened (this means that the Guy who got some good zingers at Aquaman's expense during Coast City's memorial in Superman #81 was actually the clone).

While Alan and Guy are talking, Colos of the Darkstars ("that second-rate, low-rent Green Lantern wanna-be's" as Guy puts it) also stops by to let everyone know that several GLs, including good ol' Hal Jordan, are missing. Others have been found -- dead. Guy insists, in not very polite terms, that he should be the one to lead a group to planet Oa to find out what's happening, but then Wonder Woman intervenes and... agrees with him?!

So, it's decided that Guy will lead a possibly suicide mission to Oa because he's the only one in the League who knows his way around the place. Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, and The Ray are also coming along. Ex-Green Lantern (and Hal's ex) Arisia is also at the JL HQ, for some reason, and wants to join Guy's Suicide Squad, but Guy won't let her because she's got no powers and he already feels like he's babysitting The Ray. Right before they're about to leave for space, though, Arisia returns with a giant Cable-style gun, ankle pistols, and, perhaps most importantly from Guy's perspective, a far more revealing outfit. He lets her come, obviously.

(And pouches, but I didn't really need to tell you about the pouches.)

As the group approaches Oa, they run across a ton of GL corpses floating in space. It's only once Guy is actually down on the planet and sees the destruction first hand that he realizes his vision of Hal trashing the place while fighting Sinestro (GG:W #18) must have been real. This leads to the heartbreaking moment from the cover when Guy finds Kilowog's skull on the ground, where Hal left it after killing him (GL #50), and cries for the big poozer. Martian Manhunter and Arisia are also pretty shaken up, but they don't have a lot of time to mourn before everyone is attacked by green monsters.

After several pages of all these heavy hitters (and Arisia) being completely owned by green goop, we find out who's behind all this: HAL JORDAN!

Which we already knew, because we've been reading Green Lantern, but it's still a cool "reveal." TO BE CONCLUDED!

Plotline-Watch:

Ice also wants to come on the mission to Oa, but Guy turns her down far more gently than he did with Arisia, telling her she can't come because he simply can't face the possibility of something bad happening to her (plus he wants her to take care of his crippled supervillain brother). As he leaves, she says "Good-bye, Guy" and drops an icy tear on the floor. I like this scene because it doesn't hide the fact that Guy is a giant sexist, but his genuine concern for Tora still makes him sympathetic. The "good-bye" is particularly poignant in light of near future events...

Before reaching Oa, the group runs into another former Green Lantern: Probert the Bad One, the barbarian GL that Beau Smith introduced in GLCQ #8. Probert is honoring the last wishes of dead GL Graf Toren by "igniting his path to his ancestors" (setting his corpse on fire, I guess?) and is glad to see Guy there, since Graf had spoken highly of him. Smith has said that he had plans for Probert to become a sort of mentor to Guy, but sadly that never happened; he'll only make a couple of appearances after this.

Looks like Probert didn't bother checking Graf's pulse before performing final rites on his body, since Geoff Johns would reveal much later that he was captured alive by the Manhunters after this. Actually, I don't think Johns read this issue: at least one of the GL corpses we see floating around (Chaselon, the orb guy) would be shown to be alive during Johns' run without explanation.

Ironic that Guy criticized General Glory for not paying attention to the news in GG #16 (since Glory hadn't heard about the whole "evil clone" thing) when he himself doesn't watch them at all, it seems. Based on what's been going on in the Superman titles, it's been a few weeks since Coast City blew up. Hard to believe something like that would be out of the news cycle in that time, unless there was some sort of presidential sex scandal and/or celebrity murder case going on.

The Wonder Woman interaction is interesting because another thing Smith has said in interviews is that he wanted her and Guy to become an item, but not really, but yes really. His idea was that, for whatever reason, Guy and Wondy would have to pretend to be romantically involved as part of some mission, with the obvious hilarity resulting from DC's foremost macho knucklehead "dating" a feminist icon. But then, at some point, it'd be hinted that they'd actually started developing feelings for each other. Maybe it's for the best that this story never happened, because the resulting WW/GG fanfics might have destroyed the nascent internet.

I like this moment with Guy telling everyone they better be confident in their "manhood, womanhood or whateverhood" if they're gonna go on the mission, after overhearing The Ray trying to give him some sass. Guy Gardner says trans right???

NEXT: Gardner vs. Jordan!

[augustmoon259]

"Enchanted" Nancy Tremaine x Prince Edward

Nancy Tremaine was a hopeless romantic.

It had all started when she was growing up. As a child, she was acquainted with fairy tales of princes and princesses, magical creatures, and the romances or adventures of storybook heroes. Nancy liked the idea of marrying a prince and living happily ever after, just like those princesses.

But as she got older, that idea became less of a possibility, and more of a fantasy. The boys, and later men, that she dated, weren't princes - not even knights. And Nancy herself felt like she wasn't suited for the role of a fairy tale heroine anymore.

Fairy tale heroines didn't struggle through high school, and then college classes, to earn a degree in fashion design. They didn't have to work themselves to the bone getting their business off the ground, and then making sure that business stayed afloat.

Nancy wasn't that little girl who wanted to be a princess anymore. She had become a self-sufficient woman, the manager of her own design studio. She would be fine on her own, which was why she didn't need a prince - just someone who respected her.

Perhaps that's what drew her to Robert.

He was kind towards Nancy, but theirs was not a whirlwind romance. Disappointing as this might have been to a younger her, Nancy was satisfied with Robert. They both knew exactly what to expect from the other.

Which was why it was all the more shocking, after she arrived at Robert's apartment one morning, to find an unknown woman sprawled on top of him.

Nancy had left angrily, taking the cab to her studio. Robert sent dozens of apology texts afterwards. Part of her understood that Robert wasn't that kind of guy, but the other part didn't want to listen.

When a pair of doves, bearing heart shaped roses, and a ticket to the King and Queen's Ball, surprised Nancy, she was even more astounded to discover they were from Robert. The rest of Nancy's anger faded away, replaced by anticipation for the upcoming ball.

She and Robert danced, and generally had a good time. Nancy thought it'd be the end of the matter, until the redheaded woman, Giselle, showed up with her date Edward. And even though they had just met…

Nancy knew that he was like everything she imagined a fairy tale prince to be.

He graciously asked for her hand, and invited her to waltz with him. Nancy enjoyed dancing with Edward, but she couldn't help observing Robert and Giselle. Nancy politely excused herself, then proceeded to switch dance partners. She could tell though, Robert's mind was elsewhere.

The rest of the night's events happened in a flash: the arrival of Edward's step-mother, Giselle's poisoning, and finally, the defeat of the evil queen.

Not only did she have to accept that magic was actually real, but that Robert was happier with another woman. And they were perfect for each other! It was true love's kiss! How could Nancy argue against that? Giselle was even willing to fight a dragon to save Robert!

Yes, the best thing Nancy could do was wish for their happiness. But where did that leave her? On the floor of the ballroom, holding onto Giselle's forgotten shoe.

"Why so sad, beautiful lady?"

Edward kneeled and tilted his head slightly, his expression perplexed.

"She forgot her shoe… figures."

Nancy smiled ruefully at Edward. For a moment, he looked at the shoe in her hands, and then gently took it into his grasp. Edward gazed at Nancy, as he asked her,

"May I?"

She nodded, confused, but gave Edward her permission. To Nancy's amazement,

"It's a perfect fit."

Edward took her hands in his, and helped her to a standing position. Nancy looked at Edward, who was gazing at her with wonder, and she knew that she must be doing the same.

✦✦✦

One wedding later, Nancy Tremaine had officially become the new Queen of Andalasia.

Nancy could hardly believe that everything that had happened wasn't a dream. But when she woke up the next morning and pinched herself, she was still in bed with the most charming man she'd ever met.

She smiled, as she looked at the soundly sleeping Edward.

After the marriage and the after-party celebration, they had retired to the royal chambers. Contrary to her enthusiasm when following Edward to Andalasia, Nancy now felt calmer as the excitement wore off.

Of course she still felt delighted about being in a fairy tale, but Nancy had things to do before enjoying her happily ever after.

For one, she needed to sort out her affairs: the design studio, her apartment, the paperwork and legal procedures…

Nancy groaned, as she imagined all of the work that had to be done, just to make sure she wouldn't end up on New York's Missing Persons List.

Evidently, her groaning was loud enough to wake up Edward, as she could feel him stirring beside her. Edward yawned, rubbed his eyes, and then propped himself up to gaze at Nancy.

"Good morning, my beautiful queen!"

"Good morning to you as well, my handsome king."

Nancy smiled, but then her happiness faded after remembering that, yes, she was the queen now - which meant more work that needed to be done! Edward noticed Nancy's distress, and gently questioned her.

"My love, what's wrong?"

"Well, I… I was just thinking of my home, Edward."

"Your home? The kingdom of castles in the sky?"

Nancy looked puzzled for a moment at what Edward could be alluding to. Then, she felt a light bulb go off in her head.

"Oh, you mean the buildings! Yes, I was thinking about New York City."

"What an odd place it was! So many steel beasts! And yet, no one seemed happy when I freed them from the clutches of those nefarious creatures!"

"Okay, if I'm understanding you correctly, which I'm pretty sure I am, you're talking about cars? Or buses? And how exactly did you free them, Edward?"

"Why, stabbing the beast with my sword!"

Nancy sat up in shock, her eyes wide, after she heard Edward's response.

"Oh my God, Edward! You can't do that! Someone could have gotten hurt!"

"But Nancy, they were unharmed!"

"For goodness sake, Edward, of course they were! Those weren't beasts! They were armored carriages used to transport people!"

Nancy sighed, trying to relax herself. She closed her eyes and opened them again, glancing at Edward, who had a kicked puppy look on his face. Nancy couldn't stand to see him unhappy, so she decided to forgive him. But she would make sure that Edward was well informed the next time he visited Earth.

"Well, it's hardly your fault that you don't know what cars are. But promise me you'll never attack someone with a sword again, okay?"

"I promise, my love!"

Nancy giggled at how quickly Edward bounced back. She wondered how to explain to Edward what was on her mind.

"Anyway, I was just thinking about what I needed to do back home. If I don't deal with them, I can't stay with you in Andalasia…"

Last night, Nancy and Edward had talked with each other until they both fell asleep. Edward had apologized to Nancy that they could not go on a "date" before marrying each other. So they proceeded to talk about their likes and dislikes, their interests, and other topics that came up in their conversation. Nancy was happy that Edward was so different from Robert.

Robert was a good man, but it was hard for him to open up to her. Nancy now understood that Robert was coming off of a bad marriage, and a partner who had left him alone to care for their daughter. As for her, she was a busy career woman, who was also dealing with the unexpected loss of her single mother.

At that time, Nancy and Robert functioned as the stable presence that the other needed in their lives. But it wasn't the right moment for them to fall in love. Maybe that's why it was so easy for Robert to fall in love with Giselle, and for Nancy to fall in love with Edward.

"So, if magic exists, you wouldn't happen to know any fairy godmothers, would you, Edward? Or even just a fairy?"

"As a matter of fact, my dear Nancy, there's something I would like to show you later!"

Edward and Nancy got out of bed, and rang for the servants to help them prepare for the day. After getting dressed, Nancy joined Edward in the dining room for breakfast. Once they finished, they briefly met with a royal advisor to hear about the ongoing work in the castle, now that Narissa was gone.

Finally, Edward led Nancy to a nondescript door in the castle. When he placed his hand on its surface, there was a flash of light, and Nancy could see something akin to a lock being opened.

Inside the room was a wand on a dais. The wand was sculpted from golden brown wood, with ornate carvings on its handle.

"Wow! Is this a magic wand?"

"Not just any wand, but an Andalasian Wishing Wand! Or simply, a Wand of Wishes."

"You can make wishes? Edward, that's wonderful! Are there rules on how to use it?"

"Only that you must be a true son or daughter of Andalasia."

"That's too bad then… I wasn't born in Andalasia…"

Edward chuckled, and Nancy blushed, as she wondered what Edward thought was so funny.

"My dear, but you are a daughter of Andalasia! You married me, a son, which makes you a daughter of Andalasia."

Nancy gasped, as she realized that Edward was right.

Walking up to the dais, Nancy gingerly picked up the wand, and gave it an experimental wave. Deciding to start with an easy wish, she remembered her phone, which she had thrown away during the wedding.

"I wish… I had my phone, perfectly still intact."

For a moment, nothing happened. But then, Nancy could feel something materialize in her hand, the one that wasn't holding onto the wand.

She gasped for the second time that day. In Nancy's hand was her old phone - not a single crack to be seen!

"It works! It really works!"

Nancy jumped into Edward's arms, and he responded by enthusiastically hugging her.

"Thank you so much for this, Edward! With a magic wand, anything is possible, even in New York!"

She stepped back, and anxiously met Edward's gaze.

"Will you be alright while I'm gone? Can you manage things in the kingdom alone?"

"It's a daunting task, to be sure. But that's what the royal advisors and council are for! To support the king and queen of Andalasia."

Nancy saw how confident Edward was, and knew that she had nothing to worry about. She gave Edward one last embrace, and then wished that she was in New York.

✦✦✦

According to her wish, Nancy found herself standing in her apartment.

Everything was just as she left it, right before she had gone to the ball with Robert. Nancy decided to change out of her queenly dress, and into a more casual outfit. Afterwards, she dug through her belongings to find her important documents.

Nancy had wondered what to do regarding her design studio. Not only was it a product of years of hard work, she had to consider her employees who would be out of a job if Nancy suddenly retired.

This left Nancy in a predicament. If the design studio was here to stay, then who would manage it?

Someone who'd know about Nancy's circumstances… Someone who was aware of magic. More importantly, someone who had a keen eye for fashion.

Only one person came to mind - Giselle. Nancy had noticed that the redheaded woman looked beautiful, in her purple halter dress, the night of the ball. Perhaps it was a stretch, but Nancy didn't exactly have many options at the moment.

Gathering her documents in one arm, Nancy left to head towards Robert's apartment. When she got there, Nancy steeled herself, and then knocked on the door. She waited in the hallway, until she heard footsteps approaching.

"I'm so sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment… Nancy?!"

Robert stood at the door, with a shocked expression on his face. He was wearing a business suit, with the jacket off, leaving him in just a dress shirt.

"Hi, Robert. Mind if I come in?"

"O-of course not…"

Robert moved aside to allow Nancy into his apartment. She looked around, searching for Giselle, and stopped at the sight of a certain man.

"You're… Edward's manservant, Nathaniel?"

"Oh! My lady, how nice it is to see you again."

Nathaniel stood up from the couch where he had been sitting, and bowed at Nancy.

"Um, you don't need to do that…"

"Don't I? Are you not Prince Edward's beloved?"

"How did you…?"

Nancy was surprised that Nathaniel was aware of her and Edward's relationship.

"I saw you two at the ball. You returned with him to Andalasia."

"…Nathaniel told me about what happened with you and Prince Edward. I'm - I'm sorry for hurting you, Nancy…"

"It's okay, Robert. I'm happy for you and Giselle, truly. I've had some time to think about our relationship, and, well, I think we're better off as just friends."

She gave Robert a small smile, and Robert smiled back uncertainly. Nancy walked towards a chair in the living room, then sat down. She noticed that the table in front of the couch was full of papers. Nancy questioned Robert, and he explained that he was working with Nathaniel to get him citizenship in the US.

Nancy realized she had forgotten that Nathaniel, Giselle, and Edward weren't US citizens. Without that, Giselle couldn't manage her design studio.

She asked Robert again, how long it would take for all of the paperwork to go through. He shook his head exasperatedly, and said it would take months at the least. He also had to worry about Giselle's citizenship. Nancy smirked, and took out the magic wand in her purse.

"I think I have the solution to both of our problems."

"Is that… a stick?"

Robert looked skeptical, until Nancy wished that Nathaniel and Giselle were citizens of the United States. On the table appeared passports, birth certificates, and other documents for both Nathaniel and Giselle. Robert examined the passport for Giselle, and was amazed to find that it looked like a real passport.

After he finished examining the passport, Robert stared at Nancy and the wand in her hand. Not knowing what else to do, Nancy put the wand back into her purse.

"So, magic wishing wand… it says a lot, that this isn't even the weirdest thing that's happened to me. How do we know these documents are real though?"

"Well, you could try looking them up on the internet? Try looking for when Giselle 'graduated' high school."

Robert took Nancy's advice, and grabbed his laptop to look up the school that Giselle had "graduated" from. He found a yearbook on the school's website, and when he opened it, he saw Giselle's photo along with the other graduates.

"Hold on… so the magic wand altered reality?"

"It's true, Sir Robert. In my mind, there exists memories that did not exist before. And a life that I previously had not led…"

Nathaniel seemed to be somewhere else, as his gaze focused on something that Robert and Nancy couldn't see.

"If that's happened to Nathaniel, then Giselle…"

There was frantic knocking on Robert's front door, and Robert hurried over to open it. Giselle was panting, and Morgan worriedly stood by her.

"Oh, Robert, it's terrible! I arrived here with Morgan after going out to the park, but when we came back, I felt a sudden rush of memories! But, but, they aren't my memories! At least, I don't think they are! So we ran up to your apartment as quickly as possible, and… oh my!"

Giselle covered her mouth when she spotted Nancy, and Nancy awkwardly stood up to wave at Giselle.

"Hi? Sorry about that! I kind of made a wish for you and Nathaniel to have new lives here on Earth…"

"Really?! Thank you so much, Ms. Nancy!"

"Please, call me Nancy - oof!"

Nancy's breath left her lungs after Giselle enthusiastically hugged her. They separated, and Nancy could feel herself taking in oxygen again. Meanwhile, Giselle was eagerly examining her shiny new passport. Nancy remembered the documents she had brought with her.

"I have another surprise for you, Giselle. You see, I'm a fashion designer, which means I make clothing for other people. And I run my own… shop. I sell the clothes I make to people who want to buy them. I need someone to take my place now that I'll be living in Andalasia, and I think that person should be you."

Giselle raptly paid attention to Nancy's words, and she covered her mouth again when she heard this shocking news.

"M- me? B-but, how can I accept, especially with what happened at the ball…!"

Giselle was crying, both tears of happiness and regret, as she felt underserving of Nancy's generosity.

"No, please don't cry Giselle! I'm doing fine now! Robert and I have agreed to just be friends, and Edward gives you and Robert his blessings."

The redheaded woman brushed her tears away, and smiled at Nancy. She whispered her thanks to Nancy again, and then went to the bathroom to wash her face. Nancy handed Robert the documents that she had brought with her.

"Here you go, Robert. This is everything you need for the design studio. I've included the deed of transfer of business ownership, which I've signed and dated. You'll need to get Giselle to sign it, and then go to have it officially notarized."

"This is amazing, Nancy! You've done so much for all of us today…"

"Like I told Giselle, you really don't need to thank me. Besides, you still have a lot of work ahead of you. Teach Giselle how to run her own business, and also how to live in New York. Oh, and please don't let wild animals near other people without properly sanitizing and training them first."

Nancy frowned when she remembered conversing with the woodland animals at her wedding. She learned from them more about Giselle's past, and how she was an orphan abandoned in the forest to be raised by them.

Giving Robert, Nathaniel, Morgan, and Giselle one last goodbye, Nancy headed to her (former) studio. It would still be open today, since she left her assistant, May, in charge of running the place whenever she was gone.

Arriving at the studio, Nancy greeted the secretary at the front. Then, she went to find May, who was deep in a conversation with one of the designers.

"May! I have great news to share with you!"

"Nancy?! Oh my gosh, what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to come in for a couple more days!"

May looked pleasantly surprised to see Nancy.

"Yes, yes, about that… something happened at the ball, something big."

"You're telling me! I heard all about it on the tv! Man, those actors did a really great job with their performances. And that dragon was soooo realistic!"

Nancy was amused to hear that everyone at the ball thought the events of the night had been fake.

"That's big news, yes, but not what I want to talk to you about. May, I'm leaving the design studio."

"What?! You are?! Isn't this too sudden….?!"

May grabbed Nancy's hands, and squeezed them anxiously.

"I know how this sounds, but you were right May. I never actually gave up on my dream of finding a fairytale prince. And, well, I've found him. He's different from Robert, in all the right ways. For once in my life, I want to be spontaneous. And hey, if this doesn't work out, I can always come back to New York."

Unbeknownst to May, Nancy was being literal. If things didn't pan out in Andalasia, Nancy could always go back to Earth, maybe even start a new business.

Nancy and May shared a heartfelt embrace, as May wished Nancy the best in her future endeavors. Nancy thanked her, and told her about how she'd already found a replacement for the studio. That being said, it would take months for Giselle to be ready, which was enough time for the employees to finish the designs from customers who had already ordered. Meanwhile, the studio would no longer be accepting new commissions from customers.

May was not only in charge of the employees, she would eventually help Giselle adjust to her new role as boss.

Before going back to her apartment, Nancy walked to Home Depot to buy a pair of high visibility safety vests, and hardhats. She and Edward would need these whenever they visited New York through the wishing well/ manhole. Nancy also went to a clothing store to buy a casual outfit for Edward.

Nancy ate a small meal for herself, and then returned to her apartment.

Glancing around, Nancy smiled mischievously. She knew that she would have to return the wand when she was back in Andalasia. For now though, there was one last wish she could make.

"I wish my purse was bottomless, so it could fit anything I wanted inside, without affecting its appearance on the outside."

Nancy waited for the magic to be cast, and then got to work stuffing things from her apartment into her bag. Books, articles of clothing, technology - everything she wanted to bring with her, she stored inside her purse.

Deciding that this was enough, Nancy held onto the wishing wand, and wished that she was back in Andalasia.

✦✦✦

Time passed, and Nancy adjusted to her rule as Queen. Running a kingdom was like running her design studio, except on hard mode.

She ensured that everyone had relatively equal opportunities, that the kingdom's budget was being handled appropriately, and that non-human creatures could have a say in what laws and ordinances were passed.

Nancy also learned that in Andalasia, no one ate meat. Nancy was glad that she was already a vegetarian back on Earth. It was actually rather enlightening for her to learn that animals in Andalasia weren't like animals back on Earth. There weren't any carnivorous animals at all, and even animals who appeared to be carnivores, like owls, could subsist entirely on fruits, veggies, and plants.

She had a theory that the magic of this fairytale world made it so animals evolved differently, and that they could live in harmony together.

Because animals here were able to communicate with humans, humans needed to trade and barter with them for supplies. For example, if one wanted wool, they would barter with the sheep. No animals were domesticated as livestock in Andalasia. Some preferred living in the wild, while others didn't mind interacting with humans.

It was fascinating to Nancy, and she enjoyed learning new things everyday. While it was easy to deal with the animals, it was harder for Nancy to reason with entities like dragons or trolls.

Trolls, as it turns out, liked to chase humans. It was a sport for them to pretend to scare humans into thinking they'd eat them. This led Edward and other "troll hunters" into actually believing the trolls would eat them, if they didn't catch them first. After tying the troll up, they'd send the troll to do work like mining.

Nancy was frightened when she met the first troll Edward had caught since her time in Andalasia. She reminded herself though that this was unlikely to be the last time she'd meet a troll. So she steeled herself and attempted to communicate with it.

To her surprise, the troll actually spoke to her. He answered slowly and awkwardly, but Nancy could understand him. So Nancy decided to ask him questions, like why trolls "ate" humans. Apparently, no one had ever actually questioned a troll.

The troll, named Fred, told Nancy that trolls liked to chase things. It was in their instincts to chase after fast, moving objects - like humans. Nancy inquired after what happened to the trolls in the mines, and she also found out that the trolls actually liked mining. It was good for them to focus on the labor intensive work, as it required them to use their strength.

So it was really a big misunderstanding all along! Humans and trolls didn't communicate, which was why people misconstrued an activity of the trolls as trying to eat them. Trolls needed an output for their natural instincts, but otherwise, they could be well meaning citizens of Andalasia.

Nancy brokered peace with the trolls, and gradually, more trolls integrated themselves into jobs like law enforcement.

A year passed, and Nancy was proud of herself of how much progress she'd made in that year. She was a queen who was respected and loved by her people, none more so than her husband Edward.

Nancy was grateful for Edward being by her side, as they learned how to rule the kingdom together. Edward knew when to be prideful, but also when to be humble and earnest. Nancy could not forget how he and other "troll hunters" had apologized to the trolls for hunting them (and vice versa).

She wanted to do something special for Edward, since it would be their one year anniversary together.

Edward had shown Nancy his "memory tree", which was a tree planted in the royal gardens. It contained all of the memories of the royal family. Memories of what they held near and dear to their hearts.

Nancy planned to meet Edward at this tree, and do something she had never done before in Andalasia - sing.

She wasn't a bad singer, but Nancy had only ever sung in school choirs and parties. She didn't think that she could pull off what everyone from Andalasia did so effortlessly - proclaiming to the world about her innermost thoughts and desires. But for Edward, she would try.

On the night of their anniversary, Nancy led Edward to a table she had set up underneath the shade of the willow tree. They dined together, and laughed about their memories of the past year.

Nancy gazed at the wonderful man who was her husband, and she could feel something stirring in her heart. In that moment, she knew what she would say.

[worfianism]

Ahsoka Ep 7

Spoilers ahead

- oooo sassy hera

- always so funny when star wars characters are like this sounds like a fairy tale and im like yes buddy you are indeed in a fairy tale

- C3P0!!!! On behalf of LEIA 😭😭😭😭😭

- Senator Organa is Senatoring

- see I get it. Senator Xiono being wary because Hera does read like a military woman stuck in a war but he's very reticent which along with the fact they pointed out that there is ex-empire at all levels in the new Republic make me distrust him

- 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 ANAKIN

- at least he's self aware 😂

- SKYGUY STILL TEACHING SNIPS 😭😭😭😭😭

- Awh buddy. You know what I think Good Master is pushing it but I get it. I really do think he tried his best when it came to Ahsoka especially since they were at war but he still let his selfishness get in the way of being a truly good master.

- Huyang I LOVE YOU. David Tennant I LOVE YOU.

- sometimes I forget that Ahsoka was apprenticed to arguably the best pilot in the galaxy

- did he not know this? Or is that he knew that Anakin was Vader but not that Ahsoka was apprenticed to Anakin?

- YOU KNOW WHY JEDI HAVE HAD TO HIDE FOR YEARS?????? (Order 66 mention im sensitive about that)

- I do get why people enjoy Thrawn as a villain

- I love that we go from space battle to idyllic little ride with ezra and sabine

- Zeb mention!!!

- OMG HE DOESNT KNOW ABOUT JACEN!! DAVE YOU BETTER GIVE ME THAT REUNION!!!

- Ezra 😂😂😂 "Really? You???"

- Oh Sabine. You know you messed up. But you can't admit it and you can't fix it.

- ARE THEY CANONISING FORCE TRAINING BONDS????? I thought they were entirely headcanon? (I mean I know Rey and Kylo ren had a force bond but I thought master-padawan bonds were something the Internet made up) also sabine is basically force-null so could she have a training bond anyway?

- UH OH

- damn Baylon Skoll essentially gives like evil Obi-Wan Kenobi vibes but anyway I wonder what he's up to

- COME ON DAVE GIVE ME EZRA WITH A LIGHTSABER, GIVE MY LITTLE JEDI BACK

- omg the little guys trying with a slingshot

- Ezra's ability to care about literally anyone I love him

- COME ON GIVE THE BOY A LIGHTSABER SABINE I KNOW YOU HAVE HIS

- Sabine saying she's like you but lacks your sense of humour about Shin I can't 😂

- omg they just dropped the soft Ahsoka theme very randomly

- I wonder who did the music for the show

- EZRA TAKE THE LIGHTSABER BABY PLEASE

- THE FORCE IS MY ALLY THAT IS ALL I NEED

- EZRA USING THE FORCE 😭😭😭😭😭

- the little guy just threw a pan I love it

- AHHH LEAVE HIM ALONE !!!!! HIM AND HIS LOVELY HAIR

- oh ezra how do you not know that you can't say stuff like that it's basically asking to jinxing it

- HUYANG TO THE RESCUE!

- Oh god for a moment I forgot that troopers were now clone troopers not stormtroopers so for a second I was like yay they're being rescued!!

- EZRA LIGHTSABER PLEASE

- hes so ezra

- Huyang you have to outlive literally everyone

- I'll give that to Thrawn, they are kind of like Jedi of old

- uh ohhhh

- Ahsoka 🥺 offering to help a darksider back to the light

- EZRA AHSOKA REUNION HUG IM IN SHAMBLES 😭😭😭😭 AHSOKA'S LITTLE LAUGH

- OH EZRA MY HEART IS BURSTING WITH LOVE FOR YOU

[laf-outloud]

WIndy really knows how to return from a hiatus! A great mix of humor, drama and suspense in this episode. Just like Hoyt, I’m also happy that the gang is back together and that Gus gets to take a bigger part in their shenanigans.

Calian and Hoyt’s reunion was so sweet! I love their friendship and how Hoyt was immediately ready to do anything to help Calian (bonus points for it including his favorite hobby😂). It seems like their go-to distraction plan is causing a scene with a fight. I guess if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. While this episode was a little heavy on Hoyt as the comic relief, it works better now in my opinion because we know the rest of the group takes him seriously and that he can switch back to being dangerous without any notice. I wonder if he planned for his protege to rob him and the railroad guy for a share of the profit, or if it was just a happy accident.

I’m so glad Kate and Abby made up, their friendship is everything. It’s so rare that we get to see genuine lady friendships that are compelling on TV. Plus they work well together, Abby is a bit of an idealistic dreamer and Kate is the pessimistic realist who keeps her grounded.

Tom and Abby were so sweet this week. Such a gentleman, trying to make sure Abby was comfortable after their night together. I also love the fact that he has so much confidence in her and sees her as the capable, intelligent woman she is. And trusting her with Davidson business when he doesn’t even trust his own deputy? Pretty serious, I guess Aunt Teresa’s high opinion of her goes far. Sidenote, I hope we see her again soon. I’m a fan of the dysfunctional Davidson clan. I’m kind of sad that they didn’t get to have their romantic candle lit dinner at their cabin, but I can’t wait to see what Liam’s journal reveals.

And speaking of the dysfunctional Davidson clan, Shane and Tom’s time in the murder shed! My poor meow meow! How dare he look so good covered in blood. And poor Greg, it was so cold you could see his breath and he was getting water thrown on him. The scenes between the brothers were so intense. I was so worried that no one would come for Tom until it was too late, but Gus came through…well presumably he did though Shane and Tom were doing the classic evil clone ‘kill him and not me!’ bit.

I was excited for Kate and Kai to make up, but it seems like Kai is (yet again) not who we thought he was. I wouldn’t have guessed he was the follow along with authority type. Now I’m worried that Kate has jeopardized their mission by trusting Kai.

These last three episodes (I guess two now) are going to kill me, I just know it! I screamed when I saw the teaser for next week. Wild West Jared and the long awaited backstories? CW please, renew the show and tell us already!

Yes to everything!!! (If there are any WIndy gif makers reading... I need Hoyt and Calian's hug!)

This show is so deft at switching between humor and drama, it reminds me of one of my other favorite shows, Firefly (showrunner issues aside).

I'm still not entirely sold on Tom and Abby, but it seems that perhaps neither are they? At least, not quite yet. And I'm sure Abby finding Liam's journal will put a damper on those plans (well, and Tom's torture.)

Kai really surprised me. I did not expect that explosive anger out of him. That boy has layers! Though I still really hope he and Kate can find a way to preserve their friendship.

I can't even think about renewal speculation now. I'd worry myself to death over that because I want it so much!

(Thank you, again, for another fabulous review!)

[possums6969420]

I'm writing a fanfic about a non exiting ship, do da do da. I don't care about what people think, do da do da.

Paring: The Duke(Resident Evil 8) x lesley (dhmis)

So, this story takes place before Resident Evil: Village and Dhmis (yt series). Before Lesley met Roy and had David (yellow guy). Before Duke became the helping hand in Ethan Winters' adventure to save his daughter. When The Duke came to the Britain to tride with people. Instead he found a new treasure that he couldn't always call his.

...............................................

The Duke had to restock on a few things, thing that are only in that are in Britain. So, he had a trip to take. When he got there, he went straight to his suppliers for the goods. Duke made this trip so many times before that it into a muscle memory for him. This time was different though.

On his way back to his cart with his things, he bumped into a lady. Duke put down his stuff to make sure the lady was ok. He helped her up and made sure she was ok. Duke apologized and pick up his stuff. The lady asked if he needed any help and he said yes.

The lady picked up some and followed Duke to his cart. When the Duke asked her for her name, she said "lesley, and what's yours". The Duke smiled and said "What a pretty name my dear. You can call the Duke". Lesley smiled and blushed a little at the compliment. They talked until they were done loading up Duke's carts.

The duke wrote down his number for Lesley and Lesley did the same for Duke. They said their fairwells and parted ways. Lesley, being the young woman that she was, was curious about the man she met. So, she called him when she got home. Of course, the duke answered.

They had a wonderful conversation. Lesley happy to get some answers and get to know her new friend. They talked for a while before Lesley went to bed. They were both happy. They talked at the same time every day.

After a while of talking on the phone and in person, they grew feelings for each other. Duke did have a friendly attitude, so Lesley couldn't tell if he was flirting with her or not. He was flirting and it's was cute to him to see Lesley smiled and blushed. Lesley tried to flirting with Duke but failed. The love in the air was noticeable.

On one fateful Valentine's day, Duke asked Lesley out on a date. She, of course, said yes. They had a wonderful time out. Lesley never felt so special before. They ended the day in front of Lesley's house, kissing.

They went on more dates but they were scattered around because of the Duke's schedule. He was doing business all over the place. He never forget to bring Lesley some thing from his travels. They didn't like it but their love kept them together.

They never really talked about sex, marriage, or having kids. Duke being busy and lesley trying to start up her career. Any down time they had with each other was spent cuddling and just relaxing. They were happy though. They didn't need anything like those things

On one Valentine's day, Duke got some lingerie for Lesley. When she found it on their bed, she was excited. She put it on and pulled Duke into their room. They had fun all night. Duke was late for a meeting with Lady Dimitrescu because of fun.

One thing that they forgot to do is to use protection. It was until Lesley start to throw up and wanting to eat more, that they noticed what they did. When Lesley took the test, they weren't surprised when it was positive. They talk and talk about it. Until they came to a solution.

After 9 months, Lesley gave birth to Jack. After a couple of hours Mr. and Mrs. Horner came in. They took Jake and signed the paperwork. After the Duke and Lesley broke up. Then dhmis, re8, and puss in boots: The last wish happened.

[comphetkoncass]

maybe i WILL write that dick+tim, kon+kory fic. for my me.

p1: dick + tim about the similarities b/w kon + kory

"heyyy so i think. kon needs seen for some clone issues. by scientists. but he cant get past the doors which is WEIRD since he used to LIVE in cadmus itself, even after being freed from the tube. kory has some trauma about being experimented on too, doesn't she? with her starbolts? how do you get her seen?"

"okay. first of all, i recommend the fortress of solitude for anything to do with kon. even STAR labs recently fucked him over, i would seriously not put him anywhere run by human scientists."

"...ah." (star labs being what kicked kon out into gemworld for like 2 yrs and then sent him right back in rebirth)

"second: kory does best when she has a clear exit strategy and the freedom to leave at any time. she'll never do anything more intense than local anesthesia and i'll bet kon's the same."

other notes about this scene: they're for sure on a mission and mowing people down while they talk. <33

p2: kon + kory about the similarities b/w dick + tim

"kory. how do you do it. how do you date a bat without losing your fucking mind. we're literally not human, how do we have a better scope of human limitations than they do. what the fuck is wrong with them."

"what did tim do this time?"

"he almost died then sat back up and kept giving orders instead of letting me take him back to HQ to get patched up. he literally almost bled out. what the fuck. what the FUCK."

"ah... yes, that is a very 'bat' thing to be concerned with. the real issue will be if he does not speak with you about it afterwards. ...how are your persuasion skills?"

p3: dick + kon meeting for kon to ask about the human perspective of science-fiction-soap-opera-trauma.

aka what level of over-sharing is appropriate in a relationship between a science-fiction-trauma-magnet and a like, semi-normal dude. like, how to be a good partner when you're kind of messed up and there's some star trek level weirdness in your backstory and it's all traumatic. how to not freak out your partner when your life has just been really, really weird.

"uhh... hey. hi. sorry to bug you, i just wanted to ask... and out of full respect for you and kory's relationship, and if you could keep this between just the two of us, and dont tell tim? it's just. i uh. my life has been a science fiction trainwreck. and -- this is no disrespect to kory, but hers has kind of been a lot like mine? just- lab stuff, and belonging to evil people and being related to them too, and having really dangerous powers that we didn't ask for, and-"

"hey. breathe, kid."

"i was just wondering. what it's like from the other side. you and kory seem like you have such a good relationship even despite all the science fiction crap. help a guy out? i'm just so afraid of freaking tim out but i can tell he's freaked out by me not trying to lean on him more, but. give it to me straight, nightwing. as a bat -- as like, a normal dude, does it freak you out to have your partner always involved in some science fiction nonsense? like, should i keep downplaying stuff, or-"

"kon, i'm gonna level with you. bats are not nearly as normal as we seem. at least, not bats with friends. my best friend is a speedster, do you know how often i have to help wally figure out time travel dimension crossing speedforce crap? do you know how much weird, interdimensional gods and monsters nonsense batman helps superman and wonder woman with? i PROMISE you. no matter how fucked up and weird it gets, tim will take it in stride. like- no offense if this is a sore subject but didn't he try to clone you? i love him but he's kind of a science fiction weirdo himself."

p4: tim + kory meeting for tim to ask about partners opening up about more alien stuff.

tim's version of the last chapter -- he's asking kory for advice to how to get kon to open up a little. the things that make kory feel better about sharing even the weirdest and most traumatic science-fiction-soap-opera level weirdness in her life.

"i just have the feeling that kon's holding stuff back because he's afraid i'm gonna freak out on him. i mean, does he know how much weird crap i deal with on a daily basis? the other day he accidentally mentioned the clone plague he had, and got embarrassed like i wasn't literally there, like i didn't remember it after living through watching him get it and recover despite it almost killing him. if he's getting embarrassed over that, how am i gonna get him to open up to me about the weird multiverse shit he's been through lately? please help me, kory, you're my only hope. how does dick get you to talk about space adventures or -- the more... the ones that hurt you more?"

"...let's do this while we're gardening. i think that may help." (intentionally takes tim to a greenhouse with very alien looking creatures) "i find that sometimes it helps to talk about the more... difficult, stranger adventures by changing the scenery. but truthfully, you just have to ask questions and be extremely matter of fact with them. do not mince words, and use the descriptions that he does, unless they're fundamentally offensive, then ask for clarification. if he absolutely does not want to talk of course, don't push, but let him know that you genuinely want to discuss it. that he does not need to be embarrassed, either of the adventure itself or his feelings about it."

"got it. and ... if he does open up?"

"let him speak. if he stalls for a bit, ask questions if anything is unclear, as i know they can be when things are, ah... outside an ordinary human, earthly adventure. but for the most part, let him speak."

its tempting to add a scene abt . like . sa survivor stuff bc both dick and kory would have a lot of advice to give kon. but i think i will keep this relatively lighthearted. that can be a part 2 if im still so tempted

[comicscourse]

Samaritan - Some Thoughts

Spoilers abound here so if you have not seen the Sylvester Stallone movie Samaritan, you have been warned.

Since a certain scarlet fop decided to save some French aristocrats and a landowner decided to call himself The Fox readers have loved hidden heroes. Comic books didn't change this up much except to let the common man into the game. You didn't have to be a noble scion like Superman or head of a patrician clan like Batman or literal nobility like Wonder Woman but you could be a homeless kid like Captain Marvel or train engineer like Green Lantern. But when the Dark Knight returns came out in the 1980s we had a new take on the hidden hero - the one that has disappeared.

In the Dark Knight Returns we have a Bruce Wayne who has given up being Batman. His old foes are gone and he only returns when the world is sinking into absolute chaos his arch foes return.

When I saw the previews for Samaritan I thought it would be cut much from the cloth of Unbreakable. And it shares some but mainly in the visual construction and cinematography. As a script it shares a lot more in common with The Dark Knight returns. A lot.

In this world super powers are almost unknown, only two are mentioned and they appear to be unique. Two boys were invulnerable, super strong, one turned to good and one to evil. They had a climatic battle and both are said to have died. Samaritan (good) and Nemesis (evil). Their stories have become legend and there is good reason to not take the stories too much to heart with the telling of this tale set in a four color style contrasting with the grittiness of the contemporary story. Of course people look for the hidden hero. A few steadfast souls believe that Samaritan must still be alive. The Bronze age of comics introduced the hero who could be broken, the Batman of The Dark Knight Returns and the Superman of Kingdom Come. But they return when needed.

Yes, there is a messianic element there but let's not get too distracted, I'm sure Tumblr has a word limit and I'm not trying to reach it.

The story continues until the twist. Throughout the story the obviously haunted and broken Joe who we believe to be Samaritan struggles with his own past. We see flashbacks to when the brothers battled and we now know only one died. We are never given Joe's thoughts, just his memory as visuals. He never shares his feelings only his frustration. He is an enigma. And this setups the twist when we find out that he was not Samaritan but the bad guy, Nemesis who let his brother die, arguably killed him. And it has haunted him.

It didn't make him the good guy. He proclaims himself the bad guy as he faces down the new Nemesis a criminal and anarchist who believes Nemesis was an antihero destroying the establishment for the common man. Was he? The new one certainly seems to like to clothe wanton destruction in pseudo philosophy. Or was Nemesis just an asshole? Many people know the quote “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” It isn't surprising that it comes from a Batman movie. Of all comic book characters Batman has been a vehicle for some of the best social commentary.

On several fronts, as a person, as a media figure, as a symbol, in three different ways Samaritan explores what happens if as a villain you live long enough to become the hero? And it doesn't do it cheaply.

Is this movie great? No. It is good though. On a 0 - 10 score I am debating where it falls between a 7 and 8. The technical production was good and Stallone's acting was solid. Highly recommended if you're interested in a more thoughtful superhero comic book inspired movie.