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seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana · 3 years

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The Girl in The Blue Dress

Chapter 19: Grief

@megatraven and @aallotarenunelma

New chapter >:)). And idk how funerals worked in other times so I just...kinda took the vague path. I hope it makes sense.

After Rose and Apollo found the bodies, she took the body of her crewmate and left the palace through one of the back doors. She knew every inch of this palace, and she managed to not get caught. Apollo wanted to go with her, but he knew she needed time to be alone. She needed time with the woman, even if she was gone, and he couldn’t steal that from her.

Apollo went back to the ballroom and looked for Sam. He found him where he last was and walked over to him with his head held high. He was sad, but he couldn’t show that to people here. He was poisoned last time and was not going to let anything happen to him or others because he was emotional.

He was already used to suppressing his emotions, so what’s different?

He reached Sam and stood beside him, looking out onto the people dancing.

“What happened?”

“Nothing good.”

“What do you mean?” Sam tried not to show emotion, but his voice became a bit louder than a whisper and it sounded scared.

Apollo turned his head towards Sam and he struggled to find the words. He knew he was also attached to the crew members, so her death will affect him as well.

“I’ll tell you outside, okay?” He said with his voice trying to ease Sam.

Sam was about to argue, mouth already open, but stopped when he realized that something must’ve gone really wrong.

He nodded. “Let me talk to the king and queen. I’ll meet you on the ship.”

Apollo nodded in return and left the palace, eyes still alert even outside. He only calmed when he got to the deck of the ship. However, that calm didn’t last. It immediately shifted to one of...emptiness. He didn’t know how to describe it. He didn’t know that woman like Rose and the rest of the crew did, he didn’t feel that attachment, but now knowing that he never would be able to get close to her...it made his emotions confusing.

Despite his emotions, he knew someone who was mourning more than him, more than anyone.

Rose.

At the thought of her, the memory of her sobs echo in his head and it brings him great sadness. He wanted to take that away from her, wanted to keep her smiling, but he knew that was impossible at this time. Grief is a strong emotion, one that many hate, one that hurts people deep inside, and it’s one that takes a toll for a long time. It hangs over your head like a rain cloud, but the sun won’t come out. It won’t let it come out. He knew that better than most people...

He sighed and closed his eyes. He had been standing at the left railing of the ship deck, staring out into the ocean. The world looked so beautiful, but he couldn’t focus on that beauty. It was all dimmed down by the slight sadness he felt. He wanted to go find Rose, but he knew where she was at. She was always worried about her mother, always spending time with her when she could, and now she would be even more worried now that she was at threat. She was in their room doing whatever they could to comfort each other.

He pulled on the collar of the suit and realized how tight it was. He walked down to his room and changed into his normal clothes, finding a little comfort in them. It’s something he knows, something that can ground him.

He laid the suit on the bed after taking it off and he noticed little blood drops on it. It made him want to throw it out, throw it into the ocean, or do something with it. He decided to fold it and throw it into one of the nightstand drawers in the room.

When he was done, he heard the door open. He turned to look and saw Sam leaning against the doorway. He had his arms crossed and was looking at the ground, face blank and unreadable.

“I’m sorry for her death,” Apollo said with his voice soft.

“Why are you sorry?”

“I think I could’ve stopped her death,” he said slowly. He remembered how he walked slowly on those stairs and knows deep down he could’ve stopped this from happening. He could’ve used his God powers and ran as fast as lightning, apprehend the woman, and stop both murders, but he was fooled.

That confession made Sam look up and show an angry face, all sorrow now replaced with anger.

Another stage of grief: Anger

He walked up to Apollo and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “What do you mean you could’ve stopped her death?”

Apollo’s face showed no shock or fear, only his worry. “I was on the steps, slowly walking to not make too much sound as she began to run towards the door. I believed it was Rose,” he paused as the events replayed through his head, “but it wasn’t. She came in behind me and we both heard the door to them slam and a man scream.”

Sam’s hands tightened on his shirt and anger flowed through him, and he wanted to blame Apollo. He wanted to so bad, but he knew he couldn’t. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew blaming people who weren’t responsible would only make things worse. Hell, they all already knew who was responsible.

He let Apollo go and left the room quickly, and he heard another door shut down the hallway. The pain was settling in, and everyone needed to be on their own. Everyone wanted to hide from the world, and he would let them.

He closed the bedroom door and laid down on his bed. He didn’t know what else to do, so he just stared at the wood above him. He wondered if the boys will come in here at night and sleep, or would they stay up all night working?

‘Not taking care of yourself won’t get you anywhere. You know that, and I hope they do too,’ he thought.

His mind wandered for a few minutes, and slowly his eyes began to droop, and the rocking of the ship put him to sleep.

Apollo’s eyes opened slowly.

He looked around the room and saw the men sleeping in the bunk bed across from him, and he assumes another man is above him.

‘Good. They came to sleep.’ Knowing that they were there put his heart slightly at ease.

He let out a quiet yawn and rubbed his eyes. He tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t. He tossed and turned but nothing worked, so he decided to get up. He got up slowly, trying not to wake the boys up, and left the room quietly. The hall was dimly lit by a few lanterns sitting against the wall between certain doors.

‘Dang, that’s really helpful.’

He continued all the way up to the ship deck. The wind hit him immediately and he shivered. He wrapped his arms around himself and rubbed them up and down, trying to warm himself. However, the discomfort of the cold went right off his mind when he heard soft crying.

He looked around and couldn’t see anyone crying. There were some of the crew members messing with their weapons and messing with the ship on the other end of the deck, but the crying was near him. He looked behind him and walked up the small stairs to the bridge area of the ship, where the steering wheel is, and saw a little girl, sitting in front of the steering wheel. She was sitting crisscross and was holding Aerin. Now that he could see her, he realized it was Ellie.

“Are you okay?” His voice was quiet and tried to sound comforting, but it still had the deep tone.

She jumped slightly and looked up at him. He could now clearly see the tears sliding down her face.

She wiped her face quickly, trying to hide them. “What do you want?” Her voice broke and was harsh for a teenager. He hated seeing people like this and couldn’t help the adults, but maybe he could help a kid.

He sat in front of her, mirroring her position, and held his hands together in his lap. Ellie didn’t say anything more, only stared at him, and he was surprised to see Aerin do the same. The bird didn’t hate him anymore, but he doubted that she liked him.

“Well,” he started, “I know that everyone’s sad and a lots going on, and I know what’s wrong with them, but what’s wrong with you?” He knew what was wrong, but he wanted her to say it. She was around twelve, so who knew if she understood everything around her.

She sniffled and wiped her face again. “Why do you want to know?” Her look was sad but also suspicious, and he couldn’t blame her. He may have been here for a few weeks, but that doesn’t mean they would automatically trust him. Especially, a little kid, when all you’re taught is to be careful of everyone.

“I want to help if I can.”

“How can you help me? Why not help the adults?”

He let out a sigh and a slight smile appeared on his face. “Adults are weird and complicated. Their emotions are...stronger and it’s hard to deal with them and some adults won’t accept the help.” He leaned in towards her and looked to the left and right, as if someone could possibly hear them. “And between you and me, kids are better than us.”

She smiled at him and let out a soft giggle. “Really? I thought things get easier as you grow up.”

“Well, they do, but you change and grow, so things get more difficult as well.”

She was silent for a moment, and then moved Aerin and let her fly away. She was ready to accept someone's help.

“That sounds...bad...”.

“It’s not all that bad. Things get a little harder, but they do get a little easier. Especially with the people around you.”

“Does...this happen as well? Do more people disappear?” Her voice became tearful and began to waver.

He looked down for a moment, struggling to find an answer. ‘How do I explain death to a little kid?’

“Well, sometimes, and it’s hard. That’s one of the things that stays the same in life,” he said sadly as he looked back up at her. “But it gets better.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be sad forever?”

“No. It hurts to lose someone, I know, but they wouldn’t want you to be sad all your life. They would want you to live, be happy, and live your life the way you want. Of course you’ll miss them and still be sad at the fact that they’re gone, but it’s okay to be happy afterwards, no matter how long it takes to become happy.” He rambled all of these things to her, hoping she would somehow understand that things get better. That this sadness won’t last forever.

She looked at him for awhile, trying to take in everything he told her.

“So, will my mom get better? Will I see her smile again?”

He put on a reassuring smile and ruffled her hair. “I believe so. I bet your mother is a very strong woman, she knows what to do,” he said with his voice confident. Then, his curiosity got the best of him and needed to ask her something. “Who is your mother? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Rose.”

That caused him to let out a little, “Oh,”. It’s not that he was jealous because she had a kid with another person, but seeing her taking care of a kid and multiple other kids and a crew? That was a truly strong woman, and he couldn’t be more proud of her. He’s watching her grow over each timeline, and he couldn’t help but admire it.

Ellie stood up and walked towards him. She hesitated for a moment, but she leaned down and gave him a tight hug. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and her cheek was against his shoulder. It made him pause for a moment, not used to any kid attention, but he wrapped his arms lightly around her.

“Thank you, Andy,” she said, her voice quiet from her shyness.

He didn’t say anything in response, and just let her stay there until she let go and ruffled his hair. She gave him one of her sweet smiles and left, bouncing down the stairs. He let out a little relieved sigh at the fact that he helped her. He helped someone feel better, and he liked it. He was getting better at peoples feelings slowly.

He heard a noise and looked up to see Aerin sitting on top of the steering wheel.

“Do you need something as well?”

She flew away immediately and he let out a laugh.

‘Good. What would a bird need help with?’

He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair and felt the tiredness creep back on him.

‘Now I really need to sleep. No use in being tired,’. He got up and went back to bed, still trying to be quiet. When he finally laid back down, it only took him a few minutes to let the darkness and comfort of sleep take him again.

The next morning, they all get up in the early hours and had a funeral for the woman. On that day, Apollo learns that her real name was Rhea and that she was going to get married to one of the guys in the crew. All of that made him feel many emotions. He felt anger and confusion as to why Adonia did this, and sadness from her death. He may not have known her as good as everyone else did, but how could he not feel sadness? This was an innocent womans death, and he could’ve stopped it. Guilt was one of the emotions he felt, but he had to push it aside.

The funeral was mainly quiet, even with the kids there. Few people talked, but it was mainly silent. Many did it out of respect, but some did it because they couldn’t form any words. That was the day that he realized that everyone in that crew is family.

Everyone in that crew is very important and can’t be replaced.

Everyone is loved.

Apollo looked over at Rose during the funeral and saw her, Sam, and Melody together. Melody was hugging Rose to her side, Sam was leaning against Rose, and they all were together. That day also made him realize that now it’s not just Rose at risk, it’s everyone at risk. Instead of just worrying about Rose and Melody, now there was multiple people he had to worry about.

He closed his eyes and began to pray, hoping it would be heard.

‘Hades...spare these people...’.

He has no idea if Hades or any of the Gods would hear this Gods prayer, but he hoped. However, he knows that hope isn’t the only thing you need to make things happen.

If it was, then Rose wouldn’t have been there at all.

After that funeral, Rose did not wait to meet Adonia’s commands. She went back to the ship, got her weapons, and was getting ready to meet her.

Rose was standing in the doorway of her room, ready to leave, but called for Apollo first.

“Andy. Can you stay here with my mother?”

He was called to her room and he saw her in her normal clothes, but he could tell there was some armor underneath her clothes, something to actually protect herself. However, despite her want to leave, her anxiety and worry about her mother was still there, and she demanded for him to watch her mother. And he was happy to do it.

“Of course. What do I have to do?”

“I don’t have time to say everything, but my mother will. Just stay here in this room until I get back. Don’t go to sleep. Don’t take your eyes off my mother,” she said with a demanding tone.

“Rose. Go. I’ll be fine with him and the crew here,” Melody said in a calming voice. It was the type of voice a mother uses to soothe a crying child. And it seemed to work on Rose, just a tad bit.

She turned around to face her mother. She was sitting on the bed, body facing Rose, and she had a bright smile on her face. However, he could see that her smile was shaking and that she was in slight pain.

Rose went to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug.

“I love you. Be safe, okay? Don’t do anything reckless,” Melody whispered to her, her voice wavering with worry.

“Love you too, and you be safe as well.”

Rose pulled away and left quickly. She knew if she stayed she didn’t know if she’d be able to leave.

Apollo closed the door behind her and looked around the room. He felt a little awkward around her, so he didn’t know what to do. He looked around for a chair or somewhere to sit, but Melody stopped him.

“Andy. Come over here,” she said as she scooted over and patted the space next to her. He gave her a thankful smile and listened to her.

He sat down on the bed and looked at her. She was beautiful like she always was. She was practically a Goddess, and he didn’t understand why she hid away most days. As if she could sense his thoughts, she turned to the nightstand beside her and took out a bottle of liquid.

“I need watching because I am sick. It is why I hide away most days, it is why I wince too much, and it is why I could barely move that one day when we got attacked,” she said with her voice a little more louder than it was with Rose. She wasn’t harsh sounding, but definitely was trying to show some kind of power she had.

“Why are you sick?” He was curious and nervous.

‘She’d never been sick before. It’d never been Melody also at risk, other than the war. Is this going to start in more timelines now?’

She looked at the ground and let out a sigh. “I was a mercenary many years ago like Rose is. I was teaching her when she was young. Teaching things she needed to be safe, things she wanted to know, and she was so excited for everything,” she said with a fond laugh at the end. “I never taught her how to kill though. She hates it, just like I do. I taught her ways to avoid killing if she could. I taught her that not everything has to end or begin with violence.” She then looked up at him and her voice went sad.

“But that’s when she learned that kindness isn’t always given back. She was around twelve when she went on a job with me. It was a simple job of collecting fur for a woman who really needed it. She was sick and weak and couldn’t get it for herself, so I promised her I would. I was healthy and good for this, but that day is when that stopped.”

“I was getting the fur and was attacked by a couple of bandits. She tried to help me fight, but I pushed her aside and told her to run, but she didn’t. The bandits didn’t want her, however. They wanted me, and they got me. They had a poison on one of their weapons and they stabbed it right into me,” she said as she began to pull up her shirt. She pulled it up to where he could see a nasty wound.

It was a stab wound and it had a lot of purple around it, like it was a bruise freshly formed, but it wasn’t. It happened years ago, but still affected her to this day. She pulled her shirt down and looked away from him. “I now can’t fight anymore. I managed to get us both back to the town and people helped me to a medic, and it was almost too late for me, but they gave me this type of medicine that could help me. But this poison will never fully leave my body. I’m effected forever or until medicine develops to where I can get rid of it completely,” she said with her tone hopeful at the end. She really believed that maybe she could get better in the future, truly believed that maybe things would be okay.

“It’s why Rose does many jobs. She keeps getting money to pay the crew, pay for food, pay for armor, but also to pay for my medicine, and manages to get a lot of news from the doctors. It’s never really good towards me, but she tries.” She looks back up at him with a bright smile, this time not forced. “And it makes me very proud of her. She sings to calm people down, her best friend is her brother, she has a kid she’s taking care of, a big crew she’s taking care of, and she still finds time to take care of her sick mother.”

When she finished telling her story, Apollo felt his heart shatter. He watched her raise Rose in such a beautiful way in every life. She was always protective, careful, and gave her all of her love, and now she still did it, even if it was in a different way. She had to give her love from afar and pray for the Gods to keep her safe. She couldn’t keep an eye on her when she needed it, so now she only had hope to hang onto, but he knows hope isn’t always good enough.

“I’m really sorry that that happened to you.”

She let out a little noise of disagreement. “It’s okay, Andy. I’ve gotten used to the pain and I manage to push past it sometimes, so I’ll be okay. I just worry about my daughter and my son and the crew. Plus, now you,” she said with a smile. She had this look in her eye that showed that she really cared, her voice was filled with care, and he had to look away. A little blush formed on his face and he let out a shy laugh.

“Thank you, miss,” he said with a quiet voice. She trusted him enough to tell him everything, and it made him feel a bit special.

“Melody. It’s Melody.”

They smiled at each other and he felt like he got to see her.

He got to see her.

And now he hoped he could see Rose. The real Rose underneath this mess, underneath all of her anxiety, underneath the mercenary title, underneath The Dagger, underneath everything. He wanted to see her.

After a few hours of reading books, telling tales together, and helping Melody with her medicine, it became sundown, and it made both of them worry. However, their worry was put to an end when the door opened slowly, trying to be quiet, and Rose stepped through the door. They both took in her appearance and saw only a few things wrong. Her hair was a slight mess, there was blood on the shoulder area of her shirt, and she was wincing.

“What happened?” Apollo and Melody said with worry. Rose stared at them and she looked shocked and confused like them.

“Adonia didn’t come, but a little girl did,” she said with hesitation in her voice. It sounded like she was afraid. It caused Apollo to think of a little girl that existed, a creature that followed him and Rose everywhere.

Lumie.

He walked over to her and held her hands, gently. “Please, tell me what happened. Leave no details out.” His voice became serious and rushed, no longer calm and relaxed. This was a threat on her life now, no matter how big or small it was. This meant her life was now in more danger than normal.

Rose took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm herself. “Well, here’s what happened.”

Rose got on her horse, Winter, and rode all the way to the Athena statue. It was a statue but also a worshipping place. It was in the woods, but in a clearing and safe place. The idea of meeting her there had her letting out a little scoff mixed with a laugh. Athena, Goddess of war, is now going to be a ‘witness’ to two women fighting or at least confronting each other.

‘Of course she would want to meet there.’

After around ten minutes, she ended up at the statue, and she didn’t see Adonia. There was no other horse, no other figure, nothing. It was just the statue and Rose. She got off her horse and walked over to the statue. She stood in front of it and looked around it, and behind it, thinking she’s hiding. However, instead of Adonia, she found another girl.

“Oh, hello, Rose!” The voice came from the top of the statue and Rose stepped back and looked up at the top. There was a girl with a purple dress on, black lace gloves, light pink hair in pigtails, and black boot like shoes on. She looked around thirteen or fourteen, and Rose felt worried for the girl. She was sitting on top of Athena’s head, swinging her legs, and it looked like she would fall over any second.

“Little girl! You shouldn’t be up there,” she shouted to her, panic making her heart start to race. And then her head suddenly began to pound. She felt...some kind of Déjà vu, but she worried more about the girl.

The little girl let out a scoff and waved her off.

“Oh, little old me? I’m perfectly fine,” she said with a clear, kind voice, but it was fake. It was too high pitched to be comfortable for her to say. She then jumped down and landed on her feet, perfectly fine. She didn’t even wince when her feet touched the ground, even though she should have. Rose was taken aback and stared at her in shock.

“I think it’s you who should be afraid.”

“Why should I be afraid? What do you know?”

The girl rubbed her hands together as she began to pace slowly. “Well, I know a lot of things, Rose. The more important question is, what do you know?”

“What do I know?”

The girl let out a giggle that went on for too long. “Yes! There’s...so much more going on behind the scenes of everything here. Everything is set into place, set into motion, and you can’t stop it. You never have been able to.”

“What do you mean!” Her voice was shouting with anger. She remembered Adonia’s threat and began to worry for all of her family.

‘What things are going to happen? What has she done? Did Adonia do this?’

“Did Adonia do this? That’s the question you think of? Why not ask what my name is? What is the price of all of this? Can you stop this? What is really happening?” As she said those, Rose began to open her mouth to shout questions, but the girl interrupted her.

“My name is Lumie. You already know that. Well, a different version of you knows that. Isn’t that kind of funny? You think you know me, and you do, but you really don’t. Life is so funny like that,” she said with a creepy smile as she stopped pacing and looked directly at Rose.

“This isn’t funny. Was it you who killed Rhea? Or was it really Adonia?”

Lumie let out a gasp, offended at the mere idea of accusing her. “Me? Absolutely not! I’m just...a watcher in this. I watch everything unfold and play my role when it comes. Isn’t it the same as life?”

“What do you mean ‘your role’? What game? This is life, not a game!” Her voice kept getting louder from the anger building inside of her. She had to know who this girl was, what she meant, what she did, and what she’s talking about.

“It doesn’t matter what I mean. You won’t remember or understand at all. Plus, there’s more watchers. Some you know and some you don’t. Some want you dead and some don’t, but you don’t know who it is. And you never will,” Lumie said with another creepy giggle.

“Is it Adonia? What does she want?”

“I’ll give you a hint, one watcher is Adonia, and another watcher is someone you don’t know,” she said as she held out her two hands in a scale like motion. “One is stronger and one is weaker. I guess you’ll have to find out who it really is,” she said as she laughed one last time. She pointed into the woods and gasps. “It’s Adonia!”

Rose fell for it and turned around in a quick motion, but didn’t see or hear anything. However, she did feel a scratch motion against the bottom of her neck. She let out a little shout and turned around to see anyone, but no one was there. Lumie was gone, and fear and panic was the only thing left.

Rose reached behind her neck and tried to find the wound, wanting to see how bad it was. She hissed when she touches it, and knew she had to get back to the ship now.

She got back on Winter and began to gallop away. However, she couldn’t help but look behind her when she got a littles away. She saw a figure leaning out from behind the statue, staring at the direction where Rose was. She felt creeped out, but continued to ride back to the ship, hoping she would be okay, and that her crew would be safe.

Hehe anyways >:))). I was going to make it a bit longer, but I couldn’t think of a title for this chapter?? Literally?? Could not, so I just focused on the grief parts to go with the title hirjewds. But yeah!! I hope you both liked this one!! There’s proofreading but my bad if something is wrong!

#my writing #the girl in the blue dress #I love this timeline and hehe next chapter has some reveal AND character development and sweet moments with Apollo and Rose.#oof Apollo pines so much and I feel so bad for him but it's gonna be okay next chapter. Kinda. I mean it's not because she's gonna die #in the end #BUT YEAH-

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

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The Wolves (A White Demon’s Love Song, Part 5.)

Series description: A new job was what the reason you found yourself on a lonely roadtrip on the western coast, ending up in the woods of Olympian Peninsula. Yet a sudden car malfuction was what cause your unplanned stay in Forks. To your surprise, there was a lot of sinister things going on under the veil of fog.

Part summary: The wolves now had to come up with a different strategy since the vampires coming so close to the town was a thing no-one expected so soon. Yet, a secret was to be revealed that night.

A/N: Heavily inspired by the Phascination Phase (Carter Burwell for the Twilight movie), because... Idk, there’s something so ambient about the track.

Tagging: @missdictatorme

Word count: 3.7 K

Twilight playlist: ✨ Twilight Crackheads ✨

Series masterlist: H E R E

A few hours ago, La Push, Emily's house:

Jacob stood in the opened door for not longer than a moment, watching you leaving the garage in his black towtruck. For the most part, you should be safe. Why the hell was Jacob so stressed about keeping you safe? You were, for now, just a normal Forks citizen like everyone else. Maybe it was just that you were his personal responsibility for some time now. He offered you a place to stay - naturally, you accepted the offer because you counted on being safe. And just ten minutes ago, a leech almost made you their personal lollipop or worse, they might've made a newborn out of you. Thanks to God, the shifter scent was too strong for the vampire. She saw Jacob waiting for you in the opened back door, but it was the typical stench that made her stop.

Jacob saw her for a fragment of a second, just standing there and watching you laying on the ground. Then, she gave Jacob a teasing smile and in the next second, she was gone. It was at that moment the man knew he had to send to some location which was overseen by the shifters all the time. There was also a second reason to keep you at Charlie's - that bitch surely smelled your scent. Since you didn't really live at the small flat, the werewolf scent wasn't covering you enough - and the raincoat didn't help much anyway. At the end of the day, it was you, who was still just a normal human being.

As soon as the truck disappeared behind the high school, Jacob walked to the back of the building and walked into the woods. Fuck the motorbikes, he was way faster on all four. He could borrow something from Sam, so he just bound the tore sweatpants around his upper thigh and let the animal take the lead. Of course, Leah and Quil noticed immediately - there was confusion in the group shared telepathic web. - 'Did something happen?' - Leah asked, but hadn't moved from her spot. She knew better than to annul the formation because Jacob had just shifted. At first, Jacob didn't answer and just let both her and Quil to look inside his mind. At first, both of them got way more confused when they saw the strange girl jumping out of the woods - yet then they felt it. The humongous smell of rotten tomatoes, the wolves could feel her presence and they saw her, just standing there with her eyes wild and hungry, the grin on her face was threatening.

'Okay, now I get it.' - Leah muttered after a moment. Sure, there was still a hint of confusion and curiosity regarding you in the shared consciousness, but honestly, you weren't that important in the bigger picture. - 'I can't believe she came so close! She was trying to get through here... I guess the cold one must've caught her scent. Are we going after her?' - Quil asked immediately, getting ready to run to Jake's position. - 'They're just trying how much closer they can get and top of that, that leech has already run away. I'm on way to Sam, we'll be trying to figure out a different system of watching Forks.' - Jake said in a calm voice, running in the direction of La Push at the highest speed he was capable of. - 'I'll be checking on the southern part of the city... Quil is on the west. Sam has five boys here today, so there will be no problem to run in circles around the town.' - Leah told Jake and since Quil caught on what she was doing, he immediately started to assure their leader as well. - 'No chance they're slipping, boss.'

Since that moment, both of them kept their thoughts silent. Quil and Leah were a good team - ever since Leah left Sam's pack, she became quieter and calmer. Now, she wasn't such a pain in the ass. And Quil didn't want to disturb with too much of empty thoughts in case something might've happened. For once, it was nice not to deal with Seth's endless sunshine energy. - 'I won't tell my little bro a thing, but thanks for the compliment.' - Leah laughed inside Jake's head. The phase where he was rolling his eyes after every word Leah said out loud was far behind him, now, he snickered lightly as well. - 'I would appreciate that. Okay, I'm at Sam's. Once we figure something out, I'll let you know.'

Jacob didn't wait for their answer and changed into his human form. Hastily, he put his old sweatpants on and ran to the house and knocked on the door. The twins, Emily and Sam's small girls, were running around the place and as Emily approached the door, she tried to calm the kids down. Yet as soon as they saw Jacob behind the door, they started to yell excitedly again. Emily wasn't stupid - as soon as she saw Jake visiting them during the day, even if Sam and Jake usually met during the nighttime watch, she knew something happened. The woman let Jacob inside and put cookies on the big plate in the middle of the table, saying... - "Give me a minute, I'll wake Sam up." - With that, she disappeared inside the house.

Sam was always taking his time getting up - yet when his wife said Jake's name and that he came just so he could talk with him, he tried his best. When he finally walked into the kitchen, half-dressed uncle Jake was sitting at the table with a muggle full of fresh coffee and watched small Brianna and Ellie drawing with various colors of wax crayons. It was just a small, peaceful moment that was not to last long. As soon as Jacob looked up to Sam, the older man could see the emotion in Jake's face. It... It wasn't fear, not even horror - it was rage. The younger man wasn't shifting, he was just angry. - "Angels?" - Sam smiled tiredly and kissed both of the twins on their temples. Both the girls smiled at their dad, but before Sam started talking again, Bri was already babbled at him, because both her front teeth fell out. - "Daddy, look! I drew you and mamma. And this is uncle Paul, auntie Rachel and... Auntie Leah and..."

The picture was more or less a formation of stickmen - each of them had a crazy hair color... But sure, it was the La Push family. - "You should go play to your room for a bit, my birds. Come on, I need to talk to uncle Jake. You can have him later." - Sam smiled. The girls hadn't got a favorite - but they were super pumped when Jacob came back to La Push since he was now living in Forks for the most part. Rachel and Paul were taking care of Billy, so he had more time for himself and his love for cars. - "Okay!" - Ellie cried out happily, picked a few crayons, and ran to their room with loud, happy squeals, Brianna following right after. These kids were always happy. Jake could see all the things Sam was fighting for. He had a lot to lose.

"Start talking. I know you're not here just to say hi." - Sam muttered out with a loud yawn, pouring some coffee into a mug as well. Emily was standing behind the stove, preparing some eggs and bacon for both the men. At that point, she didn't even ask - Jake just had to eat everything Emily had served. - "Yeah, something like that. That vampire bitch just showed up behind my house. Not even an hour ago." - "Did you try to catch her?" - Sam fired back immediately. Even though they had their differences back in the day, even if they argued a lot when Jacob left his pack, Sam was still worried about his brother in arms. For God's sake, they knew each other since they were small boys. Sam was just five years older. - "Unfortunately... Listen... She wasn't hunting me down, she was after someone else." - "That girl who's car crashed here? I've seen her in your head, just a glimpse." - Jake nodded.

"Well, this is getting worse and worse, I'm not going to lie. How did the girl get into trouble?" - Sam asked just when Emily served the breakfast; then she quickly kissed Sam's cheek, smiled at Jake, and left to the children's room so she would make sure they don't hear anything. - "I think she just went on a walk, she seemed off when I found her. Sam, Y/N realized something was in the forest with her." - "What did you tell her?" - "Well, I tried to misguide her, tell her that it was just a mountain lion." - For a moment, both the men fell silent. - "She might be on the target list now." - Sam muttered out after a moment. It took a while before everything clicked in Jake's brain. - "That girl borrowed my raincoat, but her scent was still too strong..." - "And if she saw you there, she might figure out that she's our weak spot. Where is she now? Is she safe?" - Sam didn't care who the hell you were - it could be anyone from Forks, La Push, Port Angeles and he would still care the same. The Protectors committed to protecting everyone in the town, no matter if they were a tourist or a local.

"Y/N? She's at Charlie's now, but he'll be coming to La Push later this afternoon. I asked him to take her with him. My people are here, your people are here - if they'd feel the slightest hint of the leech's stench, they'd go right after them. Leah and Quil are helping with watching the city boundaries." - Jacob leaned his back to the chair. His back was hurting really bad, but there was no time to rest now. - "How could the bloodsucker just slip past us? I don't understand?" - "We should call the doctor finally, ask him about the things regarding this group of leeches... I don't have a single good feeling about them."

Just ten minutes after Jacob proposed the idea, Sam was debating with Carlisle on the phone, describing everything about the group of vampires living near to Forks now. Carlisle said to Sam that this behavior can be considered normal - except the noticeable skills, these had with hiding their smell and tracks. Such vampires tended to be old and experiences - they had most probably encountered their first group of extremely good trackers; ones such as James was. After some time, the vampires who lived too long already wanted to feel the thrill of the game. James's talent was tracking - yet such things could be learned through hundreds of years of experience. It could be significantly harder since the shifters hadn't estimate how many of the players were out there. Sam's pack had encountered one, Jacob was one hundred percent positive there was a second one... But there could be one more. And once the vampires would figure out the right formation, there was nothing that would stop them. Well, this wasn't any good news. Fucking trackers.

"Do you think these old vampires might show here, doctor?" - Sam mumbled, listening to Carlisle's calm, enjoyable tone on a speaker. - "The Volturi?" - "Yes, I mean these we had already met. Can these be sent by them?" - For a moment, Carlisle was quiet, yet both men could hear chatter in the background. - "Hardly." - Alice's jolly voice answered suddenly. - "I can't see them even thinking about Forks or going there, or sending their people there. Aro is still hoping that he might get us, but... No. He doesn't choose to send his people your way." - She explained quickly. - "Are the vampires too conspicuous? I hadn't seen any news reporting murders in Forks." - Carlisle muttered after a moment, audibly going through some newspaper. This made Jake grin a bit; the man was still looking after his former place of stay. - "No." - Jacob said simply, which made Carlisle sigh. Well, that didn't mean anything good. - "Then the Volturi will hardly come to dismantle them, unfortunately. As long as the vampires aren't violating any laws, they won't be stopping them. Do you think that you need help?"

Clearly, Carlisle was asking 'should we come to help you?'. If there would be any sign that the pack can't do it on their own, they would spend no time sitting around. No matter what were the pack's members' opinions on the Cullens, Jacob had to say that the liked this family of leeches. - "No. We're doing just great, I just wanted to be informed. Have a nice Carlisle, nice hearing from you." - With that, Sam hung on the phone after the doctor said his goodbye and wished the men good luck. The news wasn't good at all. A pack of damn tackers who wanted to play a game with the pack.

After all, they were there to hunt - yet they were willing to take their time, wait for the pack to grew tired and then slip by in the dead of the night. What could've been worse? And the Volturi were neither behind this operation or about to stop it. There were dark clouds on the horizon, which wasn't making them any calmer. Both of them went for a short walk around Sam's house, trying to figure out... Something. And the only solution was... - "No. Sam, this isn't happening." - Jacob put both his hands on his chest, having the typical expression of an angry five-year-old. - "It's just a t-shirt." - Sam answered back, rolling his eyes. - "I already told her there are mountain lions... Sent her to a stranger's house and to a place she never been at. Now, I'll be stealing her clothes?" - Jacob snickered, shaking his head.

"She's the weak spot right now. They want to start a game, we will start a game, then - and on our own terms. All we need is her scent." - Jacob knew Sam was right, but... Seriously, you've been thinking about his ill intentions (killing you, let's be honest for a minute) since the first moment you saw him. And now, he was supposed to steal a piece of your clothing? Well... - "Okay. Okay. I'll try to get something. When we're talking about clothes, can you lend me some for the afternoon? I'll be picking her up on the beach." - With this question, both men walked back to the house for Jake to keep the promise. He spent playing with the girls a huge portion of his day, just before he fell asleep on Brianna's bed, snoring on the whole house.

To get to the beach, he certainly didn't use his human form. That would be too slow. He called to Billy's, making sure you're still at the beach - or if you decided to take off and maybe run away from Forks. Jacob wouldn't flinch at that. He wouldn't be surprised if you did. Yet, you still were there - with Rachel. The man groaned at that, as all little brothers do, rolling his eyes. He could only imagine everything Rachel told you about him. Dear Lord. Now, you could justify thinking like a killer when talking about him. Rachel didn't spare his good name at all, Jacob was positive there.

It was a busy day at the beach. Normally, Quil would spend his time there with Claire - yet the boy knew that sometimes, protecting the place because of the people you love is important as well. For a moment, he was just standing there and watched the sea lazily waving around - he knew that somewhere in the woods, there was Jared looking after the La Push territory. And just when he was thinking about that, he saw you and Rachel walking out of the forest side by side, laughing at something. Great. He could only guess how many stories did Rachel pull out.

Of course, he wouldn't Rachel walk home alone - it was almost six miles to their home after all. But he didn't plan on stopping on a visit either. Billy, who was in the elder council, naturally understood that Jacob was rather busy in the last few days - but Charlie did come to the car and made you roll down the window. - "I just wanted to ask... Hm... How was the beach?" - It looked like genuine interest from Charlie's part, which made you grin. It was nice of him to ask. - "Rachel showed me around... It was pretty impressive. I need to tell my friends about it, definitely." - Then, the cop shot a quick gaze at Jacob. For the love of God, he was hoping that the boy won't drag you into some funky business with him. - "If anything happens, I'm at the phone number all the time, okay?" - Charlie reassured himself before patting the side of the truck and leaving without waiting for you to answer. You were just watching him leaving back to the house, with a small smile on your face.

Jacob tried to ask you about your day, but you could tell that the 'worse' Jacob was now in the position. He didn't seem to smile a bit, he was kinda mumbly and quiet for the most part. As you walked into the garage again, you knew you had to do something. This couldn't wait two days. No. You had to do it immediately. As soon as he would sneak out, you'll follow right after. Yeah, mountain lions, sure... This made you grin as you worked on the paperwork once more. Throughout the whole time, you hadn't seen Jacob - the whole time, he was outside and worked on your Beetle, changing the smaller parts he had with him. It was obvious that you will have to visit a wrecking lot soon - in search of working components, hustling the best prices out of that. By the way, the components were even on sale - those which your car needed so desperately. The wrecking lots were your last chance.

Around the same time as the previous day, you've just told Jacob you're going to take a shower and go to sleep - which he only barely acknowledged. He was too busy working and thinking about Sam's theory. It wasn't right. The vampire girl saw Jacob looking out for you and even though she didn't know you two have nothing in common, she most likely connected you as partners of sorts. He could steal one of the t-shirts you've put into the laundry, couldn't he? All it took was an article of clothing to lure the leeches somewhere where they wouldn't be in advantage - like a huge plain, the one next to Ozette Lake. Fuck, this was uncomfortable. He couldn't even look you in the face.

That night, when he was leaving for the watch, he didn't even lock the door - it wouldn't be functional against a vampire. He was to stay nearby the town, looking after the damn house - while Embry and Seth, as humans, got their orders from Sam. Jacob didn't know what the strategy was - he had only Jared and Brody on the watch in Forks. Jared could be only barely counted in since he was sleeping while walking. The boy took a 24 lasting shift, no wonder he was so done.

As soon as you noticed Jake marching to the woods, you put his raincoat on, since it was raining again, and went after him, lurking in the shadows. If Jacob would be in his normal human self, he would hear you. He wouldn't smell you, since the rain and wind was making the scent trail fade away rather quickly, but he would know somewhere's there based on the sounds. You weren't as dumb to walk straight after him - you could barely see him, hiding behind the trees, but you could still hear him breathing. Dear God, was he breathing loud? You hadn't noticed before. Suddenly, he stopped and started to breathe quicker and quicker.

Curiosity got the better out of you, let's be honest here, as you sneaked past a few trees, getting closer to him, finally catching a good look at the man. He was... Breathing really quick, shaking. His muscles were visibly tensing under his skin, but you knew that something wasn't adding up here. Was he having a seizure? Was he chanting himself before another kill? Or was this the ritual after which the second part of his split personality came out? Fuck, you were confused. Your nails dug deeper into the tree and your breath hitched as the tension got the better out of you. Unknowingly, you pressed to the wet, cold tree and didn't blink from that point on.

It was fascination at its best. You didn't even jump when growls cut through the silence, resonating through the whole, quiet forest. The man fell on his knees, growling and grunting in immersive pain. And that was when you saw it - a strike of russet fur flying out of his body, traveling on his spine. And then... Jacob exploded. He quite literally was torn to shreds, just like his worn-out pants and instead of a man... There was a wolf, bigger than you. This animal could eat you like an appetizer and barely blink about it. No matter how beautiful the animal was, your brain couldn't grasp what was happening at the moment. In combination with holding your breath for the last minute, it resolved in one thing. As you forcefully grasped for any air, your head spun. Once, twice, and then you felt your body falling to the ground. Maybe, you would've got up, but you felt the back of your head hitting a root on the ground. A dull thud sounded through the forest as it started to fade away.

You fainted. This caught Jacob's attention as he realized something terrorizing - he had a lot to explain now.

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gotgifsandmusings · 6 years

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Full musings on Infinity War

Anonymous said to gotgifsandmusings: I'm just waiting for your thoughts on Thanos. I know there will be thoughts.

Ha, there are thoughts indeed. I was thinking of recording a video about it, but my mic seems to be messed up from the journey, and Griffin’s mic picks up everything...

Alright, fuck it, I’ll just write everything I was thinking about Infinity War, because overall I’d call it a frustrating viewing experience.

FULL MOVIE SPOILERS are below the cut, so you have been warned.

Very warned.

Okay then, let’s get into it.

I want to be able to have a neatly packaged thesis statement of “I did/didn’t like it,” but I do think my dissatisfaction with it is a bit more nuanced? Like, I was viscerally annoyed sitting through Ragnarok, and a lot of that were thanks to the expectations I had going into it. Here, I kind of didn’t care that much and didn’t read spoilers for that reason. Griffin was super hype to see it, I knew Lindsay Ellis didn’t react favorably to it on Twitter, and those two things alone were my only basis for any expectations.

I tend to have my mind wander think, “am I liking this?” during a movie screening. Had I been asked during this one, I couldn’t have clearly answered at all, at least not until the very end. There were some jokes and dialogue I laughed at, the action pieces always felt earned by the context, though not necessarily incredibly engaging. It was a mixed bag, maybe, but it was more just me kind of nodding along at the direction. Not in a “cool” way, but more a, “okay here’s what they’re doing now.” It became very obvious Thanos was going to get the all stones this movie, and equally obvious that it was not going to be fully resolved, so it was really the question of how and where the final action piece would fall.

Gamora’s death was some bullshit. I sort of felt like it sucked out the emotional tension, since this is just big purple dude from space beaming in with stones who doesn’t have any direct connection to 98% of the characters. But even more than that, I was having trouble understanding what they were going for there at all.

I didn’t see GOTG2, though I want to. However, I do know about the familial dynamics with Gamora and Nebula and Thanos. I think Gamora giving up the soul stone location to save her was seeded, at least from what I understand went down. And frankly, I can even track Gamora kissing Peter given the stakes, given she asked him to kill her, and so on. What loses me was why they painted her death as a sacrifice of Thanos’s, because it’s 100% clear this guy is an abuser to her and Nebula, and then even backing out of this, he’s 100% incapable of empathy, which is why his solution to ~famine~ is a glove that can literally do anything (like...you know...make resources more plentiful or increase education about birth control or something), and his solution is still “equal opportunity genocide.”

So that Gamora was explicitly shown to us to be someone he loved to get the soul stone sends all kinds of really dangerous messages, and also does it banking on the believability of his philosophical commitment to thinning the herd. Except that philosophy itself falls apart with minor scrutiny. His planet fell apart because of thin resources, so he can extrapolate that to the universe? And he really believes just arbitrarily murdering half the population would do anything, without addressing birth rates, or power structions, or anything at all?

It was just so, so, so weak as a motivation for him. And I’m absolutely flabbergasted critics are seriously comparing Thanos to Killmonger as two villains with “understandable” motivations. These are two massively different scales of understandability, right?? How is there any basis for comparison other than to say, “wow Thanos is a shitty villain after Killmonger.”?

The problem is, Thanos was the closest thing we had to a movie protagonist, since it was his journey. But there’s nothing remotely sympathetic about what he’s trying to accomplish, or particularly logical, and to have him be the one to “sacrifice” to get there was like...for what? Otherwise we wouldn’t have believed how hardcore he was?

I think how much this movie lands for someone is going to fall entirely on their view of Thanos. I wasn’t impressed and I don’t understand why this is the guy they built towards, and specifically him and the infinity gauntlet.

Because yeah, that damned gauntlet. I really can’t stand unclear power scaling like that. The gauntlet can do anything with all the stones in it, but minus two of them, Dr. Strange can go toe-to-toe with Thanos? It’s just...the fights became increasingly irrelevant because Stones of Random Power so things happen that need to happen just because. They are one of the most profoundly uninteresting plot devices I can think of.

Oh also? Hands down the worst moment was when Starlord was so full of Manpain about Gamora that he ruined Peter Parker and Tony Stark almost getting the gauntlet off Thanos. Just utter horseshit there. Not to mention even going with the mapain, he could have just shot him in the face or slit his throat instead of punching him, and then boom, movie over.

Idk, that moment, along with Gamora’s death earned heavy eyerolls. There are so many more inventive ways to have those guys lose a fight to him, or to have Thanos obtain the soul stone, and I don’t see her dead body being the necessity for any of them. Especially with the soul stone. Maybe Thanos creates some kind of illusion using the reality stone where Gamora thinks she has to get the soul stone in her possession to save Nebula, and then Thanos is able to take it. Idfk. Just...why this?

(Also the Guardians felt super off to me. I know stuff happened in GOTG2, but it seemed obvious they weren’t being penned by their usual writer.)

I do want to address the darkness of this movie. I got one ask saying it was acedia at its finest, and another saying that no, the thesis of the movie was that every life is important (Steve says this to Vision) and we fight for something saving or whatever. I lean more with the acedia anon.

If anyone is reading this and doesn’t know the spoilers, the movie ends with Thanos, having assembled all of the stones, snapping his fingers and killing half of the universe. The finger snap itself is mentioned as the threat and how easy it’d be fore him to do it at least 5 times, so it was certainly seeded. Then, we get a lovely sequence where we watch half the Wakandaans turn to dust, T’Challa among them, along with half the Avengers: bye bye Sam, Bucky, Elizabeth Olsen, every Guardian of the Galaxy except Rocket, Dr. Strange, and Peter Parker. That’s after already watching Vision, Gamora, Loki, and Heimdall get killed by Thanos.

Like yes, everyone knows this is not going to stand. We are shown about two minutes before this charming sequences Thanos going back in time because he has the time infinity plot device, and we also know Avengers 4, GOTG 3, Black Panther 2, the next Spiderman follow-up, and so on are in the works.

Oh except children in the audience. There was a BAWLING 7-year-old outside the theater, and what do you tell them? “Don’t worry, it’s just the Russo brothers doing it because they can, and they want to seem edgy and bold”? It’s not bold. It’s kind of the biggest cop-out possible, because we know nothing is permanent now, it’s probable everyone who died in this is brought back (...maybe Loki or Heimdall or all of the Asgardians are exceptions? maybe?), and it was basically just an exercise in the limitations of the movie medium for comic narratives.

But thank god we got to watch all of our heroes horrifically die with everyone reacting to them. Like good god, the very young Peter Parker had to be given time to freak out about how he feels sick and doesn’t want to go? What was the point of that? Or was that the reserved take, and in the full cut there was actually a death scene for Princess Shuri too or something.

Speaking of Shuri and Wakanda, I do want to say that I think there’s an element of this that’s in poor taste. Black Panther is *still* airing in theaters, and there have been how many pieces coming out about the importance of representation and what Wakanda meant to so many viewers. So the fact that it was in Wakanda when we see half the population dying... Like, I do like that Wakandans were given an instrumental role in end-of-the-world stakes. But then that meant that yeah, you’d watch half of them crumble to dust in that sequence. Yes, you know that half of San Diego is also crumbling to dust, but it’s a little more viscerally upsetting to see it.

And honestly, why couldn’t T’Challa have been a living Avenger in this? Why was his death particularly necessary? The body count of black characters was kind of high across the board when you take into account Heimdall and Sam (and out-of-universe Zoe Saldana as Gamora. Oh and then Nick Fury in the post-credits. Also is Valkyrie implied to have been with the half of the Asgardians that lived, or did she die off-screen? Cause I’m not sure I imagine her *not* fighting back.). I’m not sure if this is a point of contention with viewers for the most part, but there was just something about T’Challa’s unceremonious death alongside half his country where you’re like, “seriously, why is this what they’re showing now?”

Because guess what? It wasn’t an effective ending! We KNOW it’s being turned back, especially given the utterly ridiculous volume of deaths with key characters who we know have movies. You know what would have been a better ending for this? Just...Thanos snapping. That’s it. “You should have aimed for my head. *Snap*.” Cut to black.

There was no reason I can think of to have been this explicit about everyone’s deaths when they’re just temporary anyway. “Hey kids, enjoy your horror-free entertainment!” Especially Peter Parker’s death. That really, really felt like acedia at its finest.

Because part of the thing with acedia, as Gretchen has so eloquently explained, is that it’s a dark kind of writing where nothing really matters, bad shit just happens. And boy if *that* wasn’t the actual thesis statement of the movie.

Steve said that no, you save every life because that’s what you fight for. But that point was heavily undercut multiple times in the film. There seemed to be countless situations where a character had to either kill or consider killing someone they loved for the greater good (or not saving someone they loved, or giving Thanos keys to something really bad). It was utilitarianism vs. the power of emotional connection, and it was constant. Frankly, it was pretty cohesive.

Except magic man got magic gauntlet and did magic thing, so choice was rendered completely useless.

All told, once this movie is put together with Avengers 4, it’s possible there is some message that works to this end. But right now we essentially got half a movie based around an incredibly weak motivation that we know is all going to be back-dialed anyway. But thank god we got to traumatize kids in the name of ~boldness~ in the process.

Loki gave over the Tesseract but tried to kill Thanos, and got punished for it. Peter pulled the trigger to kill Gamora like she asked and got punished for it. Gamora tried to stab herself and got punished for it. Gamora tried to save Nebula at the cost of an infinity stone and got punished for it. Trying to save Vision didn’t work. Trying to not save Vision didn’t work.

Nothing mattered. Except apparently Thanos “sacrificing” Gamora. Wow, what commitment to bullshit philosophy and a laughable “solution” to a problem that is at best, temporary in nature.

This was a downer of a film, and not in a way that made me interested to see the resolution. I just want this out of Marvel’s system. It was event comics writing at its worst, and using an event that never could have really worked for this medium with this schedule of releases.

So okay, fine, my thesis statement is: I really didn’t like it. The longer I think about it the more annoyed I am. Had it ended five minutes earlier, I would have had major issues with it, but it would have been more of an “...okay then” kind of thing. Gamora got the shortest end of the stick, from what I can see. But nothing really came together, and the climax with the RANDOM EVIL ARMY was just going through the motions.

Honestly? If I had to sit through this or Dark World again, I’d choose the latter in a heartbeat. That was a mess and often boring in places, but at least the climax was inventive and fun, and there was lip-service to character development. This was just...an event. Can’t wait for it to not matter at all!

#avengers: infinity war #infinity war spoilers #not got #mcu #thanos

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survivor-ingary · 3 years

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Episode 2 - "I DON'T WANT THE MYSTERY MOUSE-CA-TOOL BESTIE" - Ellie

At the tribal, Ping was voted out of the Pendragon Tribe nearly unamimously. Tribal immunity for this round is Pictionary.

I bet all these bitches know i voted for Keith and now they are going to come kill me in my sleep if i die i blame dylan

yass round 2 i either think im in the best position on this tribe or theyre all secretly coming for me thats all

Tribal went as well as I expected it to go. No major drama. It seems like Keith is in real trouble if we do go to tribal again though which would put me in a very tricky spot. For now, though, I will be trying my best in the upcoming challenge. The problem is, however, timezones and schedules. Jon is going to be our drawer, but he can only do it tonight or in the early afternoon tomorrow which I will not be there for. Additionally, Keith is asleep so we have no idea what his schedule is going to be so we basically had to schedule the challenge without him. And Nya could only do right before the deadline tomorrow which Jon cannot do. I hate this for us, truly. I just hope that Moth and I can rub our brain cells together for this one so that we can pull out a win. OR somehow the other tribes fail horribly. On the bright side, I am finally starting to catch up on Duolingo exercises. They're a lot easier than I thought, but it is still going to be tedious af to save up enough coins for some of the higher end products at the shop. As a final note, I am going to work with Nya in the long term as we promised each other to. Hopefully that actually works out. Time to actually be loyal and be a hero this time around. Need to try something different.

If we lose this challenge, I will be very upset. We went so hard on this challenge!!! I believe that we can at least get second place, but I don't know how crazy the other tribes are. So, let's see what goes on

Ayyyyy soooooooo looks like the four, Colin, me, Ava, and Brayden are officially in an alliance!? I’m really hyped to be working with everybody and already have sights on who should go if we have to go to tribal 👀 but like I’m gonna feel so bad if we go to tribal and I orchestrate a whole plan to take someone out I gotta do it when I’m not in my feels and the planets aren’t fucking with my emotions too heavy. But go alliance ! This means I’ll be able to stay safe until hopefully a merge and hopefully we can avoid a tribe swap till then which I get those vibe from it !! But I’ll be here to survive two more tribals just in case which is pretty rad. Other then that hopefully me offering to draw doesn’t end us up in the bottom and we can keep killing ! But anyways that is it as off know hopefully I have a lot more coins tomorrow morning and I get hit the hat shop bright and motherfucking early.

Just got asked to be apart of an alliance <33333 the besties in the group trust me which maybe ain't the right move but for now we gotta love the bonding. exciting!!!

YAY FOR ROUND 2! Okay, so I meet once again with the Hat Shop and... third times the charm! Except,,, the charm is getting nothing AGAIN lmao I'm not complaining though, still got that extra vote :P I stayed up at 1 AM for this challenge, and I honestly think our team popped off. Anastasia was guessing a ton, and Riley was amazing at drawing real quick! I have a relatively good feeling about our performance, so I hope I wake up to the news of our tribe being immune :D

so yesterday I set myself on a mission to get an alliance. I wanted Ava + Brayden + Toph + me as a majority alliance. it was our day off from tribal so I thought it was the perfect day to do it!! I talked to Brayden about it first because he's the person I feel the most comfortable with, and then after a lot of coordination and careful communication I was able to pull it together!! I think the most important thing when making alliances is making everyone feel like they're a big part in it. So I was careful to ask each person how they feel about the others, about the game, and made a point to say that I wanted to work with them specifically. Some may call that a little manipulative, but I wanna make sure that I'm an essential part of the alliance!! i need everyone to feel like they need/want me there.

all of this happening so soon into the game is a testament to how aggressive I'm playing this time around. I usually like to lay low and just rely solely on my social game in the start, but I'm trying this out to establish myself early on! I wanted to play the tribe leader and I think I'm doing that in a smart and subtle way!!

so yes now we have a 4 person majority alliance named "duolingo owl hate club" because fuck that guy. I think we're the 4 most active and present people on the tribe so it's only natural for us to work together, but I think it's definitely worth noting that I was the one that was pulling the strings here.

We just did the pictionary challenge, I have a good feeling about it!! Toph was an amazing artist, and if we win, all credit rightfully goes to him!! I think the guessers also did great of course, but like come on, the artist has to be the mvp. I'm really hoping we pull through!! I don't mind going to tribal, but I genuinely don't wanna vote anyone out yet. I'm fine just playing the game in a precautionary way. I know I'm in a great position if we do go to tribal, but it's always preferred that we don't go.

Everyone else on my tribe: doing the challenge and kicking ass

Me: I’m sleep

Riley (Tumblr has once again chosen violence so only the first 10 get banners 🥲)

I think our challenge went pretty well! My team were good guessers. Feeling like I've established some Integrity now. Hope it keeps me safe later!

Toph Soooooo we finished the challenge with 32 points and like wig !! I was a quick as drawer for 32pts expect when my internet lagged, but still ! I think we whooped some ass and if we do go to tribal I know it won’t be me going, thanks to Duolingo owl hate club but I’m also worried same could have and advantage because they seem pretty kean on learning a lot in like 3 hours and then tried to cover that statement to not seem so threatening but like babs s a huge threat too apparently they love Duolingo and know 5 laugnes ? This is from brayden but If so go babs ! That’s absolutely iconic for real Life but fucking scary in this game ! I gotta be buddy buddy with them so hopefully if they do have something it won’t be them going home first and it will be Ava. But I’m thinking we might get second place again unless someone is a fucking wizard at this.

Dennis hmm i think we did well enough in the challenge to not see tribal tomorrow but who knows i guess we shall find out tn

the way ellie was so on top of stuff yesterday only to oversleep the challenge makes me giggle maybe shes freaking out about it which makes me also giggle but i dont think its really a big deal

anastasia asked me to call yesterday and i was like sure lets talk but it is damn near impossible to hold a conversation with her idk i tried BUT she did tell me “yeah i just got off a call with ellie” im like i see. she says shes down to work with ellie but that quickly switched from ellie being ~experienced~ but good to know ellie is also playing hard. anastasia also mentioned that she talks to riley a fair amount who i still have yet to connect to well. but dat makes me think ellie is def talking to riley too miss debate team is definitely a talker. but good on her for the social game i guess

kenneth keeps being like haha we’re the same person and im like yeah👁 i bet we are👁

i just wanna win and not think about tribal just keep it slow and chill for now keep learnin my welsh i guess

Ava Second challenge was Pictionary and I had a ton of fun playing. The tea is: toph did a great job. He was pretty vocal about not being a great artist but really I think he did great. However, Babs was super inactive yesterday and ~too late~ said they were a great artist and should've been picked to draw. It was kind of like.... k babs thanks for the belated "help". They did do great guessing which scored a point in my book. Brayden was supposed to play but last minute logged off without saying anything so we did the challenge without him :/ sorta a bummer. Anyway the lack of participation from Sam is kind of popping off so we'll see where that leads them... Overall a fun game and fingers crossed we did well!

Moth I think we did okay at the challenge. Today I am dying from the heatwave so I’m not thinking too straight! Stay cool everyone

Ellie So yesterday Anastasia and I called for about an hour!!! I’d say we’re definitely way closer, she’s someone I really wanna work with although the idea of her and Brayden eventually being on the same tribe is kinda scary cause I know how close they are. Still she’s so fun to talk to and I just love her energy so much!

Pictionary challenge results: Jenkins Tribe wins with Penadragon second, Hatter Tribe has to go to tribal council on the following day.

Ava Well well well seems our bob ross, toph, didn't pull through (y'all think babs would've pulled it out for us or slept through our challenge like they said they almost did?) I can't wait for tribal. I'm in it for the drama. I'm hashtag voting Sam off - didn't even bother to be apart of our challenge and not too sure they've even been online for a full 24 hours. Weed out the weak.....

Anastasia

youtube

Brayden https://imgur.com/n60Lz0c

guys i dont know what to do someone help me out

Dennis i hope damn brayden gets the boot

Raffy Woo! We don't have to go to tribal again! We stan!

Ellie So I figured I’d go idol hunting today cause the shop was about to close and I just wanted to see what had been bought and what possible hats there were, I see that there’s a hat I have enough for that hasn’t been bought and I decide fuck it let’s get it

APPARENTLY ITS SOMETHING THAT IM NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW WHAT IT IS OR HOW TO USE IT YET???? THEY SAID ILL FIND OUT ABOUT IT LATER

I DONT WANT THE MYSTERY MOUSE-CA-TOOL BESTIE

Sam Well you see. I like all my tribe people. And I think we did real good on that music video! So, I think rather than voting anyone else off, I think I should just vote myself off if that is possible! Ahhh

Babs So sad to see Sam not only go but go through what they're going through :( same w Toph :( they all seem so lovely

Keith Not sure if i submitted a confession after the last tribal. But if I didnt here it is.

Happy I made it out of that tribal. I had raffy backing me with whom I played. Last time we played. We were at odds. We didnt work together but whats worse that we were against each other. It was either him or me goin out. Hopefully thats the past n we can work together. I jus need to keep things calm n show that Im not here itching to make big moves. So they dont feel threatened by me. N its easy cause right now. I havnt made that kind og bond with anyone on my tribe. To even think of such moves. Lets see what round two holds for me.

Colin so uh

we lost! :(

I was really bummed tbh. Like I thought we did well but circumstances with the challenge were just really unfortunate, from conflict about who wanted to be the artist to people disappearing the moment the challenge started, I think we did well despite all of that. Except we did kinda get stomped anyway. Oh well!! The game moves on. Tribal has to happen.

Initially I was gonna push for Babs, just because I feel like I don't wanna attach myself to them too early on. I've seen how much of a bitter player they can be, and lets just say I'm not the most loyal ally to have. however! 9 minutes after we lost, Ava announces to our alliance that she's voting Sam. I wasn't surprised, Sam has been the one not really pulling their weight. But I had some good connections with her!! we both did colorguard and shes so sweet and easy to talk to. I was really conflicted for a little bit, debating on whether or not to actually push for Babs. I think brayden sensed my hesitance but we both knew there was nothing really I could do to stop Sam from being the vote. At first tribal, the initial name always spreads like wildfire.

However, my mess was stopped abruptly by Sam asking to be voted out. welp!! okay then!! babs stays i guess!! i'm not too bothered. I'll never turn down an easy vote hehe.

Pretty sure there's a swap tonight. I'm kinda scared of that

uwu

Brayden

youtube

i almost forgot to upload this but dont worry i just remembered

Colin screams

Toph So we’re going to tribal in 20 and all I have to say right now is if there is a tribe swap after I’m gonna so scared but I ducking called I had a vibe and it was right that’s what is gonna win me this game trusting my intuition. I’m holding on now and gonna be the biggest comp beast next challenge in case I get fucked on this swap !!!! Or at least if it is a swap 🤔

Riley I don't know what this announcement's gonna be I'm worriedddd... Ginny said it probably means we're swapping teams but I don't wannaaaa I like our team.

Toph Sam self sacrificing made this the easiest vote ever and me being safe is a plus I guess 😎

#episodes

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marchingfluterino · 7 years

Text

last game of the season things:

i walked over to The Corner bc annabeth, stamy, and matt were there among others and.

“don’t fist weed man” —stamy

i immediately walked away again. what the fuck stamy

the Band Amoeba

basically a few kids were in a circleand they kept gathering people into the Amoeba by collectively advancing toward them and opening the circle to absorb them, then closing it again. it was so fucking funny

max wasnt there again. hes in seattle. hannah said their cousin there made him go on a seven mile hike lmao

on the bus i sat with dylan and we were like entirely surrounded by color guard o ops

it was fine tho

the game we were going to was literally like almost an hour away through like forests and even a little farmland which was wild

literally

once we got there we were trapped in the back bc we were two seats behind fucking eric and mattias and they were wrestling in the bus and shit AGAIN.

dylan managed to get us to the front tho. bless up dylan

we heckled maya for “does baked mean high???” and she just yelled “THAT WAS A WEEK AGO” lmao

hannah asked me if i wanted to go to a gearworks guard thing where they teach u How To Do Guard Shit its in the summer and Hoo Boy i wanna go! it sounds so fuckin cool yeeeee

the other band had a bigger drumline than we do, which is not much when u consider that we Do Not Have a drumline. like we have the equipment just. not enough people according to daryl

they had a quad, two snares, and three bass drums. one of them was TINY

while the other band was playing the national anthem, a bunch of what i thought were drunk adults were singing along. nope turns out it was our goddamn student section. i hate my school

luckily though they were on the other side of the field.

actually it was really nice bc we were in the backfield bleachers and then on the other side of the space in front of where this building was there was the bleachers where the other band was. they were SO CLOSE it was AMAZING

there was this one flute in the front that kept dancing it was so lit

me and this one clarinet i think kept waving back and forth at each other it was awesome

idk what they thought of us tho bc like, we tried to start the wave (only a couple kids in their band would do it), and then we did the band dance like from an outside perspective it’s very weird and like a cult. like theres just a couple people at the front doing a little dance and everyones doing it back at them

actually i sorta do know what they thought of us bc we played our parade tune and somebody in the other band looked over at us and did the “so so” thing where u have ur hand parallel w the ground and then you turn it back and forth

at one point while percussion were doing a cadence alex just started playing the “when mom isnt home” song

we got to do The Loud Thing with percussion TWICE and the first time Literally no one realized they were supposed to play except me so for like A Whole Couple Seconds it was just One flute, playing the highest C u can on a c flute (aka like, 6 ledger lines above the staff) and then Everyone joined in it was WILD

before halftime while we were going down the steps to go warm up i like fell on the last couple steps

but like. i was COMPLETELY FINE. like it was the softest fall ive ever seen. like it probably LOOKED bad bc mendelson and rachel (who were behind me) asked if i was ok (AND I WAS), but it just. WASNT.

like no one couldve caught me, bc i wouldve brought rachel down with me if she had tried and besides she was too far back anyway, and mendelson plays sousa, so HE couldn’t’ve. so like how

the only explanation is that it was a marching band ghost who didnt want me to damage my instrument. like. my feet fuckin FLOATED out from under me almost. and my flute barely jostled. thats the only way that couldve happened

there was a doggo. he was very good and he had a job. a police pupperino

the student section yelled shit like “THATS MY BAND” as we ran on and honestly YOU can shut the fuck up chad, im not a goddamn fool i KNOW you dont care i KNOW that

during our show i was worried that my pinky would freeze to the ♭E key. it happened to sam at the last practice and it was even colder at this game

apparently hannah’s been volunteering at the cavaliers since she was TEN

TEN YEARS O LD

for once the water was colder than my hands. which is saying a lot bc my hands were freezing

i kept dancing at the cadences, like i always do

so ellie, my section leader, who is graduating, decided that next year i am in charge of flute choreography

lit

one of the trombones (the one whose name idk, the blond one who always wears this one blue flannel) had to be told to take off his hat. why

the other bands seniors had FOOD to give to OUR SENIORS it was very nice of them

we did the “i believe that we will wong” thing again

to clarify bc i dont think ive ever talked about that on here theres this one kid in our band named will wong (both of which are common enough names that u will Never Find him) and its based of the “i believe that we will win” chant except u dont usually do the “i” i “i believe” i believe “i believe that we” i believe that we etc etc back and forth thing u just start yelling “I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WONG I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WONG I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WONG” over and over really fast its great

and lowkey a meme

i said to ellie that i thought that that was the best meme and she said she thought band bingo was the best and honestly im flattered

this was the first time i have Actually Cared about the Outcome of a Sportsball

the team we played was like, fourth in the fuckin state and we’re The Worst and for the first game they put the worst team (us) against the best and we ALMOST fuckin won it was insane

im glad it didnt go into overtime tho it was Cold rip

i lost my green screwdriver rip

the bus ride home was nice

(and cold)

the heater only came on in our bus when we were Actually At school

daryl said we could take home the boxes if we wanted so now i have a box. as in From Our Show.

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