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w00wzerz · 3 years

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~ Let’s chat the beauty of ep 12 ~ 🤒✨

(All that matters in Titans S3 ep 12)

Im excited! Im jumping! Im dancing 💃🏽! It looks like the scenarios that we spoke about in my previous post here has come to fruition! I barely know where to begin. I have not had this feeling for the show in a very long time. For a majority of the 45 mins, I was practically glued to my screen because it seems that the writers have somehow managed to steer back into the right direction. But without further ado ~

It was quite refreshing to see the emotional strain that Dick’s death caused on both Rachel and Gar, especially when taking in to account that this series doesn’t necessarily know how to allow their characters to fully process the depths of their emotions. Usually we are met with lackluster, depictions of the scenarios which does ultimately affect the impact of the scene.

Yes! Gar finally transforms into another animal! Maybe the show runners are paying attention after all - because that tiger shtick was getting old pretty quickly.

After Gar transforms, he explains to Rachel that he believes that he can be more, which in this context is morse code for transforming. This was an excellent introduction to the next steps in his journey - that is learning to control his powers without solely limiting it to one animal.

Now moving onto Dick’s escapades in the pit. I have to say that I am much impressed by the creative decision that the writers have chosen for Dick to be the one to face his conflicts. Seeing that all he ever does is run off on his own anyway. All this is quite similar to Donna’s journey however, it was nice to see a glimpse of Dick’s future by him facing the brick in his mind.

As soon as I saw this scene of Dick’s subconscious in the form of Crane my initial thought was, where the hell they get that party city Joker costume from? 🤨 But when I finally decided to move past all of that, I realized that this was Dick’s boulder. In Dick’s eyes Jason was the reason he was shot, When Jason became Redhood the people of Gotham sought out a new hero to protect them, it was Jason’s fault that they had given up hope on the Titans. So of course he despised him!

However by succumbing to Crane’s pursuit , he allowed a slight opening for him to become the man that he had constantly attempted to run away from in the whole entirety of the series. A murderer.

It is like a movie before Dick’s eyes. Not only does he pay his father a visit in the woods, but in the corner of his eyes he spots a beautiful, wide eyed baby girl holding a red balloon. She shouts “daddy come here!” And I just melt into a puddle of tears.

This scene has basically solidified what we have all been proclaiming since the very beginning, Dickkory is endgame! And I couldn’t be happier 💃🏽However, the relevation also felt like someone rashly built an unexpected dam in the middle of the Hudson river… and you know what would happen if that ever did occur? The other side of it would eventually overflow, swallowing Roosevelt Island first, then the city!

Season 3 has little to no groundwork for the construction of Dick and Kory’s relationship, yet alone a baby! It is also pretty disappointing that the only solid evidence that we have to fall back on is the sex, which is good too! But it is missing the meat of the platter in between. Hopefully in season 4 we will see improvements in their dynamics.

Now why do I actually like Kom with red Starbolts? You know what, let me keep my mouth shut on that.

Also, its great to see Kory’s powers being put to good use - through Kom. I am completely flabbergasted and at this point I just want to see where the writers are going with this storyline. I love that she uses her powers to revive Conner who as we all know was taken down by Kryptonite. I wonder how Krypto was able to release himself.

This here is was what I’ve been waiting to hear ALL SEASON!

When Dick finally tells Jason that he will NEVER be a Titan I simply lost it! It’s about time that he was blunt and upfront with Jason about his and the teams sentiments. I can also respect how even though he rejected Jason’s offer, he aloowed himself to present him with another opportunity for redemption as Redhood. It was an amicable way for me to say goodbye to Jason’s Robin.

——————————————————————————-

The rivalry between Kom and Kory is another storyline that I wish we had further development in. There is no bad blood YET, but with Conner entering his sexy bad boy era we might be in for a bumpy ride folks!

When Kom decides to return back to Tamaran to reclaim her throne, Conner is evidently distraught. He pleads for her to remain on earth by his side, but knowing her nature her heart is already set on returning home on her ship.

Now I’ve seen many people argue that Conner is a simp etc… But in all actuality Conner is still learning to deal with human betrayal. We have to remember that he was crafted in a lab, meaning he was literally born just yesterday. Which is why I always believed that he was far too young for a mature woman like Kom, even if their relationship was as aesthetically pleasing as it was.

I was also a bit worried when Kory offers to join Kom on the journey. It takes Blackfire to remind her that her family - the Titans, are still on earth and even then she states nonchalantly, “you’re my family.” Now I do believe that there are many factors that play into the statement, but that’s an analysis for another day.

In the gif above you can see that Kory is completely taken aback when Conner disobeys her. I believe that here she begins to realize that its the Lex Luther side that is slowly inching out from her son. It was also another wasted opportunity because the comics Kory would’ve kicked his ass indefinitely for disobeying her, but I digress.

I hate to say that I love this side of Connor, look at our sexy boy go!

And That is all that I have for this week’s episode! Let me know how you felt about the Dickkory “twist” and Conner’s new face 💜✨

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sohotthateveryonedied · 3 years

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

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

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

Part 1 - What Happened to Bruce:

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

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

Final Crisis #6

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

Batman #687

Part 2 - Battle For the Cowl:

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

Batman: Battle For the Cowl #1

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

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

Battle For the Cowl #3

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

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

Dick:

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

Batman #688

Jason:

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

Batman and Robin (2009) #5

Tim:

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

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

Red Robin #1

Damian:

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

Batman and Robin (2009) #22

Cass:

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

Batgirl (2009) #1

Part 4 - How Bruce Came Back:

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

Batman and Robin (2009) #9

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

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5

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

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6

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

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

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home

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

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

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mygayexcatholicass · 4 years

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Slumber Party Harley

On the first day of #Harleyween I was, well, minding my own damn business sleeping like a normal human being at 2PM after a long Coney Island slumber party, when this wannabe Thanos comes in telling me his name is Mar Novu (sounds fake) and he goes by “The Monitor” (sounds stick-up-ass-y) and something about other Harleys needing help or whatever and I went OFF. I am the one and only Harley Quinn, jerk! Well, turns out he was right, and to prove his point he thrust me into the Multiverse to save the other Harleys, at least after the weird colorless universe with no Harley but, mmm, America’s ass. Happy Twelfth Day of Halloween to me (and Stevie)!

Birds of Prey Harley

On the second day of #Harleyween the freaking best looking Helena Bertinelli told me I was on Earth-2, and she was in this Earth’s version of the Birds of Prey, and DAMN these girls know how to party. Helped them take down Victor Szasz uglier revived version, who’s just kinda sad without Sionis’s leg to hump. Kind of a quick trip but it was nice to have a girl group take me out for drinks and tacos after Szasz was dead… again. This Harley might be my favorite. Happy Thirteenth Day of Halloween!

Animated Series Harley

On the third day of #Harleyween Ivy told me I was on Earth-3, which was WILD let me tell you. This Harley has brought together the cutest if inept and kind of gross crew, and ugh if I have to deal with the Legion of Doom in any universe ever again I’m just going to murder them all. Most of all, Lex, the Most Annoying Rich Asshole in the Multiverse. He’s needed for Season 3 but I made sure he’d need a bit to recover before his next appearance. Also, Harley of Earth-3, I rehired the sushi chef. Happy Fourteenth Day of Halloween!

Injustice 2 Harley

On the fourth day of #Harleyween Batsy of Earth-4 replaced any marker of Joker’s ownership with a bat on the back of my jacket, and if poor Dickie is dead and Damian is predictably a little shit (in my opinion as a doctor), I guess this Harley became Robin or something? Well Supes goes dark and the Brainiac takes over, I guess everything goes tits up. Even had to take on the worst version of Ivy (like did they consult even one woman before designing this character?) who was still an ecoterrorist so that was sexy but she got in bed with Scarecrow which is the opposite of “sploosh”. Would it kill ya to smile after I saved your shiny ass, Batsy? Happy Fifteenth Day of Halloween!

Suicide Squad Harley

On the fifth day of #Harleyween let me tell you, I could not WAIT to get off Earth-5. I’m sure this Harley hates her outfit to but MY LORD can we get the director and costume designer to try this shit on??? I think this train of thought began as a tirade but honestly I’d love to see men in this outfit… anyhoos this Suicide Squad was… decent but at least the Wall was still HBIC and she sent me on a covert mission that made it all worth it I guess (I killed Earth-5’s Mistah J who’s more of a joke than a joker). Happy Sixteenth Day of Halloween!

Arkham Knight Harley

On the sixth day of #Harleyween I found out on Earth-6 I was still in Arkham, which I’m mostly surprised this is the only universe “The Monitor” sent me to where I was in the asylum. Needless to say I negotiated with this Batsy (sooooo much angst) and even helped him fight the second Arkham Knight, who of course was the new warden, Astrid Arkham, and of course if the hero’s fighting a girl villain he’s gotta have a plucky girl to accompany otherwise it looks sexist. Hopefully this Harley turns her life around ‘cause I ain’t breaking out that place again for anyone but probably myself. Like Earth-1 me. Happy Seventeenth Day of Halloween!

Classic Harley

On the seventh and final day of #Harleyween I didn’t even need to know that I was on Earth-7. I didn’t need to know the backstory of this universe or if they’ve had the pandemic or who’s taking over the world or nothing. I woke up in this costume with a mallet in hand next to the man who thinks he gave me my voice and my shtick when really he’s just a rapist who acid-fried himself a girlfriend and likes to cause chaos so his real love will notice him. I think it was good for me, ya know? Catharsis and all that? Well as satisfying as it was for me, I guess it also served to fulfill “The Monitor’s” mission for me. He sent me back here, to Earth-1 and maybe we’ll just have another slumber party since y’all stayed so long. Happy Eighteenth Day of Halloween!

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princebete · 3 years

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What characters have you cosplayed or plan to cosplay soon? :)

awww--Thank you for asking! I’m gonna put this here just so I don’t take up the dash-- cuz I get reallllly excited talking about this stuff

So for this cosplay that I am actively working on. It is for an online competition of sorts. I am working on the Anastasia ball gown from when she sings Once Upon A December-- except it is going to be a transformation gown ( that’s if I have enough time to get it the ballgown done first, and then work on the pre-transform outfit and figure out the rigging, otherwise it’ll just be the gown).

But, if I get it fast enough-- this is ideally what I am planning. And the way I plan it will be similar to the cinderella onstage transformation in the Cinderella R&H revival back in 2013

I am making a few creative changes to the gown as well( nothing major,) to flatter my shape a bit more. The swatches -- hopefully that yellow isn’t too yellow. I uh just bought like 7 yds of it on Etsy. sooooooo... well I guess it could do well for a Belle gown-- but that’d be a big oopsy. Anyways, the velvet and satin dark blue are for the sash/bow. The velvet is the outside while the satin is the “ lining” but when tied in the back, I am hoping it flips around so that you see the beautiful satin. The same goes for the bow-- it’s just gonna look extra. And then for the gown itself, I went with a bridal satin... I have not gotten the organza/tulle yet that I am thinking of using as an overlay on the satin??? That’s still in the works-- but my thought was to create a sweetheart neckline bodice, and then put an overlay on top of it to give it the illusion that it has straps-- still working that out.

Won’t know until I have all the fabric in one place-- things change as you go. But the idea is to make it similar to how I had my wedding dress bodice-- which is the lower middle there. I have some Preciosa flatback rose Chaton ab crystals on the way-- and some in yellowish gold which ill adorn the gown arbitrarily just to make it blingy and extra and because sparkle. I am at a loss whether to add any kind of trims-- as in piping/lacey bits. I really like the simplicity in this, and that it just sparkles and the textures of the velvet, satin and tulle/organza/net[whichever one works out] all come together. OH! and the sleeves are going to be like these wispy things. and that is in chiffon to compliment the other blues. I am SO scared that it’ll come out looking more purply lavender blue and not really blue. But that’s what dye is for!

I am so sorry I talked into a novel there. But yeah that is the most active thing. I have some other designs but who knows if the will make it into 2021? But here are a bunch I got on the face of my cosplay binder ( this also include Mark, my husband’s characters)

Tinkerbell and Terence

Zelda (ceremonial dress) & Link BOTW although I am debating Mipha over Zelda-- it’s just that this looks like an easy build.

Rydia of the Mist from the After Years & Edge ~ FF IV the after years

Porom & Caine ~ FF IV the after years

This Chibiusa-esque Sailor Moon Design I found by Azure & Copper ( I call her Sailor Neo Eternal Moon or something also it has WINGS like 4 of them! )

Anastasia ** & Dimitri

Kiki & Tombo ( I have a closet cosplay of Kiki)

Megman & Rolle(megaman would be of my own design that I combine with multiple versions. I have the idea to get my husband to program a rapsberry pi to make some moving equipment and lights etc.)

Elsa 5th Spirit & Jack Frost from rotg /// or Elsa with the Nokk ( i have this in like.... pieces right now... since a year ago?-- she was supposed to go to Katsu last year for my honeymoon but didn’t make it. However, it’s all there..... in pieces TT^TT) & A Jack Frost Design ( I combined his outfit with Kristoff’s? So like boots and fur lining etc.) I’ve also considered making Mark into The Nokk-- but that would be a crazy interpretation. Like ... think Centaur costume with a horse head or idk-- i never got into the design ideas. i would have to take a poll on cosplay amino

Nausicaaaaa & Asbel

Haru & Baron from the Cast Returns ( in their ball attire)

Helios & Princess Chibiusa (grown-up style-- so think like Dark Lady hair with the princess dress)

Groose & Zelda ~ Legend of the Skyward Sword

Thumbelina & Cornelius ( i have parts of corny somewhere and then bits of thumbelina scattered across stuff)

Lvl 10 Jester and Caleb

PHANTOM ACE ( he is in the manga and is a love interest that just wreckkkks & Codename Sailor V I have her on my dressform as we speak--- but ever since going to this Sailor moon cosplay help panel at Katsu, I have recognized the error in my ways, specifically towards the fabric!! So I would like to fix this---

I also have this design for a historically inspired version of Princess Aurora

Sailor She-ra as well ( it’s got armour for dayyyys)

Regency Inspired Rapunzel-- I tried this before and it failed. Also I HATED the gown. So I am doing it again! <3 And Eugene too

I am also making stays/corsets to help with the overall silhouette shapes of some of these --

But yeah-- I really don’t believe I’ll get to all of this. That would be insane, however, I’d like to make a YT channel that follows the making of all of this and other stuff! But phew! Thanks for asking, that was a lovely question and I enjoyed responding to it.

(o^^)o o(^^o)

#cursed #wear snow white and white diamond #poisoned apple #ask thing #nonnie asking me about myy stufff 🥺 👉👈#Anonymous #ooc #I YEAH i forgot to mention who i have cosplay #I have cosplay snow white #diamond from land of the lustrous #white diamon from steven universe #red blood cell from cells at work #a evil punk snow white #Jester lavorre #kiki #eilonwy #rapunzel #marionette from mirculous lady bug #a lot of these weren't like overly professional just closet cosplay stuff with wigs but it got the point across XD #minako aino in school uniform #elpheba-- esmeralda and belle for when i used to sing on smule -- but i dont really count those cuz i literally just pinned random things li #elphaba** excuse me #i should also say that my cosplays are on the sprectrum of looking like complete crap but with a nice wig and good makeup #or over the top decadent elaborate looking thing #and the elaborate ones are far and few between-- and there are no IN between for like elaborate and cruddy looking costumes for me #it's quite amusing #but for cons i think im gonna put together some fun cosplays for doing normal stuff like party #or like rave [if i do that] or just chillin with friends #I've done the whole to a party room-con #andddd lemme tell youu

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yourdeepestfathoms · 4 years

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Gene Pool

(Read Anne as Courtney!Anne)

Word count: 2917

Prompt: Speaks in a terrible Shakespearean/Elizabethan style to woo/make the other laugh

———————

A loud groaning noise vibrated through the walls of the theater, catching Anne’s attention as she was getting dressed to leave after that day’s evening show. To her left, Aragon wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“They still haven’t fixed those damn pipes?” She said. “Some high quality theater this is.”

“I think it’s fine,” Cleves shrugged. “It’s fun to tell young fans that it’s a ghost.”

“Of course you would do that.” Anne laughed.

“Shall we wait for you?” Aragon asked the green queen, as she and Cleves had finished changing.

“Nah, go without me,” Anne said. “I’ve got some things to do.”

In which, those “things” were cheering up a certain blonde girl.

Anne noticed Joan acting rather stressed and aloof for awhile, but it wasn’t until she spiraled into a panic attack out of nowhere the day before that she finally decided to really do something. She was going to treat the poor music director to a dinner of her choice and just be there for her, and hopefully get the truth of her current state out of her in the process.

“Oh, m’lady!” Anne chirped, prancing into Joan’s dressing room. “Gath'r thy belongings, mine own lief! It’s timeth to wend!”

She stopped in the doorway, noticing that Joan was still in her costume.

The girl didn’t acknowledge her...or maybe she didn’t even hear her. She just remained hunched over her desk. Anne thought she may have been asleep, as she did sometimes nod off, but she saw the subtle twitch of her shoulders and heard the smallest sniff emit from her timid music director.

“The young wench gaveth nay cleareth response.” Anne narrated. She dramatically leaned against the wall. “Ign'r'd by mine own owneth kin! Thee curs'd robe stealeth'r! How couldst thee doth this to me?!”

No response.

Anne pursed her lips and stepped closer.

“Prithee! Doth not doth this to me! Pri— Joan?”

Anne stopped her charade when she heard the tiniest whimper. In an instant, her maternal instincts are kicked in and she sets a hand on Joan’s shoulder, which causes a second whimper to bubble up. Then, Joan is twisting around in her chair and burying her head against her stomach, weeping.

“Anne— Oh, Anne, I-I messed up! I-I thought I could—” Joan’s strange babbling broke off into incoherent sobbing.

“Hey, hey,” Anne wrapped her arms around the trembling girl. “Hey, shh... Shh... It’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not!” Joan ripped away. Her eyes are wide with terror. “I-it’s not okay! I-I...”

She looked down at her hands as if they were drenched in blood and broke down into a fresh fit of tears.

“Come here, sweet girl...” Anne gathered Joan back into her arms and held her tightly. She rubs her back comfortingly. “Shh, shh... I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you. I’m right here.”

“A-Annie,” Joan squeaked out. “I-I’m s-so sorry...”

“It’s okay, Joan. You’re allowed to cry.”

“N-no—“ Joan sniffled. “N-not...not about that. About...”

Anne furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

“What?”

Joan leaned back. She’s hugging herself tightly, not making eye contact. Then, her gaze shifts to her desk, and Anne follows.

Joan’s work table is always a mess, but now it just looks like a hurricane had blown across it. Dozens of papers are scattered across the top, and there are several more that are crumpled into balls or ripped or completely shredded. Ink of various colors is splattered on the white wood, staining it permanently. Books are open and leaned against the wall- books about human anatomy and skeletons and body parts.

It takes a moment for Anne to realize that this was not music director work.

“Joan, what’s all this?” Anne asked. She picked up the nearest paper and read it over.

The paper had a crude drawing of a human at the center with notes written all over the sides, several of which were scribbled out, seemingly incorrect. The person had an animal skull over the head, which Anne assumed to be a deer’s. On the top, a few words were written, “Cadaver?? Deer??? Stag??”

“Are you taking up an interest in forensics?” Anne laughed slightly. “Joan, sweetheart, that’s nothing to be ashamed of! Bessie already—”

“No!” Joan cried. “Y-you don’t...” She gripped her forearms tightly and rocked back and forth in the chair. Something was making the poor thing very distressed. “I-I can’t... I can’t hide this from you anymore, can I?”

Anne blinked. She slowly set the paper down and cupped Joan’s tear stained face.

“Joan, baby, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”

A few fresh tears slipped out of Joan’s eyes. Anne gingerly wiped them away with her thumb.

“Talk to me, darling.” Anne murmured to her. “Please. I’m worried about you.”

Joan sniffled. She pulled away from Anne and scrubbed at her eyes before standing up.

“Okay,” She whispered. “Do you have any food?”

“Food?” Anne blinked

“Yeah.”

Confused, Anne dug through her purse and pulled out an energy bar. Joan smiled weakly and took it from her, then also swiped a small journal from underneath a pile of papers, causing it to topple over in an avalanche of white.

“Thanks. Come on.”

Anne followed Joan out of the dressing room, down a hallway, and towards a back section of the theater that nobody really went to just because it seemed creepy. And they were right to think that, because Joan opened a set of double doors that were usually always locked with a key she slips out from her back pocket.

“Where are we going?” Anne asked as they walked down another corridor, this one much more rundown and dim.

“The basement.” Joan answered grimly.

“This place has a basement?”

“...Yeah.” There’s anxiety flashing through Joan’s eyes. Anne tried to calm her by placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but it did little to help. “Anne— I-“ The words die. Joan has to think for a moment before she tries to speak again. “I was...alone for a long time before you came along and took me under your wing. I had a lot of time to think. And one thing I could never get out of my head was how we got here. Reincarnation, I mean.”

“Yeah...?” Anne said, not really understanding.

Joan stopped at a staircase that seemingly led into a pitch black void. She spun around to face Anne. An unreadable emotion has replaced the anxiety in her bloodshot grey eyes.

“If we could be brought back to life, could the same happen to other people?” She said. “I— I was so fascinated by this that I started coming up with all these scenarios.” She opened the journal and showed Anne a page scrawled with pictures of humans and skeletons, triangles, beams of light, and other strange symbols. She’s smiling slightly. “I call it the ‘reincarnation theory.’ It’s what I’ve been using as an answer for all of this.” She points to three lightning bolts. “Think of it like Frankenstein. With enough electricity, a person can be revived. But what about a person who’s been dead for five hundred years?”

Anne wasn’t sure how to answer that, but Joan wasn’t looking for a reply.

“And do they have to be important? Like you and the other queens! Perhaps you being here is the ‘electricity’ that me and the ladies in waiting needed to come back. So would that work with other people, too? Other- other people from our time? People close to us?”

Then, her grin fell. A look of guilt and fear twists her features again.

“I...I haven’t been staying late to work on music director stuff.” She whispered.

Joan spun around and promptly walked down the staircase, nothing bothering to turn on any lights. If there were lights at all.

Anne hesitated, then followed.

“What are you talking about?” She asked. She had never been so confused and unnerved in her life.

Joan doesn’t answer. All she does is look at Anne pitifully, then turns her gaze forward again.

After a few seconds of walking, Joan opens another locked door at the bottom of the staircase, and they step into a nearly pitch-black room. The only light inside was a furnace-like piece of machinery in the back, which glowed a soft orange color. It seemed to be a boiler room of sorts.

“Joan...” Anne whispered warily.

She quickly realized why Joan hadn’t been speaking.

The low groan of the leaky pipes rumbled from somewhere in the darkness.

But it wasn’t the pipes.

Anne watched in frozen horror as something slinked out of the shadows. Its greyish skin and misshapen figure was like anything she had ever seen before. Inhumanly long fingers with hooked nails scratched quietly against the cracked tile in front of it. Long, disjointed feet pushed the rest of its scraggly, naked body along. When it raised its head, it had no eyes, just black sockets, and an stubby, elongated nose and mouth, like a bat snout of sorts. Patches of wiry brown hair that seemed more like fur stuck up along the head. It almost looked like a very large hairless dog in a weird sort of way.

The thing crawled on all fours out of the darkness, sniffing loudly as it went. Then, it jumped up, nearly making Anne run out from the scare of the jarring movements, and perched on a low hanging pipe. It extended a bony hand towards the pair, making loud noises as it waved it in the air. Joan gently squeezed the hand and then let the creature feel her head and face. It seemed to recognize her that way and let out a delighted hum, leaning over to nuzzle her cheek.

“Hey, Johnny Boy,” Joan murmured, smiling softly. “Sorry I’m a little late.”

“Joan—” Anne choked out. She’s backed up to the doorway, ready to run. “What the fuck?”

“Anne-” Joan whirled around to face the queen. The creature above her head began to growl. It sounded like when a human tried to imitate a dog, which made it that much more terrifying. “Please don’t run.”

“What the fuck?” Anne whispered again. Her eyes don’t leave the thing sitting on the pipes like a jungle bird.

“Anne, listen to me,” Joan said. She walked forward and took Anne’s hands. “You— You have to let him smell you. Or else he’ll think you’re a threat and—” She broke off.

“And what?” Anne asked fearfully.

“You...don’t want to know.” Joan said grimly. “Now please. I promise he won’t hurt you if you do this.”

Anne looked at Joan, searched her eyes for the same malicious glint Henry had in them when he sent her to his death, but found nothing. The girl was genuinely trying to help her.

Tentatively, on wobbling knees, Anne took a step forward. Joan helps her along, keeping on hand on her elbow and the other on her wrist. They slowly approach the creature on the pipes.

“Hey, Johnny,” Joan murmured sweetly. The creature turns its head in her direction, rumbling in acknowledgment. “I have a friend here to meet you. Her name is Anne. You remember Anne, don’t you? The queen?”

The creature chuffed in recognition.

Anne’s hand is held out to it and it sniffs her gingerly. Then, it leans forward, fingers and toes curling around the pipe for stability, and begins to smell the rest of Anne. It took everything in Anne not to run away when it feels her facial features and hair with one of its cold, bony hands.

“See?” Joan said to her, smiling in relief. “Was that so hard?”

“I-I don’t... I don’t understand.” Anne whispered.

“I’m not expecting you to,” Joan said. “This is my brother. John. I tried to bring him back when the loneliness became too much and it...kinda worked.”

“Why does he look like that?” Anne asked, earning an offended snort from John. “Sorry.”

“I...I don’t know.” Joan admitted. “I’ve been trying to figure that part out. So...I’ve been...testing more...”

Anne’s breath caught in her throat.

“Oh, Joan, no-”

A clicking noise cut her off. She slowly looked over her shoulder into the darkness of the boiler room and searched the shadows. It took her a moment, but she eventually found what had been mimicking the sounds The Predator would make.

It lunged out at Anne, screeching inhumanly. Anne screamed, too, as she’s knocked back against the wall. The thing was clinging to her body, nails pressed into her shoulders and thighs as it raised above her hand and-

“Juana, stop!!”

Joan shoved the creature away and it toppled backwards. Its long brown limbs flail widely in the air before it manages to roll over and back away on all fours, arching its bony spiny up like a cat.

The thing is humanoid like John, but not as bony, has darker skin, similar to Aragon’s tone, with a yellowish-bronze tint, and its legs are more noticeably hock-jointed. Its shoulder blades are grotesquely stretched out to inhuman lengths like wings that are waiting to sprout. The tailbone is extended, too, and waved back and forth in the air as some kind of warning. Tufts of something are sprouted along the nape of the neck, collarbone, elbows, and knees. A gas mask is attached to the face, shielding any facial features.

“Will you cut that—” Joan sighed and looked at Anne, who is horrified all over again. “Sorry. Juana is a little cranky sometimes.” She makes sure that’s directed to the creature, who clicks angrily. “Umm. This is Juana. Aragon’s sister.”

“Ara— What?!”

John hisses and Juana clicked when Anne yelled. She quickly shut her eyes and just stared at Joan with wide eyes. The music director anxiously rubs her sweaty palms against her pants.

“I didn’t have anyone else from my life I could test my theory on.” She said. “So...I started using others. Because maybe if I could bring back down siblings then everyone would like me.”

“Joan, that’s— that’s insane!” Anne exclaimed. “Why would you—”

“I don’t know, okay?!” Joan snapped. Tears were brimming in her eyes again. “I don’t know! It was stupid, I get it! But there’s nothing I can do about it now! They’re here. And I can’t just get rid of them. They’re alive, Anne.”

Anne is silent for a moment.

“Who else is here?” She asked quietly.

“There’s four in total.” Joan answered. “Isabel is another.”

“Isabel...?”

“Leigh.” Joan specified. “Kat’s sister.”

From further back in the room, there’s a creaking noise, followed by a low grumbling.

A tall creature with shiny black skin with grey speckles lumbers out of the shadows. It’s so large it bonks its head on one of the pipes, causing it to rear back in surprise before ducking under the oppressive piece of metal. When it gets close enough, Anne could see horn-like formations curling out of the top of the bald head. The only facial features it has is solid, piercing blue eyes.

“Here she is.” Joan said. “Isabel, this is Anne. She’s Kat’s cousin.”

Isabel tilted her head slowly, almost like a dog. She lifted one of her clawed hands, which is as big as Anne’s face, and tentatively touched one of Anne’s spacebuns. She makes a low cooing noise and then waved her head to look at the other two malformed reincarnated creatures nearby.

“Are they...in pain?” Anne asked. “Does this hurt them?”

“I don’t think so,” Joan answered. “They aren’t bad, I just— I messed up.” She lowered her head. “I want to help them, I just don’t know how and I-I keep making it worse. I can’t bring them out because-“ She gestured vaguely for the trip. “You know…” She raised a hand and Isabel pressed her cold, black cheek into it. “But...they’re my friends.”

John clambered across a pipe and leaned over to nuzzle Joan’s temple with his bat-like snout. Joan smiled weakly and gave him the energy bar she had gotten from Anne. His empty sockets widen when he realizes what’s being offered to him and he snatches it up, devouring the treat with the wrapper still on.

“You have to tell the others.” Anne said.

“What?!” Joan looked at her, startled. “N-no! I can’t! Do you know how they’ll react? Especially Aragon! This— this is basically black magic!”

“They can’t arrest you or anything for it.”

“But they can shun me!”

“They deserve to know!” Anne argued.

She was getting angry. Joan knee she shouldn’t have told her.

“No, they don’t!” Joan cried. Her tears spill over. “Why don’t you deal with your family member before you tell me what to do with theirs!”

Anne froze. Her eyes go wide. There’s a low, but harmless and curious growl from the darkness behind her.

“Wh...what?”

Joan sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. John hangs over her head, and she can hear Juana and Isabel’s claws clack against the tile floor as they stand behind her, watching Anne.

“I told you there were four.” She mumbled hoarsely.

Anne was frozen for a tense half second before she slowly turned around and watched as a humanoid with a deer skull head, the thing from the drawing on Joan’s desk, stepped out of the shadows towards her. It tilts its head like a puppy and the bony jaws open up in a small smile.

“Anne... This is George.”

Tears start to rapidly fall down Anne’s cheeks.

“Your brother.”

#six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six fanfic #six fanfiction #sixfic #anne boleyn #nana boleyn #joan on the keys #catherine of aragon #anna of cleves #isabel leigh #juana of castile #george boleyn #boleyn siblings #john astley #gene pool

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coeursetcolores · 3 years

Text

What I Would Add/Change About: Dead or Alive 6

Hello internet! As you probably know, I love video games and I would talk about my feelings for the ones I’ve played for hours. Unfortunately, I don’t pay too much attention to the various gameplay and added content mechanics, so I don’t feel as though I’m qualified to give full-on reviews; my focus is usually on the story and characters, but I am learning to keep a more open eye. So, I’ve decided to start this series! On the anniversary of a game I’ve played’s release, I will talk about what I think a game could have included to improve certain elements or what I think they should have just changed all together about something in it. I will make sure to include what I liked about it as well to keep these from getting too negative.

This is all just my own personal opinion and if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly okay! If you’d like to talk about a point I made, please let me know, but please try to respect my opinion as I respect yours.

Fair warning, I won’t talk about online stuff. I’m not an online gamer, that’s just not me.

Well, with out further ado, let’s get started!

Today is March 1st. Two years ago in 2019, Dead or Alive 6 was released. Bet you guys didn’t know I was fan, did you?

Yes. Yes I am. And there is one thing I love more than that entire series all together.

Kasumi.

I love that woman.

I have yet to see any other woman that I would even consider loving as much as her.

Amazing main, best girl, gripping protagonist, top-tier waifu.

But back to the subject!

Almost seven years since Dead or Alive 5 was released and left it’s audience wanting more, today we ask: Did it live up to seven years of expectations?

For me...

YES!

...Mostly.

I had a real fun time playing when I could (I didn’t have constant access to the console I played it on, don’t ask) but even with how polished the series has gotten, there were a few things that left a sour taste in my mouth.

Let’s go over them, shall we?

SPOILERS AHEAD!

To keep a positive spin on this criticism, I’m going to talk first about all the things I absolutely LOVED about the game:

IT’S. STUNNING. The graphics look amazing, and the slow-motion and visible injuries along with DOA5′s sweat and dirt gives the fights such a weight, it’s brutally gorgeous and I love that video games have reached that level of detail.

Voice acting is good, and I’d have to give best performance to Karen Strassman’s Helena just for her after fight in Kokoro’s story mode because. My gosh. The way she begs Kokoro not to leave her is just heartbreaking, and to do all that while doing an accent is just amazing.

Funniest part of the game was definitely when Zack told Tina she couldn’t be governor. I love how he just shot her down in a whole series of her dad failing to drag her away from her wild dreams through fighting, Zack accomplishes it just by reminding her how the law works.

Kasumi is safe! ...Apart from all the evil clones sent after her. But Ayane is finally leaving her alone!

Helena in the ending. My gosh, the way she just shuts NiCO down and calls her out on failing to move on healthily is a good message about properly dealing with grief and really shows how much she’s grown in the series from the vengeance seeker she started as.

I genuinely liked the addition of Marie Rose. She had a cool design and her character was really charming. The team could easily have made her super annoying, but she was pretty solid, and I appreciate that.

Kokoro’s dress with the beret. It’s just too cute!

I still love kicking opponents off the stage.

Still glad the series hasn’t decided to sink into hyperrealism.

COLORS! ...Those are dying in video games. :(

The story for the most part is interesting and every character gets to shine in their own special way.

Diego was really cool, I always love the addition of an untrained street fighter keeping up with these professional martial artists, it really goes to show that in a fight anything can happen.

I really loved watching Tina and Bass become a tag team, aww! Tina does love her daddy!

The costumes, as always, are awesome.

Vibrant backgrounds, as expected.

The fact that it happened! I was worried I’d never see my sweet Kasumi again!

Alright! Now that we got all the things I unquestionably loved about the game down, here are some things I feel the game was missing.

ADD:

MORE KASUMI! If she’s your heroine, give her more screen time! (What do you mean I’m biased?!)

Have some more time with Kasumi, Ayane and Hayate, show just how conflicted they are by their tragic circumstances when they have to work together when they all know that they will never be able to go back home together. That ending scene was bittersweet, but I feel like they could have done more.

Bring Bayman into the alliance? I mean, he does want revenge on Phase 4. I get that he kinda works with them, I just think they could use him more.

Have Kasumi have a fight with the main Phase 4? I think it’d be interesting to have this clone weapon, who hates that she hurts people, face off against the original who’s now accepted the brutality of the world and will show no mercy to those who stand in her way. I feel like it’d give Kasumi some introspection and see just how much she’s changed; in a way, Phase 4 is a lot like how Kasumi started: she didn’t want to hurt anyone and make enemies, but she couldn’t do anything about it. The difference is Kasumi became the way she is because of her own choice and beliefs while Phase 4 literally can’t stop herself.

Have Lisa explain herself, geez! What is up with this woman?! What are her goals exactly?! Wait...how is she still alive?! Woman straight up had a building fall on her! Why are we just letting her walk away?! LISA!! GET BACK HERE!! WHAT’S YOUR DEAL WOMAN?!!!

So...I guess we still don’t get to beat the crap out of Donovan? Sigh...guess they’re saving that for 7. Hopefully.

And that’s all I think they could have added. And now, here’s everything I think they should have thought about twice.

CHANGE:

Really? You’re just going to bring Raidou back for the final boss? Really? Why not use prime Phase 4, that would have been interesting, a final boss who doesn’t WANT to be the final boss? Come on DOA, you’re better than this! You had seven years to make a final boss! If you couldn’t think of one, just go DOA2 and pull something random out! There’s even another tengu you could have used! Who even remembered Raidou at that point?!

LESS. HONOKA. My gosh, she’s annoying! I’m sorry, I’m sure she has fans, but she just irritated me! Not only was she shoehorned into the plot, but she’s also a total Mary Sue! And that voice, AAAAGGGGHHHH! This is not a knock on Kira Buckland, she’s cool and great at her job, but AAAGGGHHHH! With so many three-dimensional and interesting characters, she just falls flat (metaphorically, of course).

Was Nyotengu actually necessary? I get that the tournament itself is just a distraction now, but she honestly bored me.

Why does Helena’s mother need to come back to life? Seriously, what did M.I.S.T. see in reviving one of the mistresses/mothers of their rival? Is this supposed to like torture Helena or something? This was just unnecessary, there was no reason for this. Sorry Maria.

Oh, so Rig’s mind controlled now? Would have been great if they had foreshadowed that in 5. You know, so it wouldn’t have come out of nowhere and helped explain his whole 180 when he was introduced!

Does Jann Lee really need another rival? Just focus on Lei Fang, she’s awesome!

Bit more meta, but did Rig and Christie really need new voice actors? The new ones are fine, but it just seemed unnecessary.

I’m really mixed about how story mode is laid out in modern DOA. On the one hand, putting everyone’s stories in one playthrough really makes it hard to really get attached to one, which I think is a very important aspect of fighting games. On the other, doing it in this style really helps keep the general plot coherent and easier to follow. I think a good way to handle this would be to make different story modes; a campaign to follow the whole vs. Donovan storyline and a different one that has each character’s individual story outside of the main plot.

Alternatively, divide the story between the tournament and the fight against Donovan; ‘cause I don’t think the Mugen Tenshin clan and their allies are going to be in any tournaments anytime soon.

BRING BACK UNLOCKABLE OUTFITS! Outfits may be understandable for DLC, but it’s just so much easier to unlock them all! I’m not made of money!

Even with all these negatives, I still had a great time playing! It was great to see the cast I loved so much (with one in particular) come back and beat the crap out of each other and I can’t wait for the next one!

...In five years.

#Rambling #Dead or Alive #DOA #Dead or Alive 6 #What I Would Add/Change About...#New series #Criticism #Praise #My Silly Personal Opinion

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alicedoessurveys · 3 years

Text

Doctor Who Tag

yes im a nerd...

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

I was 10 when it came back on telly with Eccleston and the first episode with the autons scared me so much my mom wouldn't let me watch it again until a couple years later, but yeah my teens I was obsessed with DW... still am at age 25

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

‘Rose’

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I still have the eleventh doctor’s screwdriver... I used to have some of the figures but there in storage now somewhere

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

didn't play it on the playground

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

all of them! the ones that still scare me now are the Cybermen and the Autons... genuinely cant walk past a shop mannequin without being suspicious

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

as a kid, any of the innuendo type jokes

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

idk I think I still have the same opinions

9. Who introduced you to DW?

parents

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

I LOVED SJA!! I miss that show, and Elizabeth Slade :(

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

Ten was the doctor that made me fall in love with Doctor Who

12. Your favourite Doctor?

omg why not just ask me who my favourite child is... (I don't have kids but you know what I mean) if I had to chose my top three are ten, eleven and thirteen

13. Least favourite Doctor?

purely just because he doesn't have enough episodes... nine...

14. Best regeneration?

none of them I hate regenerations :( they make me sad, im too emotionally invested in every single one

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

they're not my faves

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

I think nine maybe? or twelve?

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

the 50th anniversary special

18. Best Doctor monologue?

“Hello Stonehenge! who takes the pandorica, takes the universe. but bad news everyone, cause guess who? HA! You lot you're all whizzing about- its really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I AM TALKING. Question of the hour is, who's got the pandorica? Answer, I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me? Come on, look at me! No plan. No backup. No weapons worth a damn. oh and something else, I don't have anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship with all your silly little guns and you've got any plans on taking the pandorica tonight... just remember who's standing in your way. remember ever black day I ever stopped you and then- AND THEN- do the smart thing... let somebody else try first.”

not copied and pasted, remember that from the top of my head... its always there waiting in my mind incase I ever need an epic monologue :’)

19, What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

hopefully living his best life with Rose

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

ten and donna

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Donna, Clara, Amy

22. Favourite secondary companion?

is Mickey classed as secondary? idk

23. Least favourite companion?

Ryan

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Doctor, Amy and Rory

25. Most underrated companion?

Graham, but that may just be cause I love Bradders

26. Most overrated companion?

Rose... I like her but idk, I think she gets more hype than she deserves.. don't @ me

27. Favourite companion’s family?

Rose’s mom

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

idk I cant think of anyone

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy and Rory

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

wasn't keen on Bill at first but by the end I really liked her, same with Rory

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

girl in the fireplace

32. Least favourite episode?

most of Chibnall’s episodes tbh sorry not sorry

33. Which episodes do you skip?

the regeneration episodes

34. Best two-parter?

Human Nature - Family of Blood

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

I like them all in there own way but I think present is fave, then historical, then future

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

all of them

37. Episode that will always make you cry?

Rory and Amy’s last episode :’(

38. Best run of episodes?

ugh I cant answer this theres too many

39. Best cliffhanger?

the end of Spyfall part one when the Master reveals who he is... I was SHOOK

40. Favourite Christmas special?

Voyage of the Damned

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

new who

42. Favourite series?

four or five

43. Least favourite series?

eleven, I just cant with the writing

44. Which series do you skip?

none

45. Favourite series opening?

eleventh hour

46. Favourite series finale?

Doomsday

47. Best series arc?

Bad Wolf

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I adore Jodie Whittaker and her doctor, and although I think 3 companions is too many I do love Yaz and Graham (Ryan is hit & miss). I just think theyve been massively let down by the stories/writing... they’ve tried to hard to tick certain boxes and completely missed what Doctor Who is about for a lot of people.. an escape from the real world into these outrageous unbelievable but lovable fun alien adventures

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

not a lot

50. Who should have had another series?

NINE NINE NINE NINE NINE

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

the master

52. Most creative monster?

Weeping Angels, whoever came up with monsters that look like statues and only move when you're not looking at them is genius

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

Autons, Cybermen, the creepy dolls from Night Terrors, the ones from Waters of Mars, Weeping Angels

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

idk

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

absorbaloff

56. Monster you want to return?

The Master, I really hope that isn't the last we see of Dhawan

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

being genuinely scary,

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

Weeping Angels

59. Best Dalek story?

Daleks in Manhatten

60. Best one time villain/monster?

my brain has gone blank I cant think of an answer right now

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

I haven't watched it all so I couldn't say

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

again, not watched it all

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

huh

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Sarah Jane

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

K-9

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Nope

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

n/a

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

yes

DESIGN/PRODUCTION

71. Favourite piece of alien tech?

the sonic, I love how it is so multipurpose except for when it comes to wood

72. Favourite piece of Murray Gold music?

I am the Doctor - gets me pumped every time

73. Favourite TARDIS design?

Ten’s Tardis

74. Has the 2005 era CGI aged well?

actually yeah, I was rewatching the ‘are you my mummy’ episodes the other day and my God when the gas masks emerged from the faces... ooooooof I was like omg how

75. Favourite Doctor outfit?

eleven or thirteen

76. Monster with the best design?

not really a design more of a costume.. I live Dhawan master’s costume. that shade of purple, oof he so stylish

77. Best show runner?

idk

78. Best writer?

Gatiss

79. Best opening titles?

eleven’s titles where the Tardis is flying and being zapped is cool but thirteens music hits different

80. Will DW age well/stay popular in the future?

I hope so, I feel like its lasted this long surely it can last forever.. if the writers don't fuck it up...

IF YOU WERE IN THE SHOW

81. Time period you’d want to go with the Doctor?

whatever time means Id get to wear the most beautiful costumes

82. Planet/place you’d want to go with the Doctor?

Galifrey, pre-desctruction

83. Doctor you’d most like to travel with?

any of them, please and thank you

84. Companion you’d most like to travel with?

donna, sceso a good laugh but also I feel like she’d look after me

85. Monster you’d like to defeat/fight?

The Master

86. If you could go back on your own history (like Father’s Day), where would you go?

back to when I was a toddler, I wanna see what I was like

87. If you could ask the Doctor anything, what would you ask?

theres too many to ask

88. Historical figure you’d like to meet?

Shakespeare

89. How do you think you’d meet the Doctor?

id probably be rescued from doing something stupid and then the doc would be like you know what the bitch clearly needs supervision she's coming with me

90. Would you travel forwards or backwards in time first?

backwards

IF YOU MADE THE SHOW

91. Historical event would you like to see in DW?

Hamilton

92. Issue you’d like to see addressed in DW?

idk

93. Who would you completely erase from the DW universe?

Ruth

94. One unanswered DW question you’d love to know the answer to?

where is Clara now?

95. Actor/actress you’d like to see play the Doctor?

Phoebe Waller Bridge (or Lin Manuel Miranda)

96. Actor/actress you’d like to see play a companion?

Andrew Scott (yes I did just basically recast fleabag and hot priest)

97. Is DW “too political”?

series 11 got a bit like that

98. Which characters fate would you changed?

Danny Pink

99. What about DW could be improved?

I think ive made my options about Chibnall pretty clear...

100. If you could write an episode of DW, any ideas for what you’d do

bring back Jenny, the Doctor / Daughter adventures they would have. I’m actually writing a fic about it if you wanna read.... here

#doctor who #tag #doctor who tag #doctor who questions #survey

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prairiesongserial · 4 years

Text

12.7

Johannes was beginning to regret taking his shoes off. He had the thought that he was going to have to put them back on very soon, and the idea of hauling ass back to the truck with shoes full of sand did not sit well with him.

His mood was approaching a dramatic downturn - entirely his own fault. He had been tuning out the Catholic business. He hadn’t realized that anything was wrong until he’d noticed the way Weep-Not and her people were taking the communion wine into their mouths. Several of them that he could see had held it in their cheek rather than swallowing, an expression Johannes knew well from years of experience of hiding things (coins, jewelry, flammable liquid) in his own mouth. Seeing that expression on so many faces had stirred a feeling of alarm in his gut, and by the time the congregation was spitting out the wine, Johannes had slipped into the shadows beneath one of the beach houses, concealed behind its stilts and rotting lattice fence.

The wine was probably poison. Johannes had no real sense of what was going on here, but he was sure of that much. Even from yards away, he could see that Val had become unsteady on his feet, wobbling from side to side as though a strong wind could blow him over. Another moment, and the congregation was on him, covering him like a wave crashing over his head, making him vanish from sight.

Johannes held his breath, pulse pounding hard in his ears. The congregation broke apart again, shortly, to reveal the image of Val’s body lying prone and still in the sand.

A chill ran through Johannes, and he pressed a hand over his mouth, biting down hard into the meat of his index finger to keep from swearing out loud. This had all happened so fast, too fast for him to even realize there was real danger here. He couldn’t tell if Val was breathing, and hated the thought that this was his fault somehow, that he had taken the preacher out on a whim and managed to walk straight into trouble.

“Where’s the preacher’s friend?” someone asked from the beach. The congregation was milling about, taking down the table they had set up and giving a relatively wide berth to Val, now that he had dropped into the sand.

“I don’t see him anywhere,” someone else responded. “Should we look?”

“Not now. Get the false preacher into the boat,” Weep-Not said from somewhere nearby, close enough to make Johannes jump. He leaned a few inches out of his hiding space to see that she was ascending the stairs of the house he’d hidden under. “Sea-Mercy, go and gather the torches, as many as you can carry. Bring Joy-In-Sorrow with you. Fear-Not will take the first boat, with the preacher, and the rest of us will follow to the island. Wake the horses when you get there. I’ll bring up the rear, to make sure the preacher’s friend doesn’t follow. Fear-Not can lead the ceremony.”

Her voice was sharp, in a way it hadn’t been before. It had the hardness of someone accustomed to giving orders, and seeing them be followed. Johannes had gotten the sense before that Weep-Not was in charge, and he felt that even more now.

“Should we tie him up?” someone asked, from the beach, where several of the congregation members were still hovering over Val.

“No need,” Weep-Not said, dismissively. “He won’t be in his right mind until the fire starts.”

Heavy footfalls thundered over Johannes’s head - she was going up the stairs.

Johannes felt a chill run through him. So Val was alive. Having that information felt worse, somehow, especially with the congregation - the cultists, Johannes supposed - talking about torches and false preachers. He was beginning to suspect that these were not the same people of Kill Devil Hills that his mother had put on revival shows for, but more than that, he was beginning to suspect that he was going to have to go to a disgusting amount of trouble to save Val’s life.

The cultists in Johannes’s admittedly limited field of view began to disperse, two of them grabbing Val and dragging him down the beach. Johannes imagined that there was a pier or a dock somewhere, given the talk about boats, and that he was going to have to find it relatively soon, to reach the island Weep-Not had mentioned. That would be the easy part, as far as he was concerned. All he would have to do was follow the shoreline, or the footprints that would assuredly be in the sand.

The hard part was the fire. For that, he was going to need a change of clothes.

Once he was sure the cultists had moved farther down the beach, Johannes eyed the underside of the next closest house, gauging the distance. It was probably about ten yards away, and he would be exposed for as long as he was sprinting towards it. Not ideal, when the houses themselves were tall enough to provide excellent vantage points for catching folks running around on the beach. But he had to move now, before Weep-Not came back down the stairs, and the houses were his only hope of cover when it came to getting back to the car.

Johannes didn’t give himself any more time than that to think it over. He ran for the next house, his feet kicking up the hot sand, and threw himself into the shadows underneath it. He was sweating through his shirt already, and there was what felt like a cobweb stuck in his hair, but that was something to worry about once he was back at the car. He crept to the very edge of this house’s underside, eyed the next one, and then sprinted again.

He continued like that along the shoreline, until he reached the head of the trail he and Val had taken from where they’d parked the truck. Hopefully the tall grass and weeds would provide cover - if not, he’d have to hope no one noticed him and sounded the alarm. Just in case, he took the trail at a run, still barefoot. Fuck the shoes. Putting them on would slow him down, anyway.

Sand sprang up under Johannes’s feet, stinging his eyes as he threw himself carelessly down the trail. There was a lingering voice in the back of Johannes’s head, a very practical voice that he was willfully ignoring, telling him that just driving back to camp would be much easier than going off and trying to play the hero, here. Who cared if he only got three-fourths of the Hemisphere bounty? That was still more than the circus made in a good year, even if Ezra was never going to let him hear the end of it for letting a bunch of deranged gentiles kill one of the only four people they were supposed to protect.

On the other hand, maybe this wasn’t about the bounty anymore. God knew that the visceral stab of fear Johannes had felt seeing Val’s body lying so still, possibly dead in the sand, had nothing to do with the bounty.

On a third hand, maybe Val would die and then Johannes wouldn’t have to think about the fact that this was no longer about the bounty. That might be nice, he thought bitterly.

The truck was exactly where he’d parked it, and Johannes threw himself into it, already unbuttoning his shirt as he flopped into the truck bed and landed hard on one shoulder. One of his buttons popped off and rolled away from the force at which he was undressing. He ignored it, tossing his shirt aside and wriggling out of his pants sitting down, not realizing until it was too late that he was now effectively sitting in the truck in his underwear. He hadn’t even looked for the clothes he hoped he had packed - but he did so now, approaching one of the costume crates on his knees.

He was sure he had fire-retardant clothes around here somewhere, both for the fire hooping act and for setting off flashbangs to scare muties. He’d thought they were in the same crate as the priest outfit had been, but his search came up empty. Pulse pounding in his ears, Johannes searched the next crate, and then the next, feeling dizzy with the idea that he had been wrong, that he would have to save Val without anything to protect himself from the cult.

He searched the crates a second time, and then he saw it, a bright pink and gold bundle shoved to the bottom of a pile of costumes, with a pair of heat-resistant gloves folded on top. The gloves were utilitarian, made of thick, brown fabric, but the jacket was the same gold-sequined jacket he had worn on the first night he’d met Val, back in New Orleans. That was fine, Johannes thought, already thrusting his arms through the sleeves. This was shaping up to be a ridiculous rescue mission. Why not add sequins?

Johannes finished changing, throwing on his newfound pants and boots that were free of sand, twisting a colorful scarf into a headband to keep his hair out of his face. As an afterthought, he strapped on a pair of knee pads that had been clattering around in a box full of miscellaneous costume supplies. He wasn’t sure what he would need them for, or if they would come in handy at all, but who knew with cultists? They certainly detracted from the gold tassels on the fire-proof pants he’d chosen. When he finally climbed out from the truck bed, he was somehow even sweatier than he’d been when he’d started.

“Der mentsh trakht un got lakht,” he muttered to himself, setting off for the beach again. His pace quickly increased from a brisk walk to a jog, and finally to an all-out sprint. Man plans, and God laughs. Wasn’t that the truth.

The beach was empty when he returned. Johannes squinted into the sun and saw a procession of boats being rowed towards a dark shape on the horizon - the island Weep-Not had mentioned, he supposed. This all felt like a lot of trouble to go to for one preacher, like the communion had really only been one step in a much longer ritual Weep-Not and her people had in mind. Johannes was beginning to believe that their previous church had not, in fact, burnt to the ground on account of a lightning strike.

He followed the shoreline like he’d had a mind to before, the wet sand sucking at the soles of his boots. The thought of having to row a boat was already exhausting him even before he saw the pier that jutted out into the water like an outstretched finger. There were still a number of boats cluttered around it, bobbing unevenly this way and that where they had been tied to the posts of the pier. They all looked old, crusted with dirt and algae, wood rotten with age. Johannes doubted some of them were technically seaworthy.

Someone was boarding one of the boats as Johannes approached the pier, and he was unsurprised to find that it was Weep-Not, now dressed in a flowing white blouse over her white dress. Something large was tucked under her arm, but Johannes didn’t spare it more than a glance - he hit the pier and broke into a sprint, knowing the heavy footfalls of his boots would both startle her and alert her to his presence before she turned around.

“Hey!” he said, sharply, hoping she would turn around.

She did. Weep-Not’s eyes were wide with surprise, maybe at the fact that he was there at all, or the fact that he was still running full-tilt towards her. Johannes didn’t stop, let the momentum carry him all the way towards her, and chopped his arm hard against her neck.

The clothesline made Weep-Not crumple to her knees on the pier as though she was made of paper. Johannes could hear her breathing shallowly and knew that he hadn’t knocked her out - which was a problem, if he didn’t want her to come after him.

“You’re lucky I don’t kill you,” he told her conversationally, not particularly meaning it. He picked apart a few of the knots lashing boats to the pier, and brought the ropes over to Weep-Not, who was just beginning to struggle back to her feet.

Weep-Not scoffed.

“If you were going to kill me, you would have done it,” she said, her voice rattling in her throat as little more than a wheeze.

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” Johannes asked cheerfully, grabbing Weep-Not’s wrists with the aim of binding them to her ankles, so she couldn’t walk. She struggled in his grip, but he’d gotten her windpipe good, and could hear her still struggling to get a full breath. He leaned down so that his lips nearly brushed her ear, grinning. “That preacher belongs to me. And if you think I’m about to let you and your people take him, you’ve got another thing coming.”

He double-knotted the ropes, and got up to see about commandeering one of the boats he’d already set free. Only then did the object Weep-Not had been carrying under her arm catch his eye. It was laying on its side on the pier - Johannes nudged it upright with the toe of one boot and was entirely surprised to find that it was a mask, made to fit snugly over one’s entire head and neck. It was crudely made out of twigs and scraps of driftwood, and Johannes couldn’t tell for the life of him what it was supposed to be, until he picked it up and found himself staring into the empty eye sockets of what was now clearly a horse.

“Huh,” Johannes said, turning the mask over in his hands. “I can work with this.”

12.6 || 12.8

#story

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isolaween · 5 years

Text

Party Preparations!

October 4th and 5th are dates of utmost importance for the Ushiromiya family. They were fateful days when all of their collective sins came to a tragic conclusion. They were the days when the Golden Witch Beatrice revived. They were the days when a little girl lost her whole family. They were the days when said little girl managed to see her family once again and become a grown woman.

But none of those things are happening at October 4th and 5th in Spirale City. The past must not be forgotten, but a truth of the future supercedes a truth of the past. If these days come to be associated with a joyful party at the city’s consciousness instead, then the hosts will be satisfied. There is no need of a massacre for them to reach the Golden Land tonight.

Work began at the mansion early in the morning. King Knight (@gildedusurper) was busy decorating the main hall, which actually benefitted from his perchant to add golden details to everything (the hosts are Golden Witches, after all). Lothric and Lorian (@ashes-of-omelas) arrived with their decorated pumpkins to be put at the main hall too, alongside others Beato made the goats carve for the main hall and the outside. ...At least the goats’ pumpkins have heart to them. On the second floor, Jon Kent (@smallblueboyscout) flew non stop to prepare props that’d make a hide-and-seek game the most interesting. Harley Quinn (@harliquinn) delighted herself at adding little pranks here and there at the escape room. Well, I guess that as long as she follows the plan laid out by the activity’s overseer, it should be alright. Riruka Dokugamine (@shouyoku) miiiight be going a bit overboard with the ‘cute’ factor at the parlor. This looks like the sort of place that’d please Lambdadelta a lot. Lastly for the decoration crew, Yomiel (@hosttrick) sure knows how to prepare an environment with just the perfect touch of ‘spooky’ for a room where ghost stories will occur. All of these people were assisted by either one of the Stakes, a Chiester or a goat butler, depending on their availability.

Things were just as agitated at the kitchen. Travis Touchdown (@suplex51) was ready to show off his skills with a couple kitchen knives and a wooden spoon! Burritos, pasta and smaller salty snacks are just some of the things he pulled masterfully. Meanwhile, on another bench, Balbok (@tallorc) was carefully decorating a portion of bru-mill that he couldn’t wait to present to everyone in party. Let’s just hope that the strong smell that and his other meaty dishes emit won’t startle the sensitive nose of one Toriel (@baaternal), who was facing the oven to get another batch of cookies out of it. The previous batches, plus other baked goods she had prepared, were being checked by Jet (@blackvwatch), who was also giving them final decorating touches, besides moving left and right to assist anyone in need. Leading them all was, of course, the Ushiromiya family’s head butler, Ronove.

Food and drinks also gently catered by some sponsored partners, as goats waited at the entrance to bring them in. Hansol Yi (@fcxrcin) was proud to provide her matcha and matcha based treats, specialties of her restaurant, NokNok Cafe. For those with a more Western taste, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte (@princesselmelloi), owner of The London Fog, was ready to cover you, for she brought classic teas like Earl Grey, coffee and some desserts she usually serves at her store. Those of legal age can also be satisfied, for even the so called Emperor of the Universe, Lord Freeza (@coldcessor) was willing to assist with the party, his role being of catering alcoholic drinks - especially the ones from wine variety. And of course, this can’t be a Halloween Party worth its name without the most important component of all: candies! Thankfully, we can count on Nicholas St. North (@odetotoys) to bring those.

And there were more things being brought to the mansion besides that! GANG☆STAR, the ever growing clothing brand on Spirale City, was gentle enough to provide some extra costumes to any partygoer who either doesn’t bring any or wishes to change their current ones; all negotiated with Shaundi (@adrenalxna), as her boss is currently out of commission. Riruka was here not only to assist with decorations, but also to bring costumes from her own shop, Atelier Softcoeur! Assisting the arrangement of the clothing space was Kanji Tatsumi (@ziodie), who will later assist with fixing those poor costumes that get themselves into accidents. Oh, and speaking of Riruka, she and Rantaro Amami (@seizonka) still have to handle makeup assistance to guests later tonight! Good thing Rantaro can help organizing the space for that right now. Last but no less important, the famous horror writer and owner of Owl’s Books, Sen Tatatsuki (@bubonem), was more than happy to provide some books from her horror collection to serve as reading material for the ghost stories section to happen tonight.

It’s important to assure the wellbeing and health of people in a party, especially one with so many guests. Thankfully, there is a medical team ready to tend to any injuries or malaise folks can experience here! Right now, the designated medical room is being filled with tablets, medicine bottles, gauze and other medical tools by Litchi Faye-Ling (@kuyuzhishi), Angela Thompson (@caducenurse), Moira O’Deorain (@bitterscience) and Jean-Baptiste Augustin (@imotel). .....Hopefully there will be no conflict between them tonight.

The technical aspect of a high production event like this is also very important to be properly checked beforehand. Peridot (@kindergardening), owner of Facet Five, is currently busy checking each spotlight one by one. I hope she doesn’t mind some light harrassing by Gaap, one of the demons under the hosts’ service. Back in the escape room, Maggie (@tragiclittlebonbon) is having lots of fun setting up the devices that must go up during the game sessions. She needs to make sure they are replayable many times. Leo Valdez (@vldeztm) is checking every nook and cranny on the musical stage set up at the main hall, so that no screw is left out of place. The computer that will play accompanying audio for the musical presentations (and overall play sound effects during the party) is being checked by one Dirk Strider (@failedprince). If he were his relative, maybe he’d even be giving his opinion on what songs to play tonight.

At last, night arrives. People begin arriving to the Ushiromiya mansion even before the alloted time. Once one enters the rose garden, they’d be able to see a couple creatures roaming around the area. Some are ‘normal’ animals. Others are fantastical looking creatures belonging to Battler Ushiromiya. Two people tend to the garden and the creatures in it: Rey (@dawnarose) and Doomguy (@painsawd). The duo is not physically similar at all, but both carry the same passion at making sure the creatures are well cared for, besides inviting arriving guests to leave their own pets at the garden during the party’s duration.

A figure waits for those who arrive at the main entrance. The Witch of Finite, Publius Virgilia Maro (@thefinitewitch), receives everyone with a warm smile, making sure to direct everyone to a seat. She gives off an elegant vibe, even though she is wearing 80′s styled clothing that only Beatrice could have convinced her of putting. Passing by her, one would be faced directly with the main hall, which is covered in decorations and tables and chairs and a stage and, of course, a painting of Beatrice herself. Every table on the main hall has a gift basket full of homemade Halloween snacks over it, which guests can take home. Those who leave the party to go home without one can receive a basket from Virgilia as they pass by her again.

Security is tight tonight. Besides the presence of the hosts’ faithful furniture in every room, some citizens of Spirale are working tonight to keep the festivities safe for everyone. Enkidu (@lancerofclay) is standing by the entrance alongside Virgilia, much like they did at the last party. New to the city and to these parties as general, Mike Chiton (@motorcitymutt) is taking his time to admire the main hall’s visual - without forgetting his duty, of course. As the owner of Sanctuary Moon Security, Murderbot (@yoursecunit) is ever vigilant, his focus being at the parlor and dinner room areas. ...I’m not sure how Ludwig the Holy Blade (@holyequine) has managed to squeeze at the corridors leading to the costume and medical rooms, but he seems to be doing his job well, so why complain?

Waiters are already serving people left and right with treats fresh from the kitchen and drinks. Koku (@looking-for-four) seems to be more focused on the main door entrance than the guests he tends to. Perhaps he is expecting someone in particular to arrive, even if in vain. Ooops, looks like one of the waiters left a drink drop - ah, it was Touma Kamijou (@illusiionbreaker). Poor guy doesn’t get a break for his bad luck even here. As for Giselle (@angelicqualia), she seems to be enjoying the chance to socialize with people and learn more about the holiday. Don’t worry, your salary for this service will be way more than enough to compensate for your uniform. Somehow, Rantaro has chosen to work as both a makeup artist and a waiter during the party. I guess only an Ultimate Survivor could pull that off without dying...

...At last, the clocks hits 7PM. The lights go out, as they’re substituted by the arrival of golden butterflies who gently fly around the whole manor. It seems like the party will officially begin at any moment...

#isolaween2k19 #isola news #(The party will begin two hours from now OOC wise! Stay tuned!)

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whitetigerdemoness · 4 years

Text

Taking a break from Marc and Nathaniel to see how the Agrestes are holding up. They'll be back next chapter!

The more massive a star, the shorter its lifespan. A very massive star may live only tens of millions of years, while a cool dwarf will shine on for billions of years. At an age of about 4.5 billion years, our Sun is considered middle-aged

Master Post

Ladybug mentally groaned as she swung around the corner to see the press outside of the Agreste mansion gates. While this was to be expected, it would be nice if they could give the family more than an hour or so to grieve before swarming. Landing on the pillars supporting the front gates she surveyed the crowd, who became excited at her appearance, thinking she should go ahead and get this out of the way before Adrien or Emile had to deal with them. Standing at the head of the crowd preaching to the cameras was...sigh.

“Mr. Berger. Shouldn’t you be in post processing still from your court verdict?” Ladybug asked from her perch on the gate. No way she was going down to their level to get clawed at.

“Ladybug.” Sneered Berger. “Back from setting up your next plot? Or were you just paying off your latest actors?” The Office of Akuma Affairs (OAA for short) stubbornly claimed that all akuma attacks were done by paid actors, paid for by the city’s heroes as publicity stunts. They also ardently ignored the fact that their own leader had been akumatized at one point, something Berger himself denied ever happening.

“Mr. Berger, please. The Agreste family would like some peace to grieve before you start throwing conspiracy theories at them again.” Behind the man, the crowded had gone silent, cameras and reporters eagerly watching the exchange.

“Conspiracy theories? I think you mean exposing the truth. After all, are we supposed to believe that little stunt earlier was real? That some woman just, what, walked into a maximum security prison with an elaborate costume on and killed two prisoners without anyone noticing?” Berger folded his arms smugly, looking condescending.

Turning to the cameras, Ladybug addressed the press “We’re still uncertain to the extent of what happened at the prison today. Any information will go through the police before it reaches my team.”

“Ladybug!” A reporter cut in “What do you have to say about this new Hawkmoth?”

Berger opened his mouth to giver his own two cents but Ladybug cut him off “The appearance of this new Hawkmoth is as shocking to us as it is to you. I know that her more….aggressive approach has frightened many of you but I promise that my team and I will-”

“Aggressive?!” Berger interjected. “She beheaded two people on public television! Think of how many children were watching, now permanently traumatized by what they saw! When are you people going to take real responsibility for these attacks and how they affect the public?” The man screamed, waving his hands theatrically. Ladybug squared her shoulders to fire back at him, when the doors of the mansion swung open.

Emile Agreste, Dusuu zipping around her head in concern, stepped onto the walk and made her way to the gate. She looked pale and drawn, grim. Samson followed a step behind her, looking just as grim but more intimidating. Ladybug jumped down from the gate to meet her.

“Mrs. Agreste-” Emile held up a hand for silence as she continued to approach the gate.

“You ask when we will take responsibility for how Hawkmoth has affected this city? Mr. Berger, I have tried to do nothing but ever since my revival. I thought that as Paon, I could give back to the city where my husband has taken so much. And in thanks, that city has taken my husband from me. From my son.”

“This city hasn’t done anything to you-” Emile cut the man off.

“This city.” She said firmly “Has done nothing but hound and harass my family for MONTHS. We are only two weeks into this month and already I have had to call the police to deal with armed trespassers on my property twelve times. Twelve Mr. Berger. Last month it was more than sixty times. You and your group especially have hounded me, my son, and anyone even vaguely connected to us for months . I fear for his safety Mr. Berger. I may be a superhero but I am a mother first. Ladybug,” She said grimly, turning to face the heroine, “My public connection to you and the miraculous has brought nothing but ruin to my family. I thank you for all your support, but I am here and now resigning from my role as the holder of the Peacock Miraculous.” Emile unpinned the brooch from her shirt and placed it into the hands of a stunned Ladybug.

“I think it would be better if me or my son were never seen with you again, Ladybug .” Emile stressed. With that she turned her back on the now calmoring reporters and returned to her home. The muffled ‘thud’ of the doors closing echoed in Ladybug’s head as she stared at the miraculous in her hand.

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Ladybug might have been banned from the Agreste mansion, but Marinette hoped she had read Emilie’s tone correctly that her civilian self was still welcome. Swinging a few blocks away, she had found an out of the way sewer entrance and detransformed. Emilie had thought it wise to keep the subterranean room she had been held in secret from the public, as it provided another entrance into the house that was easy to exploit. When superhero fans and hate groups alike had promptly proceeded to spend nearly every waking (and some they should have been sleeping) hour harassing the Agrestes after Gabriel’s arrest and Emilie coming out to the public as Paon, that turned out to be a wise decision. The secret entrance was an easy way for those in the know to drop by without being harassed by fans or the media. People like Adrien’s girlfriend. Or his boyfriend.

Approaching the secure door that led into the Agreste property, Marinette spotted Luka pacing nervously in front of it.

“Luka!” She said, jogging the last few steps.

“Marinette. Hey.” He said, looking uncertain. Warning flags immediately went off. Luka was almost never indecisive.

“What’s wrong?” Marinette asked, taking his hands.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He chuckled slightly. “Or at least if you’re okay. I saw...well, I think all of Paris did.”

“So you rushed over to see Adrien?”

“Without a thought. Now I’m having second ones. What if he wants to be alone right now? I mean, his father just died and I saw that circus outside the gates. He probably just wants some quiet right now.” Luka stroked the back of Marinette’s hand with his thumb, thinking.

“We left him with Chloe, he’s probably not getting much quiet right now anyway.” Tiki giggled slightly, flying out of Marinette’s purse where she had been consoling a dejected Dusu. The blue kwami trailed after her, his usual zip subdued.

“Hey Tiki...and Dusu? What’s he doing with you, Marinette?” Luke questioned.

“You said you saw the media outside. Guessing you didn’t stay around long enough to hear me, Ladybug, address them.” Luka shook his head, looking worried. Marinette continued on with a sigh. “That idiot Berger was there stirring the pot, and I guess the broadcast was live because near the end Emilie came out and gave him a piece of her mind. Then she publicly resigned as Paon.” She laid her head against Luka’s chest as he hugged her, feeling some of her stress melt away. Some of it.

“Hey. You, me, Adrien. Spa day.” Luka murmured into her hair, stroking her back. Marinette laughed dryly.

“I think we’ll have to invite Marc and Nathaniel this time. They’ve got a bigger headache to deal with than me for once. Though he’s kind of my headache too…” Luka gave her a quizzical look. “Penknight is back. In the akuma battle Paon tried to make a Sentimonster ally and got him instead.” When Luka’s face scrunched up in distaste, Marinette had to laugh.

“Oh come on. He’s not that bad.” She giggled, feeling even more stress flow away. Luka was good at that.

“Penknight is that bad. If he’s the same as he was last time, someone needs to put him over their knee and spank him, and not in a sexy way.” Luka grumbled. Marinette held her stomach, trying to fight the giggles at that mental image.

“He is a bit of a brat, isn’t he?” She said, trying to control her breathing.

“Say that after you have to babysit him for twelve hours straight. His devotion to Marc was adorable, but he treated everyone else like un-favored playmates that kept trying to steal his favorite toy. Speaking of babysitting, please tell me someone is watching him right now?” Luka said, looking like he hoped that person wouldn’t end up being him.

“Marc, and technically Nathaniel, are keeping an eye on him. We had some...words, to put it lightly that made me think. Marc has his amok and can wrangle him if he gets unruly. Hopefully. Why did I leave him alone again?” Marinette groaned into her hands.

“Because Adrien and Emilie need you right now.” Tiki gently reminded her. “They’ll be happy to see you both, I’m sure.”

“I don’t want to see her.” Marinette almost didn’t hear Dusu, he spoke so low.

“Dusu?” She asked.

“Things got hard and she just abandoned me. I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to see anyone.” Dusu sniffled as Tiki lay a comforting paw on him. “My wielders all either end up dead or wishing they were, and I’m so tired of losing people. I just want to rest.” He cried, full out bawling by the end. Marinette gathered him up in her hands and hugged him to her chest as best she could. Luka layed a comforting hand over hers as the little kwami cried.

“You don’t have to see her if you don’t want to Dusu. I can leave your miraculous downstairs if you like, and when we get home I’ll put you straight in the miracle box so you can see the other kwami.” Marinette soothed.

“I think I’d like that. We’ve all been separated for so long, and I just want to rest.” Dusu sniffled.

“Well...the sooner we go in, the sooner you can go home.” Luka inhaled, keying in the code to open the door. Marinette followed him inside, leaving her purse with the peacock miraculous and Dusu hanging near the elevator. Tiki decided to stay with him and watch the miraculous. Bracing for more tears, Marinette and Luka headed upstairs.

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

Chloe thought she was being remarkably patient, for her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t relieved to see Marinette and dumpster boy when they came up. At Emilie’s urging, they were all in the sitting room. Emilie and Marinette exchanged a tense stare, before the older woman nodded subtly and the younger woman flew at Adrien with a hug. Luka followed at a more sedate pace. Emilie had turned off the TV after she had come back inside, and Chloe thought that was for the best. Her heart ached for Adrien and his mother, Emilie had honestly been more of a mother to her than her own over the years, but Chloe had always been bad at the touchy feely part. She tended to react to people being upset by putting her back up and lashing out, and she knew that isn’t what either of them needed right now. She had done her very best to be silent up until now, but that time was over.

“So what’s the plan?” Chloe asked, interjecting over the whispered conversation between the trio.

“Plan?” Marinette asked, looking stupid as usual. Chloe still had trouble believing she was actually Ladybug.

“Yes, plan! That new Hawkmoth- Hawk bitch just declared war. You cannot let that go unanswered. Miraculous holders are NOT to be messed with, and the new kid on the block needs to learn that.” Chloe said firmly.

She had spent years watching her father handle political rivals and no matter what people thought, she HAD learned a thing or two. If someone made a threat and you rolled over, you were as good as done for. She stared firmly at the trio across from her so her eyes didn’t stray to Emilie. The younger blond absolutely thought the elder was making a huge mistake giving up her miraculous, especially when Chloe herself had had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way just to hold hers for more than a moment. She hoped that once Emilie had had some time to think, she would realize what a mistake she had made in giving away her power. If this new Hawkmoth was dead set on attacking them, someone without a miraculous would be as good as defenseless against her.

“Chloe, there’s nothing we can do at this point. All we can do is wait for her next akuma and go from there. Not that that matters. We won't defeat her for several years, if ever.” Adrien said glumly.

“What do you mean?” Emilie asked, zeroing in on how certain he sounded.

“A hero from the future visited us once. Bunnix. Hawkmoth was still active in her time, and that was at least three years from now. I thought maybe history had changed somehow when we...defeated Father, but of course it can’t be that easy.” Adrien delivered in a monotone, resting his head on Luka’s chest while Marinette stroked his hair.

“Who knows, kid? The future isn’t as set in stone as people like to believe. If you’ve ever heard Fluff go off an a tangent, which I do NOT recommend by the way, you’d hear about how something as tiny as deciding to wear a green sock instead of a blue sock can spawn hundreds of different alternate realities that can be so alike you wouldn’t notice if you accidentally fell into one, or so different the world has ended or something. Just because of socks!” Plagg cried buzzing around in distress. “Cheese is so much more simple than time!”

“Plagg is right. I told you about the future Bunnix took me to with Chat Blanc. The only thing I changed here to prevent that was not signing my name on your present.” Marinette chimed in. “We haven’t heard from Bunnix in quite some time. We have no way of knowing if her future is going to be ours anymore. Heck, if we really wanted to be sure I could just never give her her miraculous.”

“Wouldn’t work baby bug. Miraculous are funny like that. Fu shoulda told you some of this stuff, but every generation that we’re active in, the miraculous inevitably find their way to the best person to wield them.” Plagg shook his head, crossing his arms.

“What about me?” Chloe asked. “I found my miraculous by accident.”

“There are no accidents when the miraculous are involved. It’s why they’re miraculous and not just...magic rocks.” Plagg said.

“No coincidences...like the first Sentimonster Paon made when akuma attacks started again being Penknight, and not just one of the blob looking ones?” Luka asked thoughtfully. Plagg shrugged.

“That would be more Dusu’s department, but from what I hear? One’s that can pass for people and think for themselves are really rare. I’m shocked you’ve seen two of them in one lifetime.” Plagg said.

“Two?” Emilie asked. “And you have both had dealings with time travel? When was all this?” She asked, looking overwhelmed.

“Nathalie made a Ladybug sentimonster when she was still Mayura. She killed her though by removing her amok.” Marinette said, looking sad.

“As for time travel, short term Luka probably has the most experience. It’s what the snake miraculous does, sends you back in time five minutes. The rabbit can go as far as the wielder wants though.” Adrien explained while Emilie rubbed her temples.

“Why haven’t I ever heard of any of this?” She asked.

“Honestly mom? You never asked. We went through tons of crazy stuff before you were revived due to akumas.”

“And you’re going to go through all that again?” Emilie asked, a stubborn look forming on her face.

“Adrien is the best cat for the job, and if you take it away from him you might be dooming all of Paris.” Plagg cut in, uncharacteristically serious.

“...We may have to do that anyway.” Marinette said softly. “Too many people know our identities. I don’t want to just dump this job on someone else but…” She sighed.

“But nothing! Our friends won't tell anyone!” Adrien argued.

“And if they get akumatized?” Marinette calmly shot back. There was a stretch of uncomfortable silence.

“Oh for heaven's sake! You’re both over thinking this! Plagg JUST said there were no coincidences with the Miraculous. It’s fate or something right?” The destruction kwami made an ‘eh’ motion, and Chloe ploughed on. “If you’re still meant to be Ladybug and Chatnoir no one will find out who you are. The miraculous won’t let them.”

“Chloe it’s not that simple-”

“Could be.” Plagg said, lazily floating on his back. “or you could just erase everyone’s memories of you being Ladybug and Chatnoir.”

“What?!” The entire room, except Samson who was silently watching the exchange, shouted.

“Yesh, don’t yell! My ears are delicate.” Plagg simpered. “The miraculous cure works by fixing what YOU think is wrong.” he waved a paw at Marinette “So if you think it’s wrong for your friends to know your secret identities, they won't. Wouldn’t be the first time you brain blasted them with the cure. Heck, you’ve blasted yourself a few times.” Marinette looked conflicted.

“It can’t be that easy, and is that even morally sound? Altering their memories without their permission?” She worried.

“You should do it.” Emilie said. “Erase my memory too. It’s safer if no one knows but you two.” Emilie’s eyes strayed to Luka.

“I understand.” He told her, over Adrien and Marinette’s protests. “I knew both your identities from the first day you gave me the snake miraculous, but I was also never akumatized again. If this is the best way to keep you both safe…” He trailed off.

“No.” Marinette said firmly. “I won’t lie to my partner, either of you, ever again. Master Fu forced Adrien and I to hide our identities for so long, and it caused so many problems between us...I won’t do that to you, Luka.” Adrien echoed her thoughts.

“But you should do it to me, and your friends.” Emilie cut in.

“Ugh. Utterly ridiculous that I have to let you mess with my head. But,” Chloe sighed dramatically “Anything for Adrikins. Just know that I am not responsible for any schemes I come up with to break you up with him after I forget you’re Ladybug.”

Marinette and Adrien exchanged looks, having a silent conversation. In the end Marinette hung her head and sighed.

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

“Damn Ladybugs.” Penknight growled, swatting at the magical swarm as they tried to approach where he, Marc, and Nathaniel were stiffly sitting on the Anciel’s couch halfway across the city. Sitting across from them in the lounge chair was their biggest obstacle yet: Marc’s overprotective, older sister.

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #Nathaniel Kurtzberg #Holloa

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turtle-steverogers · 5 years

Text

WTF is Cats About?

ralbert and cats the musical :)

warnings: none, cept cats the musical (if ur a cats stan, i swear im not making fun of it,,,,just,,,,,cats)

ship: ralbert

word count: 1577

editing: no lmao...CATS

Albert likes to think he’s gotten used to all of Race’s funny quirks and little habits. He’d long since given up on getting him to stop biting his nails and the whole twirling his hair while he relaxes thing is pretty endearing. But there are some things that still surprise him.

Like his utterly amazing habit of withholding big life changes until they’re glaringly important and then announcing them as if he’s commenting on the weather.

Which is why Albert basically spits his tea all over his laptop one morning when Race announces he’s been cast in the fucking Broadway revival of Cats.

Fucking Cats.

Albert doesn’t even know what Cats is about. Not that he’s ever really had the desire to know. The whole show is a little too...furry for him.

It had been a mild Sunday morning up until then. The sky was clear and blue and the sun rays hit just right on their bed, waking them up, but not disturbing them. They’d lounged around for a few hours, switching between lazy morning cuddles and tiredly making out. Life since moving to the City together had been exhilarating. The freedom they’d once yearned for so heavily was finally at their fingertips, lending them the time to focus on their dreams and basking in the post college glow of their early adulthood.

Race worked at the local pizza joint when he wasn’t auditioning for whatever he could find casting calls for (which apparently included fucking Cats the fucking musical). It was a good gig for him; it kept him busy and entertained. Something Albert struggled to do single-handedly.

Albert on the other hand worked at a dingy mechanics shop a few blocks away, fixing up old cars on the side while working his way through the prestigious culinary grad program he’d somehow managed to get into. All in all, they were doing well for themselves as 24 year olds living alone in New York City.

Somehow, they’d managed to drag themselves out of bed and into the kitchen, where Albert fixed them a modest breakfast of omelettes before docking at the counter to sort through some emails.

Race was sitting next to him, absentmindedly petting Chips, their orange tabby, when he states, “I got cast in the Broadway revival of Cats.”

Albert pauses mid-type, glancing up at his boyfriend, who’s still intently looking at Chips, running his hand down the length of his back, “You what!?”

Race takes a deep breath, then repeats, “I got cast in the Broadway revival of Cats.”

Albert’s been rendered speechless by Race plenty of times in his 6+ years of knowing him. But he’s never felt quite as...dumbfounded before.

“You got cast...in Cats?” He asks slowly, before shaking his head and backing up, “Wait, no, hang on, hang on...you auditioned for fucking Cats?”

Race ducks his head, a blush forming under his collar and around his ears, “Uh, yeah, I meant to mention it...but it never came up?”

Albert blinks again, “Who- what- what even is Cats?”

Race goes to answer, then closes his mouth hastily, “I don’t...actually really know…”

“How don’t you know? You’re in the damn show!”

“I was only just cast! I don’t know it that well yet!”

Albert makes a choked noise, “Okay, but you should at least know what the fuck the show is about if you went through a damn audition process- wait, when was this even happening? What- I’m so confused right now...my fucking boyfriend got cast in a Broadway musical- FUCKING CATS- and I didn’t even know he was auditioning.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you!” Race says, looking alarmed at Albert’s impending Cats- induced mental breakdown. Chips gives an annoyed meow at the lack of attention being bestowed onto her and leaps off the counter, trotting away to find Queso, their golden doodle.

“I mean, you’re not entitled to tell me everything about your life, just...wow, I mean, this is big,” Albert scrubs a hand down his face, “I didn’t do anything to make you feel like you couldn’t share this with me, did I?”

Race’s face softens, “No, of course not, Albie,” he sighs, reaching across the table and linking their hands together, “I just got caught up in everything...sometimes things just feel so busy and overwhelming and I like to process it alone before letting other people in on it.”

Albert squeezes his hand, “That’s understandable,” he smiles, bending down to kiss his knuckles, “And congrats! I’m so proud of you! I mean, fucking Broadway...my boyfriend’s gonna be on Broadway.”

Race beams, “Thanks.”

“We have to celebrate,” Albert concludes, “I’m calling Spot and the others. You better not have work tonight, ‘cause we’re going out for drinks.”

Race shakes his head, bemused, as Albert pulls out his phone to text their group chat.

“Fucking Cats…” Albert murmurs as he sends the text, “Fuckin’....Cats.”

XXX

“Can you say that your bite is worse than your bark? Are you cock of the walk when you’re walking alone? Because jellicles are and jellicles do, jellicles do and jellicles would, jellicles would and…”

Albert freezes in the doorway to their apartment, slowly closing the door behind him as he strains his ears. He follows the sound of the weirdly tempoed music to the kitchen, where Race is bopping around by the microwave, reheating last night’s dinner of chicken curry.

“Hey,” Albert calls, setting the groceries on the counter.

Race glances over, flashing Albert a smile and turning down the music a few notches.

“Hey, yourself,” he says, pulling his bowl out of the microwave and stirring it a bit with a fork to cool it down.

Albert crosses to him, pecking him on the lips quickly and grabbing a glass for water.

“Jellicles can and jellicles do, jellicles can and jellicles do…”

Albert wrinkles his nose, “the fuck even is a jellicle?”

Race shrugs, shoveling a forkful of curry into his mouth, “Dunno, some type of cat? Google it.”

Albert hums, “So this is Cats then? Interesting music.”

“I know, it’s kinda weird,” Race says, perching at the counter, “But it grows on you. Rehearsal started today, so…”

“Yeah, you mentioned that,” Albert places his glass in the sink and leans against the counter, “How’d it go?”

“Pretty well, I made a few friends,” Race says, “Jojo’s in it.”

Albert smiles, “No kidding! That’s crazy.”

“Right? I didn’t even know he was auditioning!”

“Seems to be the trend with this show.”

“I get it, I get it,” Race rolls his eyes, looking a little guilty.

“Jellicle songs for jellicle cats, jellicle songs for jellicle cats, jellicle songs for jellicle…”

“If they say ‘jellicle’ one more time I’m going to shoot myself,” Albert growls.

Race whips his head up, eyes slightly wide, “Oh, honey, you are not going to make it through this one…”

“Fantastic.”

XXX

“Hey, Race, have you seen my- WHAT THE FUCK!”

Race turns away from the bathroom mirror, fixing Albert with an innocent look.

“Have I seen your what?” He asks.

“No,” Albert says, pointing a finger, “First answer what the FUCK happened to your face.”

Race turns back to the mirror, dabbing some more orange cream foundation around his eyes. Disturbingly, Albert notes that his makeup design looks very similar to Chips.

“Gotta do our own makeup for the show,” Race answers, padding a generous amount of setting powder around his face, “I’m practising.”

“Right…” Albert rakes his eyes over Race’s features. So far, the makeup only spans on his face and down his neck a little, “What else does your costume entail exactly?”

Race grins wickedly and Albert swallows.

“Oh, you’ll see.”

XXX

“Do you like my tail?”

Albert slowly closes his book, praying for strength as he looks up. Race is standing by the doorway, rehearsal bag dropped at his feet. His face is smudged- like he tried and failed to clean off all the layers of his meticulous cat makeup. He’s dressed normally in adidas workout pants and a random t-shirt from a color run they did years back. Protruding (Albert doesn’t wanna know how, but alas) from his backside is an orange tabby cat tail.

“Did you choose to be the same kind of cat as Chips? Or was it some sort of creepy coincidence,” Albert deadpans, refusing to look at the tail longer than he has to and keeping his eyes fixed on Race’s face.

Race’s smile drops a fraction of an inch, “Wait, it’s weird that I chose to be her breed?”

Albert groans and picks back up his book.

XXX

“Congratulations!”

Albert is met with a faceful of Race’s blond curls as the cast comes swarming out of the stagedoor. He smells like makeup remover and sweat, but Albert doesn’t care as he kisses him, pride swelling in his chest.

He doesn’t think he’ll ever get over the exhilarating feeling of seeing Race shine onstage.

“Thanks!” Race looks high on adrenaline and Albert never wants that light to leave his eyes, “What did you think?”

“You were so good! Everyone was! And the music was all better than I first thought it would be,” Albert said, playfully swaying them back and forth where they stood, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around Race, “Just one question.”

Race cocks his head, “what’s up?”

“What the fuck is Cats about?”

Race tips his head back and laughs, “I still have no fucking clue.”

the word ‘cats’ doesn’t even sound real anymore and i think that’s fitting

thanks for reading, chiefs

hmu to be added to my tag

TAG LIST: @getchapapes @we-dont-sell-papes @suddenly-im-respecsable

@aw-jus-let-em-try @well-the-kids-do-too @spot-conlon-king-of-brooklyn @felix-loves-albert-and-ralbert @technically-whizzy

@andthewoildwillknow @the-newsies-justice-for-zas-blog @localfakeitalian @have-we-got-news-for-you @musical-shitposts @thebroadwayaesthetic

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#newsies #newsies fic #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #ralbert #Cats on Broadway #FUCKIn #cats #...#sdkjalfkjs #OK #yell at me

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emospritelet · 5 years

Text

Homecoming - chapter 14

A brief interlude before I send our babies North to face their pasts :)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13] AO3 link

Belle clasped the twins’ hands tightly, following the others inside towards the wide staircase with its carved oak banisters. Lady Ella had greeted her warmly enough, but had turned back to Ogilvy almost immediately, and Belle recognised when she was dismissed. Her Ladyship had flicked an imperious hand at the waiting servants as she announced that their rooms were ready, and would have hot water for them to freshen up. One of the maids, Enid, who had joined the household just before Belle had left, murmured to her to follow, and she gently pulled on the twins’ hands. Ava and Nicholas were gazing at the enormous glittering Christmas tree that stood in the hallway, their eyes and mouths round with wonder.

It had been less than a month since Belle had been in Furton Grange, but returning felt different, and somewhat confusing. Instead of heading for her old room in the attic, she was led to a spacious, pleasant bedroom decorated in teal green, a connecting door leading to a smaller room with twin beds. She recognised it as one of the guest rooms that those with children would be assigned when visiting. Was that what she was? A guest? She suspected the rooms were more for the benefit of Ava and Nicholas than herself, but she was nonetheless grateful.

“I’ll bring some supper for the little ones, Miss,” said Enid, and Belle smiled, stroking Nicholas’s hair as he slumped against her side.

“Thank you, that would be welcome.”

By the time she had got the children washed and changed into their night things, their supper had arrived on trays: milk pudding, warm rolls with butter and honey and sweet tea. The twins were tired, yawning and rubbing their eyes even as they ate, and were asleep almost before Belle had tucked them into their beds. A gentle knock at the door made her start, and she pushed to her feet, heading to the door. Ogilvy had changed for dinner, and he smiled at her, eyes crinkling behind his glasses above the formal black suit, white shirt and tie.

“Forgive my intrusion,” he said. “I realised that I hadn’t had a chance to read the twins a bedtime story.”

“Oh.” Belle found that she was clutching at the door, and relaxed her grip a little. “Yes, they’re - they’re already asleep.”

“Tired from the journey,” he said. “I can’t say that I’m surprised, it was later than they’re used to.” He looked her over. “You should change. Lady Ella is anxious to see that you’ve settled in, and I suspect dinner is almost ready.”

“I’m expected at dinner?” she asked anxiously. “Are - are you certain? I almost always ate in the schoolroom when I worked here.”

Ogilvy smiled.

“Lady Ella is aware that you’re now part of my family,” he said. “We don’t banish family members from the dinner table. I assure you that your presence is both expected and welcomed, Miss Marchland. Shall I send Ivy to you when she’s finished with Alice?”

Belle returned the smile, thankful that she had thought to buy and alter a couple of evening dresses before they had come on their journey.

“Yes,” she said. “That would be most helpful.”

Ogilvy tugged at the collar of his shirt, the drawing room rather too warm for his liking, and Lady Ella put a hand on his arm and drew him away from the fire a little more as she told him of Lady Aurora’s most recent letter. She had introduced him to the only other guest: her companion, Ursula Waters, a lovely woman with smooth brown skin and dark eyes that glittered with mirth. He had discovered that she had a passion for singing, and the theatre, and he had a suspicion that she had been on the stage, although he wasn’t about to mention it before she did. She seemed a good match for Ella, and the two were clearly very fond of one another, sharing smiles and glances even as they talked with he and Doc.

Alice had shyly mentioned her love of drawing, and Miss Waters had encouraged her to speak further on the subject, professing that she had no talent herself but loved to see it in others. With some gentle persuasion, Alice began speaking of her plans to sketch the landscape around Willowbrook Grange, and Ogilvy smiled to himself as she grew more comfortable. It was rewarding to see her growing up into a bright and happy young woman, and he was grateful to Miss Waters for her encouragement. She was showing Doc and Alice a landscape painting that Lady Ella had recently acquired, and Ogilvy watched as he sipped at the wine he had been given and waited for Belle to arrive. He was tired from the journey, and was thankful that the dinner would be a small affair. Lady Ella was known for her lavish parties, but even she had to take time to revive herself, and as soon as she finished telling him of her daughter, she bemoaned the excess of the Christmas festivities.

“The following day I just stayed in bed,” she said. “I swear I don’t have the energy I used to. Or perhaps it’s this dreadful snow. If I didn’t despise travelling long distances, I’d winter in Italy. One lacks a certain something in the winter, I find.”

“Having seen you at parties, I very much doubt it was lack of anything,” he remarked, and she sent him a flat look.

“I had the most dreadful headache,” she insisted. “Ursula had to mop my brow and feed me violet creams and champagne.”

“And you’re sure champagne was the right choice to help with headaches, are you?”

“Champagne is always the right choice.”

“Well, perhaps you’ll decide to abstain for the New Year,” he suggested, and she looked shocked.

“How dare you besmirch my good name with suggestions of sobriety, sir!”

Ogilvy chuckled, and movement from the doorway caught his eye, making him glance around. Belle entered, looking a little nervous, her dark hair teased up on her head. She was wearing a dress he hadn’t seen before, a deep forest green silk that showed off her pale skin. Her lips were the pale pink of rose petals, matching the slight flush in her cheeks, and she caught his gaze, a smile briefly curving her lips. The candlelight gave a warm glow to her pale skin and made her eyes sparkle. He felt his heart thump in his chest, and swallowed hard.

“Ah, there she is!” Lady Ella stepped forward. “Miss Marchland, I must say how well you’re looking. Clearly being in London agrees with you. I wasn’t certain that would be the case.”

Belle smiled warmly.

“Thank you, my Lady,” she said. “It’s always a pleasure to be back at Furton Grange. I only wish it were nice enough to walk in the gardens, as I used to.”

“Oh, exercise is overrated,” said Ella, waving a hand. “Give me a warm fire and a cold glass any day.”

Belle smiled at that, her eyes shining, and Ogilvy felt his breath catch at her beauty.

“We’re fortunate enough that your Ladyship has provided both this evening,” she said. “I'm sure you remember how much I enjoy the fresh air, though. Mr Ogilvy and I have been taking turns in the park each day.”

“Have you now?” Ella looked over her shoulder at him, pursing her lips. “I must say, I can’t see the attraction in freezing to death, but I daresay when we get to Willowbrook Grange, there’ll be pretty views enough. Lady Tremaine informs me that she plans two days of shooting.”

“We’ve packed accordingly,” Belle assured her. “May I ask if you’ve heard from Lady Aurora?”

“Oh yes! Let me tell you all about it over dinner!” Ella glanced between the guests. “I’m afraid the women outnumber the men this evening. You won't mind, will you? I tried to coax old Colonel Lansdowne to come over to even things out a bit, but he has a cold."

"I'm sure we can survive the ordeal of uneven seating," said Ogilvy dryly, and she made a noise of agreement.

"More women and fewer men is always preferable, in my opinion," she said. "Present company excepted, of course. Shall we go through?”

Three hours later, Ogilvy was cradling a glass of brandy, feeling warm and content. The dinner had been pleasantly intimate, the lack of guests making it feel a little like being back at home, despite the grandeur of their surroundings. Lady Ella had been at the head of the long dining table, with Doc to her right, Alice next to him, and then Belle, leaving Ogilvy on the opposite side next to Miss Waters. The two of them had shared a pleasant discussion of the plays each had seen that year, with Alice asking eager questions about the costumes and music. Belle had remained fairly silent during the meal, and he had suspected that she felt a little awkward, being back in her old employer's house and sitting up to dinner as a guest. He had watched her as he talked, cherishing every glimpse of her blue eyes, every tiny smile from her perfect mouth. She had caught his gaze every now and then, and he had looked away, not wanting to make her more uncomfortable.

By the time an excellent lemon tart was served, he had felt the fatigue of a day's travel settling into his body, and had resolved only to have one drink after dinner. Fortunately, Ella kept excellent brandy at hand, and he and Doc each had a glass, taking them through to the drawing room where the ladies were drinking their tea. Now the tea was drunk and the brandy almost gone. Ella had requested a final glass of champagne, but he waved away her offer of another drink. They had an early start.

Miss Waters was playing the piano and singing a song which he didn’t recognise, but which had a sweeping, romantic feel to it. She had a sweet soprano voice, and Ella sent her adoring looks as she sipped her champagne. Doc was already dozing on the couch, his hands clasped over his belly, and Ogilvy resisted the urge to give him a shove with his foot. It had been a long day. Alice and Belle had excused themselves and gone to bed as soon as they had drunk their tea, and he planned to go up as soon as he finished his brandy. Hopefully before Doc started snoring.

“I’m afraid I shan’t be up to see you off in the morning,” said Ella. “The early train, isn’t it?”

“Too early for you, I expect,” he said.

“Anything before midday is too early for me, darling.”

“How are you going to cope with Lady Tremaine’s busy itinerary?” he asked, with a grin, and she groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Victoria knows what I’m like. I’m sure she’ll let me sleep late on New Year’s Day, she’s not that much of a termagant.”

“Well, don’t concern yourself with us tomorrow morning, Jefferson will make sure I’m out of the door on time.”

“I’ve instructed Jasper to bring the carriage around at seven,” she said. “I expect the next time I see you will be at Willowbrook Grange. I’ll be heading up there the day after tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it,” he said. “It’s nice to show the children a little of the countryside.”

“Well, there are woods and fields enough to tire them out, I’m sure,” she said. “No doubt Miss Marchland can keep them entertained.”

“No doubt.”

Ursula let her fingers dance over the piano keys in a light, pleasant tune, and Ogilvy took another sip of his drink. Ella gave him a shrewd look.

“And how are you finding my governess?” she asked. “I trust she’s everything you wanted?”

“She seems very competent,” he said neutrally, and she smacked him playfully on the arm.

“Don’t tease me! I’ve been waiting years for you to show me at least a sign that you’re actually interested in the fair sex. If I can claim some sort of responsibility for your eventual happiness, I’ll be delighted.”

“She’s been in my house a week at most!” he protested, and she pouted, her eyes sparkling.

“Oh, sometimes an evening’s enough, if it’s the right person,” she said slyly. “Or even perhaps - a night.”

“I don’t know what you’re suggesting,” he snapped.

“Oh yes you do, you know me too well to think it was anything innocent.” She rolled her eyes at his scowl. “And do calm down! I wouldn’t dream of implying you’ve done anything ungentlemanly.”

“Good.”

“But I’ve seen the way you look at her,” she added.

“And how do I look at her?” he asked, with some asperity. Ella gestured expansively.

“Like she’s a goddess, descended to Earth to make her way amongst mortals, and you her devoted servant, of course. Nauseating.”

“Oh, so much the same way I’ve seen you looking at Miss Waters, then,” he said dryly, and Lady Ella shrugged, smirking.

“Well, I certainly can’t deny that,” she said. “Although I’d like to think she looks at me in the same way. Do you want to hear all the lurid details of how we worship one another? Perhaps you need guidance in that area.”

Ogilvy sighed heavily.

“Really, Ella…”

“I’m just saying, lifelong bachelor and all that. There are tricks to a woman’s pleasure you probably don’t know.”

“Can we leave the deeply personal observations to one side for an evening?” he demanded. “Miss Marchland is in my employ. It’s not fitting for us to be having this discussion.”

She sniffed.

“Well, I was about to remark on the fact that she seems just as fascinated with you, but if you’re going to be a grump, I shan’t bother.”

“Thank you.”

“Spoilsport.”

He sighed, and took a sip of his drink.

“Thank you for letting us break our journey here,” he said, changing the subject. “I suspect we’ll be in the North for at least a week, depending on what secrets Willowbrook Grange holds.”

Lady Ella sniffed.

“Draughty place, last time I was there,” she said. “I’m sure the food will be divine. Victoria has an excellent cook, but being out of the way means the place is somewhat lacking in entertainment. I certainly hope this house party isn’t as dull as the last one I went to.”

“I’m surprised you agreed to go, in that case.”

She pressed a gloved hand to her chest, batting her eyelashes.

“What, stay here, and miss out on the possibility of watching an exorcism?”

“We don’t do exorcisms,” he said patiently. “Not as you’d understand them, anyway.”

“Good, because asking me to pray to the Lord will probably make things worse,” she said airily. “I think He’s had it in for me ever since I kissed Lady Mallory at Aurora’s christening. I’d hate to see you get hit by a lightning bolt or something just because I’m in the room.”

Ogilvy couldn’t help grinning.

“Rest assured, I’m not expecting your help with anything other than the choice of pre-dinner drinks,” he said, and she smiled.

“Now that I can do.”

The next morning was a flurry of activity, Belle hurrying to get the children up and dressed and out of the door in time to catch the train from Matlock. They made it with only minutes to spare, the Professor puffing for breath as he slumped into one of the compartments, and Belle hauled the twins up beside her as the train pulled out of the station, clouds of steam billowing out into the frosty morning air. Ava yawned, slouching against her, and Nicholas looked half asleep, but Belle and Alice coaxed them to sit up and look out at the snow-covered hills of the Peaks.

They changed trains at Manchester, Belle holding the children tight against her in the bustle of the busy station. It was a relief to get away from the noise and dirt into the relative calm and quiet of their compartment, and she decided to use some of the journey to start teaching the twins some simple sums. She discovered that Alice was right about their abilities: they easily knew the value of money and could add and subtract quickly when she used the coins in her purse as the basis for the sums. They were less sure when it came to writing numbers, but overall Belle was pleased. Their writing would improve with time, and they certainly had ability. She handed around some boiled sweets as a reward, and there was silence as the twins sat back, mouths working around rounded balls of fruit-flavoured sugar.

Ogilvy had disappeared behind his newspaper, and Alice was almost hanging on the window, gazing out as the scenery flashed by.

“This is so exciting,” she said. “I’ve never even been out of London. What’s it like in the North, Papa?”

“The men paint their faces with woad and beat drums made of human skin,” remarked Ogilvy, not looking up. She sent him a flat look.

“Really? And the women?”

“Oh, they’re even fiercer,” he said, turning a page. “How do you think they get the skin in the first place?”

Alice giggled.

“You were born in Glasgow, weren’t you?” she said eagerly. “Shall we go there, too? I should like to see it.”

“Perhaps in the Spring,” he said, and she pulled a face.

“That’s an age away.”

“Patience is a virtue, I’m told.”

“Easy for you to say,” she said.

“Time flows more slowly at your age,” said the Professor, looking over the top of his glasses as he closed his book. “Wait until you’re as ancient as me. Then the years will go like days.”

“Is that true?” Alice nudged Ogilvy with her foot. “Papa, does time go more quickly as you get older?”

Ogilvy glanced at Belle briefly.

“I find that very much depends on the context,” he said. “Sometimes time crawls.”

“I suppose it’s one of those things that’s affected by one’s perception of the reality around them, isn’t it?” said Belle thoughtfully. “Waiting for something that you want more than anything seems to take forever.”

Ogilvy smiled, folding his newspaper and handing it to the Professor.

“I couldn‘t agree more.”

They alighted at Carlisle, and Belle was relieved to find that Lady Tremaine had sent her carriage for them. The journey to Willowbrook Grange seemed to take forever, the carriage bouncing along on narrow roads, and she felt a little queasy by the time they turned into the long, sweeping driveway. She felt something go through her as the house came into view, a ripple of unease, as though fingers of ice were stroking against the back of her neck. There was a strange familiarity about the place, although she knew she hadn’t been there before.

It was dark, the surrounding fells making it seem as though the night was closing in on them, but Belle could still make out that the house was a large, handsome red-brick mansion, its windows spilling warm light out into the night to welcome them. That sense of familiarity was there again, scratching insistently at the back of her mind as the carriage slowed its pace. She chewed her lip anxiously, not liking the feeling, and not understanding its source. Perhaps Mr Ogilvy and the Professor, and their talk of evil spirits and unquiet ghosts. She told herself firmly that she was a rational woman, and that such things were fireside tales.

Servants in their livery were lined up, waiting to greet the visitors, and Belle recognised Lady Tremaine and her daughter, Anastasia, standing next to a tall, grey-haired man whom she assumed was Lord Tremaine. She shared a brief glance with Alice, who was looking excited, and held onto the twins as the carriage drew to a halt. They had arrived.

#fic: homecoming #ogilvelle fic #rumbelle fic #my fic #ogilvelle #rumbelle

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advernia · 4 years

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around june of last year, i decided to revive my writing blog as one of the many potential stress-relief methods i could think of.... i didn’t think i’d be able to keep it active for long since work + family duties keep me preoccupied most of the time, but eyyy!!! so far i haven’t lost the motivation to keep going back to this blog, and i even managed to keep it afloat for half a year!!! amazing!!! (•̀o•́)ง

and now here we are halfway through 2020!!! it’s waaaay overdue but here’s a big T H A N K Y O U V E R Y M U C H ! ! ! to everyone and anyone who dropped by this blog last year + all them likes, comments, reblogs...... please know that i’m still i n c r e d i b l y grateful for the support & interest in the content i’ve posted up!!!! tbh my activity’s still hella sporadic so it’s really amazing for me that i even gained new followers.... i’m very honored to have all of you stick around my blog despite my irregularity!!!!!!!! (༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ)

it’s also overdue, but i slowly managed and finally cleaned up the blog like i’ve been meaning to do + changed the blog name to match my ao3 handle for consistency!!! i make no promises to be super active... but i’m sure that i still want to continue writing & keep this blog alive!!!!

again, thank you all for your time + reading my works!!!!!! ∩( ´∀` )∩ work commentary on the rest of my works last year follows under the cut!

oct 1 // hero’s journey

a drabble on blanc + oliver about the alices... now that i think of it, calling the first alice first alice is kinda funny considering that alice is really her name... or is it?

i do hope blanc’s route talks about her a bit, haha! i mean, i wish cybird remembers that they’ve been dropping the occasional background tidbits about her... like for example, her pocketwatch (that she gave to blanc eventually) having a magic crystal engraved into it.... her potentially leaving a fucking globe in the black army’s possession (like... wow... u fell with that thing????????)....

plus, i just find it interesting that she was remembered by cradle as a heck of a troublemaker lol! it also makes you wonder who among the main cast met her, blanc aside... though it’s not stated when exactly she fell into cradle, so maybe only blanc had the opportunity of meeting her...

so does blanc speak of her fondly bc she’s a woman, or is there something else??? has he been frequently visiting the land of reason pre-game??? has he found the first alice’s antique shop / met her again??? does he still try to figure out the reason why there’s a magic crystal engraved into the first alice’s pocketwatch????? hmmmmm......

on another note, it would be hilarious if cybird pulls a peter pan 2......... since we can’t pull off a mother-daughter relationship like wendy & jane’s, what if alice the second is somehow actually related to the first alice?? and while she’s completely different from her predecessor, blanc finds himself falling for alice the second........ just like he fell for the first alice? drama!

that’s just a random thought but kidding aside, i do hope blanc’s route is hella interesting bc i think he’s our mr. exposition for knowing more about cradle itself lol

oct 1 // fair (?) ladies & phony (?) enchanters

a result of going manic a few days after seeing harr’s trailer + route release.... ahaHAHA I’M STILL WILLING TO PLAY UR ROUTE IN JP HARR (if i actually had time to sit down and translate gET REKT)

i liked writing these drabbles and i think they’re cute but tbh they did nothing to ease my curiosity about harr’s route.... if anything else, it became even w o r s e haha........................

if i think of blanc to have a cradle-centric route, i do hope harr’s route is magic tower-centric! naturally it will be since he’s got history there, but i hope a lot of my questions about the magic tower will be answered.....

will harr’s perspective of the magic tower be in the eyes of a test subject or a disciple???? he was scouted by the magic tower, but it wasn’t stated what he was doing exactly..... going by hints + loki’s & zero’s routes, it’s more of him being a disciple, so there’s bound to be guilt.......

hopefully alice’s characterization in his route is good + we get a fun group dynamic with loki!!! their potential.... the most(?) notorious criminal of cradle, a sought after test subject, and that one girl who nullifies all magic; a renegade trio lurking around the forbidden forest.... what an odd bunch!

oct 4 // god is a five minute hymn

a religious themed fic with lancelot & alice - tbh i don’t even know why religion was the first thing that came into mind when liz and i were talking about cultural differences, lol.

on that note though! i personally like thinking that if ever cradle had a semblance of a religion, it would be polytheistic & nature-centric, and not strictly practiced - the stratocracy of both territories i’d like to think makes it harder for religion to have a voice, much less have one that is practiced by the general population. the only thing general about it is that the religion centers or has magic crystals as an important factor... or something. yeah.

that aside, i think i specifically chose lancelot in this piece for the sole reason that his canonically stated lack of common sense, in my opinion, gives him the curiosity of a child sometimes - there’s no sense of malice or doubt, just the pure innocence of wanting to know something....... religion does that to kids, especially when introduced to it at first.

rereading the fic makes me think of the instances where when faced with dire or unsettling situations, people turn to faith as a life line.... well, i’m not sure if i had that subconsciously in mind when writing alice, but that does give a spin to it....

oct 6 // flow like the river nile

a spontaneous red army-centric fic! it certainly turned out better than i expected... i liked the formatting i used for this one!

if cybird can give us more about the pre-game suitors it would be great, tbh! and while the stuff about them in school is interesting, i’d like to see more about when they assumed their positions + combat scenes! the neutrals are special cases, but knowing more about their living conditions + daily lives is also a treat...

i was thinking of adding one last snippet about lancelot in the eyes of the reds, but i scrapped it out and switched it to alice & lancelot’s conversation about duty - it could’ve worked better if i stuck to using the what is your duty? question, but i scrapped it eventually too. ah well. it does look good enough as it is.

oct 7 // seeking out phantoms

a mandatory(???) odd one out aka content that’s not ikerev, haha! i missed fe:a all of a sudden...

i never got around to writing properly for this fandom tho, what a shame - i’ve got some bits of pieces in my drafts that looked interesting and easy enough to pick up, and this was one of them.

robin investigating more of their plegian heritage could’ve been a good subplot tbh... i still wish there was something like a paralogue or dlc about it, bc honestly the valm arc goes a bit slow until you get to the future past revelations. ah well.

and gaius bc first husband for the win.... not like i actually had the guts to marry anyone else in my other save files lololol

nov 7 // push me off a bridge (to catch me as i fall)

my longest project of 2019, holy shit! i didn’t know i still had it in me to write something past 10k... i need more of that motivation + energy....

there’s nothing much to say about this since i blabbed about everything in the post-reading notes, but as much as i fought myself to get this done, i really enjoyed writing a long fic again! hopefully i can get myself to write another one this year...

nov 18 // beloved, beloved, let me be clear

18 sentences on zero & alice + macross frontier references! man, when i really got to the point about the earrings i was thinking of sheryl a lot....

kept it in sentences cause i didn’t have enough time to put up a decent ficlet! but i really wanted to get my screaming out of my system....... i used to do sentences + three word sentences challenges before, and doing one again was pretty fun!

but really.... zero’s route kept me happy for days???? their buildup + dynamic was something i was totally w e a k for, no joke..... thank gods the collection event was going on, bc i really made good use of my stocked chapter tickets lolol!

i was especially excited come the ball scene, and that cg..... a h a h a.... i need more of those pretty cgs where i can see alice’s face + costume change.......

nov 20 // coloring inside the lines

jonah + alice + makeup!!!! tbh this was really fun, i enjoyed writing this one - if i remember, this was a fic that i managed to continuously work on the day i thought it up!

jonah may not be my best boy but tbh i find writing him very easy - i guess it’s because i’m very fond of characters like him!!! those uptight nobles who are as prideful as hell but can definitely live up to their name + are more capable than their bragging suggests... idk if there’s a general trope name for these doods, but i especially like analyzing their motivations + convictions!!!

i liked how i ended it, but i apparently i made an actual ending that’s now a snippet in my drafts - jonah & alice head to the ball, and somewhere along some bystanders’ flow of conversation someone drops a comment about jonah’s lips looking... quite more luscious than usual, lolol. so t h i r s t y. upon hearing this, alice can’t seem to stop smiling for some reason.....

nov 27 // blue fields, verdant skies

a practice drabble set centric on a ray/alice development that i liked so much i made it into a series - plus, it’s black army content and honestly i need to write more of them! my red army bias is showing whoooooops

it’s a feudal + arranged marriage au, with the latter... being quite spontaneous. it’s those types of marriages where neither have even met - not even once - only to face each other come the wedding... so it’s a given that audiences from both parties are rather curious how this will turn out.

since i had the theme of fate in mind, ray was the automatic pick for the male lead. the rest of the black army is a given and for kicks, i added dean and dalim! i actually want to write about them + mousse, but since i’m still unsure on their characterizations i’ve been holding them off.... but i gave in anyway.....

alice is again named for word count convenience purposes since it’s in actual 100 words aka drabble form! i have planned scenes + an ending already in mind, but going there is pretty hard bc.... i still have to write the scenes in between + resist temptation to expand further on other scenes, haha....

initially i was planning to keep it updated here as well, but any more updates of this are on ao3 instead! the formatting looks better there instead of my blog tbh, and it also gives it a sort of muted tone to the story that works with me!

this is also the 31st fic in this blog, marking an end of the challenge liz bestowed to me lolol - since i brought this blog back to life around june, i was dared that by the end of the year, i should’ve posted more than 15 fics to add up to the initial 15 i had already posted before, thus the numbers on my fics back then.... now that i actually succeeded, i can stop counting lololol!!!! tho hopefully i can still be pretty active this year....

dec 22 // duck, duck, bullet

oliver & fenrir on guns... this probably wins as the most spontaneous idea i had on my head - tbh, i wasn’t even sure where i was going with it at first! but i’m sure i was suddenly thinking about that one detective conan movie.... then it became kid!oliver with a gun.....

i wonder if he tests the bullets at night, when he’s in adult form.... then again, kid!oliver with a gun still works.... say that because he’s a genius inventor, he made some models to serve as his shooting targets.... but another thought that amuses me more is.... blanc does the bullet testing for him!?

lololol i already thought about blanc being oliver’s live target, but i also find blanc with a gun very interesting.......... i mean, blanc certainly doesn’t look like he can fight, but who knows??? i mean, mousse is the former ace of hearts, but i still can’t imagine him fighting..... appearances can be deceiving....

the two aside, i wonder how fenrir even met oliver and got him working on his bullets........ was it through blanc or other connections???? how long have they been seller and buyer???? does anyone else commission anything from oliver?????? hmmmm.....

dec 23 // terms of surrender

i’ve been told by liz + luci + other friends that i needed to practice writing more.... cheesy fluff. i’m not sure if this sirius/alice piece counts, lol. in fact, i think it’s my definition of fluff i see here - and it translates to not exactly fluffy at all!

tho if you want me to be honest about it - when i write suitor/alice stuff, how alice was characterized in the suitor’s route is still my basis for how i’ll write her, and sirius’ alice................ haha......... i think she’s the alice that’s honestly easy to write but i choose to avoid..........

i don’t dislike the sirius/alice dynamic per se, tho. i do find it cute, especially if cybird stops emphasizing the issue of maturity in the relationship on alice’s side. i understand - i really do - that it’s a potential issue in the relationship, but...... that’s not the only problem you can possibly have as time passes, right?????

on another note, it’s funny that only sirius gets to be harped about the maturity due to age difference issue - setting aside blanc, who heavens know how old he is, lancelot’s 29 and since alice is presumed to be around ray + fenrir’s age, you could say that she’s 24 or even 23 to be safe.... so that makes a 5 / 6 years difference but it’s never brought up, lol. but i guess it’s because unlike lancelot, the black army’s been making sirius’ age a running gag....

anyway, this piece is pretty decent! i was thinking of something along the lines of mornings between a “married couple”.... there were two scenarios i had in mind, and i opted to write this one out first.... maybe i’ll have the second one posted up here another day.

dec 28 // a chain of black thrones

pre-game!sirius & ray and bc i was thinking a lot about the previous chosen, the former jack of spades!!! i wonder if the armies have a set age for retirement lolol... it would be awesome if there was still a chosen who’s already past his 50s or something, haha!

since sirius was constantly badgered to take on the role of king, i was also wondering about how long the black army was ‘king-less’... i mean, if the tension between both armies was really as great as they say, having no king puts the black army at a precarious position... i also thought that ‘nah, maybe there was a king or something but maybe the black army didn’t like him or something so they insisted that sirius take it instead’ but sirius’ 1st anniv. epilogue says otherwise - there really was a period that the black army had no king, wow. how the heck did they deal with that???? surely the red army saw this as a display of vulnerability....

can the black army’s chosen choose to leave their posts when they feel like it??? when they’re defeated by a challenger, what happens to them - a demotion, or do they serve under the ‘new’ chosen??? does the black army’s chosen change constantly because of their meritocracy + challenger system??? like, how do they deal with that, and do they announce their changes in chosen each council meeting??? each new question just snowballed my curiosity, whoops...

there were so many angles i thought of but i decided to settle for addressing the king-less state of the black army... through the eyes of a veteran who’s probably served many kings throughout his time of service as part of the black army’s chosen.

i gave this jack of spades character a name, actually - garret folner. maybe someday i’ll write him again, bc i actually enjoyed thinking about the present + past chosen interactions - maybe i’d think about that for the red army, but this time i find the black army’s side more interesting for this situation.

dec 29 // steadfast tin soldier

a zero/alice piece for zeroweek - i was about to post pt. 1 as a standalone, but then i just thought about how.... zero bought alice a gown.... but never got to dance with her at the day of the ball..... so i rushed to add pt. 2 haha!

with the addition of pt. 2 it looks cut short tho - i did think of putting a scene in between, but no good ideas came into mind bc i was too fascinated with the dancing scene... i swear at some point i will find myself writing a fic or a part of a fic that’s a dance scene for the rest of the ikerev suitors + alice....

this is the kind of fluff i live for, actually... i’m totally fine with the steamy content cybird throws during events + bonus stories, but if i were to be honest i say.... where’s my non-sexual intimacy????? the simple, wholesome stuff?????????????????

man, i feel hilarious for typing that out..... but well, i guess it’s a matter of different strokes for different folks, lol!

#rundown.txt #can i spam thank yous???? seriously idk what else to say ahhhh #this! blog! shall! live!!! if i do well enough updating will become a habit!!!#i need better habits than sleeping + working + spring cleaning lololol #aHA i was thinking of changing themes again bc aesTHETIC #there wasn't one that caught my eye tho... plus coding during work... get rekt #but i fooled around with pages instead and colors!!! blue's the color of the year

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the-quiet-winds · 5 years

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Don’t Look Back at this Crumbling Fool (part four)

here is the conclusion you all have been dying for.

also, @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts and i have been talking and there may or may not be a new au posted tomorrow? we shall see how the cards fall, but the au is fun.

[part one] - [part two] - [part three]

trigger warning for hateful words and self-deprecation

[Part 4: Feels Like We’re Oceans Apart]

the two re-enter the room where jane is still bundled up on the bed. boleyn bounds forwards and begins pulling various blankets off her.

“c’mon, jane,” she says cheerfully. “wakey wakey.”

katherine takes a slightly softer approach, placing a hand on jane’s cheek and smiling gently at her.

“hey mum. i think it’s time to get up now.”

jane doesn’t react at first, then something stirs as she wordlessly and emotionlessly gets to her feet. she stands absently, letting katherine and boleyn pull her towards the bathroom, where they tag-team getting her hair sorted out and her makeup off. she feels like an observer in her own narrative, unreactive and docile.

katherine and boleyn work quietly, each apparently lost in their own thoughts on the situation. katherine carefully brushes through jane’s hair, slowly and methodically, trying to replicate the same soothing motions jane provides when she brushes katherine’s hair. she’s not sure it helps though; jane looks in almost a different reality to the other two in that moment, and katherine can only hope that whatever parr has planned will pay off.

boleyn expects a long and hard-fought battle to get jane to the theater that night, but she shuffles her feet along in silence as they make their way to the lobby to wait for the taxi to the theater. as they wait, katherine gets a call from parr.

"katherine are you alone?"

the urgency in parr's voice makes her step away from boleyn and jane. "i am now, what's up?"

"let boleyn take jane to the theater, we're coming to get you."

"i won't leave her!" katherine quietly protests.

she hears parr let out a tiny breath and then her voice softens. "it'll be worth it, kid. i promise."

boleyn is a bit uncomfortable with the change of plans, since she and jane always had a weird relationship (less of a mother-daughter, more of an estranged aunt-party niece type of things), but with jane acting like this, it feels even weirder. finally, she relents. she and jane drive off towards the theater, and aragon pulls the car up moments later, the entire back of which is laden with carnations and roses, jane's favorite types of flowers.

katherine looks at the flowers as she climbs into the car. “what are those for?”

“you’ll see,” aragon says, pulling back out into the road and beginning the journey to the theatre. “how was she?”

“not good,” katherine says quietly, looking down at her hands. “she wasn’t even angry or upset, it was just- nothing.”

“the important thing is that she’s on her way to the theatre,” aragon nods. she catches katherine’s gaze in the wing mirror and gives her a reassuring smile. “don’t worry, howard. this is all gonna work out.”

as they drive to the theater, katherine absentmindedly scrolls through her social media. it only takes a few minutes for her to find parr’s post, something about “jane night!”, imploring all fans to wear white to the show and stop by early to pick up a flower and a notecard to write about their own “hearts of stone”.

“parr...this is...this is brilliant!”

“you think so?” parr asks, the twitch of a slightly proud smile on the corners of her lips. “i’m hoping it’s just what jane needs to see to remind her of how loved she is by all the fans. and by us, of course.”

a small, hopeful smile grows on katherine’s face. “this really could work,” she murmurs, more to herself than to the other two.

they arrive at the theatre soon afterwards. parr gestured at the flowers with a nod of her head. “c’mon, we’ve got to get all these inside the foyer.”

grace comes racing out to the car as soon as they stop to help. each girl takes a bundle of flowers into the lobby of the theater, where grace’s homemade “jane night!” sign is waiting. luckily, boleyn and jane had entered in the stage door so everything seemed completely ordinary.

“she really needs this, huh,” says grace, playing with a flower and looking at the sign. “i saw her when she came in.” she shudders. “like a ghost.”

parr gives a solemn nod. “i’m just hoping that this’ll get through to her and pull her out of this state she’s in.” she places a box of notecards neatly next to the flowers before glancing back at aragon. “do you have the pens?” she asks, and aragon nods, placing her armful of flowers down and revealing the packet of pens underneath. parr looks over at katherine with a soft smile.

“would you like to write one, katherine?”

katherine nods slowly, yet earnestly. she takes a pen and a notecard and writes, in the best handwriting she can muster, a heartfelt note to her mum, telling her just how important and loved she is. by the time she’s done, she’s in near tears, and she’s brought back to the room around her when every other queen, including boleyn, was doing the same, as well as all the band members and even the stage director.

“this will help, kid,” parr says reassuringly, seeing katherine’s emotional response to the tribute. “trust me.”

katherine can only nod, voice caught in her throat and eyes watery. parr gives her a kind look.

“it’s probably almost time to get ready for the show. you go on, i’ll catch you up in a moment.”

katherine gives parr a weak smile and heads into the backstage area, heart slowly beginning to beat faster with nervousness. she hopes beyond all hopes that parr’s plan will work, and she thinks that it will, but there’s always a chance it wouldn’t go to plan. she shakes her head to clear it; she couldn’t be thinking like that right now.

when katherine enters the dressing room, the sight of her mum makes her gasp.

jane is sitting on the tiny couch in the dressing room, staring at the floor, shoulders slumped in, in absolute silence. it’s unnerving to katherine how unresponsive she is, even when katherine, against her better judgement, steps over and lightly kisses the top of her mum’s head. there’s no recognition. no movement to reach out to her, no shift amongst the cushions, not even a low hum in her throat.

katherine, still fighting tears, sits down at her mirror, next to the still broken one, and begins to fix herself up for the show.

she looks up at the sound of footsteps outside, and sees grace in her costume giving her a thumbs up. with a nod from katherine, grace heads to the stage, ready to enact a plan to hopefully save jane from...whatever it was that was making her like this.

jane’s mind seems like it’s in a fog, not really being aware of anything going on around her. she was vaguely aware of being led from place to place before finally being seated, but she couldn’t even begin to tell where she was or even who led her. the world around her is abstract shapes, nothing coming into focus or making anything more than a light impression.

katherine finishes getting ready as quickly as possible, blinking back the tears so they don’t ruin her mascara. she sends look after hopeless look at jane, desperately wishing for anything; a moment of recognition, any kind of reaction, just anything.

when the time came for the curtain to rise, jane had not sung any warm ups or even stretched, but none of that even mattered.

the only thing that catches her eyes when she turns around during the first number is that almost every audience member is wearing white. there are a few posters littered around the back of the stalls that she can see, even in the low light, all with some form of ‘heart of stone’ or ‘jane seymour!’ written in massive block letters surrounded by hearts. something snaps within her, her voice coming to life and muscles screaming into existence as she dances and sings like she hadn’t before, a new and raw emotion in her voice like never before.

the other queens send each other thrilled looks; jane was back. katherine can’t keep the grin off her face as jane throws herself into the performance, and her heart practically skips a beat when jane catches her gaze and gives her a quick wink, before returning to the performance. they all dance and sing even better than ever, their energy revitalised by jane’s revival.

as aragon and boleyn’s song pass, katherine can’t help but wonder what will come from jane’s song. her lines have been full of a deep and unnamable emotion all night, but all that clears from her mind when jane begins to sing.

her voice sounds angelic to katherine. every line filled with more pain than the last, bringing tears to every queen’s eye.

by the time it was over, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and the audience was screaming themselves hoarse.

once the audience finally quietens, cleves steps forward to begin her monologue and the other queens leave to grab their ruffs and sunglasses. the second they step backstage katherine flies into jane’s arms, hugging her tightly.

“that was beautiful,” she half-sobs.

jane is startled by the sudden impact of her daughter in her arms, but hugs her back with twice the ferocity.

“oh, my darling, i’m sorry for how i acted.” she pulls back, holding katherine’s face in both hands. “how could i ever think of leaving you?” she kisses her cheek, then pulls away. she truly never wanted the moment to end, but they have a show to finish. she puts kat’s sunglasses on for her. “let’s get them,�� she whispers with a half-laugh.

the rest of the show goes amazingly. everyone performs at the top of their game, and when it’s time for the bows the audience are on their feet screaming and cheering.

parr takes the mic and waits for the audience to calm down before speaking. “hello, everybody! i hope you all enjoyed the show-” she pauses as the audience applauds again. “tonight isn’t quite over yet, though. today we wanted to show our appreciation for a wonderful queen, and you all turned out for us. please, join us in a huge round of applause for jane!”

immediately, jane bursts into tears. the audience screams and cheers, all wearing white in solidarity, all throwing roses and carnations on stage. jane takes a moment to hug each of her cast members, even grace, who emerged from the backstage. then katherine walks up to her, hands clenched together with a slight air of nervousness. jane can’t contain herself and throws her arms around her daughter in a tight hug. with a voice so quiet it’s barely audible over the cheers, she speaks to katherine. “you are the only reason i’m still here, my one and only love. thank you.”

when she hears jane’s words katherine takes a sharp intake of breath, before hugging jane even tighter.

“i love you, mum,” she mumbles. jane presses a kiss to katherine’s forehead and smiles softly to herself. around them, the crowd still applauding, the other queens enveloped the two in a huge group hug, jane and katherine at the centre.

———————————————————————————————————–

tag list: @percabeth15 @kats-seymour @qualquercoisa945 @jane-fucking-seymour @a-slightly-cracked-egg @justqueentingz @annabanana2401 @wolfies-chew-toy @broad-way-13 @tvandmusicals @lailaliquorice @aimieallenatkinson@sweet-child-why03 @gaylinda-of-the-upper-uplands @funky-lesbians @thinkaboutitmaybe @hansholbeingoesaroundzeworld@anaamess @beeskneeshuh @prick-up-ur-ears @theartoflazy@justqueentwo @brother-orion @paleshadowofadragon@lafemmestars @beautifulashes17 @janeriarichardnoel@idkimbadwithusernamesandstuff @sixcago @mixer1323 @boleynssixthfinger @aimieallen @elphiesdance @boleynthebunny @krystalhuntress @lupin-loves-chocolate @bellacardoza16 (some of these still aren’t working and i don’t know why)

#six the musical #six musical #katherine howard #anne boleyn #jane seymour #catherine parr #catherine of aragon #anne of cleves #julie and jess write #don't look back at this crumbling fool

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manygalaxiesinone · 4 years

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Orphen 2020 still looks pretty good ((Spoilers))!

((Hee Hoo dood, prinnyfrost reporting for duty! So...episode 13 of this remake aired earlier and considering how it looked, I’m willing to believe they ended the first season, which strike me as odd since the first season of the original anime was 10 episodes longer, but whatever. Now I think it’s a good time to give my thoughts about how I feel about everything thus far. Well, as you can tell from the title of the post, I like it, but just by how much though is the question here.

First, let’s go over the plot. I already mentioned part of this in one of my previous posts, but to sum up, Orphen leaves the Tower of Fang in order to find Azalie and years later, he meets Cleo, Majic, and others and eventually discovers that Azalie switched bodies with his former mentor, Childman Powderfield, using white magic. Orphen and Azalie duel, with Orphen winning and he tells her to beat it. It’s basically the same as how it was in the original manga, In the original anime; however Azalie didn’t switch bodies with Childman until much later on as she was being hunted down and looking for a way to turn back to normal. Not only that but after Orphen saved her, she pretty much went on a boat journey on her own, never to be heard from again since she wasn’t in the second season. Another difference is that most of the episodes in the original anime was Orphen and company traveling around and exploring different places as they were hunting down the Sword of Baltanders after Volcan and Dortin took it and looking for a way to help Azalie. In the remake, we only get a few episodes of them in a village worshiping the Deep Dragons and then we’re in the Tower of Fang for the remainder of the season. It’s likely we’re going to see other places later on, but it’s clear the original anime gave us more variety to see the world in one season in the remake. To be fair, as I said before, the original had more episodes in one season to work with and the remake is supposed to be more based on the original manga, so it does make some sense on why it turned out this way.

I also do appreciate them giving more of Orphen’s backstory in his class and showing us his bond with his former classmates, unlike in the original where it was mainly him, Childman, Azalie, and Hartia. They also showed more of Orphen’s skills with hand to hand combat as the students at the academy are also trained assassins (or at least some of them are). In the original anime I only recall one flashback where it’s brought up and it’s when Orphen was training with Azalie and she flipped him. My brother even pointed out that the remake did a better job than the original about how Orphen got his title as “stabber”.

I mean look at this shit. That’s not to say the original didn’t have good fight scenes in it, like Orphen’s battle with Hartia in the original show, but the remake did do a better job in exploring the hand to hand combat areas of the show. Heck someone could argue that they also did a better job at exploring the spells too. Not because of how they work but showing off the variety.

In one of the flashback episodes, Azalie was trying to see if she could use music to create spells, but end up destroying every instrument she used after failing.

I can’t be the only one who thought of Mar from the Orphen video game after hearing that, at least I hope not. Now that I think about it, Sephy also uses spells differently from other sorcerers too. Instead of voice magic, she using dancing. I’m not saying that Mar and Sephy would make it in the show later on, though that would be cool to see. I am willing to believe that the ways they used magic would be explored further later on in the remake.

Remember the “dragons” I mentioned before in a previous post? The ones that stole their powers from deities? I believe that each one represents a different version of how spells are used. The show has already shown that human sorcerers (the descendants of the Celestials) use voice magic and that deep dragons (like Cleo’s pet Leki) relies on sight. So it wouldn’t be unreasonable to believe that 2 of the other “dragons” shown here would have their powers based on sound and dance. It’s far too soon to theorize which ones would be the case (unless if Matpat proves me wrong or something), but I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon enough. Finally, let’s go over the characters.

I think Orphen himself is pretty much the same as before, a guy that comes off as an asshole, but is a pretty cool guy when you get to know him and don’t piss him off. My brother has mentioned that he’s less maniacal than before but I’m not too sure. I WILL say that it’s funny to hear his voice actor (David Matranga) say the names of the spells in the show despite him saying he refuses to do so in one of the outtakes of the original anime.

And pfft, you guys already know how I feel about the new Cleo compared to the original. In fact, I think this one makes more sense as the previous one was a selfish spoiled annoying brat, while this one loves having guests over to liven up the place and travels with Orphen not just to help but also she’s legitimately curious about the world and wants to see new people. The only downside is that her cooking still sucks and we haven’t gotten a chance to see her fight much yet, which is a shame since in the remake manga, we see her go toe to toe with Hartia. Hopefully this would be remedied in the future.

Majic I have mixed feelings for. In the original, he’s known for being pretty much a coward despite having talent as a sorcerer.

Basically the series’s version of Almaz from Disgaea. In the remake though, he’s much more confident in himself and it’s already shown that he could indeed surpass Orphen and maybe even Azalie at some point. On one hand, this is nice as we get to see him involved more and actually show his capabilities. On the other hand, I would’ve personally preferred that he started off as a coward and then slowly progress more and more has his skills improve, again, like Almaz. That’s just me though. I will admit, I do like his new outfit though.

Leki I also have mixed feelings about. While Cleo basically randomly finding Leki and taking him, thus getting involved with his parent and end up saving everyone is pretty much the same as before, this version of Leki isn’t really quite as expressive as before. I mean, he’s still cute and show’s his fondness for Cleo as shown in one of the episodes where Cleo was knocked out and he rubbed Orphen’s leg asking him to help her. Not to mention, he does have more of a variety of spells here unlike in the original where he basically blows stuff up on command like he’s Koromaru from Persona. But Leki in the original showed more reactions and expressions to the world around him, like the time he got lost after chasing a butterfly (at least I think it was a butterfly.).

Hartia barely got any screen time in this season aside for some flashbacks. He only appeared a few times when everyone was dealing with the Bloody August and then they just reported him as someone scouting the area. Seriously, we don’t even get to see him in his Black Tiger costume despite the remake Manga having it in the very first issue no less. Once again, hopefully this will be remedied in the future.

There’s also a few characters that weren’t introduced in the original anime like this woman here. She’s a member of the royal police department that’s hunting down Volcan and Dortin (who are wanted criminals). She tries to tranquilize them with darts, but ends up missing. I can’t help but wonder if she’ll be in future episodes hunting them down and trying to bring them to justice. Granted, Volcan and Dortin did go to jail until Hartia (Cleo in the manga) bail them out, but Volcan’s pretty much like Eddy from Ed Edd ‘n Eddy. He’s bound to come up with another scam at some point.

Then there are Orphen’s other classmates like Comicron (wait, isn’t that the name of Linkara’s ship?) who is shown to be more focused on making robots and other stuff than his spells, despite repeated failures resulting everyone to clean up afterwards. Even Orphen had to smash one of the robots with a bat before it could do any damage. Unfortunately he died within the first few episodes, so unless if he gets revived somehow, we’re only going to keep seeing him again in flashbacks. Also, raise your hand if you thought he was a girl at first by looking at him.

Forte was pretty much the loner of the class, often spending time doing his own studies instead of getting involved too much with the rest of the class. Considering he has his own class now in the Tower of Fang, and Majic is registered to be in his class once he starts attending (which I find interesting because last I checked, in the original anime, Majic was in Hartia’s class. I wonder how Eris is going to feel about that if they include her in the remake.), it makes me wonder if he was preparing to take over Childman’s class in secret in case something went wrong. He already knows Azalie’s secret as shown in the last episode, and judging by Orphen’s reaction to him knowing, Forte knew about it at least for a while.

Then there’s Leticia (or Tish for short) who, even though she wasn’t in the original anime (at least, I don’t think she was) I do recall appearing in the original manga.

She grew up with Orphen and Azalie in the same orphanage and three of them developed a sibling bond together over the years, though unlike Orphen, Azalie and Leticia are related to each other by blood.

However, like the Squid Sisters from Splatoon, they’re actually cousins, which makes me wonder how their families end up dying or missing. Also, it’s kind of funny to me to picture Azalie as Callie, Leticia as Marie and Orphen as Agent 4.

Speaking of Azalie, I am curious on how they’re going to treat her in this version. In both the original anime and in the manga, she had an obsession for power, wanting to become a woman worthy of Childman’s recognition.

In the anime, this was because she actually fell in love with Childman and even confessed her feelings for him, but her turned her down because, well, she’s his student. Since then, she devoted herself to becoming more and more powerful, letting it corrupt her mind until the end of the first season.

In the manga, she was still trying to impress Childman and her obsession for power drove her insane, but whether or not it was because she loved him wasn’t exactly clear. Granted, I haven’t read all of the original manga, but I did hear that she was basically the antagonist of the series and had a “kill or be killed” mindset.

In a way, you could pretty much consider her this series’s version of Vergil from Devil May Cry, a character willing to go all the way to become the strongest despite the means, while Orphen is trying to show her the errors of that, even if it means fighting her.

Now we have the remake version where her motives aren’t exactly clear yet. Even though she did use a killing doll (weapons designed to specially kill sorcerers) to make a young version of Orphen in order to test him (like she did in the original manga), she pointed out that it didn’t go as planned since the doll grew a mind of its own. In fact it looks like Azalie knew what happened with Childman was a mistake and is trying to make up for it, but she can’t let many people know the truth since Childman being missing is causing a power struggle in the Tower of Fang, like what happened in the Netherworld after Krichevskoy died.

In the preview of the next episode (or later on in the new season), Azalie is heading off to see if she can find out Childman’s true intentions, but what she plans to do after discovering it remains a mystery, so that’ll be interesting to see. All in all, pretty decent stuff so far and if it really is the end of the first season then, here’s to looking forward to the next season...whenever it comes out.))

#Sorcerous Stabber Orphen #majutsushi orphen hagure tabi

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