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orphicdreamers-wp · 4 months

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It’s Not Christmas Without You— Quinn Hughes

Summary: Your seasonal depression gets the best of your relationship leading to an awkward Christmas

Content Warnings: Seasonal depression, panic & anxiety attacks, use of antidepressants, ocd, chemical imbalance, angsty hughes brothers

Pairing; Ex Gf! Reader x Quinn Hughes

September

You had never quite understood why your brain felt so hardwired to the point you couldn’t comprehend anything happening around you. It affected everything you did, but no one could put their finger on why sometimes things got to be much for you it brought you to tears. For the most part, your boyfriend Quinn tried to help you but when the weather in Vancouver shifted just as he’d been named captain. He just couldn’t do it anymore, he tried but it was draining him.

You sat cross legged in the center of Quinn’s living room, reorganizing his CD collection for the third time this week. Quinn sighed as he entered his apartment, coming home from a rough roadie, all he wanted was to take a scorching shower and talk to you while you guys laid in his bed watching a cheesy movie. He didn’t utter a word as he walked past to his room and dropped his stuff off before returning to his living room and letting out a sigh, “The CDS haven’t magically moved since Tuesday dollface.”

You ignored your boyfriend, again. Quinn blew out a breath he’d been holding in for god knows how long, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” He expected you to protest against him trying to break up with him, but you didn’t. Which somehow made Quinn more upset at the entire ordeal, “So your fine with just throwing away the last 6 years?” You kept quiet, knowing that if you dared to speak you would say something that you and Quinn couldn’t come back from. So you stayed silent as you stood up and slipped on your shoes and grabbed your coat and walked out of Quinn’s apartment and his life.

You returned to your shared loft with your friend Tess and finally let your composure fall. A wretched sob ripped through your chest as you leaned against the door and slid to sit against the wall. Tess hurried out of her bedroom and was at your side in seconds, “Oh honey. It’s okay.” You felt like someone was wrapping barbed wire around your throat, “I can’t, I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. Something isn’t right Tess.” Your breathing began to quicken as your chest tightened. Tess rubbed your back reassuringly, “I got you.” You closed your eyes and focused on your breathing. Once you were calm you turned to Tess, “Quinn and I broke up. I think I need to go home and get help.” And that was exactly what you did.

You went back to Toronto and moved back into your childhood bedroom, went to a neurologist and found out that your brain had an insufficient amount of neurotransmitters which could play part in your moods. The doctor told you that you needed to boost your serotonin and dopamine levels and prescribed you antidepressants and referred you to a women’s mental health clinic. You noticed slowly that your mood became less negative and you were able to focus better. But you also noticed that you began to get thinner and no matter what you did it never seemed like you gained weight.

December

You were reluctant to go to the Hughes Christmas dinner, although Ellen had reassured you that you were more than welcome. You still had your bad days and didn’t know if being around Quinn would make you snap and you didn’t want to snap at him. So you told your mother you’d think about it but that she should go. Which she did. You mother and Ellen were in grossed in a conversation over linens when Luke finally mentioned you, “So I guess she really doesn’t have anything to say to you Quinn. She would never miss out on Dad’s meatballs.” Quinn shot his brother a glare as your mother spoke softly, “She’s just having a hard time right now, her meds are messing with her.” Ellen smiled solemnly, “How is she adjusting to her antidepressants?”

Quinn looked taken aback learning your on antidepressants now, “Is she okay?” Your mom smiled as she lifted her wine glass to her lips, “Her doctor told her she doesn’t have sufficient neurotransmitters and it’s a chemical imbalance in her brain that’s made her feel like this all these years. The doctor said there’s a good chance coupled with the harsh weather and seasonal depression that’s what made her feel so poorly. Nothing you could have done would have helped Quinn.” Jack rolled his eyes subtly, “So because she’s mentally not okay, we’re supposed to be fine with her destroying Quinn?” Ellen glared at her middle child, “Jack! If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say sit.”

You stared at the stack of wrapped gifts you had gotten for each member of the Hughes family. You sighed as you slid off the couch and pulled on a dark red sweater and some jeans and took the gifts to your car and made your way to the Hughes family home. You were unsure of what would happen when you walked in but you were facing your fears today. You rang the doorbell, not expecting Quinn to be on the other side of the door.

His eyes held an unreadable expression that you had grown to miss. You were almost positive that you had lost your voice when he spoke, “Hey.” You smiled, “Hi, you look uh great.” Quinn rubbed his neck as a deep blush rolled over his cheeks, “Thanks. You do too.” He took some of the gifts as you I walked inside the house and placed your gifts with the rest of the gifts under the tree. You slipped your coat off and hung it in the closet with the others. Quinn frowned ever so slightly when he took note of how the jeans that had once hugged your body in all the right places were loose on you and how you looked at him like you might break if you looked at him long enough.

Ellen’s voice rang out from the dining room, “Who was it honey?” You smiled warmly as you entered the dining room behind Quinn, “Hi.” Ellen’s eyes glimmered with excitement as she hopped up and pulled you into a bone crushing hug, “We’re so glad you could make it after all. Right guys?” The Hughes men muttered out agreements. You sat down at the only empty seat which, as the universe was punishing you, was directly across from Jack with Quinn sitting beside you. Conversation flowed between you and everyone besides Jack and Quinn.

Jack spoke up in condescending tone, “So Y/N what have you been up to since you and Quinn broke up?” Jack let out a groan as Quinn swiftly kicked him underneath the table. You felt your smile drop, “I moved back home like 3 days after. I’ve been getting a lot of help. Working on understanding my feelings.” Jack hummed, “Seeing anyone? You sure are slimming down.” You tensed as you drew in a deep breath, “Nope. Wouldn’t be fair to a poor guy. I’m still in love with someone and I’m not sure relationships are for me. But can we just talk about your game against the Red Wings? I mean I was on my seat the entire time.”

Jack’s smirk fell, “You still watch my games?” You shrugged, “I watched Trev kick your ass. I also watched Quinn hand the Sharks the biggest loss. I didn’t stop watching hockey because I got broken up with.” You melted into Quinn’s touch as he placed a hand on your thigh. He mouthed inaudibly, ‘Thank you’ Dinner ended and Ellen insisted on going straight to presents. You smiled warmly as Jack and Luke opened their gifts from you. You You played more into a joke with Jack. It was a shirt that read ‘Straight Outta The Penalty Box.’ Jack’s gift sent his brother’s into laughter while Jack sent you a playful eye roll, “Now I know she actually watches my games still.” Luke’s gift seemed to be more fitting for him, he opened the box and ran his fingers over the soft tie that was adorned with red hockey sticks, “Thank you.” You smiled as Quinn picked up his gift from you, “I didn’t know what to get you so with my luck you’ll probably hate it.”

Quinn opened the box and his eyes softened as he looked at the gift, “You remembered. Why would I hate this?” He pulled out the large cooling weighted blanket. You barely remembered him mentioning wanting one. Apparently your subconscious remembered. Quinn’s eyes softened as you began to tidy up the wrapping paper as everyone continued to open gifts.

Without being noticed Quinn slipped into his childhood bedroom and opened his bag and pulled out a small gift wrapped box. He slipped it into his pocket and returned to the living room. His eyes immediately were on you as you clasped a necklace around his mother’s neck. Soon enough all the gifts were opened and Quinn spoke warmly, “I actually have a gift for you Y/N.” Your eyes widened, “O-okay.” Quinn slipped the small box from his pocket and placed it in your hand. By the size alone you knew it was jewelry of some sort.

You opened the box and your eyes widened and swelled with tears, “You can’t. Not with how horrible I was to you.” Quinn shook his head, “No I can. I have loved you since I have known you. I don’t care if your going through the worst thing possible. I love you and I just wanna be there for you no matter what. For the rest of my life. I want to be your husband. Marry me.” Your eyes welled, “I don’t know if I can give you the life you want Quinn.” Quinn shook his head as he pulled you closer to him, which you didn’t think was humanly possible, “The life I want is waking up to you pressing your ice cold feet to my legs to warm them up, the life I want is holding your purse so you can stop and pet every stray cat you see. The life I want is anytime and everything as long as you are there. You are the one good thing in my life.” You sniffled, “Fine I’ll marry you.”

#quinn hughes #quinn hughes x reader #quinn hughes x you #hockey player x reader #fanfic #hockey #nhl #nhl fanfiction #jack hughes x reader #qh43 #jack Hughes #luke hughes

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astraeaalstroemeria · 6 months

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it's a new soundtrack, i could dance to this beat

SONG INSPO: Welcome To New York (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift

SYNOPSIS: You and Dick Grayson had been close friends for years, but your connection snapped when your family moved to London. Everything changed for you, but you managed. It only took an invitation from your old friends and you were off to a plane back home.

GENRE: Fluff, Comfort, Angst

PAIRING(S): Titans!Dick Grayson x Fem!Reader

WARNING(S): Violence, Blood, Weapons, Slight Gore, Explicit Language, Blood, Weapons, Implied Smut, Trauma, Death, Near Death Experience, Coma

WORD COUNT: 4.3k

Rules & Navigation | Dick Grayson Masterlist

1989 (Taylor's Version) Special | request by anon

Your headphones blasted music as you were closing up your family’s restaurant and mopped the floors. You were twirling around with the mop in your hands when the door of the shop opened and the bell rang.

You averted your eyes from the ground and glanced at the five men in tuxedos and they had some kind of wired device around their ears. You took off your headphones and stared at the men.

“Uh, if you’re going to order, we’re closed. In case you missed the sign outside.” You mumbled cautiously. Oh why? Because you never had any trust in tuxedo poker-faced looking men. That’s always a bad sign from where you originally were years ago.

“We’re here for something else, Calyptra” a man said snarky and you immediately knew what was going on. You raised your eyebrow in curiosity and took a small step back.

“Hmm, I figured.” and with that, you swung the mop to a man’s stomach and the fight began. The men didn’t hesitate bringing their guns out from their blazer pockets and you ran around for cover. You backflipped to a table and flipped the table over to serve as a barrier while you took off your necklace that was holding your true power back.

One of the men shot the table from the other side and it almost hit your head within an inch of distance from your side. You finally stood up and came out of your hiding spot with your hands raised and you levitated the bullets that came towards you.

With the bullets floating in the air, the man immediately saw through your plan and started heading for their own cover but you sent the bullets flying through the bodies of two of the men and they laid on the ground, dead.

The three remaining men charged towards you with a war cry and you started fighting them off. A man started to charge towards you with a knife in their hand and intend to stab through your head and another man charged towards you with a table cloth in their hands intended to choke you or possibly tie you up.

You noticed that the third man was nowhere to be found and you had taken a mental note of that. Meanwhile, you moved swiftly and swerved your shoulder to your side and you made him fly across the room with your power and sent him flying to the man with the tablecloth and both men crashed to the floor.

Both of the men grunted as you held them back with your power and made them stick to the ground. While focused, the third man had an opportunity to ambush you and took it. The third man fired the gun towards the direction of your stomach while you had your back turned from where he was hiding earlier, but you were prepared.

You saw through the plan of his and you used your other hand to levitate the three bullets and you turned your head towards the man. You sent the bullets flying his way and he swiftly dodged them.

While the third man was focused dodging the bullets, you had the time to use your power and take the tablecloth from the second man and use it to tie him and the first man and flung them across the room.

Blood oozed from their faces as they hit the ground and possibly have broken their noses from the brutal fall. You charged towards the third man and he tried to punch you but you caught his arm and twisted it behind his back, but he kicked you and you fell on the floor.

“Oh fuck no!” You screamed as you tried to get up but the third man put his foot on your neck and you clawed at his leg as you choked. You were about to blackout but you managed to summon the consciousness you still have left and you raised your hand and summoned your power to twist his neck so much that it fell off from his body.

The third man’s blood splattered to your face and body as the headless body fell off slowly and onto the floor pooling with red blood. You got up with a sore body and hurting neck.

The two men that were still tied up were wiggling in the tablecloth that you tied them too but you averted your eyes to the gun that was right at their feet.

You walked slowly and the men had fear in their eyes. You picked up the gun and cocked it. It clicked. You aimed for their foreheads…

And shoot.

The first man was down and his head hung downwards as the bullet penetrated his head. The blood once again splattered onto your face and the second man also had blood on him.

You decided to kneel at the level of the second man and had a poker face displayed in your face. You sighed a shaky breath and the man waited in anticipation.

“Tell me, and be honest. Who the fuck sent you to come after me?” you asked in a menacing tone and aimed the gun to his head. The man whimpered and you threatened to pull the trigger. He finally caved in and he blurted the answer. “IT WAS DEATHSTROKE!” he blurted out and you shot him after.

Splat.

You closed your eyes as blood once again was on your face. Looking around, you used your magic to clean up the bloody and gore-worthy mess before your parents or anyone around came by the restaurant and saw what you did.

After five minutes, you had successfully cleaned up the mess and disposed of the bodies—God knows where—and you also cleaned yourself up.

And you went back to mopping the floors and finished up cleaning. But in addition, you had new guns and knives added to your collection once again. You closed the lights and out of the restaurant you were.

Walking back to your apartment, it was cold and you had forgotten to bring your scarf because you had underestimated the weather and that was your biggest mistake.

Once you arrive at your apartment, you hang your coat on the coat rack, take off your shoes and put the keys in the bowl on the coffee table in your living room. You sigh as you walk into the kitchen and open the fridge to get some water.

You took the pitcher with water and grabbed a glass and poured yourself a full glass of water. After gulping down the water, you grabbed your phone in your bag and you dialed a number you knew all so well and tapped your shoes with anticipation.

Once the person on the other end picks up, you straightened your posture. “Hello? Who’s this?” an unfamiliar young voice greeted you.

“Uh, excuse me? May I speak to Richard Grayson, please?” you said and the girl on the other end could be heard on the phone saying “Hey, Dick! Someone on the phone is looking for you!”

And you could no longer hear someone saying until that familiar voice greeted you. “Ah, long time no see, Calyptra. What took you so long?” after hearing Dick’s—probably smug—voice, you started shouting.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” you screamed and you could hear that same girl in the background saying “Uh, what did you do? This time?” you assumed the reason the girl had heard you shout at Dick was you were on speaker phone.

“How the fuck did Deathstroke’s men found me? I’m miles away from goddamn Gotham! I swear to god-” you began rambling on and nothing could calm you down in the moment. “I swear I can explain if you let me-” you cut him off.

“NO! You listen to me. No contact from you for years and this is how I get in touch with you! Go fuck yourself!” you swore and you could hear a pained hiss on the other end and some chuckling.

“Hey hey, take it easy on him, sweetie. He just wants to talk some peace.” you hear Dawn on the other end. “Dawn? What- what are you doing with that dickhead?” you calmed down. You sat on the couch.

“Well, I have some news for you. And I don’t think that you’ll.. Erm..” Dawn trailed off and another person butt in. “The Titans are back in business again.” Donna said while chuckling. Your mouth hung open and you cleared your throat.

Oh now it made sense. Fucking bastards.

“Is that so? Does that include recruiting old pals that were cut off from contact years ago, Troy?” you said while gritting your teeth. “Ouch, going to the last name basis now, are we?” Donna said feigning hurt.

“I think that’s just about right. Never thought I’d hear from you again. And once I do, I find out that what broke us apart is back again.” you sighed and you fiddled with your nails.

“Yeah, I never thought that would happen. Especially that what happened had a huge impact on you..” after Donna said that, your ears began ringing and a memory displayed on your mind.

—

[flashback starts]

You were fighting alongside the Titans and you were called ‘Calyptra’ who was famous for saving people and all that hero agenda. You were on a mission to fight Deathstroke but the fight was too easy. Deathstroke was gone, but you had a gut feeling something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

You were right seconds later. Your senses kicked in too late and you felt the world in slow motion as you whipped your head where you sensed Deathstroke was, but he had already fired the sniper towards Aqualad.

Shoot.

Splat.

Drop.

You were still stunned when you heard Donna scream, thinking it was because of Aqualad but you were wrong. Again. But that’s when you felt it. The stinging pain on your stomach.

You looked down and realized it was blood. Someone had stabbed their sword through your stomach and you turned around and saw it was none other than Deathstroke himself.

Your eyes widened and your mouth began to pour out blood. As you dropped to your knees and your body grew weak. Why had you let down your guard? Why? You had no idea.

Drop.

Blood.

Screams.

Everything was muffled. Even Dawn’s screaming and Dick’s panicked figure running towards you.

Oh how much he cared....

For you.

You laid on the ground and Deathstroke was no longer found in the area. You looked over at Aqualad’s dead body 3 feet away from you and a grieving Donna kneeling over and had his body being hugged by her. You hadn’t noticed that Dick was already by your side and he was doing the same thing.

He was sobbing.

Wait, was that right?

Why was Dick Grayson sobbing?

All because of you. He had held his feelings way too long enough to the point he might actually not get to say it to you. He was afraid at that moment as your eyes started to flutter shut and he was…

screaming?

Yes.

Screaming for Hank to get help.

Was he about to lose you? He hoped not. You had already begun to lose grip of your consciousness and you fully blacked out. Your ears started ringing again.

Louder.

And louder.

And…

[flashback ended]

—

“Hello? Hello? Calyptra, are you there?” Donna on the other end asked as you zoned out for a minute and had the most traumatic flashback. “Ah, yes. I’m here. Were you saying something?” you chuckled nervously.

“Yes, I was saying something. I was saying if you’d accept the deal to go back.” Donna asked and you stood up from the couch and began pacing around the room. “Back? Back to what? Or where?” you questioned. Though you fear what might be the answer.

“Back here? In Gotham… And back to the Titans?” Donna said, as she waited with a shaky breath. You shook your head. “No. No I can’t. Donna please-” you said with a panicked voice as tears pricked your eyes. You couldn’t start with the trauma once again.

“Please, Calyptra, we need you-” you hung up. Sobs erupted from your mouth and you threw your phone on the coffee table. You couldn’t go back, you just… couldn’t. You sobbed and tears ran down on your cheeks.

Your eyes averted to the picture frame that sat on the fireplace and you slowly walked towards it. You gently took the picture frame and saw that it was of you, Donna and Dick.

It was during the prom that Dick took you in as his partner. You were in the middle and smiling like there was no care in the world and Donna was smiling beside you while Dick only showed a bit of his smile.

You sniffled at the memory and hugged it closer to your chest. You stared above and wished for the stars to help you. Or anyone for that matter. You took a ragged breath and wiped your eyes. You could taste your salty tears.

You managed to pick yourself up and took the courage to grab your bag and went to your room. You were hesitant to decide whether you would accept the offer or would you rather stay in London and have your peaceful life again.

But you knew that getting involved with the Titans and with your old friends again, you knew that guilt would start eating up your insides once again. It was the same old cycle. It would never end.

You arrived in your room and tossed your bag somewhere and you face-planted to your pillow and you sighed. You turned and you were lying down on your back. You stared at your ceiling and you finally decided.

With the sudden burst of determination, you stood up from your bed and began packing your belongings. You grabbed two suitcases and began folding and shoving clothes into it. Your parents were out of town but you were no longer there once they got back.

You decided that you would either leave a note on the counter or call them once you were in Gotham. You decided to go with the latter. You finished packing with the help of your magic and you dressed yourself in clothes that would disguise you.

It was Saturday evening. It was the day after you were attacked and got a call from Donna asking you to join the Titans again and go back to Gotham. Your parents asked where you were going yesterday evening and had a talk with them.

To say that they were afraid and there were a lot of crying and sentimentals was an understatement. You cried your hearts out and they wished you luck because they knew what trauma you went through and they hoped you were gonna be okay.

You were currently standing in the living room of the Titans tower and you set down your suitcase and looked around quietly hoping to surprise them in the morning. You stared at the window view of the tower and the beautiful city lights below you.

It was midnight and no one was awake at this hour. That was what you thought. What you didn’t know was that a certain bird was assigned on a patrol and had just got back. So imagine his surprise when he stepped out of the elevator and saw a stranger standing near the window.

In instinct, he flinched and shouted. “Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing here?! Intruder! Intruder!” the boy in the Robin suit began shouting and you immediately began to shush him.

You stepped forward and tried to go near him but he threw his weapon at you. You dodged him and tendrils of your power appeared on your palm and used telekinesis to grab his foot and throw him across the room, leaving him gasping for breath as he hit a vase and it shattered on impact.

You grabbed a knife that was safely tucked on your boot and you nicked his arm.

He groaned in pain, and he was about to shout once again but you managed to shush him in time and you twisted his arm behind his back and placed the knife on his neck while your hand with your power was placed tightly on his mouth.

You heard some doors were beginning to open and the lights were turning on to see the commotion was about.

Shit.

Screw this.

You looked around and you made you and the boy invisible and you made way to the living room, going completely unnoticed. You saw Donna was the first one to come into view and had a confused look as she stepped carefully towards the shattered vase and inspected it.

Others came into view as well. Like Dawn, Hank and Dick. There were some unfamiliar people too and they were also confused as hell.

“What the hell is that commotion about?” a young girl asked. It was probably the same girl you had spoken to on the phone.

“Yeah, we heard Jason shouting. Who was he talking to?” a young boy with green hair asked. Dawn looked worriedly at Dick and her eyes averted to the suitcases in the living room that weren't there before.

“Uh, Dick? That wasn’t there before… was it?” Dawn asked and Dick also found himself staring at the suitcases. He shook his head.

Donna also averted her eyes from the vase and turned her focus to the suitcases. “Do you think…?” Donna questioned and she began to stare around the room for any being. An invisible being.

You were enjoying her trying to spot you but your invisibility has improved compared to the years prior. You threw ‘Jason’ on the ground and he grunted again. Donna stepped back and squinted her eyes to where she thought Jason was.

You released the invisibility from him and he quickly got up on his feet and had his fists out. He turned to Donna and the others. “There’s- there’s a crazy intruder! Some witchy bullshit!” he said panicking and Donna’s mouth was agape as you also released the invisibility on yourself.

Dawn chuckled happily and her hands flew to her mouth while Donna’s eyes widened and also chuckled and ran towards you for a hug. You groaned on the force and she swayed you a little while you hugged her back.

“Oh hell yeah! There’s the bitch witch!” Hank exclaimed happily and he also ran for a hug. Dawn was close behind. Donna released you from the hug and she had teary eyes while Dawn hugged you too. “Oh my god, Calyptra! You’re here, I can’t believe it.” Dawn mumbled on your shoulder.

You chuckled and you hugged her tight. “Yeah, I can’t believe it either. And also, fuck you, Hank.” you teased while Dawn pulled away from you and Hank side-hugged you. “Ah, I missed that fiery comeback of yours. Welcome back, witch.” Hank chuckled and patted your back.

You and Hank always got along well. Especially when he had a long-time crush on Dawn and you were crushing on Dick but what are the odds? He and Dawn were dating. Such a shame, truly.

“It’s good to be back. At least I hope it’s good.” you winked at Hank and he grumbled teasingly. Your eyes averted from Hank to the young teens in the room and a curly haired black woman. God she was beautiful. You thought.

“Uh, what is happening right now?” the raven-haired girl asked and she turned to the green-haired boy. “Yeah! That crazy woman tried to kill me and here you all are hugging her and having goody goody with her!” Jason said as he was pissed off.

“Excuse you, brat. But this crazy woman has been my friend since I joined the Titans. And now she’s back..” Hank trailed off and he looked at Dick who was still staring at you. “We have a chance against Deathstroke. Or anyone for that matter.” he mumbled.

You finally averted your eyes to Dick and your smile dropped and you took a long sigh.

“Grayson.” you said sternly.

Dick’s face was visibly hurt by your last name basis and he crossed his arms.

“Calyptra.” he responded.

But it wasn’t stern. It only had a normal tone, which was surprising for a yearning man all these years you moved away. The green-haired boy sensed something and he chuckled nervously trying to break the tension.

“Oho-kay! Since uhm, this was a very happy happy reunion, might as well introduce myself. My name is Gar. Gar Logan.” Gar said and he stepped forward with a smile and he offered his hand for you to shake. You smiled at him as well and shook his hand.

The raven-haired girl soon followed and she gave you a tight-lipped smile. “My name’s Rachel. Rachel Roth. I was the girl you were on the phone with yesterday?” Rachel said and she also offered her hand for you to shake and you happily accepted it.

Jason was still sulking in the corner and he was glaring at you. Rachel looked at Jason and she did the introduction for him. “Oh and you've met Jason. Jason Todd.” she said and Jason just gave you a glare.

You averted your eyes to the black woman and she stepped forwards and gave you a handshake. “Kory. Kory Anders. Pleasure to meet you. Finally.” Kory said and she shook your hand firmly.

“Alright, now that all of the introduction is done, should we go back to sleep? I mean, it is the middle of the night.” Dawn said, trying to ease the tension. “Oh and your room is still the same as is. It was never touched so I guess it’s still a bit… dusty.” Dawn smiled sheepishly.

“That’s alright, Dawn. I’ll go clean it myself. You’ve done enough, thank you.” you smiled and she gave you a nod. Gar yawned and Rachel followed. “Well, we should get going. It was nice meeting you, Calyptra.” Rachel said and waved goodbye as she started to walk away and back to her room.

Soon enough, everyone else did the same. But Dick was the last one to leave and you just dismissed him and turned to your suitcases and also went to your room. Dick tried to call out to you, but you just walked faster.

A minute later, you arrived at your room. It was still the same and the posters you had put up were still put up. Everything was dusty, and that included the bookshelf full with books. And the record player you had near your table was still there. You also had a box full of records in the corner.

You sigh as you put your suitcase in a corner and you whip your hand to immediately clean the room as tidy as possible. It was all cleaned within a minute but then you heard soft knocks on your door while you had your back turned to it. “Don’t come in.” you said as you already knew who it was.

But nevertheless, the person came in. It was Dick. Of course it was. “Hey.” he said as he entered your room. You turned around to face him and you responded with a dry tone. “Hi.” you said and you crossed your arms. He stepped closer while you didn’t move at your spot.

“Look, I’m sorry. I-” you cut him off. “Sorry my ass, Dick fucking Grayson. You cut me off when I was at my lowest. When I was in a coma. You abandoned me when I needed you and never once did I get a visit in the hospital until I was eventually moved to London.” you raised your voice.

Dick put his hands in front of him and he nodded. He sat down on your bed and it dipped with his weight. “Yes, I know what I did was wrong and low. But I had a reason.” he said and you raised your eyebrow.

“I thought that if I stayed away from you, you’d be away from danger and I…” he trailed off and he sighed.

Your eyes softened and you moved from where you were standing and also sat down beside him and the bed dipped more. You sighed and you shook your head.

“I loved you..” he mumbled and you lifted your heads towards him in shock. “I love you and I couldn’t lose you. The guilt was eating me up and I couldn’t bare it. So I stayed away hoping to move on.” he continued.

You had nothing to say to that. Years of wishing he would say that had finally come true. You shook your head and you turned to Dick.

“I… you loved me?” you said, hoping to have heard right. He nodded and gave you that subtle smile you loved so much. “I have. For years. But I never realized it until it was too late and you’ve moved.”

You didn’t let him finish and kissed him on impulse. Dick tensed up at the moment and he wasn’t expecting that. But after he got over his shock, he kissed you back and he put his arms around you, hugging you. He laid you on the bed and he was on top of you.

The kissing got more intense as you both devoured each other's lips with hunger. When you pulled away, you were both panting and Dick began to unbutton your shirt and you did the same to him.

After unbuttoning all the buttons you leaned forward for Dick to take it off and you saw his nasty scar by his chest, but you didn't mind. You two continued kissing and he pulled away and you looked at him with a confused look before he started kissing your neck and you gave him more access by tilting it and he hit a sweet spot and you moaned with pleasure.

—

In the morning, you and Dick were naked and lying down with the blanket as cover. You had a steamy night with him and thank god for the barrier you put to silence your session with him. What a way to be back, right?

He certainly has a way to leave you...

breathless.

(@astraeaalstroemeria on AO3)

Archive of Our Own (AO3) Link

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kkpwnall · 6 months

Text

if it wasn’t for bad luck i wouldn’t have luck at all

part one | rated t | 1270 words | cw: parental death

all my thanks and love to my beloved @fragilecapric0rnn for beta-reading 💜 you're a rockstar and your feedback was so so helpful

Eddie was born under a bad sign. That’s what his momma always used to say. Friday the 13th, and in October? He never really stood a chance and neither did anyone else he got close to. He was like a black cat walking across their path.

[ keep reading below, or read on ao3 ]

His momma was first, of course. Cursed by the fate of Eddie’s birth from the very beginning. And if he hadn’t dawdled on the way home from school that day, if he had gone straight home just like he’d promised, if he hadn’t stopped to pick a bouquet of ditch weed wildflowers for her and got distracted by caterpillars and rollie-pollies— Well, maybe he would’ve been able to tell the 911 operator she was still breathing when he found her.

His daddy was next, not much long after. Eddie worshiped him like a hero in one of his fantasy stories, the charming, devil-may-care, down on his luck protagonist who stole from the rich and gave to the needy. But the first time Floyd brought him out on a real job, just the two of them, when all Eddie had to do was hot wire the getaway car after he heard the signal (three hoots like a barn owl), Eddie panicked. Did he say barn owl or barred owl? Was that two hoots or three? Why did the wires all look the same in the dark?

When the police cars painted him in their flashing red and blue lights, he dropped the wire cutters and ran. Floyd went down in a hail of bullets behind the car Eddie had been trying to steal, and Wayne got his own life sentence when the State dropped Eddie on his doorstep.

Uncle Wayne got the worst of it, obviously. Working himself to the bone, nights and weekends, to put Eddie through school. Not to mention senior year for a second and third goddamn time.

It was too late by the time young Eddie figured it out. By the time he decided to keep everyone at arm’s length.

It’s safer that way, for everyone.

Chrissy was just the latest in a long line. And he’d only lowered his guard an inch, a millimeter, when he saw someone just as lonely and desperate for a friend. He’d only barely started to let himself have an inkling of what an actual friendship with her might be like when—

This is exactly why Eddie doesn’t have friends. He has minions. He has little lost sheepies, he has twerps and shrimps. And that’s it. That’s enough. It has to be enough.

But all that changes the day he dies.

Or maybe it’s the day he finally wakes up. His new birthday, welcomed to the world once again in a cold, bright, sterile hospital room.

And really, the way he sees it, it’s all Henderson’s fault.

The little shit wanders in every day at visiting hours and makes himself right at home. He props his cast up on Eddie’s bed, and steals the remote to change the channel on the ancient, minuscule tv over to cartoons, and then he just… camps out! All day!

The kid will not leave him alone, no matter how cold a shoulder Eddie tries to give him. He even broke down and explained everything to him. How he’s bad luck, he’s bad news. And people who get too close to him end up dead.

But maybe the painkillers they’ve got him on scrambled his brain as bad as the bats scrambled his guts, because Dustin steamrolls right over him.

“If curses were real, which they aren’t,” he posits in his professor voice, “Your dumb curse can’t try to kill me again. It already took a shot and it missed, and the worst I got was a busted ankle.”

Eddie opens his mouth to tell Dustin that’s not how curses work but—

“And what was its goal anyway? To get you alone and friendless, dead in a ditch? Well then, mission accomplished!”

Which is… weirdly comforting when he puts it like that.

Dustin brings with him a rotating cast of the rest of the fellowship. Eddie finally gets to meet Baby Byers and finds out he’s already been recruited to Hellfire before Eddie can even say hello.

More often than not, Steve tags along too since he’s already ferrying them all between the hospital and home. Usually after he’s spent some time with Red and the other kids in her room, he’ll drop by. To check on Dustin of course.

It’s not because he likes Eddie. Don’t be ridiculous. He doesn’t even know him.

All that… before… it was just some harmless flirting to keep himself from completely losing it while he was on the run from homicidal bible-thumpers. And Steve was just humoring him.

So he hides behind stupid flirtatious remarks, easy to brush off when it’s always undercut with sly winks and salacious expressions. Enough to keep everything surface level. Keep him at arms length.

It doesn’t matter that his eyes still seem to linger on Eddie, even when he hasn’t said anything for a while. Or that he brings Eddie extra pudding cups from the cafeteria. It doesn’t mean anything when he stands in the doorway trying to finish one last story or joke, until the kids almost literally have to drag him out when visiting hours are over.

Because it turns out Steve is an incorrigible gossip. And Eddie’s not about to be the one to corrige him. Not when he brings an extra dr. pepper for Eddie every time he stops by the vending machine for a coke and gleefully tells Eddie which of the doctors, nurses, and shady government agents are sleeping together.

A can of coke he taps on the lid with a peculiar rhythm before he cracks it, every time.

“What’s up with that?” Eddie finally has to ask one day, when it’s just the two of them and the Price is Right.

Steve hums this confused little sound at him, tilting his head with furrowed brows as he takes the first sip.

Eddie repeats the pattern, tapping it out on his own can.

Steve blinks a few times, first at Eddie, then at the can in his hand.

“I didn’t even realize I did that,” he huffs out a laugh. “It’s uh… something my grandpa taught me when I was a kid. Y’know just for luck.”

The blood in Eddie’s veins freezes and he’s stuck like that for a painfully long moment. Propped up against the lumpy hospital pillows with his mouth half open, staring at Steve.

“For luck.” he says flatly.

“Yeah, so the fizz doesn’t explode when you open it.”

“And has that ever happened to you?” Aiming for flirty, aiming for scathing, aiming for anything that’s not desperation.

“Well no,” Steve says with an easy shrug and a conspiratorial smile, “that’s why it’s lucky. It’s like picking up a coin that’s face-down on the sidewalk.”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure it’s face-up, darlin,” Eddie says coyly, like every alarm bell in his head isn’t ringing a deafening cacophony.

“Nah see, you gotta leave those ones for someone who really needs the luck.”

“But then you get the bad luck.”

“Nah, doesn’t work that way,” Steve says, and fucking winks at him.

Eddie wants to shake him. What is wrong with him? He’s got it all backwards and it’s dangerous. How is he walking around like this?

Whatever, it’s not his problem. Steve can do whatever Steve wants. Eddie doesn’t need to protect him from himself. It’s not like they’re friends. And really, that’s the best way to protect him.

[ part two ]

[ also on ao3 ]

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kizzys · 1 year

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Something about how Joel needs to know a specific purpose to work towards for him to go on... Not that others don't, of course they do, it's the most human thing, but how its just a lot more specific with Joel...

When Sarah was alive, she was his purpose. To raise her, to give her a life, to keep her safe... and after she passed, he didn't have that purpose anymore, so he tried to do what he did the very next day...

We see this with Tess too, and I think another post already pointed this out, how she is very much the leader between the two of them. Tess guided him, she gave him goals to carry through, she gave him purpose. Even when they meet Ellie, he only takes her along because Tess decided to. Hell, he was ready to abandon Ellie after finding out she was infected but didn't because Tess said not to.

We have seen the kind of tunnel vision of greif and rage he goes through when he loses his purpose, we have seen it with Sarah, we have seen it with Ellie, but we do not see it with Tess. This was one of the most important relationships in his life through 20 years of the apocalypse, and sure he mourns her but he's never blinded by it. Why?

Because just before her death, Tess gives him a new purpose, to keep Ellie safe. And that's exactly what he does. Only that, over the course of the episodes, the purpose that came out of obligation turns into genuine parental love.

That's also one of the reasons Joel's search for Ellie this episode is so interestingly shot. I mean, in the last episode when Joel was torturing those two men, everything was loud and crystal clear, every scream, every breath, every movement of the knife. Because Joel woke up and his kid is missing, all her things are missing, and at this point he has no idea where she is or if she's even alive. And so that scene is neither from Joel's pov nor of those two men. The audience is literally a third observer watching this guy torture the fuck out of two others. The scene from the last episode is the complete opposite. Especially for what is one of the most violent scenes in the show, I mean Joel kills a building full of people in cold blood. But we hear no sound, everything is muted, most of the camera's attention is either on Joel or his boots, not the bloodshed in front of him. This is the one scene we get to see that is completely from Joel's point of view, from the moment he takes the gun in the staircase till he reaches the operating room, we see that blinded tunnel vision that Joel has. He has one purpose - to find Ellie. Anything else doesn't matter, and so he doesn't even register all the things he's doing, all the people he's killing.

And then he sees Ellie, and the audio returns to normal, the camera pans out. When he shoots the surgeon, it is loud, it is clear. It is personal. And he could have killed the nurses, dragged Ellie away from the bed himself and be done with it. But no, he asks the nurses to remove all the wires off of her, and to bandage up her arm, and he puts her in the car before he kills Marlene, not after. Because he completed his purpose of finding Ellie. His new purpose now is to keep her safe from anything that could hurt her, whether its seeing someone die or a single drop of blood on her arm.

Joel's arc, from the first episode till the last, is having his purpose as a father break apart and then having it glued back together, piece by piece, all by the drive he has to protect his little girl

And god help any motherfucker who stands in his way

#i didnt mean for this to be so long but anywho #i just have a lot of thoughts about the zombie show #the last of us #tlou #the last of us hbo #joel miller #ellie williams #tlou spoilers #.

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see-arcane · 2 years

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I don’t know if anyone else has touched on the bitter irony of this part:

' “I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, have no cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes to you. His fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can treat of.”

‘I do believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my poor dear should have fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of my being jealous about Jonathan!’

me, mid-scoff: Of course not, obviously! He’s him! Two thirds of his vocabulary and what’s left of his sanity is devoted to you!

‘And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I felt a thrill of joy through me when I knew that no other woman was a cause of trouble.’

me, thinking about the multiple near-misses with the Brides: .......hm

I’ve always wondered if she ever skirted near a sour memory by accident in the ensuing days. If, for example, she happened to color her lips red for some special occasion. Maybe she brushed the side of his neck, nails skimming over the carotid artery. Or else she dared to lay a kiss anywhere below his chin.

And Jonathan, for reasons he cannot articulate to her or himself, locks up like a wire with a current shot through it, all tight breath and shudders as he thinks of red smiles and cold hands.

Perhaps it’s just as well they did not have a traditional wedding. I don’t think he would have taken the sight of another flowing white dress very well.

#assuming they were wearing bridal-white dresses as all the adaptations and illustrations imply #either way I think about this bit a lot #jonathan harker #mina harker #brides of dracula #dracula #dracula daily

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devilsupdates · 25 days

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Devils vs Islanders

Second period

Timo! #NJDevils make it 1-0!

Jack and Luke assist on Timo Meier's 23rd goal of the season.

He moves into a four-way tie with Nico, Jesper and Jack for the team lead in goals.

2-0 #NJDevils

Jack Hughes.

2-0 #NJDevils ... after three Islanders collided with one another in the Devils zone.

Jack Hughes moves into the team lead in goals with his 24th of the season.

Meier and Bratt with the assists on Jack's goal.

Two-point night for Jack and Timo (so far).

Holtz! #NJDevils are up 3-0!

Alexander Holtz isn't going to miss that one. Wide open net to shoot at.

Both Jack Hughes and Alexander Holtz score on their milestone nights.

Patrick Roy calls timeout for Islanders. They've given up three goals in the opening 6:12 of the second period.

Simon Nemec does a great job here along the right wall to dig the puck loose from Islanders captain Anders Lee.

Nemec is then able to find a wide-open Holtz, who one-times it past Sorokin.

John Marino going to the box. #NJDevils PK.

#NJDevils kill off the Marino penalty.

Timo's wires just crossed.

Defends Nico Hischier after a hit by Anders Lee

Nico Hischier heads down the #NJDevils tunnel as a result of Lee's hit. 😭😭😭😭😭

Refs are reviewing for a major penalty on Lee.

Lee, after the refs are between Meier and Lee, continues punching Meier in the head.

Lee gets a five-minute major, plus five for fighting.

Meier gets five for fighting and a misconduct.

Nico Hischier is not on the #NJDevils bench after that trip, where he landed on his head. He went down the tunnel after that trip and has not returned.

It wasn't actually a trip, it was kneeing by Lee on Hischier.

Nico fell awkwardly as a result.

End of two.

#NJDevils take a 3-0 lead into the third period against the Islanders:

2: 🚨Meier (J. Hughes, L. Hughes)

2: 🚨J. Hughes (Meier, Bratt)

2: 🚨Holtz (Nemec)

Shots 23-22, NJ

#new jersey devils #hockey imagine #nico hischier #jack hughes #luke hughes #hockey #timo meier #john marino

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magpigment · 10 months

Text

MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR GENLOSS EPISODE: THE CHOICE

hello! these are my reactions and thoughts as i watched the third, and final, part of generation loss! not really an analysis, tho it does have some of my theories that were developed as i was watching. enjoy i suppose, lol

ok this is dope opening footage

who the hell is the mask person just walking around??? why are they in a mall??? hello???

does mask persons mask have the showfall symbol on it because i genuinely can’t tell lmao

ENHANCE

ok well it’s still just as blurry as before because like. obviously. but i’m almost positive their mask DOES have the showfall symbol on it. cool 😎

why are there so many mask people actually

are they like. guards?? is this fnaf: security breach??? thas crazy lmao

why was that one wearing a fedora 😂

also this dynamic camera shot is low key making me motion sick lmao, even if it is super cool

that’s a super helpful directory right there yep!

ah yes, the smoke gala, my favorite

why did that one showfall symbol on the glass look like it was painted in blood or something and how did they get it so neat. did they paint it on w a stencil using blood instead of paint. i need answers

oop hello ranboo

ok finally ranboo took off the bundle of like wires or paper clips or whatever that was dangling from their neck, i was wondering what that was lol

ohhhh ranboo trying to talk to the person filming is super cool

who the hell is talking to them rn lmao

hello hacker guy

his name is HEDGE?? did i mishear that

ok so i was right! when the mask is glowing red it means he’s being controlled

also i didn’t even know ranboo here was able to take off their mask. i thought it was like. attached to them or something.

ok i’m genuinely like on the edge of my seat lol

oooof ranboo is finally realizing that the people who died are like actually dead! yikes lmao

those are some pretty good effects for the blood tho like that looked pretty real all things considered. or like it’s the right color more or less

aaaaaand there’s the grappling with morals and survivors guilt and trying to reconcile being under someone else’s control while simultaneously realizing that the things you did while under said control was at least somewhat responsible for like, what, four? at least? people’s deaths!

….i feel like hedge or whatever he’s called is like for sure lying. i mean i know at least some of the people are in some capacity still alive but ALSO. i feel like he’s lying to ranboo to keep him from just leaving lmao. also i feel like that exit door prolly wouldn’t have worked anyway so whatever

this is such a cool setting btw, the amount of work that must’ve gone into this is insane. and also the soundtrack is phenomenal

i’m like super sus on this hacker guy lmao

UHHH YEAH I AGREE WHAT IS THAT???

‘it’s locked up, it’s secure, don’t worry about it ^^’ homeslice that thing is behind the least secure covering i’ve seen in my life. that thing looked flimsy as hell

i feel like this hacker might not know what he’s doing

i did not catch any of what that hacker said he needed, in one ear and out the other

‘..are these people, or machines, or-‘ uhhh i think the answer to that is YES.

i feel like i’m about to get jumpscared lmao

i feel like these guys won’t be ‘pretty much harmless’ in a bit tee hee

ranboo sure is going through it huh

‘how long have i been here’ i’m not sure you’ve ever left, buddy.

also, showfall SET UP MISSING POSTERS for ranboo on the OFF CHANCE HE ESCAPED??? BRUH. absolutely bizarre behavior

the fucking whiteboard in the corner with basically the plot of the series so far 😂

‘DAY 2 PLAN!!

-puzzle

-electric chair

-audience will chose

two plus two equals five

-black light closet

decoy “planned case of death” ‘

along w a couple doodles and some other stuff i couldn’t quite make out so that’s cool lol

ranboo is ahac- assigned hero at construction

i’m like convinced gl!ranboo is not like a full flesh and blood human being, homeslice is a lab baby for sure

oh there’s a day one plan whiteboard too but it wasn’t completely shown

imagine being payed to sit in a room completely still for however long lmao

did one of the people standing in the window leave?? 😂

oh that’s such a cool way to incorporate the viewer interaction or whatever again, with the hacker intentionally seeking them out for their input and ranboo being completely against it because ‘they might try to kill me’. i’m not gonna say it’s foreshadowing, BUT- it’s like for sure foreshadowing not a doubt about it lmao

lmao ranboo this is why you always listen to chat, they’re always right without fail /j

but honestly the audience hasn’t steered him wrong so far for the most part, at least for like the puzzles and stuff

oop bye hacker

oh he’s called hetch (?)

oop the people are moving around now that’s ominous

oh god the security

welp :D

that’s not good ^^

I CAN HEAR CHARLIE JN THE BACKGROUND MY BOY WHERE ARE YOU

i admire those people’s ability to just completely not break character to this tall person running up to them and desperately trying to get their attention lmao

the headphones probably help lol

ok what the actual hell is charlie literallt even saying right now 😂

the amount of times i’ve said that should be concerning but honestly i’m just resigned to it at this point. that’s my streamer 💔

sup my dude lmao

LMAO RANBOO JUST BREAKING CHARLIES CAMERA 😂

charlie sounds so fucking confused and sad nooo

ok genuinely i do not understand how the puzzler died AT ALL. literally what even happened there

i can’t get over how much taller ranboo is than charlie, charlie looks itty bitty but he could also just straight up deck me so i’m getting mixed signals here XD

charlie is such a good actor i’m losing my mind

that is a very big mall lmao

i like just noticed that piercing alarm noise ouch my ears

SUBA hell yeah

ah yes, jake’s, my favorite store

i’m surprised they actually found a functioning directory

oop. that’s a corpse

OOP THATS A SPOOKSTER YIKES RUN RUN RUN RUN LMAO

i should not be watching this at like 2am lmao

du du du du minecraft minehunt that’s crazy

CHARLIE PARKOUR AWAY I BELIEVE IN YOU XD

charlie has an axe what will he do

ranboo with a knife what will they do

(im pretty sure i know what they’ll do with that knife 😅)

charlie has died a lot yeah lmao

charlie w a frying pan what will he do XD

yeahhhhh i had a feeling they wouldn’t just be able to leave lol

that cameraman got moves tho lmao, mad respect

oof running up stairs, ouch

‘OH WHY DIDNT GOD GIVE ME LONGER LEGS’ mood, charlie, mood

yeah i’m sure they’ll be able to emotionally process this later lmao

oop hacker is dead

oop never mind yikes

…yeah it’s just a flesh wound i’m sure he’ll be fine 😅

that dye is not gonna wash out of that guys hand easily yikes. fake blood can be a bitch to get out of things lmao

ALSO I WAS RIGHT, ranboo and charlie and all the others aren’t actual humans technically!

diversity win! you and your friends are artificially created humanoids designed to play a role in horrific death games for the mundane entertainment of a faceless audience!

ok so the hacker is called hetch? cool

i’m also like mostly certain that the hacker is grizzly im pretty sure. maybe. i’m not great w voices i’ll be honest lol

oop. ranboos just committed a murder lmao

baby’s first kill in cold blood, i’m so proud 🥰 /j

charlie looks awfully blasé about the stabbing that occurred right in front of him

THE LOOK HE GAVE RANBOO XD

why’d ranboo ditch the knife bro they might need that later :(

goddd the soundtrack is literally so good tho

OH THATS WHY RANBOO SAID THAT THERE WAS A WEIRD PAINTINF, I WAS RIGHT, IT WAS IN REFERENCE TO SEEING ‘the fourth wall’, THATS SO COOL

oop bye bye charlie 😭

i feel like homeboys about to get eviscerated and like actually disemboweled this time

omegalul 😂

RANBOO GET THE BUTTON GET THE BUTTON GEY THE BUTTON

HELL YEAH

NEVERMIND

THIS PROBABLT ISNT GOOD 😅

uhhhh sup buddies tee hee

oh they’ve stopped moving that’s good

conveniently placed button

i mean not convenient enough i guess cuz like charlie is currently bleeding out or something but THATS BESIDES RHE POINT

i’ve almost managed to convince myself this has like a somewhat happy ending

aaaaaand never mind

the way my stomach genuinely fucking DROPPED when i saw that guy appear in the doorway immediately after ranboo bowed jesus christ my heart

i reiterate i absolutely should NOT be watching this at 2am yet my hubris knows no bounds

and also now my cat is meowing at my door bruhhh stop ruining the ending of this for me, max /j

the immeasurable dread in my gut right now, yall 😅

bye bye ranboo 👋

BOXED LIKE A FISH RANBOOS BOXED LIKE A FIS- *gets shot*

i fucking KNEW hetch was a goddamn bootlicker!!

fuck you hetch!!!

oh oof what happened to their mask :(

i knew this goddamn audience interactive element was gonna bite me in the ass jesus christ

ranboo is fucking stellar at acting which is why i can safely say i am in absolute goddamn shock!

oh homeslice is just straight up crucified wow

i wonder if there was any alternate ending or if the vote was precast to always end the way it did. because i know how this ends, and it is not a happy ending. i don’t think there was ever any way it COULDVE been a happy ending. this was always a tragedy, and the hero is always doomed by the narrative

oh just the abrupt and complete SILENCE upon the box closing, before it slowly zooms out and the theme fades in and swells as the blood drips down from the box??? holy shit that’s so fucking cool

the way this entire thing was directed and performed is a goddamn masterpiece, this was phenomenal and an absolute blast all the way through!!! i’m so so so glad i watched this and i so so so wish i had watched it earlier

i’m in shock y’all that was so cool

this is definitely going on my list of all time favorite pieces of horror media!! mannnn that was done so unbelievably well i’m absolutely blown away!!

i can’t wait to just lose my mind about this for the next like. forever i suppose

i can’t wait to analyze this dude i’m so excited!!!!!!!

#dandy talks #genloss #generation loss spoilers #generation loss #genloss ranboo #genloss slimecicle #genloss charlie #generation loss slimecicle #generation loss ranboo

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muddshadow · 11 months

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find the word —

words courtesy of @isherwoodj and @akindofmagictoo <3 tagging you back and also @faelanvance @pinespittinink @baroquesse @revenancy @the-void-writes @calicoy and anyone else who feels like it <3 to you i bestow the words ASH, ACHE, CLEAR, COLD.

RAISE // bloodhounds

...she’d been considering a possibility, one that emerged this past year with the slow, solemn recognition that accompanied all dreadful truths, and one that had been sufficiently judged with rejection, reluctance, and compromises. It’s not what I think. It couldn’t be that. It must be something similar. But Neve was raised to untangle puzzles, and how could she ignore the thousand knotted strings that wove together Rowan? She couldn’t. Not when she watched him share stories across the dinner table, not when they surrendered low-toned secrets around a fire-pit or a dawn-crested balcony or in the silent embrace of the pilot’s deck, and certainly not now, as she plucked through the tattered wires of his detached prosthetic. Rowan told a great many truths, and all of them were shadows. Pieces missing, unmentioned, momentous.

Rowan spoke suddenly. “What're you thinking?”

TALL // bloodhounds

Tulan smiled, and it was almost warm. “Look how you’ve grown, Nevelyn.”

When tears burned in her eyes, it felt wrong and overwhelming, and Neve retreated back into her arms. She still didn’t know what to think, but she felt, felt, felt, the bittersweet weight of old memories and a stolen future, the drawn-and-quartered quandary of a man devoted to violence who had loved her like a daughter.

“I never thought you’d end up so tall. That surprised me.”

It hurt to be present, but she had nowhere else to be. Meeting Tulan’s gaze still proved too challenging, so Neve stared at the table and wrangled her thoughts into words.

LOW // the inherited haunting of trystan song

“The universe fucking hates me today,” I say, mostly to myself.

Magdalena still graces me with an answer. “Don’t be rude, Trystan.” She wears a yellow dress and sunhat, coiled hair a black cloud beneath it. A cigarette fits between her fingers, nails perfectly manicured and nighttime blue. They’re always a different color. She bores quickly. I’m hoping I can bore her out of a conversation, since I already have a catastrophe planned.

Magdalena lowers her designer sunglasses and glimpses me over. “You look terrible.”

ROYAL // the inherited haunting of trystan song

“Is that a soda in there?”

“No. It’s a high nutrient fruit juice, made with–”

“Great. Hand it to me.”

He does without looking and continues sifting through the fridge drawers. I don’t catch any of his unintelligible mutters. I don’t try to. I’m already knocking back my first shot of Crown Royal and get straight to work on the second and third. Chasing it with high nutrient fruit juice isn’t as satisfying as Dr. Pepper, but it does make it interesting.

OVER // twice-dead scavengers

The evening before the triplets left, House Finch held a grand celebration. All twenty-seven Finches attended; not counting the married-in spouses and step children, who were never counted, and not counting Tatum, whose presence was no longer expected or desired anywhere near the Finch doorstep. Only special occasions brought the entire esteemed and estranged family together at one table. A special occasion to pry for information, confront old rivalries, and to discreetly glimpse over Grandmother Ruvilka and assess if she was anywhere closer to death.

Tonight, the conclusion didn’t waver from the previous decades. Grandmother remained at the head of the table and deathless.

RUGGED // twice-dead scavengers

Bright pain erupted in her shoulder, scathing and rendering her blind. Geneviere dreaded losing her other arm, released a short, husky shriek at the thought, but the knife was a quick dart and not a rugged hacking. The phantom tore the blade free of her trapezius. Geneviere collapsed forward. Blood wept down her arm, mixing with sweat and ink.

Several strides away, the mist collected into the distinctive shape of a person, hunched on their heels and watching her, this time with a voice.

“You’re the weakest,” the phantom said, tone hushed like dawn and roiled deep by storm, “because the others don’t care about you.”

“Ouch,” Geneviere mumbled. Mostly because of the stab wound.

#mud writes #writeblr tag games #whoever reads these i am sending you psychic energy beams of luck and power and tasty meals #my personal faves are the two from bloodhounds :v felt like a slick combination of words #also if you're not fond of the 'find the word' game feel free to do a 'last/fave lines' instead!!! whatever feels best !!!!!#wip. bloodhounds #wip. trystan #wip. scavengers #muddshadow

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beastswithoutburdencomic · 4 months

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Case 4, pg12

Nora shows their expertise.

Read it on Tapas // Read it on Webtoons

Read Beasts Without Burden from the beginning!: On Tapas // On Webtoons

Click here for image IDs of all published pages!

Page 12 Image ID below the cut

Image ID: The top left panel shows a medium shot of Nora and Eva from the waist up. Nora stands just behind Eva, one arm crossed over their chest and one hand raised contemplatively to her chin. Eva turns her head partially to look at Nora and asks, “And the Guild hasn’t been doing anything about it?”

“Can’t,” Nora says in the top part of the top middle panel. Now the view is a slightly more panned-out shot of Eva and Nora, now including Dante in the foreground. Eva and Dante look to where Nora speaks in the background as they continue, “They agreed to go missing.”

In the second part of the top middle panel, the camera zooms in slightly. Nora now takes up the foreground as she walks past Eva and Dante, a little mischievous smile on their face as they glance back at Eva. Nora says, “Technically, we’re the ones infringing on their contracts now.”

The third part of the top middle panel shows a close up of Eva and Dante’s faces as they both look with raised eyebrows.

The top right panel shows a medium close up of both Eva and Dante as Dante leans closer to Eva. Dante asks Nora, “So, how do we chase her out?” and Eva smiles down at her proudly.

The middle left panel shows an isometric view of an inside hallway in the building with wide windows, showing where Eva, Dante, Nora and Xi stand in the entranceway outside. Nora says, “The old girl’s cunning,” as Dante and Eva turn toward her to listen to them speak. Nora continues, “She knows things. She’d speak your sins ‘tween the spaces in the wires easier than she’d let herself be known.”

Xi, who possibly isn’t listening, peers into the windows with a lightly blue monocle held to his eye. He peers up at a security camera inside, which is pointed toward the window. The lens and the wires hooked up to the camera glow lightly blue.

The middle right panel shows a medium close up of Nora from the knees up, partially superimposed over the front of the middle left panel. They raise their hands and gesture as she says, “We need something that’ll run ‘er out if she tries any mind games.”

The bottom panel shows a close-up of Dante and Xi from the shoulders up, with Dante looking over her shoulder at where Nora stands in the middle right panel. Dante says, “Cutting off any power supplies might give us some time. Hell’s mostly digital, nowadays.”

Xi slowly lowers his monocle and frowns, brows furrowing.

End ID

#bwbcomic #beasts without burden #tapas webcomic #webtoon #tapas comic #original comic #supernatural #webtoon comic #urban fantasy #original fiction

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platform-soul · 9 months

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I know that poking fun at the dudes who idolize “you entirely missed the point by idolizing them” characters is like trampling on the fruit that hung so low it fell off the tree and started to rot on the ground, but I just finished watching The Godfather and jesus christ I’m about to do some trampling.

Family is a big theme in the film, which, makes sense given that it’s about mafia families and all. And even if, EVEN IF you accept the rigid ideal of masculinity to which the film’s characters adhere, IT STILL SAYS THAT YOU’RE WRONG TO IDOLIZE THE PROTAGONIST. In one of the first scenes, Don Corleone says “a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” Then, the film ends with Micheal Corleone, having just organized a slew of murders and fully transformed into the new mafia don, as a door is literally shut between him and his wife. As he fully embraces his new life, the door between him and his family is literally shut. He’s no longer a real man — a real person, he’s a machiavellian husk.

And that’s what the film says IF YOU ACCEPT THE WORDS OF A 1940’s MOB BOSS ABOUT WHAT MAKES A ‘REAL MAN.’ Pulling back from that, we see that the need to ‘be a man,’ to seek vengeance and power, to show no emotions beside stoic disregard and blind rage, leads directly to the deaths of, like, a dozen of those men. They die for nothing, and they die in service of others who themselves die in service to something so hollow as the acquisition of status. As for those left alive, they flounder in a detritus of empty lives and broken promises.

What’s more, the only character who got sort of a happy ending is aforementioned Don Corleone, who, after retiring as don of the crime family got to more or less relax, drink wine, spend time with his grandchildren, and die of a heart attack in his old age rather than a gunshot or a garroting wire.

I just, I swear to god, people who see anything in this movie as aspirational must have turned it off a third of the way through after watching the famous ‘pink mist’ scene and thought ‘wowzers! Cool head shot! Glad to know Micheal had murder in him :D’

Honestly, I don’t see anything in this movie that is aspirational. It doesn’t point a beacon at something to strive toward. Rather, it puts up warning buoys around something to flee from.

#the godfather #micheal corleone #journaling #film analysis #don’t even get me started on American Psycho

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101flavoursofweird · 2 years

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List the first lines of your last twenty stories. See if you find any patterns.

Tagged by @northernscruffycat

Tagging: @northelypark, @sidecharactersdomatter, @nebulousboops, @winterdrifting, @overthattwilight, @yoshi-g-teh-first, @multiversal-madness, @asa-lizliz and anyone else who wants to do this! (I’m sorry if I’ve missed anyone, I might update the tag list later!)

Arianna and Tony were, understandably, quiet as they left the Golden Garden.

-From Now On (Upcoming prequel oneshot to Ready Now), Professor Layton

“You needn’t trouble yourself, Miss Flora—“

-Waiting On A Miracle, Professor Layton

“You’d make a good teacher,” Melina remarked as her little cousin, Stella, trotted off towards the buffet table.

-Those Who Can’t, Teach, Professor Layton

When Commander Bronev called him at two o’clock in the morning, Swift was off like a shot, barreling down the stairs of Obsidian Tower.

-I-Spy, Professor Layton

Angela stands by, smiling, as Henry places his hand on Randall’s shoulder.

-Missing Conversation, Professor Layton

“Mermista!” Perfuma barks, somewhere on the battlefield. “Get— Sea Hawk!”

-Pour My Heart Out, She Ra

On their third night in the Human Realm, Luz had introduced them to the ‘television’ (or ‘T.V.’ for short).

-How to Find the Good Ones, The Owl House

Blinding lights. Beeping. Wires. White-clad figures bent over him, prodding at his wounds…

-Five Times Mirio Togata Forgot He No Longer Had A Quirk, My Hero Academia

Janice runs through a mist of memories— literally and mentally runs through them— as Melina calls after her from the cliff.

-Cosmic Love, Professor Layton

“Hey, Kat…” Flora, having just gotten home from work, poked her head into Kat’s bedroom.

-Your Thousands of Pages of Writings, Professor Layton

Gus groaned and glared at himself in the school bathroom mirror.

-What’s in a Name?, The Owl House

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

-Safe, Professor Layton

“Descole… is the professor’s brother.”

-Family Matters, Professor Layton

“…But turns out it’s lots of fun! I wanna crush it! That’s why this year, I’ll definitely come in first! It’s my last chance—“

-In Your Orbit, My Hero Academia

“Enjoy your meal!”

-“Nothing to see here, folks!”, My Hero Academia

“Everything will be fine, Ange! I’ll be home again before you know it—“

-What You Don’t See, Professor Layton

Arianna hadn’t expected to see Crow waiting for them at Paddington Station, but there he was, accompanied by Badger and another person dressed as the Black Raven.

-Ready Now, Chapter 6, Professor Layton

“Please, Janice?”

-The Poodle Project, Professor Layton

“You were brought to Labyrinthia, just like Miss Fey and Sir Blue Knight,” Barnham explained, gripping the bars of his cell. “You are no more the ‘Editor’ than those two are bakers—“

-Twisted, Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

“Come now… You are just feeling a little overwhelmed. Perhaps the power held in this key is too much for you.”

-Clarity, Chapter 2, Professor Layton

—-

Patterns…

A lot of my fics seem to start with a line of dialogue but I think I’m getting better at starting with a description!

There are several Angela Ledore fics here and Janice/Melina fics, as there should be. I really need to write a fic where Janice is happily dating another lady after she’s recovered from Melina’s death.

It’s not all just Professor Layton— there are some She Ra and three My Hero Academia fics… all starring Mirio, sunshine blorbo :’)

And two Owl House fics, both starring Gus!

Two of these fics contain lines of dialogue taken from the original source material, due to AU/dream scenario.

Two others contain scenarios when the narrator receives an urgent call. Bronev asks Swift to check on little Emmy. Melina asks Janice to take her pet poodle to the dog groomers’. (Melina’s priorities are on point!)

Also a lot of these fics seem to contain a usually cheerful, optimistic character suffering from angst because I like angst, I guess

#Answers #tagged #my fics #thanks!#I’ll also put the links in later #Pl fic #Ready Now

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magicalhideoutengineer · 2 years

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Which location was the most complicated to create and why?

There were two really – the China environment that opens the film and the Bhutan one seen in the third act.

We visited China on a location scout in 2019 – I was blown away by the amazing landscapes and knew that we would need to capture as much data and reference as possible to recreate them as digital environments surrounding multiple backlot set pieces.

The pandemic put our planned return to China permanently on hold. John Dietz at Bang Bang films in Beijing came to the rescue though, and worked with us to put together a shoot in three locations to capture what we needed for Framestore to build this complex environment. Dominic Ridley at Clear Angle Studios briefed John on the paths that he would need to fly a drone around the landscape to capture enough photographs, with consistent reference points to enable a photogrammetry reconstruction. On completion of the shoot the material was sent to Clear Angle back in the UK to process before delivering to Framestore. John also shot plates at different times of day on an Alexa LF mounted on a drone, which gave us an absolute reference point in creating the final shot work. Framestore used all of this data and reference to build the extensive environment surrounding the Qilin nesting spot – itself a fairly large backlot set.

One of the most challenging sections though was creating the bamboo forest which Newt runs though whilst having deadly spells fired at him by Grindelwald’s acolytes. The Art Department constructed a huge ramp on a berm at the studio which was covered in tonnes of soil and dressed at the edges with bamboo plants set in pots from the base to the top. This gave us a dense backing into the Hertfordshire night sky, meaning there was no need for elevated blue screens. The central channel of the ramp was left clear, save for smaller greens planted into the ground. This enabled both Eddie Redmayne and the camera to have freedom of movement as he ran down the slope – Framestore then added CG bamboo and other foliage around him in post, which added to the jeopardy as we were able to create near misses by actor and camera by careful placement of plants to camera in each shot.

Alistair Williams and his SFX team came up with an ingenious rig which involved shooting LEDs housed in shuttles down wires though the centre of the set – this gave us some fantastic spell light interaction as well as giving Eddie something to react to as they whizzed past him. Framestore matched these lighting cues with their CG FX spell blasts, splintering the digital bamboo. This is another great example of departments working together to great effect.

The Bhutan Eyrie, the location for the election that closes the film, was also a big challenge but for a different reason.

Stuart Craig had devised an imposing piece of architecture that would be seen atop a Bhutanese mountain – which we would be shooting on a combination of soundstage and backlot sets at Leavesden. We’ve always had the rule of shooting day exterior scenes outside, so the idea of filming a large chunk of the scenes on a stage-bound set concerned David, but again, working with Neil Lamont and George Richmond we came up with a solution that put his mind at rest.

Instead of wrapping the stage in blue screen, we instead had a painted backing surrounding the set which was painted in a gradient from top to bottom – darker at the base – as well as gradually going from a cooler sky blue to a warmer colour left to right to represent the late afternoon sky Digital Domain would be adding to the final shots. A huge silk hung below about 300 sky panels which bathed the set in a lot of light and bounce that did a great job of emulating a day exterior feel – especially once SFX had wet the entire set down and used their ‘silent wind’ system to constantly move the actor’s hair and costumes.

The base courtyard and steps were a large backlot set which became a useful reference in post at making sure the top courtyard had the same feel. George shot at the same stop and only in cloud cover when we were outside. Even as the dailies began to hit editorial you could see that we had a good match.

The Bhutanese landscape was based upon a shoot and capture we commissioned in Slovenia – Bhutan itself being closed due to the pandemic. The Locations team looked at a variety of options and the Triglav National Park looked like a good match for the Himalayan foothills we were attempting to recreate.

Jay and the Digital Domain team used this data to help build their environment which had to be painstakingly composited into hundreds of shots – our painted backing was fantastic in terms of making the lighting more authentic, but obviously added a lot of complexity for matte extraction. I think it was worth it though as the finished sequence looks so consistent and by being bold with how bright we made our skies versus the foreground, successfully emulated the exposure you would get if you were outside for real. Also the multiple layers of moving cloud and foreground atmosphere sweetened the shots further. David was very happy with the final result – our gamble and everyone’s hard work had paid off.

What was your approach for the final fight between Dumbledore and Grindelwald?

Though the script featured a climactic duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, it had to look like a dream, as in J.K. Rowling’s world they do not meet and fight until 1945, which was quite a way in the future of the two characters at this point.

After presenting David with several options of how we could present the duel, via previs and concept art, he felt we should lean more towards the feeling of the limbo Kings Cross world that Framestore had delivered for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two back in 2011. It felt like a language that the audience would understand and would also give more visual pizazz to this climactic scene.

We worked up a previs to work out the more conceptual parts of the action – the central conceit being that the duel takes place in the time that the breaking Blood Troth pendant falls from Dumbledore’s arm to the floor… in a blink of the eye for the rest of the characters. We shared the previs with Rowley Irlam, the Supervising Stunt Coordinator, and his team and we were able to present David a hybrid edit of previs and stunt vis.

We shot the main action on the Eyrie set – the set up in place there enabled George Richmond to change the lighting on cue to something much brighter and more ambient to reflect the more ethereal digital set that Digital Domain would be creating. All of the action on the Eyrie was also shot from a four point wire cam which enabled us to repeat moves where we needed to shoot multiple passes of Mads and Jude for the moments where their characters apparate to avoid a deadly spell to two.

Jay Barton and Digital Domain soon got into the postvis for the sequence – with Image Engine looking after the Blood Troth work. Getting the shots into the cut early helped to drive the edit and understand what David wanted to see from the spells – the main brief being that they should look as deadly and kinetic as possible. To this end, once the postvis was delivered we experimented with making the environment much darker, to echo the Dark Mirror World environment seen during the Credence Dumbledore duel on the Berlin streets – the thought being that this would make the spells contrast and punch out more. However, once seen as a whole David felt that the FX overwhelmed the emotion of this important moment between the two Wizarding heavyweights so we reverted to the White World look – we also added glimpse of this white limbo look in the dream tea room scene that opens the film to foreshadow the duel.

Jay had his team come up with multiple options of how to light and shade the set – we didn’t just want it to look like a grey shaded version of the hero environment. We settled on an almost crystalline look with lighting inside some parts of the set, that once combined some FX atmosphere as well as comp diffusion and lens aberration, gave us the dream-like feel that David was after. As spells are loosed, the architecture smashes like glass rather than becoming rubble – this was to add to the surreal dream-like feel and to echo the destruction of the blood troth.

For the spells themselves we were referencing physical things like angle grinder sparks as the spells clash, and of course we looked at the duels from the Harry Potter films so that what we were doing fit into the established universe. The molten spell that Grindelwald and Dumbledore conjure and push toward each other was an example of this – whilst feeling lethal and as and as physical as possible, which was really important to David. The finishing touch was to add the Blood Troth falling in extreme slow motion as it cracks and is eventually destroyed. Jeremy Mesana at Image Engine helped finesse this moment as David and Editor Mark Day were very specific about how fast it fell and spun in each shot we saw it in across the sequence. When it finally hits the floor we wanted it to have a sense of scale much bigger than you would expect from a small pendant to really amplify what a big moment this is for the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. There’s some really lovely work in this duel and I think the final result really paid off the work that everyone put into it and the film as a whole.

Did you want to reveal to us any other invisible effects?

There were plenty of shots in the film that exhibited hopefully ‘invisible’ work VFX-wise, or at least surprised people to find out were so VFX driven such as the One Of Us set extensions in the Tea Room and Hogwarts or the CG arm that Image Engine gave Dumbledore so that a chain could more authentically constrict him as he is tortured by the Blood Troth in one scene in Hogsmeade.

The best example of truly invisible work though is Queenie’s wedding dress in the closing scene of the film. The original concept was for the dress to have butterflies on and around it that would form the veil and train. Costume Designer Colleen Atwood created a wonderful dress and we decided it would be great to have some practical butterflies cut from different types of fabric, sewn into the costume to which we could add CG ones taking off, landing and flying magically around Queenie’s head – again to assist the digital join. Because of the planned CG work we captured every detail of the dress, which in retrospect was good planning. Once David and Mark cut the scene together they felt that the planned VFX insects would rather take away from the subtle emotion of the performance between Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol. The challenge now was to remove the practical butterflies from the dress, as they no longer made sense without their CG compatriots. I spoke to Oliver Schulz and the RISE team and because of the way they were embedded amongst folds within the sheer material of the dress, the best approach was to replace the dress entirely with an identical CG version minus the Butterflies. It was one of those moments you always hope for when I showed David the first work in progress version – nobody in the room could point to what work had been done. Oliver and the team had done a stunning job. Dan Fogler, as Jacob, ruffles his hands though the shoulders of the dress in a shot which lasts for about 40 seconds – there was nowhere to hide but the fidelity and the detail in the cloth simulation let alone the body tracking was amazing. Nobody would ever know – which is the definition of the perfect Visual Effect.

Which sequence or shot was the most challenging?

There were two really that we haven’t discussed so far.

First was the Credence Dumbledore duel on the streets of Berlin. This was the first time that we would see Dumbledore in action, in his prime so it needed to be visually spectacular. At the same time we didn’t want to explain why none of the Muggle Berliners could see two Wizards Battling each other, let alone having to clear up the mess afterwards.

Working again with David and Giles Asbury, we threw around a lot of ideas. Through a mixture of reference, from my own Instagram photography of puddle reflections on walks with my dog, to the work of Surrealist artists such as Magritte, we landed on the concept that the whole sequence would take place within a magical illusion of Berlin that Dumbledore creates. At the head of the scene we follow an enchanted water droplet into and through the reflection of a shop window and from that point everything plays flopped, as if reflected. After Credence unleashes his Obscurial magic ripping apart the city, Dumbledore reveals that all might not be as it seems, and with a flick of his deluminator literally melts the surrounding architecture away leaving a black void where the ‘real’ Berlin appears in the reflections of windows and puddles on the floor.

Having worked up several versions of boards we moved into previs with Stewart Ash, James Burr and the Third Floor team where we further developed this concept as well as all of the action. One particularly challenging shot that evolved in previs was at the tail of the scene, where the camera jibs and rolls 180 degrees through a puddle from the dark void world back into bustling Berlin. It looked great but we were unsure how we’d pull off the shot for real – but this is a good example of what I enjoy about VFX and film making – coming up with a cool idea and then working with everyone to realise it.

To visualise the lighting in the dark void work we employed Theo Groeneboom and his team at Rebel Unit. They used shots from our previs to render various real world lighting scenarios with the main brief of lighting the world purely from the daytime reflection of the puddles and windows. I shared these with George Richmond before showing to David who loved the look.

To achieve this practically the Art department worked with George and his team to create a large light box that we could stand the actors on with simple cut out stencils to create puddle shapes. The set was surrounded by black drapes and George used a bank of sky panels to create a subtle key and bounce to give some more shape and fill to the actors’ faces. Martyn Culpitt and his team at Image Engine then began their work – which was considerable. The dark void section of the sequence alone relied on a full CG environment of Berlin including crowd and vehicles, as well as high resolution digidoubles of Credence and Dumbledore to be seen in the reflections of the CG puddles, which of course also required FX situation for the water interaction of the characters plus the vehicles driving through them on the reflection side. That’s before we got into the Obscurus magic FX Credence is unleashing on Dumbledore, layers of atmosphere and a Phoenix, provided by Framestore’s London team. In a couple of shots as Credence is thrown backward by Dumbledore, before being lowered gently to the puddled floor, we needed to replace Ezra Miller’s body with a digital version as on the shoot his coat kept getting tangled in the stunt rig. The only thing real in these shots are Ezra’s face and hands but without the on set lighting, the stunt work and all of the visual development that went on in pre-production, the finished shots wouldn’t look as beautiful as they do. Also, as a VFX Supervisor on set, I now have confidence that we’ll deliver great looking work because of all of that planning, as well as being lucky enough to work with such talented artists as Martyn and his team.

Arnaud Brisebois and Rodeo had a very different challenge in creating a magical storm of cutlery, crockery and lobsters tearing apart the Grand Hall of the German Ministry of Magic around our heroes Lally and Jacob.

This was another sequence that we worked up in previs. David really liked the idea of Lally turning her book into a bridge over which she and Jacob run to safety – proving that reading is good for you!

On set we pulled out some of the tables and chairs and replaced them with a ramp covered in soft mats for the actors to run up – this methodology meant that they did not have to be held by safety wires and the spongy surface underfoot had the same sort of give that our paper bridge would. However, there was a massive amount of clean up to do.

Rodeo completed a build of the entire room and all of the furniture which enabled the ramp to be seamlessly replaced by digital set extension. Not only that – during production we had prop-scanned everything in the room, every glass and plate down to bread rolls and sticks of asparagus. All of these individual items were then built as digital props enabling us to lift everything off of the tables and into the magical vortex spinning around a befuddled Jacob. During filming we removed the physical props in stages as the scene progressed – by the end slates of the sequence, two thirds of the tables were clean, save for some tape tracking markers, and our ramp in place. There was of course also a huge amount of SFX wind to blow costumes and hair for real.

The really tough thing here was trying to create some sense of story and escalation through the scene with so much flying around. Postvis played an important role in building an overall layout for each shot with lower resolution assets and a more generic FX set up. We had shot the storm shots at 146fps and most shots ran at that native speed, though Mark Day sped some up once our postvis was in to add bursts of dynamism to Jacob’s journey. As well as determining frame rate, the postvis also showed that we needed to add a couple of full CG shots to show the book bridge being formed.

Arnaud and the team came up with a few layouts for the bridge and David loved the first version I showed him – it had some structural sense but had the sense that it could fall apart at any moment which upped the peril.

In building the final shots Rodeo were able to add or remove single items or pieces of paper from the bridge – it was a difficult balance to create mayhem but make sure that we could still focus on the two lead characters.

Combined with an FX cloud with CG rain bouncing off the cast and furniture, massive magical moving paintings which were replaced to allow them to swing in the wind, a falling chandelier disintegrating as it hits the floor, spells wrapping around stunt aurors flying through the air and a pyrotechnic spell setting fire to the book bridge and pages, the final sequence looks spectacular.

Like the Berlin duel it was fantastic to see a plan come together with lots of people working together at the top of their game.

#fantastic beasts #secrets of dumbledore #christian manz #newt scamander #albus dumbledore #gellert grindelwald #credence barebone #queenie goldstein #jacob kowalski #jakweenie #fb3interview

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drrealityslenderverse · 2 years

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Shock Collar

Alex comes across a proxy and uses them to his advantage

Similar to "Double Trouble" where Alex and Pawn team up. They would make a great team if Alex wasn't more likely to kill them on sight, but it would definitely have toxic elements 💀

Back to Contents || Back to One-shot Contents

Voices… Alex paused his patrol of the burned out hospital. For a moment the man thought he’d been imagining it but as he slowly began walking again the sound picked up again. It got louder and more distinct, two voices being made out from harsh whispers. He readied the gun in his hand and pressed against the wall, listening as he assessed the best time to attack.

“If they’re in this place, they’re probably infected.” And if they weren’t, they would be soon. It was best to take care of it before the sickness worsened.

“I say we take out this source and get it over with.” A male’s voice grumbled.

“And I say we follow him. There could be more.” A scoff before the second voice continued. “You shouldn’t even be here. You’re not a proxy. This isn’t your job—I shouldn’t let you get involved.”

A source? Alex inhaled sharply at the terms being thrown around. Were they hunting Jay and Tim too? Or… were there others he didn’t know about? “There’s one they followed here…”

Something told him that it wasn’t the man in the hoodie. Alex waited a few more seconds as they argued before slipping into the doorway and shooting. The first shot had missed but his second hit a lean blond man in the chest. His third shot crippled the masked figure, piercing into their thigh as they rushed to defend their partner.

“Zac!” The figure in the mask hovered over the dying man, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Spotting him, they let out a feral growl and got into a fighting position.

He raised the gun again, giving an irate sigh when it clicked; he’d forgotten to reload it from the previous use when he’d gone after Hoody. Alex changed tactics, spinning the weapon around before slamming it into the masked person’s temple. They crumpled to the ground, not dead but it’d buy him time to find something he could kill them with. The other guy—Zac—wouldn’t be an issue much longer.

“Hey…” The man coughed, his voice gargled with blood. Alex realized Zac was laughing. “Can’t… can’t kill a proxy… th… that ea…sily.”

“What’s a proxy?” it seemed important, from the sound of it different than a source, but Alex didn’t see what the man was getting at. “You sure about that? You look fucked.”

Zac grinned with blood stained teeth and shook his head just enough to be noticeable. “Y-you’re… dea…ad…”

A deep, gurgled gasp of breath and the man was gone. Alex stared for a moment before his eyes fell on the masked figure. He needed to kill them before they woke up… or he should do that. But hesitation stopped him. There was no reason to trust the ramblings of a dying stranger but if they did have information, he still had one left to pry it out of.

They woke up a few minutes later. Alex watched from the opposite side of the trashed room, grinning as they struggled momentarily against the ropes and wire he’d found scattered about to tie them up. He tossed their mask to the ground and stomped down, hearing the satisfying sound of the plastic breaking—if only that had been Tim’s face. Perhaps this one knew of the other two and he could kill three birds with one stone. Finding Jay after wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Who are you?” Despite his icy tone… the woman laughed, though it was broken and crazed. Alex gritted his teeth. “Answer the question!”

“You going to torture me? I’ve met HABIT, nothing you do will ever compare.”

“What does this have to do with habits?” He shook the thought off and stalked over. “Are you a proxy? Or another source?”

“You killed Zac.” The gleam in their eyes was full of malice.

His fist connected with her nose, blood soon dripping down. Alex forced them to look up at him. “And I’ll kill you too if you don’t talk.”

“You’ll kill me if I do. That’s what you sources do… Just a real murderous bunch… Like I’m one to talk.” They smiled, though it looked more like she was baring her teeth at him. “I’ve killed sources much worse than you.”

Alex’s grip tightened but he was satisfied to be getting somewhere, even if they were clearly humoring him as if he weren’t prepared to put a bullet through their skull. “Is that what proxies do? Kill sources? What are they?”

“Depends… What’s asked of us. Sources are a plague to our boss, they help his enemy get stronger. So I kill them.”

A brief silence. Alex backed off, contemplating this. He didn’t trust their words in the slightest but if it was true… Perhaps they could track down Tim and the others faster—more infected possibly! He didn’t like the idea of letting them go nor did he trust them not to kill him if they were so… willing to follow orders from their ‘boss’. Did they mean something like the tall thing in the suit or worse?

“Get up.” He snapped, tugging them onto their feet and shoving them out in front of him as he headed for the car.

Despite their injured leg, Alex noted they were still walking well enough. Grudgingly, he recalled the dying man’s warning; maybe it held some truth… or maybe the wound wasn’t as bad as he thought.

“Run and I’ll kill you.” He circled to the trunk and reloaded his gun before digging out a subtle shock collar. It was originally going to be used on the hooded man as some payback for the trouble he’d caused and to get Jay and Tim’s location, but using it to force the information out of this ‘proxy’ and keep them under control would work too.

“Not going to be so tough now, are you.” He stared at them, still uncertain about his plan to keep them alive. “I want to get rid of the other sources too. Any chance you’ll help me before you kill me?”

“...Well, that’s a new one.” The new collar around her neck did little to curb their tone. “Still, I’m sure you’ve killed more innocents than actual sources. The Operator probably has your mind so twisted you can’t tell the difference.”

“And you can?”

“Thought we went over that.”

“So, then, help me find them.”

They shook their head. “No way. You just killed my friend.”

He was tired of this. Impatiently, he tightened the collar around their neck to the point the prongs dug into their skin slightly. Pulling the remote from his pocket, he skipped the lower settings altogether and hit her with a higher one. The muscles in the proxy’s neck tensed and their head jerked while their legs wobbled as they tried to stay standing.

“I guess I wasn’t clear. You are helping me put a stop to this.” And once she’d outlived her usefulness… He’d kill her too. From what he could gather, proxies didn’t seem much different and it was better to be safe.

Months passed by. Alex had grown increasingly stressed over each source they’d tracked and taken out. There were just so many more than he’d thought were out there. He was certain most had never been involved in the Marble Hornet crews’ lives. There was a fear that they’d never find an end to them—at least they were closing back in on Tim and Jay. Even with all the other infected they still remained his priority. Them and that guy in the hoodie.

“Wake up!” He barked the order to the scrawny figure lying on the bed as he put his blue striped jacket on—the sleeve cuffs had been permanently stained at this point, as if to emphasize just how much blood he had on his hands by now.

They stirred but moved slowly, their green eyes looked darker than normal and had grown emptier with each murder they’d committed. He grumbled and hit the button on the remote until Pawn gave a yelp and squirmed, pulling at the collar. She’d never get it off, he’d made sure of that with a small but effective lock.

“We need to find the next one before they move on, get up.”

“No… no more… It’s too much.” Her voice was quiet.

He turned it up to the maximum level and held the button down. There was a sick pleasure in watching the proxy jump and cry out. By now he knew they could take it and worse without too much long term damage. Letting go, he stalked over and pinned her by the shoulders as he glared down at her. “What did you say?”

A pause, a defiant expression flickered across their features for a moment before being replaced by a defeated look. “...I said, let’s get tracking them…”

“Good.” He raised a hand, watching them flinch before relaxing as he gave them a rewarding pat, brushing the hair from their face. A smug smile tugged at his lips as he took his time observing just how trained he’d made them—something not even The Operator, or Slenderman, could apparently do. “And she claimed proxies were ruthless killers. Nothing some shock training couldn’t fix. If other proxies are like this maybe she’s been lying.”

He shifted onto the edge of the bed, still holding one of her shoulders down to signal Pawn to stay still before fiddling with the collar with his other hand. It had loosened with all the wear and tear but still fit well. Moving the device aside, he brushed against the two circular burn marks the frequent shocks had created. A hiss of discomfort met his ears at the touch.

“Should switch sides soon, don’t want any permanent damage.” There was some guilt when he actually stopped to pay attention to his actions, which was rarer and rarer. Alex would never dream of doing something like this to Amy or his dog Rocky if they were alive. But when he’d learned Ash’s proxy name was such a demeaning name like Pawn? He’d used it constantly to keep himself detached from his reluctant partner. It worked well too. They were more of a tool for him to use than anything else.

His hand trailed down as he mulled over his plans, feeling Pawn shuddered in anticipation of some form of attack before relaxing and leaning into his touch after lacking gentler gestures for so long. Alex sighed and got up despite enjoying the momentary power trip. He’d wasted enough time. “Let’s go.”

Silent and obedient, the proxy followed him out.

#marble hornets #slenderverse #creepypasta #alex kralie #a03 fanfic #one shot #marble hornets one shot #mh alex #proxy #original character #oc: Ash/Pawn #oc: Zac #slenderman #mh tim #mh jay #cw: toxic relationship

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