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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 8 months

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I read Clementine Book Two so that you didn't have to: an in-depth review from a fan of the Telltale games.

Rating: 2.5/5

Spoiler free review: While better than Book One, it’s still not great.

“When is it safe to fall in love? After another brush with death, Clementine and her new friends are rescued by an island community led by an enigmatic doctor named Miss Morro. But, just as Clementine’s scars are finally beginning to heal, the safety of the island is called into question and Olivia reveals a shocking secret. With her world falling apart, Clementine must choose—keep running… or dig in and fight?”

Some things are improved with Book Two, and some things are worse.

The art style looks nicer, particularly with the establishing shots and environments. It’s cleaner without losing the grunge that comes with a post-apocalypse. The characters look better, even though they still sometimes have potato heads. Once again I wish this was done in color because I know how great Tillie Walden is with her coloring, but this is the walking dead and color would be too hopeful, I guess.

The pacing is better, but still not good. I had an issue with pacing in Book One where it dragged, then it gave me whiplash in the last few chapters. It was all over the place. This feels smoother, yet it’s the same issue as before: chapter seven feels like whiplash as everything spirals, then we go into a slower ending.

The dialogue is still awkward in a lot of areas; sometimes it tries to be whimsical, which is something prominent in Tillie Walden’s other works where it lands, but here in this setting it feels cheesy and unnatural.

There are a lot of flaws with Clementine’s writing, though, but that’s a given when you’ve played the games. If you haven’t and you don’t have context for her established character there, then I think this will feel like a natural progression from Book One.

The new cast is likable, but I have a few issues with Miss Morro’s role in the story. Olivia gets some much-needed development, but not all of it necessarily for the best.

The romance between Clementine and Ricca progresses, taking up more of the spotlight than it did in Book One. I went into Book Two with an open mind about clemricca. I can set aside my bias for clouis, I can tuck violentine, gabentine, and any other Clementine ship away to give clemricca a chance to show me it’s a good relationship. Except I don’t think it is. I have a lot of problems with it.

As for the actual plot, I enjoyed the island setting and the community, but it feels like a massively missed opportunity. The ending is… a lot.

My full detailed review is below. I give a quick recap of Book One and spoil everything for Book Two.

A Quick Recap of Book One

You can read my full review of Book One here, but to summarize:

Clementine left Ericson because she was unhappy. She felt like a liability to the group, so she’s traveling on her own when she comes across a group of Amish survivors. While there, a doctor treats her leg and gives her a new prosthetic, as well as some other supplies. Out on the road again, she meets Amos, an Amish boy set out on his Rumspringa to help build houses in the mountain in exchange for a ride in a plane.

Clementine and Amos become buddies by the time they make it to the mountain. There they encounter the twins, Georgia and Olivia, and Ricca, another survivor looking to help with this building project. Clementine decides to stay and help, too, since she’s untrusting of the twins and wants to look after Amos. They build in terrible, snowy conditions. Clementine, Amos, and Ricca form a little friend group all while Amos and Olivia grow close… apparently, it’s barely a thing but it’s important to know.

Clementine and Ricca also grow pretty close. Ricca confides in Clementine that her vision is worsening, and she fears she may not find another pair of glasses that work for her. She has some past trauma with her sight given her brother broke her glasses so that she had no choice but to rely on him, and once she found a new pair, abandoned him to set off on her own.

When Ricca falls into a pit on a trip to get a generator, Clementine reveals that she named her new leg Kenny. Ricca climbs up out of the pit and promises to look for help, but Clementine decides to explore and gets surrounded by walkers. Luckily, she’s saved by a man named Tim, who gets bitten. Tim gives her some encouragement about building a better world, and she leaves before he can turn.

Georgia and Olivia get into a fight, but everything else seems well and good: they got the lift working with the generator, and Olivia tells Clementine that she plans to leave with Amos. But then Georgia pushes Amos off a cliff, and then tries to kill Clementine and Ricca.

From there, everything goes to shit and they manage to overpower Georgia. With her and Amos gone, that leaves Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia as the survivors. They go back to Olivia’s place and it’s revealed that her mom was actually a walker this entire time and building the houses was pretty pointless. Good thing Olivia knows how to fly a plane, though—the three escape via plane. That leads us into Book Two.

The Plot: I'm on an island of grief, surrounded by an ocean of disappointment

Before I dive into individual characters, the romance, and other thoughts, I want to go over everything that actually happens in this book.

We pick up only weeks after the events of Book One; Clementine, Ricca, Olivia, and their cat, Dr Barnwell, survive crashing the plane they took... somehow. From what I can tell, there were no injuries due to that so props to Olivia for not only knowing how to fly a plane, but crash land it good enough to not die.

They've landed somewhere in Canada, which is where Ricca's originally from. The three girls and their cat are on what looks to be a roof, talking about how they need to get to the coast since Clementine feels they're getting closer to something. Then we get the first inklings of romance in the air with Clementine being a little optimistic, and Olivia telling Ricca it's because of her.

This leads into the section of pages that was teased prior to release. They're going over their multiplications when they see a rabbit. Ricca chases after it because of course you want to send the person with the worst eyesight to catch dinner, but I suppose if she didn't go, then Clementine and Olivia couldn't talk about how not okay Olivia is.

Which makes sense; her twin sister, Georgia, murdered Amos, her... boyfriend? Honestly I don't know if we can even call him that, the Amos and Olivia "relationship" in Book One was underdeveloped and practically non-existent... yet it has great consequences that we'll get into... oh boy, will we get into it, ugh.

But Olivia's feeling like the screw up of the group; she's worried that she'll ruin Clementine's plans; "I'm bad luck. I'll... just hold you two back." / "Georgia and Amos are dead. I keep waiting for them to be next to me when I wake up, but every morning they're not there. There's no place in the world that will make that feel okay."

Clementine has no time to comfort her as Ricca's lost the rabbit to a herd of walkers that chases them into this little shack. They grab a walker and begin smearing its guts all over themselves.

The manage to escape. It's raining as they try surviving off dandelions and acorns, and they're out of willow bark, which is the stuff Rabby gave Clementine in Book One to help with pain. "Kenny" has felt so uncomfortable since the plane ride, and I've been uncomfortable ever since Clementine decided to name her prosthetic after Kenny, of all people.

But never mind that, it's time for Clementine and Ricca to share a moment in the rain. On top of her leg hurting and Olivia struggling, Ricca's eyesight is getting worse.

And then Olivia gets grabbed by a couple of men. They demand that Clementine and Ricca drop their weapons, and Olivia asks them to not hand over the hatchet since it belonged to Tim... this is the last mention we ever get of Tim.

And they get away from them super easily.

These men never come back and have zero impact on the story.

Our three protagonists take refuge in an abandoned home where we see them bandaging their wounds. And this is where cheesy dialogue that might sound better in another work sounds less great here:

Ricca: Why is every day so hard? Clementine: It won't be like this forever. Ricca: The world might not give us a choice, Clem. Clementine: Then I'll change the world.

...Right. Also, take note that Clementine and Ricca's hands are touching. The build up of the romance isn't terrible, honestly... I just wish the actual couple wasn't Clementine and Ricca, but I'll get more into that later.

They're getting closer to the ocean when they hear other survivors above them... and just like that, Clementine's feverish. She can't get up from the ground, her leg looks terrible, and she starts blacking out. It's jarring how out of nowhere she's suddenly in terrible condition. I think we're to assume that the lack of rest, being stuck in the rain, and being covered in walker guts made her condition decline, but when you realize just how bad it is... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Ricca and Olivia do their best to carry her. Ricca begins singing a Jewish song about angels, and they make it to the beach. There's a boat in the distance that they have to flag down if there's any hope in Clementine surviving.

This is very dumb on their part. Olivia just runs into the ocean screaming, Ricca goes to help, and they leave Clementine on the beach with the cat... bad idea.

And we get our first dream sequence.

When I said I wanted Amos back, I meant that I wanted a big reveal that he survived the fall and was back for revenge, but nope! In Book One, we had Lee showing up in these bits, but he doesn't make any appearance in this book. Neither does AJ.

My extreme disappointment aside, Ricca and Olivia scream at the boat for help. But the waves are strong, and Clementine ends up swept into the ocean... dreadful sorry, Clementine. Who could've seen this coming?

Don't fear, though, she gets grabbed and pulled into the boat... and we fast forward to a month later. Yes, really.

Clementine wakes up in a new room, a comfortable bed, with a lovely view of the cliffside and ocean. She's been in a coma for a month... a month! Olivia's been feeding her and changing her bedsheets the entire time which... I don't think that's how that works?? You can't just spoon feed someone who is in a coma? You need feeding tubes? Which she wasn't connected to any! And with the way Morro explains her condition later, by all accounts, Clementine should be dead!

But why did she black out and fall into a coma, you ask? Her leg had a massive infection. I guess she wasn't cleaning it properly.

Whatever, Clementine still maintains her protagonist powers, so she's awake and well. Suspension of disbelief, y'know.

They're in this place that isn't actually given a name. It's made up of five little islands that almost connect, but they only use one. They farm, compost, build; every week there's a list of chores that everyone signs up for, they all have their own little houses and areas. They don't have to worry about walkers too much, other than when they wash up on shore from the water. It's a pretty damn nice set up... sure hope nothing bad happens to it.

Olivia's happy to see Clementine when she wakes, but they can't get Kenny back on. Clementine's rolled out of the house in a wheelchair to go to a birthday party. At this party, Clementine and Ricca reunite with a hug, and we're introduced to our new group of eight survivors:

Emi - She picked Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia up in her boat as she's the only one not afraid to go out on the water and fish. John - Morro's son. He does a lot of work on the island, like building walls and taking care of the cow. Amir - A young boy who lost his arm when he was bitten by a dog and his father didn't believe him. Shu-Fen - but they mostly call her Fen. She's quiet and keeps to herself. Ginette and Giles - a old, married couple who only speak French. Mercy - a young girl that Ginette and Giles take care of. Morro - she's not at the party, but at this point we learn she's in charge of things around here. Also, she's a doctor.

It's a lot of characters thrown at you all at once, but they're fairly easy to pick apart and remember. Definitely easier than trying to keep track of Georgia and Olivia in Book One.

So, what's the deal with this birthday party? Not everyone in this group could remember their real birthdays, so they decided to make one new birthday for everyone. There's cake, games, little party hats, all around good time.

But Clementine's not convinced. She's uncomfortable, she's asking a lot of questions, and this is where we start to see some tension between her and Ricca.

Y'see, Ricca really likes this place, and wants to settle here. Remember, while Clementine was in her coma, she and Olivia have lived here; they've already settled in nicely. They live in the house that's on the highest cliff and is deemed quite safe.

But Clementine is naturally suspicious of everything and is looking for something to be wrong, like that there's only one boat- one escape. This is an ongoing thing where Ricca wants to act like everything is fine, everything is safe, this is what they were looking for to begin with... and Clementine doesn't want to ignore any possible red flags; "Everything is fine until it isn't."

Clementine can't sleep and takes her wheel chair outside for some fresh air, and there she meets Miss Anne Morro. It's actually a well done interaction where we see these two poke and prod at each other the way two strong, leader-like personalities would butt heads. It's also just a little... unsettling. Morro's got that vibe, y'know?

We learn that Morro used to be a pathologist who performed autopsies, but she knows enough to help the living. She says she surprised that Clementine survived given she was nearly septic and she didn't have much in meds... if Clementine was nearly septic and in a coma, she should be dead but it's fine. She just really wanted to survive, I guess. That's what Morro believes it was; "You must've really wanted to stick around." / "You held on like some one with unfinished work."

Morro asks Clementine if she's going to stay as a lot of resources went into keeping her alive, and Clementine points out that was Morro's choice; "Don't pin your regrets on me."

Morro tells her that, while trustworthy, Ricca and Olivia are depressed, and insinuates that Clementine probably is, as well.

Morro smirks, and tell Clementine she'll be expected to work, and that work is everything before leaving Clementine to watch the sunrise alone.

We then get another time skip. Amir shows up on his bike to tell the girls that walkers breached the wall at Borgot. The three of them agree to go help, but they've all got issues; Clementine's been off her feet for weeks and Kenny's not fitting right, Ricca's vision isn't great and it being so gray and rainy doesn't help, and Olivia's been throwing up all week. But it's fine.

They get down there and meet up with Fen, who is surprised Clementine's there to help. Clementine snaps at her that she's been dealing with this shit just as long as she has and can handle a few walkers. She's just gotta get her sock that Ginette's knitted for her first. Ginette also gives her a new hat, the one we see her wearing on the cover of this book.

There are a lot of walkers by the time Clementine gets there. Ricca can't see anything, so Clementine tells her to go to safety... and I want you to really keep in mind how much this book tries to hammer in that Ricca can't see, okay?

Once the walkers are dealt with, we learn from Emi that all of the walker bodies are dragged to Morro so she can "deal with them." Emi thinks it's a waste of time given she's the one who provides the food for everyone, I'm sure it's annoying for her to know what Morro does. John and Fen are too busy helping Morro to help gut fish, so Clementine volunteers Olivia to help with that.

Clementine goes to find Ricca in this little shed where she's working on a project. Clementine tries to comfort her, but Ricca says she just needs to wallow for a little bit and clear her head while she works. She won't let Clementine see what she's working on.

Clementine asks Ricca to meet her on the docks at sundown, and I'm forced to roll my eyes because the miscommunication is exactly what you think it is; Ricca assumes this is a date, but really, Clementine wants to check out Morro's place to see what she does with the dead.

We get Amir's backstory behind his amputated arm: He got bit by a dog, but his father thought it was a walker bite and he was too little to stop him. His father drowned right before this boat crashed on the island. He and Clementine has some cute banter about how she grew taller and waited for her stump to grow, too.

Then we get to know Fen a little bit more- She's originally from Taiwan, but her family was on vacation here with the apocalypse hit, and she's been trying to piece together a world map so she can make it back home. Emi's helping her build a boat but she's still unsure. The map's... well, it's inaccurate.

That night, Ricca and Clementine meet up. Ricca's clearly cleaned up for a date and expresses her disappointment when it's an investigation instead... Clementine's oblivious to this. Truthfully, I feel sorry for Ricca here. I mean, it always sucks when you're excited for something, like a date, only to show up and oh... it's not what you wanted.

Emi comes to pick them up in her boat, and Ricca asks Clementine what it's going to take to convince her that they could be okay here.

But here's Clementine's concern- She's liking the island, but not enough to settle yet. Ricca's eyesight is bad, her prosthetic isn't great. Olivia's depressed. What if there's more out there for them, like an eye doctor or schools? Something even safer?

Ricca isn't satisfied with that answer. In fact, she's kind of hurt with the way Clementine said, "I don't want us to miss out, make the wrong choice."

They go to Morro's place, who is annoyed at being interrupted and tells Clementine her suspicion is tiresome. Turns out Morro's just doing autopsies on the dead. Doesn't matter how degraded they are, she examines each one, takes note of defining details, items on their person, etc. They're assigned a number and buried. It's a lot of work that Clementine questions.

Clementine: Why? Why spend all this energy on them? Morro: They are people. They deserve to be remembered. Clementine: They deserve to be thrown back in the sea. Each of these "people" has maimed and killed who knows how many others... Morro: And? Clementine: And!? In case you hadn't noticed, that corpse and ALL the others are the reason our parents are dead and the world is a pile of garbage. Morro: On this young man I found a medical bracelet. He was allergic to penicillin. I also found a ring in his pocket. Older style. Perhaps it belongs to his mother. His first death was a bad one. Burns, from what I can tell. Anywhere else, he'd decompose and disappear. But instead he washed up here. Kind of like you and your friends.

...okay, we're doing this, I guess. I don't think I need to say that TFS did it better with James and his viewpoint on walkers; how it was deep rooted in his trauma from time with the whisperers, and was meant to make the player think about what actually happens when you become a walker... Are you truly gone? or is there still a piece of you inside that walker? And it showed how far James was willing to go for his fucked up vision of "peace," but it made sense with his character.

This is meant to show how Morro is older, doing autopsies used to be her job, and so she has a different view on the dead. Clementine, however, was raised in this world and has no other view outside of "they're monsters."

But here's the deal, I don't believe Morro's intentions are purely about doing what's "right" for these people. It's about ignoring the real problems on the island and trying to make herself feel like a better person... which I don't think she is. I mean, did'ja see that final jab at Clem? Morro's kind of a passive aggressive ass, and believe me, it's going to get worse.

But Emi shoos them out, and they meet up with John, who is also working this late at night. Ricca steps away from the group and asks Clementine what's out there since everything's fuzzy. It's the graves where all the walkers are buried. Ricca admits there's something off about Morro, and that maybe she's missing something about this place. Maybe it's not safe, but she's scared to start over again, scared of waiting for Clementine to figure out what's wrong and they'll have to leave.

Then Clementine tells her they can stay.

...what?

When I say that I think Clementine's a little fickle with Ricca, this is what I mean. She's watching everything on this island like a hawk, looking for something to be wrong, worried that there might be something better out there... and then she does a 180 like "Okay, we can stay. Didn't realize this was wearing on you."

But that stance isn't going to stay the same! She goes back and forth on things, then we get this:

Ricca: You can still surprise me, Clem. Clementine: I'm sorry that it took me a while. That I made you wait. Ricca: Oh, come on. You know I'll wait for you. Clementine: I know you will.

Put a pin in that exchange; it's important and makes me upsetti spagetti.

Speaking of upset, by now we're at Chapter Four... this chapter makes me unhappy for so many reasons.

The group is waiting for dinner, and we see Clementine's learned how to knit. Amir comes in and tells everyone that the boat is at the beach but Emi and Olivia are no where to be found. He looked everywhere for them but it's so foggy that he couldn't find them. Something's wrong, but Morro is weirdly against sending out a search party... and we see the way she treats her son.

Uhm, first of all, rude. Second, it's gonna get worse.

The group goes searching. Clementine and John talk about Morro, and he says that she's only a jerk to him. She wasn't always that way, but after his sister's bite, she changed.

His sister, Sarah, snuck out one night and came back with a tiny bite. This was back when they didn't know what that meant, so Morro bandaged it up and they went to bed... only for her to turn and eat nearly everyone: his dad, his other sister, Fen's parents... but Morro was able to save him and Fen. And even though all of that happened, they still live in the inn because Morro told them they need to face it.

How funny given Morro doesn't want to face certain things later.

Then Clementine guesses why she does autopsies on the walkers: if Morro looks at each one, then she'll never miss another bite.

That makes no sense.

They're already dead. It doesn't matter if they're bitten. Pi and I were talking about this the other night; wouldn't it make more sense for Morro to be obsessed with checking the living for bites? Every night, they're to report to her office so she can examine them for any bite before they're allowed to go? Who gives a shit if a walker has a bite? What's that going to do for you? Everyone else on the island wants to burn the dead and not waste that much time, but Morro just doesn't listen.

Again, this is why I don't believe her intentions with it are pure. Morro made a mistake that wasn't even her fault, and she lost most of her family because of it. That's traumatic, and this is probably her way of working through that, of "atoning," but she's neglecting the living because of it.

Also, she treats her only living son like shit, so honestly? Fuck her. John doesn't deserve it. I'm team John, he's chill.

He then goes on to explain the backlog of walkers behind the graveyard.

...an entire community of walkers backlogged, you say? And Morro keeps putting them off? I'm sure that won't be the downfall of this group, Anne.

John and Clementine eventually find Emi and Olivia in the lighthouse. They go there to chill after fishing, and Olivia's upstairs getting some air. Clementine rushes up there and we get the first big twist. Are you ready? I bet you're not.

Olivia tells Clementine she got bit.

Except she didn't.

Olivia: I got bit. It's over. Clementine: What? You- show me, Olivia! Where? I'll cut it out! Olivia: I don't know what happened! Clementine: Where!? We have to hurry! Olivia: You can't cut it out, it's inside! I'm starting to turn already, I feel it! Clementine: It's... inside? Olivia: Something moved in me, it's the start of it. I'm becoming one of them. You know, I really liked being alive. Clementine: Olivia, show me where it moved. Olivia, clutching her stomach: Here. Clementine, sobbing and hugging Olivia: Okay, okay, don't worry... it's not a bite.

I... have so many feelings about this.

Just in case you don't get it, Olivia's pregnant. With a baby. And she thought it was a bite.

Remember how I said Amos and Olivia's "relationship" was important? Apparently they had sex in Book One and now she's pregnant. With a baby.

But... why?

I will tear into this more in Olivia's section, but know that I am unhappy. And so is Clementine. She goes off by herself, climbs a hill to overlook the backlog of walkers and just starts screaming at them.

....she says as if this is a new concept to her?

And y'know... given she already raised a baby- you remember Alvin Junior, yes? AJ? Yeah, the kid she left at Ericson? That one, she raised him from when he was a baby, so you'd think she'd bring that up in all this anguish.... but she doesn't. Which is bizarre. This paired with the fact that there are no mentions of Lee makes me think we're moving farther and farther away from the games, trying to establish this as its own thing. Which is fine for those who haven't played the games, but it's a glaring issue for those who have.

Anyway... dream sequence. This time Clementine and Ricca are on a boat that has a bed. It's snowing, Ricca tells her to come sleep, but there's a walker in the bed. It's so... honestly, the only way I can describe the imagery is it's so Tillie Walden, and that's a positive thing, that's a compliment.

The next morning, Olivia doesn't want to talk about her pregnancy. She's going down the "la la la I'm not ignoring this except I totally am la la la I'm going fishing" route, and storms out. Clementine tells Ricca about it, we learn Ricca tracks their periods, and Clementine asks if you don't have a period when you're pregnant... I think Kate must've missed that bit of info when she was giving her the talk in ANF.

Clementine mentions she saw a baby born but blocked it out because it was so scary... either she's talking about Christa, or Rebecca. Christa's the only one we know she was there for since for Rebecca's, she could either help Kenny or help the group, but she wasn't actually there for the birthing process... she was likely watching Sarah get eaten alive, assuming she lived that long.

But that's not important because Ricca's upset again.

Ricca: Do you regret all this? Staying? Clementine: No! No. We'd have problems like this anywhere. It's more that... I've been distracted. I know we've been, like, um... and I want to do stuff, but I need to make it safe first. Once everything is safe, then we can, um... Does that...? Ricca: Oh. Clementine: Ric? Ricca: I think Olivia had the right idea. I'm gonna go. Clementine: Ricca, I didn't mean- Ricca: You did mean it. Go fight your battles. They'll keep you company. Clementine: I- [interrupted by Ricca slamming the door]

What the fuck, Ricca?

I'll be honest, the first time I read this, I had to reread it, like, ten times because I didn't understand why Ricca was so pissed. But just wait, we'll get it to. I keep saying that, but I need you to trust me on this.

So Ricca storms out because reasons, and Clementine goes to talk to Morro about the backlog of walkers. Morro doesn't want to deal with the walkers right now, even though she knows they have to be dealt with eventually. She believes there are more important things that need done first; "Summer is precious here. There's grain to harvest, fish to cure, wood to store. If this isn't done, winter will end us. On top of that, we're behind on herb collection. We're behind on the sea walls. We're behind on laundry."

Gee, I bet y'all wouldn't be so behind if you spent less time on autopsies and more time helping out, Anne.

But Clementine's not having any of it, nor should she.

She knows there's no secure way to hold walkers, and can't wrap her head around how adults can read, write, and know so much that she doesn't and yet still not grasp the way this world works now. So, she'll take care of it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Clementine recruits John and Fen to help her build a tunnel with a door that'll let them control how many walks come out, that way they can deal with them slowly but surely. John's pumped about getting to help so that he can show his mom that he's not a screw up. Some time passes, they build the tunnel, and Morro tells Clementine to be careful that she doesn't lose herself in her work.

This book's definitely making Clementine and Morro character foils, which I like.

On the beach, Clementine and Olivia show just how much they know about pregnancy and their bodies... as in very little. Morro told her "some wild stuff" about the cervix and uterus, and then Olivia's like "she kept asking me about my last period, and I was like, um, why?" She doesn't even know why her period is important! This sweet summer child! How did she and Amos even figure out how sex worked!?

It really showcases how young Olivia is, though. Apparently the baby will be here in about four or five months. It's so... casual? I don't think the whole group knows, but Morro and Emi do and no one is like... "hey, there's gonna be a baby, we should probably prepare for that."

I guess we don't have time for that, though, because we have more clemricca drama to deal with.

Deep breath... okay. It's raining. Clementine's in her wheelchair. She goes to the little shed Ricca's used for her secret project. She won't let her in, by the way, even though it's pouring and they're both getting drenched. This is the conversation:

Clementine: I, um... Ricca: What? Clementine: I don't want you to think that anything is more important to me than you. Ricca: That's kind of how you made it sound. Clementine: What I meant to say was that I want this island safe for us. We can't do anything if we're dead. Ricca: What do you mean "do?" Kiss? Date? Talk about how we actually feel? The dead decide when that can happen!? Clementine: ... Ricca: I love you. And I'm pretty sure you love me, too. But you're not making me feel loved. You're making me feel like you just want to protect me or... Clementine: But I do want to protect you. It's all I think about. Every minute of every day. Ricca: I don't need saving, Clem. I need you to love me. And I need it to be always. It can't start and stop. Clementine: ... I... Ricca: Oh my god, maybe this has all been in my head-- Clementine: Ricca-- Ricca: I get it, okay? Clementine: If I let... if I let myself... Ricca: Forget this. Clementine: You said you would wait for me! Ricca: That's not fair. You want me to wait for the impossible!? Clementine: No, I-- Ricca: I'm done, Clem. Clementine: Ricca, don't go in yet, please, we can talk more-- Ricca, going back inside: What else is there to say? [slams door]

I..... hate this.

Again. We will dive into it in the Ricca/clemricca section, just know that I hate this so much... but wait, there's more coming!

So Clementine's left in the rain, crying, and I'm trying to keep my composure over all of this. Then we cut to her sitting on the beach, presumably the next day, where Giles and Ginette find her and Clementine breaks down crying in Ginette's lap.

We've made it to chapter six; they have the walker tunnel built, they're stabbing the walkers through it, and they're taking the bodies to Morro because of course she's still doing her autopsies. Fen tries to talk to Clementine about Ricca but she's not having it.

Morro's grumpy about this whole situation. When John offers to help her, she's just an asshole to him. She's going off about how this and that needs to be done, and Clementine stands up for John.

It doesn't go well.

And Clementine snaps at her with, "Your daughter getting bit really didn't convince you how dangerous walkers are? But I guess you didn't take that situation seriously, either."

Not gonna lie, I applaud Clementine with that one. But Morro's not going to just take that sitting down. She tells everyone to get out, and poor John is gripping his head, wide eyed, crying...

But Morro, suddenly calm, adds, "Oh, Clementine, I'm sorry to hear about the little break-up. My marriage didn't work out. My only regret is not leaving him sooner. I suspect you might be like me. We're just not suited for love. Better to realize that while you're young. Some things about yourself, well... you just can't change."

Ma'am, you are an asshole.

John is literally right that, and you just casually drop that you wish you'd left his father sooner even though he was eaten by walkers, eaten BY YOUR DAUGHTER who turned, and that you're not suited for love like??? Is that why you treat your son like shit??

Oh, but you're suuuuuuuch a good person for doing these autopsies and burying the dead, right?

Also, this is the second time someone's questioned Clementine's ability to love in this series. The first was Georgia before she was killed: "You've never loved anyone, Clementine, I can see it. You have no idea... how far I'll go... what I'll do..."

Hey, speaking of Book One- hard cut to a dream sequence with Amos and it makes little sense. Clementine's asking him how he and Olivia made their relationship work, they made it look easy and never seemed scared but like..... what relationship?? I have read Book One 10+ times! The relationship was practically nonexistent! He made a comment about her bright eyes and she invited him behind the curtain with her! Then suddenly she wants to go away with him back to his town!

But in this dream sequence, Clementine asks if she's too broken for this romance with Ricca, asking why she's so scared and shit, and just-

Clementine: Am I too broken for this? Amos: You think Ricca isn't broken, too? The only difference is that she isn't ashamed of her scars. She wants to face her fears with you. Not for you. Clementine: She deserves more... so much more than me. Amos, holding a baby??: She deserves the world. And that's you, Clementine.

I'm at a loss for words, I am so tired...

Ricca and Olivia find Clementine passed out in front of Ricca's shack. Fen told them what Morro said and apparently Ricca threw a plate at her head. Finally, she does something I approve of.

Ricca finally lets them in her shack to see the big project she's been working on- a synagogue; "It's like a church, but for Jews."

It's actually a really nice set up she's made, and it feels like Ricca's the only one who has the baby in mind since she's still trying to figure out a crib. She made groves in the floor so that she can move around even when she can't see. She talks about how this is a place for all of them where they can celebrate holidays, rest, pray, sing', etc. She's hoping to have a bat mitzvah one day, so the girls suggest they have one right now for the three of them.

So they gather together, light a bunch of candles, wrap themselves in blankets and put flowers in their hair. Ricca starts by reciting what she can remember from the Torah, and translates what she can for them; "Some of it is peace and God and stuff, then rest I really don't know. I just know that saying the words makes the ground feel... deeper. And it makes the sky seem so much higher up. I guess what I've learned is that I'm actually really lucky. To be here, right now. To have found you guys, this island. The mountain."

Now this is some development with Ricca I like. We've gotten snippets of Jewish culture with her character throughout these two books but this is the first time we've actually explored it and what it means to her.

Olivia goes next; "'It's not gonna be easy, it's gonna be really hard.' It's from a book we read in Vermont. Oh, and my favorite word from the dictionary. Speckle. It means 'a small part of something.'" She shares that she's thought about how everyone starts out as a baby and someone kept them alive without them even asking, and she's thought about them being super little when they had nothing to worry about... I'm sure this is all coming from the fact that she's soon to have a baby.

Now it's Clementine's turn to talk, and she asks to see what Ricca wrote down. It's a paper of words and phrases, symbols, and such that she could remember, and Clementine focuses on, "May there be abundant peace."

And this makes her realize that she does love Ricca.

....wait, what?

My head hurts. Breathe, CJ, breeeeathe.... It's fine, it's only Clementine apologizing even though she did nothing wrong. It's only us ignoring the fact that Ricca was out here pulling the, "I guess you never really loved me" guilt-trip because Clementine wasn't moving at her pace, it's fiiiiiiiiiine.... I'm not upset, I swear.

So... Clementine and Ricca confess they love each other and are officially girlfriends now, and we get more cheese from Clem; "Making it right between us... it feels like the whole world's been saved."

Oh boy. The girls talk about how they feel more adult after their bat mitzvah.

From here, we get into chapter seven where shit hits the fan. The problem I had with Book One had to do with pacing where it had this slow beginning and middle, and then crazy shit happened all at once toward the end... while the pacing for this book is a little better, this is where we just into that whiplash, "what the fuck, how did this happen??"

The girls fell asleep and now it's night. Everything seems chill as they deal with a stray walker and talk about Morro, and we get this line from Ricca, "Anyone who is mean to Clem is dead to me." which I find hilarious since that's literally the attitude the twdg fandom has. But the irony of that aside, shit's going down because they're surrounded by walkers.

The backlog of walkers got out.

There's hundreds of them.

Dr Barnwell, the cat, is back at the house so Ricca offers to go get him while Clementine and Olivia go to Morro's place where they assume everyone's held up... Remember that- Ricca, the one who can't see in the dark, is the one to go get the cat. They plan to meet at the docks.

Ginette, Giles, and Mercy are dead, being eaten by walkers outside of Morro's place. John's also dead inside, having been bitten. That's FOUR off-screen deaths, and lemme tell you, I'm pissed that John's dead. Morro's just standing there while while Emi watches the door and Fen holds a sobbing Amir.

Morro's still an asshole even when her son's dead, she's like, "My sweet, dumb boy." Lady, you were awful to him this entire book!

It turns out John was so upset last time we saw him that he convinced himself he could take all those walkers on, so he made the tunnel bigger for more to come through. He got overwhelmed and couldn't shut it down, got bit, panicked, and ran to his mother. Then he died on the floor. Just like that.

I..... am so upset about John, y'all.

The group plans to take Emi's boat and get outta there, but guess what? Morro's not going; "I'm not leaving my son."

She knows he's going to turn and doesn't care, AND this action of hers indirectly gets Amir killed. I'm serious. She's staying, so Amir starts throwing a fit that he wants to stay with John, too.

Before they go, Morro tells them to get to PEI, since years ago she traded with an herbalist named Saa who could potentially help them.

They leave, and a crying Morro goes to John while walkers break through the windows. She's dead.

Can't say I feel bad about that one, Anne, got gonna lie...

But then Amir gets killed when he continues to scream about going back to John. He gets away from Emi, goes back to the house and opens the door to find John as a walker. Walker John attacks Amir, killing him.

Characters are just dropping at this point, and we're not done!

Emi's crying out in distress, Clementine has to hold her back, and they all gotta make a run for it. They make it to the docks and Ricca's not there. Clementine refuses to leave her behind, and they get overwhelmed... and Emi saves Olivia, but gets bitten. Emi grabs a bunch of the walkers and drags them all down into the water with her... and she's gone.

I need to stress this... everyone except Fen from this new group is dead now, all killed in a SINGLE CHAPTER. This isn't like S2 where everyone from the cabin group eventually dies; that happened over the course of the season with each death hurting more and more until it all ended with Luke's death on the lake, and by then you're so numbed by the loss... this is just boom boom boom, DEAD.

And guess who shows up. They try to fake us out by making us think Ricca's a walker, but no. She's fine, and she has the cat.

Tell me... how the fuck did Ricca navigate the island in the dark to grab Dr Barnwell and make it to the docks in time when she can't fucking see anything??? HOW??? This book has hammered home that Ricca can't see. She can't see in the dark, she can't see in bad weather, she can barely see in the light! You expect me to believe she did all of this without getting chomped? That she made it back in time? UGH.

John's dead. Emi died to save Olivia. Amir's dead. Giles, Ginette, and little baby Mercy are dead....... but somehow, somewhat, Ricca managed to survive, I'm.......... I'm not saying I want her dead, I'm saying I'm upset laughing right now.

Anyway... that bullshit's over. Chapter eight, three weeks later, they're in this community looking for Saa. Their boat got stolen, they're living off rotten potatoes, and they still haven't found Saa. Clementine and Fen wander around until someone can point them in her direction, and they find Saa and Derrick.

Saa's a woman in a wheelchair, both legs amputated from before the outbreak, and Derrick seems to be her right-hand man.

Saa has Derrick get them a supply bag and lets them on her boat. She's planning to leave town and shows Clementine and Fenn her world map. Remember how Fen was trying to piece together her own map? Yeah, she gets overwhelmed when she realizes just how off her map was. Taiwan's farther than she expected, so she leaves believing she'll never make it home.

By the way, I am happy Fen survived. I think she's a neat character and I'm interested where Book Three takes her character.

Saa's quite likable for a character introduced so late in the book. She talks with Clementine about how amputees existed before the dead rose, and Derrick comes back with a box of supplies. We learn that Saa wants to go to Greenland since she got a letter from a friend who went there, and Clementine's surprised that letters are a thing.

Also, Saa's crew might be dead. She doesn't believe they are, but Derrick does. This gives Clementine a lightbulb moment, and she offers her group to be Saa's new crew.

Saa: Woah, woah, we need five experienced hands, not two kids. Clementine: Olivia is experienced! She knows boats! Saa: Are there five of you? Clementine: Yes! Saa: Are you lying to me? Derrick: Definitely. Clementine: No! No, it's just... Only four of us can help. One isn't born yet. Derrick: Oh my. Saa: No. No.

But don't worry, Clementine sells the group well enough that Saa reluctantly agrees. I guess we're going to Greenland in Book Three.

They camp, and in the morning Clementine drags Ricca and Olivia to this person who takes polaroid photos... because there'ssomeone who just does that, I guess. Then they head to the boat. They set sail, it's a grand ol' time.

Then Clementine and Ricca have their first kiss.. and we head into chapter nine.

I think everyone's heard of chapter nine by now, but whether you've heard of it accurately is another story. Do you know how many comments I've read on reddit about this chapter that are just... false?? Spreading misinformation?? It's ridiculous.

Clementine and Ricca have sex this chapter, but there's no sex scene. It doesn't even show any kissing. It's literally a fade to black. It's not explicit, and no, reddit, it's not like 50 Shades of Grey, you dumbasses.

They're laying together in what I assume is their room on the ship, talking about scars, and this is how conversation progresses:

Clementine: Back in Vermont when we’d bump into each other in that tiny cabin… my whole face would feel hot. Ricca: I remember. You were hard to reach, then. Clementine: I remember. Ricca? Ricca: Hmm? Clementine: Have you had sex before? Ricca: Yeah, have you? Clementine: No… I’m still not totally clear on what it is… Ricca: A lot of it is instinctual. Clementine: Bullshit, maybe for you. Ricca: I’m serious! You and the other person respond to each other. Clementine: Stabbing walkers in the head when they’re trying to kill you is instinctual. This… this is… so overwhelming. Ricca: Doing anything for the first time is… Think about the first time you shot a gun, or started a fire. Clementine: I remember my first walker… I was so scared that day. That year. Ricca: You were alone? Clementine: I was. But I’m not now. I don’t have to figure this out myself. You’ll show me everything? Step by step? Ricca: Of course. We can take our time. Clementine: Doesn’t it feel like… like we have to hurry? Do everything we can as soon as we can? Ricca: Why would we need to? I’m not going anywhere. And we are in the middle of the ocean. Clementine: I know, I know, it’s not that, it’s… Whenever I feel happy, when it’s peaceful like this, it always seems to get cut off. I want to make this feeling… this night… last. How do I do that? Ricca: You mean… How do we stop time? Clementine: Yeah. Can you teach me that, too? Ricca: Hmm… Clementine: I’m not asking for much, just for tonight to last a little longer. As soon as the sun comes up, there’ll be so much to do. Ricca: For you, Clementine. I’ll have a word with the sun… and ask for a little more time.

Clementine wakes up the next morning to the sunlight pouring in through the window with tears in her eyes.

The end; to be continued in Book Three.

That's the whole plot. That's everything that happened.

It's a lot. Book Two's longer than Book One, but I found myself enjoying it a little more... but with that comes even more disappointment than before. I can see a good, solid story here but it wasted a lot of opportunities. I hate that it introduced a new cast of characters just so it could kill all but one of them off in a single chapter, that hurt. The romantic subplot is bad because, in my opinion, the couple involved shouldn't be together. There's stuff to like, hence why I've given it a higher rating than Book One, but it's bogged down by some major flaws.

But let's get into the character's now.

Dreadful Sorry, Clementine...

The best way I can describe Clementine is she's incredibly inconsistent with the game's depiction of her, but she's consistent between both books. Ignoring the games, this feels like a natural-ish progression of her character from Book One.

I believe I mentioned this in my review of Book One, and if not there I've said it before, but this Clementine is like if we skipped TFS. Book One felt like we picked up right after ANF, except Clementine decided not to go after AJ and instead went off on her own, that's how angsty she was... even though that doesn't make sense because we know she was at Ericson and AJ was the one to cut off her leg. It's a regression you won't notice if you haven't played the games, but most of us have. That's why people call her Tangerine. We're backtracking to tell the same character arc in a different, less compelling way.

There were more points in this one where I feel the real Clementine peaking through, though, usually when she's sassing Morro. But the rest of the time it's just a shell of who she once was.

I will say that I find the approach to Clementine's knowledge... interesting? She's definitely dumbed down a little, but it feels like a situation where the book needs the reader to know something and uses Clementine to get that information across, resulting in her looking dumb. Remember when she didn't know she needed to wash her leg in Book One and everyone threw a fit? It's like when you're watching a movie and a character pulls the, "As you know," out; if the character already knows, why are you telling them? You're not, really, you're telling the audience. It's the same vibe; we need to know she needs to clean her leg.

But here we get to also look at Clementine's lacking in educational knowledge. I've already read some people being grumpy that she struggles with reading and writing her name, and fair enough... but remember that Clementine's education stopped at first grade. I think these books are trying to tell the story of someone who grew up in this world... as in Clementine's not exactly practicing her reading and writing every day the same way an average student does in the modern world. She's going to struggle. That's something the games just ignore and make her read super well, and they did the same thing with AJ. No five-year-old can read that well, especially if taught by another less educated person, c'mon now.

Also, y'all crack jokes about how Clementine has a first grade education and can't do math and shit but then the comic presents that in a more realistic way than the games and suddenly you have a problem? Mmhmmmm.

I like that Clementine airs that frustration with Morro about how adults know how to read and write and they know all these things she doesn't understand, but she has the knowledge of how to survive in this world better than any adult because she grew up in it and has little knowledge prior to this life.

She's also paranoid for a lot of the time on the island, which makes sense. She's witnessed enough community failures to be wary of things seeming too good to be true. Plus, she was in a coma. She has every right to wake up unsure about everything, and it's annoying that Ricca and Olivia never stop to consider that they've had a month to settle in and get comfortable, Clementine hasn't. She's trying to catch up. Ricca especially gets annoyed that she won't just hurry and feel safe already and that's a whole can of worms I'll get to.

This book hones in on Clementine becoming an adult after growing up in this world...whatever that means. By now I think we're to assume she's 18, and it gives us two growth scenarios where Clementine has a birthday and a bat mitzvah, which I think is supposed to show a "new chapter" in her life, so to speak.

This book also tackles her falling in love like it's the first time... which I guess means we're dealing with a single Clementine from TFS. I mean, if we have to do this, I'd prefer that. So y'know... anyone acting like this series made Clementine a "cheater," that's inaccurate and you know it, you're just trying to make everything worse than it really is.

I just wish Clementine fell for someone who didn't twist things to be her fault or guilt her into moving at a pace she clearly wasn't comfortable with. Then the book acts like Clementine had to have an epiphany that she does really love Ricca as if that's growth like.... stop. Stop trying to tell Clementine she's incapable of love as if romantic love is the only valid love that everyone has to learn to have. Clementine did love. She loved Ricca and Olivia as friends in this shitty world; she loved Dr Barnwell; she loved Amos enough to dream about him in order to seek his comfort, like... this Clementine is capable of love.

She apparently didn't love anyone at the school enough to stay but ahem not the point-

I can tell that Tillie Walden's not as comfortable writing for a character that's already established versus her original characters. It's so easy for everyone to throw around "this is just fanfiction!" like it's an insult [how ironic given the fandom tends to thrive on fanfiction but sure lets use it as an insult when convenient] but let's be serious about that for a moment.

There's a certain skillset in writing what's considered "good" fanfiction; I believe anyone can write fanfic, but tastes will always be subjective as not everyone will agree what's in character or not, and not everyone finds the same prose enjoyable. There's always room to improve when you're writing fanfiction, but not everyone will like your stuff.

I've read a lot of what I'd consider bad fanfiction in my time; clunky and awkward prose, unnatural dialogue, unappealing storylines and decisions, characters behaving in ways they never would in the source material. We all know how the thought of "They wouldn't say that," can take you right out of the fic you're reading.

When writing, the source material is a helpful tool that I encourage all fanfiction writers to take advantage of. The characters already have an established voice that you have to mimic, mannerisms and facts of their life to consider, and there's a lot of interpretation at play. Based on what you know of them, how would they react in this situation, or that one? If you're familiar enough with the source material and have the dedication, you can create some amazing stories.

I don't think Tillie has the right "toolbox," if you will, for fanfiction. She's skilled in writing her own characters and stories, something that's impressive as not everyone can do that, but she clearly struggles with Clementine. She's played the games [yes, I believe her when she says she played them, keep your snark in your lip] but she hasn't played them the way fans and fanfiction writers have. She's not using the source material the most effective way, and that might be on purpose, honestly. She only uses enough to remind us that this Clementine's originally from the games, but not enough to make her convincing.

All in all, Clementine's the most developed character in these books, obviously, but she's not as great as she could be. She's definitely more tolerable in Book Two than Book One.

Oh, Miss Morro, how you've disappointed me...

I don't like her.

I got beef with Anne.

I so desperately hoped she was conducting science experiments on the walkers. I wanted her to sew body parts onto walkers to see if they functioned; to see her create monstrosities for the sake of science or whatever other bullshit.

But no, she's just an asshole doing autopsies on walkers to make herself feel better while ignoring the big problem that eventually lead to their downfall. She mistreats her son even though he does most of the work around the island.

And she knows there's a lot of work to be done but spends that precious time doing these autopsies despite everyone knowing it's a waste of time... then she has the gall to lecture Clementine about not wasting time. She's passive aggressive, aloof, and just... unpleasant? Even when she's being nice, you get the sense it's fake.

While she's a better "antagonist" [if you can call her that] than Georgia was in Book One, she's just another disappointment. Why not go ham with it? We're on an island that seems too good to be true, you've got this old woman who leads the group but goes off to her little shack at night to work with the dead, you've established there's only one way of escape and that's Emi's boat... make her fucking crazy!

I get we're trying to be deep and psychological with her trauma over losing her family after she disregarded a bite, but it falls flat. You can't just make her an asshole the entire time and then her son dies and she's suddenly like, "ah, my poor, dumb son... I'm gonna stay here and be eaten by walkers now, I don't want to go on."

Imagine this, m'kay? Remember how I said she should be more concerned over checking the living for bites? Say she's obsessed with doing that and everyone sees her point since they don't want a repeat of what happened... then one of them does get bitten, either by a walker or something else, and they gotta deal with it... and then it's revealed that Morro used them in her experiments when Clementine finds them as a walker with parts sewn onto them and shit. Have John be in denial that his mother's doing anything fucked until he has to face it head on! Have everyone turn on Morro! Make her dangerous!

She's not a compelling character, she's just a bitch and I don't like her... and that's the wasted potential of this book right there.

Ricca upsets me

Okay, listen... I don't like Ricca.

I don't think anyone does, but I don't think any of you understand, y'know? She isn't a bad character just because she isn't Louis or Violet, or because you're pissy about the comics existence.

There are layers to why I don't like her. This is a "you don't understand her like I do" situation, except most people use that phrase when they're up their own ass and wholeheartedly believe their interpretation of their favorite is the only correct one, but me? I'm up my own ass about this character I don't even like!

Most of y'all haven't read the comics like I have. That's why you're here. Either you've read through them once or twice, you've only read other peoples reviews and formed your opinions based on them, or you've watched a video of someone reading the comic and they've influenced your judgement.... but me? I've studied these comics! I've read them critically, analytically! I went into this with an open mind about Ricca; I gave her a chance! I gave clemricca a chance! Which is more than I can say for most of you!

And all I've gotten in return is a headache!

Let me get the good out of the way, because there are things about her character that I do like. If you'll recall in Book One, Ricca mentions that she thinks she's the last Sephardic Jew left, and in this book we see her singing Jewish songs, she builds her own synagogue, and we get the big bat mitzvah. I really like that it wasn't just a throwaway detail that Ricca's Jewish, and that we get some exploration into that side of her.

Her worsening eyesight was interesting for me as someone who also has terrible sight and needs glasses to function, but it kind of gets ruined when we've built it up for so long only to toss it out the window in the end. She's supposedly blind at night, yet she made it through a herd of walkers back to their house, grabbed the cat, and made it back to the docks in just in time leave with everyone?

Absolutely not. The only way I could see that working is if she had a way of knowing where she was at all times without her sight, like what she did in her shed with the floor. It's unclear if she's covered herself in walker guts, but that's another way she could've made it without getting bitten... but that still doesn't help that she cannot see and doesn't have a means of seeing without her eyes.

Sorry, this is supposed to be what I liked... I do like the glasses stuff, just not when it's inconsistent. Ricca also has some funny lines here and there, she's definitely a little snarky and sarcastic at times. She's hardworking, and picks up the slack when Olivia's too depressed to do anything, which I appreciate, but... that's it. There isn't a whole lot else I enjoy about this character.

Everything I dislike stems from her relationship with Clementine.

First of all, they have little to no chemistry when it comes to romantic banter. It's bizarre, though, because I believe the trio's friendship more than I believe Clementine and Ricca have some sort of deeper connection. Without Olivia there, it's awkward.

Clementine's focused on the island, determining if it's safe, looking for something to be wrong or dangerous. Ricca wants to turn a blind eye to any potential danger as she wants this island to be their safe place to settle, and gets irritated with Clementine's paranoia.

And just... it pisses me off that Ricca tells Clementine that she'll wait for her. At this point, it's pretty obvious that they have romantic feelings for one another, for some reason. But, Clementine's rather fickle about it due to fear. Ricca telling her that is meant to be this romantic notion that she loves her enough to wait until Clementine's ready for a relationship... except no! When things don't go the way she wants it, Ricca throws it back in Clementine's face and it's so shitty!

Clementine wants to protect her and Ricca acts like that's a bad thing? You don't feel loved because Clementine wants you to be safe? You don't need saving?? Girl, you DO need saving because you can't fucking see! We've spent this entire book establishing that you need help because of it! And then you use that to tell Clementine that you need her to love you always!

Ricca's so awful in this moment. Then she accuses Clementine's feelings of not being real just because she's not responding the way she's "supposed to," and that's cruel.

"I'll wait for you," is a lovely lie, isn't it? Pretty, but hollow. You don't get to say that and then when Clementine calls you out on it, throw a fit that she's in the wrong for making you wait for the impossible, as if you're a victim in all this!

Ricca, Clementine doesn't owe you shit. She doesn't owe you a relationship just because you supposedly love her. Hell, if you did love her, you wouldn't be acting like this! If Clementine isn't ready to kiss, or say she loves you, then she isn't ready and pressuring her is bullshit.

"Oh we should talk about how we actually feeeeel~!" Fuck off, Ricca, she told you why she's scared of having a relationship right now and why she wants to island to be safe.

Can you imagine if Louis and Violet behaved like this? Imagine ep2, Clementine tells them, "Hey, I like you but I want to make the school safe, we need to deal with the raiders first before we focus on us," and they were like, "I'll wait for you, Clem." Only for ep3 to come around and they're like, "That's not fair, you want me to wait for the impossible! I? I'm done, Clementine, your feelings for me weren't real!"

But Louis and Violet never did that because they respected Clementine as a person with autonomy! If she rejected them romantically, neither blew a gasket. Neither accused her of toying with their feelings. The only time something like that comes up is if Clementine romances Violet and then lets her get taken by raiders, but in Violet's defense, I think she has a good enough reason to throw that around, y'know?

Ricca's just being mean. She's intentionally trying to hurt Clementine's feelings because she's sour that the relationship isn't progressing exactly as she wants it and she's tired of waiting.

But the worst part? The book presents this as Ricca being right. At the bat mitzvah, Clementine realizes she loves Ricca and that she was wrong and I'm furious. Not a single mention of Ricca's shitty behavior, no apologies for the guilt-tripping or being vindictive, nothing! Clementine was wrong to prioritize the island's safety over her feelings for Ricca! What a lesson she's learned, folks!

How.... dare you, frankly. I hate it so much. It's acting like it's this deep relationship that's exploring conflicted feelings and handing all these emotions with care but... all I see is Clementine having valid reasons for not wanting a relationship right now and Ricca guilting her until she changes her mind. Clementine shouldn't be the one apologizing here.

I guess we gotta talk about chapter nine now.

I don't want to say all of you have blown it out of proportion, but most of you have. Clementine and Ricca have sex. It's not explicit. Nothing is shown. There isn't even any kissing. There's cheesy dialogue. It's a fade to black. I don't think it could've been done any more tastefully than that.

If it wasn't Clementine involved, not a single one of you would've batted an eye. But because y'all are white knights who put Clementine on a pedestal, her fictional honor is apparently at stake and here we are.

Look, I'm no prude, okay? I read and write Dragon Age fanfiction, and sex can be a big part of those games, for better or worse. I've read my fair share of fics with smut in them, and I'm writing a Dragon Age fic with sexual content in later chapters. I'm not here to clutch any pearls or act like exploring sexual topics is a bad thing, because it's not.

I don't love that this is in a book rated ages 14+. I don't think it was necessary, but I understand why it's here in the context of "Clementine's stepping into adulthood in a world where death forever lurks." I just wish the target audience for these books was older, like... if you're going to include sex and a teen pregnancy, your audience shouldn't be middle grade.

The reason it feels icky to me is I don't like the couple or how they got together. This isn't a good relationship. It's not built on a foundation of trust. The sex is consensual, which is good, but I can't help feeling like Clementine deserved someone who respected her more than Ricca does.

So yeah... Ricca's not a bad character just because she's not Louis or Violet. She bad because she's selfish to her core, but the books portray her as selfless and right.

And to everyone screaming "but Clementine's not 18 yet is she???!?!? UNDER AGE SEX!?!?!?!" I argue that you don't actually give a shit about ages. Y'know why? Because not one of you, not a single goddamn one of you, has had the same energy about Olivia's pregnancy. Amos was 16 when he and Olivia had sex in Book One, and I have feeling she's also around that age.

Y'all really glossed over that, didn't you? So no, you don't care about whether or not a character's old enough for sex. If you did care, you would've been just as alarmed, if not more, about Olivia and Amos... but you're not because you don't care about Olivia, she's not you're precious widdle Clemmy.

Olivia's pregnancy bothers me way more than Clementine and Ricca having consensual sex... which is a great segway into--

Olivia is my new child and that's why I'm mad that she's probably going to die in Book Three

I like Olivia a lot, actually. I'm adopting her. She's my child now, and her baby is my grandchild.

But I'm pretty sure she's going to die. It's predictable, y'know? So predictable that I hope Book Three subverts expectations and this isn't the case, but... my prediction is Olivia will die giving birth to her baby, leaving Clementine and Ricca to raise the baby.

Insert Amos Junior [AJ 2.0] joke here.

Olivia gets some much needed character development in this book. She's showing signs of depression; it's hard to get her to do anything in the beginning and Ricca has to pick up her chores. It's understandable, given her twin sister murdered Amos and then died, too. Her mother's a walker, she's lost everything.

It isn't until she and Emi go fishing together more that she comes out of her shell. I wish we got to see more of her and Emi's friendship, actually. Especially since Emi gave her life and boat to save her. She's kind and naive, a lot like Amos was but in a different way. Olivia's more aware of how shitty the world is than Amos was.

The pregnancy is bullshit. I hate it. Why are we doing this again? And with a teen pregnancy? Why are we bringing in another baby after we jumped through hoops to make Clementine leave the first baby behind? It's not going to end well. Either Olivia's going to die, or that baby is. These comics, and TWD in general, aren't above killing off kids or babies. What are the odds that both Olivia and the baby survive? That would be too happy for our nearing conclusion.

And with how little Olivia knows about sex, periods, and babies, and that Amos came from an Amish community, it's amazing that they even figured out how sex worked to begin with.

Thinking back on it, is THAT why Georgia pushed him off the mountain? Not only did she feel he was trying to take Olivia away, but he slept with her? That actually makes a little more sense! Too bad Georgia never bothered giving us that reason, huh?

It's just... this pregnancy is such a heavy thing for Book Three. Poor Olivia's doomed, and she's the only likable one of the trio.

I don't blame Tillie for this, or for anything else in this comic, since she's not the only one making these books happen. Skybound approved this, her editors approved this, everyone involved thought, "yeah, pregnant Olivia, good idea, that'll bring some tragedy." and I'm just sitting here with my head in my hands like, "noooooooooooooooo...."

These books already took my son away, wasn't that enough?

Speaking of-

Until I see a body, Amos ain't dead in my heart

We have one more book left, just let me hold out hope that Amos survived the fall and will come back as twist antagonist in Book Three, okay? Mark my words, if he comes back, Book Three will get an immediate 5/5 stars, regardless of the other bullshit.

Amos is just a vision in Clementine's dreams this time around. I miss my boy, he didn't deserve this treatment.

And now watch, the book will be cheeky like "You want Amos back? Here's AJ 2.0, that still counts!" Not what I meant!

This review's long, let's lightning round the rest of the characters since I don't have that much to say about them that I haven't already said

--I'm happy Fen survived and look forward to seeing what Book Three does with her, assuming it doesn't just kill her off or some other bullshit.

--I'm pissed John died. If we're going to kill everyone else off anyway, why couldn't Fen AND John survive? He worked his ass off on that island and his mother treated him like shit. To kill him off-screen's bullshit. Would've been way more compelling to have him survive and face the guilt of losing his mother even after the way she treated him.

--Emi's another great character that hurt to see go, but it's fitting that she saved Olivia and gave her the boat before taking the walkers down with her.

--Amir's great. Also pissed he died. Shitty way to go. Did we really need to see walker John eat him?

--Ginette, Giles, and Mercy are just kinda there. They're not too important, but it's still sad to see they got eaten alive by a herd of walkers... especially Mercy.

--I'm actually excited for Saa and Derrick. I hope they play a big role in Book Three and this isn't a Christa and Omid situation; as in they're around for five minutes and then die/separate from the group. They seem really chill and I look forward to hearing more of their backstories.

In conclusion, it's not great but it's better

Even though the clemricca romance legitimately pisses me off, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I definitely had a different attitude going into it versus how I went into Book One which I think helped me have a better time. There are things to like about it if you'll give it a chance, but I understand why people aren't.

It has issues with pacing, character development/progression, and the romance. I hate that everyone but Fen from the new group got killed off. I hate that we have a pregnancy plot now. I'm disappointed with Morro as a character and antagonist.

But the art's improved greatly. Olivia's a better character now. The new cast is quite fun and likable prior to dying. There are themes and elements that are explored and done well.

The hate Tillie gets for these is absurdly gross. They're just comics. No, shut up, they're just comics. The games still exist. Tillie didn't ruin them, and in my opinion, if you truly believe she did ruin the games, that's a you problem. That's you letting these books ruin the games for you. No one's out here making you read them. No one made me read them, I chose to do that just as I chose to see them as not canon. Sending hate and threats to her and Skybound does nothing but prove what a piece of shit you are. By all means, hate the comics all you want, that's your right, but leave real life people out of it.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Clementine isn't real. I get that she's important to you, but she's a fictional character. She's not going to come to life and reward you for your twentieth comment on Tillie's instagram calling her vile names or threatening to find her for what she did. Clementine isn't going to like your video of you screaming into your mic about what an injustice these comics are, and she's not going to sign your petition to get the comics cancelled.... because she's not real. Go outside. Touch grass. Remember that you're only alive for a short time and try to do something of worth with that knowledge.

We only have one more book in this trilogy left, but do y'all really think it'll end there? Do you think Skybound will give a shit that fans hated the comics and will respectively leave Clementine alone? No, that's not how money's made.

I hope once Tillie's done with this series, she continues to have a great career. It's strange, like... I'm of two minds where I want Book Three to be super good in hopes that fans will just leave her alone... but then there's a little gremlin inside me that also kind of hopes she gets a final fuck you in aimed at the fandom. I'm sorry, the fandom's been embarrassingly terrible to her and they deserve it.

I hope she kills Clementine off... yeah, I said it. She won't because Skybound definitely won't let her, but it would be so good. I say kill Clementine off, turn her into a walker, let her eat AJ 2.0! No happy ending for anyone, just a middle finger!

Literally everyone else would be fuming and frothing at the mouth with shit posts on reddit about how Tillie "rUInEd" TWDG and then killed Clementine off and I would be in my corner just cackling and applauding her.

"How can you say that, CJ?? you fake fan???"

Look, my Clementine's still at Ericson, vibin' with AJ and Louis. Willy made her a new leg, she didn't name it Kenny, she named it Legolas [she still doesn't know who that is even after Aasim and Louis explained Lord of the Rings to her]. She and Violet play competitive cheater's uno every Thursday. She's living her best life.

Comic Clem's another Clementine to me entirely. If she lives, great! If she dies, oh no! Anyway-

To wrap this up... Clementine Book Two has issues, there are missed opportunities, and I think the romance is bad. But there's enough good here that made it enjoyable enough. I don't feel right about giving it a 2/5 stars, but 3/5 feels too high, so 2.5/5 feels right.

I also encourage people to actually read it for themselves. Don't just take my word for it, or reddit's, or whatever. Read it yourself and form your own opinions instead of parroting someone else. It'll make for better discussion rather than a cesspool for hate.

When Book Three comes out, I'll read and review that one, too. As of right now, we haven't heard anything about it, but I'll be sure to keep an ear out and share the news with y'all.

Now I'd like to hear from you; did you read Book Two? What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my takes? Feel free to send in asks or leave comments below.

Thanks for reading! 💚

#Clementine Book Two review #twdg clementine #twdg #twdg aj #twdg louis #twdg violet #long post #clementine book one #clementine book two

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tvbbosdarling · 4 months

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Caregiver Dazai hcs

Warnings: None! (Surprising considering its Dazai right?)

Notes: I ACCIDENTLY POSTED THIS WHEN I HADN'T FINISHED IT YET :( anyway, I don't understand bsd characterization yet.. So if Dazai seems reallyy ooc I'm sorry :[ This is centered around reader or you~ But if you want him for actual characters feel free to send an ask and request :D

- Dazai is a very excited caregiver, he likes taking care of you and he isn't afraid to show it! He's very affectionate- Hand holding, kissing your forehead, holding you close. Lots of hugs!! And I mean lots.

- But Dazai is also secretly, very overprotective. He keeps you safe in ways you wouldn't notice unless you looked closely, but you are much too small for that !! So let Dazai cuddle you instead of walking near that alleyway- "Oh- Nope! No going over there~ It's cuddle time!!"

- Speaking of him being secretly overprotective, he's so silly that you won't notice him glaring at anybody who comes a bit too close for his liking!! If he even hears of port mafia members walking near the place you two are headed (because he obviously can sense Chuuya coming a mile away) he will switch walking routes instead of doing his thing where he purposefully walks down that road.

- He will probably baby you even when you're big, which means it's impossible to ignore your regression with him.. And you better not try. You're too busy? Not anymore!! You wanna focus on a project? Uh.. Nope!~ You can't regress? That's alright! Just let him wrap you in a blanket, give you a paci and watch your favorite cartoons together.

- Dazai uses you as an excuse alot to get out of doing paperwork- Kunikida is yelling at him and Dazai is just pouting, "My baby needs me! I can't stay here when my precious baby needs help-" and the thing you need help with is changing your cartoons, somehow it takes three hours before Dazai comes back to do paperwork.. But oh! Atsushi finished it already sooo-

- Dazai coos at you. Constantly. 24/7. You will literally breathe and Dazai is dying from how adorable you are, People know to avoid the room where you can hear the high pitched- "Awh you are such a cutie!!!- oh you need help? Ofcourse- AWHHH~~~"

- In the agency, no one cares you regress. However.. Kunikida IS TIRED OF DAZAI AVOIDING HIS PAPERWORK. So after a bit, they build you a little area near Dazai's desk where you can play.. Now he can't LEAVE. BECAUSE YOU ARE HERE- *Ahem.* anyway.

- But!. If you don't want others to know you age regress, or more specifically the agency- Then Dazai will keep it a secret! He's good at excuses, and very good at knowing when you are regressed or slightly drifting near your headspace. So if you guys are in a important meeting but you're starting to regress, Dazai literally does not care. Man will just pick you up and go "Okay cool, we are gonna leave now :D" just up and leaves with you in his arms.

- Dazai doesn't seem like much of a cook, and he isn't, but he can make the basics. You know those mom's who cut their children's lunch into shapes? Dazai does that. If you are older when regressed, he will make your food into funny shapes and HE LOVES IT. You caused him to start following millions of mom's just so he can keep getting new shapes and ideas.

- Dazai is SO into doing funny voices when you two play together, just hand him a stuffie you want him to play and he's already going into a voice and acting out things.. No matter how dramatic. And no, he isn't embarrassed about getting caught. He'll just drag whoever caught you two into it, so congrats! You'll have another playing buddy!

- If you prefer coloring, he's happy to color right with you! He started using the agency's printer to print out coloring sheets for you, (It also gets on Kunikida's nerves, I mean he loves you too! Thinks you are adorable, but seriously- please Dazai the printer is for agency matters-) and will happily buy you whatever materials you need.. Including finger paint. He's so supportive when you're messy. "All the great artists have caused messes!!" He reassures you.

- But if you are a smaller regressor, or maybe a more calm/sleepy one, he's good at being just quiet enough but still excited enough. If you are tired, he'll carry you. It's comforting to have you rest your head against his chest while he walks around, it's nice to know you are close.

- It's even cuter if when tired, you talk or do sleepy babbles because Dazai literally just nods quietly and goes "Mhmm... Oh really? Wow!" He's trying to stay as quiet as he can, but internally he's cooing :( look at his sweet baby, so sleepy.

- Dazai loves being called 'Dada', I mean, he loves whatever his baby will call him but dada makes him feel all warm inside because yes!!! He is your dada!! It makes him feel even more happy about being able to take care of you.

- Calls you 'His little star' or the most common 'his baby', Usually adds 'his' instead of just baby. A bit possessive, but he adores you too much for someone else to take care of you. "My little star, how about we cuddle and go to sleep together hm? Dada is so tiredd~"

#bungou stray dogs #age regression #bungo stray dogs agere #Bungo stray dogs age regression #bsd agere #bsd age regression #Caregiver!dazai #cg!dazai #bsd dazai #bungou stray dogs dazai #dazai osamu #dazai x reader #x reader

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khaothanawat · 1 year

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My School President wants to subvert your expectations

(or: if you're not watching this show, you're missing out on something wonderful)

...so. I am supposed to work today, but I don't wanna and also i rewatched all four episodes of My School President last night and if I don't let out as many feelings as possible about it I might explode because I am unhinged.

so I wrote a 4,700+ word essay i'm so sorry oh my god I spent hours writing this good lord

episode 1 / the introduction

episode 1 plays out mostly as a traditional high school series might. we have gun, who is not the greatest student, but who loves music and, even more than that, loves music club - which revolves around his friends and the band they’re in. it is, as we’ll learn a few episodes down the line, his “safe zone”, and the one place in school where he’s found love and acceptance.

we also have tinn, who is the son of the incredibly strict principal and who himself is a fantastic student, good looking, admired by all the other students. he gets voted in as school president, and thus has complete control over the fate of all the school clubs - including, of course, the principal’s least favourite club (on account of how its members keep failing their classes and almost burning down the school), the music club.

the dynamic between tinn and gun is familiar to us - it’s a rivalry, with one side being very charming if a little ridiculous and the other being a traditional tsundere-type character - stern and not particularly forthcoming or unforgiving at first glance. we see little hints though, very early on, that tinn, despite his exterior, gets drawn into gunn’s music.

the end of episode 1 is our first real insight that not everything is going to go quite as expected - thanks so a slow reveal that tinn has doodled a little picture of gun singing, and written next to it the words “you’re cute. so damn cute. cuter than anyone in the world.”

it’s a well-used trope in BL romances to have the handsome, tsundere character be secretly a MASSIVE SIMP for his love interest. we’ve seen this in previous GMMTV shows, with a mid-series reveal that the tsundere has been wildly in love and putting up a ridiculous front the entire time. What MSP is turning on its head is not the fact that Tinn has feelings, but the decision to reveal it in episode 1. the traditional mid-series reveal allows romantic tension to develop in the story, the will-they-won’t-they of each moment existing because we don’t know for certain that the tsundere character has feelings. the reveal is usually used after the first kiss, when the tension is no longer needed by the narrative.

MSP deciding to remove that tension entirely completely changes the way they need to build the romance between tinn and gun, as well as subverting our own expectations around what we’re watching. tinn is no longer cool and detached and stern - he’s awkward and adorable and… completely insane, honestly, he’s just absolutely unhinged. he does not know what he’s doing and has somehow boxed himself into pretending to be a tsundere in his secret quest to help gun save the music club.

now, the tension in the story is whether tinn can get gun to stop hating him - and if, how and when gun will develop feelings for tinn.

(yeah yeah yeah yes, we the viewers know that they’ll end up together, but that’s beside the point)

I can't believe this got so out of hand that I need to use a cut - let's kEEP GOING I GUESS

episode 2 / in which we are made aware that all is truly not what it seems

episode 2 introduces us to another trope - the “secret correspondant” trope. only, of course, it’s not a secret here. we see tinn posing as ‘nong lion’ and messaging the music club to try and help them with their problem (and side note - MSP has the same structure as Bad Buddy, wherein episodes are self-contained stories; an obstacle appears and is resolved in the same episode). in fact, the show turns the trope on its head even further by having gun almost immediately suspect tinn, only to get conveniently thrown off the scent by tinn’s bestie for the restie, and the owner of the sole braincell on the show, tiw. and even beyond that, tinn does a terrible job at hiding the fact that he’s ‘nong lion’, but the show just mines this for comedy, because a huge running line in the show is that the members of the music club are, bless them, absolute dummies.

even so, the episode culminates in tinn openly helping gun in-person (on a stage in front of a bunch of other people, no less!!) and then openly vowing to help the music club win the hot wave contest.

which isn’t a super selfless move - tinn is told earlier that evening by an old music club alumni that music club members can’t date unless they win the hot wave contest. of course, one of the very first things we learn about the music club in the show is that it’s former leader lost the hot wave contest because of his girlfriend, so it seems possible that maybe that rule doesn’t actually exist anymore. but that’s for a later time.

episode 3 / remember episode 2? lets do that again but MORE

episode 3 of my school president takes the concept of subverting expectations and turns it into a whole-ass episode (and it’s perfect).

episode 3 opens with tinn going on another adorable little meltdown about how cute gun is, only for gun to be standing right there listening. another trope again, but this time - i have to wonder whether gun realises what has happened. the narrative has told us over and over that he’s sort of a dummy - the remainder of episode 3 revolves heavily around this, in fact. but he did suspect tinn of being nong lion in episode 2, he’s not always completely obtuse, and he explicitly asks tinn who he was talking about, before waving away the conversation entirely because he has more important hot wave-related things to discuss. this is one of the many instances we see of tinn conflating his own fantasies with reality - something that will become infinitely more prevalent this episode.

speaking of: tinn has to tutor gun. we see them sitting at a table and tinn has somehow made calculus sexy by drawing a heart with equations. they move closer, almost kiss and then- it is, of course, just a figment of tinn’s wild imagination. in reality, he’s yelling at gun for being a gay who can’t math. this is the first time the show tells us to be on our guard in this episode, because tinn’s little mind is going wild and not everything we see will be real.

eventually, tiw suggests they (tinn and gun) move in to his sibling’s apartment for a week to study because tiw is a romantic mastermind, and then, when tinn panics because he does not know how to be a normal person around gun, tiw suggests tinn recreate classic BL tropes with gun. like in bad buddy, tiw says. tiw played by mark pakin, who was in bad buddy. tiw who says that his favourite actor in bad buddy is mark pakin. i’ve gotten off track a little. except i HAVEN’T because -

ok, MSP is written by the same writers as Bad Buddy and directed by one of the assistant directors of Bad Buddy (and 1000 Stars), director au. this is au’s first full director role, but he’s obviously been working closely with backbone of GMMTV aof and aof appears a number of times in the MSP special episode to discuss the process of making the show, which would maybe indicate he had a decent hand in the show - or at the very least, has had a hand in helping au develop his own skills (and to be clear, au worked as part of the writing team for years before this, so he’s not new to the business by any means) (not me speculating on aof’s own staff career growth plans loool). i think it’s not a stretch to say that MSP has a very BB feel to it, and i’m so endlessly impressed that it has managed to maintain that so far whilst also forging its own identity as a show. it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy, or a poor imitation - it feels very much like it’s telling it’s own story, but it’s using a something that BB used super successfully to do so, which is the subversion of tropes. MSP goes one step further with that though, and uses it differently (helped by the fact that because BB is set in college and MSP is in high school, the tropes are naturally a lot less… well. horny.)

MY POINT BEING that that Bad Buddy call out was deliberate. they didn’t use the show just bc they had mark pakin saying the line - i think it’s likely that they felt it necessary to add in mark’s line 4th wall breaking line about himself because it was his character making the reference, but they want us to know what they’re doing. they’re referencing Bad Buddy because this show is, in a way, a spiritual successor to BB - it likely wouldn’t exist as it does if BB didn’t already exist (and wasn’t a huge hit). in the very next scene, we get a reference to the band scrubb, which is a huge 2gether reference - and, looping this all back to the creative team, au was a screenwriter for Still 2gether and aof created/directed Still 2gether. tinn’s character is a direct play on sarawat in 2gether - he is, in so many ways, sarawat, but the narrative is using him in a different way.

oh my god i legit wanted to write a one sentence post about this show how did i get here

OK GETTING BACK TO EPISODE 3 oh my god

episode 3 shows us over and over that tinn creates these vivid fantasies about being in classic romantic scenarios with gun that he then tries to turn into reality, pet tiw’s instruction - only for the reality to be a lot less romantic. in his one actual, real-life chance to get close to gun (the ballroom dance) where he’s not just trying to recreate something from a BL series, he gets so overwhelmed and nervous that he can’t dance at all, which we’re told through the loud and quick sound of his heartbeat.

and then, part way through the episode, the show starts bait-and-switching us.

first: tinn sees gun with food on his lip and fantasises about brushing it away with his thumb (an absolute romance series staple). gun licks it away before tinn can do any of that, because of course he does - but then tinn gets food on his lips and gun reaches over to brush it away. finally, tinn has ended up in a romance series moment with gun, only it wasn’t one of his own deliberate creation. it just happened.

second: tinn and gun talk at the swimming pool about themselves - finally. they’ve been living together for a week, but we don’t see them often having conversations about who they are. gun talks about seeing the music club as his ‘safe zone’. tinn explains why he became school president (to support people’s dreams). gun tells him that that’s such a handsome answer, then asks “have you used that line to hit on anyone?” tinn replies: “you.” we expect by now that it’s another fantasy moment, because we’ve been duped by the show with these moments multiple times by now, but once again the show twists things. the moment is real, tinn really says “you” and it hangs between them for a moment before he quickly changes the subject. but it’s the clearest declaration either of them have made. we don’t know what gun is feeling by this stage, however we do know that gun is in fact the one who gave them a Classic Romance Moment of brushing away food. it’s the show telling us that, whether he realises it yet or not, he’s in this too.

the third bait and switch is the Big One, except it’s not at all: we reach the ballroom dance midterm and tinn is trying to get out of dancing altogether - he still isn’t sure he can do it, he still feels overwhelmed when he tries to dance with gun, his heart races too hard and fast. gun refuses to listen to him and makes him get up. he tells tinn to close his eyes and says “let me help you”. tinn closes his eyes and suddenly the sports hall fades away - he and gun are in beautiful suits, they’re in the music club room (gun’s safe zone!), gun’s band chinzilla is playing and he and gun are dancing. throughout the episode we’ve heard tiny portions of the melody of the ballroom dance song, but now finally we hear the whole song, performed by chinzilla. as they dance together, the scene flashes between the fantasy dance, their practice dance by the pool and crucially, the actual dance that’s happening in the sports hall. as the dance comes to an end, we realise that even though we saw it happen in tinn’s fantasy, it was happening in real life too. the way they danced in tinn’s fantasy was how they really danced - staring into one another’s eyes, smiling at each other, looking completely lost in the moment. gun said “let me help you” and entered tinn’s fantasy with him. gun said “let me help you” and he’s telling us, the viewers, that tinn isn’t going to make this romance happen alone (even with the help of tiw). tinn can’t create romance moments when gun isn’t on the same page.

the final bait and switch happens in a series of parts: prior to the ballroom dance midterm, on the night after they go swimming, gun makes tinn share the bed (rather than the Bad Buddy reference sleeping arrangement they’ve been doing all week). tinn, because he’s a lunatic, asks if he can stare into gun’s eyes and gun obliges. after a moment, we hear the heartbeats again - but it’s gun that looks away and decides to go to sleep.

the episode ends, after the ballroom dance, with gun and tinn having a small moment together outside the school. gun tries to give tinn back the pencil case he borrowed earlier, because he of course does not own a pencil case. it’s one that says “i think about you” on it that gun has, obviously, doodled all over. specifically, he has drawn a cute little monster and written the name ‘tinn’ with a bunch of arrows pointed at it. you think about who now, gun? anyway, tinn tells gun to keep it, because what high school student doesn’t have a pencil case oh my god gun - and they hold hands over the pencil case for a moment. until the tinn’s mother the principal comes out of her office and tinn very gently drops gun’s hands. that’s not relevant to this, i just think it’s Big Foreshadowing. anyway. tinn leaves with his mother and gun is left standing there, staring after him. and once again, we hear the heartbeats. they’re gun’s, because of course they are. we get a flashback to the night before, to tinn staring into gun’s eyes and looking away, and we know for certain that that was gun’s heartbeat and not tinn’s, and that it’s happening again now. bait and switch - tinn’s heartbeats followed us through the whole episode, only for us to end on gun’s heartbeat, and a confirmation that yes, he’s feeling it all too.

again, the show is revealing things early. no longer do we have the tension of whether gun feels something too - now we have the tension of whether gun is going to do anything about it, or acknowledge it at all.

we're only up to episode 4 by now, and I wouldn't say that episode 4 turned much on its head that hadn't already been set up before, but I do think it serves as a way to start building up a number of new plot points, so I'm going to talk about that a little, just so that I can revisit this later once more episodes have aired.

episode 4 / resetting expectations (...sort of?)

episode 4 of my school president introduces us to a new character: tinn's original rival, sound, who joins the music club (because of course tinn has a rival).

I think it's actually really key to point out a tiny scene that happens at the beginning of episode 4, as the show is starting to lay out the plots for the episode. gun and the band are looking for a solo guitarist (hence the eventual introduction of sound). he puts posters up on a notice board. tinn comes along and, because he's a dweeb, mentions that people need permission from the school council to put up posters. gun sighs and obediently starts to take the posters down, before tinn dives in and says that he'll let gun put them up anyway, he'll make a 'special exception'. real smooth, kid.

anyway, this fascinates me, because it's such a good display of how much their relationship has changed by this point. tinn and gun have had a surprising number of scenes together in front of this notice board - mostly with gun fighting back against tinn trying to enforce the school rules as school council president. here we see gun not fight, but immediately give into tinn instead (even though tinn had no desire to win, he's just got so little game oh my god this boy has NO GAME i'm obsessed with him). gun looks thrilled when tinn lets him put up the posters anyway - he respects tinn's word enough now that he wasn't going to fight, which is so the opposite of the gun we've seen so far. it's just a really interesting story beat to throw in.

they have a little moment again (in real life) (initiated by tinn) and gun's heartbeats from episode 3 appear once more, reminding us that gun is also Feeling Things. gun runs away in a flustered panic.

(tinn, it must be said, genuinely has no idea what's going on in gun's head. because tinn is a dummy.)

from here, the dual plot lines of the episode play out pretty traditionally. story A sees gun quit the music club and tinn take the opportunity to get closer to him now that he's not beholden to the no-dating-before-hot-wave rule that definitely still exists. they do get closer. in fact, they go on an accidental date, flirt heavily over some imaginary cake, and tinn finds a position for gun in the student council that would allow him to sing and play music, story B sees sound take over the music club, who are unfocused and not actually using their practice sessions to practice, only to be a tiny teen tyrant about it. the band beg gun to come back. gun feels as though the band will have a better chance to win hot wave without him. tinn sees this happen and convinces gun to go back to the music club, because that's clearly where his happiness lies. even if gun being in the music club will inevitably put the absolutely real and very much something gun definitely is aware of no-dating-before-hot-wave rule back into play.

gun rejoins the music club, but lets sound stay (sound, to be clear, mostly joined because he thought it would piss off tinn, but we start getting the indication by the end that he could also maybe find friendship and support in the club, just as the others did). they have their traditional bbq pork meal together to celebrate being back together. it's sacred.

so, it's all fairly cut and dry - and we as viewers probably already knew where these plots were heading and that the main issues would be resolved in this episode, thanks to the self-contained episode structure of the show.

until we see gun grab a bunch of the pork and run off, away from the bbq, yelling that he'll be back soon. he goes, of course, to tinn. he, quite crucially, claims that the group have finished eating and that there was some food left over and he just wondered whether tinn might want it - once again, we as viewers know this is a lie, and are left in possession in much more knowledge than the characters in the scene. gun is making up an excuse to bring tinn food, and to hang out with tinn. if the question this episode was 'gun is having feelings for tinn; what will he do with them?', then we saw moments over the course of the entire episode that answered that. gun, unlike tinn, has apparently an abundance of game (if anything he's a little too dangerous, frankly). he jumps both feet forward into flirting with tinn, and manages to conveniently set up scenarios in which he can do that - successfully, unlike tinn in episode 3. where he's a little more in control, we don't get a return of the panicked heartbeats from the beginning of the episode.

maybe tinn had put this flirting all episode down to the fact that gun was no longer in the music club. it's not really made clear. however, now gun is back in the club, and he's abandoned the sacred bbq pork time to have a nivea micellar moment with tinn (once again, gun successfully initiating a BL romantic moment in real life, because gun is the only one here with game). he gets tinn to take a photo of them together, and so they stand pressed shoulder to shoulder, hands touching. they're smiling at each other, and the camera jumps back and forth between the way they're looking at one another and their hands. tinn, probably emboldened by how much gun has put himself out there across the entire episode, starts to move his pinky finger closer. his hand is shaking, but we see them over and over barely looking at the camera because they're too busy smiling sweetly at each other, as tinn's finger twitches closer and closer - the slowest build up in the world, as we wonder whether he'll get the guts to do it. and then finally, finally, tinn loops his pinky around gun's, and gun responds in kind, and we see a shot of them taking the photo, they're fingers out of shot but entwined.

this is almost par for the course by now - how quickly this show has put tinn and gun on a playing field of both having feelings for the other, and both being at least somewhat aware that those feelings could be reciprocated.

episode 5 and beyond / is this show impossible to predict?

it's not really something we get to see too often, the very cautious build into something more. the next episode preview doesn't really tell us anything about how that develops (but rather that gun has a lot of other stuff going on, apparently). i think this becomes it's own question - now that MSP have turned the traditional BL pacing on its head (akin to the way Bad Buddy did it before), what do they do next. with BB, we very quickly saw that the obstacles between the lead characters were almost entirely external - it's the basis of the entire show. they couldn't be together because no one wanted them to be. it made the pacing of the romance make complete sense.

with MSP, we're going in much more blindly. the boys are already on a similar page and there's no obvious obstacles between them outside of the definitely very real no-dating-before-hot-wave rule that no one in the present day music club has even spoken about or mentioned (yet?). what this suggests to me, and why this is so fascinating, is that we therefore don't necessarily know the basic conceit of the plot from here on out.

yes, we want to see how tinn and gun ultimately admit their feelings for one another, but at episode 4 of 12, the show has already done most of the work in getting them there. inevitably, we need to be faced with obstacles and there have been a small number of hints, maybe, at the things that could go wrong for them, but it's fascinating because those hints have been very sparse.

there's the perceived rivalry of the music club and the school council - which tinn has accidentally perpetuated a bunch of times, because he's a dummy. episode 4 reminds us conveniently that this is still seen to exist outside of tinn and gun's gay little bubble, when we see the two random students discussing it in the hall (this is of course also how sound ends up joining the club). it's not a particularly violent rivalry though - we're not at Bad Buddy drop kick into the chest two seconds away from breaking out into a sharks and jets style dance number. i wouldn't say it's rife for conflict, but that's sort of the thing: it's almost impossible to predict at this point what will happen. we know that chinzilla will probably perform at hot wave, and at some point tinn and gun will probably kiss. beyond that? it's anyone's guess.

another obvious obstacle that has been (honestly quite lightly) is the principal - we are literally introduced to tinn's pov in episode 2 by the concept of his mother coming in between him and gun, when he dreams about gun turning into her. he's lied to her a number of times in the name of helping gun. her character is generally quite fascinating, because she's a near-constant antagonistic presence, but it's clear she has huge amounts of love and care for her son, and she's trying to do her best by her students. she's also really frugal though - in episode 2 we learn that she and her husband would argue because she felt that music was an unnecessarily expensive hobby. a real subtle moment that i'm sure won't come back in any fashion later down the line...

the other obvious one is of course the no-dating-before-hot-wave rule which, sure, might be real, but might even become an issue in some form or another even if it's not. the reason the music club lost hot wave the year before, as we know, was because the last leader was distracted on stage by his girlfriend. this is how we meet the music club in episode 1, and we see gun vowing to win hot wave next year, because he knows it's what will save the music club.

it seems as though episode 5 is about to introduce new conflicts too, or expand upon things that have really only been very barely hinted at. but, if I know anything it's that promos are unreliable, so only time will tell how that plays ou.

it's important though, in my opinion, that the show really hasn't hit us over the head with anything here yet (except the very real very current day hot wave rule that very much definitely exists - and even then, it has only been mentioned a handful of times at most between tinn and tiw, usually as an occasional reminder to the audience more than a constant driving force for tinn's actions). these are obstacles, but they ultimately haven't been shown to cause too much issue to tinn and gun's story - or at least, tinn and gun have successfully navigated everything with almost no pushback, hence the fact that they're both sailing through their own romantic storyline at a pace faster than an olympic runner.

there's not really an ending to this post yet, because we're only at episode 4. I'm not particularly committed to any theory about where this could go (except the one about the hot wave rule being real YOU CAN'T CONVINCE ME IT'S REAL AU), but from a storytelling perspective alone: this show needs a conflict. the assumption it gave us and then systematically tore apart across the first four episodes was that the conflict would be around tinn and gun realising their own feelings for one another, because that's how these shows go. that's not the central conflict in MSP. the central conflict is... uh... one of these other things. or maybe a secret different thing. i don't know. come back to me in like 6 weeks.

#my school president #tinn x gun #the total word count for this is 4787 words and um. Um.#no more meta this week bc I have written 3 posts in the space of like 5 days and they've all been exponentially more unhinged than the last #actually I blame gmmtv for not giving us a MSP episode this week because I just think. if the promise of episode 5 was around the corner...#then well. this probably wouldn't have happened.#anyway if you do have like... an hour spare and decide to read this...#pls let me know your thoughts ALSO THINGS YOU DISAGREE ON BC I WANNA KNOW THAT TOO!!!#I realise this is the evident work of a lunatic but I swear I love when other people make observations I've missed and can change my mind #show: my school president #msp: meta #ship: msp: tinn x gun

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osmiumamygdala · 8 months

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What do you think would be an interesting sole storyline for Colossus? For me it would be if he met his son in the savage land.

Obligatory readmore because you already know I'm gonna ramble like no tomorrow

To start, I have so many Savage Land Son ideas

Funny idea, but take it with a grain of salt because of my fuzzy memory: you know how Piotr’s son is named Peter Jr.? And Nereel told Piotr she named him after his father? Well, iirc, looking back, Spider-Man was on Savage Land around that time... because Peter Parker had been sent to get the scoop on the place! So I like to think that's one reason Piotr doesn't put two and two together; he thinks, "Wow. This journalist gets up to some stuff, huh?"

I also like to think the only reason Longshot hasn't said anything, other than Nereel telling him not to, is because any time he goes "maybe it's time to check on my old pal Colossus," Piotr's whole life is falling apart again, so it is Never The Right Time

All that aside, I like to think it could be a mini or an ongoing where the first arc is Piotr discovering that Junior is his, and storming his way IMMEDIATELY to Savage Land. If anybody tries to stop him for some reason... it will not go well. This man is GETTING TO HIS SON and making up for lost time! Nothing is going to get between him and his family again! But he doesn't want to take Junior away from Savage Land. To Piotr, home and culture are really important, so he thinks Junior needs to stay. First few stories are sort of episodic about Piotr and Junior bonding on Savage Land.

The next arc would, of course, be that something drives Piotr and Junior out of Savage Land. Probably some big threat going after Piotr, but Junior is determined to tag along because, 1, he loves his dad, and 2, he wants to explore the world! Cue traveling shenanigans and Junior meeting his extended family. Look, I NEED to see Illyana as an aunt. And I NEED to see her and Junior being little shits to each other and towards everyone else together. Also, could you imagine? Piotr and Illyana keep seeing pieces of themselves (and even Mikhail) in Junior. It draws them all closer together

But you asked me MY solo ideas!

I don't really have many solo ideas for Piotr now that I think about it

I heard about a pitch a Marvel creative had for him that I sorta latched on to (wish I could remember who it was). It was Colossus: God's Country in nature where Piotr would just be hoofing it around the United States, getting into trouble and finding his way out of it. I like to think a story like this could have the added drive of "he's on the run," and there are many options for who could be after him: bad guys, of course, but maybe also his allies, trying to get ahold of him.

Colossus Clean Up Crew. Colossus' whole thing-- even more than his strength-- is his durability, his resistance to the elements. Would love a mini or a series of him going where others can't to save the day. Thwarting a radioactive leak! Going into heats even firemen can't brave! Facing down a raging storm! Shielding people from collapsing buildings with his body! And, as the name suggests, he would hang around after to make certain that everything is cleared away and everyone gets out safe.

Not a solo, I know, but I desperately want a series where Illyana and Piotr co-star. The Illyana parts would focus on her magical adventures. She's always leaping in to help where needed, interacting with her magical buddies. And then you have Piotr, who is sort of the mundane focus, meaning his parts deal with more worldly issues. It, of course, overlaps a majority of the time because Illyana and Piotr would be rooming together and everyone will finally remember that Piotr's metal skin is invulnerable to some types of magic, and straight up hurts some magical creatures. There'd be themes like "It's Okay To Need Help" and "Just Because I Don't Always Understand You Doesn't Mean I Don't Always Love You" and they'd get to grow closer together, do some REAL, ON PANEL mending work for their sibling relationship, and really learn about and appreciate each other. The book could switch mood from cozy to creepy to whimsical to gritty on a dime.

If anybody else has ideas they want to share please please please don't be shy. I will do a whole front flip of joy.

#colossus #piotr rasputin #rambles #bug chitters into the void #long post #character discussion

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moriavis · 1 year

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Maybe in another life kisses - Holden Ford/Bill Tench

How is this the longest of my fills so far? Repressed men are ridiculous. This is unedited, but I hope you enjoy it!

This is post S2 because of delicious angst. <3

~*~

Bill tossed back his scotch and wiped his mouth against his forearm, turning his attention to the left where the TV was playing the news, the sound lost beneath the bustling of the bar. Going home would be the smart thing, but he couldn't stomach going home to an empty house. He was too drunk— his loneliness would be unbearable. Hell, there were people at the bar and the solitude was still crushing him.

"Hey," he said, waving his hand to get the bartender's attention. "Pay phone. Where's it?" The bartender pointed back toward the bathrooms, and Bill slapped down a ten on the bar before he staggered to his feet. No one was using the phone, and Bill allowed a quiet gratitude to filter through him as he dialed a number.

"Holden Ford. How can I help you?" Bill smirked at the distracted tone of Holden's voice; he was probably working on another case. He'd been itchy since Atlanta, not that Bill could blame him.

"It's me," he said. "I wanted to know if I could crash at your place tonight. I've been drinking."

"Bill?" Holden's attention seemed to sharpen. "Are you okay? Do you need me to pick you up?"

"Nah, just wanted to know if you were out. I can get a cab."

"Bill, yeah. Of course you can come to my place."

"Okay." Bill closed his eyes against the dim, pulsing lights of the bar. "I'll be there later." He ended the call without bothering to say goodbye and then looked at the small community corkboard for the taxi services that were always advertised in the local dives.

Once he made his call, Bill made his way out of the bar, taking a deep breath of the cool night air. He was a god-damned idiot. He should've just found a new job and moved like Nancy had so desperately wanted. The problem was the work was so damned important— the most important thing he'd done so far, maybe the most important thing he would ever do, and it was so hard to balance with the needs of the people around him who couldn't understand.

The taxi pulled up, and Bill gave the cabbie Holden's address, cracking the window and resting his head against the glass so he could enjoy the breeze. Fortunately the driver seemed to pick up on his mood and didn't offer any chit-chat; Bill tipped him extra for that.

Holden was waiting outside his apartment building, arms folded against his chest, and the tense expression on his face relaxed when Bill walked up to him. "Glad to see you're in one piece."

"Keeping the light on for me, buddy?" Bill had sobered up a little during the drive, but he was still way past tipsy, and he accepted the shoulder Holden offered as they walked through the door together.

"You know it." Holden guided Bill through the hall to the elevator, supporting Bill's weight. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Nope." Bill leaned against the back wall of the elevator and closed his eyes again.

Holden made a brief, assenting noise, a sound that Bill had grown familiar with through hours of interviews. "Anything you need to talk about?"

"Don't give me your bullshit." Bill reached out and punched Holden lightly on the shoulder. Holden made one of those affirmative noises again, and for the first time Bill wondered if he'd made the right decision. Holden understood vulnerability in a way that not many did, knew how to twist it, how to make it work for him, and Bill couldn't help but wonder what sort of crazy connections were going on in Holden's head now. If Bill was giving Holden something he could use against him.

They made it safely to Holden's apartment, and Bill sighed as he shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over one the coat rack before he settled on the sofa, laying his head back and resting his forearm over his eyes. He listened to the sounds of life and movement around him— Holden opening and shutting a cabinet, the run of the faucet. He wasn't surprised when Holden brought him a glass of water, but he held it between his palms instead of drinking it.

"You ever think," Bill asked quietly, "that doing the work we do isn't worth it?"

"No," Holden said immediately. "I think what we're doing is incredible. We save lives. We try to find closure for grieving families. Making a sacrifice is worth it."

Bill's mouth twisted in a pained smile, and he looked up, surprised to see Holden standing so close to him. "Nancy and Brian left the house.Didn't leave me a note. Didn't…" he shrugged, unable to find a way to continue that sentence.

Holden sat on the coffee table in front of Bill, close enough that their knees were touching. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I couldn't go home to an empty house," Bill confessed.

Holden smiled. "You could move in with me."

Bill snorted a laugh and shook his head. "We're a sorry pair of assholes, aren't we? Can't even hold down relationships like normal people anymore."

Holden was quiet for a long time before he spoke again. "Most people don't see the things we do. They can't understand why it's important, why we can't turn away and let someone else do it instead. To be honest, if it weren't for you and Wendy, I'd probably go nuts."

"Yeah. Someone's gotta keep your head screwed on straight." Bill reached out and patted Holden's knee, already bridging most of the space between them before he realized what he was doing. "Sorry."

Holden shook his head, clenching his hands around the edge of the coffee table to keep them still. "It's normal, I think. You know, when Debbie and I broke up, I… thought about you. You're so confident and solid, and I thought— if I could be more like Bill, maybe people wouldn't see me as a freak."

Bill stared at Holden, backlit by the kitchen lights. His face was unreadable. "We're all freaks," he said. "I'm just better at hiding it."

"Thanks." Holden's tone made it clear he didn't believe what Bill said, and he stood, forcing Bill to crane his head back if he wanted to keep looking. "Forget about tonight, just drink your water. The guest room's open."

Bill drank his water, and Holden vanished into the kitchen with the empty glass. That strange, bubbling loneliness was trying to make itself known again so he followed Holden, watching him wash the glass and put it back in the cupboard. "You said to forget about tonight? Why?"

Holden shrugged, still turned away from Bill. "We're having a conversation about shitty things at two in the morning on a Friday night. Nothing good ever comes of those."

Bill reached out for Holden's arm, silently urging him to turn around. Relief lit through him when Holden didn't jerk away. "If you're giving me a 'get out of jail free' card, figure I should do something to deserve it."

Holden frowned, tilting his head up just a little to look at Bill; Bill had never been happier about their two inch difference in height. "What are you talking about?"

Bill shook his head. "You talk too much." He leaned in, letting the heat of Holden's body warm him, and then paused. When was the last time he and Nancy slept close enough to feel those small markers of intimacy? He couldn't even remember.

"Bill?" Holden's voice was rough, panicky, and he grabbed onto Bill's arms like he was desperate for a lifeline, and Bill pressed forward, closing the last gap between them.

Bill had thought about kissing Holden a couple of times, if he was going to be honest with himself. When he was bratty, when he put himself in danger, there was always a weird thought in the back of his head that if they kissed, he'd probably like it. It was just a thought. He'd always had Nancy.

Now though, in Holden's dimly lit kitchen, Bill pretended. What would it be like to work with this weird, smart man and then come home with him at night? Maybe they'd switch off on who made dinner. With their salaries combined, they could share a house with a deck, and spend an evening with steaks on the grill when there was nice weather. He'd convince Holden that golf was a respectable sport. And at the end of each day, they could kiss just like this, lingering together after the chores were done.

Holden's bottom lip quivered against Bill's, and Bill curled his hand around the nape of Holden's neck, keeping him in place. There wasn't a place for 'what if?' in real life, so Bill poured every bit of softness and possibility between them.

Holden made a sound as if he'd been punched, and the tight grip he had on Bill's forearms changed, his hands clinging to Bill's shoulders instead. For a second, Holden kissed Bill harder— and then he turned his face away, flushed and shaking as he leaned against the sink. "That's not fair."

"No," Bill agreed. "It's not." Bill let Holden go and walked away, focusing on each step until he made it to the guest room and shut the door.

Then he locked it. Not for his sake, but for Holden's.

~*~

#mindhunter #bill tench #holden ford #bill x holden #there's no portmanteau for this relationship??#writing mindhunter fic in 2023 #what is my life?

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l0vergirlwrites · 2 years

Text

dancing in the street ; matthew murdock

warnings: nothing but FLUFF!!!!!

this comes from my wattpad (sadgirlautumn)

it all started when you were at josie's one night with matthew after winning a case.

the dark bar, only light by the pool table lights, neon signs & the fixture behind the shelves of alcohol on the back wall; josie's had a dark, but comforting atmosphere. people from almost all walks of life were there, drinking happily with buddies or alone in a corner, sulking while crunching on a bowl of almonds.

you had grown to love josie's when you started at nelson & murdock after spending a good couple nights playing pool & drinking with the whole crew; karen, foggy & matthew. josie's had made the group of you grow close over the last couple months & it had become a safe haven, despite the amount of criminals that would spend their time there on occasion.

but on this night after karen & foggy had gone home after the tiring day, you were about it leave too until matthew surprised you with an opposition.

your hand was pulling the door open, lips parted enough for you to bid your goodbyes to matthew for the weekend until he placed his hand on the door, pausing it from opening any more than it was.

"do you need something?" you asked him as you turned to face him, only to see a small grin on his face— meaning he had an idea.

"would you want to come to josie's for a bit? celebrate our win, partner in training?" he asked you which made your eyes roll at the nickname, since you literally are training to be able to be a partner at the firm.

with a playful smile on your lips, you tilted your head at him, "i'll go if you stop calling me that".

"not a chance, sweetheart"

knowing you wouldn't turn down having a few drinks with him, matthew removed his hand from the door & followed you out of the office, locking the doors multiple locks before joining you by your side, ready to trek to josie's.

once you both were on the street, it was quite cold despite it being summer time & you couldn't help but shiver a little bit, matthew hearing your teeth chatter a tiny bit. wordlessly, matthew gave you his blazer to where, knowing it'd fit you slightly big— but at least it would keep you warm.

looking at him for approval, mumbling an "you sure?", he nodded his head & smiled once he sensed you had put it on. in that moment, you thanked god that matthew was blind because if he wasn't, he would've seen how big your smile was.

***

"i don't think i can have anymore" you groaned once you finishing downing your second beer of the night, behind matthew while he was working on his third.

"gotta build up your tolerance sweetheart" he said as he sipped from his glass, giving you a knowing look.

"i think i'm all partied out matt— you're a lot to handle" you said with a laugh, the warm fizzy feeling throughout your body making you look at him for a little too long.

& you may of bit your lip while glancing at him while he slightly loosened his tie.

"what can i say? foggy is the master & i am simply his student" matthew said like a fact, making both of you giggle at the sentence.

"it's almost closing time" you realized, standing up from the stool you sat on & pulling his blazer off your body, you stood in front of matthew's body & took his hand in yours, pleading with him to join you.

"alright, let's get out of here"

saying thank you over & over until it became too much, your tipsy self thought it was a smart idea to lean towards matthew & kiss his cheek rewardingly, causing you to slap a hand over your mouth once you realized what you did.

sensing your nervousness now, matthew pulled you closer to him on the stool, his arm holding you to his side, "thank you" he smiled, feeling your heart rate slow at his little assurance.

you just couldn't stop thinking about how nice it felt when his hand was on your back, the warmth radiating from it against the material of your thin silk shirt, the proximity between you & him— it was too much.

stepping out into the night once again, matthew advised you to hold his hand while he handed you a water bottle with the intention of sobering you both up.

"do you not do celebratory dances after winning a case?" you asked him after sipping on the cold water, passing the bottle back to him.

you turned towards him & felt your breath still at how he looked. the tone of the street lights, the darkest of the sky— for some ungodly reason it made him even more enticing to look at, you couldn't pull your gaze from him as you traced your eyes over his features subconsciously.

"not really... but i guess it could be our little tradition now" matthew smiled at you, feeling your hand pull his with excitement.

twirling you as you both made your way through hell's kitchen's streets, laughs were shared, stumbles almost turned into falls & soft singing of songs could be heard pass through both of your lips. the moment felt like a movie; too exciting & too memorable for you to forget within an hour.

after the last twirl before coming to a cross walk, matthew pulled you to press against him, laughing at the small "uhmp" that came from you when your body hit his.

"you really should take dance lessons" matthew jokingly commented, soon feeling you shake your head against his chest.

"only if you'll be my dance partner" you confidently said back to him. you could feel the slight shock in his chest at your words & you felt satisfied.

now he knows how he makes you feel with his sly comments.

"where & when?" he asked you when you pulled your head away from his chest. looking up at him longingly when he removed his glasses, you couldn't stop yourself from raising a hand up to trace along his jawline. his stubble pricked your finger slightly as you moved it across his skin, goosebumps rising on his skin.

"right here... right now" you responded softly, smiling when you felt his hands hold you closer to him.

you, dawned in a simple dress with black chunky heels & your workbag on your shoulder, matthews blazer keeping you warm as the nights breeze made you touch your chest to his.

matthew, his tie slightly loose & a few buttons on his work shirt free, glasses in his pocket with his cold metal of his watch against your waist.

you both didn't know what else to say now. you didn't know what else to do.

but kiss.

you reached your head up when you saw matthew coming closer to your face. noses brushed against one another in small love tape, lips parted & breathing stilled. eyes fluttered shut to relish the moment, hands gripped tightly onto the others body & once the space between you & him closed— satisfaction flowed through both of your bones.

the kiss was slow & steady, too scared to go any further than something small & loving. you could feel matthew's stubble against your lip & it only made you grip him tighter, your hands sliding to the nape of his neck. matthew found you to be intoxicating, more than any liquor he's had before, so he moved a hand to rest against your neck, his thumb feeling your pulse as he slightly held on tighter.

"you don't know how long i've been waiting for that" you mumbled against his lips, taking a deep breath when you felt him move from your lips to your neck, peppering small kisses against your dark skin.

"i think i do know, sweetheart"

lifting his head up to rest his forehead to yours, you felt electricity run through your veins.

"want to stay at my place tonight?" matthew asked you, the hand on your neck moving to your face, caressing your warm cheek.

"more than anything" you told him, smiling when he leaned in to peck your lips one more time.

walking down the street once again, you pressed into matthew's side like a charm, you couldn't wait to see what tomorrow had in store for you & him. you just hoped this wasn't just a one-time thing.

i wish i was the beer bottle in matt's hand rn

#matthew murdock x reader #matthew murdock #matthew murdock imagines #matthew murdock angst #matthew murdock fluff #mcu daredevil #mcu fanfiction #charlie cox fanfiction #charlie cox

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secretobsessionstuff · 2 years

Note

Hi Max! If you’re taking requests for this topic I was rereading Infection and the line “‘Jesus, Kota,’ Madix said while helping him up. ‘What, are we back in our undergrad?’ He meant it as a joke; a throwback to the dorm room hangovers that made even water impossible to keep down.” I would really love to see that flashback play out! Sickee is totally up to you.

Rowan, you beautiful person, thanks for the request!! And for reminding me how much I enjoyed writing the infection fic.

This is the fic that got deleted a while ago and I had to re-write it, so it's not my favourite. But I think to fresh eyes it's not so bad. Sorry for any typos.

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

A knocking at the door woke Madix easily. He’d been in that place between sleep and wakefulness, just barely registering the fact that sunlight was coming in from their single window. He and Dakota had forgotten to close the curtains before stumbling into their beds last night around four in the morning.

The knocking hurt his head, making him squeeze his eyes shut tighter. He groaned, not wanting to get up. The annoying sound kept coming and it was much too loud, considering his head was only a few feet away from the door.

Being in the tiny dorm room, he was only a few feet away from everything he owned actually. Dakota’s bed was close enough that the two of them could touch hands in the night if they both reached out, not that they did that often. But some nights, when neither of them could sleep, they had a thumb war until their arms went limp.

That morning, Dakota was not an arm’s length away from him, and Madix was about to learn why.

He sighed, and let himself fall to the floor, dragging his blankets down with him. His bed was a mess. The mattress topper that he put over the shitty dorm mattress was slipping off, his sheets were coming untucked, and everything needed to be washed, but that was a problem for later.

The problem right now was the banging on his door. Okay, it wasn’t a banging, but it hurt his head, nonetheless. His stomach was a little sour from last night, and he suddenly realized why Dakota might not be in his bed, and why someone might be knocking on his door.

A bunch of Dakota’s hockey friends invited him and Madix to a house party the night before. Madix didn’t let himself drink too much since one of them had to get them home in one piece. Dakota on the other hand couldn’t stop stumbling as he tried to get his student ID out of his wallet. It took a few tries but eventually the two of them were safely in their residence building. It was the biggest first-year res, and they lived on the third floor. Madix had grabbed the back of Dakota’s shirt before he could attempt the stairs and dragged him to the elevator.

Madix squinted as he opened the door. It was a boy named Amar who lived a few doors down. He looked nervous, wringing his hands together. “Hey, Amar.” Madix’s voice was gravely. He cleared his throat. “What’s up?”

“Uh, Dakota is asking for you,” Amar said, looking down the hallway.

“Huh?” Madix blinked quickly, trying to wake himself up faster. “Where is he?”

Amar bounced on his feet. “In the bathroom. Puking his guts up.”

Madix sighed and rubbed his sleepy eyes. This news was not totally unexpected. “Right. Okay. Tell him I’ll be right there.”

“I’m not going back there.” Amar started to back away from Madix’s room. “He didn’t saw my name.”

“Alright. Thanks, Amar.”

Madix shut the door, quickly put on pants, and left to find his poor hungover roommate. There were three bathrooms on the third floor. One for guys, one for girls, and one that was co-ed. Dakota had gone for the closest one which was the guys’ bathroom.

Amar had been right. Dakota was puking his guts up. Madix winced as he heard the horrible sounds coming from the closed stall. There was nobody in the bathroom except for the one boy who was on his knees, purging his body of the poison he gave it.

Madix knocked on the door. “Hey, buddy. How’re you doing?” It was a stupid question. Madix could hear how he was doing, and it didn’t sound great.

“Ugh, Madix,” Dakota said from the other side of the door. His voice was thick with nausea. “I feel like death.”

“I guessed as much.” Madix put his hand on the door, unsure of what to do. If Dakota had been asking for him, then it was clear he couldn’t leave his friend to suffer all alone. “Do you want me to come in?”

“…Yeah.”

“Okay. You have to unlock the door.

Madix waited for Dakota to unlock the door. When it opened, he squeezed in awkwardly, and shut the door behind him. He sat next to Dakota, who was leaning against the wall. Very gently, Dakota tilted his head back and sighed. He looked exhausted and miserable with life. Moisture gathered beneath his eyes and above his lip. He swallowed thickly, making his throat bob.

Madix looked around. “Nice place you have here. It’s a little small but the rent must be good.”

Dakota rolled his eyes and did not crack a smile. Madix didn’t like the sight; this wasn’t how Dakota was supposed to be. “I see you feel perfectly fine,” he said sourly.

“Well, I didn’t try to get into the building last night with a taco bell gift card, did I?”

“Guess not. What time is it?”

Madix remembered looking at his phone before coming to check on his friend. He forgot to charge it last night, so he had used its remaining juice to see that it was almost ten o’clock, which he told Dakota. “How long have you been here?”

“An hour maybe,” Dakota said, drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his arms atop them. “My stomach woke me up and now I’m too dizzy and nauseous to go back to the room.”

“You should try to eat something when you feel up to it.”

“You’re full of jokes this morning, aren’t you?”

Madix gave a lopsided smile and tilted his head. Dakota really did look pale. He didn’t blame his friend for swearing off food that morning. His own stomach wasn’t jumping at the idea of breakfast either, but something bland would do them both some good. But later because just then Dakota looked like he was trying hard not to throw up. His jaw was tense from keeping his mouth closed.

“You look like you’re gonna be sick again,” Madix said as Dakota fidgeted on the floor.

“How observant of you.” Dakota got on his knees and held his head above the toilet. He had hoped that he was finished with vomiting but there was still more for him to bring up.

A deep belch rumbled up from his chest. Saliva dripped into the water below. He gagged, forcing his shoulders to roll forward as more sick poured out of his mouth. It burned his nose. He wrapped one arm around his roiling belly and used the other to prop himself up on the toilet. The next gush of vomit was mostly liquid and landed in the water with a splash. Dakota jerked back when the water plashed back up. He grunted as his belly heaved again.

“Easy, Kota,” Madix said, rubbing his friend’s back. He felt the muscles in Dakota’s back tense up. “You’re okay.”

Dakota sniffled as snot ran from his nose. “Ugh I’m so not okay.” And his stomach squeezed again, sending up another wave.

Madix winced at the sounds, but he kept rubbing Dakota’s back. He tried not to breathe through his nose or look at the sludge rushing out of Dakota’s mouth. His own stomach did a flip. He hoped Dakota was nearing empty at this point.

Dakota spent the next few minutes burping, bringing up only frothy saliva. He seemed to be slowing down, until one huge belch dislodged a final gush of pure liquid. It gurled in his throat before rushing past his lips.

Madix grimaced and closed his eyes, wishing he could close his ears instead. His hand never stopped tracing circles between Dakota’s shoulder blades. If he hadn’t also been drinking the night before, he would have had no problem with this. But he was getting nauseous now as well. He had to get Dakota back to the room where he could start replenishing fluids or else they’d stay on the bathroom floor all day.

Dakota let out a heavy sigh when the last drop landed in the toilet. His cheeks were wet with tears and his stomach was sore from the workout he put it through. He spat into the water then groaned as he leaned his back against the wall once again. He dragged his wrist under his nose that was running faster than an underage kid at a busted party.

“Are you done?” Madix asked, handing him a wad of toilet paper.

Dakota shook his head. “I still feel like crap.” He blew his nose and tossed the crumpled-up tissue in the toilet. Madix reached over to flush the mess away.

“Well, that’s not going to change anytime soon. Will you let me take you back to the room?”

"My head is spinning.”

“Then it’s a good thing we use our legs to walk.”

The idea of standing up sounded worse than actually putting a down payment on this stall. It could become his new home, and he’d never be far from a toilet which was good seeing as his stomach never planned on settling.

“I’m not ready to move yet,” he said with his eyes closed.

Madix stood up anyway. “Alright. But I’m getting you water whether you want it or not.”

“Don’t leave. I don’t want to be alone if someone comes in.”

Madix looked down at his friend sadly. “Listen Kota, I love you, but if I stay much longer, I’m going to be in the same boat.

“So, you don’t feel perfectly fine,” Dakota said as if he knew the truth all along, which he hadn’t.

“Hey, you’re the one who assumed that. I just let you believe it.”

“I wouldn’t have asked you to stay if I’d known.”

“It’s fine.” Madix gave his friend’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll be right back. Try not to traumatize anyone else while I’m gone.”

“I didn’t traumatise Amar. He knew I was in here.”

“Yeah, you’d have to be deaf not to know. The dude was shaking when he came to get me.”

That got Dakota’s lip to turn up in the hint of a smirk. Then he looked up at Madix with a soft expression. “Thanks for coming.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Madix said as he opened the stall door. “Next time I’m getting shitfaced and we’ll see if you’re as good of a friend.”

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nataliedanovelist · 2 years

Text

ROTTMNT - The Apocalypse That Was, But Never Is ch.4

After a lifetime of rebelling against the Kraang, Casey Jones II has a lot to adjust to. He can handle real food and new clothes just fine, but having his parents alive and well and right in front of him is entirely new - and slightly terrifying - territory.

A fanfic dedicated to @fanficmaniatic and @soundwavemain for creating a beautiful idea that I decided to push a little bit further. You can read the premise here.

Swearing and slight gore warning.

Posted on AO3.

Ch.3 - Ch.5

~~~~~~~~~~

Cassandra patted the dozing toddler’s back, but Casey was stubborn and almost three, so he had no problem telling his mother, “M’not sleepy.”

“Yes you are.”

“No m’not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No m’not.”

Cassandra could play this game all night, until Casey fell asleep, which they sometimes did, but she heard footsteps and saw Mikey coming. “Hey, I heard about the ambush yesterday. Is everyone okay?”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah, we’re okay. Leo’s… a little bent outta shape, but nothing D couldn’t fix.”

Cass was still pretty sore at Donnie, their friendship not quite the same ever since Raph died, but she nodded. If he really tore himself away from that stupid project long enough to help his brother, maybe it was a sign he was getting his head out of the clouds.

“Mikey,” Casey cooed, rubbing an eye and yawning. “Want Weewo.”

Mikey smiled and cupped the toddler’s cheek. “Sorry, champ, but he’s resting right now…”

“Hamato Michaelangelo, you keep that kid away from me, and I will feed you to the hounds.” A voice called calmly, but with a certain old man stern Mikey thought Leo was too young to have.

The mystic warrior rolled his eyes. “Damned echoing caves. Okay, CJJ., let’s go see Weewo.” And he scooped up the toddler and led the way to Leo’s chambers.

Donnie couldn’t believe he and Mikey managed to move their brother safely to his chambers, a slightly more comfortable place to rest than the table in the lab, but he also couldn’t believe his brother was still alive after all that blood loss, awake and talking twenty-four hours later. But he could definitely believe the first thing on Leo’s mind was giving Casey the attention the child deserved.

Cass’s jaw dropped silently when she saw the slightly too large robotic arm attached to Leo’s body, but she closed her eyes and regained her composure, glad to see her old friend alive.

“Weewo!”

“Hey there, buddy.” Leo said tiredly, teaching his organic arm for the boy and holding him, letting him rest against his chest and on his lap. “There’s my little soldier. What’re you doing up? Torturing your mom for me?”

“M’not tired.”

“Ah, gotcha. But brave warriors like you need lots of sleep so they can grow up big and strong, and all that jazz.”

“Wanna stay wif you.” Casey mumbled, holding Leo’s arm and using it like a blanket.

Leo smiled and looked over at his twin, who was standing stiff. “Don’t worry. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”

Donnie grimaced at how little he had been with his family, how precious time is, and how he almost lost so much of it, all because he missed one person so damn much. But he knew he wasn’t ready to miss more people. He would never be ready for that.

The scientist opened his eyes and managed to form a tired smile. He sat in the spare chair, right by Leo’s left side, and said, “I’m not going anywhere.” And he folded his arms and rested them on the edge of the bed, showing that he had no plans of moving anywhere for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hold still, Casey! Let Dr. Delicate Touch take a look.”

“Dr. Delicate Touch threw a building at the Kraang!”

Mikey laughed and said, “Well as long as your not an alien trying to destroy the world, I think you’ll be okay.”

“Dang it, Casey, just let Mikey look at your wrist.” Leo said, rolling his eyes with his skateboard across his shoulders.

Casey had been doing very well on his roller skates, maybe a little too well; he got slightly over-confident and tried to do some flips, which he nearly got right, but he didn’t quite stick the landing and he put all his weight on his left wrist.

“Guys, I’m fine, I swear.” Casey said, standing up and cradling his arm by his chest. “I’ll fix it up at the lair.”

“Casey Jones, just let Mikey or Donnie look at it.” Raph instructed. “We just need to know if it’s broken or not, that’s all.”

Casey still looked very uncomfortable with the situation. Raph wondered how he was treated for injuries during an apocalypse and why he would be so against help now. Just add it to the lists of survival habits the snapping turtle hoped would go away with time. But the teenager winced, shut his eyes, and held out his arm to Donnie and Mikey.

Mikey held his arm very tenderly and gently felt for swelling beneath his wraps, just where his glove ended. “Oh boy, already swelling.”

Donnie lowered his goggles, which made Casey swallow, and the scientist said, “Well, you definitely sprained it. The ligaments are stretched, but not torn, so you’ve only got a mild sprain.”

“Let’s put some ice on that and get you one of those cool sprains for your hand!” Mikey said as he let Casey’s arm go and he held it by his chest. “And we’ll get some stickers so you can decorate it!”

“Thanks.” Casey said, giving a timid smile.

“Aw, I remember our first sprains and broken bones.” Raph reminisced as they walked to the convenient store. “It took all of us and Splinter to hold Leo down so Donnie could pop his arm back in place.”

“Or remember how big Donnie’s ankle was when Leo f- accidentally fell on him?” Mikey asked, eyeing the leader in blue.

Leo narrowed his eyes. “Or when Mikey’s bone was sticking out of his elbow…”

“Ew, gross!” Donnie groaned. “That was not fun!”

“You weren’t the one with the broken arm!” Mikey reminded him fiercely. “It took me a year to get on my board again!”

“And now look at you!” Raph said, rubbing the top of his head. “Best skateboarder in the world!”

“Better than Sydney?” Mikey pushed, knowing fully well he wasn’t better than the coolest pro-skater in the world.

“Okay, now that’s pushing it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Where are you? C’mon out, wittle warrior.” Mikey cooed as he creeped around the cave.

Casey covered his giggling mouth, hiding behind some boxes and sensing that the mystic master was nearby.

Mikey smiled, put a hand on the crates, and quickly bent down. “I’m gonna getcha! Huh,” The hiding spot was abandoned, and Mikey was impressed by the six-year-old's speed and sneaking abilities.

“Where is that wittle guy, hm?” He called out to the cave. “I’m gonna bobble him up when I find him!” Mikey growled playfully, but then was pounced on by a playful child, who landed on his shoulders as he giggled, but Mikey laughed, scooped him up and began tickling him and “eating” him. “Om nom nom! I’m gonna eat you! Om nom nom!”

Casey’s laughter echoed in the caves blissfully, drowning out the sounds of distress a few tunnels away, but as Mikey stopped and let Casey catch his breath, it became clear that something was wrong.

Mikey put the child down and walked on, Casey closely behind him, hoping to play some more soon.

They went into a large cave, the largest hole in the ground and the most important, the Med Bay. A majority of the beds were empty, some holding warriors with broken bones or bad flesh wounds, but far from death. A lot of commotion came from one bed. Donnie was hard at work, Sheldon flying around, Leo holding someone’s hand, Baron Draxum standing with his arms crossed over his chest. When the brave sheep stepped aside to talk to Leo, Casey and Mikey got a clear view of who was lying on the bed.

It was Cassandra. She was pale and painted in scarlet. Casey had seen blood before, it didn’t really scare the child, but that was a lot. Donnie hooked up a small monitor to her, and Casey knew what that meant. Those tools were only used for when someone was dying.

“NO!”

Mikey had completely forgotten that Casey had followed him. He caught him just as the boy ran past him and held him close, but the child kicked and screamed and wiggled in his master’s arms.

“NO! NO! MOMMY! LEMME GO! MOMMY!”

Cassandra tried to open her eyes and move her free hand upward, but her strength was leaving her too quickly. Donnie quickly started closing her wound while Sheldon gave her more blood.

Baron approached the turtle and human and said, “Easy, child, calm down. You won’t help your mother screaming like that.”

“LEMME GO! I WANT MY MOMMY!”

“I know, son, I know.” Baron cooed, scooping up the child and resting him against his chest as he and Mikey left the Med Bay. “But I’ve known your mother for years, since she was nothing more but a look-out for look-outs. She will be fine.”

Casey’s screams turned into sobs, and he clung onto Baron’s white vest, tears falling on the sheep’s bare chest. “M’scared, Baba Baron.”

“I know,” The alchemist replied, and added as he gave Mikey a grave look, “I’m scared, too.”

Mikey’s face dropped; he knew right then and there to prepare for the worst.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Donnie, where’s my mom?”

The scientist stayed silent, wiping his scarlet hands clean with the rag.

“Donnie! Where is my mom?!” Casey demanded.

He couldn’t say it. He didn’t need to. His eyes said it for him.

The child fell to the dirt floor and held himself, sobbing his heart out. Mikey covered his eyes with his hand, his heart broken after losing a friend, and seeing his nephew so broken and sad, at such a young age. Baron held his arms so tightly his nails nearly dug into his maroon skin.

Leo stepped forward and got on his knees. He used his non-robotic arm to tuck some black hair behind Casey’s ear, and start rubbing his back. Casey looked up at his sensei, tears streaming down his face, and the leader said,

“Anatawa Hitorijanai.”

The six-year-old launched himself into Leo’s arms and sobbed, both arms - robotic and organic - embraced him, as the family mourned the loss of a beloved family member.

~~~~~~~~~~

Casey opened his eyes and felt something wet on his face. He tried to wipe his skin dry, but his arm ached and felt heavy. Right, sprain. He sat up and used his other hand to wipe his face with his blanket, sighing tiredly.

The room Donnie had built from him was nice, but only half finished. Cass had given him some old posters to hang in his room, he had a nice bed with more pillows and blankets than he’s ever had in his life, and he had a bookshelf that he was free to fill with his favorite things, he just needed to gain some favorite things first. His gear, mask, and gloves sat on a small table on the right corner of his room, next to his bed.

Casey’s arm ached and he had a headache. Painkillers, maybe some ice on his arm, and a snack? Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

In his maroon-plaid pajama pants and black t-shirt with a skull on it, socks, and wraps and brace, he left his bedroom and headed to the kitchen, where he swore some medicine was kept. He was grateful to find the lair silent and dark, meaning no one else was awake.

In the dimly lit kitchen, Casey made himself a glass of water, pulled out a bag of chips, and set them on the counter while he looked for the painkillers. It seemed like every cabinete held something other than medicine; food, cups and plates, spices, but the medicine was nowhere to be found. Casey was starting to get a little annoyed, his headache getting worse, so he decided some food might help him think.

Sitting at a stool and eating his snack, his wrist was really starting to hurt. Not bad bad, he knew there was worse pain to be felt, but it still hurt. Ice, right. Casey stood back up, opened the freezer, and luckily found a bag of ice waiting for him.

He sat back down, rested his arm on the table, and placed the ice over the swollen area. It felt nice, but he frowned. He really should take off his wraps, wash his arm, and put fresh gauze on. Casey looked up at the door of the kitchen to double check he was alone, sighed, and carefully lifted his arm and started to unwrap his oddly-colored limb.

Meanwhile, Mikey left the bathroom, yawning into his clean hand and ready to go back to bed, but he saw that the kitchen light was on and heard some motion. Thinking someone needed a snack, and deciding he could go for a bite himself, Mikey decided to give them some company.

He smiled when he saw Casey at the counter. “Hey, Case-…” He stopped, deadpanned at the sight.

Casey was rigid. His whole left hand and arm had been unwrapped, showing its true colors. Mikey was at first freaked out, thinking the teenager had an infection, but a longer look told Mikey that Casey’s green skin wasn’t due to an injury.

Casey’s entire hand was green. It continued past his wrist (which was bruised and swollen at the moment), and freckled into average Caucasian human skin, like Cassandra’s, a little before his elbow.

“Mikey!”

“Ohmigosh!” Mikey gasped. “YOU’RE A MUTANT?!”

“Dude!” Casey hissed, shushing him, and put his arms behind his back, leaving the ice pack on the table. “Rude!”

“Lemme see…”

“Get off of me!”

“Casey Jones, you let me see…”

“No!”

The whispering fight continued for only another second, the sprained wrist powerless against the two healthy arms, as Mikey took his arm and carefully held it, examining his skin, which now that the turtle looked closer, Casey’s skin wasn’t just green, but also scaled. Like his. Like his brothers’.

“Casey,” Mikey awed under his breath, then looked up at the hybrid before him. Casey looked away, angry and embarrassed, and Mikey asked, “You’re… Are we… Um… A-Are you a Hamato?”

Casey sighed and held his head by his eyebrows with his free hand, elbow on the counter. Mikey grabbed the ice pack and placed it on the swollen part of his wrist. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“But…” Mikey was starting to put some pieces together, and he wanted to be happy about this discovery, but Casey’s reaction depressed him. “H-How?”

Casey refused to answer. He covered his mouth, not looking at Mikey, his eyes heavy with secrets and emotions.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Mikey asked. “Are you… ashamed of us? I get it that it’s not easy being a fr-…”

“No!” Casey interrupted, finally looking at Mikey, and going from angry to apologetic in a flash. “No, I’m not ashamed! I’m very proud…”

“Well you sure got a funny way of showing it.” Mikey let slip darkly.

“I don’t care about being a mutant.” Casey said firmly. “I’m proud of my family! I just… I wasn’t ready to tell you guys.”

“You told us who your mom was.”

“That was an accident! And plus, c’mon! We have the same name! It wasn’t gonna take long for you guys to figure that out.”

Mikey sighed, trying to be patient, trying to be understanding.

“Look, Master… I mean, Mikey,” Casey said. “I’m sorry, I just… I’m just not ready for him to know. I didn’t really know him. It’s a little different with Mom. I knew her until I was six. I just got her back! I wanted to enjoy that for a bit before trying to… trying to get to know him in that way. Plus, I didn’t want it to affect my parents’ relationship too much, y’know? I mean, clearly they hasn’t even started dating yet.”

Mikey’s face relaxed, feeling sorry for his friend, reminded of how much he lost at such a young age. He nodded, feeling like he was finally understanding, but he just couldn’t help but ask. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, I… I think I get it. But…” Mikey bit his lip, hesitant, but decided to ask anyway. “But who’s your dad?”

Casey looked down at his green skin. “I’m not ready to say it.”

“And that’s okay.” Mikey quickly said. “I’m sorry. You… You take as much time as you need. I’m just…” The box turtle smiled and added with tears in his eyes, “I’m just so happy you’re family.”

Casey smiled back, and allowed Mikey to hug him, Casey resting his left arm, but he hugged Mikey back with his right arm.

When they separated and Mikey stole a chip, he asked jokingly, “Is it Donnie? Is it me? Raph? Ohmigosh, it’s Leo!”

“Shaddup.” Casey laughed, shoving Mikey by the shoulder, and eating a chip.

“So,” Mikey popped another chip in his mouth and asked, “Do you have a shell, too, or…?”

“Eh, kinda,” Casey said, rocking his hand back and forth. It was certainly much easier to talk about himself than his parents. “It’s kinda half formed under my skin. Here,” Casey barely lifted his t-shirt and showed Mikey his lower back.

It was certainly very interesting to say the least. His back looked like a paler green than his arm, with bumps and scales scattered throughout, and when Mikey gently touched it, it felt rough, but still very flesh and not very protective. “It kinda reminds me of Donnie’s shell.” He said, leaving the comment hanging.

“Yeah, not very good against attacks,” Casey explained, pulling his shirt down and turning back around. “But it’s still cool.”

“Are both your arms green?”

“Yup. And my legs, just below my knee.” And he pulled up a pants leg to show Mikey exactly that. Green skin that freckled into peach skin before the knee. “Other than that, I’m all human.”

“Cool!” Mikey exclaimed. “Well, I know for a fact that your parents were proud of you, no matter who they were.”

Casey chuckled and brought his cup of water to his lips. “Heh. Thanks. Can I have some painkillers now?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re doing great, babe! You’re almost there!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

“Wow wow wow, okay, broken thumb, but that’s okay! You break all the bones you want!” The father said sincerely with a faithful smile.

“Oh, wow, that looks pain-…”

“Leo, get your fainting brother out of here!”

“UUUUUUUUUGH, I WANNA FUCKING DIE!”

“Okay okay, there’s too many people in here, and there’s about to be one more, so everyone but Mom and Dad and flying AIs, OUT!” April commanded, sitting on a stool and slipping on gloves.

Donnie leaned on Leo, gagging and nearly ready to throw up. Mikey followed them, giving his brother a good luck thumb-up, leaving Raph by Cassandra’s side as she moaned and screamed.

April ducked between her legs. “Alright, Cass, they’re crowing. It’s time to start pushing. Sheldon…”

Cassandra’s screams could be heard all throughout the tunnels.

Donnie threw up into a bucket while Leo rubbed his shell and rolled his eyes. Mikey paced excitedly, twiddling his thumbs and beyond excited to be an uncle. Baron sat in an old armchair, kicking a hoof unknowingly as he sharpened a spear, his ears on high alert.

The screams eventually faded away to grunt and panting, and there was silence. The men were frozen, fearing the worst. They had tried so hard to help Cass, but there was no way to give her the rest and food she would have gotten in a non-apocalyptic world.

Then there was crying, and the three turtles dropped like puppets cut from their strings, and sighed with relief. Baron smiled and resumed his sharpening.

An hour later, April came into their cave, clean and grinning. The men waited, and she only had them in suspense for another minute.

“It’s a boy! A very healthy baby boy!”

The caves erupted with cheers and cries of joy. Mikey even used his mystic powers to make tiny fireworks explode in the cave, Leo and Donnie did some sort of weird jig, and Baron punched the air and jumped up from his chair.

“Okay okay,” April laughed. “Everyone shaddup so you can go meet him. Anyone who wakes a sleeping baby is getting sent to a labor camp.”

The shushing family carefully walked to the room, everyone taking in a unison breath at the sight of the teeny tiny bundle in Raphael’s strong arms, Cassandra leaning against him, beyond tired with huge bags under her eyes, but her smile was radiant.

Raph looked up at his family, his eyes wet and his bottom lip quivering, his smile just as joyful as his partner’s. “Hey guys,” He croaked.

“Awwww!” Mikey cooed and rested his hands on his knees, looking at the tiny face surrounded by the warm blanket. “He’s beautiful, you guys!”

“What are you naming the bundle of chaos?” Leo asked.

“We’re naming him after the most amazing warrior of all time…”

“Aw, Lou Jitsu!”

“Einstein?”

“Leonardo Jr. it is then!”

“Better not be Shredder.”

“No!” Raph corrected. “We’re naming him Casey Jones! After pushing an entire person outta her body…”

The room clashed with agreement and also a plea to drop the subject.

Raph chuckled and smiled at Leo. “You wanna hold your nephew, fearless leader?”

Leo was a little surprised by the honor of being the first outside the parents to hold the baby, but smiled and nodded. He stepped forward and Raph carefully handed his son to his little brother, showing him what to do, and beyond happy to see Leo holding little Casey, eyes shining at the sleeping newborn.

“Aw, hey there, buddy.” Leo cooed. “I’m your Uncle Leo. Yeah, hi. Welcome to the family.”

#rottmnt movie #rottmnt spoilers #rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt april #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #cassandra jones #casey jones jr #dad raph #fanfiction #gift #fanficmaniatic #the last two chapters will be posted later tonight!

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fairymint · 1 year

Text

Good Morning! So i probably won't be able to lift my semi-hiatus this year at all. I've been very busy with certain adult issues combined with scheduling Gender Stuff. Not really 'venting' under the cut, but as an FYI and secondary record (although the situation may be very upsetting to know.)

So barely a month in, we've been served a bunch of legal papers saying that the mortgage hasn't been paid- some out of state bank owns this building now. With intent to sell and evict despite it being an entire complex, supposedly. There's no properties available for rent in town that allow pets, so this may put like 60+ households with dogs/cats out on the street for no reason.

There has also been a demand for delay of sale for two months, after which they must serve a 3 month eviction notice since this is a foreclosure; I estimate the tenants here (us) have until about July to move out.

Dealing with all this has been disrupting my sleep schedule. Both my gender clinic and this building's office (along with my bank) conduct business at like 9 fuckin AM, i normally wake up at 4. And, neighbors and random people will loudly gossip outside my window waking me up to boot. (most ppl in town are spreading misinformation b/c they can't understand a packet full of legal jargon. I have to breathe down necks of official staff to get any info, it's like pulling teeth.) I'm tempted to just force myself to stay a morning person tbh.

We do have possible other places to live that don't rely on corporations and mortgages- homeowner buddies that like us personally and wouldn't kick us out for frivolous reasons. But moving by July will suck, especially out of town. By the time we get that done, I have top surgery plans to make this fall and might be out of action then. and we need to buy a car, still.

So yeah, gonna be busy doing everything to prepare for that. I might not even be living in this town by next year. Managing my mental health with insomnia like this has been a little tough, so my brain will start in with evil things pertaining to my RP self-esteem. There's a constant urge to 'Better' my blog despite not having much time or a clear mind to do it, just been sticking to my comfort zone admittedly. I'm a little irritable otherwise about both work and online spaces being so casually demanding in some corners;;; Hopefully the worst of it is over soon and i get a little break from business shit- we're safe for now and should continue to keep being safe. Thank goodness we're financially stable.

#ooc.#homelessness mention #so. apologies if I'm not initiating/active sometimes;;;#especially with organized shit or things outside my comfort zone ffff #my mood is constantly sighing or salty;;; aaaaa #still gotta eat breakfast and take my T now that i'm home for the day so i should feel Better after that. jesus.#ask to tag

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thefamilyeldritchabomination · 1 year

Text

Chapter Ten: Thank You For The Venom Pt. 1

It had been a week since the Elrics arrived, the Dublith air was warm and dry as Alphonse had wandered off to the shadier side of the town after receiving a card to visit this ‘Devil’s Nest’ place. Not wanting to bother Edward since he was visiting Izumi, Alphonse decided to head out on his own. It would be Alphonse’s own little adventure and felt safe seeing as he was a mobile suit of armor. Ernest was resting inside of Alphonse, close to napping, having had enough donuts to refuel himself with after such a wild escape. The nap plan was ruined, however, when Ernest felt a jolt in Alphonse’s movement and the loud obnoxious voices outside didn’t help much either. Grumbling about his relaxation time being interrupted, Ernest began to stir to peak outside of the armor. Outside of the armor, much to Ernest’s displeasure, was a homunculus right out in the open with some chimeras flanking his side while trying to convince Alphonse to go into the less than stellar tavern.

“But you’re old enough to make your own decisions, come with us into the tavern and we’ll have a nice conversation.” Dolcetto said, keeping his eyes on Greed who had still wanted Freddy even after the trouble he caused.

“Seriously, you’re going to manipulate a teenager? To hell with it, Al, buddy, let me take care of this.” Ernest groaned, not thrilled with this turn of events and more angered at the clearly fully grown adults trying to lure a kid into a tavern.

“Wait…who do you have with you?” Greed asked, curious about the surprise guest in Alphonse’s chest cavity.

“Oh it’s my roommate, Ernest.” Alphonse answered as he opened the chest cavity.

Greed and his chimeras looked on in confusion as what looked like a piece of chewed up red gum had anchored itself inside of Alphonse, a lion head in the center looking at them as crystals started to replace the coiled clay mane. Ernest was enraged and glaring with the horrid little orbs of gold for eyes at the group before him. Alphonse, seemingly unaware of just how bad the situation has gotten, just stared in confusion at the frozen in terror chimeras and a mildly amused Greed.

“Hey Al, I’m going to need you to close your eyes, cover whatever thing you have for hearing, and sing a song you know, okay? I’m going to have a ‘chat’ with these fine folks you just met.” Ernest instructed, not wanting to have a kid of all people witness what he can do.

“I’m sure I can handle this Ernest, I’m literally a suit of armor.” Alphonse tried to reason, but was shut down.

“Hey, I made a verbal contract to help, I’m just doing my job. Now, if you could please do what I instructed, I’ll be more than thrilled.” Ernest said in a convincing manner as Alphonse decided to listen to the horrid clay monster in his chest, humming a lullaby his mother once sang.

“I’m gonna count to ten and you lot better be gone by the time I reach ten.” Ernest growled as the crimson crystals started rotating like a turbine, generating electrical sparks as they spun.

“Seriously? I’m Greed, I get whatever I want.” Greed began as he got closer to Alphonse to have a better view of Ernest.

“One..” Ernest began as his mouth grotesquely opened wide like a snake unhinging its jaw.

“You really are going to give the count down? That’s not really going to work.” Greed was laughing a bit as the chimeras instinctively backed away from Alphonse, wishing Greed would do the same.

“Ten!” Ernest growled, cheating on the countdown as a bright, powerful electrical plasma beam shot right out of Ernest’s mouth and vaporized the top half of Greed in the process.

The beam continued on its path of destruction, concluding when it blew up a building in the process. The chimeras froze in place after witnessing the spectacle and the lower half of Greed tried to regenerate but couldn't due to some of the flesh combusting from the heat of the blast. No words were needed as the chimeras gathered Greed’s lower half and they ran, oh did they run. Not just because of the murder weapon in Alphonse’s chest, but, that explosion, would certainly bring the military police in droves. Greed and his gang would have to leave town at once, there was a backup hide away in Resembool they could all lay low in. Slowly, once the chimeras and that homunculus were gone, Ernest unhinged himself from Alphonse’s interior. It took a while for Ernest’s original shape to return, but once it did, the crystalline mane, shoulder intrusions that resembled wings and the tip of the tail started to recede back into Ernest’s clay body. The crystalline form had been deactivated as Ernest knocked on Alphonse’s chest to get his attention.

“Wow, Ernest, I thought you were going to talk to them..” Alphonse said with his first sight being that path of destruction.

“Oh I did try, I really did, but they just wanted to do violence instead. Seriously, look at the mess they made.” Ernest stated as if the wake of destruction was all Greed and his gang’s fault.

“...I think we’ll be going back to our teacher and Edward.” Alphonse said, uneasy with this turn of events though relieved he didn’t get to witness any sort of carnage.

“Good idea kid, maybe get the radio on to listen or whatever it is you do for fun.” Ernest agreed, relieved he won’t be grilled about the blown up building or what exactly he did to chase off the gang.

Alphonse, deciding it was best to go back so he can talk to his brother about what happened, turned around for Izumi’s home. A plan would have to be done carefully to have Ernest unaware of what’s being spoken about and how to make sure a peaceful chat will happen. It was unnerving with how silent the attack was and just how swift it was in general, but then again, Ernest did protect Alphonse from the gang. Relaxing a bit at that reassuring thought, maybe Ernest wasn’t all that terrible if he did it to protect as Alphonse continued on his way back. Ernest, on the other hand, was much more relaxed that his temp home is now safe from gangsters and is still concealed from the government from locating him still. The same, however couldn’t be said, a few minutes ago when Edward was on the phone with Roy Mustang, annoyed that he was getting check up calls.

“Come on Colonel, I don’t need to be called in every time I’m away from base.” Edward protested, tired from the long ride and waiting for Alphonse to get back.

“This isn’t a check up call Fullmetal, this is a warning. Trouble seems to follow you two Elric brothers no matter what I do, so I am giving you the details right now.” The Colonel started as an explosion could be heard in the background from where the shadier side of town was.

“The hell was that!?” Edward yelled as he looked out the window to see the huge smoke cloud, the colonel cursing in the background of the phone.

“Stay inside Fullmetal, the town you’re in will likely be placed into lock down. Look, I didn’t tell you two about why Central got locked down since you two would've ran off after this, but, the thing we’re looking for is an escaped experiment.” The Colonel, trying to keep his cool, but deep down was screaming in horror that this horror was likely in Dublith.

“An experiment?” Edward angrily asked, panicking that his little brother is out there where the explosion happened.

“Right, this thing killed multiple military personnel already before escaping into the general public. It’s a small clay lion-like creature that one of the recently recruited alchemists made for his entrance exam. I don’t have the full details of what this thing is fully capable of just yet, but, if you see this creature, do not engage with it.” The Colonel explained, Edward having gone blank in his expression upon hearing the description when Alphonse safely got into the house.

“I’ll be right back with you Mustang, Al just got home and I need to check him over.” Edward quickly said as he hung the phone up with a slam and quickly dragged Alphonse to the guest bedroom to talk.

“Ed, you won’t believe what just happened! Ernest saved me from really shady people!” Alphonse said in a happy tone the moment the door was closed.

“Al, I need you to open the chest. We need to have a talk with Ernest, now.” Edward instructed, not thrilled that he was tricked by a highly dangerous mad alchemy experiment.

The chest opened up and Ernest, frowning, sat right up from his lounging position to have a chat with Edward, “Yes Ed?”

“Don’t yes Ed me, I want you to tell me the damn truth right now. Did you escape the lab?” Edward wasn’t going to mess around anymore and was seething a bit that his little brother was near a blast zone.

“Fine, you got me, I escaped a lab, but, wouldn’t you do the same too? I got poked, prodded, made to do things I didn’t want to do, having to watch some nerds eat things I wanted, being separated from my own brother and of course having an off switch built into my body is annoying as hell. I just want to be free and live in the wild, eating donuts straight from the vine.” Ernest explained himself, truly believing donuts were in fact a fruit that grew on a vine.

“....Donuts don’t grow in the wild Ernest…” Alphonse said as Edward just looked at Ernest, processing what just came out of his sludge like mouth.

“You’re joking, right? Donuts aren’t a fruit?” Ernest asked, wondering if donuts are like a creature instead he’d have to hunt for.

“No, they're baked goods from bakeries and don’t you dare derail this conversation! So fine, you escaped for a fair enough reason, but you didn’t have to kill those people. Plus, what happened to cause that explosion?” Edward went back to grilling, still upset about the whole thing.

“Hey, I didn’t kill all of them, I spared two idiots by locking them in my prison. As for the explosion, I gave a fair warning, told the homunculus I’d give him the count to ten to leave, didn’t listen, so I went into self defense. If I didn’t, I don’t know what would’ve happened to Al here if they forced him into that trash heap of a tavern. I have my morals, you know.” Ernest defended his actions, though still bewildered that the donuts aren’t a naturally occurring thing in nature.

“You know the homunculi?” Edward asked, taken aback that this clay crime knew about that.

“My brother told me about them.” Ernest admitted, Edward and Alphonse becoming confused.

“I thought you said you were separated from your brother?” Edward asked, his guard up since almost every encounter he’d have almost always was a lie.

“I am, but I can still communicate with him. My brother provides me information on what to avoid while I provide in return what the outside world is like.” Ernest explained, pointing towards his own head.

“Fine, I’m convinced you’re an asshole, but a reasonable asshole. I won’t turn you in IF you don’t murder people around us and you keep the deal we had back on the train.” Edward finally decided, though not thrilled they’d be harboring a lethal experiment that’s on the run.

“What can I say? I’m a Capricorn, it’s in my nature. However, you have a deal, kid.” Ernest said as he accepted this deal, though not thrilled with the no kill policy as Dublith went into a full lockdown.

Greed and his gang had long since left the town as the homunculus Fuhrer and his hunting party arrived in Dublith to search for Ernest. As the hunt commenced in the town of Dublith, back at the cottage villa of Danta, things were going to hell in a handbasket as Dante’s plan started falling apart at the seams. Pride had truly picked the perfect wife to rule along his side over Amestris, too perfect. Not only had Mrs. Bradley started removing troops from Lior, but had started case hearings over the misconduct and war crimes that had been committed under her husband’s watch. It was a mess for Dante to deal with all because this current Pride had to go on the damned lion hunt instead of letting Wrath take care of the issue. It would be foolish to assassinate Mrs. Bradley right away, suspicions would pop up like weeds and open investigations could lead to a raid on the villa. It wasn’t bad enough already with Envy being distracted by that disappearing freak, now Dante had to reformulate her plans. It had been just poor timing on Sloth’s part when the teacup smashed inches away from where Sloth’s face was.

“You better have good news Sloth.” Dante nearly snarled, losing her composure from the rotten day.

“We may have located the escaped experiment in Dublith, but Pride has the town placed in Lockdown after an explosion and some casualties.” Sloth responded unemotionally as ever, her customer service face plastered on like a mask.

“That’s it, Sloth, I had wanted to wait a decade before digging up his remains, but you will be going to the cemetery tonight to retrieve some body parts for me to create a new Pride. I will be sending Wrath out with our current Pride’s finger bone with the objective of termination.” Dante grumbled as she rummaged through her desk to fish out that bone to Pride.

“But of course Dante, was it Brigadier General Maes?” Sloth asked, making sure she had the right one in mind.

“That would be correct.” Dante instructed in a huff, making her way to the elevator.

“Where are you going?” Sloth asked, a rare moment of emotion peaking through.

“To the underground city, I’m going to reinforce its structures in case Pride doesn’t capture the little bastard that is ruining everything for us.” Dante said as she descended into her own necropolis.

Dante would be damned if she didn’t protect the underground city she had laid out as her bunker. It was the thing Dante held the dearest next to her want of immortality and her garish dresses. Wrinkled, vulture-like talons clutched onto the skirt of the dress as the elevator continued its journey downwards, plans formulating in Dante’s ravaged mind. Yes, she will reinforce the structures in the same materials as Greed’s ultimate armor, that should work beautifully. Once that matter was taken care of, Dante would get herself some tea and cakes while she carefully spy on her wayward offspring and the other two homunculi to see what exactly they’ve been up to. Perhaps a new plan could be formulated from there should the rare occasion occur of having no backup plans should happen. The elevator creaked to a halt the moment it reached the destination, Dante carefully making her way out and towards the city square to perform a massive scale transmutation.

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