#hilarious that the whole thing is SO blurry he can not work a camera in my mind | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vagrantblvrd · 5 years

Note

I would love for a superhero!au dusk boys prompt that features villainous Rimmy Tim? :D

Oh, wow, okay, I love this a lot?

I’m just.

I want to set this in a world where people who have superpowers aren’t viewed as being inherently dangerous.

There are obviously ones who are, but for the most part it’s just like Macy down the street can shoot lasers from her eyes and Bob in accounting can communicate with plants. Sheryl from marketing can fly and turn invisible and only uses one of those powers on a regular basis because she’s shy. (Harry in IT is just weird, but everyone knew that already.)

People with powers can tick off a box when they go in to get their driver license or ID card so if they’re in an accident EMTs and the whatnot know to take proper precautions and suchlike, but it’s not a whole Thing, just like.

Huh, interesting.

(Because I’m saving the Angst and Drama for Other Things later on. :D)

Not everyone bothers with secret identities, but the ones who do go all out, okay? Kind of high-key hilarious for the people around them who figure it out and decide not to tell them just to hear all the ridiculous explanations why their superhero/sidekick buddy was late to work or missed a meeting or whatever else.

I like to imagine there are sitcoms/reality shows built around that too? Like. They never reveal the superhero/sidekick’s alter ego but they fuck with them so hard. And other such things because the potential? Omg, so much potential for those kind of shenanigans. (And you can always tell who has a secret identity because they’re always griping about those kind of shows and it’s just another level of hilarity.)

There are specialized school and programs to help people manage their powers even if they don’t plan on going into the superhero/sidekick career field so they don’t accidentally hurt someone. (There are programs for supervillains too.

Outreach and whatnot with the hope of winning potential villains/villains over to the good side if they’re lucky. Realistically though, they’ll settle for helping them learn to control their powers to minimize casualties and such. (A few of the more level-headed villains out there may or may not be responsible for similar programs because they stand the risk of the superheros/military/whatever coming down hard on villains as a whole if they don’t help police their own?)

ANYWAY.

Trevor’s this normal(ish) enough human in this AU, right? May or may not be a master thief out Thieving and living his best life. Gallivanting around the world where rare and valuable items just happen to go missing.

Sometimes the local authorities will bring him in for questioning and discover he has something of a spotty record. Juvenile offenses and misdemeanors. (But the thing is it’s clear it’s been…altered, and while there’s some confusion as to who is behind it, there’s no denying he’s had something to do with Serious Criminal Incidents in the past. All these clues and witness accounts and all this placing him there and yet! Nothing worse on his records than those misdemeanors.)

He’s got famous parents, you see. Big shots in the supers world and love story of the ages.

One was a hero and the other was a villain who gave up their wicked ways for love and so on and so forth.

They were happy for a while there, had their loving family and played coy with the press when they came around asking how they made their relationship work and how did their children handle knowing about past villainous exploits and so on and so forth, and it was a bit of a circus some days, but it was good until it wasn’t.

(Isn’t that always the way?)

Trevor was young when the inevitable happened so of course he grew up on “Son, what would your parents say if they could see you now?> and oh, oh, Trevor doesn’t know, officer, what would they say? Oh right, there’s no way to know because they’re both dead, aren’t they?

Plenty of people who always said it would happen sooner or later. Just the kind of thing that happens when you got around making all those devil’s deals and turn your back on it all thinking just because you’re done with it, it’s done with you or however that goes. (Always, always a price to be paid.)

He’s had plenty of people try to console him with the fact they were together when it happened, protecting one another to the bitter end and it’s such a slap to the face because, you know, because.

The ones left behind to pick up the pieces and the whole world wanting answers to questions they were never entitled to.

Losing the only other person who could understand how Trevor felt to building anger and resentment and other ugly little things until Trevor had no choice but to leave. (No place for him there anymore, and really it was for the best, wasn’t it?)

Slipped away like a ghost in the night and it was just…easier to steal a thing here, another there to get by until he fell in with the wrong crowd. Got in over his head a bit and dragged along with the current until he got some kind of ground under his feet again. Tarnished reputation and all kinds of disappointment being heaped on him, but that was fine because there was no one left to care.

And then!

And then he realizes someone’s been looking out for him, clearing up the worst of his little mistakes – if you’re going to go bad, you do it well, and he hadn’t, so thank you for that oh, so mysterious benefactor. (Pays to befriend a hacker, doesn’t it? Especially one who’s kind enough to keep an eye on you for your own sake, God bless all the little hackers.)

He drifts along for a little while longer, gets better at his craft even though it’s not his passion, and then one day he gets a call. (Half expecting it because he’s been keeping tabs on everything (everyone) he left behind and there have been situations and incidents and a whole lot of Things in general.)

The call is pretty much what he expects, but there’s also some come home and please and I’m sorry.

He would have ignored it, because he’s a hard soul these days, you know. Tough as nails and cold and steel and all that, but he’s never gotten an apology and it makes him…curious.

So he goes home, wry little twist to his lips as he passes the statues of his parents in a prominent location. Monument to their legacy Trevor could never live up to and all these people who glance at him and frown like they feel they should know him and don’t know why.

There’s a fancy building in the heart of the city’s business district. All gleaming glass and the kind of place villains love to target for the spectacle of it all.

Trevor head there, flashes the doorman a little smile, tips his head at the guard in the lobby. Another smile and a wink for the receptionist at the main desk to get a look in return – she remembers him, and isn’t impressed because he’s been gone a long time, hasn’t he?

Still, she doesn’t stop him as he breezes past on his way to the elevator bank.

Presses the buttons in a pattern that lets it zip right on past the other floors and anyone who’d love to get on the elevator between the ground floor and the oh so glorious offices on the top floors. (Stops counting past the executive level because shhhh, secrets.)

He gets off the elevator in a narrow little hallway with all kinds of hidden cameras and security measures. Presses his hand flat against a scanner and presents his eyeball for another. Ridiculously outdated things, but it’s the presentation of it all, and then a pair of heavy doors disengage to reveal a long hallways, stark lighting and very cliché isn’t it?

Still, he continues down the hallway to another pair of doors and waits.

Little panel to the side slides open and he glances at it, then at the hidden camera he knows is aimed at him.

“Open sesame,” he says, tired of this little game, and the doors slide open.

Bit of a light show as he walks through and then -

“Trevor.”

Trevor tips his head to the side, gaze flicking over the people in the room.

The man who called him home and two others?

Around his age, give or take, and confused as to why they’re here and trying to hide it. (Fair enough, he’s had longer practice at it.)

ANYWAY.

There’s a man in a lovely little suit, all perfectly tailored and the whatnot. Looks older than Trevor remembers, but that’s what you get when you take on the task of running a multi-billion dollar business and the whatnot. (Among other things.)

“Hello, Ryan,” he says, and it has been a long time, hasn’t it? Long enough that Trevor doesn’t know if he’s still angry at Ryan or some other pesky emotion. “You like like hell.”

Ryan raises an eyebrow, but it lacks the usual arrogance. (Looks tired.)

The strangers in the room are watching curiously, aware there’s some little bit of Drama going on here but not sure what, and that’s interesting, isn’t it?

But then Ryan clears his throat and turns to them, all nice and charming and the very fine actor he’s proven himself to be as he leads them all to this little setup he’s had put together. Several chairs and a projector and Trevor has this very odd flashback to school and the terrible little films they had to watch, but that’s a bit of a digression.

“Gentlemen,” Ryan says, “I’ve invited you all here for a reason.”

Trevor glances at the strangers, notices them watching Ryan warily as he flicks the lights off and the project whirs to life. (Ryan really did gold old school with it, didn’t he?)

News footage of what looks like an attack on the city – industrial area. Warehouses with a familiar logo (same one as on the side of this very building, in fact!) - general sort of mayhem and destruction and a blurry figure behind it all.

Little flashes of purple and orange and at the end a surprisingly low body count. (One is always too many, but for the destruction they’ve just seen it’s somewhat impressive.)

Ryan tells them about this new threat – clearly someone with superpowers of some sort – that’s been targeting Ryan’s company. Hit and runs and targets of opportunity, and while the police and such are looking into the things the main superhero team in the city hasn’t been taking it seriously.

Trevor looks away from the blurry image of the villain in questions till up on the screen to see Ryan frowning, scowling, really.

“That doesn’t seem right,” one of the strangers says, British accent and dubious as hell. “Didn’t people die?”

Ryan sighs, giving the man a wry smile.

“Not enough.”

Not in this city, Trevor knows.

A superhero team as famous as theirs fields the most dangerous threats to the city and those like the one targeting Ryan’s company…well. Until they do something that makes the general public wonder why he hasn’t been dealt with, he’s not really their problem, now is he?

Plenty of smaller teams and solo heroes out there who could handle someone like that and anyways, they’ve got bigger fish to fry. (It’s happened before.)

“So you’ve brought the three of us here to handle your little problem,” Trevor says, and oh, there’s still some anger in him, isn’t there?

Ryan looks at him.

“You’d rather I let things go on as they have been?” he asks. “People have died. No doubt more will die before this is over.”

Ryan talks like he knows something about it, and Trevor -

“Okay, so there’s some kind of history between you guys, right?” one of the strangers asks, which means he must not be from here. “Because damn.”

Ryan goes all awkward and stiff as he informs the man he’s not wrong, that Trevor’s his brother -

“Step-brother,” Trevor interjects sweetly, as Ryan was so kind to point out the last time they spoke face-to-face. “Blended family, you know how it is.”

He gets the satisfaction of seeing Ryan wince at the reminder, but it’s a hollow sort of victory.

Ryan goes on to tell the three of them the plan he’s come up with. Housing and pay, all the tedious little details.

A building of their very own that’s been retrofitted with proper training facilities and the whatnot and Trevor eyes the strangers curiously.

Supers, then, but which is very interesting indeed seeing as how fond of them Ryan usually is.

It makes sense, though, doesn’t it. Better mouse trap or…something to catch this pest that’s digging the foundation out from under Ryan’s feet all this time.

Ryan tells them he understands if they choose to decline, tells them to take time to think it over and all that.

There’s this little pause like he’s debating whether or not to ask Trevor to stay behind, but Trevor doesn’t wait for him to come to a decision. Just leaves with the others Ryan picked for this meeting of his and the three of them file out the room and spend an awkward elevator ride together. Trevor’s aware of the curious looks he’s getting, which is fine. (Expected.)

Ryan’s one of the most important people in the city and Trevor is…Trevor.

He gets a question, though, just before they reach the ground floor lobby. Gets asked if Ryan’s on the up and up about this team he’s trying to put together, and honestly?

Trevor doesn’t know.

And oh, the looks he gets for that because they’re (half) brothers, aren’t they? Shouldn’t Trevor be the best qualified to know and all?

The elevator doors open with impeccable timing, and Trevor shrugs, and tells them it was a pleasure and all that as he walks out.

He fully intends to get the hell out of the city, let Ryan clean up his own mess – and it must be his, if he’s willing to involve supers in this - but.

Trevor makes a little stop first.

Quiet little neighborhood he hasn’t been to in years, but it hasn’t changed much.

Rings the doorbell to a jaunty little tune he heard on the radio a few days ago on a door and waits, and then waits some more before he hears sounds of movement. Muffled voice tinged with annoyance and when the door opens, Trevor’s already smiling.

“Hi, Matt,” he says, and laughs at the flatly unamused look on Matt’s face.

For a moment he thinks Matt’s just going to slam the door in is face - rude - but then he sighs and lets Trevor inside.

The place is as cluttered as Trevor remembers it as he follows Matt to his lair.

His computer setup has been vastly upgraded, all shiny and the like.

“What do you want?”

Trevor grins, because Matt’s just like that, isn’t he? So he brings his phone out and shows Matt the photos he took of the two men Ryan had recruited for his team while no one was paying attention.

Not the best lighting or composition, but hopefully enough for Matt to dig up information on them.

And, sure. Trevor could ask Ryan, but where would the fun be in that? (Also, Trevor may or may not have learned not to take Ryan at his word some time back, so there’s that as well.)

Matt gives him this look, and snatches Trevor’s phone out of his hand as he goes to do his technical wizardry.

(Not quite an exaggeration, given Matt’s powers.)

Trevor pokes and prods the collectibles and other knickknacks and whatever else Matt has laying around while he waits.

Eventually Matt calls him over and hands him a little USB and Trevor thanks him, little tip of a hat he’s not wearing and Matt just sighs because yes.

Trevor goes off to that motel room he has, classy place with (almost) nary a suspicious stain to be found anywhere! :D

Plugs that USB Matt gave him into his laptop and does his homework like a good little thief.

Finds out that the British one is a young hero recently arrived in the city by way of Rooster territory.

Powers that have to do with probability manipulation that he can directly utilize in extreme circumstances and so on. Curious blank spot even Matt couldn’t fill in regarding how that was discovered, because you don’t go saying something like that without an Event, now do you? Some kind of incident for that discovery and all, but never mind that for now.

No reason listed why he left his former team to come here of all places, and Trevor is honestly baffled as to why Ryan would be interested in someone with his abilities. (Not a great believer in things like luck and so on, Ryan. Loves his sciences and hard facts and clear results, doesn’t care overmuch for anything else.)

The other one makes more sense, though. Reactive adaptation with a focus on combat – and my, my, my, what an impressive resume he has in that regard. All sorts of qualifications and certifications and rankings and so on.

Quite the list of teams he’s been on that have since disbanded, its members going on to join larger teams and so on. Only good things to be said about him and his past feats and exploits.

Nice upstanding young man with a bright future ahead of him, and he’d come here of all places.

Astounding.

Trevor sits back and stares at the photos and screen grabs Matt had included of the two of them.

The British one seems to stumble into trouble of one kind of another on a regular basis, from simple misunderstandings to God knows what. Has made headlines here and there, identity unconfirmed and all, but Matt knows what he’s about, and Trevor learned to trust his work a long time ago.

One Gavin Free who manages to pick his way clear of any trouble he finds, comes out on top with a cheeky little grin and maybe it’s down to his abilities, maybe not. (Definitely, yes, though, Trevor thinks. Too coincidental otherwise.)

Odd mix of powers Ryan has there, with these two. Mr. Diaz, yes, okay. Easy to explain away? But Mr. Free?

Most curious.

Makes no damn sense at all, but maybe Ryan’s just that desperate. (He called Trevor home, after all.)

Trevor’s phone buzzes, and when he checks it there’s a new message from Ryan asking to talk, and he has to applaud him for the timing of it.

Shuts his laptop down and heads out to this little meeting of his and isn’t at all surprised when a sleek black limo pulls up alongside him after a block.

Trevor gets in because it’s cold out, so close to winter. Ignores the look Ryan gives him as he rubs his hands together to warm them up because they aren’t kids anymore and it’s none of Ryan’s concern, now is it?

They drive along for a while without a word. Clearly no destination in mind, and Trevor starts to think maybe he should just bail before things get any more awkward?

But then Ryan starts talking. Telling Trevor that yes, alright, he’s made some missteps, Ryan has. Got too caught up in his grief over losing their parents, and there’s that little snap of anger again because understatement? (And when, oh when, was the last time Trevor heard him call them that with any kind of sincerity behind it instead of that seething resentment?)

But he doesn’t interrupt Ryan, no. Let’s him talk about his feelings and all, other mistakes he made. (The rift with his relationship with Trevor and so on.)

Trevor eyes him because Ryan sounds remorseful about it, but he’s a very good actor.

“Never thought I’d see the day you’d sponsor a team of supers,” he says.

Ryan may be smart enough not to voice his disdain for said teams and their ilk these days considering how popular they are with the public, but Trevor knows all about it, doesn’t he.

Heard the rants before he left, the way Ryan’s opinion of them did that sharp about face after their parents’ deaths, the way the city’s heroes didn’t lift a finger to help and so on and so on. How so many of them are chasing fame and glory and riches rather than out to do good. Cared more about their image, whether they’d get paid than doing what they were meant to. (Loyalty and the lack thereof.)

“Times change,” Ryan says, odd note to it as he watches the city blur by. “People change.”

Trevor snorts, but he can’t help but notice the limo driver seems to be headed somewhere now, not just driving aimlessly in circles. Glances at Ryan who is still focused on the view outside the limo and keeps his silence until they pull up to a building.

The one Ryan showed Trevor and the others in that little meeting earlier, because of course.

Ryan looks at Trevor then, head cocked, and Trevor doesn’t have a good reason not to follow him as Ryan gets out.

They go on a little tour of the building, Ryan showing him the amenities and whatnot, and they end up on one of the training areas. Obstacle course that takes up an entire floor. Must have cost a pretty penny and all -

“I could use your help,” Ryan says, sounding less like the blowhard Trevor remembers him as and more like the brother he grew up with. “Gavin and Alfredo have potential, but they need someone like you to keep them focused.”

Well that’s a bold-faced lie.

Trevor doesn’t know what Ryan’s up to with this team of his, but it’s definitely suspect.

“I doubt they’d appreciate working with someone who has a record like mine,” he says, half-hearted attempt at humor.

The Roosters aren’t as strict in their hiring practices as most teams, but even they would have thought twice about bringing someone like Trevor on board.

And Alfredo?

Well, no knowing his thoughts on the matter but his past teams were of the goody two-shoes sort.

Ryan laughs, mouth quirking as he glances at Trevor.

“You’d be surprised,” he says.

And.

Trevor stares at Ryan, all these reasons to say no in his head. Some are even valid, but truth be told Trevor’s a bit of an idiot.

“I guess we’ll see,” he says, and bites back a smile at the surprise he can just feel rolling off Ryan who was expecting more of a fight.

Anyway.

Trevor agrees to be the leader of this new team, moves what possessions he has at the motel to the team’s HQ and sets about putting things to order.

Is pleasantly surprised when Gavin and Alfredo show up a few days later. Gavin first and Alfredo a few hours behind him.

Gives them the same tour Ryan gave him and leaves them to pick out which living quarters they like as he wrangles paperwork. (Endless amounts of it involved in any sort of team.)

He gives them a few days to settle in, get comfortable with the place before he calls them together for a meeting. Tells them there’s a mandatory physical before they can begin training and then montage?

Trevor putting them through their paces starting with a standard obstacle course and moving on to the ones designed for supers to test their reflexes and response times and whatever else. Standard training exercises and Alfredo’s powers are super impressive, right?

Has Gavin all :DDDDDDDDDDD because it’s just real cool and Alfredo is aw, shucks about it because it’s just this thing he does?

Doesn’t even have conscious control of it half the time because ingrained training and instincts and reflexes and all that, but hey, thanks?

And Gavin is like, no, no, it’s really cool!

Trevor is just hmm because it’s nice to see them getting along, but most of the time Alfredo’s powers kick in because Gavin’s go a little haywire?

Sudden accidents and general bad luck, and Gavin deflates because yeah, okay.

There’s this whole thing where he may or may not have annoyed someone who has the sort of powers that could affect his when he was still with the Roosters?

Snap of their fingers when Gavin pushed them a little too much and Gavin’s good luck turns to shit. And since his powers extend to those nearby Things Happened around him.

It was supposed to be a temporary thing, just a few days and hopefully Gavin would have learned his less, but his former teammate got sucked into a long-term mission somewhere and it slipped their mind to fix Gavin’s powers before they left, and just.

There’s only so many times your luck can turn on you and those around you until it becomes a Problem. (Before someone gets hurt.)

Gavin felt he was being a bit of a burden on his team with his bad luck and all interfering in their heroing and was all :DDDDDDDDD as he told them he wanted to try working solo for a bit. Change of pace and all and somehow Ryan scooped up him for this team of theirs? (Guilt heavy in his chest for all the close calls his run of bad luck caused and lesson learned but that’s not enough to break that little jinx, is it?)

Trevor and Alfredo share a look because Gavin puts up a good front, but it’s clear the whole situation is affecting him, so.

“Well, we’ll just have to find a way to make that work in our favor then,” Trevor says, and Alfredo is totally on board and just.

Team Bonding?

Alfredo brings up the whole thing about being tired of working with all those gung-ho goody-good types?

Just.

Strict and close-minded and sometimes a little too religious about following the rules, and after his last team disbanded thought he’d try the solo thing for a while? See how that worked for him, and then Ryan popped up and hey, someone has to do something, right?

And Trevor is just.

Huh.

A little uncomfortable to admitting the whole Master Thief thing? But since they opened up he can’t do any less.

Mentions the fact his parents were heroes – big names as that kind of thing goes – but he doesn’t name names. (Knows they’ll figure it out eventually if they stay in the city because hey, the press loves dragging their names up every now and then. Talking about the family drama that followed and so on and so forth., but figures that’s a Future Problem.)

There are more montage scenes where they continue to train, teamwork coming along nicely and friendships developing and such, and then!

One day Trevor’s out on a jog or walk and runs into this odd little figure.

Literally. (Well, almost literally.)

Glances down at his team communicator gadget on his wrist when it buzzes – Gavin with another of his bizarre hypotheticals – and has to do this awkward little stop-stumble-shuffle to keep from running into this guy.

On the short side of things and this look on his face as Trevor comes to a flailing stop. Also -

“You’re being lied to.”

???

Trevor stares down at this stranger because cryptic much? And of course he has to follow him after that because clearly that’s the smart thing to do in such a situation?

They go over to a park bench where the guy brings out this bag of frozen peas and feeds the ducks that come over curiously hoping for food – and slides Trevor this look.

“Bread’s bad for them,” he says, defensive note to his voice.

(Because yes he is playing out a spy movie cliché while carrying a bag of frozen peas in your coat pocket, but at least he’s being conscientious about things.)

The guy tells Trevor he’s being lied to about Ryan’s little team, all these little stories and secrets about what’s really been happening and Trevor listens because of course he does. Files everything he’s being told away to double and triple check later with Matt and other contacts he still (hopefully) has around the city because he’s not stupid.

Still, what he’s being told does sound an awful lot like the Ryan he remembers, and it’s -

It doesn’t hurt, not that much anymore. Not like it did at the start of it all. Now it’s just this dull little pain, like a bruise you didn’t know you had until you put pressure on it or knock it against something. (Quiet, lingering thing.)

The guy ran out of peas a while back, but there are still a few ducks hanging around, occasional little quacks and other sounds out of them hoping the idiot humans will feed them again.

But no, no, because the guy tucks the empty bag into a coat pocket and wipes his hands on his pants before he gets up to leave. Gives Trevor this look – sympathetic and walks away.

Trevor looks down at one particularly persistent duck, greedy little fiend and tells it he might bring something for it the next day if the weather’s good and goes back to the base Ryan gave him and his odd little team.

Sits on all the information he was given for a few days until he heads over to see Matt, who is just this side of Done with Trevor’s nonsense regarding the doorbell ringing serenades.

“A gift to that shrine you seem to be building!” Trevor chirps, bright and cheerful as he shoves a bag of collectibles and soon-to-be knickknacks that he couldn’t help notice Matt was missing on his earlier visit.

Matt sighs, because that’s what Matt does sometimes and Trevor doesn’t ask because he wouldn’t want to pry.

And then he asks Matt if he would mind looking into a few things for him?

Matt grumbles but hey, it’s almost impossible to find the collectibles Trevor brought him and it is Trevor, so.

“Fine, not like I had my hands full with other shit, but why not?”

Trevor beams at him and goes off to visit his other contacts around the city.

Gets back to HQ to find Alfredo and Gavin fucking around in one of the training rooms, Gavin laughing like an idiot as he snipes Alfredo with a Nerf gun? There are other similar weapons littering the area, and Trevor realizes they don’t know hes there, so he just.

Watches for a while.

Gavin coming up with ridiculous test scenarios and Alfredo agreeing or letting Gavin talk him into them and while it’s hardly scientific, there is some kind of method to their madness?

Sure, it’s mostly them goofing around, but it’s also weirdly productive? (Besides team bonding and the whatnot.)

And then Alfredo starts chasing Gavin for Revenge and Gavin almost runs into Trevor and it’s this oh, shit moment because the boss/team leader caught them goofing off?

(Trevor’s hardly been a terrible team leader to them, but there’s definite Distance between the three of them, feeling like the two of them have been forced on him and he’s not super duper keen about things, so. Yeah. Not sure how to read him and all that. Trust, sure, don’t really know which way he’d jump if things got rough.)

Alfredo rounding the corner all a-ha! Gotcha! And his oh shit moment when he sees Trevor.

Little standoff, Gavin backing up until he bumps into Alfredo who’s eyeing Trevor warily. (Wants to trust the asshole, right? But - )

Trevor smirks and pegs Gavin with one of the Nerf guns he picked up earlier and while Gavin and Alfredo are processing all that he pops Alfredo too.

Smirks, because he’s totally laughing at these two dorks, and challenges to best out of whatever, right?

Gavin and Alfredo share this look because ??? and Trevor feels guilty for not giving the two of them- his team – his all the way they deserved and hopes they’ll give him another chance and all that.

The three of them “train” for a while longer and Trevor realizes that yes, okay, they make for an odd team but Gavin and Alfredo aren’t that bad as people go and he puts more of himself into this Team thing.

Keeps running into the guy he met (not quite so literally) and getting cryptic bits of information from him about goings on and so forth.

And then there’s an attack on one of the company facilities the team gets called out to stop and things go about as you’d expect because they’re still not a team-team yet. Haven’t worked out the kinks in regards to teamwork and get in each other’s way. Come out of with minor injuries and property damage and nothing much to show for it.

Ryan isn’t pleased with the whole mess and Trevor steps up to shoulder the blame because he knows he’s not been the best team leader and so on and so forth. (Gets this look from Ryan who backs down easily enough and tells Trevor he hopes they’ll do better the next time there’s an attack and leaves to deal with the mess.)

Gavin and Alfredo just watching and realizing Trevor’s doing his best to do right by them so of course there’s bonding going on and all that.

Also, more training which means ~montage sequence~ and so on.

Trevor and meeting with Matt and his contacts and Mystery Duck-feeding Guy and all that.

And then!

Another attack, larger in scope and the Dusk Boys are holding their own for a while until some bruiser comes along and just. Flings them aside like annoying little flies.

Trevor getting back up in time to see Gavin about to get flattened, but then!

Then another hero type appears out of nowhere and takes care of the bruiser for them. Just bulls on in and takes all these hits before knocking the bastard out, and Trevor is just staring because its Mystery Duck-feeding Man. (Of course it is.)

The guy disappears before the authorities get there to clean up the mess from the fight, leaving Trevor and his team to deal with all of that, but Trevor is like HMM.

Lies about knowing who the guy that saved them was – this little pause from Gavin and Fredo because they know he’s lying, but they follow his lead when they’re questioned about it.

Things are quiet for a bit after that, Gavin and Fredo wanting to know what the deal is with their mystery savior and Trevor, but don’t want to alienate Trevor when they were just becoming a real team.

Ryan coming down to Talk to Trevor privately, seems troubled by the whole thing but Trevor lies to him too and Ryan -

Sighs and lets Trevor have his secrets and goes back to running the company and such.

And then!

More attacks and Trevor’s friend popping in to save them from time to time. Ryan popping in every so often and warning Trevor that things aren’t always what they seem and be careful who he trusts, which is a bit ironic, given the everything.

Matt and Trevor’s contacts get back to Trevor with the information he sent them hunting for and it’s enlightening, to say the least.

Goes to his suite at their little HQ and reads all about the shady things Ryan was rumored to be involved in before and after Trevor left to wander about willy-nilly.

Noted coolness towards the supers teams in the city, particularly towards the one their parents were once part of.

The way he had this focus on not quite replacing the hero teams in the city as being an auxiliary group for them? Providing support alternatives – so many villains and all that, teams can’t be everywhere.

Training programs for non-supers, gadgets they could use to suppress various powers and all this legal red-tape to wade through because talk about potential complications? (Whispers he might have take too much after his mother – first born and some never believed her heel-face turn was genuine. Just a ploy, and they’ve seen supervillains fake their deaths before. And, and, he’s always been a bit odd.)

Makes Trevor feel a little sick because it makes a terrible sort of sense – Ryan was so angry when their parents died. Even if the rumors about their mother faking her death are bullshit, Ryan’s feelings about that were never in doubt.

All this new information has him looking at Gavin and Alfredo in a new light. He doesn’t think they’re in on it, if Ryan’s up to something Nefarious, but maybe???

Before he can do anything about it, there’s another attack.

There have been so many, building up to something big, and this one takes place at the opening of one of those training facilities of Ryan’s for a private security force kind of thing. Most meant to look after the company’s interests, but contracts available to the city at large and all that.

City and law officials in attendance, instructors and investors, all that.

Ryan in a lovely little suit, and they get attacked.

Trevor was watching from a nearby roof, and Gavin and Alfredo are off…somewhere. (Day off and shenanigans to be had, you know.)

Trevor running before he knows it because they may not see eye-to-eye, but Ryan’s still Ryan.

Gets there in time to see the instructors and whatnot bundling the officials and reporters and whatnot off to safety. Realize that Ryan’s the target this time, and oh, what a time to be so unprepared.

No powers, just the training he’s got under his belt and all these dirty little tricks and this bastard of a supervillain who takes a hit like it’s nothing.

Full-face mask and something familiar to him – but he doesn’t get a lot of time to dwell on that because of all the fighting???

Anyway.

They keep fighting, Trevor doing his best to keep the bastard away from Ryan and the others who have sought shelter inside the facility, trying to reach the security center to put out a call for help and all. (In case people watching the live broadcast and all missed the commotion?)

The two of them are playing this cat and mouse game, Trevor ignoring the taunts being flung his way – bastard’s using a voice modulator so it’s extra creepy?

Uses little throwing knives and shuriken and the like because yes, and realizes after he ducks into hiding that the supervillain isn’t impervious because there’s some blood splattered around. Not enough to constitute a serious injury, but nice to know he’s not up against someone who isn’t even feeling any of Trevor’s attacks.

And then when the guy rushes him realizes he’s not just shaking off Trevor’s attacks, that he’s letting Trevor get hits on him so he can use his own blood to create armor???

Calls it up on his forearm to block or encases his hands with it when he attacks, sharp spikes that cut through Trevor’s clothes and the thin armor undersuit he always wears as a matter of habit? (Dangerous world out there, and even more so for someone in his line of work without powers of his own to speak of. The fact that the only armor undersuits Trevor trusts are made by the company Ryan’s run is just a coincidence, really.)

It’s kind of gross and impressive as hell – rare too, because (haha, not a joke) bloodlines and so on and this whole stigma of powers like that being mainly supervillainish?

And then!

The guy knocks him aside, tosses him through a display case or something and goes after Ryan and the others. Trevor struggling to get up, which is when Gavin and Alfredo show up – Dramatic Timing! - and he waves them on ahead because he’s not seriously hurt, okay.

Staggers after the two of them because can’t sit this one out and he’ll be fine in a bit, just needs to let his brain settle.

He follows the sound of fighting, gets to where the commotion is long enough to see Gavin’s bad luck kick in, see the little idiot get pinned under something and Alfredo rushing to his rescue and the supervillain go in for the kill.

Tosses out a normal little flashbang followed by a smoke grenade. (Has a pair of his special little goggles on because he’s no idiot and same principle behind the body armor and all? Like Batman only slightly less emotionally constipated.)

Turns out the supervillain’s face mask might have similar tech because he lunges out of the smoke at Trevor who grabs a bit of broken wood or something along those lines and swings out. Manages to crack the supervillain across the side of the face just so to dislodge the face mask. Twist it, bend it, whatever it’s broken/uncomfortable the bastard has to rip it off as he throws himself backwards just out of range.

Chest heaving and utterly furious and Trevor can’t do anything but stare, because he fucking well knows the asshole.

It’s Mystery Duck-feeding Guy!!!

This little stare-down until someone makes a noise – Gavin while Alfredo’s trying to pull him free – and Mystery Duck-feeding Guy looks at them.

At Trevor.

Wipes one of his hands through the blood on his face thanks to the blow to the head from Trevor and Trevor watches as he forms this deadly little dagger out of it.

Sleek, elegant. Deadly looking.

Does the whole slow Evil Smile bit and goes for Trevor’s idiots like oh hey, not going to get Ryan today? Why not take out of the idiots he’s hired instead?

Trevor reacts without thinking because no, his idiots, and finds out first-hand that hey, wow, a blood-knife (ugh, gross) will go through the armor undersuit as easily as those damn blood spikes.

Also, he’s kind of stabbed. A lot? A lot.

He gets Mystery Duck-feeding Guy all up in his personal space and glaring down at him like he didn’t want to do this, look what you made him do Trevor.

“I tried to warn you,” he says, and then he’s snarling again as Gavin and Alfredo double-team him, Trevor watching as they chase him off.

(Too much of a hassle to try for Ryan now, what with the sirens they can hear incoming and a pair of riled up supers. Missed opportunity and he’ll succeed next time.)

And then it’s Gavin and Alfredo rushing over to him, Ryan and the others who took shelter filtering out now the threat’s gone.

Ryan dropping down beside him and Trevor swears, swears, Ryan looks concerned. None of that careful distance, bland little smile he gives the media and just about everyone else to see now.

Might be the way he’s bleeding out, Alfredo doing his best to stop the bleeding and Gavin looking a little paler than normal trying to get him to focus, stay with them, c’mon you bastard.

All of Trevor’s blood insisting it wants out and he feels cold. (Winter’s coming on, though, so that’s probably it.)

Ryan makes this noise, awful to hear, and then he’s pushing Gavin out of the way – not angry, just like he’s in the way.

Says something to Alfredo Trevor doesn’t catch, and then he’s pressing down over the stab wound with those goddamned mitts of his, all these callouses he shouldn’t have anymore Trevor can feel, and cold.

Colder than the air outside, the chill in his bones seeping in as his blood goes out.

Something Trevor remembers from when they were kids, when their - Ryan’s - mom would tut over skinned knees and other small hurts.

Rest one of her hands over the injury and use her powers – dark, wrong everyone said, and only supervillains had powers like that – and made them go away. (This song she’d hum to distract from the sting of it, tissue and skin knitting back together.)

“Oh,” Trevor says, because it’s been a long, long time since Ryan’s used those powers he inherited, turned his back on the whole deal after their parents died. “Huh.”

…and then he passes the fuck out because he might not be actively dying, but he lost a lot of blood and also shock and the whatnot. (And y’know, Plot Reasons.)

Trevor wakes up in a hospital some time later and there’s this weight against his legs. Looks down and sees Gavin asleep in a chair with his head pillowed on his arms, elbows just brushing Trevor’s legs. (Can’t be in any way comfortable or good for his back, and Trevor totally doesn’t smile at the sight of it, no.)

He looks to his right when he hearts this little snorty-snore thing he definitely remembers fro way back when and Ryan’s in a chair beside his bed. Dozing off and looking awful the way he used to when he pushed himself too far.

It’s.

He doesn’t know what to make of that at the moment, or the odd chill he can still feel where he was stabbed - lingering almost tingly feeling of Ryan’s powers. (Ryan’s mother’s powers.)

“Hey,” Trevor hears, quiet enough not to wake Gavin or Ryan. “Congratulations on not being dead.”

Trevor blinks, because okay, yes. That is quite the accomplishment, and looks to the other side of the bed where Alfredo’s sitting.

Closer to the door, back straight and even with the lights turned down the way they are he can tell Alfredo looks tired.

“Thanks,” Trevor says, croaky little thing because his throat is dry and everything is kind of terrible. “I try.”

Alfredo hmms as though he’d very much like to dispute that but since Trevor probably looks as pathetic as he feels he lets him have that for the time being.

Alfredo fills him in on everything that happened after the whole passing out thing Trevor did. The police showing up along with the usual crowd of paramedics and all that, Ryan dealing with things and sending Alfredo and Gavin with Trevor while he dealt with the press.

Trevor side-eyeing the idiot in question because hey, yes.

Might be seen as a bit cold on his part, but he knows Ryan. How exhausted he would have been, “useless” if there was another attack and getting the three of them out of there while he did his best to appear in control of things.

Ryan wakes up just as Alfredo finishes catching Trevor up on things, has this look on his face like Trevor doesn’t even know, okay. (Some guilt to it, regret. Worry and concern, all sorts of things.)

“We’re, uh. Gonna leave you two to it, grab something to eat and all that” Alfredo says, shaking Gavin awake and pulling him out of the room so it’s Trevor and Ryan and their issues and all that.

Ryan clearing his throat because talk about subtle on Alfredo’s part, and then it’s Ryan’s turn to talk.

“I may not have been entirely…forthcoming with certain matters,” he says, which is an understatement.

Trevor is like “Oh? Do tell.”

So Ryan does.

This whole Thing that started after their parents died, all that anger and resentment he felt because he knew something was off about the explanation they were given?Their parents were members of the main hero team in the city and there was always this rift between the others members and them. They didn’t trust her after she gave up her villainous ways, resented her for ensnaring their leader’s affections and all, blinding him to “what she truly was” and all that.

So he stepped down as leader, let one of the others take over since they obviously felt his judgment was flawed. Stayed with the team for a while, few years, but it never got better.

They had Ryan and Trevor to think of, happy little blended family, (Ryan from his mother’s previous relationship and Trevor from his father’s) and the strain with the team had them considering retiring from the hero business altogether to raise their kids and all that?

Focus on using the company to good via charities and programs and so forth and so on to help others where possible.

But then the Incident with their mother’s former allies and a call for backup that went unanswered – too many conflicting accounts as to why.

An attack the rest of the team was dealing with elsewhere and no chance to send someone to help them.

Equipment jammed by baddies so they just never got the call. Other things along the same lines and this sense he got those were all lies - feigned remorse and guilt and so on in news releases, at their parents’ funeral and everything after no one else seemed to notice? (Not even Trevor.)

And then he started looking into things, found indiscrepancies and such and thought there was something bigger to this. Loose end of a conspiracy he started working to untangle and when he realized the scope of it – hazy glimpse – he realized he needed to Get Trevor out of the line of fire?

(Typical kind of conspiracy, self-interest and greed. Deals made with the wrong people for the wrong reasons and blackmail? Worry that Ryan’s mom knew, might Do Something about it and better get her out of the picture before they were exposed. And her husband too, because he’d never rest if he thought she was murdered for reasons other than the usual villainy.)

So he turned himself into a bastard, drove Trevor away and threw himself into taking over their parents’ projects with the company and untangling the conspiracy.

Didn’t like doing it of course, but better Trevor be far away from the mess instead of smack in the middle of it like Ryan was.

There were a few incidents here and there. Attempted assassinations and so on because the wrong people knew he was looking into things and the people close to Ryan insisting on a bodyguard, so in comes this bodyguard, right?

Bright, cheerful little asshole who sees right through Ryan’s cold bastard faced and befriends him, wins him over. Becomes a good friend, trusted confidante.

(Jeremy insisting on teaching Ryan to fight in case Jeremy’s not around or down for the count and Ryan being amused because look, okay.

His mother was a supervillain (reformed), and his father (step-father) was a superhero, and Ryan knows how to fight, but yeah, okay. Sure.

All these sparring matches with the usual shenanigans and Jeremy being all :DDDDDDDD at finding out Ryan can keep up with him and Ryan all >:D because vice versa)

“You would have liked him, I think,” Ryan says, sad little smile and all this hurt to it Trevor doesn’t quite understand.

But then Ryan keeps talking.

Tells Trevor about this one attempt on his life involving a super, and Jeremy – because of course it’s Jeremy – being forced to use his powers to save Ryan’s life and how scared he was afterwards.

Because, look.

That whole stigma about the blood armor/blood weapons thing he could do? Only villains have those kinds of powers and on and on and on because people are real, real dumb?

Jeremy lying and telling people he had some kind of kinetic energy absorption powers and all that when what he was creative use of his powers to protect/defend himself. (Took a lot of training to fool people like that, be so precise with it no one had noticed or realized.)

And Ryan okay.

He inherited is mother’s powers, ability to heal using darkness and all that. Their parents had kept it quiet because they knew how people were about that kind of thing, didn’t want him to be ostracized as a kid.

Told Ryan he could do what he wanted about it when he was older and his mother made sure he had control of his powers because it’s as easy to use them for harm. (And when he started on exposing this conspiracy decided it was best to act as though he didn’t have powers to speak of because reasons.)

Jeremy being all “Oh,” about it, and the two of them growing closer after that. (Trevor being ah at that part because he gets what that sad little smile was about now.)

And then!

Ryan bringing Jeremy in on the conspiracy thing of his and the two of them running across something big, something major.

Something that made someone panic, go after Ryan with intent, and Jeremy there to stop it.

Got grabbed, and the baddies knew he was important to Ryan, right? Were looking into Ryan as much as he was looking into them and oh, what a terrible thing to have a weakness like that, you know.

Because one of the baddies is a genius when it comes to brainwashing and they turn Jeremy against Ryan.

Take him and convince him Ryan’s the real enemy here, and Jeremy should do something about it.

So he does.

Goes after Ryan and this company he’s so proud of.

The two of them fight once or twice, Ryan reluctant to hurt Jeremy because he has this vague hope he can get through to him somehow and Jeremy using everything he can to hurt Ryan. (Scraps of memory of their friendship and almost something more they never quite got around to putting into words because idiots. Wore him down, broke his heart.)

And then people got hurt and Ryan -

He didn’t know what to do. Knew Jeremy needed to be stopped – for the innocents being pulled into this mess. For Jeremy himself, even if he never knows why.

But he doesn’t know who to trust, can’t trust the main hero team. Isn’t sure about the others in the city or the cops.

Looks into independents, and finds out about Gavin. Alfredo.

Thinks hmm, and maybe, and realizes they need a leader. Only really one person he’d trust, and all this time spent trying to come up with an alternative because he doesn’t want Trevor anywhere near this mess, you know? Went to extremes to make sure he wasn’t involved in the first place, and now with the Jeremy Thing -

But he doesn’t have a lot of choice in the end. (Trevor’s the only one he can trust to do what needs to be done because Ryan is well and truly compromised, and wow, wow. Don’t think he doesn’t feel guilty about putting that on Trevor without telling him why, but he’s at the end of his rope.)

So he calls Trevor home, and lies to him about things. (Nothing new there, and the guilt about that cuts the way it usually does, because he cares about his idiot of a brother that much.)

And then!

And then he thinks there’s a chance it won’t end in disaster when he gets Trevor’s reports about the team working well together. About their training and settling in to things. The way Trevor seems not to hate him as much as he used to. (It’s what Ryan wanted, after all, right? To keep him safe, and Jesus Christ, that’s a fucked up kind of reasoning.)

But then he hears about Trevor meeting with this strange little man – Matt and other contacts – and he Worries.

Tries to talk to Trevor about it but Ryan’s not the only one who learned to guard their secrets.

And then the latest attack and Trevor and Ryan not giving a fuck about keeping his powers a secret. (Also, you know, explanations long overdue.)

Trevor just stares at Ryan who’s looking down at his hands waiting for his reaction.

“My God,” Trevor says. “You really are just that stupid, aren’t you?”

Ryan flinching because look, harsh if not untrue.

Trevor hugging the idiot with this ache in his chest because goddamn is Ryan stupid trying to take all that on by himself.

(Angry too, because he didn’t need to do any of that on his own. Sure, Trevor doesn’t have powers, but he’s hardly helpless. And the lies, good God the lies. Gonna be a long way to good between the two of them with all that, but at least there’s a chance there now that Trevor knows what the hell has been going on with Ryan all this time.)

Alfredo and Gavin come back and Ryan fills them in too, tells them they understand if they want to quit the team after that. (Lies being no way to base any kind of relationship on and all, even a working one.)

Trevor stays quiet, lets them make their own decisions, which you know.

They’re shaken by the Conspiracy Thing, but of course they’re going to stay, because friendship. (And Doing the Right Thing.)

And then, you know.

Long, long fight ahead of them trying to pin Jeremy down.

That time he and Ryan end up trapped together somewhere and forced to work together to get out of the situation?

Ryan trying to get through to him even though Jeremy thinks he’s the literal worst?

The time Trevor, Gavin, and Alfredo end up stranded somewhere with one of them seriously injured and are forced to realize oh, no FEELINGS. (Ryan laughing at them because he saw that one coming a mile away, and happy because Trevor’s happy???)

Baddies getting tired of Jeremy just not killing Ryan (there was this one time he kind of did, but Ryan got better, and Jeremy’s brainwashing cracking before Ryan got better because what is this emotion he’s feeling as he stares at Ryan’s body???) so they take matters into their own hands and Jeremy forced to work with the Dusk Boys to protect Ryan.

And then you know, Climactic Battle where Jeremy’s given the choice to kill Ryan or turn on the baddies and decides to save Ryan. (Hasn’t broken the brainwashing, but over time he’s come to realize the baddies aren’t telling him everything? And in spite of their many battles and the whatnot Ryan and the Dusk Boys never tried to kill him, okay. Stop him, sure. Kill? No.)

After the dust clears and the Conspiracy exposed, all guilty parties behind bars or whatever, Jeremy’s still not back to himself, but he doesn’t have reason to be a villain anymore.

(Also, they find out there’s no way to reverse the brainwashing, so there’s that little bombshell.)

But he also needs to Think, so he disappears for a while. Gets bits and pieces of memory back, enough to know his head’s all fucked up and wanders for a bit more coming to terms with that. (The feelings he has for Ryan – conflicting and confusing as hell and he doesn’t know what he wants there either, so even more wandering because of course.)

Eventually he heads back home because he’s tired and still confused, but he’s not going to find his answers wherever he’s been roaming around.

Stays under the radar for a bit, long enough to find out the Dusk Boys are making a name for themselves in the city. That Ryan’s company is going strong, all these programs and such doing a lot of good for the people here.

The main hero team has disbanded, a new one taking their place and new faces. New villains too.

Kind of laughs at himself when he goes to help the Dusk Boys out in a fight, and sees their surprise, hesitation – not sure what he’s doing back or helping them? - but they shake off any concerns they have about that because civilians in danger!!1!

Afterwards they drag him back to their base (he doesn’t put up much of a fight on that one) and call Ryan up and it’s this.

Thing.

Because Ryan’s surprise at seeing him again. And this. Jeremy won’t call it hope at seeing him with the others, because Ryan locks it down so fucking fast, but it’s something that makes him think he made the right call in coming back?

After that Jeremy sticks to himself – still working things out, trying to shake the brainwashing that’s more of a curtain between Now Him and Before Him instead of what it was in the beginning. (This burning jagged thing in his head, wrong, but he could never understand how or why.)

Trevor hints that Ryan could use a bodyguard – with the main baddies gone you wouldn’t think he needs one? But he’s a super duper tempting target and he’s got business enemies too. (Also, also, known supporter/creator of the Dusk Boys so their enemies will be going after him, which lol.)

Jeremy isn’t so sure about it what with doing his best to kill Ryan all those times? And Ryan is like. He doesn’t want to put Jeremy in a difficult spot, but!

There’s an attempt on Ryan’s life and Jeremy protects him without a second thought and oh, hey, okay. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst possible thing?

Jeremy chips away at the brainwashing the longer he’s around Ryan, remembers how things used to be between them in little glimpses and so on. (No way to break it, but without the person responsible for it reinforcing/refreshing it/whatevering it around, it weakens over time.)

They fall into old habits that has Ryan all ow, my heart at how familiar it is, and Jeremy all feelings???

Ryan doesn’t push, doesn’t want to hope, but Now Jeremy is so similar to Before Jeremy and he forgets sometimes.

Brings up in-jokes and so on that feel so familiar to Jeremy and he’s not sure why? (He is, he just doesn’t get the context.)

Ryan always apologizes and Jeremy always tells him he doesn’t need to and it’s awkward between them.

But then ~FEELINGS and the start of something new between them because Ryan isn’t expecting anything from Jeremy and Jeremy comes to respect Ryan – to like him.

And just.

Angsty hurty bittersweet feels for them as they fall in love a second time, because I’m That Person.

And then, you know.

Happily(ish) ever afters for everyone???

#jeremwood #dusk boys superhero au #ragehappy #prompt fills #captainkaysno #technically not a fic #vagrant fic #this really really got away from me???#hopefully this is somewhat what you wanted?#XD

43 notes · View notes

annanooo · 4 years

Text

whumptober: numb

Bloom (Steve has powers AU for Whumptober 2019) — Harringrove

His headache was sporadic and then it grew like a fire until one day — although days were relative now, so maybe it was just at some point — he couldn’t get up from bed.

It was unlike any migraine or hangover he’d ever had. It didn’t make a difference whether the lights were on or off. It didn’t matter if it was totally silent or if Billy was talking, except that listening to words made him sick. The pain was constant and all-encompassing and now it was definitely starting to crush his brain.

“Hey, assholes!” Billy yelled at the door. Ever since they’d dragged him away the other day, he seemed to spend most of his time yelling. “Get that fucking doctor in here!”

Steve turned his face out of the pillow to see Billy back away from the door and stand in front of the camera. He flipped it off.

He was still getting stronger every day. The doctors had to check on his wounds less and less. Meanwhile, Steve was falling apart. Maybe that was a new aspect of his powers. Maybe he just took everyone else’s sickness and pain until they got better, and he, what— died? His own head exploded? Was that how this was gonna end?

“I think they’re coming.” Billy was suddenly much closer to him, right by the bed. He sounded nervous when he said, “You’re bleeding, dude.”

The door opened up and he watched, blurry-eyed, as the doctor took the IV stand from beside Billy’s bed and hung something on it for him. He should have been worried about getting drugged again, but he found that he didn’t give a shit as long as his head stopped splitting open.

Maybe he passed out or something, because the next thing he knew he was floating up to consciousness. Really floating.

He was lying on his back now. The IV was attached to him, stuck in his arm. And when he looked up, Rines was standing there. Asking him something. “Is the headache gone?”

Steve found himself nodding. It was gone. His brain felt totally numbed, stuffed with cotton.

“What happened?” someone else said— Billy. He was sitting on his own bed with his legs hanging off the side, all tensed up and protective of his space. The doctor must have already left. No one else was in the room.

“We’re still working on finding out,” Rines said. Steve tried to figure out if he actually knew what was wrong and just didn’t want to let on that he was dying, but he couldn’t tell if it was a lie. Everything coming in was muddled, ungraspable. Back at Steve, sounding almost friendly, he said, “We can see how you do once this wears off.”

Billy scoffed. “Are you kidding me?”

“What do you want from me?” He always managed to sound diplomatic. “We have to wait and see. That’s how science is.”

“What do I want from you?” Billy said, voice rising again. It sounded syrupy in his ears. “How about you really tell us what’s going on. Or how about you let us go free.”

“Billy. If either of you left this facility, you wouldn’t last long.” Rines looked at Steve pointedly. He sounded sincere, and goddamnit, Steve hated that his powers were so muted.

It didn’t take psychic powers to pick up on Billy’s uncertainty. “Bullshit.”

“I mean it. We want—”

“Don’t even say you want to help us,” Billy cut in. A little bristly feeling made it through the haze to Steve and he smiled despite himself.

But attitude got him nowhere with Rines. Steve could have told him that. The man sighed and straightened the cuffs of his shirt. “Steve,” he said, turning away from Billy purposefully. Steve nodded at him automatically. “The doctor will be back in a bit to see how you’re doing.”

After he left, Billy muttered, “Fucker.” He sat simmering on his bed, eyeing Steve and the IV drip next to his bed. His shoulders were still tensed up. “Your nose was bleeding. Before.”

“Oh, yeah.” Steve sounded far away to his own ears. “It does that now.”

“Why?”

“The headache?” He was tired. Now that the pain had vanished, he thought maybe he could finally get some sleep. The light didn’t even bother him, especially not since he learned the reason Billy liked to leave it on. “Or the powers, maybe. I know a girl like that. She uses her powers, she gets a nosebleed.”

“You were using them?” he asked.

“Oops.” Steve hadn’t told him yet. It was hard to keep track of his secrets and he couldn’t remember why he was bothering to lie to Billy, anyway. “It’s kinda, like, constant. Like hearing. But feeling.”

Billy looked hilariously baffled. “Feeling what?”

“Your feelings.” He grinned, but it dropped when he saw Billy’s expression turn cagey immediately. Oops, oops, oops. “I can’t turn it off, though. It’s not my fault.”

“What, you’ve been in my head this whole time?”

“Your head’s been in my head, actually.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Billy said over him. His face had closed off, looked almost betrayed like Steve had been snooping in his stuff on purpose. He drew his legs up onto his bed and looked away, over at the door, the camera — anywhere but Steve, as if not looking would do anything to hide his feelings. If only it worked that way.

That, he was pretty sure, was the last time Billy talked to him in days.

#harringrove #bloom #whumptober2019 #no.29 #numb #i prob don't need to tag it anymore but #anyway #next chapter's lit #i need to write more #shit i wrote #fic

9 notes · View notes

spidercakes · 4 years

Note

what about highschool au request about football player falling in love Penny parker from the photography club

I decided to make this guy a lil dude and I figured I’d try a pairing I’ve never written before (since the pairing wasn’t specified) and go with Steve x Peter (well, Penny). I wouldn’t quite call this falling in love, but its at least a start :)

(Sidenote, I just got off work so these aren’t my best work, but they’re still fun I hope!)

“Oh my god, stop staring its fucking weird,” Carol says, throwing a fry at him and Steve bats it away, annoyed.

“I wasn’t staring,” he mumbles even if he was.

Even Matt looks unconvinced and he’s fucking blind. “Why don’t you just ask her out?” Bucky suggests like Steve is capable of talking for more than a half a noise straight around Penny. And he doesn’t even know why because she’s kind of awkward, a little too obsessed with Star Wars and her friend, Ned, he’s even weirder and its not a bad thing but it kind of takes the intimidation out of the whole thing. Or it should but he has an easier time talking to Natasha, who is both drop dead gorgeous and rumored to have knifed four people.

There’s just something about Penny though. So she’s a little awkward- she also happens to be really smart and Steve has seen her pictures. They’re good and not in a ‘teenager doesn’t take the worst photos ever’ type of way, they’re genuinely good. He knows plenty about art, he’s always had an interest in it, so he knows about photo composition too. Clearly so does Penny because her yearbook pictures are always the best. She got a really good one of him last year jumping to catch a football and that could have landed in a sports magazine it was so good. Steve wasn’t even making a weird face in it.

“Do you guys always hand out the worst advice?” he asks.

Penny doesn’t get what Rogers’ problem is. They hardly interact so he doesn’t get why he hates her so much and honestly he’s a dick about it too because he’s always polite to her face. Ned thinks he has a crush but Ned is on fucking crack because there is no way Steve Rogers, football golden boy, has any kind of positive feelings towards her. He regularly talks to Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov- first of all she’s hot as hell. She might not swing that way but she’s not an idiot either, if she had to choose a woman to sleep with it would be Natasha. So if Steve has that as an option there’s no way he thinks anything decent about her. Unless its a competition of who has knifed less people, then she definitely wins that out.

“I don’t think you give you enough credit, you’re cute,” Ned says.

Penny squints at him, “the last time I talked to Steve Rogers I ran straight into a glass door and fell on my ass. I’m not made to date hot footballers. I’m in photography club. I’m social suicide,” she reasons. Not that Steve super cares about that, he flits between groups surprisingly seamlessly for a meathead but still.

“Maybe he thought it was cute,” Ned offers.

She rolls her eyes, “and maybe you decided I was marriage material when I accidentally dropped your LEGO death star,” she says, earning an offended noise out of Ned. Yeah, he’d been real upset but they bonded as they put it back together so at least there was that.

Eventually she has to abandon Ned at the bleachers so she can take pictures of the game and she kind of resents that football eats like eighty percent of the school budget. She could use a better camera but she makes do with what she’s got. Good pictures aren’t hard to find with people moving around the way they are, but making sure they aren’t blurry as hell takes work. She’s familiar enough with the camera that she manages to get a few good ones before the game is out and she’s headed back to the bleachers when someone manages to catch up with her.

“Penny, hey! Wait a minute!” someone says and she turns to find, of all people, Bucky Barnes there. “Uh. Want to go on a date with Steve?” he asks, awkward now that he’s got her attention.

She stares at him for a solid ten seconds, trying to determine if this is some kind of cruel joke or not. Steve notices off to the side and runs over, “oh my god what did he do?” he asks, horrified.

“Asked me out,” she tells him and she’s a bit surprised by the look of betrayal on his face when he looks at Bucky.

“For you, dumbass. I don’t have an interest. No offense,” he adds to her.

“Some offense taken, but fair enough,” she says.

Steve still looks horrified. “Oh my god Buck, you can’t just ask people out for me!”

“Well she said yes so now you gotta take her out,” Bucky lies and Steve looks dumbfounded.

“You what?” he asks her specifically. Bucky is giving her a look like Steve would actually be offended if she said no.

“Uh. Yeah, said yes. Would love to go on a date with you,” she says awkwardly. Bucky looks weirdly relieved at this and Steve continues to look dumbfounded.

For a moment she thinks he’s going to say nothing, or worse, tell her this was some sort of cruel joke but he does neither. “Oh wow, okay. Um. I was thinking of going to that art exhibit thing at the Smithsonian if you wanted to do that,” he says, cheeks turning a little pink and is Steve Rogers blushing at her?

This must be bizarro world or something. “Sure,” she says. She had kind of wanted to go too and now she’s got an excuse, she guesses.

Bucky grins, “great! Its a date!” he says, walking off towards Carol, who appears to be half trapped in her helmet.

Steve goes to turn around too but Penny stops him. “Wait, hold on a sec. I’ve kind of always wanted to ask but since I like… now have an excuse to- what in the cousin fucking tarnation were Bucky’s parents thinking when they named him that?” she asks.

She doesn’t expect to lose it laughing but he does. “Its short for Buchanan, but that’s hilarious,” he tells her.

#peter parker x steve rogers #fanfiction #alternate universe

12 notes · View notes

five-wow · 5 years

Text

9.20 thoughts! this got very long, just as an fyi.

not even a minute in and some guys sold a teenage girl a gun. oh boy.

on the plus side: i remember which episode this is now! it’s the one with the gun that somehow has a connection to lots of five-0 members’ lives!

the banter between those two cops was really fun (and not as stilted as it sometimes is when a random Cop Or Security Duo shows up!) and then one of them got shot and something like that kind of HAD to happen but i’m still sad

OKAY so the first connection is that junior is friends with one of the guys who sold the gun and the guy shows up at HQ and i was like, oh no, but then he tells junior what he did!!! that’s so good!!! i’m weirdly proud of this very minor side character who did a very bad thing

DANNY. THERE’S DANNY. i technically knew he had to be in this episode somewhere because i’ve seen photographical evidence of it here on tumblr, but THERE HE IS. YAY. i mean, i love almost all of the main cast, but i think part of the reason why it took me a month to watch the previous episode was because danny wasn’t in it. it still just doesn’t feel right. it’s like there’s something missing. and here that something is!

junior and his buddy leave and steve and danny are alone in the office and steve said something case-related directly to danny and i’m weirdly excited about that, too!! my bars are literally so low.

BABY STEVE. baby steve is watching inspector gadget, oh my gosh, aw.

i love how doris is supposed to be there and she picks up the phone and tells mini steve to turn down the tv, but we never see any part of her except a hand and some hair because they didn’t hire the actress for this episode. so subtle.

i am... so conflicted about this scene. on the one hand, mini steve is super cute. on the other, we’re probably supposed to like young john here and think he’s a Good Dad but i just... kind of low key hate everything he does. he looks annoyed when doris tells him the call is for him, like she’s bugging him somehow after being the one who picked up the phone in the first place, and the whole “i have to go to work. take care of your mom while i’m gone, okay?” that he says to steve is so bad, omfg. steve is what, five? i know the “man of the house” thing is very common in media but it’s! so! stupid! doris is a grown woman and steve is a tiny little boy - doris has to (and can!) take care of steve, not the other way around, god. /rant

oh! we do get a full body shot of doris but it’s blurry doris! and she’s SUPER PREGNANT which makes the fact that john let her get up to answer the phone in the first place kind of bad too, actually, oh boy.

doris: “john, if something was wrong you’d tell me, right?” john: “i’m not gonna lie to you, i don’t know. just lock the door behind me, i’ll try to call you as soon as i get this straightened out.” OMG WHAT. okay a) this is hilarious knowing as we do that doris was actually a highly trained cia agent/assassin and probably way more skilled than john and outranks him by far, fjdkfd, and b) i’ll give john a little credit for being somewhat honest and not just going with “no, everything’s totally fine, don’t worry”, but the answer he does give is almost worse because it’s so incredibly vague, holy shit. he says “i’m not gonna lie to you” and he doesn’t, but he also doesn’t tell doris who called or what they said or why he’s suddenly leaving for work in the middle of the night or why he thinks she needs to lock the door.

i’m only six minutes in at this point. i’m talking too much oh gosh

WAIT WAIT WAIT. john is offering himself up as a hostage, alone and unarmed and without backup, and THAT’s the “oh, i don’t know if there’s something wrong honey” situation he was leaving for? john. the fuck. now the “i’m not gonna lie” was definitely a lie after all.

the guy with the gun: “you’re such a good boy, john.” i respectfully disagree, my man.

the guy with the gun apparently killed his business partner and john arrested him (of course) and he and john have a talk about it where the guy is like “i shouldn’t have gone to prison!” and john is like “you got off lightly!” and it’s okay but. john is so smug about it and i hate that. he’s probably supposed to look bad ass and cool but i just. i just really dislike it. it’s this macho man thing and i’m not into it at all.

guy with gun, talking about his son: “you made sure he grew up without a father.” this, um, kind of made me laugh, because apparently that’s one of john’s specialties - for this guy’s kid by sending him (probably deservedly) to prison, sure, but later also his own kids by sending them away, fdjfkd. wow.

ooohhhh the gun guy said “steve, right?” and the frame kind of flipped to present day steve and that was very cool! i loved that.

2010 danny! and he’s talking to grace on the phone!!! already love it.

i also love that they gave him a baseball cap, presumably to hide the kind of obvious difference in hair that nine years brought.

danny kind of snubs the local food and it’s very 2010!him, but oh danny. it’s not the poor shop owner’s fault that your ex dragged you there against your will.

oh BOY. the shop gets robbed and the owner shot (which was expected, of course, when a main character wanders in there at night), and then danny asks the random woman shopping there to keep pressure on the owner’s wound until the ambulance gets there (which... he hasn’t called, and he also hasn’t told her to call for one, so that, uh, might take a long, long while) and then he takes the shop owner’s shotgun and RUNS AFTER THE SHOOTER. which is very heroic of him but also makes every single complaint he has in season 1 about steve’s daredevil approach to law enforcement VERY IRONIC.

oh, danny loses the guy and NOW he calls it in, fjdkfkd.

jerry is doing some smart tracking thing on the computer and it’s pretty regular h50 stuff but there’s an email adress on the screen that’s literally “gunlover[bunch of numbers]” and i’m screaming oh gosh

they already found the girl! but her dad is understandably not that jazzed about letting his daughter be investigated for murder. but good job on tracking her down so quickly!

2015 tani at a party!!! aww.

ohhh gosh koa is target shooting with the gun, which probably means he’s going to end up getting framed for something, oh no.

oh boy, tani has the same concerns so she confronts her boyfriend about it but she also knows her boyfriend’s in a gang and then the police comes knocking at his door about a murder, so that’s not going to end well.

ooh, 2015 tani was a police informant! and she’s talking to a pretty cool female detective and i appreciate that, even though you’d have to squint to count this scene as passing the bechdell test because almost every sentence references tani’s boyfriend, the boyfriend’s gang or tani’s brother.

steve and danny are interrogating a suspect together!! i might be completely wrong, but i feel like we haven’t seen that in a while.

suspect: “i don’t know if either of you guys are married, but even if it goes south, you can’t shut down some of those feelings, you know? like the ones that go right down into the core.” HMMM. INTERESTING. the camera is literally on danny’s face for a good portion of this, gosh.

they close their main case and i thought for a moment there was going to be some big twist because the episode isn’t near over yet, but instead they realize that this gun was used for a whole bunch of other crimes. it’s a “community gun”! i love that term, wow. how nice and cooperative of them all, sharing this one piece between them.

danny recognizes his case from the ones on the screen!!! and he tells the rest of them that he went to get a bite to eat on his first night in hawaii and that the store was robbed, and i’m kind of glad that at least the team seems to recognize that this is extraordinarily bad luck, ha.

also, steve barely reacts to danny’s story, so i’m taking that to mean that he definitely already knows it. which would make total sense! this seems like the kind of thing danny would rant about at some point during one of his “why i hate hawaii” tirades in season 1, but still, i like that. they know each other.

fjdkfjdk i LOVE how the whole team is standing there and piecing together the fact that they have connections to a ridiculous number of the crimes committed with this one gun, and jerry keeps commenting about how freaky it all is. this is so much fun, awww.

young john gets shot but of course he was wearing a vest, because he can’t die yet, because he needs to save that for a moment much later when he’s scarred his kids more and when he can die horribly on the phone with his son.

OKAY BUT “d. lukela”!!!! i’ve been watching the john bits very sceptically at this point but THIS I DID NOT SEE COMING and i ADORE IT.

john: “listen, duke, i’m not gonna lie to you man...” WHY do you keep saying that john, omfg. at least this time you’re telling the truth about not lying, i suppose. 50% not lying about not lying isn’t much, but it’s a start.

steve!! remembers!! that night!! and it’s because he was six and really scared because he knew something was wrong oh nooo

danny and tani talking in the car is super nice!!! and danny gets to drive the camaro for once which, wow, that’s pretty shocking

ahhhhh, the only thing this danny+car scene was missing was steve and then he CALLS. very good.

i just. listen. i just love danny. the way he keeps butting into the tense conversation between tani and this guy she used to know who she put in prison? it’s both hilarious and secretly very kind, because it’s making the moment so much more bearable for tani.

danny and tani find the guy from the convenience store robbery and he just turns around and puts his hands on his back to be cuffed when they ask him to! he doesn’t pull out a gun from somewhere or even try to run away! holy shit!

duke and steve are in california rounding off steve’s dad’s case and of course they get shot at before even knocking on the door and then the suspect runs for it, too. maybe it’s just steve. maybe their work would be a lot easier if steve’s presence didn’t magically make all the suspects shoot and run.

and the gun gets put away in a box in evidence storage, closing the case(s). aww. that’s a nice end.

okay, so, as much as i complain about john mcgarrett, i did really enjoy this episode very much! it was a really fun idea to have this gun travel around the island and use it to show little parts of characters’ backstories and i liked the execution of it too, plus the pacing was good and it had some funny moments and it had (very importantly) danny in it. and tani’s background!!! i think that was the one that surprised me most, because danny being a good cop with bad luck and steve having a not-so-great dad are a bit of a given at this point (though i still enjoyed seeing that, too!), but we knew precious little about tani’s life before five-0, and apparently there’s a huge story there. knowing what this episode showed us, i kind of want her to have a conversation with kamekona at some point - they both had a youth where they (almost) went the wrong direction, and they both got out of that in part for the sake of their brothers, and then they both ended up in the five-ohana somehow, which is probably not a place they ever saw themselves. i don’t know, i just love the idea of this unexpected friendship/understanding between two characters who don’t seem to have a lot in common at first glance.

also, more general comment: the funny thing is, until i watched this episode i hadn’t realized how much i missed this silly show and its silly characters over the past month. i totally did that not-watching-it thing to myself (not even intentionally, but still) and clearly it was more of a mistake than i realized because oh my god it felt good to see them all on my screen again, gosh. :D

#9.20 #h50 #this!! this is the kind of thing i want more of #*

17 notes · View notes

fulldreamsahead · 6 years

Text

Match Made in Heaven

I had a full-on black mirror length episode dream last night. I want to submit it as an episode because its so wild. We just watched all of Black Mirror last week so.... If you don’t know what it is, its a British show that’s on Netflix now where each season is just a collection of single stand alone story episodes that are twilight zone esque but are based around technology and its ramifications in the future. So here we go

To paint the picture, I have no name. I have a 20-something tall lanky boy. I have a mess of dark hair that falls into my face annoyingly and dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep. The lack of sleep is a combination of being caused by my rowdy group of friends that I have no idea why they keep me around and my own anxiety (see sentence one). I am painfully shy but I think they find my jokes hilarious which is why they force me out of my room all the time to go out with them. Whenever I need to be calmed down I throw myself into YouTube cooking channels. Something about someone talking to a blurry camera they have set up while cooking or the top down tasty view really relaxes me.

I am about to start back my last year of college. This could be match year for me and I am extremely nervous about it. In my world everything is run by The System™. It’s an advanced computer software that takes the guessing out of living life. It is constantly monitoring your progress through life and how you interact with other people and even with yourself when you are alone. It takes all this analysis and then uses it to make a schedule for it. Everyone follows the schedule without question because it genuinely makes them happy. You don’t know what you want to be when you grow up? The system is constantly analyzing what you are best at and what you enjoy so it can accurately select a job for you that you would be best at. It took into account that while I love cooking and wanted to be a chef when I was younger, as I got older and more full of anxiety the thought of having to be stuck in a kitchen for 10 hours a day maybe more to cook for people with their whole meal plan happiness riding on me caused me multiple sleepless nights. It took this and my interest in cooking videos into account and found that when I graduate from college I will start my own cooking show as a director/producer. I will be given a star as a puppet to cook my recipes stress free. You might think, but doesn’t this not sound appealing to you, you aren’t the real star? The truth is I don’t want to be. I hear about people who enjoy cooking and eating my food. I don’t even want to be the one who makes it. I just want to be the person that gives them the option of that enjoyment. I am getting off track though, The System™... The System™ will select my job, it selected my class schedule every school year since I was born. It selects my dinner plans when I want to go out, it schedules and gets me tickets for events I want to go to. The System™ is flawless. The best part about it is there is choice. If you are tired of going going going The System™ doesn’t schedule anything and goes idle allowing you free time to do anything. My friends come around drunk at 2 am asking me to go play tennis in the courts even though they are off limits? We can go do that. We might get in trouble by the campus police if they catch us, but that’s the thrill of it. I want to stay up until 4 am even though I have an 8 am class the next day watching drunken kitchen? I get that enjoyment and the misery the next day. I even get the choice to whether I can muster through class or sleep blissfully for another few hours. The System™ allows choice, it even allows consequence. It just makes the hardest choices for you and you are free to widle away your free time however you want. It uses this time to gather data anyway to make future choices so where is the harm in that.

Match year: In your final semester of college The System™ is advertised to know enough about your life that it can start matching you with your loved one. As The System™ is so flexible you get a year of interaction with said significant other before it determines if you should marry. The System™ allows for multiple romances, my grandmother, rest her soul, was married twice in her life. She was with her first husband for 25 years from Age 22-47. In the later years his and her interests changed and no longer aligned for their retirement at 65. The System™ announced they were already divorced and already had new places to live. My grandmother was remarried 5 years later to the man she was with until she died at 85. She was blissfully happy even when she passed. You begin to have your matching option in your last year of college (if the typical four year college route was chosen for you). Not everyone gets matched this year but the option is now available if you are ready and I feel like I am ready. I’ve dreamed and have counted down the days to my final year of college so I can have a chance at romance. With all this desire how could The System™ not find me a match?

It’s 11:56pm. The systems updated events come out at midnight on Saturday. Mostly people check their events when they awake in the morning but the thought of waiting to see this semesters schedule is driving me up a wall. When the clock rolls over I will know if I was matched. It along with my housing situation and my class schedule for this semester will be revealed. I am in agony for 4 long minutes. A small set of party balloons float down my phones screen and pop with the words update available. The cute surprise does not faze me and I smash my thumb into the words to get the update. The screen loads instantly but even that seems like an eternity. When the words appear it takes me a moment to process them fully. ‘Congratulations you have been matched!’ lists across the top of my screen. I am already laying down in the dark of my room but I feel like I could fall back further and let the phone fall down onto my chest. The phone is clear so this does little to stop the light it produces but the sentiment is clear. I open my eyes not realizing I have squeezes them shut and scream yes at the top of my lungs. I neighbors dog barks out scared. I laugh to myself and throw my arm over my face before realizing I should read the rest of my message to get the rest of my schedule.

Fast forward to move-in day. I will be living in a shared quarters with another match couple. We share a living room kitchen area with their room and a small bathroom on one side and our room and a small bathroom on the other. I arrive before my match and wait to unpack. I’d rather us do it together. She arrives like a ray of sunshine. She looks like Allison Williams and she is a delight, her name is Marnie (just like in Girls) and she is a tour de force. She is strong, outspoken, and determined. I can tell I am constantly surprising her but she refuses to completely let on. For example she arrives with her parents to help her unpack. She greets me with a wide smile and asks if I have been here long. I tell her only a few hours and she glances behind me at my stacked boxes. She cocks her head and says ‘ you haven’t unpacked in that time?’ I tell her I was waiting for her and she has this microsecond where she visibly glancing inward with a small smile. The microsecond passes and she is back on like a bright light, wisking me up in her enthusiasm as she takes the lead on how we should unpack everything. She takes such charge and is so successful in doing so that even her parents fall into her direction. We quickly unpack everything that day. Not to be presumptuous we shower separately but join each other in the same bed that night. We lay facing each other but I can tell she has an air of caution. I tell her not to worry, let’s let things progress naturally. She evaluates my statement and finds it to be truthful and visibly relaxes. She tells me that she is secretly glad I am the way I am. She confesses that she thought she might be paired with some macho guy to ‘knock her down a peg’. She said she was afraid because she likes to lead and not be weighted down by anything. She said she feels free with me like I am an extension of her. I tell her it feels like I have been waiting for her. She laughs and says I better be ready, she hates cooking. I tell her the career path I’m on and she falls back into her pillow laughing. She praises he System™ and for the first night in awhile I am able to sleep soundly.

The next week passes comfortably. We get to know each other in a slow pace and we enjoy each others company. We never rush or show much affection in the beginning and I find that to be a relief. It really feels like there is no pressure. I go to my classes and make new friends. West is in my computer editing class and he is a riot. For some reason he is like Dewie from Malcom in the middle and I often find him outside of class sitting at the dinner table. Our hall director is Hal from Malcom in the Middle, he is good natured if not sometimes bumbling. I meet with West everyday for lunch and we fall into a steady rhythm. He shows me this insane code he has been working on. Its a type of virus that lets you hack other peoples System’s and gather some of their prerecorded data. I tell him that sounds dangerous. He laughs me off saying he’s been using it to make memes of his other three roommates. They are all similar natured to him and they find it to be a hoot. I tell him I am glad The System™ paired him with like minded individuals and that I would be wary myself. He laughs me off and says that is why we don’t live together but I might not be so lucky if I lose to him at another game night. I chuckle but I have a nagging nervousness that he is telling the truth as a veiled joke.

My hall is the single floor of a four story building. We are at the top. Each room houses 4 people and there are many ‘dorms’ on my hall. Each day passes comfortably until about 3 months have passed. Everyday I am grateful to the match with Marnie. Everything is so perfect I can’t believe I ever lived my life any other way. We are required to make progress reports weekly after the first month. It’s The System™ ‘s way of tracking how its match went. I sit down on the night that Marnie has a study group to record this week’s entry. I am overwhelmed by my happiness. I set my System in its port on my desk and it projects as a large monitor. I select face-cam in my weekly reports menu and record the following;

“I am unthinkably happy. I never thought I could feel this kind of happiness’ I look away for a moment and cover my mouth. A single tear runs down my check and I am quiet. I turn back to the screen and whip it away saying “its all thanks to The System™ “

What I don’t notice is the screen flickering during my recording. The playback starts and the video is played back to me:

“I am un-” the video skips. “happy. I never thought I could feel this kind of-” another skip “-sness” I look away for a moment and cover my mouth. A single tear runs down my check and I am quiet.

The video ends there and the only option is submit. I stare in horror, my body wound tight. The end of happiness sounds like a weak sadness. The whole video has taken on a new tone. While you can clearly see the video appears badly edited I am not sure if The System™ can tell. I nervous put my hand down on the table as if I were holding a mouse. The System™ responds as if I am and I move the cursor wildly around the screen. I know that The System™ does not allow you to change your reports to keep 100% honesty. You have to be prepared to record. I move my hand off the table and look defeated. The system starts to count down to submit, most people record and then walk away letting The System™ submit for them. I scream in frustration and push my way out of my chair knocking it over. It falls to the floor and I turn away. I heat the soft submission noise and turn back to bang my hands on the table. I calm myself and think there is no way that The System™ can’t tell its messed up right? I feel a bit better with a small egg of nervousness in my gullet.

The next day my fears are confirmed. When I return from my classes Marnie is sitting on the bed looking shell shocked. I stare at her openly and she looks up saying our match has been terminated. She wanders around the room pacing trying to work out why it’s happened. I am completely frozen. I want to tell her what happened but I can’t move. How could this happen? The System™ is so perfect. The next few days are a bit of a blur. Marnie becomes distant. She believes in the system too much and thinks it must be true. Its like she shifts her brain into this new setting and boom is fine with the decision. She treats me like nothing more than a roommate at this point and I cannot shake the numb that has overtaken me. At the end of one week it is announced that she will be moved to a new room and I will get a new roommate. Finally my numbness breaks and I am furious. I storm from class to class seething. The teachers must take notice because i am summoned to the dean’s office. He is a man of about 55. He clearly cares a lot about appearances and is fit, drinking a green concoction from a personal ninja that he keeps on a desk side bar table. No glass scotch container in sight. His hair is expertly coiffed to the point where it might be a wig but I cannot tell for sure. His eyes are a piercing blue and he has a leathery tanned skin that is excellently moisturized giving him an almost shiny plastic appearance. He makes big sweeping gestures and tries to make a big speech about how The System™ knows best and while this may be painful now it will pass as only The System™ can know the true results. I listen carefully to him almost zoning out but not quite. I enter a zen like zone where I am catching all his micro movements but hearing none of his words. I notice that every 20 or so words he side glances for a millisecond at his projected System. I take in for the first time that his screen is not transparent glass like the rest of us. Instead it is solid like models from the early 2000s. I try to make sure I am looking straight at his face but instead look behind him at the glass. I can see a faint reflection of his screen in the window. It’s daytime so its very hard to make out but its an internet window I have never seen before. I cannot determine the site but I am sure I have never seen it. There are only a handful of websites so I am surprised that he is on one I have never seen. I ponder if educators getting access to specific portals when he stands abruptly. I gather quickly that his speech is over and shake his hand. I don’t thank him and simply nod when he asks if I understand everything now. That satisfies him and he pats himself on the back for a job well done and asks his receptionist to usher me out of his office.

That night I go to the clubhouse. My rowdy group of friends have taken tenancy in an abandoned building toward the northern side of campus. A decrepit old political science building of three stories. It was condemned at some point in the past. Some past class then petitioned for it to not be torn down and somehow won the building a historical site award. The university instead of putting forth money to preserve the building and turn it into some sort of museum instead chose to rope the eyesore off. One of my past seniors had taken a few of his engineering buddies and acquired a blue print of the property. Much to many past students dismay the second floor seemingly had no bathrooms and they had to either go up or down a flight of stairs if the necessary feelings came on. According to the blue print however these rooms were constructed but then walled off for some reason. My senior then snuck out with his friends every night for many months until they were able to construct a secret bookcase entrance to said room. They were then renovated into a spacious college hangout for only those christened important. The bookcase door had a very secret code that was changed every semester to keep old alumni from coming back to relive their glory days. My current group of friends had passed this knowledge on to me. I shifted the books on the shelf to reveal a keypad which I then punched a specific code into. The door swung open and I slipped inside. A few of my friends were there and they greeted me by throwing a soda can directly at my head. I was use to this motion and caught it awkwardly. I immediately slumped into a chair and explained the entire situation. My friends were very attentive. I had never asked much of them and they were happy to oblige. After my tale had rung they chipped in their opinions but one of my friends was pensive. I specifically chimed out his name and my other friends went silent. He said he heard once that there was more outside of the system. We asked what he meant. He said he could not be sure and that this might not make sense but he feels like he might have once known more. Something about how there are choices now, but they are nothing compared to what once was. I mentioned the teachers portal and one of my friends said that his System has him set to be an educator but not once have they ever mentioned their own website. Their conversations and theories carried on but I started to hatch a plan.

Friday came quickly, Marnie’s move-out date. I watched sadly as she packed all her things and prepared to leave. She was excited because the filing did not say who her new roommate was. It dawned on me for the first time that she could have been matched with someone else and i grew sick from jealousy. I offered to help her move but she dismissed me. Stress consumed me, after she moved out with the help of one of her friends I paced around my half empty room. I had to find an excuse to find out who her new roommate would be. I finally decided I could make up an excuse on the fly and ran down the hall peeking in every open door to determine which was hers. I kicked myself for not asking her in the first place where she was moving but I decided to calm myself by convincing myself that she would not have told me anyway. After two hall turns I found her door, it was slightly ajar as they moved boxes in. I was relieved to see her new roommate was one of my computer editing classes mates and a female. I drew solace from this and suddenly was overcome with a feeling of stupidity. I realized I was being obsessive and turned to snap myself out of it. I marched back to my room to finish preparing.

Several days later it was time for my plan to go into action. I had placed an anonymous tip to the campus police about our clubhouse. I made no mention of my group but instead hinted heavily that it was a single rogue student jaded with The System™ trying to hack it and dismantle it. The dean as I thought took this threat very seriously and he himself hemmed the project of trying to open the clubhouse door. I avoided my friends at all cost so as not to hear their laments. It was a necessary cost if what I believed to be occurring was. I let night fall and nervously tried to busy myself with YouTube videos. No amount of cooking videos could quell my anxiety at this point. When 7:45pm rolled around, I dressed in all black and set out for the clubhouse. As expected the day workers had left and all that was left was the dean. I sneaked expertly around the building I had wandered around dozens of times. He stood puzzled. They had ascertained where the clubhouse door sat and had set up flood lights pointing directly at the bookshelf. They must have been trying all day to guess the code to open the door. I had assumed correctly that they could do not damage to the building with its historical status. I moved pass this room to the adjacent corner classroom in which the dean had set up a pseudo command center. Again my guess had been correct that they would need a command central. I assumed the office would normally be locked but the dean’s dedication to protecting The System™ kept him later than most. I searched the room for a place to hide. This is the one part of the plan that I could not guess accurately. I had hoped there would be a desk to hide behind but there was no such luck. I grew stressed and heard the dean yawn from the other room. I knew I had to run and spun around to leave. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a sheet. I walked over to what must have once been a teachers supply closet and opened it. I pile of white sheets cascaded out. I instantly knew this must have been the sheets that protected the tables now being used in this command center. I jumped into them in a last ditch effort figuring this would be my only chance to find anything out. This move proved fruitful as the dean entered the room not even a moment later. He seemed non perturbed by the pile of sheets now residing in front of the open cabinet. I peeked between the folds of the sheet watching him head over to a blueprint of the building.

At this point he sighed and plopped down at an old teachers desk positioned at the front of the room. A stack of four books sat to the right side of the desk. I thought of the catalog of books available to all. There were only a 100 books on the list but I could instantly tell that these four were not. Only one new book was introduced a year, the selection process was marked as being rigorous. I wondered if the Dean was somehow on the selection committee. The dean moved to select the top copy and place it in front of him. He reached into the top drawer of the desk and pulled out a white out stick. He then proceeded to open and read over the book while simultaneously marking out lines on almost every single page. I narrowed my eyes. This was definitely not a selection process. He was censoring the literature. I tried to think of a million reasons why this could be when someone knocked on the door.

A redheaded woman stepped in and I recognized her to be a district superintendent. I grew nervous as she looked over the room with a wary eye. She told the dean that he needed to wrap this up, he must know how sensitive any information about The System™ getting out would be. He nervously walked up to her and tried to cover up his nerves with flourishing gestures. The intended affect was different than he had hoped as the superintendent stepped back in disgust clearly not wanting to be touched by him. I wondered the ramifications of such a gesture but decided that was another story. She straightened herself and glanced straight at my sheet pile. She sneered. The jig is up I thought and squeezed my eyes shut for reveal. Nothing came however and she just spit out a dagger of ‘and clean this place up’ before leaving. The dean deflated and followed to see her out. Now was my chance. I grabbed my backpack and unzipped it to reveal its only contents. A small racket ball racket and a tennis ball. I looked out just on the other side of the parking lot surrounding this building and eyed the tennis courts. The glowed brightly flooded with artificial light and buzzing with students taking a night beginners class. I grinned and lifted the ancient window until it was jolted open. I then used my small racket to smack a tennis ball directly into the wind shield of the dean’s car. The alarm instantly started blaring and I pushed the window shut as quickly as I could. I ducked down in the process so no one would catch me in the window. I peaked just enough however to see the Dean run from his place beside the superintendent outside to his car and start screaming a stream of profanities. I continued to grin and felt I could do so until the end of time and moved over to the table of blue prints. On the desk sat a copy of the desktop port for his System. Into it I snapped into place the greatest part of my plan. A copy of the virus that West has created to hack into someones System. A copy of his screen ported in and the virus went to work decrypting. It only took a few minutes and I was in. What was revealed I was unprepared for. There were not just a handful of websites as I had always been lead to believe. Instead there were thousands if not millions. Just a short search revealed endless possibilities. All the choices we thought we had were instead a watered down set of predetermined choices just like the books that the dean was editing. I sat back knowing that I must leak all this information. I might never get to be with Marnie again but I knew that in the long run this would hopefully benefit her and the world more.

#dream #weird dream #Story Time

2 notes · View notes

eirabach · 7 years

Text

Nine Tenths [1/1]

Happy birthday to the fantastic, funny and talented Mama @dassala !!!! Wishing you a wonderful day and many many more to come! This is a very quick silly fic for you based on our Hub Shenanigans, I hope you enjoy! <3 <3

Captain Swan. 1.8k, T. Post S6 but with no S7 spec whatsoever cause I don’t roll that way. Contains material that may be offensive to tourists, sorry not sorry, it’s been a long summer.

Curses have many disadvantages.

It isn't that Emma’s unaware of that - after spending half her life on the run from some curse or another you’d think she’s be delighted by the new, peaceful side of Storybrooke.

You’d think that, but you’d be forgetting one very important point.

Magical curses had protected them from the worst curse of all:

Tourists.

It isn’t that she doesn’t get the appeal, she does, she really does. Storybrooke is quaint and idyllic, a place where time has stood still since 1983 - quite literally, for most of it - so when the first wide-eyed strangers with New Hampshire plates roll into town she’s one of the first to instruct Granny to hoover the dust bunnies from the B&B. It’ll be good for them, she thinks. The normality.

But Storybrooke’s never been good at normal.

Belle is delighted to offer tours of the clock tower, and Mary Margaret embraces their new guests with banners and bunting and probably a trumpet call or two when Emma’s not there to stop her - but not everyone takes their new destination status well.

Regina does her best, but she’s never really been one for the so-called common folk and finds it a little hard to hide her sneer at the neon fanny-packs and sloganed baseball caps that fill up the aisles in the grocery store. Sneezy is repeatedly perturbed by people asking for ‘refills’ and ‘prescriptions’ and talking about ‘insurance’ and ailments he’s never even heard of. And as for Grumpy…

“You have got to be kidding me,” she groans as she shoves open the door to The Rabbit Hole to find carnage spread along the length of the bar.

Several tourists appear to have been caught short by the artisan nature of the drinks and are slumped in various states of consciousness against the bar top, there is at least one heavily-furred Viking rifling through a purse and several others engaged in unsteady fistfights with the angrier tourist drunks that must have been going on long enough to leave the fine spray of blood and teeth and broken glass underfoot.

Above it all, atop the pool table like some tiny, furious god, stands Grumpy, a pool cue held above his head like Gandalf’s god-damn staff as he roars his displeasure.

“Get out of my barrrrrrr!”

“Hey!” Emma yells, drawing her weapon for good measure, “Cut it the fuck out! What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

There’s a pause, a moment where Grumpy and the Vikings look at least faintly chastised, but that’s the break the angry tourists need - taking advantage of the local’s sensible fear of the saviour’s wrath and launching themselves back into the fight.

There are at least six of them, Emma reckons, not including the ones who have besieged Grumpy’s pool table safe space like so many tequila fuelled zombies, and only one of her. Not the worst odds she’s ever faced.

She cracks her neck, jumps on the spot, and then wades into the melee.

She only called for back-up because when the call came in it had sounded like the bar manager was crying and might need David’s more gentle approach to victim counselling than her own “you’re insured aren’t you?” version, and Killian insisted on fetching David and joining them because - well, because Killian goes where she goes most of the time nowadays and they haven’t been married long enough for it to be irritating yet.

She’s quickly relieved that she has them not far behind her though, the slamming of the door behind her as David and Killian skid to a halt at her sides distracting a dough-faced man in a red soccer shirt long enough for her to force him to the ground, her knee at his back.

“About time,” she hisses. “What took you so long?”

“Dave was doing his hair,” Killian says, and she can hear his grin in his voice as he pins a viking to the bar at the point of his hook.

“Rich coming from you,” grouses David, lifting one semi-comatose man over his shoulder and grabbing one another by the collar before his flailing fists can make contact. “How long do you take in the bathroom again?”

“Never mind,” Emma grunts, brushing her hands together as she rises from cuffing the man on the ground. “Anyone else want a go?”

The bar falls silent aside from the drip, drip, drip of an abandoned pump as the rapidly sobering and faintly bloodied patrons turn to her with wide, owlish eyes.

“Wow,” says one woman, swaying gently as she sits on one of the few intact bar seats in the place. “You guys are really - really - really… hot.”

She lifts her phone with one unsteady hand, and Emma blinks the flash away as the woman slumps forward to snore into a drip tray.

Killian smirks, and she can see the way he’s watching for her reaction out of the corner of his eye.

“Don’t,” she says meaningfully. “Just don’t.”

It takes maybe a month after The Rabbit Hole incident for Emma to notice that Storybrooke is attracting a very… specific type of tourist. Mainly young, mostly female, and all of whom carry cameras so tightly in their sweaty palms that she wouldn’t be surprised if the indents remained for days.

It’s weird - especially when she finds crowds of them jostling for position outside Granny’s whenever she and Killian leave after lunch, or when David phones to let her now he’s found one in the bushes outside the station - but then tourists are odd, in her limited experience. She vividly recalls one trip with Ingrid to some pretty seaside town where they’d been encouraged to press their noses against the glass of the windows of the harbourside houses, their sandalled feet digging into the dirt of the flowerbeds. Clearly there’s something that happens to people when they cross state lines, some mass hallucination that makes them forget all decency and manners, but it isn’t Emma’s problem.

Except this time, it kind of is.

Henry is the first to bring it to her attention, shoving his phone under her nose and demanding, “Have you seen this?!”

She starts to scoff - of course she hasn’t, she’s 31 with a job and a life she hasn’t time for clickbait websites - but then she sees the photo under the stupid “Hot Fuzz” headline and is snatching Henry’s phone from his hand and scrolling furiously quicker than you can say Kardashian Sex Scandal.

Storybrooke is famous. Storybrooke Sheriff's Department is famous.

David and Killian are famous.

There on the internet for everyone to see, over exposed and slightly blurry, are photographs of her dad and her husband in the midst of breaking up The Rabbit Hole fight, and below them a whole goddamn article singing their praises.

And not about their police work.

Somebody has asked about a calendar. A calendar.

Killian thinks it’s hilarious, of course, embracing his role as internet pin-up by undoing an extra button on his shirts every morning and putting far more swagger in his step than he needs to whenever he spots a lurking amateur paparazzo. David doesn’t seem quite so amused at first, mainly because Emma has to explain the concept of Buzzfeed to him about six times, but eventually she notices his shirts seem to be getting a little tighter, and the shoulder holster he’d stopped wearing years ago makes a reappearance to the apparent delight of his fangirls.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” she asks her mom one night after David and Killian have strutted their way into Granny’s for super like supermodels on a grease mission.

“What’s that?” Snow asks, eyebrows high over the the edge of her wine glass. “You mean David’s fan club?”

“Yeah,” Emma glances over to where Killian is ordering at the bar before taking a deep glug of her own drink. “I mean… they’re everywhere.”

“Not everywhere,” says Snow, her lips twitching. “And I’m not beyond taking advantage of those super tight pants your father’s taken to. Are they Killian’s?”

Emma shudders. “God I hope not, I really don’t need to think about my dad in Killian’s pants. But it doesn’t bother you? They look at them like meat.”

“No,” says Snow, putting down her glass and reaching over to hold Emma’s hand, “it doesn’t. But if it bothers you I’m not the one you need to be telling, am I?”

“No,” Emma sighs, catching Killian’s eye as he turns back to the table and smiles brightly at her. “No, I suppose not.”

She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t really need to. The novelty wears off for Killian pretty quickly after he finds a gang of young women attempting to stow themselves away in the bowels of the Jolly and one of them enthusiastically and without preamble pleads with him to sign her bare breasts.

“I’m married, Swan,” he grumbles that evening. “The bare-faced cheek of it!”

“Wasn’t her cheeks that were bare though was it,” Emma says, stepping behind him and bussing his cheek with a kiss as he hammers out his irritation on a steak.

“It’s not funny,” he grouses.

“It sort of is,” Emma says, smiling against his shoulder. “I mean - I was a little jealous at first but - “

“You what?” He drops the tenderiser and turns to her, aghast, her shoulders held tight under hand and hook. “Swan, you didn’t think…”

“No!” Emma says before he can look any more horrified. “No of course not, I trust you! But it’s a bit odd having a load of people checking out my husband’s ass everywhere we go.”

“Actually your father’s arse is apparently the superior of the two,” Killian says, all seriousness. “They seem to have a thing for my -”

“Okay, you know what? I wish Henry hadn’t taught you about google, forget I said anything.”

“How can I when I know my wife has been feeling neglected?”

“Not neglected,” Emma counters, flushing slightly, “just… you’re mine, okay?”

Killian’s eyes go wide, then narrow, flashing in that dark dangerous way that she loves.

“Entirely,” he says, his voice dropping low and his hand coming to curl around her back, fingers playing with her belt loops. “Now how to prove such a thing?”

“You don’t have to - ” she begins, but then she hears the click of her handcuffs releasing from her belt, her jaw dropping slightly as Killian dangles them from one long finger in front of her eyes.

“Well, Sherriff?” he says, his tongue at the corner of his mouth. “What do you say?”

(She says nothing, snatching the handcuffs from his finger and half shoving him towards the stairs in the same motion, biting her lip at the ridiculous giggle that escapes him as he half-trips up them.

And even if she hears the groan that arises from beyond their front porch, even if she catches the flashes from the corner of her eye before they escape out of sight, it doesn’t matter.

After all, possession is nine-tenths of the law.)

#cs ff #cs fic #captain swan #cs crew #cs mafia #happy birthday kate!#hub shenanigans #clare vs writers block

102 notes · View notes

bungou-stray-dogs-indulgences · 7 years

Note

May I request HCs for Chuuya, Tachihara, Mori and Dazai with an s/o who's an idol (similar to AKB48) (my love live ass needs this tbh I'm so sorry)

I don’t know that much about idols and the surrounding stuff but I did my best♡

Nakahara Chuuya

Forget any dance coach or any of your other group members; your best practice happens when Chuuya’s the one guiding you through routines. Even if he doesn’t know the ins-and-outs of your dances, if you’re uncomfortable with a move, he zeroes in on that immediately. “You’re doing great,” he assures when you ask for advice, “but you need to work on these bits here.” If he can wrap his head around how the move’s supposed to go, Chuuya does it, walking you through the motions. If not, he simply makes a mental list of what you need to work on with your dance coach. Consulting him is the perfect solution when your routines need a bit of fine-tuning.

Fuck group transportation; Chuuya ensures that when you’re on the road, you’re kicking it in one of the most spacious limos or private jets money can buy. Naturally, if you want to travel with the other members, he lets you, but in case you just need your own space he ensures privacy is always an option. Chuuya makes sure your personal transportation is always well-stocked with everything from your favorite foods to entertainment systems with a built in wifi hotspot to a few changes of clothes. Chuuya knows first hand how much road trips can suck, and he’ll be damned if you’re anything less than in the lap of luxury.

Since your busy schedules mean that you’re away from each other a lot, Chuuya ensures every date you have is absolutely private. No matter how many strings he has to pull to make sure you’re not mobbed by paparazzi the second you pull up to his house, he’ll do it; no one’s going to risk the Mafia’s wrath just to catch a blurry picture of you. Often, he rents out an entire building if you want to have a date there; the last thing you need is crazed fans ruining the moment by screaming “Oh my god it’s ______!!!” just as Chuuya’s leaning in for a kiss.

Tachihara Michizou

No matter how embarrassing a piece of merchandise might be, Tachihara unashamedly buys it. He has every single officially licensed t-shirt, poster, key chain, album, etc. that exists scattered somewhere around his house (for a while he considered putting it all together to make a shrine for his awesome idol girlfriend but then rightly decided that was bordering on serial killer territory and decided not to). He has some random merchandise from promotions your group did for different companies, too; his favorite is the shower curtain with you on it. “This way you can take showers with me even when you’re away,” he points out. No matter how embarrassed you are he refuses to change it.

Despite the fact that being so public with your relationship isn’t a great idea, especially considering he’s in the Port Mafia, Tachihara shamelessly uses your relationship to gain a gigantic following on social media. Don’t trust him when he’s aiming his phone camera at you for a ‘cute selfie’ or ‘candid shot for his phone lock screen’ because the image is probably going to end up on Instagram with some cheesy caption about how you’re his whole world. Anyone that posts a negative comment immediately gets blocked; depending on how bad his mood is, they may or may not end getting shot in the kneecap in a back alley.

Tachihara knows every single bodyguard that’s ever worked within a two mile radius of you. Somehow he got it into his head that all security guards are raging creepy pervs and they’re just lying in wait to steal away his precious love; naturally, the logical response was to start stalking all of them ‘just in case’. He’s actually straight up punched a few because he thought they were staring at your chest. Regardless if Tachihara’s gotten in a fist fight with them or not, he’s got beef with every last one of your bodyguards.

Mori Ougai

One of Mori’s favorite things about the whole situation is your cuteness; sure, he knows a lot of makeup and contact lenses and not even remotely practical clothing go into creating the perfect, adorable idol persona, but he can still appreciate your look. Some of his favorite pictures of you are images of you performing onstage, dancing in all your glamorous glory; he has a few photos of you in one your idol outfits framed in his office.

Not long after Mori brings Elise to see one of your concerts, the girl develops a bit of an obsession with the idol scene, something Mori’s endlessly pleased about. Of course, you’re her favorite idol (Mori wouldn’t have it any other way, of course). Elise’s passion for you absolutely melts his heart; naturally, he ends up feeding it a bit too much. Before long, replicas of your performing gear line her closet and she has way more than a reasonable amount of your merchandise. When you ask Mori why he’s letting her go a bit wild when it comes to adoring you, he simply puts on a sweet smile and shrugs; it’s almost like he’s using her as an outlet to show how much he adores you.

Appearing as your lover in the public eye is an absolutely horrible idea; who knows how many people would be hunting you and your group members down if they knew you crawled in bed next to Mori every night? Even if he can’t publicly show off you relationship, he certainly does it in private. Mori often subtly (and not-so-subtly) references your idol status while chatting with his subordinates or in meetings. He’s endlessly proud of your talent and fame, and he’s not afraid to sing your praises at every opportunity.

Dazai Osamu

Without exception, Dazai shows up to every single performance sporting a T-shirt with your name on it under his coat and a gigantic sign reading ‘________ is the best one’, followed by a ton of exclamation points and scribbled hearts. He claims a spot in the front row (he’s your boyfriend after all; scoring prime tickets is a breeze) and screams how much he loves you the whole time, usually in the most high-pitched, annoying voice he can manage. Dazai claims to be mocking your crazed superfans if you call him out on his wild behavior, but honestly, he might just be one. If it bothers you, he’ll tone it down a few notches; he still brings the sign every time, though.

After downing a few shots before coming to one of your performances Dazai decided that throwing a pair of panties onstage would be a hilarious way to imitate the fanatics. The only underwear he could find was yours, though. Naturally, noticing your favorite panties hurtling at your ankles while you’re finishing up a song isn’t the best way to end a show. You never did find that underwear again, after that.

This is the same performance that he ripped his shirt off and begged you to sign his chest. The only reason he wasn’t escorted out is because the security guards recognized him as your boyfriend.

Dazai always scores backstage passes and chills with you and the rest of the group before and after performances. He always brings your favorite snack—not too much, of course, he doesn’t want your stomach upset onstage— and cuddles with you to calm your nerves. Sometimes, if you have enough time before you have to go on stage, he sneaks an Xbox in and lets you kick his ass in a few games (of course he claims you’re cheating when you win) to squash the stage fright.

One of Dazai’s favorite pastimes is trolling shady people from social media. If he’s bored, the first place he turns to is Instagram comments. Anyone that posts a hateful comment immediately becomes victim to Dazai’s ire; he messes with them mercilessly, commenting on all their photos, their friend’s photos, especially their significant other’s photos, until they’re on the verge of deleting their account. Once in awhile he loves to leave completely inappropriate comments on your posts, just to see if you use the official page to respond.

#Bungou Stray Dogs #Bungou Stray Dogs Imagines #Dazai #Chuuya #Mori #Tachihara #Tachihara Michizou #Mori Ougai #Nakahara Chuuya #Dazai Osamu #Bungou Stray Dogs Headcanons #BSD Headcanons

298 notes · View notes

written-stone · 6 years

Text

Who killed Markiplier?

(half of this was done around 2:30am and the other halfs was done around now. So, bare with me)

(Chapter 1 Part: 2)

Laith woke up to the sound of an alarm and groaned, slapping the locker for the damn thing. He slowly opened his eyes and glared at the ceiling before to looking at the time. 8:30 glared back at him. Laith groaned again and sat up stretching. He couldn't remember much of what happened last night bar bits and pieces. He could remember deer hat guy pointing, Mark and deer hat guy playing poker happily. He remember Mark hushing him with his middle finger as Laith cursed at him for winning. At some point he saw Deer hat guy and the butler, holding Damien as he did a keg stand. The Chef angrily looking at the while holding a rag over a sink, Damien, deer hat guy, and the butler playing beer pong, the Colonel showing off his cards. The chef once again angrily glaring at him while cooking. Deer hat guy throwing down his cards beside the Colonel. The Colonel having deer hat guy in a headlock. The Colonel threatening the butler with a flask, and nearly punching him. He remembered flipping off the butler and deer hat guy socking him in the face, while Damien hovered over him, trying to wake them up. Laith was certain the last thing he seen was the clock on the bed stand of the his room, saying 1:30.

Laith rubbed the sleep out of eyes, hitting his nose. He hissed in pain, opening his eyes to see a very blurry room. “Shit!” Laith cursed, searching for his glasses. “I’ve lost my eyesight!” He struggled to his feet swaying slightly as he fixed his outfit, trying to look a bit presentable as he walked out of the room. The butler stood outside holding a glass on a tray.

“Ah, good morning, hope you had a good night’s rest,” The butler handed him a glass. “I’ve prepared for you a Seltzer with cocaine. Best thing for the morning after, if you ask me.” The Butler winked at him before walking away. Laith watched him for a few seconds, before turning his attention to stairs, narrowing his eyes to see the figure better. It was Damien.

Laith walked closer, his eyes making him feel like a camera has he got closer. Damien must have heard Laith’s footsteps, because he turned towards, looking anything but hungover. Laith was sure that Damien was an alien. The guy did a keg stand last night and he is looking perfect. “Ah, there’s our little monster! You really knocked them dead last night. I haven’t seen you go wild like that since our days at University. Good to let the beast out every once in a while, eh, old friend?” He smiled at Laith. Yep, he’s an alien.

“Morning, Damien. You wouldn’t have happen to see my eyesight any where?” Damien chuckled, handing Laith his glasses. Laith cheered putting his glasses on, making sure not hit his nose. “I can see!”

“How’s your nose?” Damien asked, frowning slightly. Before Laith could respond, Damien grabbed his jaw, moving his head slightly to get a better look. “Its not broke, but it will probably hurt for a while,” Damien let go and cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m still not sure what we’re here celebrating, exactly. I mean, it’s good to be with friends, but out of the blue like this seems…” He trailed off, staring straight ahead before snapping back to earth. “I mean, now is not the time to become conspiratorial. Life is our to choose, as I always say! Now, I have some work to finish, but I’ll meet you at breakfast. We’ll catch up soon.” Laith gave slight nod, head still pounding as Damien head back for his room.

Laith headed downstairs, holding onto the railings so he didn’t fall down the swirling staircase. He walked passed a stone picture and eyed the knight armor. He wasn’t a big fan of those types of things, and needer was Mark. Yet, there stood the knight, ready to come to life and chase Laith around the house. “Nope,” Laith muttered, walking into the sitting room and almost tripped over a lump on the ground. He frowned looking at the floor. It took a few seconds for the realisation to sink into his hungover mind. But when it did, Laith fell to his knees in front of the lump, screaming, “MARK!!”

“Did you here that lightening?” Deer hat guy said, walking into the room. Laith took not notice, as he shook Mark’s shoulder, hoping he’d wake up. “OH MY GOD! THERE’S BEEN A MURDER!” The man yelled. Lightning struck outside. Laith backed away from Mark. He was dead, Mark was dead. Just then the butler walked in, exclaiming “murder” as lightning struck again. He knelt down next to Mark’s body. Laith’s heart as pounding so loud in his chest he never heard the chef of the lightning as he started at Mark’s… dead body. He could fill tears welling up but blinked hard, refusing to let them fall.

“What the heel happened here? Who’s in charge around here?” Deer hat guy snapped, grabbing Laith’s shirt, pulling him to his feet. “Trick question: that guy, He gestured to Mark, “And he’s dead now, which makes ME in charge. So you better listen up good bucko. ‘Case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s been a bit of a… killin’.” Both the chef, deer hat guy and Laith paused waiting for the lightning to strike. “And you’re my prime suspect.” Laith was about ready to punch this guy. “So you better get to explaining right quick as to the what, where, when, and why you happened to be here upon this man’s death!”

“Don’t shout at me!” Laith snapped. He felt his whole body and face heated up as he shook with angry and anxiety. “Who the fook gave to right to be in charge? That’s right, no-one,” Laith stepped closer. “Mark was my best friend since university! How dare you put the blame on me straight away when I just found the fookin’ body!” Laith was beyond pissed as his Irish accent slipped through. Deer hat guy narrowed his eyes at Laith.

“Sir,” The butler spoke up, hoping to stop a fight from breaking out. “Th-the body’s cold, he’s been dead for a while,” Deer hat chuckles, looking at the butler

“A likely story!” He turns back to Laith. “That I happen to believe completely. Alright, you’re off the hook… for now, but I’m a detective, and-”

“Oh, yeah? Prove you’re a real dick!” The chef accused, pointing a finger.

The detective pulls out his badge, shoving it into the chef’s face. “Here’s my badge. Asshole.” He turns to Laith as countless pictures of him with different people falls out of the badge. “Those are my old partners. Don’t ask me about them, the detective muttered put the pictures back. “Fine! I’ll tell you.” If Laith was being honest, he didn't really care, but left the detective to his own devices. “Each one of them died. Each death more tragic than the last. A few of them even died in ironically hilarious ways,” Both Laith and the chef gave each other a concerned/wtf face. “Which made it all the more tragic. But hey, you look like you’re up to the task. You’re my new partner.”

“The fook I am,” Laith exclaimed, causing the detective to laugh.

@pleaseletthisjimbetaken @the-asexual-reaper

#wkm #who killed markipler #mayor damien #the colonel #the chef #the butler

13 notes · View notes

fourteenacross · 7 years

Text

ghost quartet - nytw next door - october 8, 2017

H'okay, so, this may all be a little blurry around the edges because the circumstances in which I traveled to and from New York on Sunday were not ideal and the anxiety around them muted parts of my brain more than I would have liked. BUT. Here we are.

First of all, it was humid as dicks and the house manager was very kind and let us inside the air conditioned lobby like, twenty minutes early, bless him.

Obviously "sixty-five seat black box theatre" implies that the space is small, but...man, the space is small. That was excellent, really--it added to the intimacy of the show--but it was still weird to walk into a space the size of my living room and dining room combined and have that be all. We sat in the section next to the door and, as I implied yesterday, I was directly behind Brent. If I could do it again, I probably would have sat in either of the other sections, just because that meant I really only saw Brent during "Fathers and Sons," but the place is so tiny it really hardly mattered. And, speaking of tininess/hardly mattering, the reserved seats were just the first row of each section and definitely not worth the additional thirty bucks, imo. This run is over, but if you're going to another Next Door performance that does a similar seating style, just...fyi.

The set dressing is great. It would have been cool if the seating was a little more informal, but it still felt like you were hanging out in your friends' basement, listening to them tell you an elaborate story. There were neat little touches around all of their stations--there was a little bear and a little pot of honey on the table next to Brent, as well as a mason jar, which I initially took to be a reference to his verse in "Four Friends," but it turns out Brent just takes water in his whiskey. (I mean, it might have ALSO been a nod to that, but it also served a practical purpose.)

I had listened to the music a few times last spring and a few times in August and a few times this month, in preparation, so I was familiar with the story and the songs, but seeing it live definitely adds another dimension. There were certain bits of staging that were surprises to me, and certain bits of staging that made things that pop up on the McKittrick recording make a lot more sense, heh.

Anyway, I'm gonna do this old school.

I Don’t Know - This song felt almost like a frame story, setting the stage for what's to come, except that the structure of the show is such that, with all the narratives twisting together, it was like framing a frame framing a frame. It was like an MC Escher frame, all twisted around and then turning into birds. I have theories about how this and "Four Friends" and "Any Kind of Dead Person" fit into the timeline(s) of the show, but I'm still trying to twist them into words.

Anyway, I was sitting right behind Brent and he's really good at the cello, in case you were unaware.

The Camera Shop - This opening is so interesting because of where it takes place in the larger narrative(s). Brittain/Rose comes in very, very nervous and unsettled, but as Gelsey starts behaving strangely, she starts to get more comfortable in the way you get comfortable when you assess that someone is kind of off-the-wall and you are a Rational Being and thus above them. There's still some of that nervousness as Gelsey starts to go into the story, but it comes off more as nerves from being around someone eerie than the nerves that we know Rose has around what she just did (or didn't do, as the case may be.).

Brittain and Gelsey work so incredibly well together, and this was the first time that the complexity of this piece, on an acting level, really set in. Everyone's playing at least four characters, sometimes several at once, and this is a good example. Brittain goes from Camera!Rose to Rose Red to Starchild within minutes, sliding seamlessly between them as the narrative dictates. It was pretty awesome.

Starchild - confession: I love Brittain's voice, I love her solo music, but this song didn't click with me on the cast recordings? Which is crazy, because it's super my jam, both musically and narratively. Seeing it live definitely changed that and I'm low-key obsessed with it now. She really acts with her whole body, as anyone who's seen Great Comet knows, and seeing all of that poured into "Starchild" just squeezed my heart.

Subway - This is one that I assumed worked better live than it does on the recording and I was right. The rhythm is a little clunky as a purely aural experience, but seeing the four of them perform it adds this incredible mounting tension. You can feel it in the room, the way that Gelsey bangs that drum and everyone sings over each other, the lighting flickering. (And, this is a whole other post, but I feel like that's maybe at the core of why some of Dave's stuff just doesn't click with people who are just listening to it. Fans obvs embrace his aversion to rhyme and the way he plays with rhythm in sort of non-traditional-musical-theatre ways, but when you're more a traditional-musical-theatre person and you're just listening to it instead of watching it, it's harder to grasp? idk, it's something that I've been thinking about, vis-a-vis friends saying, "I listened to the GC cast recording and it was fine and then I SAW IT and everything clicked and weird choices on the recording made sense!" and even my own feelings about listening to GQ vs. seeing it. Obviously, cast recordings are never going to substitute for actually seeing a thing in person and aren't 100% meant to, but I think that it's a particularly strong divide in GC and GQ. Anyway, I just said this needed to be a whole post in and of itself, so I'll stop now.)

Usher, Part 1 - I have not read this story since college, which was *mumblemumble* years ago, and I meant to re-read it before coming to the show, but I...didn't. Which is maybe better! Who knows! Anyway, this starts with just a light on Gelsey as she recites the opening monologue and plays the harp. It's simultaneously creepy and a little funny? She definitely plays up both sides of it, the funny and the creepy, which makes it get more creepy and less funny as time goes on, so by the time Dave comes in for the song, you're getting full-on chills.

Soldier and Rose - Gelsey is full-on Gelsey in this one. Which I say as the highest compliment, obvs. The juxtaposition of Brittain/Rose being awkwardly, desperately flirtatious and Gelsey/Soldier's utter Doneness is hilarious. Rose lays it on thick to a very impassive soldier who responds to all her entreaties by shaking a thunder tube at her.

Any Kind of Dead Person - This is just a fun number. Brittain hams it up and Gelsey gives out a succession of percussion instruments over the course of it, to people sitting all over the room, which just intensifies the feeling of this being your four weird friends telling stories in their basement and trying to get you to join in.

The Astronomer - Dave came out from behind the piano to sing this in front of Gelsey and Brittain's station and took some time to praise the other three as he got into position. He also tripped over the rug and then could not get it to lie flat. Otherwise, the patter is almost identical to the live show.

ANYWAY, I fucking love this song a lot, okay? It was my favorite song before seeing the show and remains my favorite after having seen it. I don't have much to say about it, performance/staging-wise, just lots of gushing about how much I fucking love it. The universality (is that a word) of the lyrics is just so sadly haunting, especially when you think of it as coming from the Astronomer, who's kind of a dick, but now also has this depth that I appreciate.

Family Meeting - Just as hilarious as you're picturing it in your mind, for sure. Brent and Brittain as kids are excellent, and Brittain's monologue is stellar. The transition between that little-kid-ness and flat out anger and frustration at the end is fabulous. (And the "and no Brent, it's not so perfect it's boring!" made me snort-laugh.) The "you're gonna be dead in like, thirty years" got a BIG laugh.

Four Friends - So, during this song, Dave pulled out three bottles of Evan Williams and plastic cups and passed them around, which was amazing, I would like all of my shows to come with a shot or so of liquor with the price of admission. I would prefer if it wasn't whiskey, which I don't particularly care for, but as I said yesterday, when Dave Malloy hands you whiskey, you suck it up and drink it, even if it's physically impossible for you to get over to the ice so you have to just drink it straight. Anyway, the sort of informal whiskey drinking again compounded that feeling of just hanging out with your buddies, so it was almost hard not to sing along. I was def bobbing a little. At the start of each verse, they poured a shot of the whiskey they were singing about that they handed out to the audience, which I probably wouldn't have noticed except when Dave went to hand out the Lagavulin, the girl who jumped up to get it was hilariously into it. I actually ended up standing near her when she talked to Dave after and she was like, "Uh, sorry if I was disruptive when I asked for the Lagavulin, I just love it and never get to drink it because it's so expensive?" which he commiserated with her about.

Fathers and Sons - They moved the drums to the center of the room, facing each other, and Brent and Dave moved to stand in font of them and play. Brittain and Gelsey held the mics out for them and I know I keep talking about how low-tech and "hanging with your buddies" this show is, but...I really love that aspect of it and I think it super adds to the narrative(s).

Usher, Part 2 - This was very eerie, overall, but "I'm right here" got a big laugh anyway. It's interesting, as Roxie's dying, the way that the walls of the narrative for this story, tenuous as the walls between the narratives in all these stories are, start to slip down. With Scheherazade being an "ancient" and all, it makes sense that the lines between narratives are more blurry there, and in the "Camera Shop" plot line, Pearl is already aware of what's going on, so despite a few references, "Usher" feels the most cut off from the other stories, but here that begins to fall apart.

The Telescope - This song is such an interesting counterpoint to "The Astronomer;" the dude seems like such a sleaze in this song, whereas we get him at this sort of open bareness earlier, where he's relatable and joyful. As Rose points out new stars, there's a spotlight on one of the lighting fixtures (the show is largely lit by lamps and a variety of thrift story chandeliers). Rose's intensity is breathtaking, but the music gives a very eerie quality to the shared refrain, even moreso when you take into account the upcoming split between Rose and the Astronomer.

Tango Dancer - This plotline was the one that it was most difficult for me to wrap my brain around from listening to the cast recordings, and seeing it def helped iron out some of that. I love the interactions between Brittain and Gelsey here--again, I love both of their ability to shift between these characters so fluidly and shift their chemistry just as fluidly as they change characters. The stiffness between them here is really the beginning of the end for me--Rose's awkwardness and the audience's knowledge of how these timelines are starting to come together. It's played really well.

Anyway, Gelsey really nails this, as if I even have to say that? And Brittain's awkwardness as she watches and tries to interpret all of it is excellent. "Myself didn't have time for me / didn't have time for anyone so used up" is too fucking true and haunting.

Monk - When sitting and seeing this bit live, for the first time it occurred to me that Rose's "Were they outside, in a park or something?" and Scheherazade's confirmation are Rose's past lives starting to leak through, giving her that knowledge. (Also "doesn't Lady Usher have a security system?" got a big laugh) Anyway, this is a nice little interlude before shit gets real. I was so into it that I almost forgot that shit was about to get real.

Light’s Out - It was fucking DARK. Which I did not realize was going to happen. I loooooved it. My eyes were def playing some tricks on me, the longer we stayed in the dark. Also, there was some light of something somewhere behind me (maybe the exit sign?) that kept reflecting off the inside of my glasses that was distracting me. Def a problem with my glasses rather than the show.

Anyway, this bit always makes me think of Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear?, so much so that I might ask Malloy about it on Twitter.

The Photograph - Goddamn this is creepy in the dark. And Gelsey going full Gelsey made it ninety times creepier. I want to hire her for my Halloween parties. I love the balance of the creepiness and rationality when the things that Rose believes in are rattled off. It's the sort of thing that makes me think of a horror novel, in the tense moments where the protagonist has to confront the impossible and spends a moment clinging all the more harder to their beliefs as if those beliefs will fight off something supernatural.

Bad Men - Super tense and frenetic. Rose losing it is so foreboding and perfect and intense. The confrontation with the bear as she reaches the pinnacle of losing herself to revenge and accepting that she wants this enough to do it herself. Yikes.

Usher, Part 3 - I love all the stories merging in this song, as we're all sitting in the dark with flashes of light and all of these threads are twisting together. It really ups the sense of danger and tension. Pearl's monologue at the end is so eerie. Those last few lines, shit. They are that much more intense when they're happening right in front of you.

Prayer - I think this was when the lights started to come back up? This always kind of blurs into other songs for me and I forget it's there a little?

Hero - Jesus, what a song, what a performance. I know Brittain talks all the time about how she's not an ~*~actor~*~ just a musician that got roped into acting in her friend's shows, but jesus christ, she's fantastic. This song just scrapes out whatever's left of your insides and leaves you feeling entirely hollow and shaky.

Midnight - This is such a neat way to tie up the end of the show. Again, you've got that "friends hanging out" vibe as things become clearer for everyone. Brittain and Dave dance, as Brittain's characters settle and sort of come to terms with all that's happened in all of the timelines. Malloy has excellent comic timing--his ramble about why Thelonius Monk's ghost is still kicking around and the way it breaks into Rose and Pearl's reconciliation. I snort-laughed at "Or maybe there just isn't Heaven. That's actually pretty likely." And then again with "I guess in the abstract, yeah...I don't really make a lot down at the MTA?"

Anyway, Dave and Brittain dancing was very sweet, and "You're a really good cello player, Brent!" got a big laugh.

Wind and Rain - I love this song a lot and the performance of it was lovely. As the song went on, they started handing out instruments again, but not just little percussion things--they kept going, moving up to their own instruments, until they'd given everything to the audience, at which point they walked off stage and left the audience to play out the song. I think they kept going for maybe a minute or two after everyone left before it fell apart, mostly, I think, because a couple of people were so wildly off-beat it was hard to keep on beat.

Afterwards, they came back to applause and gave a kind of informal, "thanks for coming, tell your friends, buy our merch or stick around and talk!"

We stayed to talk, though I didn't buy anything because I don't wear t-shirts and we have zero room for more glasses at this point. But I still took a moment to tell everyone they were great and the show was great and all that. I was wearing one of my ghost dresses and everyone commented on it.

ANYWAY, that's basically it, unless I remember anything else important! Maybe I will write some more of my thoughts about the narratives and storytelling and setting and all that shit a little more formally, but... probably not. Gotta finish the next ghosthunters story some time this year.

#ghost quartet #dave malloy #brittain ashford #gelsey bell #brent arnold #show notes

31 notes · View notes

criticallyspectacular · 7 years

Text

Power Rangers (2017)

It’s Doughnut Time!

Critical: Thumbs Down

Basic story with little new

Plot contrivances

Very little “Ranger” action

Spectacle: Thumbs Up

Good action

Good sense of humor

Hilarious product placement

What is it:

A movie based on an American action series from the ‘90s, five teenagers find alien artifacts that give them superhuman abilities. Guided by the power being known as Zordon, these five teens with attitude are tasked with protecting planet Earth from forces bent on destroying it.

The Movie:

The movie chooses to adapt the first few episodes of the TV series rather than attempt to take on the whole series. A lot of plot elements have been changed radically partly in an attempt to make the story feel new for longtime fans, and also in small part to distance themselves from politically controversial elements (in the original series, the Black Ranger being black, and the Yellow Ranger being Chinese brought a great deal of unmerited scorn). The five teenagers are strangers to each other, but have been given this burden and must learn to work with each other in order to save the world.

What’s Good:

A lot about this movie works, and works very well. Part of the charm of the original series is the goofy nature of things. It was lighthearted and fun first and foremost, only very rarely delving into darker topics. The darker setting for the movie is very different, but there’s a clear goofy charm just under that layer of gritty melodrama. The story pokes fun at itself, the actors quip, and the villains monologue. It’s just a huge blast to watch.

The fight scenes have good choreography and are shot well. They’re quick and snappy, and you can easily see all of the action. For those of us that watched the original series, this is very nostalgic. It’s also nice to see that the kids are not completely invulnerable. There’s a subtle feeling the movie delivers of how strong they are and how powerless they are at the same time. This helps to set up what the main characters are going through.

The one scene that I’ve seen several critics point out is the campfire scene about halfway through the movie. This scene is very serious and heartfelt, and does a better job of making the main five very likable and relatable. I dare say it’s one of the best sequences in all of Power Rangers as a whole. It’s just fantastic, and does tremendous work for the story.

What’s Bad:

The basic premise behind the plot is a bit contrived. I mostly blame the original series for “five teens with attitude”, but even the characters in the story call out how dumb this is. Teenagers don’t make the best life decisions. Anyone over the age of 30 can tell you that from nothing but personal experience. And then there are the plot holes the movie creates and never explains while the characters keep asking how things happened. The script is weak in terms of story. It’s fortunate that the movie doesn’t need to rely on that, because this is a huge problem for this movie.

The visual effects range wildly in quality. Some of it is clever and lots of fun, like a fairly interesting shot from the inside of a car at the start of the movie. But a lot of scenes are disrupted with shaking camera techniques. The CG effects often come out blurry to the point that large details can’t be made out. And there’s an overall muddy quality to the visuals in virtually every shot. Some steady cam and higher resolution CG work would go a long way to improving the movie for a sequel.

The characters in the movie also mostly come off as unlikable. It’s just a combination of standard teenage behavior set in a small town where everyone knows everyone. And most of the town’s folk come off as complete jerks. One big loss from the series were the comedic relief duo of Bulk and Skull, here replaced with a single bully that has all of the pair’s awful behavior and none of their redeeming charms. A lot of this is corrected by the third act of the movie, but it does make the first half or so a bit tough to sit through. Except for Billy, he’s great every time he’s on screen.

Final Thoughts:

I’ve long been of the mind that movies should be entertaining first. The film makers for Power Rangers clearly understood this, and went out of their way to make a highly entertaining show. If dark and gritty reboots could all be this much fun people wouldn’t complain as much about them.

As a Critical movie, there are a lot of problems with the plot and the basic premise of the show. There’s not very much here at all beyond the campfire scene.

As a Spectacle movie, it’s a great watch. Highly entertaining and surprisingly faithful to it’s source material.

This is the kind of movie you go to just have fun with. Bring friends and be ready for a load of fun. Though, you might end up with a strange craving for doughnuts when you get out of the theater.

Click here for more movie reviews.

#Power Rangers #MMPR #mmpr reboot #mmpr 2017 #movie review #Critically Spectacular #Critical Thumbs Down #Spectacle Thumbs Up

2 notes · View notes

osakaso5 · 7 years

Photo

Momo i7 Roman Rabbit Chat Part 3: Let's Play In Panda Nameco Village

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4 | Part 5

Tsumugi: Momo-san, good work! I hear Re:vale went to see Panda Nameco Village. Since the staff is already in place, I'm sure you got to see both the attractions and the shops, but how did you like them?

Momo: Yahoo, Maneko-chan! ('ω')ノ

Momo: We were supposed to go there with TRIGGER, but our schedules wouldn't match, so I went with just Okarin and Yuki instead~!

Momo: Yuki's so bad with theme parks that it's hilarious, lolol

Tsumugi: I hear he was riding the merry-go-round the whole time..!

Momo: Yeah. Yuki was sleeping on one of the horses the whole time. If I tried to take a picture normally, it'd turn out blurry, so I had to work my camera while trying to match the speed of the merry-go-round, lol

Tsumugi: What a sour sight >< lol

Momo: He even wanted to bring a cup of coffee into the haunted house with him (;・`Д・´)

Tsumugi: You went in there with Okazaki-san, right!

Momo: When Okarin's glasses flew off from spinning too much, we laughed, lololol Okarin's got a bad eyesight, so he couldn't see anything after that.

Momo: We even went in the haunted house together, but since Okarin couldn't see anything, I had to drag him along by the hand and he went "Huh? What was that? What just touched my neck? Whas it Momo-san's hand? Or konnyaku (1)??", lol

Tsumugi: His eyesight seems quite bad..!

Momo: It is--. He turned to a tree and said "Yuki-san, good work today", lolol Yuki got all depressed and wondered if Okarin thinks of him as a tree (*´艸`*)

Tsumugi: I-I can see why he'd feel depressed over it >< lol

Choices/outcomes:

1. What did Yuki-san do after that?

Momo: We got him to come to the ferris wheel with us! (∩´ ∀`)∩ He said "The people look like vegetables", but I have no idea what he meant by that, lol

2. What did Okazaki-san do after that?

Momo: He said "Momo-san, I can't see anything, so I won't be able to look out for you..."! Okarin's actually really strong. Apparently he won't lose to anyone in an argument, lol

3. What was the most fun thing in the park?

Momo: When we took a picture with a Panda Nameco frame, maybe~! \(^o^)ノ Okarin didn't have his glasses, so he faced in a weird direction and that was funny, lol

Momo: And then, as an apology for making his glasses fly off, we took Okarin to a shopping mall nearby to buy him glasses (・´3`・)

Momo: I chose his new glasses together with Yuki!

Tsumugi: That's wonderful! What sort of glasses did you get?

Momo: In the end, we went with the same type of dark green frames he always has! They're so similar that you can't even tell the difference, lol

Momo: But I hear they felt lighter. I'm glad Okarin liked them (∩´ ∀`)∩

Tsumugi: Did anyone say something about you all going to an optician?

Momo: The store clerk did notice that we were Re:vale, but that's about it! Other than that, some people watched over us from a distance (*'ω'*)

Momo: Yuki suggested he get white frames, but there's no way they'd suit Okarin, lolol

Tsumugi: I'd sort of like to see him wearing them, though..!

Momo: Hmm~, I think it’d kind of take away from his dignity! Like he'd turn into Okahin, lolololol

Tsumugi: O-Okahin!?

Momo:

Translator’s notes..?

1) konnyaku is a sort of solid jelly made from konjac potatoes. it’s used in dishes like oden, and you can even make noodles from certain kinds of konnyaku

#idolish7 #momo #i7 roman #translation #re:vale #rabbit chat

40 notes · View notes

warmau · 7 years

Text

[BTS x Forest Fairy!AU] Taehyung

Keeper of Birds and Raptors Kim Taehyung

Find Keeper of Streams & Waterfalls Min Yoongi (here) Find Keeper of Rabbits & Deer Jeon Jungkook (here) Find Keeper of Trees and Roots Park Jimin (here)

has the mindset that he too can fly,,,,well glide,,,,,well he’s just really good at jumping from tree to tree so he’s like ‘this is my inner bird power’

his pet black vulture that always accompanies him is basically his best friend and he tells it just about everything

and although the vulture can’t talk back, taehyung, as the protector of birds, can understand through sounds what the birds are communicating

that or maybe it’s the fact that his vulture will peck at him annoyingly to tell him it wants him to stop doing whatever it is he’s doing

and it is hilarious, he’ll literally get into arguments with the vulture like if he’s running around chasing deer or something and falls face forward

the vulture will fly off his shoulder and perch itself on a branch and taehyung will be like ‘thANKS for abandoning me buddy’ and then he’ll be like ‘don’t give me that look - don’t you dare laugh at me’

like he treats the vulture like a human it’s really endearing

the other birds all like to flock around taehyung when he’s sitting up high in the branches and eating and he’s like ‘guys go get your own food!!!!!’ but he’ll share if he has bread or something

will 100% recklessly hurt himself to save an egg from falling out of a nest or fighting off a hungry fox that might pick on a wounded bird

he doesn’t wear any heavy clothing, his clothes are worn out and loose so it is easier for him to move around and climb trees. he wears a single feather earring from his right ear that came from the tail of his pet before the vulture that died when it was shot down by a hunter

usually taehyung wouldn’t wear feathers but this one is meaningful to him

his feet and arms are all scratched up from climbing up bark and his hair is always a mess because his vulture will land on top of his head just to be a little teasing

but he really cares about all the animals and even makes friends with Keepers jungkook and jin who both protect different species and you know he, like all keepers, wishes there would be less hunters but unlike the others taehyung sets up traps sometimes to catch hunters off guard and scare them from the forest

the other keepers are always like ‘taehyung you can’t keep risking our exposure like that’ and he’s just like im not,,,,,,,,the birds set up those traps and it’s like ,,,,please but taehyung is just like pointing to his vulture like ‘he did it! i swear!’

and you know you’re not a hunter, you’re actually an avid bird watcher who comes by the forest to see if you take photos of any new birds you haven’t seen before

and a lot of the time you just wander around with your camera, taking photos and making notes

taehyung doesn’t really know of you until one day he hears a lot of birds are flocking to one area and he’s like ,,,,,did one of the hunters leave feed out as bait again

and he climbs one of the trees to try and get a better lookout when all of a sudden the vulture leaves his shoulders and swoops down to where you’re sitting

and just as you turn to get water from your backpack, the vulture grabs your camera with its talons and flies back over to taehyung

and taehyung catches it and examines it and he’s like ??? is this a new hunting device??? what is it

and he’s turning it this way and that way and dangling it by the strap and you’re looking up at him like mY BABY THE CAMERA NOOO i spent thrEE MONTHS of my money on that

and you’re like jumping up and down, shouting and waving your arms for taehyung to notice you

and when he finally does he jumps down from branch to branch, your camera swinging around his neck as you bite your lip in terror, and when he lands in front of you

he gets right up and close - almost to the point that your noses are touching and he’s like

“explain this to me. what does it do?”

he holds up the camera and you’re like ?!?!?!?!? what is this boy

and you’re like “i-i-it’s a camera ,,,,,it takes pictures?!?” and taehyung furrows his eyebrows like “pictures? what is that?”

and you’re like ,,,,,,,,how does he not know what pictures are ?

but nonetheless you turn to pull out your album from your bag to show him, but all of a sudden he wraps his arm around your wrist and jerks it back and he’s like “hunters like you shouldn’t be here, don’t bring these things into the forest - stop hurting the birds!”

and your eyes widen and you’re like “hur-hurting? but im not a hunter-”

and taehyung narrows his eyes like “don’t try to trick me, ive been the keeper of birds in this forest for a longtime - i know a weapon when i see one!”

and for a second you process what this random, wild boy is saying to you and you search his face - the scratches on his cheeks, the feather earring, the vulture pearched on his shoulder and you’re like,,,,keeper,,,,,keeper of the birds,,,,,,,,,,, “yo-you’re a forest fairy?!?!”

and taehyung steps back a bit and he’s like “i am, now tell me - what is this, why are you here, which birds are you hunting?”

and you’re so mesmerized because WOW you’ve only heard of the forest fairies from books when you were a kid and rumors around the villages near the woods,,,,,,you never thought they were real

and if he was a fairy - where were his wings?? or did he not have any??? and before you know it you’re looking at taehyung from every angle in wonder

until he finally puts the camera back in your face and he’s like “explain.”

and you’re like “ok, but let me take something out of my bag - um - um whats your name?”

“taehyung. it better not be a weapon, my vulture can attack on comma-”

and you’re like waving your hand like “no no no, see im not a hunter - im a bird watcher!!!”

taehyung once again gives you a quizzical expression

“bird,,,,,,,,watcher?”

and you pull the album with all your photos out and open it up, showing it to taehyung and you’re like “look!! this is my sparrows page, and this one is my eagle one, and here we have blurry photos of mockingbirds -”

and takes the album from you and he’s like “what are these?”

and you’re like “pictures!!! i take them with that ‘thing’ called a camera!! it’s not a weapon, it doesn’t hurt the birds!!”

and you smile at taehyung and he kind of looks over you again and he’s like thinking to himself that,,,,,you know you don’t LOOK like a hunter - you’re not wearing that weird printed clothing and you’re obviously not holding a gun,,,,,and all the ‘pictures’ of these birds ,,,the birds are alive

and he also notices that,,,,,you’re much cuter than the average hunter LOL with smiling eyes and pretty looking hair tucked behind your ear

his vulture pecks at his cheek and taehyung side eyes the bird as to scold it because no shuttup i wasn’t staring!

and you’re like hmm?? and taehyung scatters for an excuse and goes “s-show me how the camera works?” and you’re like “ok!!! here let me take a photo of your pet ^^”

and taehyung hesitantly hands you the camera, which you thank god didn’t break while he was swinging it around, and you bring it up to focus the lens on the bird

and with a click that makes taehyung twitch you take a photo and then excitedly turn the camera around to show taehyung

and he leans in, squinting and then his eyes go wide and he’s like “it’s!!! him, it’s him on my shoulder!!” and you’re like “YES!!! isn’t he handsome?”

and you look at the photo which clearly shows the vulture, perched on taehyungs shoulder and you are talking about the bird but then you look at the photo and then back to taehyung who is leaning on your shoulder a bit to see the photo

and you hadn’t noticed in the flurry of the moment, but his slightly tanned skin and high bridged nose,,,,,an accentuated jawline,,,,,,and long eyelashes all make him,,,,,,quite handsome too

and before you know it you become conscious of how close you two are standing but when you scoot away, taehyung pulls you into his side again so he can be closer to the camera and you’re like hdlglgd,,,he really is a fairy he has no sense of personal space like normal humans,,,

and taehyung finally pulls back and he points to the photo and turns to the vulture like ‘you’re not so bad looking after all, look -’

and you’re like “does the vulture understand you? can you speak to birds???”

and taehyung looks at you with a half smile and shakes his head like “i can’t speak to them, but after living among them it’s really easy to understand what they’re feeling without words”

and you look at how obvious the close relationship between him and the bird is and you just smile to yourself because it’s,,,,,one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen,,,,,,,

until taehyung breaks your concentration because he picks up your bag and is like “is there anything else thats cool in here??” and you’re like hEY don’t go through my stuff without asking and you pull it back and taehyung gives you a shy grin and you’re like

frick he isn’t just handsome he’s also adorable what the he c K

but you sit down and taehyung sits beside you and you’re like “this is my notepad, i write things about birds here, this is some water, this is a pair of binoculars -”

as soon as you take them out, taehyung asks if he can see them and you pass them to him and immediately he looks through the wrong lens and is like “everything is so small??” and you’re like “the other way around!!” and when he turns them around it’s like,,,,,,taehyung has seen a whole new world

and he’s up, looking left and right and spinning around and the vulture flies off his shoulder to instead take a seat beside you and you’re like FREAKING out because this is the closest you’ve been to a vulture and you’re like omgomgogmogmmog i need to take photos

and for the next hour you and taehyung sit there in the meadow and you tell him about how you look for birds and how you take photos

and taehyung is like “the next time you come, find me and i can call over some of my friends so you can take photos ^^”

and you’re like friends? and he’s like the birds!! and you’re like omg i would love that

but as it is getting dark you have to go, but you feel bad just leaving so you dig out your binoculars and hand them to taehyung and you’re like

“it’s a gift - since you promised to help me the next time i come and let me take photos of the vulture, take care of them ok?”

and taehyung lights up like a child and jumps up and down and then suddenly

he leans in, pressing his lips to your cheek and pulling away like “that’s how humans express happiness to one and other - right??”

and you’re touching the skin where his lips met and you’re blushing like omg,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

and the vulture pecks taehyungs head, again like he’s scolding him and taehyung is like wHAT i was saying thank you

and you’re like “!!!! ill be um back soon i have to run now BYE”

and taehyung spends the rest of the week sitting up in the branches, looking through the binoculars that you gave him and thinking about you

and it’s weird usually he doesn’t like the humans he meets - mostly because they’re hunters or backpackers who leave garbage all around

but you’re,,,,,,,,,you’re different

you like birds for one,,,,but also you seem so,,,,,,so warm to taehyung

“my first human friend, what do you think?” he asks the vulture as he’s hanging off a branch and the vulture just flaps its wings and taehyungs nodding like “i agree, i like them too.”

and you do come back, about two weeks later and you don’t even have to search for taehyung he comes jumping down from between the leaves like some flying squirrel and lands on his feet right before you

and he’s like “you took too long!!! c’mon let me show you some of the other birds we have here-”

and he takes your hand without hesitation and you’re like kdfgsahf once again he’s got no idea of personal space but you don’t mind you like,,,,it

and he pulls you through some bushes off the hiking track and you don’t notice because you’re lost in taehyungs babbling about birds

and he’s like “here’s the nest of a sparrowhawk - look at how small the babies are!!”

and he shows you all the spots where birds live and unlike before where they’d just fly away if they heard your footsteps, with taehyung they just safely land on his hand or on his shoulder

and sometimes their talons leave scrapes and you’re like !!!!! band aids- but taehyung just licks the wound and keeps going and you’re like ???

but he really amazes you it’s like he /is/ a bird the way he hops from branch to branch as you stand bellow in wonder, the way he seemingly understands what the birds are saying, and the way he brushes off any kind of pain from his climbing or from thorns and has no fear of going up to the top of the tallest trees

and you get tired way before he does, but taehyung is like “one thing before you go!!” and he takes your hand and he’s like “here, hold this”

and in your palm there’s a baby sparrow and you’re like omgom g o H Y g od,,,,,,,,and taehyung is like “aren’t they soft?? they’re so tiny!!”

and you’re in a state of shock because you. are. holding. a. baby. bird.

but also you can’t stop smiling and taehyung all of a sudden, takes your camera and is like “let me take a photo!!”

and he’s clumsy with the lens, but you don’t care, you hold the bird in your hands up and taehyung mimics what he remembers you did and you hear the snap

and it’s,,,,,it’s a moment that you can never forget

and when taehyung successfully leads you back to the hiking track he leans down again, brushing his lips against your cheek because he tells you, you made him so happy today again!!

and you’re like sdhsd but you lean in to and kiss his cheek, taehyung jumping a bit and making the feather earring he wears brush your own cheek

and you’re both turning a lil pink but say goodbye

and this happens pretty often, even in winter, when you lug a blanket with you because you have the suspicion taehyung doesn’t own one

you come and watch the birds with him and taehyung is never short of being entertaining and fun

and he gets into the habit of holding your hand from the minute he meets up with you to the minute you have to leave

and the vulture becomes comfortable with you too, even shifting over to sit on your shoulder and you’re always like ,,he’s a bit,,,,,heavy

and taehyung is like i knOW imagine having to deal with him all the time

and for the hundredth time you see taehyung and his bird get into an argument of words and squawking that always leaves you laughing

and when you ask taehyung about the feather earring you see him get serious and emotional

and he tells you the story of his old pet bird, an eagle

and how it was shot down for its feathers but taehyung had set up a trap that had caught the hunter off guard before he could get to the body of the bird

and taehyung had recovered it, burying the bird beside the tree where taehyung had found him as a baby

and taking only one feather of his to remember him by

and taehyung mumbles that he never cries - really, only this memory makes him tear up

but in a matter of seconds he’s back to his happy self jumping around and climbing up the nearest tree

and he gets ,,,,,,,sweeter tbh

like he picks berries for you before you come and collects things you might like like flowers

and you always thank him and taehyung gets shy but touches his cheek and you lean in to kiss it

but the vulture sometimes beats you to it and pecks taehyung and taehyung is like nOT YOU !!!!

but you just laugh and one day taehyung has to drop you off again but you dig around in your bag and pull out a flute

and you’re like “i tried to get good at it, but i can’t - i think you might like it?? and the birds will to??”

and you hand it to him and taehyung brings it up to his mouth and almost like he’s magically always known how to play, a soft melody comes out that gets followed by chirps from the birds in the trees

and you smile and look at taehyung like “se-”

but then you feel something press to your lips and your eyes are wide when you notice that taehyung is ,,,,,,,,,kissing ,,,,,,,,,you

and when he pulls back he bites his bottom lip and is like “humans,,,,,when someone makes them happy,,,,but,,,,,more than happy they do that,,,,,right?”

and you’re like shocked

but you nod and taehyung grins wide and takes something from his pocket and it’s a feather - not like his a bit smaller

and he’s like “here, i don’t like when people wear feathers - but ,,,,,you,,,can,,,,,,,if you want,,,,,”

and you take it, thanking him and taehyung says he’ll see you soon

and when you get home you string the feather onto a thin piece of leather and make a necklace

that when you wear when you see taehyung makes him smile so bright it looks like it hurts and he tries to lean in to kiss you again

but the vulture sticks out his wing to slap taehyung against the face and then flies off when taehyung starts to nag at it

and you can only laugh,,,,,,,

#bts scenario #bts scenarios #bangtan scenario #bangtan scenarios #v scenario #v scenarios #taehyung scenario #taehyung scenarios #taehyung #bts #v #sfw #forest!au #i promise i will finish this series!!!!!

520 notes · View notes