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munsnz · 3 years

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TRICKS OF LIFE — STEVE HARRINGTON

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐯. — 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞? Overview: Y/N tells Mike information to help their lost friend, she also heads to the search party for Will with Victor. As they explore, the past unravels and there is an odd occurrence that happens. Navigation & Mixtape

Tag: @samiyamuntaha @thepowerstoner @ughgclden @mqyfield @cooperdaysgf

“So right by Mirkwood right?” Mike Wheeler’s voice peeped after listening to Y/N’s remark of details about what she heard at the Hawkins Police Department a few hours ago. It was around 7 pm, right around to where the girl was getting ready prone to the search party being held with a few of the residents of the town.

Y/N hummed a positive response to clearing out his doubts just in case he was confused by any means, this wasn’t going to help Mike, it was going to help Will get a faster chance to be retrieved to his home again.

Although Hopper disapproved the request of letting young people in the search, Y/N and Victor were eventually allowed to come along, “Yeah, but remember you have to be somewhat far from the real search group okay? We don’t want you to get caught.”

”Mike! What are you doing?” Nancy’s faint voice was caught on the other line of the phone, leading Mike to leave the phone out, Y/N overhearing them argue over the dumbest things.

Prior to the noises of Mike pushing Nancy out of the basement she guessed, the boy came back on the line, sighing loudly, “Sorry about that, Nancy gets so annoying, I still don’t know why you still hang out with her.”

”She could be a priss sometimes,” She responds, breathily giggling, clenching the ceramic telephone tighter, “But she’s still my friend if you could say.”

Continuing with their conversation based on the plan, it was perfectly assembled, safe with a high possibility of finding Will, even if it had been a day. Will couldn’t have gone far anyways. Y/N was about to speak, but was suddenly caught off guard as soon as she heard her dad in the hallway, getting prepared for the search.

”Oh shit! I have to go now,” Y/N hushed in a subtle tone, trying her best to keep away Hopper from listening to their discussion, “Remember to be home by 9 at least with flashlights. Stay safe Mike.”

The line went awfully silent, placing back the phone to its regular position on the handset, while it being attached to the wall. Rapidly, spinning to look at her father, trying to act as normal as possible, his brows furrowed at her.

”What were you doing?”

Shrugging it off calmly, Y/N breathily giggles while she put her hands on her hips saying, “I was just checking in with Victor, that’s all.”

Hopper’s eyes widened at her point, clicking his tongue as he started grabbing on his sweater for the frosty night ahead, “Funny, but I just called his mom to let him know that he was coming.”

”Right..” Y/N casually crossed her arms, cursing under her breath before she showed any subtle reaction to what she was up to. Play it cool.

In the silence of her looking around the messy home by the front door, Hopper sharply whistles while slinging the car keys in the air to catch them, making Y/N follow right behind me, pretending as if the few minutes didn’t occur. Feeling the breeze of the autumn air, both the relatives made their way to the vehicle, on their way to the small yet important search for this boy, Will Byers.

As the road got narrower and narrower, the car drove deeper into the dark woods, where Y/N could see the slender trees and branches surrounding them. The starry sky lit up the place with a soft tone of dim blues and grays painted across it on the chilly night. Watching out the window, Y/N squinted her eyes to see a figure from afar waving towards the vehicle, a familiar figure to be Victor. Hopper drove nearer, the headlights being able to guide him to the stop where a small crowd of people were surrounding along with the patrols.

Hopper cleared his throat, while he pushed the breaks down and turned to his daughter, “Hey kid, remember don’t be-“

Without hesitation, Y/N swung the car door open to step out of it, hustled her way to her so called “acquaintance”, Victor. It was more like a friend but she didn’t want to be that close with the boy. Victor wearily smiling at her.

“You seem tired,” Y/N creeps up next to him, watching the small groups of people around the mounds of dead leaves and twigs gathered for the search.

Victor’s voice brings the girl’s attention back to him, he clears his throat, “I mean dealing with Flo is already a lot for me to handle, so I suppose I am.” The two silently chuckled, the frost getting to their noses, “I heard there’s gonna be a chance of rain.”

”Really?”

“Yes really! Haven’t you seen the forecast? I’m even wearing a jacket!” Victor squinted his eyes, his eyewear raising up on the bridge of his nose and the girl shrugged aimlessly.

Y/N scoffed, shoving him slightly, “I think there’s way more important things we need to focus on instead of the weather.”

From afar, Hopper and the policemen indicated all the volunteers to gather around on the sidewalk, near the entrance of the forest. The flashing blue and red lights were turned off from the cars, everyone else preparing for the upcoming search.

”Okay guys!” The chief shouted to direct everyone, “We need to stay in the 5 mile radius from where Will was last scene! Everyone please be careful and remember to blow the whistle if you find anything at all!”

Heads were nodded, agreeing to the directions, Officers Powell and Callahan guided two separate groups from different directions, Y/N having to come along with the third group including her dad. Although the girl was 16, her father wanted to take the best care for her, after Sarah. He wanted to keep her as close as possible, but he knew she was getting older. It was just for today, he can protect her for today, now being aware of a kid disappearing in their town. Maybe one of them was next.

“I guess that’s your call genius,” Y/N told Victor as she pointed towards Powell’s group who were walking to the right side of the woods, the people disappearing one by one into the darkness.

Not budging at all, Victor stood his ground saying, “I think I’ll stick with you for now, there’s just soccer moms hoarding the group for Powell, he has a fan club.”

“You’re not wrong Vic,” She sniggered quietly but failed miserably, letting out a subtle loud laugh, both of the teenagers walking behind their group, down a steep hill leading to the inner nature.

Rushing down first to the bottom, the tall brunette reached his hand out for Y/N who was still at the top, to help her come down to his level, “M’lady?”

”Why thank you, what a gentleman!” Y/N sarcastically gasps, gripping onto his hand to steady herself below, after they jogged closer to the group, flicking their flashlights on to carry on.

Everyone glanced above the branches, the moon shining as the crickets chirped. The crisp wind running across their faces, making the trees shuffle loudly. As flashlights led them with its brightness, they all searched and searched, for any trace of the boy around the area.

Half an hour later, the air became cooler than usual, almost bringing a frostbite to their bare hands. The sound of branches and dead leaves crunching over the few people above them. In the silence, Y/N stayed near Victor and her father, hearing shouts for Will. The realization hit the girl, they were looking for lost Will, Will hasn’t appeared, he was probably in some sort of danger. She fastened her grip on the flashlight, looking around more closely, along with the rest.

”He’s a good student,” Someone decides to break the silence of the leaves and twigs crunching under their feet, Victor and Y/N turned their attention to him as they strolled in the woods.

Hopper cocks an eyebrow up and looks towards the teacher’s direction after the statement, “What?”

”Will. He’s a good student. Great one actually,” He elaborates, smiling sheepishly to lend his hand in front of the chief to introduce himself, “I don’t think we’ve met, Scott Clarke. Teacher, Hawkins Middle. Earth and biology.”

“Don’t you remember he was my teacher back in the day?”

Victor nods agreeing with Y/N’s statement from behind, Hopper reluctantly trying to remember his daughter’s middle school teacher, still not recalling since in those past years where fighting for Y/N’s custody between the parents, “I always had a distaste for science.”

”Well maybe you had a bad teacher,” Mr. Clarke remarks, checking if his flashlight was still operating, trudging closer to the group of three ahead of him.

”Yeah, Ms. Ratliff was a piece of work,” Hopper scoffs jokingly, Y/N doing the same as well, remembering his shitty science teacher from his past years while he studied at Hawkins High.

”Ratliff?” The teacher ponders, realizing that the same teacher still resides in Hawkins after all these years, “You bet. She’s still kicking around believe it or not.”

Victor elaborates in between them, sliding his hands onto his pockets, “I had her when I was in eighth grade a few years back.”

”Oh I believe it Victor. Mummies never die, so they tell me,” Hopper smiles, trying to get his daughter to notice but she dozed off beyond the sight of the woods, ”Sarah, my youngest, galaxies, the universe whatnot.. She always understood all that stuff. I always figured there was enough going down here, I never needed to look elsewhere.”

Y/N flickered her eyes towards her father’s direction after hearing the special name, it wasn’t so special to one, but to her, it was. Sarah, Sarah Hopper her little sister, but soon enough the teacher interrupted, “Maybe I’ll get her in my class I-“

“No, she uh.. she lives with her mom in the city,” He cuts the man off from his statement, Victor widening his eyes on Y/N’s side, knowing fully that wasn’t true.

The girl beside the tall boy looked back at his dark eyes, signaling him to be quiet, Y/N was aware of the fact that everyone in Hawkins knew Sarah’s death. Just because of her own blabbermouth, Steve told everyone including the parents her little secret the young female confessed to.

As much as her dad still wants to deny the fact the little one was gone and resting in peace, staying of his delusion Y/N wished she could have. It was a promise. A promise that everything was okay and there wasn’t nothing to worry about, almost some sort of fairy tale where everything had its happy endings with a happy family which wasn’t it.

“Thanks for coming out, Teach. We really appreciate it.” Hopper clears the air, trudging past them farther into the dark eerie woods, Y/N and Victor repeating his steps behind him.

Once they were out of the picture and range from hearing, a middle aged woman spoke up next to the teacher, in a hushed tone saying, “She died a few years back.”

”Sorry?” Mr. Clarke shifted his head in bewilderment towards the lady for any clarification from the inadequate statement given.

”His kid.”

The teacher’s eyes widened, observing the two family members mumbling inaudible words behind the brisk trees of the cool night. He didn’t know the Hoppers hid their family, they never talked much about family when it came to projects when Y/N was younger. It seemed like something ever so private not like where many kids shared experiences with their loved ones, they always kept everything about their family closed up. Almost a mystery.

Y/N could hear the soft mumbles of the quiet conversation being exchanged by the lady and her former teacher, she felt sick knowing that her father stays in the delusion of her sister being alive, lying. Lying wasn’t so hard for her, Y/N was almost a professional at it when it came to helping the party in situations. But lying to her dad was different, it was the both of them against the horrid place called the world.

“Is Sarah going to be back?” A small girl walked over to the grown adults who stood at the front door, puffy eyes showing on their faces, as they held a plastic wristband and stuffed tiger after a long day from not seeing her sister. It was already near midnight.

Without any move, the woman, who to be seen was the girl’s mother, bursted into tears, her husband catching her into his arms. The youngling worriedly watched her parents shed tears, a middle aged woman got up from the couch to comfort both of them. Whispers and mumbles being shared between the adults, bringing more tears.

”Mommy?” The girl steadily crept next to her mom’s leg, wrapping her short arms around her waist, pressing her cheek against the woman’s body, “Don’t cry, I’m here.”

Sobs were still heard from the mother, the two of the women held each other tightly while the tall man let go from their hug, kneeling next to the girl’s level, “Y/N, kid-“

”Dad, where’s Sarah?!” Y/N shakily shouted, her stomach feeling uneasy, with her sister not being found. What happened to Sarah? She knew Sarah was going to get better. Why was mom crying? So many questions filled her head, eyes welling up, her father hugging her tightly with all the hurt and love. Y/N noticed the wristband that her father was holding, she peered closely to see a sloppy handwriting shown as the name Sarah, written all over it with the date when she was sent to the hospital.

”Sarah is... gone.”

The little’s watery eyes widened, her bottom lip trembling, she threw her arms around her father, her head leaning onto his shoulder. Her little sister was gone, she was alone now, her heart crumbling into a million pieces. Sarah, Sarah wasn’t here anymore. But it seemed so surreal, it was only yesterday the two sisters laughed about one of the nurses dropping her cup of coffee while getting chemotherapy.

“Dad.. Can she come back?”

Sadly grinning, Hopper wiped the girl’s chubby face from her tears, shaking his head, “I’m sorry kid, she’s not coming back.”

”But she has to! Sarah has to come home with us,” Y/N choked in her tears, her eyes becoming swollen, grabbing the wristband from her father’s large hand, “Sarah can’t leave me alone here. She promised she would stay.”

”Y/N, I know this is difficult but your sister left us. She’s in a better place now.”

Making her cry even more, Y/N’s mother rapidly kneeled next to her husband and daughter, she sniffed, grabbing onto her daughter, “We promised Sarah we would love each other and always stay safe. Forever.”

”Promise?”

Both of the girl’s parents joined in for a tight hug, Y/N fastening her arms around the two others, “Promise. We promise you sweet pea.”

”Y/N! Y/N!” A familiar voice boasted in the ears of Y/N, she focused her attention back to the voice. There was no one beside her by the time she looked around, it was the sounds of the wind and her alone. Her flashlight flickered in her hands, she shook it vigorously to try and turn it back on, but there was nothing coming out of it, just a dimly lit tone guiding her way. Nothing else in her sight except for the trees and moonlight, she tried her best to not overthink this and make her way back to the group.

Every turn she made in the paths, it led her to nowhere, noises filled the aura. Slowly, she began to worry, she wasn’t coming back to the group. Y/N’s head filled itself with thoughts, there was no way she could be lost, last time she was with Victor, rambling about the weather. Where was she? Looking up, she felt small droplets of water dripped onto her face above, Y/N squinted her eyes to avoid the drizzle. The water fell down slowly until it started raining heavier in the air, she wiped her face to dry it off and continue to try to find her way back.

“Dad!” Y/N shouted, wrapping her arms over herself, her hair becoming soaked along the time. She kept shouting and shouting, worry filling her in. The girl was afraid. What if she went missing like Will? Oh no.

Without a precaution, a branch from behind was heard. Y/N whipped her head to the direction, seeing a small human with a white gown rapidly run off to opposite direction, the rain blurring her eyes. Was that Will? Curious, she picked up speed to follow the boy, it may be Will. A chance of relief rushing in as her adrenaline sped up, almost running faster. “Will! It’s me!”

The boy didn’t stop, sprinting faster with his bare feet. Y/N still yelled, slowing her pace down, then picking it back up, going through the trees. An idea came to her, tugging at her metal whistle to her lips, blowing on it. The sound coming off it, maybe attracting people to find her and the boy, it has to be Will. Using her arms to run faster, she suddenly trips over a thick log after not seeing below her because of the wind, sending her to the floor. She whimpers as she felt her ankle burn in a pain, whistling even more.

From the distance, few people to what she could tell came forward to her, rain soaking over her head. Thunder being heard far away, Victor came into the picture to kneel down next to Y/N.

”Hey are you okay?” He worriedly checks on her, receiving a nod. Victor looked around for any possible wounds since he found her on the ground, “We couldn’t find you!”

Y/N hardly paid attention to him and looked afar to see if the boy would turn up again. She held Victor’s jacket to pull him closer, “I think I saw Will! He was running through there I-“

”Chief Hopper coming through, excuse me,” A voice from the crowd of people called in, Hopper bringing himself forward to find his soaking daughter on the ground pointing toward another direction. “What’s wrong?”

Victor moves to tell Hopper while being next to shaking and wet Y/N, “She saw Will.”

#Steve Harrington #steve Harrington x reader #steve Harrington fanfic #steve harrington series #Steve Harrington fanfiction #Steve Harrington x Hopper reader #Stranger things #stranger things x reader #Stranger things Fanfiction #Steve Harrington angst #Steve Harrington fluff #Steve Harrington smut #Steve Harrington fanfic navigation #Steve Harrington x reader Fanfiction #Mike wheeler #nancy wheeler #jim hopper #stranger things season 1

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mokkemusic · 3 years

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Gather round people for my excited puzzle hobby babblings.

Today’s topic: Best Ship Puzzles (Besides Hananene/Amanene of course. What do you want me to do? They don’t have any official puzzles unless it’s like 75 pieces which is so beneath me.)

So besides Hananene. My two top ships. I don’t mean the anime itself (although Your Name a breathtaking masterpiece) but I mean the ships today.

I don’t know if they actually have a ship name? But Hope and I dubbed Taki and Mitsuha (Mitsaki) and I like it❤️. Kirito and Asuna I believe are already named (Kirisuna) which is also catchy I can vibe with it.👌🏻

I’ve collected their official puzzles throughout the years. Which I am so proud of cause they are super freakin rare and super freakin stunning!

1) Your Name- There’s not really a story to this one. It just happened by chance I was able to get it on eBay before this became really hard to obtain. Got it 2 years ago. The price was pretty good too. Can’t say the same about the next one.😅 This one is also now completed and framed!

2) Your Name 2- Last year I was able to finally get the magic hour scene of Your Name!😍 I have tried to get this puzzle for two and a half years. I thought I actually did. But the website was actually a scam and I ended up having to file a dispute. But I still was always searching. (Ha! I just realized what I did there if your a fan you’ll understand) Finally I found it on Mercari Japan. The 1000 pc one. I cried when I found this. I actually cried. (Also it was thanks to my friend Hana because she reminded me that I do shop from Mercari Japan now and have new sources 😂.) I still had no luck for a while but finally it paid off. Also of course also thanks to Punky for actually purchasing it for me.❤️) Didn’t open this one yet though but I’m gonna soon! These are puzzles so they are meant to be assembled no matter how much they cost. They aren’t meant to sit in boxes.😤 But for right now the shrink wrap is still on this one till I have a suitable working area to complete it.

3) Sword Art Online (Original First Series)- I don’t have much info on this one tbh. Except for the fact that it is official and it was the HARDEST one out of all these to find. I can’t even tell you how I just kinda was searching and searching and someday “poof”, a magic second hand shop link showed up and that was the end of it. (I though it was honestly a scam.😅) It’s the hardest to get cause one, it’s the first series is really old. Two, I think this one was distributed in America (I could be wrong) so even all my Japan shop merch hunting skills wouldn’t do anything to help me. There is a Japan version of this one I believe that is a mosaic, it’s the same image but inside all the pixels are screenshots of the first series. Unfortunately I’ve yet to see that for sale not assembled. Maybe someday.) I’m still very pleased about this one cause as nice as it looks sometimes mosaics are just too busy! It arrived in shrink wrap so it’s brand new. I have taken the shrink wrap off just to check for damages or tampering and found none. All the puzzle bags are sealed! Will also be completing this one when I have a suitable work area as well.

And that’s the last one. I have a bunch more Mitsaki and Kirisuna merch coming other then just puzzles (because I have no self control and going through stuff at the moment and need retail therapy). I’ll be posting those as they come cause I do want to share them. Like some really gorgeous Asuna figures, (Tbhk why do you not have actual figures 😭) Nendos, and other things. So if your interested look out for those cause I’m a bit of a collector (just a bit).

#your name #kimi no na wa #taki tachibana #taki x mitsuha #mitsuha miyamizu #sao #sword art online #asuna yuki #kirito #kirisuna #anime collection #puzzles #jigsaw puzzles

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gwynpool · 3 years

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it’s 2AM and i just finished Rule of Wolves (spoilers definitely up ahead)

first, to inform everyone, i read the spoilers when it got leaked in twitter cuz i can’t help myself. (it’s a sickness, i know) i think this is important since it definitely influenced my perspective upon reading the book. also, this is my first time being early in a party so yay me! going in ROW was easy for me because i started King of Scars the day before book 2’s actual release date so everything’s fresh.

secondly, this is really long so i’m sorry. i just have a lot of feelings and need to write it all down. on with the rant.

King of Scars was wonderful to me since it gave me my favorite Shadow and Bone character and the girl who i used to hate for being a mean girl but who I now admire with every ounce of my being. It also introduced a new ship that I am now obsessed with and is ruling besides my love for Jude&Cardan. Not to mention, it gave us Nina, whom though i’m not entirely a fan of due to all my love focusing on Kaz and Inej, allowed the connection between Shadow&Bone with SixofCrows.

Moving on, ROW was a ride and whirlwind of emotions. unfortunately, it wasn’t always the best kind.

I love the fantasy elements of it (tho it was a huge leap especially with the saints power thingy) and the politics because i am a sucker for scheming and stealing thrones.

the zoyalai teasing and angst was painful but in the best way since slowburn is what keeps me going.

nina finding comfort (and attraction, apparently) from hanne made my heart flutter because i haven’t gotten over matthias but this allowed a sort of closure and next chapter for our waffle-loving queen.

the promised wedding by leigh wasn’t what i expected but i’m not complaining since david&genya deserved nothing but happiness.

almost everything seems going well (aside from the fact that aleksander was ressurected apparently)and then everything crashes and burns and i just have to wonder why?

so the promised funeral alongside the wedding one, immediately comes after two? three? chapters as they were attacked during the afterparty of the wedding. and guess what? leigh killed the fcking groom.

the thing is i already knew he was going to die (with the spoilers and all) but i did not expect it to come immediately after the freaking wedding. not even halfway through the book!

being spoiled, i think, took most of the pain from the event but it doesn’t lessen the fact that it was completely unnecessary??? like though the characters grieved, nothing much was affected from his death? also, don’t talk to me about the character development for the survivors from this tragic event because there. was. absolutely. NONE.

and then we have the fricking darling ressurected. i love him in the first book of the grishaverse though i knew he was still a villain, don’t get me wrong. and my heart ached but was also relieved with his death in the third. he also inspired one of my all-time favorite fantasy villain(antihero?) in the form of Adelina Amouteru in the Young Elites series.

Ceased to be a Darklina fan and am now shipping Aleksander with Adelina because their power tho? like clings to like and they are both imbued with unfathomable darkness. somebody write fics please.

but bringing him back was what for exactly? leigh bardugo preached on how toxic the darkling character was and how we really shouldn’t like him in terms of agreeing with his ideals and yada yada. and yet she brings him back because apparently, he’s the only one paying her bills.

his conversation with alina tho had me expecting some darklina crumbs with fan service on the side since the stans were all raving about it on twitter *vomiting noises from toxicity* but i was surprised since it just further reminded us of how he truly is a villain in his very core and would do anything to get what he wants. so all in all it wasn’t entirely awful and it actually made me like Mal a bit. (never was a fan of him but that’s my issue, not the character’s)

setting aside the darkling issue a bit, the POV from Mayu was skippable. i mean obviously it still needs to be read for the Shu politics and the khergud existence but it just made me want to go to the next pov. Same goes for the “the monk’s” POV since you all know how i feel about him and the cult with it’s assembly and shit ended up also being unnecessary towards the end. honestly, i could do without the journey of the starless saint and his cult.

i truly enjoyed the fjerdan plot to my surprise and i like how nina kind of went through the last of us 2 circle of hate journey. it was definitely difficult knowing her pain and all that she went through and still choosing to be the better person. and yet, i can’t help but be more proud of her development. also, the supposed death of hanne got me going for a second and was actually ready to storm leigh’s home to fix her mistake. thank god it was plot twist. that’s all i have to say on the nina POV because i don’t wanna ruin my good feeling on this.

the crows cameo gave us a mini heist and it just made me miss reading their adventures. also the suli scene tugged at my heart.

imma skip zoya’s transformation but it utterly made me feel amazing and i have never been more glad that she’s kind of overpowered. she deserves it so fck all them haters. you can choke.

nikolai’s revelation and decision for the ravkan throne was not all that surprising, even without my knowledge of the spoilers. i honestly had a feeling that he was always his best self when he was strumhond and he only chose to fulfill the duties of the king because at that time, there was no other choice. so him giving up the throne to his beloved soldier, summoner and saint was a quite satisfying choice of route. there has been some others who would contest nikolai’s decision to step down as something unnecessary in the grand scheme of things but i would stand by my belief that nikolai made the best choice for ravka and for himself. not to say that i didn’t want to see both the queen and king side by side ruling but what are fanfictions for?

zoyalai is canon and endgame. finally. i can die now.

now the last two chapters was a toss up. for the first one was the darkling’s sacrifice. okay, so i was also spoiled by this from twitter but when i was reading the book, i keep expecting it to be brought up and it wasn’t. so i honestly thought that maybe that spoiler was a prank. lo and behold it was not and it wasn’t until the very last end. so the buildup was goddamn awful. the whole concept of the thorn wood and sort of atlas moment was just no. like you’re just springing this up now? when we’re supposed to be tying up loose ends but making sure it had history and buildup to well, back it up.

also leigh outright writing genya saying it was not a redemption for the darkling and him being unapologetic about his crimes (basically being a truly evil asshole) doesn’t remove the fact that it still comes off as a redemption arc especially with what is now the synopsis of SOC 3 but ill get to that. he still was the one who did a heroic deed and that fucks me up because it was just devastating to me after making peace with his end in ruin and rising. not because i was hurt that he died yet again boohoo but because it kind of invalidates everything that alina, genya, zoya and countless other victims went through.

on a side note, the darling stans on twitter who keeps defending his actions, i would really advise you to reflect on your decisions cuz it is honestly unhealthy. also, you lot talking smack about nikolai and zoya refusing to sacrifice their lives? stop twisting the story to suit your toxic admiration, nikolai was even first to offer up his life and would do so if it was actually possible. so just go hide in your darkling cocoon and stop hating on other characters to justify your favored aleksander.

the very last chapter aka coronation was good because it gave us inej ghafa cameo as captain of her ship and bonding with our resident privateer and also genya, alina and zoya bonding. but it was bad because apparently the darkling chronicles is still not over and now we’re supposed to grant him death like that’s going to make everything okay? i know forgiveness and breaking the circle of hate and revenge is a huge theme in this duology but honestly, this is just too extreme. with nina it was understandable and the people she hated were born of twisted mindset and circumstances but the darkling? hahahah no. he is a literal immortal who was delusional so now that he’s paying for his crimes, you want to allow him death because you have nightmares? zoya, goddamit no! same to you genya and alina. and so this will be the plot for the third six of crows? why can’t we just stop making this about him. now he gunna steal kaz’s thunder? over my dead body.

in the end, i gave this book 4 stars in goodreads because if i ignore the darkling plot, it was a really good use of politics and fantasy merging in a storyline. i can’t fault leigh for choosing to do this since it’s still her book so i definitely don’t have a right to dictate what i expected from this. also, i have a half a mind to believe that she fell in love with ben barnes and had him in mind writing this so i really cannot blame her because i have been under that man’s charms since prince caspian came out. the spoilers i read made me more open in reading this (backwards thinking but eh that’s how i roll) so i’m not at all crushed by what transpired. it was just weird and was lackluster in its attempt to give ravka some sort of peace. frankly, i just want to read the third six of crows book to maybe find some sort of calm in all this craziness and also delve in some zoyalai fanfiction because it was a long time coming.

shameless promotion but if you guys want to check out my nikolai duology spotify playlist, here’s the link:

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hankwritten · 3 years

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By the Roots

Scout & Soldier, 2k

Part of the DontNeedADiscord Pride Week, Day 2: Family

Of all the people, all the people on the damn planet, it really shouldn’t have been Soldier that figured it.

“You there! I saw that, pipsqueak!” he demanded not two days after the team was first assembled, storming at me across the training yard like I’d already done something wrong. “Regulation warm-up is fifty pushups, not ten and then exclaiming very loudly ‘FIFTY’ as you do that last one! Do not think because you are a woman I will go easy on you. In fact! I will be riding your ass twice as hard so you will be encouraged to measure up to your clearly more dedicated male counterparts!”

There were a lot of things I could object to in that, a lot of things I was planning to object to, but one thing in particular surprised me so much it practically hit me upside the head. “Whoa, hey dude! I ain’t a chick!”

Soldier lifted his helmet with a thumb and peered down at me. “You are not?”

“No a’course I’m not!” I said, flabbergasted. “Would a chick have sick muscles like this? Or like this?” I should off each of my amazing and impressive biceps in turn, a little shocked that he wasn’t falling over in awe due to their sheer awesomeness. “I am peak dude, pally. Why would you even think that?”

“Your small stature, your chicken legs, your feminine jaw, your general weakness, the unending gab from your motor mouth-” Soldier ticked them off on his fingers.

I swatted down his hands. “Dude, jeez, I get it.”

He considered me again. “…You are sure you are not a very petite yet tomboyish girl?”

“Uh, yeah pally,” I scoffed. “I think I’d know.”

Twenty-two months later, my hard earned ponytail fitting snugly through my hat, I wondered if Soldier knew, somehow. That was stupid obviously—Soldier was completely bonkers even by the team’s standards, and if every weirdly nonsensical thing he’d ever said was true then I’d also be a spy from ten different countries and partially made of ranch dressing. But. I guess some small part of me liked the idea that it was apparent to someone. That there was some hard truth out there, and somehow Soldier was in tune with the weird songs of the universe enough to prophesize me even before I’d divined myself.

I was pretty far from the team’s campfire, the rush of the last hour still coursing through my system. It’d gone as well as I could have hoped, with everyone kind of knowing or at least suspecting by this point anyway, but I’d still been nice to get it all out in the open. A little family meeting of sorts. I smiled, watching them laugh and carry on with their drinking.

“Is something the matter, Scout?”

Spy’s voice startled me, but I totally didn’t jump or nothing, just turned my head as the creepy bastard slinked out of the dark.

“Nah,” I told him. “Was just a lot of adrenaline doing all that. Needed a moment to cool off. Not like I’m nervous or nothin’! Could’a talked about shit all day if those knuckleheads didn’t get it through their bozo craniums, but it’s just like after a run you take a breather to make sure you don’t get heat stroke or something-”

Spy held up a hand. “I understand. No need to elaborate.”

“Great. Cool. Just so you know that I’m not freakin’ out.”

He took a spot next to me, the rocks cool where the desert night came on fast and hit hard. We stayed like that for a while, him smoking, me staring with my chin in my arms.

“You come out here to say you’re surprised or something?” I asked, after the moon had ticked a little lower.

He blew a strand of smoke. “It wasn’t my primary goal, no.” He paused. “Though I was, to be sure.”

“Hah! Yeah you were! You should’ve seen your face.” I grinned, kicking a rock. “I can’t believe you were the last person to find out.”

“…I certainly couldn’t have been the last person to-” Spy stopped when he saw the shit-eating grin I was giving him. “Hm. Fine, I suppose I will take this as a loss to my professional pride.”

“Heh. Nice,” I snorted. “So if that isn’t what you wanted to talk about, what was?”

He hesitated a moment. “Scout if I have ever said something, to you or merely in passing that was…greatly insensitive, then I am sorry. I cannot hide the fact that this is not something I have experience with, and if my past ignorance has ever caused you distress then I apologize fully.”

I blinked. Was he serious? “Eh, don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“Ah, so I have made some faux pas. Again I’m sorry-”

“No,” I interrupted him. “I mean seriously, don’t worry about it. ‘Cause I don’t.”

Spy looked genuinely confused, already the second time that night when I’d barely seen him make that face in two years of working together. “Pardon?”

“I don’t really care about what you say,” I shrugged. “When it comes to things that bother me, crap my Ma’s shitty boyfriend says about how I look barely makes the list. After however many years of the way you’ve treated me, I’ve just kinda tuned you out.” I shrugged again. “How it is.”

“…Ah.”

I kinda missed when he was surprised, since that was at least easy to read. Now I didn’t know what to make of the mix of emotions crossing Spy’s face, only that I was sorta bored of the conversation.

“If that’s all you wanted to talk about, I’m heading back to the fire,” I said, smacking my legs as I stood. “Cold out here.”

I left Spy, not checking to see if he was still doing that thing with his face.

I honestly was planning on heading over to the fire, but I saw Soldier sitting on the bed of Engie’s truck, not doing anything but staring into space as he sipped his beer. It wasn’t even conscious really, I just suddenly found my feet moving in his direction, abandoning warmth for the lunatic with the bazooka. The weird things we do on instinct sometimes.

“Yo, Major General,” I greeted. “Feel like the smartest guy in the room yet?”

“I have never claimed to be!” Soldier said. “I settle for being the most tactically sound.”

“I meant about me, dumbass,” I rolled my eyes, then hopped on the bed next to him. I scooped up a beer while I was at it.

“You?” He might have been blinking at me under the helmet.

“One of the first times we ever met, you asked me if I was a chick.”

Soldier rubbed his chin, trying to recall. “…You said you weren’t.”

“Well I didn’t know at the time, dumbass.” I cracked my beer. “But now we all know, so congrats to you, pally.” I toasted in his general direction and drank.

“…How is it?”

“The beer or the chick thing?”

“Being a girl.”

“It’s alright,” I admitted, playing it cool. “The ponytail’s great though. Look! I can do this now.” I bobbled my head, showing that my hat stayed on no matter how hard I shook it. I kept bobbling until I almost fell off the truck, Soldier steadying me at the last moment.

“Careful, missy. You’re going to need to cut that soon if you don’t want it smacking you in the middle of battle,” Soldier pointed out. “That or braid it.”

My hand clamped defensively over the back of my head. “Nah, no way man.” Hearing how whiny that sounded, I tried to pass off my sudden movement as a stretch. “It’s fine. Plus I don’t even know how to braid.”

“…I could do it for you.”

Of all the batshit things Soldier had said to me over the years, this took the cake. “You? Know how to braid?”

I wanted to ask if he was pulling my leg right now, but his expression was just as dead serious as ever. He pointed downward and made a circular motion.

Hesitantly, I turned around, and felt him lift off my cap. The ponytail threaded out of it, and he tugged at the elastic until my hair fell free around my shoulders. I’d seen myself with it down in the mirror every morning before pulling it up, but it still felt odd to have it hanging free here in the same place we killed BLUs and got our guts blasted full of lead. Soldiers fingers carded through the loose strands, dividing them into chunks, but despite that it wasn’t nearly as weird as I thought it would be. It was actually…nice almost.

He wasn’t gentle—this was still Soldier after all—but the tugging at my roots was more pull than yank, a careful suggestion to go one way or the other. Nudging me towards something.

“How’d you learn to do this, anyway?” I asked.

“Used to do my sister’s,” he said gruffly. “Little sisters can’t do anything by themselves. They always try to follow you around, and then they get in trouble or fall in a creek or something.”

His fingers brushed against my neck every now and again. “As a professional little sister, that sounds about right.”

“You are not a professional little sister. You are a professional Scout. What sister-ing you do, you do on your own time missy.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Soldier slipped the elastic around the braid’s end. I swung it around a few times, trying to see if Soldier had messed it up somehow, but only managed to almost fall off the truck bed again. Maybe that beer was really hitting me.

“…Thanks Solly,” I said, gently touching the braid’s end.

“Any time, private. If you need me to teach you, I will happily train you in the art of braids,” he declared. “And knot tying! But only if you meet my standards on the braid portion of the exam.”

I grinned at him. I’d done a lot of weeding, taking out the people and things I didn’t want in my life, but it was nice to know there were things I wouldn’t have to get rid of entirely. “Sure Soldier. I’ll think about it.”

#dnadprideweek2021 #tf2 fanfiction

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fangirlovestuff · 4 years

Text

Cycle - Steve Rogers x reader ch.1

a/n- Hey lovely people! this was a one shot idea that spiralled into a multi-part series, and i am very very excited to post this! i actually identify with steve’s situation more than the reader’s, but we all have imaginations😂 also i suck at summaries but give it a chance! the divider is by the amazing @whimsicalrogers, thank you so much! Enjoy<3

Summary: You want a relationship but keep getting tangled up in one night stands, while Steve just keeps getting himself friendzoned. When pollar opposites with the same desires meet, will you change each other’s lives? Will you break the cycle?

Word Count: ~2,420

Warnings: bad language, mentions of sex

The music was thumping in Steve's ears, way too loud as always but he learned to manage it. He tried tuning back in to Bucky and Sam's conversation, but his thoughts kept pulling him away. He liked going out with his friends, he really did, it's just that lately, life wasn't exactly working out the way he expected it to. Which is normal, I mean, no one's life is exactly like they imagined, but at this point it was getting ridiculous.

A pretty blonde was coming up to them, and Sam and Bucky elbowed Steve, drawing his attention towards her. His overly-supportive friends were, of course, nagging him to "get some" for a while now, and honestly, it wasn't Steve's fault he didn't. It wasn't for a lack of trying.

It's just that, well, Steve was a really nice guy. That was just who he is – sweet, attentive, caring. And he wanted to love someone, physically but also emotionally. But his character kept getting in his way. You see, he had many opportunities to get a girlfriend or even just a one-night stand, even though he wasn't that kinda guy. Plenty of beautiful women came up to him, he was Captain America for gosh sake. He was told he's also very good looking, but that's a matter of opinions. To himself, he still seemed like that scrawny kid from Brooklyn, just that he obviously didn't look the same. Still, none of Steve's thoughts about himself can change the fact he was a catch.

But every time he'd go on a date, or meet someone at a bar, he somehow said exactly the right things. So right in fact, that the women in front of him ended up confessing their secrets to him, opening up to him, trusting him immediately. One time the girl even started crying, a full-on sob session in the middle of the restaurant they were in. And of course, he'd comfort them, rubbing soothing circles across their backs, nodding in that understanding way of his, listening to them with genuine interest in his eyes, because that's just who he is.

And at the end of the night, when he asked, "can I see you again?" or "can I get your number?" they'd answer: "You're so sweet… but I think we would be better as friends, you know?"

He'd swallow a disappointed groan, smiling politely and saying "sure, that'd be nice."

And that's the story of how Steve Rogers ended up with tons of friends who were girls, but not one girlfriend to spare. Honestly, it was kind of sad that a man who listens gets automatically labeled as a friend who doesn't want to date the girl in front of him.

But it was getting sadder that he wasn't, as his friends so delicately put it, "getting some."

Presently, the blonde came up to them, waving and looking at Steve with interest in her eyes. "I'm Sharon," she introduced herself, "Wanna dance?" she smirked. From the corners of his eyes, he could see his friends glaring daggers at him, as if saying "if you say no, I will kick your ass so hard."

"Sure," he said, getting up. He took Sharon's hand and led their way to the dance floor. They danced for a while, moving against each other to the beat. They didn't talk much, because the music was so loud on the dance floor. After some time, Sharon pointed towards the bar and he nodded, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while.

They ordered their drinks, Steve insisting to pay for hers. From their place at the barstools, the music was still loud but bearable, so they could hear what the other was saying.

"So, what do you do?" Steve asked her.

"Well, I actually work at S.H.I.E.L.D," she smiled a little. "I saw you a couple of times but you seemed busy so I didn't come say hello," she shrugged apologetically.

This, of course, would be the time to say something smooth like "I'm never too busy for such a pretty woman." Except that, well, Steve worried that might be a little objectifying, so instead he opted for: "Well, you can come say hello whenever."

She giggled a little and sipped her drink. "I bet you've got some interesting stories though, right? I mean, bring an Avenger and all must make for some adventures."

"Oh, it does." Steve chuckled. "Do you know about the time when, uh, Loki disguised himself as Fury?"

Sharon sent him a quizzical look, prompting him to continue. "He thought he could access some weapons like that. The funny thing is, he almost did it, but Tony fell asleep while making a waffle and nearly burned the kitchen. When Fury didn't appear the moment the fire alarm went off, we realized something was seriously wrong."

She laughed. "Yeah, I can see how that would be alarming, pun intended," she grinned. "Honestly, Fury's great at his job, but he is a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes. I mean, that one time he told me off when my holster was on the wrong side, but we were in the office! What the hell would I even need a gun for?"

They continued to talk about work, and conversation flowed easily. At one point though, the conversation took a more personal turn.

"You know what…" Sharon said, "being in S.H.I.E.L.D is great, but sometimes I wish I would have taken a different path. I always thought that being an agent was my destiny, but honestly there are a thousand other things I could've done," she sighed. "Like, I don't know, be an architect or… a vet. When you're a kid you have all these dreams and then you just end up taking the practical job."

Steve's eyes filled with understanding. He reached out and put his palm on her arm, rubbing it soothingly. If he would've glanced at his friends, he would see them facepalming violently, aware that Steve's getting himself friendzoned, again, but Steve didn't notice. Instead, he told Sharon, "Hey, you're great at what you do as an agent. But It's never too late to change it up. I mean, I thought I wasn't gonna have a chance to fight in the war and here I am," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, a pensive look on her face. "Thank you, Steve. For the drinks and everything." She smiled and got up, taking her bag with her.

"Wait," Steve said, "can I get your number?"

"Oh," Sharon's brows furrowed for a second before she fixed her expression. "I just figured we'd see each other at work or something, you know, now that we're friends and all."

"Yeah, sure, you're right," Steve said, disappointment settling in his stomach. "See you around, Sharon."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Bye Steve," she said before getting up and walking away, exiting the club while Steve ordered another shot and got back to his friends' table, who took one look at his face and guessed what happened, thus were cackling and giggling like crazy.

He sat down, downing his drink and grumbling, "I miss Asgardian mead." Which only sent Sam and Bucky into another laughing fit.

Later that night Steve plopped down on his bed. He tried to sleep, but his thoughts were keeping him awake. What was he doing wrong? What was it about him that pushed women away? But should he change in order to get someone to like him?

He tossed and turned like that for a while, not finding a good answer to any of his questions. But when finally, after a couple of hours he managed to drift off, he closed his eyes with a resolution in mind.

I'm gonna break this cycle.

You looked around the small café, searching for… Josh. Yeah, that was his name, you were sure of it. Pretty sure anyway.

You sighed in frustration and checked your phone once more. Sure enough, he texted you he'll be this address in five minutes. It was definitely this address.

But it's been nearly an hour and he wasn't here, not texting anything else either. The waitress was giving you weird looks, so you had ordered your own coffee in the meantime.

You met Josh two nights prior, when you were out with your friends. You felt numerous eyes on you as you and your friends were dancing, the alcohol sending a pleasant buzz through your body. Josh was the only one who caught your eye, so when he came by offering to dance with you, you said yes.

Now, this is probably the place to mention you weren't having a lot of luck with guys lately. You liked to divide the guys you met into four catagories, so; pretty much every guy you met has either:

a) Used you for sex

b) Blew you off

c) Gave you a wrong number, probably on purpose, or

d) "was looking for something casual and it seemed like you were too"

So, your dating life was a little shitty to say the least. You knew that you were hot, or at least that guys considered you to be even though you didn't most of the time. But it's not like you were looking for "something casual." Quite the opposite actually, you were more than ready to date, have a serious relationship like most of your friends did.

But apparently, guys didn't really get that memo. Some days you wondered if you were a douche magnet, or was it maybe tattooed on your forehead that "I am a slut! Fuckboys, assemble!"

It wasn't that, but you couldn't say it didn't sting a little every time you were sent straight to voicemail, or every morning you woke up and found that he snuck out.

To be fair, you enjoyed some of it. The clubbing, the energy you feel when you cross eyes with someone across the room, the occasionally good sex. But for a long time now, it wasn't what you really wanted. You wanted to be sent flowers, not "u up;)" messages.

It wasn't like you didn't have other hobbies as well, and a job you were great at. So great in fact, you were offered to work with the Avengers, starting next week, because the position was open and they knew you were that good. You were a well-rounded person for fuck's sake, not a one-night-fantasy.

But the night you met Josh you really thought he could be different. You both talked, danced, had a lot of fun. And then, you know, went to his place, and argued about if he should put on a condom, which you won because he was way too drunk and horny to argue that stupid opinion, then fucked. At that point you realized no matter how much fun you had; he was a jerk for thinking he shouldn't put on a condom when you asked him to. So, you waited for him to fall asleep and then quietly gathered your belongings and left his apartment, thinking you'd never hear from him again.

The next day your fingered hovered above the "delete contact" on your phone. When you exchanged numbers last night you saved him as "cute guy<3" and you kinda hated your drunk self for that, but what's done is done. You were just about to delete his number when he shot you a message apologizing for last night, saying he didn't mean it, and asking you if you were free tomorrow to meet him at this small café which was "totally great".

So, wanting to give him another chance, you accepted.

Which brings us here, to said little café you were currently sitting in, waiting for the guy you were pretty sure was named Josh and questioning all of your life choices.

You finished your coffee, which had already gotten to be at room temperature and it wasn't even that good in the first place, so it was bad. But hey, you already paid for it, so you downed the rest of it and left the café, wandering into the warm, humid street.

Once you were back home from the commute, which was a terrible experience due to the humidity, you quickly shed your clothes, taking a nice cold shower to wash off the sticky sweat from your skin. You dried off, putting on a pair of shorts and a tank top before checking your phone, just to be sure, and—

Yep, still no message from Josh. You resisted the sudden urge to throw your phone across the room, taking a deep breath before shooting him one last text – "sayonara, dipshit" – before finally deleting his number from your phone, like you should've done yesterday.

You put your phone away for the rest of the day, going on your computer to do some chores – reply to your emails, settle some stuff before your start at the Avengers compound, closing things in your old workplace.

When evening arrived, you opened your phone to messages from your friends asking how your date with Jason, and it took you a minute to realize who they're talking about. You chuckled bitterly before telling them he stood you up.

They were very sympathetic, telling you you're going to find the right guy and that Jason wasn't worth it anyway. You agreed with the latter sentiment, but you weren't sure how much you agreed with the first one.

You had dinner on your own, scrolling through social media and mindlessly pecking your food. You spent the rest of your evening thinking about… life.

The thing is, you were tired. Tired of being treated like you're only good for sex, tired of pretentious assholes apparently named Jason who play you just so they can feed their own ego by having the last word, but most of all – tired of being alone.

You were ready for a change. You needed a change. You spent the rest of your evening planning it all in your head, resolving to stop giving into guys because they're fun or cute. You're not actually looking for cute fun, and it's time to start acting like it.

When you're on your own, this all seems like a given to you; that you're a strong woman, that you want romance. But somehow when you're actually around guys you forget all about it and become impulsive. Living in the moment is great, but so is having a future.

Well, your future starts tomorrow, because before you went to sleep you made up your mind –

Tomorrow, I break the cycle.

Hope you liked it! this was a bit more of an introduction, but i still really liked writing it :) i don’t know exactly when the next one’ll be out cause school and stuff but i promise to do my best... if you have any ideas/requests please feel free to tell me about them!

thank you again @whimsicalrogers for the magical divider <3

next chapter teaser: “It's a new week, and you're getting a new start.”

Chris Taglist: @swatson06 @horny-nd-bored @shannon124 @perfectlyharolds @phoebe-21-99 @wintersoldierslut @iceebabies @wanessalopesueiros @sleepingpapermouse @steverogerswasalwaysworthy @holtzkinnon @angelicl-y @stydia-4-ever @thatoneperson5000 @fangirlfree @kaitcordx25 @bequeening @steve-barry-damon-logan @itscrazycherryblossomcollection @hollandxmarvel @darkwitchfromthesouth @stargazingfangirl18 @readsreblogsfics @onetwo3000 @beritmetal

if you wanna join / be removed from the taglist, comment/message me! this is a taglist for Chris and his characters. much love <3

#chris evans #chris evans x reader #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x female reader #chris evans x female reader #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers smut

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farelian · 5 years

Text

Humans Are Weird “Passing Out”

Hello again guys! Here’s another fun thing I just thought about in class, I don’t think this has been written before so hope you enjoy and uh sorry for the quite shitty English

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Michael is both proud and regretting accepting this offer, being invited to a GA meeting for Intergalactic Migration is something he thought he'd never be able to attend. He had to catch a shuttle at 5 in the morning that would transport him to the GA headquarters in the Murumu homeworld, a species of bird-like mammals. Their fur is black and white and they can grow up to around 5-6 feet tall. They have a beak for eating small nuts and fruits, and because their nature is flying and vegetarian, they have two strong eagle wings, able to make them fly in the air for long periods

He's personally chosen by the Minister of Immigration of the UTA as a representative in the meeting since he's the first human, species even to migrate to another planet that's under control of a different government.

Of course following the tight morning schedule, and waking up later than usual, he had no time to eat breakfast or even have a small snack, since there's none in the shuttle. So he's on his way to a GA meeting with an empty stomach, and his trusty Zarqonian guide that's always by his side, Yaku Latatarun

He could feel his stomach rumbling, begging for food to support his body, but the Murumu pilot said there's no food on the ship. He sighed deeply and could only hope for food or a buffet when they arrive later. He glanced at Yaku, looking fine and dandy as usual, he then strikes a conversation. "Hey Yaku... you've eaten yet?" He asked

Yaku looked up at the Human, forming a sort of smile. It's hard for Zarqonians to smile due to their horizontal locked jaw, but she tried her best. "Yes sir Michael, I have eaten food 6 cycles ago" If he heard that right, and his math doesn't fail, she ate breakfast at 3 AM in the morning, and it's 6AM

He stared on in disbelief, breakfast at 3 in the morning? He did sometimes get midnight snacks when he's busy researching stuff on his Computer but not a full-on heavy breakfast, usually just instant cup noodles or leftover Zarqonian-made pizza whose taste is not bad, but still unsatisfying to him. "O-oh... that's quite early for a breakfast Yaku"

"It's our normal eating period sir Michael, we've always been eating at 6-morning cycles" That just blows his mind, he just shook his head and nods to her explanation, then sighed again. "Damn..." He doesn't want to tell Yaku about not eating breakfast, he doesn't want to worry her.

But Yaku had noticed the human's strange behavior and decides to confront him with it. "What's wrong sir Michael?"

"N-nothing... nothing Yaku" He answered still attempting to hide the fact he didn't eat breakfast, but it was too obvious by his scrunched up face and rumbling stomach

Yaku wanted to continue, she's starting to get worried but from her previous experiences, when a human says no, it means no. And if he says nothing, then it's probably nothing. So she kept silent and sat in her comfy seat.

The intercom becomes online and the Murumu pilot talks. "Passengers please strap into your seat, we are about to warp" From the callout the two passengers put on the strap around their bodies, essentially gluing their bodies to the seat. "Entering warp in 3, 2, 1"

The ship began to warp and constrict, bending space and time around it as they open an artificial portal, and travel through it. For first-timers, the experience is sickening and shocking, but to Michael, it's just another Tuesday. In 5 seconds the ship went out of warp and glancing out the window, they can see the beautiful tropical homeworld of the Murumurs, Corta.

Neither of them talked with each other as the ship break through the atmosphere and landed on a pad, they took off their straps, as he fixes his tie and pat down his Tuxedo. 2000 years and it’s still a popular formal attire. He stood up accompanied by Yaku as the doors and a ramp extends out for them. Stepping out into the sunlight, they are now in a completely new environment. Unlike the Zarqonians, Murumur architecture uses hexagonal building blocks for their skyscrapers, making a satisfying pattern of hexagons, like a beehive.

Their buildings also climb up towards the sky, and he smells the wonderful air letting out a sigh and form a smile, at least that’s enough to keep his mind off his hungry stomach. Only taking a few steps forward they are met by the GA escorts, three Murumurs, all dressed in modest yellow and white robes. Without many talking, they get escorted to the GA headquarters

Entering the massive building that is the GA headquarters, he’s reminded of his empty stomach as it growl and rumble. He’s starving but doesn’t know how to approach the escorts to ask for food or where the buffet is. There’s gotta be a buffet somewhere, there has to be!

But instead, they are led straight to the meeting room. Pressing a button the door slid open with a hydraulic hiss, and they step aside. The pair enters the wide meeting room, looking around and notices every other species is here. Thankfully they’re not late for the meeting, it hasn’t even started. Taking a seat on their reserved chairs, Michael began to sweat, gulping as he felt his stomach rumble once again.

He looked around and noticed how many aliens there are in the room, there’s the Janids, Zarqons, Murumurs, Likoti. A species of green snakes that evolved arms on the side of their slithering body. He continues to look around the room to see if there’s a table of food anywhere, none. He turned back towards the podium, then the table in front of him, not even a cup of water.

Before he could go out on a treasure hunt for food, the president of the GA stepped up to the podium, a Murumur of course, it was their idea for a Galactic Assembly that unites all the race in the universe. Then the meeting starts.

He’s been sitting here for TWO hours, his face looked pale trying to stay strong in the meeting and hear everything. The last two hours are filled with speeches and the species' opinion on immigration, and he also got a text from the General Secretary for when it’s Michael’s turn to go up.

He glanced at Yaku that’s sitting beside him, she’s looking on towards the podium focused and doesn’t want to be interrupted. “Michael Stone of the UTA” The announcer called for him and he stood up, and everyone else looked up at him. There it is, the predator that defeated the Janids in the war.

Michael took a deep breath and tries to ignore his stomach’s cries for food, but his body cannot. He feels weak, his stomach aching. He walked up to the podium with the script on his holophone. Setting his holophone and hold one end of the lectern, he started his speech although with difficulty. No one else in the room seemed to notice except for Yaku, his voice sounded strained, and his face is unusually white.

Half an hour in and he’s halfway into the speech, he suddenly stopped in the middle of a word, panting, his eyes bouncing all around the room as he looked down holding his temples with his finger and thumb. “Is something wrong Michael Stone?” The announcer asked without a tone of worry.

He looked back up, his face is a sweaty mess as he swallowed and shook his head. He covered his eyes with her hand to block the lights around the room “Nothing... nothing is wrong...” He looked down at his Holophone, opening his mouth to talk again, and then he fell to the floor.

The crowd gasped in shock as the 6-foot tall predator just flopped to the floor without any reason at all. Yaku being the one more familiar with the human immediately left her seat and ran up to the podium, kneeling down with her tentacles holding the human’s cheeks in her hands. “Call for a human doctor!” She cried out as some of the delegates rushes out of the room in search of a human medic, meanwhile, the ones inside are in shock, sat silently in their seat staring at the unconscious human.

It’s not normal to go unconscious without reason, there has to be a reason. Is it a disease? Either way, everyone in the room is confused and speechless.

A few moments later a human medic from their military arrived in the meeting room, kneeling beside Michael and motioned Yaku to step away, but she won’t leave him, she won’t leave his side. Watched by 20 aliens in the room, the medic began checking Michael’s condition, his heartbeat, breathing, temperature. It looks like he might be having a migraine and a fever.

Both from not eating and drinking anything the entire day, and standing for thirty minutes while talking. More human medics arrived bringing a stretcher, and carefully places Michael onto it and brought him into the human medical bay where he rests on a real bed.

All the while Yaku staying by his side, making sure he’s not hurt or anything. And when asking one of the medics, he said that he has a fever. Which translates to having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the human body's temperature set point.

It appears the meeting needs to be pushed to a later date, everyone did learn a valuable lesson though. Humans are fragile and if not maintained well by no feeding it enough or drink water, it could collapse from exhaustion and it’s body’s’ strange behaviors from such deprivation of sustenance and water

Strange, very strange

#humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are weird #aliens #humans are adorable #humans are complicated #humans are crazy #sci-fi

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subtlereferencetomyinterests · 4 years

Text

Complexities Unknowable Chapter 3

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23274334/chapters/57175900

Chapter Two link: https://tha-best-url-evar.tumblr.com/post/614327945408987136/complexities-unknowable-chapter-two

MasterPost

Relationships: Established Relationship Dukeceit, eventual intrualiceit, background analogince.

Warnings: Remus says some things (mentions of biblically accurate angels, gore art description), food mention, mild sleep deprivation, cursing. As always everyone is sympathetic. Roast me if I forgot something.

Word Count: 1,851

Remus was, once again, sitting on the counter in the light side kitchen. It was an ungodly early hour of morning, so the Commons were deserted. He was supposed to be waiting for Morality, according to the spiteful little plot Dee had offered him that he hadn’t listened to all that well, but he surmised it meant he was supposed to fuck with a light side, so… Duh. Of course he was in.

Truth be told, three out of four of the self-proclaimed ‘light sides’ hardly bothered him! They were stuffy prudes, sure, but their insults slid off his back like blood off of steel. As long as he was doing his own thing with Deceit alongside him, everything was fine (he was still pointedly ignoring the existence of another Creativity). But looks like what Deceit wanted to do was torment Patton into, like, repenting? Or something? Like he said, he wasn’t listening.

Anyway! Waiting and watching was what he was doing! And doodling, because sitting still was literally impossible in Remus’ experience. Thankfully, he soon saw the paternal trait springing down the stairs. Straightening his back, The Duke put on his best intimidating face (which he thought looked rather silly, but Deceit assured him was very unsettling). He set down his sketchbook and blurred his edges. It didn’t work very well up here, but it was a little trick that they’d all- Virgil included- learned years ago. Honestly, he just used it to get cheap scares every now and then.

Patton strolled into the kitchen, whistling some jaunty tune and holy shit , Remus had figured it was some shtick, but was he just a cartoon character all of the time ? That was- sure, very adorable- but mostly all the more entertaining to scare!

“What’s up, Dilf!?”

Patton shrieked, nearly dropping a mug. With wide, startled eyes, he found the source of the noise. Said source watched the emotional trait force his expression into something amicable, laughing loudly.

“Um- good morning, Remus! I, uh, didn’t see you there.”

“That was the point, MoMo,” Remus replied, dragging his claws screechingly down the side of a cabinet; Patton winced at the sound.

“Can I help you with anything?” Read: Why are you still here? Sometimes Remus wondered if he was too good at his job!

“Nope! Just enjoying the atmosphere, sketching, terrorizing…” He flipped onto his back, throwing his arm out and presenting his open notebook.

“You draw?” Patton seemed weirdly happy about that fact, managing a more natural smile. Seemed he thought he’d found something to work with, but that was likely to change.

“Of course I do, I am Creativity, after all! Here .” He handed over the sketchbook with a Cheshire smile. The creative trait had ensured it was flipped open to a detailed depiction of a being composed of several flaming rings, all of which absolutely covered with bloodshot eyes. It had an indiscernible amount of wings that could only be counted as ‘too many’. In the center of the rings was a swirling black void (a type of ink that took Remus weeks to conjure properly, thank you very much).

He watched carefully as Patton studied the image, looking bemused.

“It’s an angel!”

That seemed to only confuse the moral side more, making him tilt his head to a few different angles to look at the drawing. But he still didn’t seem upset by it, oddly enough.

“It certainly is an interesting interpretation,” He responded at last, “and all of these little lines must have taken you forever, that’s so impressive!”

Truth be told, they had taken a while, and Remus was very happy that the effort had been noticed- but that wasn’t the point!

“That’s nothing,” he took the sketchbook back from Patton and flipped through more pages. Aha! This would fuck him up, for sure! A full-color illustration of someone hung up on a meat hook, rib cage pried open like a spike trap to reveal very painstakingly rendered organs. He was actually quite proud of this one.

The only response that Patton gave, however, was a slight wrinkling of his nose when he first saw it, followed by more quiet observation.

“What do you think?” Remus prompted, watching as Patton set the drawing back down on the counter and began to assemble things for breakfast, seemingly unaffected.

“I wish I could draw that well, but I’m still not super good at it,” he said admiringly.

“I had to crack open my own ribs to make sure it was accurate, you know!”

Morality yelped at that one- score one for Remus! Finally!

“You wanna see my re-imaginings of my favorite Final Destination deaths? I’ve painted some with real- well, conjured- but real enough blood!”

But Patton didn’t even flinch this time; he looked more determined even!

“Art is a healthy outlet for expressing yourself,” he was almost certainly parroting Logan there, and he even seemed to believe the statement. Perhaps Remus would have to be a little more creative to get more reactions.

. “I agree! I didn’t expect you to have such an open-minded point of view. I’ll be sure you’re the first side to know when I make my next amateur taxidermy sculpture! Emphasis on the amateur!”

“Great!” Patton practically shouted, very stubbornly staring at the stove.

Before Remus had the chance to continue, the distinct sounds of Logan and Roman arguing their way downstairs met his ears, and he cut himself off. That was enough for one day, he decided. And anyhow, he looked forward to trying new ways to bother Patton next morning.

Deceit rose into the shadows of the Light Side commons with a smirk. It was an awful hour of the night, which was part of the plan. Not only was Patton the first awake in the morning, he was also often the last to sleep. Deceit supposed that Logan was looking after Roman and Virgil’s sleep schedules nowadays, which made it much easier to catch the artificial patriarch alone. That isn’t to imply that Dee had been tracking their schedules or anything, but the overwhelming lie that Morality surrounded himself with made him easy to track- especially in the night, when he had to pretend even harder that he was fine without the presence of his little family. Deceit entertained the idea that he should feel bad for the side, and maybe he did somewhere deep down. Deep, deep down. No, further than that.

Regardless of any such feelings, he was here to mess with Patton. Still unnoticed, he watched quietly as his target scrolled through Netflix, illuminated only by the dim glow of the television. The side looked so tired that he could’ve passed as a corpse, but gave a tiny smile after finally selecting whatever it was he was going to watch.

Wait. Wait. He was watching that ?

Deceit stared at the unmistakable green text that was the intro to The Good Place playing across the screen. If there was one thing he was expecting Patton to watch (Cartoons? Friends reruns? Slime videos?), it wasn't his own favorite show.

“Hm.” Deceit hummed.

In response, Patton shrieked and fell halfway off the couch. His head darted around until he finally spotted Deceit, who had slid down to sit on the sofa as well.

“Oh- um- good evening, Deceit! Wow, today is just full of surprises!”

“ Surely you won’t mind if I join you? This is one of my favorite shows, after all.”

Patton fixed his position so that he was no longer partially on the floor and looked the snake up and down. He paused the episode.

“ Really ?”

“Really,” and then, after some trepidation, “Honestly.”

Suddenly, Patton lit up dramatically, a happy smile stretching across his face. Fuck, wrong direction, Deceit wasn’t supposed to be cheering him up!

“I’m surprised that someone like you would like it,” Deceit continued hastily. Patton’s smile fell a little and he tipped his head in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean ,” He lounged back against the couch, “I didn’t think you’d approve of a show where all of the characters are such bad people .”

“What?! The whole point is that they aren’t bad!” Good, Back on track .

“Oh? Then what are they? Last I checked, the main character was very selfish .”

“I- okay, I see what you’re trying to do,” Patton turned to face Deceit entirely, “But they’re- they also-”

“Also what ?” Deceit was also sitting sideways on the couch now, his eyes glinting. He was certain that he’d talked the trait into a corner, which was why he was so utterly unprepared for Patton’s response.

“It’s, like, they all start off not great, but that’s because they were all set up for failure before the afterlife! They had it hard before dying, but when they were finally given the chance to actually get better, then they got better! They aren’t perfect , but they care about each other! And I think it really shows that sometimes, somebody can be wrong over and over and over again, but that doesn’t mean that they’re hopeless, or that they’re a bad friend, or…” He trailed off, looking down at his lap and blinking very quickly. “Or that they’re a bad person.”

Suddenly, Deceit wasn’t that sure that he wanted to see Patton upset anymore.

After a very uncomfortable silence that lasted far too long for his liking, the scaled side realized that he should probably be the one to say something.

“That’s… a very in depth analysis, Morality. I’m inclined to agree with you.”

“Thanks,” Patton replied. When he looked up, his eyes held an odd recognition. It was a look that no Light Side had ever given Deceit, but they gave it to each other plenty of times. The side in question wasn’t sure if he liked it, but he sure knew that he was uncomfortable.

“So… The show…” He prompted.

“Oh, right!”

Patton pressed play.

Deceit had planned on doing some more provoking of Patton as they watched, but he found himself rather caught up in the program. The conversation he did end up making with the other incidentally slipped into chatting about their shared views on the show. It was almost nice. Maybe. Whatever.

After a few episodes, Deceit elected to return home for the night. As he was sinking out, he heard a sleepy voice bidding him farewell.

“G’night, Kiddo.”

He popped up in his bedroom after that, eyes quickly landing on a half-asleep Remus half-watching Saw 4 . The lights were dimmed to a glow, and the TV’s volume was so low that it might have been inaudible to anyone other than the more animalistic sides.

“You didn’t have to wait up for me,” Deceit murmured warmly, sitting beside his fellow Dark side. The trait yawned and rubbed his eyes, instinctively leaning into him.

“Wanted to,” he responded, voice groggy, “How’d it go?”

Deceit snapped his fingers to change into sleep clothes, reaching across Remus to flick off the lamp. As he settled in to semi-watch the movie, fingers automatically moving to card through his partner’s hair, he carefully considered the question.

“Fucking. Weird.”

Chapter 4

Tags: @deceits-left-glove @princemesscharming

60 notes · View notes

gothpanda · 4 years

Text

A Little Bit of Attitude Ch.27: Christmas

WORD COUNT: 7.2k

A/N: Enjoy! Comments are highly appreciated! ❤️

WARNINGS: none

TAGS: @madamsixx @emariehorror

Read On Ao3

Previous/Next

December 11th, 1982

"I still don't get why you wanted to eat in your shit apartment when we could've gone somewhere," Sammi complained, twirling her plastic fork to capture linguine noodles in the carryout plate. They sat beside each other on the old sofa, Sammi praying it wouldn't break again. Nikki swallowed his spaghetti, kicking his feet up on the grimy coffee table. "Because maybe I just want to be in a quiet place for my birthday," Nikki answered with a smirk.

"Oh, is that why you abandoned the guys in San Diego?" Sammi asked, matching Nikki's smirk. "To be in a quiet place eating Italian food… with me?"

"Exactly. Besides you can admit you're happy to see my face. I won't tell anyone,"

"Shut up. I was happy because you surprised me at work. It's not like I miss you or anything," Sammi mumbled, smiling shyly away from Nikki. The two ate in silence with the music playing at low volume, songs range from 79 to this year playing on loop. 'Waiting for a Girl Like You' began playing, gaining Nikki and Sammi's attention, passing glances at each other.

"This is a cute song," Sammi admitted, placing her food on the coffee table, standing up as she walked over to the small kitchen sill.

"Of course you'd like the love songs," Nikki teased, sipping on his cold beer.

"Oh shush. You write love songs all the time too. They're just disguised as heavy rock for the tough boys," Sammi said over her shoulder.

"You aren't wrong but don't be telling that to magazines when we're famous,"

Sammi unzipped the dividing pocket of her black purse, slowly taking out a tiny red gift bag. Sammi looked at Nikki continue mindlessly eating, thankful he didn't notice anything. Sammi held the bag behind her back, standing right in front of Nikki with a dopey smile that made Nikki raise an eyebrow.

"Whatcha doing?" Nikki asked. Sammi whipped her arms forward, holding the gift bag between the two of them.

"Happy birthday!" Sammi exclaimed.

"You got me a present?" Nikki asked, putting his cardboard plate down as he took hold of the present.

"Well yeah I had to or else I'd feel bad,"

"You didn't even know it was my birthday 'til a few hours ago," Nikki said with a smile.

"And who's fault is that, Mr. Secretive?"

Nikki shook his head, removing the white tissue paper to find a flat navy velvet box sitting at the bottom. Nikki threw the gift bag aimlessly, scrunched eyebrows as he opened the box, revealing a black onyx crystal stone pendant. Nikki carefully pulled out the necklace, admiring the silver rope chain for it. "Wow, Sam. This looks pretty cool. When and where did you even get this?"

Sammi sat right next to Nikki. "As soon as I got off work. There's a cool witchy hippie store that opened up. The guy who sold it to me said the stone is supposed to absorb negativity and turn it into strength and protection. I just thought it looked cool," said Sammi, shrugging her shoulders. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you, Sammi," Nikki said, smiling dearly at Sammi, glancing down at her lips. He didn't know if he should kiss her, not know what to do in general with the young girl. So instead, Nikki gave her a hug and kissed her temple. "I hope this gives me all the protection I need,"

December 13th, 1985

Covina, California

Sammi looked down into the boiling pot of water, checking to see if it appeared perfect for the macaroni noodles she needed to pour in. Shrugging her shoulder, Sammi grabbed a bowl of uncooked noodles, pouring in carefully, and adding salt into the water. She turned the timer for 8 minutes beside her then paid attention to the ground beef that was beginning to sizzle on her left, stirring it to not burn any sides. The onions were already entirely browned to Mrs. Bass's liking, reminding Sammi to sprinkle in the proper seasonings for pastitsio before the beef was too cooked. Sammi grabbed the salt and pepper shaker, shaking both vigorously as the meat was folding in on the skillet.

"Don't forget the cinnamon before the tomato paste," Mrs. Bass said behind Sammi, smiling at her daughter as she entered the kitchen. Sammi looked over her shoulder, matching her mother's smile and reaching for the pantry's ground cinnamon to her right.

"I won't. I am your only child that in fact knows how to cook," Sammi said to Mrs. Bass as she put a measuring cup of water by the stove. Mrs. Bass kissed Sammi's cheek in gratitude for helping make the Greek lasagna, knowing how long it took to cook the special dish. Simultaneously, Sammi poured in the cup of water and tomato paste into the ground beef, giving one final stir of everything before letting it simmer alone. Mrs. Bass looked over Sammi's shoulder to see if everything was going smoothly, knowing she could trust Sammi to make dinner.

"I know but I have to still be a mother and tell you what to do. I already shredded the cheese before you came," Mrs. Bass said, stirring the boiling pasta. Suddenly the backyard door in the kitchen opened fast, Athena walking in with a somber face. She didn't appear to be in the mood for a family dinner, wanting a stiff drink in her hand.

Mrs. Bass smiled when seeing Athena, opening her arms for a hug. "Athi! You're early,"

"Hey, Mama," Athena said, kissing her mother on the cheek but no smile to give. Sammi leaned against the kitchen island, smiling at Athena but not getting one in return. Athena only glared at Sammi, inching closer to the stove to see what was cooking. Sammi only kept her polite smile until Athena walked out into the living room without another word. Mrs. Bass acted as if nothing was wrong, getting the béchamel and cheese from the refrigerator.

"Hi to you too, Athena!" Sammi shouted from the kitchen, facing the stove to turn off a burner, carefully grabbing the boiling pot to drain out the pasta. Mrs. Bass scrunched her eyebrows together, studying Sammi's face.

"Is something wrong between you and Athena?" Mrs. Bass asked, spreading a thin layer of butter on the deep casserole dish, waiting to assemble it. Sammi just shrugged her shoulders, passing the macaroni noodles to her mother.

"She's just mad I didn't tell her about my little field trip to Vegas, and I think something went wrong in her love life," said Sammi, pouring in the ground beef then macaroni into the deep dish.

"In that case just give her some space if she's hurt about love. But also don't mind her moods just because you didn't say something to her," Mrs. Bass said, waving her hand in a shooing motion, almost like Athena should let her anger go. Mrs. Bass added the last touches to the pastitsio, putting it in the hot oven to cook for nearly an hour. "You have your own life. You can do whatever you want,"

"Yeah I know. She's just being a brat to me for not telling her," Sammi said, washing her hands. Mrs. Bass tried to withhold a chuckle, wiping her hands from any food on them.

"Be nice to your sister! She's the only one you have forever. Now go relax while I make a salad for everyone," Mrs. Bass ordered, pointing for Sammi to leave the kitchen. Sammi followed her mother's words, slowly strolling into the living room. Athena sat alone with a magazine in her hands, the television playing Three's Company in low volume. Sammi dropped herself on Mr. Bass's recliner, tucking her legs under herself, hitting her chin on her knuckles as she looked at Athena. Athena could obviously hear Sammi and feel her presence, peeking over the corner to see her sister stare.

"What?" Athena barked, looking back at the gossip magazine to only see Motley and other bands spread out the pages. Athena rolled her eyes at Nikki's picture, tossing the booklet on the coffee table.

"Nothing, nothing. I just wanted to know what was going on with my sister. Especially since you didn't bother to say hi to me," said Sammi.

"Maybe because I have nothing to say to you. Ever thought about that?"

"You're seriously going to be mad at me forever? Because I don't really care at this point,"

"Of course you wouldn't care. You're as selfish as your stupid boyfriend," Athena accused, lowering her voice so their mother wouldn't hear. Sammi only frowned and rolled her eyes, slumping more in-depth into the recliner.

"At least I have something with someone," Sammi mumbled, staring at the tv.

"Oh fuck you," Athena said, folding her arms to her chest. Sammi glared at Athena, hugging her arms like her sister.

"I'm not selfish because I hang around with Nikki. I don't have to tell you everything,"

"You said you were done with him," Athena pointed out.

"And you've said Emma was being overly dramatic about your relationship," Sammi rebuttal.

"Are you only on her side to get back at me? Why are you even bringing her up?" Athena asked, narrowing her eyes to Sammi.

"Karma tastes so good right when a sibling doesn't shut up about your love life? And no I'm not. She was my friend first before your girlfriend, or should I say ex-girlfriend,"

"You're such a bitch," Athena mumbled. Sammi shook her head, taking a deep breath in.

"Again, are you going to be mad at me for not telling you about Vegas?" Sammi asked.

"Again, you said you were done with that guy,"

"You are so annoying. Can you just answer the question,"

"I'm mad you don't tell the truth to us anymore. We were so good for a moment and then you did a 180 again. Except for this time where you have us around," Athena said, grabbing the remote to change the challenges. Sammi blinked for a moment, scrunching deep between her brows.

"What?"

"Tommy and I finally had you being on our side where we told each other everything like it always was. Remember? Right before you became a selfish brat in high school. Then all of a sudden when you get with him, you do 180 and keep secrets,"

"You're one to talk about being a brat. Aren't the older siblings supposed to be the more mature ones?"

"Whatever. How about you just stop talking about him okay? Because trust me no one wants to fucking hear it," Sammi stared at Athena for a moment, bouncing her leg up and down fast.

"His name is Nikki," Sammi said before marching out of the living room and heading up to her old empty space. She shut the door and fell on the naked bed, closing her eyes as she sighed out.

Dinner was relatively quiet for the Bass family. Mr. and Mrs. Bass sitting at each head on the table while Sammi and Athena were across from one another. Sammi and Athena didn't want to look at each other, looking down at their food or their respective parents. Mr. Bass went on about co-workers who couldn't do their jobs right while Mrs. Bass gave her little advice. It wasn't until Mrs. Bass brought up the question of her husband's Christmas schedule that Sammi's ear perked up, remembering what she needed to do.

"Um I'm glad you brought up Christmas, Mama, I need to tell you guys something," Sammi said, wiping away any food from the corner of her mouth. Her parents and Athena's eyes were all on her. Athena frowning deep while their parents kept no hard looks, only curiosity on them.

"What is it, Sammi?" asked Mr. Bass.

"I'm not gonna be here for Christmas," Sammi said, pressing her lips together. Her eyes shifted to Mr. and Mrs. Bass, eyes shot up while Athena frowned deeper.

"Oh? And where will you be?" asked Mrs. Bass, holding her hands together on the table with amusement.

"Idaho," Sammi smiled, taking another bite of the food she cooked tonight.

"And what's in Idaho? Or who for that matter?" Mr. Bass asked, smiled. Athena dropped her fork and knife on the plate, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.

"Nikki invited me to spend Christmas with him and his grandparents. They live in Idaho in the middle of nowhere. You guys aren't mad I'll be missing Christmas, right?" Sammi said with worry.

"Oh no, Sammi! It'll be fun! You'll get to have a white Christmas for once," Mrs. Bass says, reaching over to squeeze Sammi's hand. "Of course I will miss my little lovebug. We'll have a personal Christmas for when you come back,"

"Do you have enough warm clothes? I wouldn't want you freezing up there," Mr. Bass asked, taking a bite of his food. "Open land near Canada is just the perfect place for snow,"

"Yes I do. Nikki warned me to buy a lot of winter clothes. He said it can get to 7 degrees. I bought a whole bunch of coats for the trip,"

"Wear extra socks. If you have the flu when you get back, I'm going to have a word with Nikki," Mr. Bass with humor, pointing his fork at Sammi as he looked over his glasses.

"And when will you be leaving? How long are you going to stay over there?" Mrs. Bass asked.

"The 23rd. It'll give Nikki enough time to rest from his Florida flight and pack again. He wants to stay until the 30th so we don't deal with crazy airport traffic on the way home," said Sammi, glancing up at Athena as she ate her food.

"Sounds like a good plan. Hopefully, you two don't get any delays from the weather," Mr. Bass said. Sammi only smiled and continued to finish her food, glancing up to see Athena sulking in her seat.

"You don't think it's weird that Sammi's going to spend a holiday with him? She's supposed to be with family. Not a random guy," Athena said, pursing her lips out and sucking her teeth as she glared at Sammi. Sammi matched her sister's eyes, keeping a tight grip on her fork. "I mean you two haven't even met him,"

"He's not a random guy. We've met Nikki before on a few short occasions. Seems like a nice young man. Quiet but still nice. And I trust Sammi's decisions to be around him," Mrs. Bass said.

"See Athena? People like Nikki," said Sammi, sucking her teeth.

"And Athena be respectful. Nikki is your brother and sister's closet friend, you can to say his name," said Mr. Bass

"But I don't like him! And I don't like Sammi ditching us to go and play house with a rock star," Athena barked in Sammi's direction.

"Athena!" Mrs. Bass shouted frowning.

"I'm not playing house! Nikki's grandmother said he could bring a friend and he asked me,"

"A friend or a girlfriend? Because what grandmother just suggests that unless Nikki talked them into it?" Athena asked.

"Nikki isn't my boyfriend. And it's called being nice and hospitable to their grandson. Something you know nothing about with your ugly attitude," Sammi said.

"Samantha, that is enough," Mr. Bass uttered under his breath.

"And when did Nikki ask you? Was it in Vegas or maybe another time you snuck away to see him without telling anyone? Was it after Tommy caught you two in the elevator together or before?" Athena asked.

"Why should I tell you? I thought you didn't want to hear it?" Sammi said in a mocking voice.

"And I told you to stop talking about it! No one cares!"

"Fine then bud out of my life and shut up!"

"Fine!"

"Girls!" Mr. and Mrs. Bass yelled in unison, causing each daughter to look at one parent. "You two shouldn't be arguing like this. Athena, apologize to your sister," Mr. Bass told Athena.

"What? Why?!"

"Because you're being rude to Sammi about matters that do not involve you. If she wants to be around Nikki, then leave her to it. You shouldn't be giving relationship advice in the first place," Mr. Bass said, pressing his lips firmly together.

Athena rolled her eyes. "No. I'm not apologizing for giving my opinion about Nikki,"

"Athena, you have the right to an opinion but your father is right. It's her and Tommy's decision to be around Nikki. If your sister wishes to spend her time with that boy, then that's just how it's going to be," Mrs. Bass advised in a soft voice.

"You two don't even know him! He's not good! He's crazy and mean to everyone!"

"Jesus. You sound just like Amanda," Sammi mumbled, pushing herself out of her seat and grabbing her half-finished plate.

"Well, maybe she had some points!" Athena shouted out to Sammi as she left the dining room. Sammi threw away the rest of the food in the trash, trying not to drop the glass plate in the sink, keeping in mind how it could break. Mrs. Bass cautiously walked into the kitchen, placing a hand on Sammi's shoulder. Sammi only stayed looking out the kitchen window, trying to eavesdrop on what her father was telling Athena.

"I know it may seem like this can last forever, but Athena will come around," Mrs. Bass reassured.

"And what makes you so sure of that, Mama?" Sammi asked, meeting her mother's gaze.

"Because she's your sister. You only have each other,"

"Yeah well I'm not going to hold my breath," Sammi said, turning on the faucet for warm water and began washing the dishes.

December 23rd, 1985

Van Nuys, California

Sammi yawned out loud, laying down on Nikki's clean sheets as she waited for the man to finish packing his winter bag. Nikki smirked at Sammi's sleepiness, beginning to feel the excitement of spending almost a week with his two favorite people, well three. Nikki grabbed the checklist he wrote down on the plane, double-checking in his mind that everything was already packed.

"Excited to see your grandparents?" Sammi asked, resting her head on a pillow. Nikki sat down by Sammi, moving his suitcase to the middle of the bed.

"Yeah. I haven't seen them in what feels like forever. Especially spending a Christmas with them. Are you still nervous about meeting them?" Nikki asked, laying against the silk pillows.

"A little bit. I know you said that they'll love me but I've never met someone else's family like this,"

"Oh come on. You've done the whole meeting the parents with your old boyfriends before?"

"Not really. Hate to break it to you but I rarely had boyfriends in high school or even before I met you,"

"Bullshit! I don't believe you,"

"I'm serious! Vince has been my only real boyfriend, and I barely even saw his family when we were together,"

"Damn. Well if it makes you feel better, you're my only girlfriend meeting Nona and Tom. Also the first to meet Deana but she doesn't count for shit," Nikki said, scrunching his brows together at Sammi's quizzical grin. "What?"

"I'm your girlfriend?" Sammi asked, raising an eyebrow. "This is news to me,"

Nikki rolled his eyes, clearing his throat as he looked away from Sammi. "I think it's pretty clear to everyone that you're my girl. Don't act so surprised,"

"Okay! I won't act surprised. Boyfriend," Sammi said with a shit-eating grin.

"So what was little Sammi like in high school to not get a boyfriend?" Nikki asked, pinching Sammi's cheek. Sammi playfully shoved Nikki's hand away from her, acting annoyed even when not.

"Almost like when you met me except quieter with way less attitude. I just studied. Played volleyball. Stayed with my clique all four years. Worked when I was bored and wanted money. I had guys to mess around with but it never lasted more than 2 months," said Sammi. "What about you? What were you like in high school? I bet you had girls throwing themselves at you, wanting to try a bad boy out," Sammi asked, resting on her stomach.

"Well remember, I didn't finish high school. Mainly I would get into fights with guys who stared me down, and steal their girlfriends when they were bored. Be around random guys who didn't want to be in school. That's it. You think we would've hung out in high school?"

"Nik, we're five years apart. We wouldn't be in high school together, that would be illegal,"

"Can you just answer the question without pointing out the obvious, Ms. Bubble Burster?"

Sammi rolled her eyes. "Fine. No, I don't think we would have in high school at all. I hung out with the popular sporty girls whose favorite pastime was being judgy. I would've stayed far away from you unless you became friends with Tommy. Maybe have a secret crush on you,"

"Ouch. Why don't you rip my heart out while you're at it? Right after I called you my girlfriend", Nikki asked, clenching his chest, making Sammi laugh at him.

"Oh shush you'll be fine. Just wait until we're both in Idaho and you'll forget about it," Sammi said, crawling over to kiss Nikki lightly on the lips.

"Speaking of which, I should call the cab already. Are you sure you've packed one hundred percent?" Nikki asked, pushing himself off the bed and zipping up his filled suitcase.

"Yes I am. I'm not going to be freezing my ass off the entire time we're there. I'm ready to sleep for the entire plane ride," Sammi said, stretching her arms over, walking over to Nikki, where she wrapped her arms around his waist from the back. Sammi pressed her chin on Nikki's back, hopeful that the few days can make Nikki forget about the little thing that strained them. He hadn't spoken about it when they called each other, but Sammi told herself that Nikki was a big boy who could take care of himself. She just needed to keep telling herself that.

Middle of Nowhere, Idaho

Sammi held her breath as Nikki drove down the dark, icy roads, scared whenever the rental pick up truck felt like it would skid off into the snowy fields. Nikki knew how to go in this weather, but it didn't stop Sammi from her fear, Nikki glancing every so often to see Sammi's face. He laid a hand on her thigh, whipping his head when Sammi winced away from his touch.

"Both hands on the wheel," Sammi pointed, frowning as she looked out to the white surroundings. Nikki wanted to object but still listened, placing his hands at ten and two.

"Babe, I've driven down these roads more times than you can count. The truck has its brand snow tires and the roads are clear as day," Nikki reassured. "We're going to be fine,"

"That still doesn't ease my mind. You're driving in the dark. And aren't you scared about the black ice?"

"Nope. I'm driving at a nice and for once slow speed to be careful. Besides we're not that far from Tom and Nona's place,"

"How can you even tell? Everything looks the same," Sammi said, changing the radio when static began playing.

"Ya see here city girl, you have to look at the trees and other things to know where you are. You recognize the landmarks of everyone's farm," Nikki said with what Sammi thought could be an Idaho accent. Sammi rolled her eyes, trying not to giggle at being called a city girl, knowing it would encourage Nikki.

"We get it, Country Boy, this isn't L. A or California anymore. The place where there are buildings and people. Maybe even some street lights to see what's going on,"

"Exactly. This country boy knows where we're going. Plus, I gave my grandparents a wood carven sign last Christmas to put in their entranceway," Nikki smiled almost cocky, laughing boyishly at Sammi's annoyed face.

"You're such a little shit," Sammi mumbled, taking off her seatbelt and scooting close to Nikki, putting her head on his shoulder. "Wake me up when we're there,"

"Alright, Sleeping Beauty,"

"There's my son! Tom come on, they're here!" Nona yelled out into the two-story farmhouse, standing on the brown wooden wrap-around porch. Tom pushed open the fence gate door, zipping up his heavy coat. Nikki drove through the bumpy pathway that Tom cleared up, laughing every time he and Sammi jumped in their seats. Nikki pulled up close to the front porch, flipping off the ignition, headlights turning off. Sammi jumped out of the pickup, eyes looking down with amazement at her boots, stepping onto the ankle-deep snow. Sammi tried to walk on perfect balance, realizing how difficult it was to maneuver on the ice. Nikki helped by lacing his mitten fingers around Sammi's hand, smiling at Nona and Tom.

"Hi, Nikki!" Nona said in excitement, giving Nikki a big hug on the porch steps patting his back to get rid of any fallen snow. Nona quickly took note of Sammi, wanting to match the same affection she had to Nikki for Sammi, but waited for Nikki to introduce the girl. The couple finally took cover under the porch, Sammi keeping quiet with a soft smile. Tom gave Nikki a quick hug, wanting to head inside to feel the fire he just started.

"Hey, Nona. Hey, Tom. There's someone I'd like you to meet," Nikki said, squeezing Sammi's hand. "This is Sammi. My girlfriend," Sammi waved at the older couple, nervous but noticing how they both smiled happily at the two.

"Hi! It's so good to meet you two. Nikki's said so many things about you guys," Sammi said, reaching out for Nona's hand. Nona shoved Sammi's hand away, wrapping her in a tight hug, cupping her cheeks to look at Sammi.

"Well aren't you just the prettiest. I'm happy to finally meet you," Nona said, kissing Sammi on the cheek. Nona almost passed Sammi to Tom, the older man hugging the small girl at a fast speed. "Nikki has said some things about you too. How about you ladies head inside, Nik and I will get the luggage," said Tom, squeezing Sammi's shoulder.

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping Nikki out myself," Sammi asked as Nikki and Tom carefully stepped down on the frozen steps.

"Oh don't be crazy, let the men do the heavy lifting. I'm sure you're starving. I have chicken pot pies staying warm in the oven," Nona said, softly holding Sammi's arm, leading her into the country style home. The house felt warm, cozy with old wooden style furniture and a brick fireplace. Nona pointed at the coat rack near the door as she disappeared in the kitchen, Sammi scanning the home. It was decorated for Christmas, a green garland wrapped around the staircase with lights. The smell of pine-scented the front of the house, the Christmas tree decorated with white and red bulb ornaments in the living room corner. The gifts Nikki sent out a week before already arranged perfectly under the tree. Sammi sat down at the dining table right in front of the kitchen, peeking over to see if Nona needed help with anything. The chicken pot pie smell wafted through the air, making Sammi's stomach rumble with hunger. Nona placed a hot ramekin on the placemat in front of Sammi, setting an olive green cloth napkin and silver fork.

"Thank you, Mrs…?"

"You don't need to finish Mrs part, just call me Nona like everyone else. Would you like some iced tea to drink?" asked Nona, fixing her circle-shaped glasses.

"Oh no, I'm good for right now. Thank you so much for dinner. It smells amazing," Sammi said, crack opening the pastry pie crust with the fork, hot steam escaping its shell. She blew on the food in an attempt to cool it, not wanting to burn herself. With one bite, her eyes shot wide to Nona, chewing the juicy chicken.

"Wow, this is really good. I've never had chicken pot pie before," Sammi said, wiping her mouth with the napkin.

"Really? What does your mom cook for you and your siblings then?" Nona asked, placing the rest of the chicken pot pies for Tom and Nikki, sitting right by Sammi.

"She's from Greece so basically every kind of food from there. But I'm definitely adding this to my list of recipes when I get home," Sammi said, taking another bite of food as she could hear Nikki and Tom walk into the home.

"So I assume you're a little chef," Nona asked. Sammi nodded with food in her mouth, looking up beside her when Nikki and Tom entered the dining room. Nikki sat right by Sammi, taking off the wool gloves and breathing to warm his fingers up.

"Nik, you didn't tell me Sammi liked to cook. I'm going to have fun with her on Christmas eve dinner," Nona said with a smile, walking into the kitchen to quickly grab a jug of iced tea. Nikki only began eating, starving from the lack of a proper home-cooked meal that belonged to Nona. Tom started to eat at his own pace.

"That's because Sammi only cooks when she wants to be nice to me," Nikki said, taking another piece of chicken pot pie. Sammi stuck her tongue out at Nikki, making Tom chuckle a little.

"Sounds like Nona when I first met her. She'd only make her specialties when I'd bring her flowers as a thank you," Tom said, grabbing the iced tea that Nona offered him.

"That's because it rarely happened," Nona teased, admiring the happy people eating the food she prepared with love. "The food turned out great for everyone?" Nikki, Sammi, and Tom all nodded in silence, enjoying the savory, creamy dinner.

"Like always, Nona," Nikki said, earning himself a kiss on the crown of his head. "You're not gonna eat?"

"Oh don't worry about me, Nik. I'll be fine," Nona said, sitting right next to Tom.

"So Sam, tell us a bit about yourself? Do you work or are you in school or both?" Tom asked, sipping on the iced tea. Sammi wiped the corner of her mouth, standing up straight in her seat.

"I was in school. I graduated in May and decided to take a year off. I'm actually a secretary at Elektra. Nikki's manager helped me get the job," Sammi answered.

"What degree did you graduate with? Nikki's went on about how you're a smart girl," Nona asked, smirking when Nikki glared at her with subtle annoyance.

"Biology with a minor in Chemistry. I was aiming to become a vet, but I'm not so sure anymore,"

"Well don't worry about not being sure, you're young. You have a whole life ahead of you to decide what you really want," said Tom.

"And with smarts like yours, you'll be just fine!" said Nona, slowly collecting Tom and Nikki's empty plate. Immediately Sammi jumped from her seat, tucking her and Nikki's empty glasses between her arm, grabbing empty ramekins. "Oh, you don't have to clean up, Sammi!" Nona said, about to take the dirty dishes from the young girl.

"I insist, Nona. Take it as my way of saying thank you for letting me in your home," Sammi said, smiling at Nona as the two walked into the kitchen. Sammi carefully laid the ceramic dishes into the sink, looking around for any dish soap.

"It's Tom's turn to load the dishwasher, sweetheart. You can just leave dishes there," Nona said, placing the glass cups and the other dishes. "I'm glad Nikki is looking good after the whole Deana incident. He does look a bit skinny though," Nona said, pouring a glass of iced tea for herself. Sammi leaned against the sink, folding her arms as she remembered the event and let out a sigh.

"I really didn't know how to react when I saw her. I'd never seen Nikki look so shocked and numb before. He broke a whiskey bottle right in front of her," Sammi said, looking down at her winter boots.

"Nikki had a right to be shocked and angry. She may be my daughter, but sometimes I just want to shake her for treating her son so poorly. He's lucky you were there," Nona said, giving Sammi a quick sympathetic grin. "Nikki needs someone there to lift him up. I know he can be a little hard on himself,"

"Well, I'm happy to be there for him. But can I ask a question?" Sammi asked, Nona, nodding for approval. "How was Deana like with Nikki when he was younger? He hasn't really told me anything. It's kind of like pulling teeth with him sometimes,"

"Deana was like a swing with Nikki. She'd say how much she loved her son but then leave him here or put him on a bus by himself. Nikki always wanted to be with her, but I think once he turned a certain age, Nikki could see the truth. So he didn't want to be around her,' Nona said.

"And what about his sister or 'half' like how Nikki always says?"

"Oh, she'd stay with Deana. We rarely had her stay with us like we did Nikki. But of course, if you ask Deana about any of this, she'll say that Tom and I convinced Nikki to be mean to her. All we did was just remind Nikki the door was always open when he wanted to getaway. I love that boy like he was my own son. He pretty much is our son,"

"I think it's amazing how much you both raised Nikki. I know it's made me realize how lucky I am to have my mom and dad,' Sammi said, smiling with sad eyes. Nona patted Sammi on the arm, leaving her cup in the sink right on time for Nikki and Tom to enter the kitchen. "Nikki, perfect timing. I was just about to take Sammi to the living room, and show her some of your baby photos," Sammi shot wide with a grin at Nikki, seeing his frown of embarrassment.

"Uh, I don't think Sammi wants to see any old photos of me," Nikki objected, sliding his arm behind Sammi's back, escorting her out of the kitchen. Sammi turned on her heels, stopping Nikki with a hand on his chest.

"Oh no, on the contrary, Sammi would love to see old photos of you," Sammi said, smiling at Nona. "Come on, a few photos of baby Nikki. Please?" Sammi asked with puppy dog eyes to Nikki.

Nikki huffed out. "Fine, but I'm showing them. Don't want you pulling the ones I hate out of thin air," Nikki told Nona, guiding Sammi out of the kitchen. Tom smiled at the two, kissing Nona on the cheek.

"Does she get the grandmother's approval?" asked Tom, starting to set up the dishwasher.

"I think she does. I can already see a difference in Nik," said Nona.

Nikki and Sammi walked into the cozy living room, freshly vacuumed carpet and Santa Claus statues placed randomly. Sammi sat down on a soft brown loveseat, taking off her heavy boots, glancing at the many framed photos scattered around. The fireplace began losing its flame, Nikki chucking in another log to keep the warmth going, shuffling the burning pieces with the fire iron.

"Oh my god, look at you!" Sammi exclaimed, seeing a yearbook photo right on the fire mantle. Nikki appeared around seven years old in the picture, giving a tiny smile to the camera in his best attire. His hair looked like it was ready for the military, a short blondish square buzz cut that showed Nikki's big forehead. Nikki withheld a groan, wanting to chuck the photo in the fire. "Aww, you're so cute! Nice hair cut by the way," Sammi teased, poking Nikki with her elbow.

"You can thank Tom for that. I hated when my hair looked like that, and it looked like that for years," walking down the mantle to show more photos of young Nikki (or Frank).

"But why? It looks adorable on you," Sammi said in a mocking tone, smiling at Nikki. Nikki pushed up his black hair away from his face, facing Sammi to show his bare forehead. Sammi's loud laugh escaped her lips, finding Nikki's embarrassment amusing to her. Nikki glared right at Sammi, cocking his head to one side. "Does this answer your question? I have a big ass head if you haven't already noticed," said Nikki. Sammi balanced on tippy-toes, kissing Nikki right in the middle of his forehead, then a kiss on the lips. Nikki blushed, dropping his hair, tickling Sammi's face.

"I like your big head. It adds character even though we all know you have plenty of that," Sammi said, stepping away to continue the galley of Nikki. Sammi could see Deana in some of them, looking like a normal mother with her parents by her side.

"Yeah yeah. Keep complimenting me, and maybe I'll upgrade your Christmas gifts," said Nikki, rolling up his sweater's sleeves. Sammi smirked and raised an eye, strolling her way right to Nikki, placing her chin on his chest.

"Well, I like your big head. And I love your big rough hands. And I especially love your big hard-"

"Nona! Tom!" Nikki shouted, hugging Sammi around her shoulders as he smiled at his grandparents like a little boy almost getting caught in mischief. Sammi hugged Nikki, trying not to turn crimson red from the thought Tom and Nona heard her, smiling at the two. "We were just talking about going sledding tomorrow,"

"Tomorrow is perfect for sledding. You can show Sammi the hill you and I would always go to when you were young," Tom said, relaxing on the floral velour recliner.

"That sounds like a great idea, but it's getting late and we need to tell you two about the room situation," Nona addressed, shifting her eyes Nikki and Sammi, pushing up her glasses. Nikki scrunched his eyebrows at Nona, Sammi staying silent. "Now you two aren't married and will be sleeping under our roof. So Nikki you'll be in your old room upstairs, and Sammi in our guest bedroom down here," Nona said, resting her hands on her hips.

"Oh come on, Nona. We aren't going to mess around, we're adults, not teenagers," Nikki objected, pursing his lips out.

"It's alright, Nikki. This is your grandparent's house and they have rules, so we have to follow them. That's just the way it is," Sammi reassured Nona, patting Nikki on the chest. Nikki scoffed, shrugging his shoulder as he let his arm fall from Sammi's frame.

"It's settled then. Sammi, come with me to the room. Nikki, be a gentleman and bring in Sammi's suitcases," Nona said, looping her arm around Sammis and pulling her into the hallway, smiling at Nikki. Nikki only huffed, looking at Tom raise his hands as if he was clueless, enjoying every second of the family.

The guest bedroom was small, reminding Sammi of her bedroom in her first apartment. The double bed was placed against the wall, a white iron bed frame that looked as old as the house. An oak armoire facing the door, where Sammi had her suitcase hidden away, stood in the corner. Sammi was already beginning to fall into a deep sleep, the moonlight cascading against her skin from the small window. A soft creak sound slowly made Sammi wake up, barely opening in her eyes. Then a male body jumped on the bed, hiding under the cover. Before Sammi could make a sound, Nikki covered her mouth, quietly laughing at her surprised face.

"What the fuck, Nikki?!" Sammi whispered, feeling Nikki wrap his arms around her waist.

"What? I got lonely up in my room. I missed having a warm body next to me. I haven't had one since Vegas," Nikki whispered, hiding his face in the nape of Sammi's neck, leaving tiny pecks.

"Nik, I don't want to get in trouble with your grandma. We're not married, remember?" Sammi reminded Nikki, bringing his face back to her line of vision.

"And whose fault is that huh? I did ask, remember?" Nikki asked, mocking Sammi's tone, kissing her on the lips. Sammi chuckled at Nikki, feeling her cheeks turn pink. "You have to admit it's fun sneaking in like this?"

"Whatever. You can stay, but make sure you wake up early to go back to your room," Sammi said, cuddling deeper into Nikki's chested, smelling his cologne on his long sleeve sleep shirt.

"Yes, dear," Nikki said, relaxing for some sleep.

December 25th, 1985

Christmas morning

"Okay, we got one last present under the tree! Who's the lucky winner?" Tom announced to the small group, all wearing their pajamas still. Nona in her recliner, while Nikki and Sammi sat on the floor by her. Everyone had been given an equal amount of gifts, five from each person with the added 'Nikki and Sammi' to Nona and Tom. Tom grabbed the small red metallic present, reading the name tag from arm's length. "To: Sammi, From: Nikki. Merry Christmas, Princess," Tom readout, shuffling through the torn gift wrapping, passing the box to Sammi. Sammi scowled quizzically at Nikki, ripping the pretty wrapping without a care of how lovely it looked. A thin black velvet box was revealed, making Sammi question more. Nikki only gave a smile, feeling prideful at what he got her. Once opening, Sammi gasped as she saw the necklace. A beautiful black heart pendant on a thin silver chain with tiny red rubies outlining the heart. The stone was custom made to be in the shape it was; Sammi carefully pulling out the necklace to hold for everyone to see. Nona was fast to recognize the stone, glancing at the necklace Nikki was wearing.

"That's cute. You two will be matching," Nona said, smiling proudly at Nikki.

"Do you like it?" Nikki asked, delicately taking the necklace from Sammi, clamping it around her neck.

"Yes! It's so pretty!" Sammi gleamed, kissing Nikki on the cheek and hugging him tightly.

"Now you'll also have powerful protection," Nikki said. "Merry Christmas,"

"Thank you," Sammi smiled, touching the necklace as she noticed Nona and Tom looking lovingly at the pair.

"Well if that's all for gifts, I'm going to start breakfast! Hope everyone is ready for pancakes!" Nona announced, carefully getting up from the recliner. Tom immediately helped at her side, taking hold of one arm. Nikki noticed the slowness of his grandmother but knew she wouldn't have admitted to anything.

"And don't worry Sammi, I'm helping out this time," Tom said as the old couple left to make breakfast.

"Are you loving Christmas so far?" Sammi asked Nikki.

"Yeah I can honestly say this has been the best Christmas I've had. I'm happy you're here to celebrate it with us," Nikki said, kissing Sammi on the lips and holding her hand.

"Of course. Maybe next year, Nona and Tom can come down to L.A for a 'warm' Christmas. Have them see your growing goth castle," Sammi suggested.

"I would love that," Nikki smiled, sighing out loud with contentedness, bringing Sammi into his chest as they watched the snowfall from the window. Everything felt perfect.

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 73 of 83 : World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 73 of 83

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

written 2007

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story? Read from the beginning. PART 1 is here

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The Grandalor’s hailing drum called across the water between ships in Kurin’s characteristic hand, “Please don’t force us to harm you further! Turn into the wind and slack sails. Lower the fore sail and hold position with jibs and mizzen. We will come to your aid if you do.”

Kotance stood still, shivering with rage and struggling with the concept of having lost — — — to the Grandalor. He did nothing.

A familiar voice began calling orders and getting the ship organized. Sailors jumped to obey, turning the Longin into the wind and slacking and lowering sails. The injured were now being moved to the safety of the sickbay. Expert lofters and riggers from the rope walk began to survey the extent of the damage and report on what needed doing.

Kotance’s rage and frustration now found a focus. He hit Mord Halyn in the back of the head with the hilt of his long, serrated edge knife. Stunned, Mord fell to his knees and was struck again. As Mord collapsed to the deck, Kotance reversed his knife for a killing stroke when he too was dropped by a blow from behind. Second Officer Marrik, the replacement helmsman, had left his post and wielded a marlin spike like a mallet to the back of Kotance’s head.

Kotance awoke to the shock of cold seawater thrown into his face. Trying to see the source of this affront brought blurry doubled images of a woman leaning over him and another few indistinct people behind her. Gathering his strength, Kotance finally brought the scene before him into focus. Trying to get up brought home the realization that he was bound.

Turning to the woman in front of him, he cried out angrily, “Mistress Daeron! What is the meaning of this outrage! Why am I bound?” Turning his attention to the rest of the group he got a horrible suspicion. “How did we get Kurin back? Why are the fugitives Barad and his woman here and unbound?”

“Barad and Captain Tanlin are our guests for the time being,” said Mistress Daeron icily. “They, along with Master Juris, are supervising our repairs. The Grandalor is also rendering medical aid to the injured. Kurin has come aboard to acquire facts from our crew and officers. She has informed us that she will be staying on board the Grandalor until she can present their case before the Council’s representative. It further appears that there have been illegal actions committed by this ship under your command.

“You have been relieved. As there are no others on board who have a Masters Certificate, the ship is presently under the command of the Combined Council of Masters and Officers.”

The sun climbing up from its low point near the horizon found the Soaring Bird slashing through the waters of the Dragon Sea, driven north by straining canvas. Her crew ate a light meal in preparation for action and went quietly to their battle stations. They knew that they would have contact by mid-morning at the latest.

Sarfin watched in disbelief as the crew unlimbered and tested the catapults. Others went about the dangerous business of hanging and securing a submerged ram at the bow of the longer hull. Huld directed everything quietly, without any excitement. If anything, he seemed a little sad.

The high lookouts began to call “Hai! Sail! Two points starboard!” Soon their calls changed, “Ships! Two, engaged close!”

Sarfin saw Sula expostulating with Huld, apparently urging attack, though he failed to make out her exact words. He did hear Huld though, “Captain are now you. Right are you that wrong much is. For battle prepared are we. Time now to wait for news is.” To his crew he ordered, “Hold in readiness weapons. Alert stay.” A horn picked up his order and turned it into a call that resounded across the ship.

Crew men and women carefully safetied the loaded catapults and other devices and secured their racked ammunition. Weapons were cocked, drawing cables remained attached to the cocking arms and to their winches. The weapon crews remained at their posts, relaxed but ready. This was clearly work that they had done before.

Now that Sarfin could see for himself the ships in question, there was no doubt that the Grandalor and the Longin were tied together. The Longin’s mainsail could never get into the position that it was in unless her rigging was seriously damaged. The damage became even more apparent as the Soaring Bird got closer to the drifting ships and reduced sail to the calls of horns. She turned gently to bring the maximum amount of her deadly firepower into play in an instant. Crew folk calmly removed safeties and checked the arming and aiming of their weapons.

Hailing drums began to pound their talk across the waves. As Sula heard the situation, she felt a shock of disbelief. Her friend, Mord Halyn, relieved as Captain, was now injured and in sickbay. There had been a battle but it was the Longin that attacked the Grandalor in an apparent act of piracy. The Grandalor was now rendering aid to a defeated Longin.

Huld simply looked at Sula with a quizzically raised eyebrow and said, “Attack not now. Information priceless is. Lives saved, yes?”

Sula sighed and replied, “True, Honored One. Let us join them and give assistance.”

Huld issued orders which were relayed by horn call about the ship. Weapons were unloaded and ammunition stowed. Damage control crews began to prepare their equipment to assist the Longin. Sarfin was relieved to see that this, too, was clearly work that they had done before.

Sula turned and said, “It looks like you have your work to do, now, Captain Sarfin. I’m glad that I don’t have to sit in judgment on this mess.”

“I know what you mean, Captain Sula. Still it should prove to be an interesting case,” Sarfin replied thoughtfully. “I have to wonder just how the Grandalor managed to get permission to be here in the Dragon Sea. The Great Sea Dragons don’t like being disturbed all that much.”

So silently that it almost went unnoticed by the lookouts, a huge dark, head rose up by the rail near to Sula. It was black, covered with frills, spines and fins and had massive tentacles about the hugely fanged mouth. Dark Iren regarded them with large, intelligent eyes for a moment before speaking.

“They asked for a safe refuge to assemble their case, Captain Sarfin. We gave it to them.”

At first Sula could only gape. Legend had come to life before her eyes. “You’re Dark Iren!” she managed to exclaim at last.

Tolerantly, the Dragon replied, “Of course I am. You are Sula Corin Dark Dragon. I have been wanting to meet you ever since you renamed the Sun’s Daughter. According to your beliefs you risked much bad luck in doing so. Yours remains the only ship on Sea that is named for one of us.”

Sula shrank a little at that. “If it offends you, we can rename her.”

She was answered by a dragon’s grin, full of huge razor sharp fangs. “Don’t. Given the circumstances and the belief system connected to it, I find it flattering. Your conduct in combat and after is meritorious. You have always rescued friend and foe alike when the battle is done.

“I wish that I did keep the Halls of Dead, beneath the sea. I would give Davaros back to you if I could. He was a good man.”

Sula shook herself and shut her eyes in pain at the mention of her husband’s name. In a small voice, she said, “I never really believed the legend, yet I hunted half around the world hoping to find you so that I could ask.” When she opened her eyes she found genuine concern and sympathy in the monstrous eyes that were looking back at her.

“That is very curious, Sula, because I came here to ask a favor of you.”

“What can I do for you?” Sula asked softly.

“Your help in sorting this all out according to human Laws, both Great and fleet, would be appreciated, Captain Sula.”

Past her awe, she replied, “Of course I will give assistance if Captain Sarfin requests it.”

The Great Sea Dragon responded, “Sula, I want you to do it. Please. There are people involved who are unique on Sea, and they are important to the future of Sea as a place for people to live. Not to mention, my Orcas like some of them very much.”

“What do the Orcas have to do with this?” asked Sula curiously.

Dark Iren eyed her with consideration before answering, “Much. Every ship on Sea has its attendant Orcas even if they are not seen. They tell us all that happens on each ship. They find some lives worthy of celebration and sing them. I do not understand why they sing for one and not another. It is sufficient that they understand their reasons.

“You humans have the Orcas to thank that you survived your first generations here on Sea. They alerted us to your presence and let us know that your kind were dying out. We were able to save your kind because of that timely information. Now, something wholly new is happening. We want it to go on.

“The problem, put simply, is this, human Laws need to be observed for humans. Some have been broken. These matters need redress. You have shown yourself to be capable and fair. I trust you.”

“What is the wholly new thing that is happening?” Sula asked, curiosity piqued.

Dark Iren answered carefully, “Mecat gave Captain Tanlin a Dragon’s Gift but there was an accident. The Sea Hawks Skye and Thunderhead got included in the Gift. Major and unforeseen changes have resulted. The ecological results of all of this need the evaluation that only time can bring.”

“I will help, then, though I believe that the best help that you could get would be the Honored One, Captain Huld.”

The Great Dragon meditated on what she said and then replied thoughtfully, “If the trial were to be over points of honor or ethics, I would ask him. You are more alert to the core legal issues. Assist Kurin if she asks it. Be a friend.”

“That’s the one thing that she can’t do, if she’s to assist me,” Sarfin injected into the conversation. “A judge cannot be a friend, however much he may wish to be one.”

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

#SEA DRAGON’S GIFT #Part 73 of 83 #World of Sea #Written by De Writer

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fivegoldpieces · 5 years

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Talks Machina at Gen-Con Q&A Highlights

Note: This only has the audience q&a portion. Cast answers are transcribed, side-comments and banter are only included if they are relevant to/answer the question posed. Apologies in advance to mobile-users if the read-more doesn't work - this is tagged as #long post if you want to blacklist it.

[[MORE]]

Q: For Matt; might we expect any possible homebrew releases coming out in the next year or so, like dunamancy?

Matt: I have plans. I can't say anything because I want things to be cool and surprising. But I have plans don't worry. It's not that I don't care, it's that I don't have time, but I'm working on it.

Q: For Taliesin; what would make Caduceus really angry?

Taliesin: I will say that he can get angry. It does happen. Juvenile disrespect does eventually get to him. Not a fan of pranking. I mean, you know, everybody's got some layer - there's some stuff. No one's that serene all the time. No one.

Q: For Taliesin; at the end of the Call of Cthulhu oneshot, you mentioned that you had a lot of mouse traps set up. I was just wondering, were the shadow people the most dangerous thing they could've released, or was there a more dangerous horror waiting that they managed to avoid?

Taliesin: I mean, if the cats had been released first, that would have definitely been an interesting thing. The cats would have been a problem. Also, if somebody had died really early, I was setting up a series of rules for dead players to continue to interact, which would have been really really unhappy and bad. And terrible rules for the things that were living behind the glass, and if you were stuck behind the glass, you were right there with them and they could really mess with you. Thankfully none of that happened.

Q: For Matt; you have the Tal'dorei Campaign Setting - I was wondering if you were going to do one for The Mighty Nein campaign?

Matt: I don't have a lot of time. Campaign settings are extensive. I'd like to eventually do something like that. I have materials, it's just assembling them in a way that can be legible by a non-crazy human being that I am. Hopefully! We'll see as time goes on. At the moment, we're consumed with this animated series that you guys helped make happen. Super excited about that. Keep an eye out as time goes on, because hopefully I'd like to get around to that. That'd be awesome.

Q: For Matt; what the hell was up with the undead vibe on Jamedi Cosko?

Matt: Yeah, that's crazy huh? That's a pretty weird thing. Yeah, there was something about him that gives off an undead vibe. Wonder what that means? I appreciate the question, but I don't know if that'll come back into play in some time. Let's see if it gets explored at some point, and if not at least I could tell you at the campaign wrap-up.

Q: For Travis; for the animated series, a lot of the characters have iconic catchphrases so I was wondering how you're going to translate "I would like to rage"?

Travis: Are we going to "translate" that? I think he's just going to say "I would like to rage". Yeah, we are definitely keeping iconic lines, moments, interactions, all those things will be there just as they were.

Taliesin: I'll also add to that - if you want to see somebody doing that and taking things that shouldn't actually work in-game and making them work in-game, Jody Houser is doing a great job in the comic book series of making you feel like somehow Matt is intertwined in everything that happens, it's kind of cool. Check it out!

Q: For Taliesin; a lot of comparisons have been thrown around between Fjord and Percy, and something that I noticed was Uk'otoa is being much more insistent than Orthax was - do you think if Orthax was as insistent and as keen on punishment, Percy might've gone a similar direction as Fjord?

Taliesin: Honest to God, and this is just from watching, I don't think Percy had nearly as strong a will as Fjord does. Watching Travis play Fjord was definitely like, "I did not have the balls to pull that off, oh my God." Percy was never about the hard choice, it was always about "what's the option C that I haven't figured out yet, there's a way to game my way out of this, if I just keep talking I can get everything to work" until the very end. Like chicken? Percy doesn't play chicken.

Laura (using Vex's voice): From firsthand knowledge, Percy does curtail very easily.

Matt: If you actually recall, Percy didn't even make the choice. Scanlan did for him.

Q: For Laura; when can we get a Caduceus tea set?

Laura: Oh, I heard a lot of "ooh's". Who would buy a Caduceus tea set? [audience applause] Well, shit, maybe I should look into it.

Sam: That's so many more people than who voted for me.

Brian: Not to be That Guy, lets just see how long his character lives, before we start making merchandise around him.

Q: For Sam; you are kind of the king of over-the-top and ostentatious whether it be with your character design, or your flasks, or things like that, and especially your outfits at the live events - how do you come up with these over-the-top creations and also how on earth do you plan on topping last night?

Sam: That last part will be hard. I think next year, I'll either come out totally naked or I'll just be so basic - pleated khakis, a polo shirt, I don't know. That outfit last night, it was pieced together from several different stores, I'm sure CritRoleCloset will figure it out at some point. But it was a challenge putting that together. And then, my fellow cast members, like two weeks after I bought all that weird stuff I wore, they were like, "hey let's go goth". So. Fuck you guys.

Q: For Travis; with Fjord's recent decision, do you see him changing outfits to fit his new or old persona?

Travis: I don't think so. Most of Fjord's armor was very piece-mail stuff that he got either from working on the docks, or stuff that he got from Vandren, or items that he was given just as he sort of accrued time and responsibility where he worked. I think that stuff's very dear to him, especially coming from an orphanage where he didn't have any possessions, so all those things that are actually his are very dear to him. He might add to those things, but I think underneath they'll stay there. He might augment them or change them a little bit, in the same way you would draw on your jeans in school or whatever, but that stuff's his so it means a lot to him.

Q: For Travis; after Fjord severed his pact with Uk'otoa, was there a larger fear in telling Beau and Jester what had happened, since he had been traveling with them the longest out of the Nein, or did his journeys with the Nein make that fear equal across all of the party?

Travis: I think actually he was worried about telling Beau and Jester the least, and maybe Caduceus in there as well. He knew he would hear about it from Nott, and Caleb had already sort of started to call him on his shit and saw through a lot of that stuff. He also regards the group as very powerful, so I think a lot of it is turning to his very powerful and talented friends and saying, "I don't have any of that anymore, I hope I can still play with you guys." Legit though, the response was amazing. It was absolutely incredible. Jester is so gregarious and loving and joyful and exuberant that I don't think he was worried about that, I think he was actually looking forward to telling her as one of the first people to know. And Beau is second-mate, so like ride-or-die or right?

Q: For Taliesin; I can totally be wrong for this, but just reading body language and facial features, there do seem to be moments where you're kind of just like, "I'm done with this" - I just kind of want advice, like how do you keep playing when your energy level might be low or you don't like where the story is going?

Taliesin: Oh, that is never "I'm done with this", what you're seeing is the "I'm trying to make sure no one notices that I'm reading my backstory notes". That's me reading, frantically. I'm a big believer in terror, terror is a great way to keep me up. "Oh God, I don't remember anybody's name, oh God how many siblings do I have oh God."

Marisha: Well, also you write your backstories like the Silmarillion, it's like, so intense. I'm like "my dad was mean to me" like that's my backstory.

Q: For Sam; based on the amazing reaction we've had to your DnDBeyond theme and the Critical Role theme, when can we expect a parody version of the 2010 hit "Like a G6" by Far East Movement as "Like a d6"?

Sam: Oh wow, that's good.

Marisha: Not to be that person, it already exists. The Library Bards did it. So, you should check it out. I mean, do a cover, Sam, I don't know.

Sam: There are more songs incoming, just so you know.

Q: For Matt; you say dunamancy can alter the reality and the fate of the person that wields it - is this an affront to the Raven Queen?

Matt: I would say, given the fact that elements of dunamancy deal with the manipulation of probability, destiny, things like that, the Raven Queen is probably not that cool with dunamancy. Just throwing that out there. One of the few things she's probably like, "Really, guys?" So yeah, I'd say you're on the right track.

Q: For Laura and Travis; do you talk to Ronin about your campaign?

Laura: So, Ronin, every Thursday night he stays with a babysitter at home, but he watches the opening of the show. Like, he loves the theme song so much. I sing it every time I change his diaper.

Travis: Same, like I know there's songs that parents sing to their kids - he's heard the damn theme song every day of his life.

Brian: But do you guys change the lyrics though, like "You shit your pants, I'm cleaning it up now", you know what I mean?

Liam: My kids bust into that song constantly. We cannot play a board game or anything. Someone goes "it's your turn" "TO ROLL" every time.

Q: For Marisha; I'm a huge fan of Jocks Machina and hopefully we'll get to see them on the channel one day - will Beau ever join Jocks Machina?

Marisha: What are the requirements, are there prerequisites for joining Jocks Machina? You're kind of the authority on this.

Travis: Guns. Abs. Likes to lift heavy things. Likes to break a sweat. Likes to whoop that ass.

Marisha: Check. Check. ...Check? Check. Hell yeah.

Q: For Matt; this is a rather involved conspiracy theory question, so excuse me - last year when the party was in Shady Creek Run at the Landlocked Lady Inn, they first arrived and there was a doorman named Champ who Keg knew. The next morning, they went down and there was a new doorman who said he'd been working for the Marduns for a few months and had bright red curly hair and vibrant green eyes and acted rather enigmatic and shady and shifty and was saying they should listen more and that he hoped that whatever they were after, they were on the right path. Later, once they recover everyone, Jester is asking the Traveler where he was, and he says he was always there. So my question is this: was that character the Traveler in disguise?

Matt: [several moments of silence]

Matt: That'd be pretty interesting, huh? That's a unique observation. I will confirm nor deny.

Q: For Matt; now that Fjord has effectively broken up with Uk'otoa, what do you think would be a more compelling storyline, or what are you most interested to see: him continue to take levels in warlock, possibly with an Archfey patron, or paladin...?

Matt: Part of what I really enjoy about this game is how the players continuously surprise me. I'm down to see what journey Travis wants to take. I'm curious to see how he takes this next path in his journey and which elements he wants to maintain, what direction he wants to go - he seems to be really finding interest in the Wildmother and talking to Caduceus about that, and that's kind of been an element of breaking that pact at the time, so I'm curious if he's going to continue down that path or see this as a blank slate to continue to grow. I'm interested to see the different decisions that Fjord takes, and Travis does through Fjord, and kind of adjust and build the narrative for that character around that. I can't say I have a specific path that I'm hoping for, because I have no idea what Travis's direct interest is, beyond just the actions he's taken in the game. Yeah, I'm just excited to see where it goes. I really love the idea of not knowing that as the Dungeon Master. As much as it's me building and world-planning, many of you out there who run games as GM know the most exciting part of the game is after all that prep, coming to the table and the players completely surprise you, and you kind of have to think on your feet and go with it. That's the best part of the game for me.

Q: For Marisha; what inspired you to play Beau a bit more shaken about her near-death than some of the other characters?

Marisha: Well, I was at 2 hit points the whole time - Liam can attest to that. So you know, I was kind of role-playing that. Shit's crazy man.

Q: For Liam; so you play your characters, both Vax and Caleb, very emotionally without any hesitation, and you're an experienced actor. What I wanted to ask was, something that people who try to emulate Critical Role don't realize that can happen when you try to put yourself into the character and get emotionally invested is character bleed. I was wondering how you deal with that, if you do at all. Like, if something really emotionally devastating happens to Vax or to Caleb, how does it affect you and how do you deal with it?

Liam: These feel like synthetic memories, so any time the superimposed fantasy friend gets killed or has to leave or whatever happens - that shit we carry around and get upset about. Every time we leave on a cliffhanger and someone's gonna die, we think about it constantly. Vax helped me sort through things, but made me more loyal and determined and willing to take chances - which in life I generally try to avoid conflict. Caleb, I still kind of drive around and think about him and still go, like "why did you do that?" He's really messed up, if I just think like, fireballs and cats like it's fun, and we can make dick jokes and it's fun. But if I really take a minute, I just go "Oh". I feel bad for him, I feel really bad for him. I have fun playing the game, and I love these guys, and I feel bad for my character.

Follow-up Q: Do you have ways that you learned to process that, like if you're at home feeling bummed about something that happened on a Thursday night, and you're like "man I need to get out of this funk"?

Liam: Yeah, I pull my head out of the game. I'll play a game with my kid, or watch a movie with my wife, or go running. Running is great. Not for your knees, but everything else. Or spend time with these guys out of the game. There's lots of ways. We're really invested in their stories, so it sort of drags along like coattails wherever we go.

Matt: To give you examples too, when he says "hanging out with friends", the group that's there, your friends that are in this game that you trust enough? You should all also support each other when those dark moments happen outside of the game. Whenever we lose a character in the game, we have like a wake. We go to an Irish pub that we go to often in Burbank, and we all get drinks and we have a wake for that character. And it's part of that process too. Even though it's imaginary, there's a part of that experience and journey that's come to an end and that deserves its respect as well, and we're all there to support the player. As a playing group, be there for your friends who may be going through that experience, because even though it is make-believe and it's a game, that is still a loss. And that's not a bad thing either. Loss is an important thing to process, because life comes with loss. Part of the wonderful experiences of role-playing games is that it allows us a safe space to explore very positive and very negative emotions in a healthy way and make us better people for it. So just be there for them, be supportive, and be the best friends and co-players you can be.

Liam: Part of the reason, I think, that we get upset when these fictional characters are killed is because we're playing this game of imagination together, and we form a chemistry together where we're like "we get to do this together, and it's always like this, and you're always funny like that, and you're always intense like this" and we really love that chemistry. Then somebody gets killed and they're gone, and that chemistry, which is something that we're like addicted to and love, that chemistry is gone. Like, when Molly was gone. Beau and Molly had this great "fuck you" "fuck you" butting heads thing - that's gone. We're actors, but anyone who plays this game extensively, you love the sort-of second life that you create for yourself and then when the character is gone, you don't have that unique mix anymore.

Q: For Laura; I really love how you play Vex and Jester, even though as two characters, they're pretty different from each other. But sometimes, you have an instance where like, your Laura shows. So I actually just wanted to ask, what was the biggest disconnect you've ever experienced between player versus character? If you've ever felt like, you as a person, as a player, would never ever make a choice in a situation versus what your character would do in that same situation.

Laura: I feel like everything my characters do, I wouldn't do in real life. Like, especially Jester. Travis and I have had these conversations: the joy of playing a character like Jester or like Grog, where you don't have to filter yourself - everybody, I assume, has these random really stupid things that pop up in your brain and you don't say them because everyone would judge you, and they're weird - and as these characters, you just embrace it, and it is so much fun. Talk about character bleed - it is an issue that I deal with now, because Jester has had that effect on me, and so I tend to say stupider things in real life now. No, but I would never deface anything in public, I would never steal anything.

Travis: You're not gonna attach any dicks on the walls.

Laura: I would not attach a dick to a wall in public. Or anywhere. I do eat a lot of donuts though, that's on me.

Q: For Matt; we've explored several places in the multiverse in your games, like the City of Brass, the Feywild, places like that - are there any places in the multiverse like the Astral Sea or somewhere that you, either as a player or as a GM, would have liked to have gone but have never had the time or resources to do?

Matt: Interesting. I do have some places that I really would like to explore, whether in this campaign or campaigns down the road. Astral Sea is interesting, it's a really weird amorphous plane, and I just love the prospect of one day throwing an Astral Dreadnought at these poor guys. He's my second to the Tarrasque. Oh they're fun, they're a good time. I've always loved Planescape. The City of Sigil would be great for obvious reasons of course. So I can be like, "no guys, this is where I learned my wrong pronunciation". But the City of Doors is awesome. Lady of Pain is a great element. Those who watched the Search for Bob oneshot, there was a Lady of Pain reference dropped in there. If you missed it, you can go back and look. Maybe there's a few doors in Sigil that lead to Exandria, who knows. Think about that for your home campaigns, huh? I want to go into some deep Abyssal planes too. We've been to the City of Dis, we've seen a little bit of the Nine Hells of Baator, though maybe not the harsher places. There's so many to explore!

Q: For Sam; Matt has said on Twitter that one of the ways you guys handle the pressures of the Kickstarter and the intense dramatic moments in the campaign is by checking in with each other and checking in on each other's mental health. I know you take on a lot of responsibilities with doing the DnDBeyond ads and the songs that you write and also your characters are often joking around with other characters and giving them a hard time so I was wondering, from your perspective, if you could give some details, without giving away anything too personal, on how to properly mentally check-in with your fellow players and just help everybody and check that everybody is doing okay.

Sam: Well, I'm learning from these guys, as we go, how best to do that. I'm weird in that, as weird as I am on-screen, I don't really talk very much when we're off-screen, or I keep my stuff to myself, more than some of these guys do. But they have, in the last few years, helped me sort of connect more with my best friends here. You know, we do check in a lot with each other, thanks to Matt and thanks to all of us. For instance, yesterday morning we all had breakfast together. It was really nice - we just talked about stuff, and it was just great to just sort of reconnect with everybody. I'm not an expert at this in any way, and in fact, on this stage, I am the least good at it, but I have endeavoured to become better at it. Opening yourself up to your friends and feeling comfortable enough to share your past or your worries for the future with your friends and not getting any judgement back is like, the greatest gift. If you have that with one person, it's amazing. If you have that with all of these people? Holy moly, it's the greatest thing in the world. I've tried to be better at sharing my stuff with them and being there for them. That's all I can do.

Q: For Marisha; in campaign one with Vox Machina, there's a lot of powerful badass lady NPCs, so if by chance, it all worked out timewise, who do you think Beau would be most likely to have a crush on?

Marisha: Kima. Yeah. Keyleth very much emulated Allura, and really looked up to her and kind of looked at her as a powerful female figurehead and took notes for leadership through her. Beau would just wanna fuck.

Q: For Liam; what do characters do in the campaign that you find funny no matter how old it gets?

Liam: Everybody throw in on this one. I'll never get over Laura waggling her eyebrow every third word in the game.

Taliesin: Slow snicker every time there's even vaguely a possibility of a dick joke.

Travis: I'd say every time there's a pain reaction out of Nott. It is hysterical to me.

Liam: I like any time, just the concept of death comes up or Molly - anywhere, in the game, out of the game - one of these people would be like, "Like you, you're dead!"

Laura: Uk'otoa.

Q: For Laura; do you think the volcano would be a good spot for Traveler on?

Laura (using Jester's voice): Okay here's the thing. Like, I totally did at first and I need to talk to him, because I think that now it's probably not, because it wasn't very expansive really, as big as I thought it would be, and there wasn't like a lot of beds, and like, no real good food. So, I don't know how many people are coming, but like, even just getting to the nearest hotel was really difficult, you know?

Matt: I love the idea that half of your sketchbook is Jester's tiny Yelp reviews of locations in Wildemount.

Q: For Laura; with all of the throwback to Vox Machina and Whitestone in the week before, how are you feeling with all of it?

Laura: I'm feeling very nostalgic.

Laura (using Vex's voice): Also, I would love for everyone to come visit.

Marisha (using Keyleth's voice): Me as well.

Laura (using Jester's voice): And also, if we did, I think we would cause a lot of problems.

Marisha: New pitch - Travelercon at Whitestone. We know the food is good, lots of lodging and room and board, no dead people in trees anymore.

Laura: All of the residuum that you could ever hope for.

Brian: And endless booze.

[Panel end]

#critical role #talks machina #long post #my hand is now broke #transcript

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lilfellasblog · 5 years

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Can I Still Be Part of the FamILY? - Virgil’s 2019 Name Reveal Fic!

Summary: YouTube viewers are getting a little too good at theorizing. Virgil’s certain that once his famILY learns of his past, they’ll force him to go back.

A/N: If you liked this, please reblog. It is the only way to help this fic reach a wider audience. Tumblr ate most of my fics that I know I posted here, which makes me very sad for a lot of reasons, one of the biggest being that the love and comments and tags that folks showed this fic is gone into the ether. I’ll be making a masterlist to help prevent this from happening again.

TW: Deceit mention, description of panic attacks up to passing out, some negative self-talk. Let me know if I missed any!

Word Count: 1767

AO3 here!

Fic Masterlist here!

Virgil observed as Thomas scrolled through the YouTube comments.

“I can’t wait to see the newest Dark Side! Theorists, assemble!”

“Okay okay, so y’all remember Virgil’s time on the stand? I think the secret he’s hiding is that he was a Dark Side! Think about it. He got new clothes when he was accepted in the Hogwarts video, Deceit and Virgil obviously have a history that the other Light Sides don’t know, and if the Light Sides don’t know it then how could he have kept it a secret? The Light Sides know Deceit, but didn’t know the relationship between him and Virgil? SUSPICIOUS.”

“i totally agree…… virgil didnt start out in the sanders sides series……. hes hiding something…… that he doesnt want thomas or the light sides to know……..”

“I’m going to add on to this. I think Virgil is STILL a Dark Side and never truly became a Light Side. He only got accepted once the other sides saw how important he was to Thomas. He’s just a flight risk. Virgil’s working with Deceit and/ or the other Dark Sides and doesn’t like Deceit, but he needs Deceit so he can keep the secret from the real Light Sides and Thomas.”

“Wait, Thomas is GAY?”

The rest of the comments were similar. Virgil felt his chest constrict as he pulled back from the front of Thomas’ mind. He huddled in his room, attempting to keep the anxiety he was sending the YouTuber to a minimum.

They can’t know, he can’t know, he can’t know!!! Oh god, they’re gonna reject me, they’re gonna send me back, I can’t go back!!! I can’t, I won’t survive it!! I love them so much!!!

Virgil barely registered his breathing picking up, his diaphragm crushed by the tense position he was tightly curled into. He started to sob, but soon ran out of air. His lungs were burning as they were starved of oxygen, and he could smell and taste copper.

I’m going to miss them. It’s going to hurt so much when they kick me out. I love them. I love them all. Thomas, I’m so sorry…

Virgil’s final thoughts were images of the Light Side’s faces that he’d never get to see again.

////////////////////////////////

Patton jolted out of his nostalgic reverie when he sensed Thomas in distress. Looking out, he saw Thomas in front of his computer trying not to have a panic attack. Patton quickly rose up a few feet away from Thomas and gently called his name. Thomas jumped so hard he hit his knees on the bottom of the desk.

“Ow. S-sorry Patton.”

“It’s okay kiddo. Think you can breathe with me?” Thomas nodded. “Great! In for one, two, three, four. There you go Thomas you’re doing so well. Hold for one, two, three…” Patton stayed with Thomas and helped him with his breathing exercises until he was feeling better, worrying the entire time about Virgil. I need to go check on my little shadowling!

“Do you know what triggered it?”

Thomas shook his head. “No, I was just reading comments about theories and stuff, and I felt a little panicked for a half hour, and it just got a lot worse. Are you okay Patton?”

“I’m fine kiddo.”

“Oh my god, Virgil!!”

“I’m just about to go check on him. Will you be okay by yourself?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll be fine. I’m gonna take a break.”

“Good idea! Summon me if you need anything son!”

“You’re not my-” The rest was cut off as Patton sunk out. He rose up in the hallway that had each of their bedrooms. Logan and Roman were just coming out of theirs to see what the commotion was about.

“Thomas had a panic attack. I’m going to go check on my dark strange son!! Will you come with me?” Patton asked, flashing his puppy dog eyes.

“Of course!! If my dark knight is in peril, I will save him!” Roman declared, moving into his dramatic pose and holding the position.

Logan just stared at Roman in awe of the extra for a moment before shaking himself and turning to Patton. “I, too, would like to assist Virgil if he is in distress.”

“Awwww yay!!! All of my kiddos working together.”

“Actually, we are all close in age and you have not-”

“OFF TO VIRGIL’S ROOM!!!”

Patton giggled. “That’s the spirit Roman!”

Once they got to Virgil’s room, Patton knocked on the door. “Kiddo? Are you okay in there?”

Not hearing a response, Logan had to put a hand on Roman’s shoulder to keep him from kicking the door in.

Patton knocked again, a little louder this time. “Virgil? Can you hear us honey?”

Still not receiving a response, Logan had to tighten his hand against Roman’s pulls.

“Virgil might be in danger!”

“His door may also be unlocked. Patton, if you will?”

Patton opened the door with ease. Logan let go of Roman’s shoulder, who gripped the handle of his sword. Patton looked around the dark room, not seeing Virgil right away. Roman scoured the room, looking for threats. Logan spotted Virgil first, a small shiver and quiet whimper drawing his attention to a mass of fabric on the ground.

“Oh Virgil,” Logan breathed as he strode over to kneel in front of Virgil. Virgil didn’t respond, so Logan hesitantly reached out and pulled the hood down. He heard Patton and Roman gasp behind him; Virgil’s face was streaked with tears and makeup, and his face was red. Patton knelt down next to Logan and started brushing his fingers through Virgil’s hair.

“Kiddo? Can you hear me? Come on, it’s time to wake up sweetie. It’s okay honey,” Patton cooed gently, trying to wake his shadowy songbird. After a few minutes and much to the relief of the Light Sides, Virgil began to stir. He blearily opened his eyes and flinched when he saw the other Sides so close to him.

“Shhhh, it’s okay kiddo. You’re safe.”

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Thomas!!”

“He’s okay kiddo.”

Virgil’s breathing began picking up and his tears started flowing again as he remembered how this was likely the last time he’d ever get to see the Light Sides and they’d hate him and-

“Virgil, may I touch you?” Logan asked.

Virgil jumped but nodded. Logan took Virgil’s hand and pressed it to his own chest.

“We’re going to do some breathing exercises now Virgil. First, please exhale so you have room for new air.”

Virgil thought it was a little strange, but cooperated.

“Excellent. Now breathe in for one, two, three, four…” Logan led Virgil through ten minutes of breathing exercises until the only thing cluing them into his distress were his tears.

“My dark prince, what troubles you?”

Virgil bit his lip. “Nothing,” he mumbled.

“Kiddo, you know that lying is wrong,” Patton gently reminded. They noticed the full-body flinch, which immediately made Patton feel terrible. He decided to switch tactics.

“It’s okay sweetie, you know you can tell us anything. You’re famILY!!!”

This only brought more tears from Virgil. Patton frowned, confused and a little hurt. Does he not consider us famILY? Did I do something wrong?

“Virgil, Patton is correct. You are a part of our family, and I sincerely doubt that anything you say can change that.”

“Indeed! We shall never forsake you!”

“Never say never,” Virgil muttered under his breath. Logan tilted his head.

“You believe that whatever is troubling you will cause us to no longer consider you a part of this family?” Logan asked.

Virgil responded by curling in. Patton gasped in horror.

“Nothing you say can make us stop loving you!” he cried.

“I USED TO BE A DARK SIDE!!!” Virgil shouted in his tempest tongue.

A silence fell over the room for several moments. Virgil curled in and started crying in earnest.

This is it, they don’t love me anymore, they hate me, they-

“We know Virgil. What about that did you want to tell us?” Logan asked.

Virgil froze. They knew? They knew? How did they know? How long? Virgil let out a particularly anguished sob at his next thought. Has this all been fake?

“Oh sweetie… can I hold you?” Patton asked. Virgil couldn’t help but nod. Patton tenderly pulled Virgil into his lap, kissed the top of his head, and rubbed his back.

“Shhhhhh, it’s okay baby, you can tell us in your own time.”

Virgil sniffled. “Th-that was w-what I wanted t-to tell you.”

Patton made a confused noise in his throat while Roman joined the other three Sides on the ground and gently placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

“Virgil, we know you used to be a Dark Side.”

Virgil froze, then barked out a humorless laugh. “So why haven’t you chased me back to the Dark Side?”

Roman gaped. “Why would you think I would do that?!”

“You hate the Dark Sides!!”

Roman sucked in a breath. “Virgil, I… I’m so sorry.” Virgil braced himself. Here it comes. Can a Side die if it gets stabbed by a sword? “I should not have treated you so cruelly when I was first getting to know you. You are so valuable to me now, as a co-worker, and as a friend. I… I am so terribly sorry that my biases caused you so much harm, but I do consider you one of us.”

“Roman’s right!! You’re my kiddo now!!”

Logan flipped through a few flashcards. “As the hip say, “We been knew”.”

Despite his fears, Virgil snorted at Logan’s attempt to be cool. “You… you guys really don’t mind?”

“Not at all!!” Roman assured.

Virgil hid his face. “So I got worked up over nothing, huh? Is it Monday already?”

“It is in fact Monday.”

Virgil had to bite his lip at Logan’s factual response.

“Honey, you got scared you were going to lose your famILY. Of course you’re going to be upset! And you should always feel comfortable coming to one of us if you start feeling scared or unloved!! We’ll convince you in whatever way we have to! I’ll probably cuddle you!”

Virgil chuckled. “Thanks Pat.”

Roman squeezed Virgil’s shoulder in a silent sign of support. They stayed there for a few minutes until Patton spoke up.

“I think we need a movie night!! Who’s with me?”

“Sounds great Pat.”

“Indeed!”

“That would be adequate.”

Patton giggled in excitement as everyone stood. Virgil still felt a little shaky, but it was nothing new with his panic attacks. The Light Sides ushered Virgil out of his room as he smiled.

Virgil looked forward to watching movies with his famILY.

#sanders sides #fanfic #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #tw deceit #roman sanders #thomas sanders #Patton Sanders #logan sanders #ts sides #fic #fanfiction #lamp #calm #panic attacks

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familyagrestefanblog · 5 years

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In continuity Behavior and Details of the Sentimonster and what we can take from it + The effect of Cataclysm

Has anyone noticed yet that the two Sentimonster we have seen up to date (Hawkmoths in "Mayura" and Baby Augusts in "Miraculer") show a very particular Behavior pattern which helps us to better understand these creatures? It actually kinda blew my mind when I noticed it, let me show you! :D

But let me warn you, this got long ^^

I'll start with Augusts Lollipop Sentimonster because it has more screen time.

Same as always with Hawkmoth, Mayura sends out one of her corrupted feather after she spots the upset Baby August. In context of this episode, one has to remeber that this Sentimonsters attack actual purpose was to set Chloe up for getting akumatized, so going for the Baby here (even though its morally wrong as hell) was not a bad move at all.

(Behold the Lollipop-monster, that my medicine influenced 2 am gif making self lovingly called “Lollipopulus Giganticus”, the diabetis brother of Mothitus Giganticus but we will get to that later)

The design. is. on point! The “akumatized” (do we really not have a name for this yet??) person is a baby who hasnt developed any complex thoughts and hasnt quite adopted the weird human need to completely humanoid monsters yet. The Baby is simple minded = The Sentimonster has a simplistic design without actual features or anything. August just has a HUGE desire for Lollipops so thats what the monster is. Some big ass Lollipops. Love it. 10/10, would lick again

Also take note how the Sentimonster stands here. It appears right in front of the Baby and even though it has no features like a face or anything we can still adumbrate from the camera-angle and the placement of the head and the lower arms that it faces away from August. Like a protector ready to defend. Remember that the Peacocks power is to summon a protector for someone and the following moments will give us more insight on how these protectors behave in a special occation.

Right after the Lollipop monster appears as his protector we see this. August is so delighted to see gigantic Lollipops that his pacifier (is this how you call it in english? I only get weird words as results when I look it up) falls out of his mouth and thats the catalyst moment for the monsters behavior!

Cuz the feather is in the pacifier and in my theory the feather-akumatized object is how the feather-akumatized Person can control their protector. Which of course they should be able to. The Akuma victims are also free to use their powers to their own will and imo it would make very little sense to give someone a protector but only the (maybe very busy) miraculous holder has control over it. So I think as long as the feather-akumatized person is in possesion of the feather-object they alongside Mayura are the masters (with Mayura, as the miraculous holder, still having the upper hand like Hawkmoth being able to “dicipline” his free will Champions through pain (Which btw makes actually alot of sense even if or ESPECIALLY if the Miraculos are meant to be used for good. You dont wanna have a champion running around refusing orders/ or using their powers for a bad purpose without a way to keep them in check just in case. I think Mayura will have something like this too. That whoever right now posesses the feather-object can be “diciplint” by her for misusing the protector. But I digress)

But the thing is, August looses his pacifier the moment the monster appears, so the only one in control over it is Mayura at the moment but she...doesnt, the whole time. She just lets the monster do whatever on autopilot (Which makes sense concidering that the Sentimonster is only there for the sake of assembling the heros again and upsetting Chloe. Why commanding and controlling the monster when its not needed for the plan? Natalie saves her energie whICH IS PROBABLY A GOOD IDEA SINCE USING THE PEACOCK IS KILLING HER)

What? What I mean with on autopilot? Oh let me show you, its awesome!

Cuz the moment that August, the person the Lollipop PROTECTOR is supposed to PROTECT, looses his control over his Sentimonster it knows that its little human master has no way to command it in the needed ways to protect himself from danger anymore. And since the Peacock isnt giving it other commands the Monster follows its instinct

And what is this instinct?

This!

Right the moment its human master looses the control object, it turns around to check how and why this happened. Here it happened by sheer accident. August doesnt understand that its important that he keeps his pacifier but under normal circumstances the human master loosing the feather object would mean that they were attacked, hurt or otherwise in danger

And thats exactly what the Sentimonster is thinking, when it sees August being taken away by his mother. Because in the next shot with it

We see. it chasing. after. THE BABY! Oh my god kudos to you SentiSweety, you go protect your “kidnapped” little master!

This is such an awesome trait these Sentimonsters seem to have that the moment they fear their humans are in fundamental danger without being able to protect themselves with their help, their priority number 1 is chasing after them to save them. It makes so much sense that they would have this instinct but somehow it still blew my mind when i noticed it! :D

Okay next and last important Lollipopulus moment (I think i’ll keep that name. My loyal Diabetes son deserves a name and fight me on this however you want, but he looks like a “Lollipopulus” kind of guy to me. Look at that jaw-line, it demands an “ulus” ending”)

The Sentimonster isnt just attacking LB and CN for the heck of it. We know that it thinks its master got kidnapped and is in danger, so when it sees our heros here getting ready to fight IT, of course it would think that they are “bad” too. Probably for an Sentimonster whoever is against it and the master-to-protect will be seen as “allied evil” by it, especially in autopilot modus.

Also. When you fear your protégé is in mortal danger so you wanna save them at all cost and then someone attacks YOU, you fight back. HARD. Because when the attackers hinder or even defeat you, noone is there to save and protect your protégé. And for an Sentimonster, save and protecting their masters is their entire purose of existing. So yes, Lollipopulus here wont hesitate a second to fight LB and CN just so it can get to August.

Though I might add, that I still think Sentimonsters are resonable creatures when used by or for a good person. They only want the best for their masters. So lets say Mayura would have featherrupted Augusts mother instead but she still had lost the control-object. So while running away with August (and the Sentimonster running after her in autopilot) she had met one of her 3 men and they ended up cowerig somewhere trying to protect each other and the baby. When the monster had arrived and had seen that the unkown man is protecting her and that SHE is protecting HIM too, the Sentimonster wouldnt have done anything to the man. Obviously the man is no danger to its master and the master trusts the man.

When the master has the control-object this is even easier because then you can simply tell the monster that your friends, familie or whatever arent enemies. Then they will be under the Sentimonsters protection too. Of course this works the other way around too and is probably how the Sentimonsters will be used for evil. Give them an akuma victim as master and they can be one hell of a threat trying to protect them.

So coming back to the situation in the gif. I think if LB and CN had calmly talked to the Sentimonster, asking if its looking for its protégé and if they can help, the Lollipop monster would not have attacked at all. Like I said, the Monsters just want the best for their masters and to protect them. The way I see it, when a Sentimonster is on autopilot it decides for itself who's friend and who's foe. This could lead to interesting development in future because right now team miraculous still sees most everything very black-and-white, as seen above, they inmediadly went to attack when it probably wasn't needed at all. The fact that Chat Noirs family are literally the bad guys is gonna help alot to open up the grey area between black and white but smaller things like this, trying to understand and becoming allies with Sentimonster could also add another layer to their growth as well

Though Mayura was still in the picture here so she totally would have commanded the monster to attack the heros. Still you get my point.

Okay let's go over to Hawkmoths Sentimonster before I'll continue endlessly

With this one I'll kinda skip the beginning, I'll just go quickly over the most important factors and then focus more on the new and interesting stuff.

With Hawkmoth we saw that Mayura does the same as he does. She sends out something corrupted, it finds an object, she telepathically communicates with the person and we get MOTHITUS GIGANTICUS

Before I start let me quickly point out that just like Augusts Sentimonster the butterfly appears right before Hawkmoth, facing his foes and ready to defend its master. The behavior pattern is there and will mostly likely be continued is most of the Sentimonster cases.

Alright lets talk about the design!

When you concider that Mothitus’ purpose was to be the “teaser” Sentimonster and to gently be our introduction for Mayuras powers and for the bigger and grander Sentimonsters to come then this is one great design. Its obviously something we havent seen yet but it isnt completely out there either so that we dont understand at all what going on anymore literally 20 seconds before the end of the fight. That would have been a bad style choice for a (maybe) never returning Monster, so they definitly did the right thing with this butterfly.

The design in general is really gorgeous in my opinien. Look at the little details! The wings, the tail, the head! I also like that designers were able to create a model that can be both a butterfly and a moth at the same time. Yes they are simular, but they still look different enough that they totally could have created a model which just would have looked like either a butterfly OR a moth. They made it work with both and thats awesome!

Even if I know that Mothitus doesnt exactly count as a legit Sentimonster (since its practically more used as an lore and future teaser than an actual enemy) I still find the parallels between Hawkmoth and his butterfly monster and August and his Lollipop monster very interesting. Like I said above, August Lollipop monster was gigantic but simplistic in design since August is just a simple minded baby with a huge desire for Lollipops. Key words gigantic but simple. Hawkmoths Sentimonster on the other hand is alot smaller but much richer in detail because of his adult (and designer) mind. Beside that Gabriel also focused alot more on the monsters function than August (what a surprise I know). The butterflys wind are so strong that they can blow away all the heros and untangle Ladybugs yoyo net. Also with its wings and smaller body it would be able to quickly hunt the heros no problem. The Lollipop monster on the other hand was only good for crashing its Lolli arms into buildings, beside that it had no other useful qualities. Also It was too large to effectivly chase after the “kidnapped” August, not exactly well thought out August up your Monster game please.

In shorter Hawkmoth created a useful protector and August...well, his lollipop fever dream. Babies will be babies

Okay lets start with what is new though (or better said, what different this time).

For one the fact that August lost his control object but Hawkmoth never had it on him in the first place. This actually doesnt make a lot of difference in the Sentimonsters behavior, just that lollipopulus checked on his master what hapened that August lost his object and if he is in danger and Mothitus already knew that his Master was in grave danger and didnt had to check to know.

Then “Mayura” gave us the comfirmation straight away that Natalie can snap the Sentimonsters away like that

Also this shows us that Mayura is willing to strategically stop the Sentimonsters when she sees no use in them anymore. That is very different from Hawkmoth! She seems to really be here only to get results, not to make a show or take some kind of sadistic pleasure out of this or whatever. This move alone makes her seem like a scarily competent and level headed supervillain and honestly, its still one of my favorite things Mayura has done til now. Just this little snap speaks VOLUMES about her! :D

And then the BIGGEST difference is that after accepting the featherruption August was happy and healthy whereas Hawkmoth became weak and hurt.

Before “Miraculer” came out this is what I thought was what would normally happen to the featherrupted people. That because of the peacocks brokeness the people who Mayura powers up get hurt along side her (cuz before his featherruption Gabriel was completely fine) but, no, August is perfectly fine. This means there are two options here

That something happenes in “Reflektdoll” which makes Mayuras powers useable again so that the akuma victims wont get weakened from her giving them back-up (which is possible in my opinien, I could see this happening)

That something was different about this featherruption that normally wouldnt be the case. And I might have an idea even if I dont know if its really something the show would do. Would be totally awesome though if this were legit!

Okay, the one detail that DEFINITELY is different here from at least 90% of all the future featherruptions is that Hawkmoths control-object was CATACLYSMED!

To understand why I think the control-object being cataclysmed beforehand would have such an effect I need to clearify that even though I’m saying that Hawkmoth and Mayura “corrupt” their butterflies/akumas, feathers and the victims, its frankly nowhere true at all. I just like saying it like that. What they do is basically just filling the butterflies/feathers with power and let them find a fitting person so they can 1. build the connection between them and the chosen and 2. then manipulate the chosen people so they join them. There is no corruption going on here. Neither do they break or control either the butterflies/feathers nor the people themselves. They power up, thats what they do.

The cats power of destruction on the other hand is a whole different story here.

I’m planning on doing a whole post just about this at some point in future with alot more details, thoughts and ideas but I’ll try to do my best to explained it here without putting you guys through another 5000+ words of wildly digressing. (Me now 4 hours later: Yeah no I did it again, It got long xD)

Basically my point is that the Ladybug is capable of purifying the akumas and the feathers. “Purifying” IS the right word to use here because something doesnt have to be explicitly “corrupted” to be purifyied. As I said, Hawkmoth and Mayura power up, that means even if they dont corrupt them they still change the nature of the feather/butterfly and that is what the Ladybug reverses. So Ladybugs purifying (and the Miraculous Ladybug for that matter) is basically her taking back the changes other people did to something. Thats whats happening every episode and thats why shes the one again dealing with the feathers. She reverses what has been changed, no other power does that.

Back to Chat Noir

The show has explicitly told us that the Cat and the Ladybug are the most powerful miraculous in existence and that fact still stands even if Chat noir right now can not and doesnt WANT to use his powers or explore them to their limits in the current situation (speak, that they try to spread hope and safty in terror attacks which wreck the city almost on a daily basis. Not exactly the right time or space to use and try out new ways of using the boundless power of destruction). I dont think I have to explain that this is not how the situation will be forever, of course Adrien will actually use his powers to their limits later, the show forshadowed that to hell and back by now and “Chat Blanc” will VISUALLY introduce us to what CN actal powers look like (I'M SO EXCITED!!!) the same way they did it with queen bee/wasp (im not the only one who made the connection that they use the power up of the akumatization to show us or at least forshadow the Miraculouses future actual powers right? RIGHT???

Anyway, I DIGRESS

The Cat and the Ladybug are equals and since they are also Yin and Yang for each other it also means that not only do they as individuals and the nature of their miraculouses complete each other, their powers too complete the circle.

So when Ladybug can purify (again, meaning that she reverses every damage and everything that other people do to something) the Cat should be able to corrupt everything.

To keep this paragraph shorter (I will go into so much more detail in the post for this topic oh my god) lets just explain this with the example from the Heros day. The Cats destruction and “corruption” is showing itself here with something Chat Noir is doing all the time: He isnt completely pullverizing the akuma-object to dust, hes rather damaging and weakening it to the point were it cant be used for its original purpose anymore and is easily breakable/aleady falling apart. (This seems to be the default affect of Cataclysm) In this case it is Hawkmoths weapon, which is his cane/sword.

In my theory when Chat Noir uses Cataclysm on something he not only does the above, he also inflicts the still existing object with some kind of...lets call it a virus. Now you may ask yourself “Why? Why should destroying something so hard that it looses basically every usage it had + infecting it with an destructive virus but NOT actually destroying it out of existence be the default state of cataclysmed objects? Shouldnt the power of pure destruction rather basically wipe everything touched out of existence?”

And that is were we were wrong! And I am saying “we” because its almost 4am here and I just fucking noticed this and went back on my laptop oh my GOD I’m excited again! :D

The default of Cataclysm isnt “destroying it out of existence” because that is not what “Destruction” is. That is “Annihilation”! Destruction and annihilation are two very different concepts that shouldnt be mixed up but everybody is doing it because of how we use the word “destruction/destroy” in our daily vocabulary. That is why probably almost everybody of us at least once asked themselves why Chats cataclysm is portrayed so “oddly” in the show. “He’s not really destroying it, hes just fucking it up!” And thats exactly what hes doing because thats exactly what his power is! He’s destroying it so fucking hard that the cataclysmed object loosed every usage it could have. He’s not messing like Roi Singe either, the object is completely fucking worthless now! 100%. But what hes NOT doing is taking it out of existence because THAT is Annihiliation. Not the concept of his power. The only time you will see annihilation instead of destruction is when it concernes BODYS (Like Chats cataclysm death in “Catalyst” because by god they really can not show messed up human bodies slowly dying on the show. Only exception)

Now working with the actual “destruction” concept and not with the wrongly used “annihilation” one, the destructive “virus” in the destroyed object seems alot more plausible. Because when Chat Noir uses the power of pure destruction on something, really every usage it could possibly have needs to be effected by it and THAT also includes the possibility of it being used as an out of reach object for Akumatizations or featherruptions for example. Without the “Virus” Hawkmoths cane still would have had a consequence free use there but WITH the virus spreading through it the featherruption got corrupted by Chats destruction and hurt and weakened Hawkmoth so much that a limping Gabriel collapsed around somewhere still nearby and had to detransform out of exhaustion. And frankly, Mayura only powered up the cane for a really short amount of time. Imagine how Gabriel would have ended up if this had gone longer. He probably wouldnt have been able to recover so quickly afterwards

Alright guys this is really everything I have for this, let me know what you think ^^ And @letsescapismlife I hope i could partly show you why I love Miraculous so much. Dont get me wrong, I still have some other posts in work for your request but just the theorizing the whole night through and getting excited at 4am because you just noticed something, is one of the biggest joys I get out of this show ^^

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml theory #natalie sancoeur #gabriel agreste #adrien agreste #mayura #hawkmoth #le papillon #chat noir #cat noir #ml spoilers #miraculer #ml heros day #Chat Noirs powers of destruction #behavior of the Sentimonsters #Sentimonster #ml baby August #Mayuras peacock powers

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shedyou-blog · 5 years

Text

Rush (Adonis Creed One-Shot)

Summary: A young intern has a rough start to her day, and running into a certain stranger is just the icing on the cake.

Warning: Mild language.

Word count: 3,399

Notes: I might turn this into a series, but for now it’s just a quick one-shot that I wrote last night. This is my first ever piece of writing that I’ve shared, so I’m pretty nervous. Feel free to leave your feedback or any requests, as I’m keen on wanting to better myself as a writer. Also, thank you to my friend, Brittani, for being my proofreader/editor! I appreciate you! You guys can check out her material @killmongers-counselor ❤️

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

“Thank you so much, Greg!” I cried out to the barista behind the Starbucks counter as I made my way past the crowded sea of people trying to get their morning beverages and breakfast. Holding a piping hot cup of coffee in one and my briefcase in the other, I used my shoulder to quickly push the door of the Starbucks open and made my way on to the ever so lively, busy streets of New York City.

This morning had been a doozy, considering the fact that I overslept, and was now running late for work. As an intern for one of the top public relations firms in the country, I made it my mission to appear as professional as possible in order to achieve the career that I’ve always wanted, which was to be the best damn publicist in the entertainment business that the world had ever seen.

Glancing down at the rose gold Apple watch on my wrist, I cracked one eye open, scared to look at the time displayed on the tiny screen. “Fuck!” I let out a tumultuous groan as I proceeded to power walk down the congested sidewalk amongst other wayfarers trying to get to their individuals destinations. There was never a time where NYC wasn’t busy, especially during the weekdays. The streets were always filled with employees making their way to their nine to fives. I fret that I wasn’t going to make it to my job on time, becoming annoyed and panicked as I damn near sprinted, finally approaching the area in which my workspace was located. The only issue was that I was on the wrong side of the street and making it across the hectic street would prove a challenge. However, at this moment in time, I didn’t care about anything other than making it to my job, so I took my chances. Holding up my hand that was preoccupied by my briefcase, I began to jog across, passing by a few cars. The owners of the cars were obviously irritated, making sure that they honked their horns at me to let me know how dumb I was, but I didn’t care.

I was halfway across the street when suddenly, my heel got caught in a subway grate, causing me to lose my footing, but I quickly recovered by stretching my arms to my sides, which helped me with my balance. Once I got my body to stop swaying back and forth, I crouched down to try and retrieve my heel which was still stuck in the subway grate. “Oh, my fucking god, you have to be kidding me right now.” I harshly whispered to myself, thinking my morning couldn’t get any worse than what it already was.

“Aye, watch out!” I heard someone bellow out, but I was way too focused on trying to save my heel to pay them any attention. “Hey!” They yelled again, and that’s when my entire body crashed into the sidewalk. It was as if something, or more so, someone, had collided right into me.

I let out a shriek, bewildered and thinking over what the hell had just happened. A few seconds later, the weight that had slammed into me removed itself while I still laid on the hard, gray concrete. “What the fu- “I turned my body around and sat up, so I was sitting on my butt, and that’s when I looked up to see a well-built African-American man standing over me with his somewhat swollen hand extended to me. Before I grabbed his hand, I analyzed him quickly. His torso was clad in a skin tight, long sleeved black shirt, which was layered with a warm black leather jacket with beige fur lining the outsides. His jeans were a dark wash blue and they slightly sagged a little, but not too much to where they were falling off his ass. He adorned a pair of classic tan Timberlands on his feet. He was good looking, handsome, actually. I’ll give him that. Hesitantly, I took his hand into mine and he pulled me up, helping me stand to my feet. My feet. Underneath my left foot, I could feel the hard, cold, gravely pavement. I glanced down, finding that my shoe was no longer attached to my foot and my eyes immediately darted toward the street to see that it had already been ran over, and was continuing to be ran over by other vehicles making their way through town. “SERIOUSLY?!” I huffed out, sulking and stomping my feet, to which the male currently standing before me found to be amusing. I quickly shot him the hardest glare I could muster which only made him laugh even harder. If I wasn’t so angry, I would have noted how perfect his teeth were, but I was way more focused on giving him a piece of my mind than complementing his features. “I don’t see what it is that you find so funny. Now what am I gonna do? I literally have to be at work in three minutes and I’m missing a fucking shoe!”

With a shake of his head, he beamed down at me. “It was either gonna be you or the shoe. I figured you were worth more than an object that could be easily replaced.”

“Well that’s where you’re wrong, because that shoe was VERY expensive, limited edition actually, therefore it can’t be replaced!” I spoke loudly with an eye roll and with as much venom that I could lace into my voice.

“Listen, if the shoes mean so much to you, I’ll buy you another pair to cover the damages.” He said with an exasperated sigh, sensing my anger through the tone of my voice.

“What part of these are limited editions did you not understand? Did you not listen to a word I just said?” I was pretty much yelling at the guy now.

He cocked an eyebrow at me as he looked at me in shock. “You know usually when someone gets their life saved, they show a bit of gratefulness by saying thank you. You’re crazy to wanna risk your life over a shoe of all things.”

“Yet you’d risk your life for a complete stranger, someone who you don’t know and will probably never see again?” I inquired, raising my eyebrow to imitate his earlier facial expression. I knew I was coming off as extremely rude and bitchy, but I was too far gone in rage to even care.

He gave a slight shrug of his broad shoulders. “Well, I’d rather die as a hero than die as a moron.”

“Excuse me? The hell is that supposed to mean?” I questioned, getting offended by his smart comment.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head while waving me off. “It doesn’t mean anything. Just leave, y’know…. so you won’t be late for work.”

“Oh, I’m going! You don’t have to worry about that!” I clapped back, making sure the tone in my voice was dripping with nothing but sarcasm. I quickly turned around and limped my way to my destination, before growing even more annoyed and taking the remaining heel off. Once inside the building where my job was located, I scurried through the front lobby with my head down, embarrassed to be seen by my fellow coworkers in my current state. I could hear murmurs and whispers as I felt people’s eyes burning a hole through my body. After what felt like forever, I reached the elevator and climbed in with a number of other employees, squeezing my way through so I could press the button that would take me to the tenth floor of the building. Once again, I could feel eyes on me, so I concentrated on getting to my meeting on time, and also tried to come up with an explanation as to why I was walking into a professional setting barefoot. This internship meant everything to me and was the key to achieving my dream job. I couldn’t let this mishap cost me everything that I’ve worked so hard to get.

When the elevator doors opened, I lightly jogged to the conference room, walking in to see my boss, Mr. Addington, and multiple other colleagues sitting at the long, freshly varnished conference table. I nodded my head swiftly as a greeting, and hurriedly made my way to my seat. “You’re just in time Ms. Bridges. I was starting to think I was going to have to let you go. We are waiting on our new client to arrive and then we’ll proceed with the meeting.” I sighed, giving him a light “okay” as a response, honestly exhausted from how rough my morning had been. I was just grateful he hadn’t noticed my missing shoes.

Once seated, I took a deep breath, trying to relax my thoughts. I looked around the table nervously and spotted that everyone had their required paperwork stacked in front of them, just in case the client decided to pick who he or she wanted to represent them. Then it hit me. When I got knocked over on the sidewalk earlier, my coffee AND briefcase fell out of my hands and onto the jam pact streets of the Concrete Jungle. “Shit!” I said under my breathe so no one around me could hear. I scooted my chair back and stood up, straightening my outfit which had been wrinkled due to my fall a few minutes earlier. “Mr. Addington,” I squeaked out. “I apologize for the inconvenience, but I just realized that I left my paperwork out- um, on my desk! If you don’t mind, could I go and get it really quick?”

“Go ahead.” He finally spoke after a few seconds of sitting in silence, which seemed like an eternity. I nodded, trying to make a beeline for the conference room door, but then Mr. Addington stopped me.

“Ms. Bridges?” He called out from behind me, resulting in me stopping dead in my tracks, shutting my eyes tightly in order to brace myself for what I knew was about to come. “Why on earth are you walking around in a professional setting without shoes on?”

Turning around slowly, I gave him the most apologetic look that I could assemble, opening my mouth to say something, but someone standing behind me decided to speak for me. It was him.

“It’s because I spilled coffee on them. I might have gotten some on her briefcase too.” I turned my head in the direction of where the voice was coming from, only to see the man I had encountered earlier standing before me, holding a pair of the very same shoes that had been damaged along with my briefcase. He sported a dazzling smile, showing off his pearly whites while handing the items over to me. “Here you go, ma’am. Sorry about all the trouble.”

My mouth was wide open as my jaw hung low, in complete shock and disbelief that 1) I would run into him again and 2) he had found the same exact limited-edition shoes I was sporting earlier. I struggled to find the words to say, until I saw him stalking over to the other empty seat at the table, that’s when the realization hit me. “Wait, you’re our new client?!” I whispered to him before he got too far out of ear shot. He turned his head slightly, winking his eye at me with a cheeky grin plastered along his face.

“Well then Ms. Bridges, if you don’t mind, could you please take a seat, so we can get this meeting started?” Mr. Addington suggested. “Y-yes sir.” I stuttered while clearing my throat, ecstatic that I wasn’t going to lose my internship and headed towards the table to take my seat.

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

When the meeting was over, everyone in the room stood up from their seats and began to fill out of the room, including the man whose name I had already forgot despite him being the topic of discussion at today’s meeting. I was still wanting to hold on to a little bit of anger, but it was hard to do so after his grand gesture of retrieving my briefcase and finding me my prized heels. Apparently, he was really popular in the boxing world, being the gifted seed of another popular boxer who had died before he was born. He recently became the new heavyweight champion of the world and was in need of a publicist to help mold his public image to the world. It seems as if he was known by the majority of the employees in the conference room, except me, considering I’m not into sports like that. The meeting ended with him not deciding who he wanted as a publicist, so Mr. Addington decided that we’d have another meeting soon unless he made up his mind later on today.

I quickly caught up to the man in the hallway, tapping him lightly on his shoulder with a manicured nail to get his attention. “Excuse me.” I croaked out, slightly nervous and embarrassed that I had made such a fool out of myself earlier.

He stopped walking and turned his head halfway, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I could tell he was smirking, his eyes held a glint of amusement in them. “Yes?” He responded.

“Um, h-how did you get these? They’re-“I began to ask before he turned around fully and cut me off.

“Limited edition?” He chuckled, finishing my sentence for me. His shoulders bounced lightly, finding the turn of events humorous. “Girl, you ain’t the only woman in this building with these. You know that, right? They aren’t as limited as you thought.”

I nodded my head, beginning to stumble over my words. “I mean, yeah but- I know b-but- “He cut me off again.

“Look, I bought ‘em off some woman’s feet ‘ight? Don’t even trip. There yours now so you should be happy now, right?” He answered in the most sarcastic tone he could convene, imitating how I was acting earlier. He started to walk away again toward the elevator.

“Thank you!” I blurted out loudly and he stopped dead in his tracks, his back facing me while his finger hovered over the button that would take him to the first floor of the building.

“What are you thankful for? The shoes, saving your life, or saving your job?” He cocked his head to the side. I couldn’t see his face, but I just knew he was sporting an exasperated look on his features.

“Everything.” It came out more like a question and he kissed his teeth in response. “Look, I was dead wrong to not say thank you. I know I came off as a bitch and I truly apologize for being so nasty to you. I was just really stressed out and I know that isn’t an excuse to treat you the way that I did. I’m really sorry.”

He was still turned around the other way, nodding his head as a sign that he accepted my apology. “’Ight, I forgive you, but you owe me for doing me like that.”

“I’ll do anything! Just say the word.” I quickly rushed out, only to ponder that what I just said could be taken the wrong way. “Except sex. That’s out of the question. Anything but that.” He spun around at that statement, letting out a hearty laugh, his eyes squinting and his nose crinkling a bit. I hated to say it, but he looked absolutely adorable. He reminded me of a little kid at that moment. When he finally calmed down, he let out a small chuckle, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat. “I promise no sex. Just dinner and movie… and for you to be my new publicist.”

“Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. You mean like a DATE date? I asked, taken aback that he’d even mention that as an option. Not to put myself down or anything, but I considered myself to be pretty average compared to the women I’d assume were his type. He seemed to be out of my league. “And also, you want me to be your publicist? Nigga, did you see how we were butting heads earlier? Plus I’m just an intern. There are other people who were in that room that are way more qualified and have more experience than me. You really think that’s a good idea?” I said with hand on my hip.

He gave me a blank stare, kissing his teeth again. “Nah I mean a conference.” He responded sarcastically to my first question. “And how are you gonna get experience if you don’t go out in the field first hand? If you do a good job, you might get hired for a full-time position. I think it’s a great idea.” I nodded my head slowly, taking in what he just said. He was making a lot of sense.

“Well when you put it that way… okay, what the hell, I’ll do it.” I obliged, glancing down at the shoes that were now on my feet, clasping my hands together behind my back as I rocked back and forth on the heels of my feet to the tips of my toes. “And as for the date, I mean, that’s cool. I would love that…” I trailed off, trying to remember the name Mr. Addington referred to him by during the meeting.

As if he read my mind, he chuckled once again. “You can just call me Donnie.” He smiled, shaking his head lightly in delight.

“Donnie” I repeated under my breathe a few times, making sure his name was ingrained in my brain. I looked up at him, his gaze was slightly intimidating. “Well, I’m- “

“Amondi. How could I forget such a unique name?” He had a habit of finishing my sentences, I could see. It seemed like he always had a way of knowing exactly was I was going to say, and he just met me. “Wait, Mr. Addington never referred to me by my first name. How did you know?” I gave him a side eye, curious as to how he found out that piece of information.

“This morning must really got you frazzled.” He spoke, amusement lacing his voice. “It’s labeled on the front of your briefcase.”

“Oh… well yeah, that’s correct. So, uh, do you wanna take my number or should I take yours? My mom always told me that if a guy gives you his number, then that means he has nothing to hide and is serious about wanting to get to know you, but if he takes yours instead, then that means he probably has a boatload of other women and would rather have your number, so you won’t have such easy access to him. He can call you whenever he wants but you can’t do the same.” I gave him a knowing look, analyzing his face to see if I could gauge his reaction.

“Well then, you got a pen?” He raised a brow at me, a smirk slowly forming across his face. I nodded my head, reaching in to my briefcase to retrieve my favorite red ink pen. I was expecting him to hold his hand out, so I could scribble my number onto his palm, but was shocked we he briskly grabbed the pen from my hand, holding it in his to write his own number on my palm. I smiled at him for what was probably the first time today as he quickly wrote each digit one by one onto my somewhat shaky palm that he held still with his own.

I knew for a fact my mom would cuss me out and would continue to do so until the cows come home if she knew I had agreed to a date with a guy I barely knew, but he just seemed different. He actually seemed like he wanted to get to know me for me, plus he was encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone by being his publicist. Most of the guys I’ve been with could care less about my career.

And after all, he found a way to make the impossible, possible, and not just once, but three times.

Let’s just hope I’m right.

#adonis creed #creed #creedII #adonis creed x reader #creed imagine #creed fic #adonis creed fic #black panther #erik killmonger #killmonger x reader #erik killmonger smut #erik stevens #rocky #michael b jordan #michael b. jordan #mbj #wakanda #wakanda forever #creed 2

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letterboxd · 4 years

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Most Picture 2020.

In which we award the Most Picture Oscar to the most-rewatched of the 2020 Best Picture nominees, and track down the Letterboxd member who most obsessively rewatched the Most Obsessively Rewatched Film in our 2019 Year in Review—Avengers: Endgame—to ask “Why?”.

Once again, we dive into the data on the Oscar Best Picture nominees to name not the Best Picture (respect to Parasite!), but what is the Most Picture, as in, which of the nine 2020 finalists was rewatched the most by Letterboxd members?

And the 2020 “Most” Picture Award goes to… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Letterboxd member Movie15 has the distinction of having logged Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood the most—a whopping 26 times since its August release, and though he hasn’t reviewed it on Letterboxd, we’ve enjoyed his quest to see Tarantino’s latest in as many Los Angeles movie theaters as possible, on 35mm as often as he can.

Bong Joon-ho’s multi-Academy-Award-winning masterpiece, Parasite, comes next, just 859 views behind—Khoi is the Letterboxd member who has most obsessively rewatched the film to date, with eleven recorded watches. Third place (and almost 14,000 views behind the two leaders) goes to Joker, watched the most (seventeen times) by Kenai Fleck, a hard-core Batman fan.

In fourth place, Little Women. Micah Simmons has logged the film fourteen times (but may in fact be pushing 20 views). On the thirteenth view, “I have nothing to add, except for mentioning a shot right before the scene where Amy does *the thing* to Jo, and there’s a crazy shot that foreshadows *the thing* so well and fuck this movie is smart.” Then come Marriage Story, The Irishman, 1917, Jojo Rabbit and Ford v. Ferrari in that order.

The official Letterboxd Most Picture list reveals the combined number of watches for all members with two or more entries for these films.

The Rewatches We Logged Along the Way

Avengers: Endgame was the Most Obsessively Rewatched Film of 2019 in our Year in Review, which means it had the highest number of Letterboxd members logging it five or more times in their diaries.

Member Max Joseph has the distinction of having logged Avengers: Endgame more times than any other. When we told him we needed to know why, he replied: “I’d be honored to talk about my love for Avengers Endgame!” Spoilers follow in this Q&A with Max (though at this point if you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame it’s probably only because Max has watched it for you). This interview was conducted prior to the 2020 Academy Awards.

How many times do you think you have seen Avengers: Endgame? Max Joseph: Well, I’ve logged it 26 times as of today. But I also think there are a good three or four watches I didn’t log because I occasionally put it on before bed, and just never logged it. So I’d say my final answer is 29, but that honestly may be lowballing it. I have a feeling that by the time the Oscars roll around, it’ll probably be at 30. I always watch every single film, documentary and short nominated for the Oscars, and thankfully, Endgame was nominated!

What’s your reaction to the news that you are the member who has logged it the most? Kind of shocked! I really didn’t even realize how many times I watched it until you told me! I watch Avengers: Endgame because it brings me happiness, and I love the adventure! When it finally came out on Blu-ray and digital, there were a few times I would watch it multiple times in one day. Then I’d throw something else on, then get upset that I wasn’t watching Avengers. So maybe it isn’t as shocking as I had thought!

What keeps you coming back to it? I love all genres of film. Take this season for example. I love the more meaty and dramatic films like Parasite, 1917, Waves, Queen & Slim. I love comedies like Jojo Rabbit and Booksmart. Animation like Toy Story 4, Frozen II and Klaus.

But, you give me someone flying, turning invisible, super speed… that’s where I live. Superhero movies are just my favorites, and I think the reason I keep coming back to Avengers: Endgame is because besides being a superhero movie—which I just naturally gravitate towards—in Endgame, I get a little bit of every genre and mood. I also like that it’s split up into three acts, and each act gives me what I want in a superhero movie:

Act one is the slow burn, which we never really got in the MCU up to this point. It’s the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War, and them dealing with the implications and the new normal of the universe. And this gives a chance for the story to build, and our actors to show off, especially Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson. It gives something new to the fans of the franchise and is one of the biggest reasons I keep coming back for more.

Act two is the “time heist” and it is a pure love letter to the fans of the franchise. They revisit some of the best parts of our MCU journey over the last eleven years and mess with it. Is it fan service? Absolutely! But I think they did it right.

Act three is the final battle at the now-destroyed Avengers headquarters. And this was where the slow burn pays off. It is what we’ve all been waiting for since 2008. The grand finale. The culmination of eleven years and 22 films. We are gifted my favorite battle I’ve ever seen, bone-chilling and heartbreaking moments, as well as the most cathartic endings to the most epic story I’ve ever had the privilege to watch, nearly 30 times over.

What have you noticed with each rewatch? Two things: firstly, how unbelievable the visual effects are. I may be alone in this, but I think Marvel has the best visual effects on the planet. By miles. And rewatching this makes me appreciate how much time and dedication was put into making this. So much happened behind the scenes, that I personally don’t really think about while watching it. But after 26 views, I start to think about green screens, the motion capturing, all of those elements, it’s insane! Go on YouTube and just check out all of that work they did visually. It’s beautiful.

Secondly, how brilliant Robert Downey Jr. is. I’ve been saying it for years, but RDJ was born to play Tony Stark. Has he had many other brilliant performances throughout his career? Absolutely. But I think that if he was not cast as Iron Man, this franchise wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. He is the heart of the MCU. And he has so many brilliant moments throughout the film, meets his dad during the “time heist”, the realization of “the one”, even the way he interacts with his daughter, Morgan. It’s truly exceptional work. I think it’s his best performance as Stark.

What is the single greatest scene in the film? Oy, well that’s near impossible. A few standouts are Cap wielding Mjölnir, the scene with Tony and his dad, the reveal of Professor Hulk, thicc Thor, Cap vs. Cap, “the snap”. There are so many! But I think the popular answer is also the greatest, and that is when our Avengers return.

As soon as I heard Sam Wilson’s (Falcon) voice, I lost my mind. And they brilliantly added “On your left” right before all the portals open up. “On your left” is a callback to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That’s the first line of the movie, and is repeated again at the end. Both times are between Sam and Steve, and it was the same in Endgame. And then you add Alan Silvestri’s score (the song is titled ‘Portals’) which is building and building with emotion, which leads into Cap finally saying…

“Avengers (music cuts) Assemble”… (enter Avengers theme song)

It. Is. Perfection. I have chills as I type this. It was probably the greatest theater experience I’ve had in my life. I was sobbing. Imagine how I was by the end…

What has the overall Avengers cinematic adventure meant to you? I remember seeing the first Iron Man in theaters with some friends in 2008. We all dressed up in suits, because we were at a high school awards show kind of thing, and just went straight to the theater, and we had the best time. From the first moment ’til the end, when Tony says, “I am Iron Man”, then Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ starts playing, my jaw was on the floor. I gave a standing ovation. In a suit. From that moment on, I knew that this was made for me.

It has given me the greatest moments in a movie theater, incredible discussions with friends and strangers, and although it may seem cheesy, some much-needed happiness in some of the most difficult times in my life. I watch these stories because I love them. They mean something to me. They are an important part of who I am.

What would you say to people who say that blockbusters like these aren't ‘real’ cinema? Hahaha! This is a hilarious question, and I’m thrilled that you asked it. I’ve actually had a good 20 people ask me this, and I always said that I’d write something or make a video about it, so here we go…

Let me start off by saying that Martin Scorsese is arguably one of the greatest directors of all time. I love his work, I respect it, and I encourage everyone to watch his full repertoire, ’cause it’s beautiful.

That being said… ‘real cinema’ is a matter of opinions. To me, Avengers: Endgame is just as much real cinema, as The Irishman, Goodfellas, The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, anything. I don’t care who you are, you can be Martin Scorsese, Kevin Feige, one of my friends, a stranger, I don’t think you have the right to tell me what is ‘real cinema’. You can say something isn’t good, or only being made to earn a profit, but you don’t get to say that movies like this aren’t worthy of being ‘real cinema’. To me, they are. You’re more than entitled to that opinion! I just happen to disagree with you, but you’re not wrong by any means. I’m entitled to my opinion, you’re entitled to yours. And that’s what it comes down to. Opinions.

Thicc Thor—keep or send back to the gym? I totally don’t care. Taika Waititi figured out how to write that character in Thor: Ragnarok, and thankfully they continued writing him this way in Endgame. So as long as the writers continue on the path that Waititi sent him on, I’m good. Make him thicc, give him an eight-pack, as long as the character has purpose and the lines flow naturally, I’m more than satisfied with whatever he looks like.

How amped are you to learn more about Natasha’s background in this year’s Black Widow? Finally! We’ve been waiting since Iron Man 2, and it is finally time for the Black Widow movie she deserves! I’m fascinated by the Red Room, which was where she started her training as a Russian spy. They showed us glimpses of her beginnings in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, and I’ve always been hungry for more information because it looked really interesting.

I also think that we may finally find out what happened in Budapest. It was first mentioned in The Avengers back in 2012, as a bit of banter between Black Widow and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and has kind of been a mystery ever since. It was actually mentioned again in Endgame. I’m basing this on the San Diego Comic-Con Hall H panel. There was a title card that said “Budapest”, so it would make sense that we’re gonna get what we’ve been asking for!

I’m also thrilled because the cast is awesome. Obviously double Oscar-nominated actor this season, Scarlett Johansson, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour and one of my favorite actors, Florence Pugh, who had an unbelievable 2019, with Fighting With My Family, Midsommar (one of my favorite performances of the decade), and she topped it off with an Oscar-nominated performance in Little Women!

What do you think should win best picture at this year’s Oscars? Parasite. And it’s not even close. I think Parasite is one of the greatest films I’ve seen in my life. I think it deserves that number one slot on your Top 250 Narrative Features list.

It features the best performance from an ensemble, Song Kang-ho should have been nominated for supporting actor (he should be winning). The production design is fabulous. They literally built the Park family’s house for the film! Hong Kyung-pyo’s photography is worthy of being framed. He created a few shots that are permanently engraved in my head (in a good way). And of course, Bong Joon-ho’s direction flows with emotion and his script is original, gripping and electric. He is the definition of a visionary, at the top of his game.

Parasite is the crowning achievement of the decade and should be awarded as such. It would be the perfect way to end the decade with the first foreign-language film (now titled “International Feature Film”) winning Best Picture at the Oscars. #BONGHIVE all the way!

What do you think will win? My heart says Parasite, but I think it may end up going to something like Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, The Irishman or 1917 (which is in my top ten this year). The easy answer is probably Hollywood because it won the Globe, but that doesn’t always translate into an Oscar.

But if it’s not Parasite, I think it should be 1917. It is a technical work of art from Oscar, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning director Sam Mendes. Roger Deakins outdid himself and is pretty much guaranteed to earn his second Oscar [update: he did!]. Thomas Newman’s score is probably my favorite of the year (possibly of his career), followed closely by Emile Mosseri’s for The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s for Joker. And George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman should be on everyone’s radar. They’re phenomenal. It’s shaping up to be quite a race this year!

What’s your favorite thing about Letterboxd? I think the reason I love it so much is because it feels like a family. I’ve had such a passion for the cinema for my whole life, and I like to share it wherever I can. But other social platforms (as wonderful as they are), aren’t always the best place to post about every single movie I’ve watched, or a top ten that I make. Letterboxd is the only place where I can let out all of my opinions, all of my thoughts, without feeling embarrassed or like I’m bothering anyone when I say how perfect Avengers: Endgame is. Or if I watch it and spot something new, I can post about it, and have great conversations about what I’ve discovered. It is the place for movie lovers, and it actually helped me love movies more, and to learn more about the crews, studios, and everything behind the film.

#AVENGERS #AVENGERS ENDGAME #letterboxd #most rewatched #most rewatched film #best picture #oscar #oscars #oscar2020 #oscars2020

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joeymozzarello · 5 years

Text

Pen to Paper

Chapter Three

Summary: A simple thesis on a simple book she’d read. That’s all she needed to do. She knew it would be at least a little bit arduous but she didn’t think it would cause this much trouble.

Pairing: Tim Murphy x original female character

Words: 1,914

A/N: i got the idea for this in the american natural history museum where i found a note to a Julie T from a Dr. Com on a bench near the t-rex room.

9AM in London, 4AM in New York. Julie wondered if she’d ever get used to this. At least her view was nice, everything else about her room - wasn't. It was a tiny little bedroom with a lumpy bed and a bathroom that barely worked. She was sure she’d seen a couple of roaches move from between furniture but she didn’t ponder too much on that thought, it freaked her out beyond words. This was the price, the universe gave her an awesome opportunity and in return, she had to sleep in an infested room for a couple of months. No biggie.

The past two days at the museum had been unreal, everyone had treated her fine, she didn’t really mind the stares or the confusion in the librarian’s eyes when Julie asked her for a specific book on fossilisation. “Jeez, when was the last time you guys got a new addition to the team?” Julie had asked, to which Tim had only pointed at himself and shrugged, thanking Amanda for whatever she’d just given him.

One thing she’d noticed was that Tim’s blazer pockets were always full. He’d just stick his hand in and out would come a rainbow belt or whatever sour candy he had tucked in there. Julie found that a little bit peculiar, she hadn't commented on it, yet, she didn’t know how to mention it to him without making it sound like she was judging.

4AM.

It was too early, still dark outside. It was day three and she was already low on funds. Her parents told her they would’ve given her money for this trip but they still hadn't, at this point she had to decide between a train ticket or lunch. If she spent more than three dollars on things that weren’t essential, then she wouldn’t have enough money to pay for the hotel room. Tricky.

“Hey, Soph,” Julie gave her best friend a tired smile through the phone. Sophie, seemingly shocked to have received this phone call knotted her eyebrows together. “You going to class?”

She just blinked. “Isn’t it like, really early over there? Why are you awake, JJ?”

Julie giggled. “I asked you a question,” Sophie’s scowl didn’t falter. “I can't sleep, okay! I’m fine, I’m just jet lagged.”

“I thought maybe it was the thought of not being able to see me for months that was keeping you up,” Sophie laughed. The two of them spoke for a little bit until Sophie had to go to one of her morning classes and Julie was left alone once again.

She checked her Google Maps; if she walked, it would take almost three hours to get to the museum and that way she’d have enough money to buy a hot dog from one of the carts that sat within Central Park. She sighed. I better get ready to go, then.

On the other side of the river, over in Tribeca, in an apartment that held too much room for one person and three cats, Tim Murphy was pacing around his wooden floorboards muttering random facts he could remember in hopes to bore himself to sleep. It was raining out, he could see the drops rolling down his window, it was slow but it was heavy. One of his cats, Butter, was trying to catch the drops as they raced down to the apartment below. Meanwhile Peanut napped on Tim’s various open journals and scrap paper and Jelly watched the Discovery Channel on the TV.

The problem about 4AM in New York was the noise. No one should be awake at 4AM and yet, cars were honking and ambulances were off doing what ambulances do best and Tim Murphy paced around, drinking tea and beating the record for most consecutive hours awake. It was truly a remarkable city.

He walked over to his desk and lovingly picked up Peanut, waking him up from his nap. “I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he cooed. “I just need my papers, I’ll put you right here where you’ll be much more comfortable, I promise you,” Tim moved his cat to the couch, where Peanut just shook him off and jumped over onto the coffee table. Tim shook his head. “Ungrateful.”

The notes that lay open in front of him had been revisited hundreds of times over the years, part of them were the primary notes he used for his book and the rest were scribbles he’d made during nights like these where he didn’t sleep a blink. He was proud of himself and his work, he’d come so far in his craft and the fact that he’d actually managed to write a full book was still extremely surprising to him.

Jelly jumped at the TV, trying to catch a mosquito, Tim rolled his eyes.

Out of nowhere, Julie Trenton came to his mind, the new kid at work. She was - something, alright. She was constantly questioning everything Tim said, watching his every move, always. It was distressing sometimes because he knew she’d seen him downing six mugs of coffee in two hours, and he knew she was going to come at him about it. She probably came to mind because she’d mentioned being awake at this time. He wondered if she could get to sleep. The question remained unanswered.

Morning at the museum was busy and quiet. Julie had noticed historians didn’t talk much, they just gave her awkward looks and then kept typing or scribbling. Maybe they just didn’t like her, that was also an option but she didn’t want to think about that. “Morning, Julie,” Dr. Connors walked in, dumping her bag next to her desk, barely making eye contact. “So much to do this morning, how good are you at running around and delivering things?”

So, Julie spent the whole morning bringing various things to various people, trying to memorise names and faces and make friends. She realised how awkward she truly was; laughing at things that aren’t funny and saying things like ‘coolio’ and ‘okie-dokie’ in a place of work, to grown adults who didn’t know her.

Dr Simon Whelk, room 312, last door on the left. Easy enough.

She knocked, not waiting for Dr. Whelk to say come in and just looked down at the post-it note as she waltzed into the room. “Dr. Whelk? I have your-” she froze, a room of people all turned to look at her, confused. Julie was unsure if Whelk was even in there, she had no idea what he looked like. “I’m guessing I got the wrong room,” she chuckled quietly, her eyes catching Tim’s gaze.

The man stood at the front of the room cleared his throat. “Who are you?”

“Julie Trenton, sir,” she shook out of Tim’s eyes. “I must’ve landed in the wrong room, I am looking for a Dr. Simon Whelk?”

His expression softened. “That’s me,” he reached forward, inviting Julie to hand him the papers. “Thank you, Ms Trenton, you must come again soon.”

Julie’s heart dropped as she walked out of the room, she felt childish and a little appalled, but she also felt that it wasn’t worth fussing over. She brushed it off, it was finally lunch time.

Twelve o’clock in Central Park was way too crowded for Julie’s taste, so she took her tiny hot dog and walked it to the foodcourt at the museum, sitting at a table close to the window, eating slowly, knowing this would be the only food she’d have until tonight - and even then, all she’d have would be a couple of Digestives from the stash she’d brought from home.

Just as she was taking her journal out of her bag to continue her first draft of her theses, none other than Tim Murphy dropped his sandwich and Diet Coke in front of her and sat down. “You sure know how to make an entrance,” he said blankly. She was taken aback.

“I could say the same thing about you,” Julie knitted her eyebrows together, setting her journal back in her bag, slowly. “Have I done something?” Tim angrily bit into his sandwich. “I’m sorry, we must be playing a game of charades I didn’t know about, are you an angry caveman?”

Tim rolled his eyes, putting his sandwich down. “No, I’m cranky,” he pouted.

“I can see that,” Julie sighed. “What is it, d’you forget your sour candy at home?” She said smugly. She couldn’t believe this is how she was talking to the Tim Murphy, last week’s Julie would be completely baffled. Tim didn't say anything. “Seriously, what’s wrong, you’re freaking me out.”

Tim’s eyes wondered to her half-eaten hotdog. “Is that what you’re having for lunch?” He asked. Julie just nodded.

“There can only be cheap dinners in the Trenton household or else there can be no Trenton household,” Julie shrugged. Tim’s eyes widened with worry. “No, it’s fine, I have food back at the hotel,” she didn’t enjoy this much attention, especially if it contained that much worry. She was sure her parents would give her money soon, so there was nothing to worry about. “Anyway, stop trying to change the subject, what’s wrong with you this morning, you seemed perfectly fine when I walked into your year six assembly,” she just watched him for a second.

“Nothing, it’s just Whelk-” he stopped. “Nothing, it’s nothing. Where are you staying?”

“A hotel in Brooklyn Heights,” she scrunched up her nose.

“That’s not so bad - why the face?”

She bit her lip, her breath hitching slightly, trying to word this next sentence as carefully as possible. “It’s just a bit, um, underwhelming,” she couldn’t believe she was having this conversation, after years of being master of dodging questions, she had been beaten. “I’m just paying a lot of money for a not-so-good place,” she sighed.

“Why don’t you try and find someone who needs a roommate?”

“Are you volunteering?” She laughed. Tim froze. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, God, chill out. I’m okay anyway, it’s only a couple of months and then it’s back to England for JJ.”

The expression on Tim’s face was laughable, Julie didn’t know how to handle all of this attention so she just brushed off all of his worries and changed the subject yet again. As he talked, Julie observed him, he spoke so quickly about so many things, it was hard to keep up.

Up close, Tim had a very angular face, his nose was in a perfectly straight point that had a little shine on the tip and that perfectly led into the rest of his face, his dark circles, scruff and auburn hair. She was watching him so intently that she’d forgotten to listen to what he was saying and in turn, she stopped talking.

“You’re staring,” Tim huffed. “Let me guess, you were some crazed fan of mine and the whole ‘theses’ thing was just a lie to get closer to me,” he clicked his tongue. “Ugh, why does this keep happening, I should’ve known, you’re just like the rest of them.”

Julie’s mouth fell open, a laugh falling out. “Wow, I had no idea I was having lunch with a narcissist, I’m sorry, I guess I’ve gotta leave,” she shook her head. “Please point me in the direction of all those poor girls, I’ll talk them out of whatever they must’ve seen in you.”

“Ouch, Trenton, that stung.”

She just shrugged, finally finishing off her hotdog, still hungry.

Master List!

#tim murphy #dr tim murphy #tim murphy au #joe mazzello #joe mazzello au #jurassic world #jurassic park

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