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valleyrunearchives · 2 years

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Binary

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Fandom: Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia Pairings: Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Chapter 5/?

“Binary code is a series of zeroes and ones strung together in a specific sequence. On paper, it’s useless. Annoying. Worthless. But put that same string of zeroes and ones into a computer, and suddenly it’s a language far more complex than the human mind can comprehend. I was the same way. The world decided I wasn’t good enough in the physical plane, so I went digital. That’s why I chose the name Binary. And you should be very,” He smirks at the underground hero on the screen, “Very afraid of the reach I have here. Aizawa Shouta.”

Midoriya Izuku is tired of the world treating him like nothing. So he decides to becoming a hacker to show the world that nothing can be anything.

Featuring Midoriya Izuku as the Genius Hacker Aizawa Shouta as the problem child wrangler Yamada Hizashi as the moral support to his husband Tsukauchi Naomasa as the man who needs a long vacation PLEASE Shinsou Hitoshi as the intentionally adopted one Toga Himiko as the unintentionally adopted one Dabi as the really didn’t want to be adopted one but he guesses this is his life now and Nedzu as the Rat God of UA

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When Hitoshi wakes up, he’s peaceful. Which is nice. There isn’t someone screaming at him to get off his lazy ass and get ready for the hellhole he calls school. He wonders for a second if he’s in a new foster home and that’s why everything's so peaceful. Then the memories of the day before come back to him. The muzzle being placed on him (a normal occurrence these days), the kids from school following him, them dragging him into an alley to beat him where it can’t be seen, and then a sassy green haired kid showing up to completely save him in every sense of the word. He gave him a guaranteed new and safe home. He feels tears well up in his eyes again. How long had he hoped for this? Prayed for it? Months? Years?

“Hitoshi-kun?” Hitoshi jumps at the call of his name. He looks over to see a monitor hanging over a dresser that he hadn’t noticed the night before. CATRA blinks (Do cyber cats blink normally or even need to blink?) at him before purring happily, “Oh good! You are awake!”

“Yeah…” he responds, sitting up heavily while rubbing his eye with a fist. He yawns loudly before asking, “Where’s Izuku?”

It felt weird calling the other kid by his given name but it felt even weirder to call him Midoriya. CATRA reaches up and rubs a paw over her head. (Is that another thing that cyber cats need to do? Or like to do? He’s so out of his depth with her not being a real cat! She's still cute though.) “Izuku-kun is in the kitchen,” she tells him.

“Has he slept at all?” He stands up from the bed unsteadily, still fully waking up.

“Unfortunately not. He was working on finding evidence for your case for Iwai-san. Then he found some villains in a nearby area and has been working on getting the necessary info to turn it into the police.”

“Does he do that often?” He finds the slippers that he wore the night before and slides them on his feet.

“It is a new development with him. His ability with quirk analysis and hacking is useful for finding information about criminals to pass onto the correct authorities. He realized he could help while not getting too involved or in too much trouble. He doesn’t put himself in unnecessary danger this way.”

Hitoshi hums in understanding as he heads for the bedroom door. CATRA disappears from the hanging monitor. Hitoshi guesses she’s moved back to Izuku’s phone. He walks out and heads for the small kitchen area he saw yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, Izuku in all his green glory is sitting at the table. There’s multiple sheets of paper and a notebook in front of him. His phone is propped up as well. He seems to be constantly rewinding and fast forwarding something playing on it. As he approaches, he hears the boy mumbling, “If Edgeshot is there, injuries would reduce to a sixteen point five percent chance and casualties would reduce to eight point three… But if Best Jeanist could be convinced to go to the apprehension instead, injuries would be drastically reduced to only a nine point four chance with casualties reaching an all time low of two point nine percent.” He scribbles something down in his notebook.

“Izuku-kun, Hitoshi-kun is awake!” CATRA pipes up from Izuku’s phone, like Hitoshi expected, stopping the boy in… whatever it is he’s doing.

Green eyes look over a shoulder at Hitoshi. A smile then accompanies it with a, “Oh! Good morning, Shinsou-kun!”

He’s about to respond when CATRA beats him to it, “That’s illogical again, Izuku-kun. The time is now thirteen oh nine. Just because Hitoshi-kun woke up a few moments ago, does not make it morning.”

With the way Izuku rolls his eyes, Hitoshi can tell this isn't a one off conversation. His mind is stuck on one thing though, "It's after one in the afternoon!? Oh fuck, I'm so late for school!"

"Uh, no you're not," Izuku says calmly, scribbling something else down in the notebook. Hitoshi makes a noise of confusion. What does Izuku mean? The genius of a boy raises an eyebrow while glancing at him again over his shoulder, “Really? Why would I let you go back to the place that’s been one of the main causes of your abuse? Besides, I can’t let you go back anyway. Iwai-san is going to make it a place of interest for an active case of possible abuse, negligence, and discrimination; your active case. As the victim, you can’t go back until the case is resolved if you go back at all. There’s a chance they might try and get you to drop the case against them with coercion, bribes, or threats if you do.”

“Okay… I guess the same rules apply for my foster home?” Hitoshi asks, starting to catch on to what Izuku was saying.

Izuku nods with a smile, “Correct! A trusted officer and a member of Iwai-san’s staff will probably take you to pick up your stuff from there later but other than that you’re free to stay here. My offer still stands for you to stay here for as long as you want. If you want to leave after the case is done, that’s fine. But for the time being my place is basically your safe house while you're in protective custody. Since no one but Iwai-san knows where I live, it’s the safest place for you.”

“And no one would suspect that I was living with a kid I just met on the street yesterday. It’s ingenious!”

“It’s my specialty!” The smirk Izuku gives him is devious. He ducks his head down to go back to scribbling in his notebook for a few minutes more before he closes it and smiles, much gentler this time, at him, “Want some breakfast?”

“I want coffee more than food…” Hitoshi gripes.

“That can be arranged, Hitoshi-kun,” CATRA chirps before adding in a stern voice, “But I must insist that you also select something to eat. Pre-teen boys of your age need at least 2,000 calories a day at minimum. Up to 2,600 if you are more active than most other children your age.”

“You’d think I programmed her with a maternal instinct but surprisingly she learned that on her own!” Izuku shakes his head with a shrug. He then picks up his phone, closing whatever he was looking at then taps an app on the home screen. “Here,” he tells him, holding out the phone.

Hitoshi takes it and looks at the screen. It’s some kind of ordering app for food delivery but it’s selected to order from a cafe type restaurant that Hitoshi doesn’t recognize the name of. He asks Izuku about it as he scrolls through the menu. “They’re just down the street and know how to make my coffee exactly how I like it. Plus they don’t deny me or charge me ridiculously high amounts for what I order just because I’m quirkless,” Izuku tells him.

Hitoshi’s head shoots up at that. That was a thing? People could refuse this green bean of a boy service… just because he didn’t have a quirk? What the fuck? Izuku notices his expression and chuckles, “I know that look. You’re shocked to hear that people can actually do that and wondering if it’s true. The answer is yep. They absolutely can. They can consider our money as just as worthless as we are to them. The whole country thinks that quirkless people are just as protected and equal as the quirked ones but they’re wrong. Or lying to themselves. We’re treated as if we’re subhuman. There’s no way we can be as strong or as smart or as fast as the quirked humans. So in the eyes of all the horrible people of the world, we must just not be human at all…”

Hitoshi lets that sink in. Then he’s filled with an unimaginable rage. “What the FUCK?!” he shouts, clutching the phone in his hand tightly, “I thought I had it bad being called a villain at every turn but fuck… I’ve never been denied anything because of my quirk…”

“You mean besides basic human rights? Like a loving home and a school where you never have to worry about who’s going to treat you like shit? Or not being muzzled like you’re a dog?” Izuku asks him sarcastically.

“I…” Hitoshi blushes at the truth of the statement, “No, that’s not… I mean-”

Izuku waves him off, “Look I get it. What I was meaning by that was that yeah, my life sucks but it’s not all rainbows for you or others either. Our quirk based society is screwed up almost beyond repair. People forget that humans started off with no quirks at all and that the first ever documented quirk was the ability to glow. The first quirk was a useless one that wasn’t even thought of as being for heroics because there was no such thing as heroes. At the same time, it wasn’t thought of as weak either; It was thought of as too strong because humans didn’t have quirks! Does that make sense? Am I making any sense here?”

“No. I mean-! Yeah! You’re making perfect sense. I get it. I understand…” Hitoshi smiles slightly before looking back at the menu on the phone, “So what’s good?”

“Practically anything. I’m a fan of their full English style breakfast. It’s eggs, sausage links, two slices of bacon, three pancakes, and two slices of toast. It’s delicious! And keeps me filled up until dinner time when I wake up later in the day like you did today!”

Hitoshi knows he’s staring at the other boy with wide eyes. He knows and he doesn’t care. “Where do you put that much food? You’re tiny!” he flinches, realizing how that sounds, “Uh… no offense, of course.”

“Eh, at least you’re not saying I’m small because I don’t have a quirk,” Izuku shrugs nonchalantly. He then motions back to the phone, “Go on and pick whatever looks good though! Some coffee too! Don’t worry about the cost or anything like that. I’ve got plenty of money.”

“From what? Like… child support or a trust fund?” He passes by some waffles covered in fruits in syrup. His mouth waters. Yep, that’s what he wants! He taps it to add it to the cart.

“Nah. Cryptocurrency. Also stonks,” Izuku smirks.

Hitoshi’s finger stops as he’s browsing through the specialty coffee. He looks up at him with narrowed eyes, “Is… Was that a pre-quirk meme?”

“Maybe,” The smirk sticks to his face. Hitoshi rolls his eyes with a groan before going back to the menu again. He finally selects and customizes his coffee of choice before passing the phone back to its owner. CATRA chirrups a meow as her current location is given to Izuku. “I’ve gone ahead and added your usual to the cart, Izuku-kun!” She says happily.

Izuku thanks her and pays for the order. He tells Hitoshi that it’ll arrive in 20 to 30 minutes. Izuku opens his notebook back up to start writing in it again. Hitoshi sits there awkwardly, unable to entertain himself since his foster parents or social worker never got him a cell phone. He tries to keep up with the scribbles and mutterings Izuku’s making but he can’t. It all goes over his head and sounds like mumbo jumbo to him. He knows they’re calculations but how is he making them that fast? And what kind of formula is he using to get those numbers in the first place?

Izuku must notice his struggle because he smiles softly and closes the notebook again. “C’mon. I can do this in the living room,” he says, picking up the notebook and cell phone before standing up. He heads out of the kitchen with Hitoshi scrambling to follow him. When they arrive, they both take a seat on the couch. Izuku leans over, picking up a tray with a keyboard and mouse on it then hands it to Hitoshi. Hitoshi holds it securely as if it was a child he’s afraid to drop. He is quite afraid to drop this. It kind of is like Izuku’s child, after all. Izuku leans back into the arm of the sofa, opening his notebook on his knees and calling out, “CATRA, bring up a streaming service so Shinsou-kun can find something to watch. Alert us when the food has arrived too, please.”

“Certainly!”

The five monitors in front of them come to life. The largest one, that looks more like a TV than a computer monitor, pulls up a popular streaming service. Hitoshi relaxes back a bit and starts sifting through the options with the mouse and keyboard. He whispers over to Izuku, “You don’t have to call me Shinsou by the way. We’re going to be living together for the next while. Just call me Hitoshi. Please take care of me.”

“Hitoshi then. Now watch something and relax a bit! CATRA will let us know when the food gets here,” Izuku snuggles down a bit deeper into the arm of the couch, picking back up on his project.

Hitoshi smiles and selects a feel good movie about a cat to watch. He can do that. He really can.

#bnha #bnha fanfic #bnha fanfiction #mha fanfic #mha fanfiction #hacker!izuku midoriya #izuku midoryia #bnha shinso hitoshi #CATRA (oc)

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differentkettleoffishalltogether · 4 years

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I’m On Fire [Chapter 2]

With her sister’s wedding fast approaching and her Mom hounding her about finding a date, Y/N makes a terrible decision that lands her and her least favorite genius in a confusing situation.

Chapter Summary: Y/N and Spencer start to put a plan together.

A/N: I’ve got a head cold at the mo’ but I had to get a covid test just in case so I’m not allowed leave my room till I get the results! So enjoy a bonus chapter while I wallow on my own for like 36 hours :( On a positive note, thank you guys all so much for the response to chapter 1 I really didn’t see that coming! I’ve tagged everyone who asked, let me know if you wanna be added

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem Reader

Category: Fake Dating, Enemies to Lovers, (Eventual) Smut, Fluff, Angst, it’s a Slow Burn Baby

Warnings: Cursing, some NSFW language/themes

Word Count: 6.1k

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Series Masterlist

Masterlist

"Are you coming up or what?"

The question was still ringing in my ears. It caught me completely off guard. 'Up' as in up to Spencer's apartment? Where he lived? I knew he lived somewhere in theory, just like I knew deep down that he wasn't made in a test tube.

Without noticing I've undone my seatbelt and I'm hopping out of the car, following him around to the front door. I guess I am coming up.

Spencer's apartment is more cosy than I thought it was going to be. It's warm and lived in. It's not big, but I think that might be what makes it homely. Something about the way he behaves had me thinking it would be fully decked out in stainless steel or glass or something. But it wasn't pristine, it was messy.

There were books bursting from the shelves that lined the walls of the apartment, along with books laid open over nearly every surface in the place, it looked like he was in the middle of reading all of them, and honestly, I didn't doubt it. Maybe I'd misjudged him. He even had some photos of what looked like his family, and maybe friends, even some of the BAU, lining his walls or propped up on his mantle. He had little trinkets and souvenirs on his shelves too, evidence that he'd been around the country for reasons other than a case. I would never admit it to him but there was a real charm to the place.

Once we got inside he took off his bag and suit jacket, tossing them on the desk just inside of the door. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, and he seemed to pick up on my awkward energy.

"You can make yourself at home" he said, his confident streak remaining. I had no idea what to do with that. What would even make me comfortable in Spencer Reid's apartment? I took a seat on his sofa and just sat with my hands resting in my lap. Really not even sure where I should look without feeling like I was invading his privacy. Even though I wanted to. I think it was morbid curiosity, looking for clues on who this man might actually be outside of the BAU. What I really wanted to do was stand up and walk around, soaking in every bit if this place as if it would help me decipher our messy relationship.

He returned to the living room a few moments later, two mismatched mugs in his hands. He places one in front of me on the coffee table. I pick it up and take a sip. It's lemon and ginger, how did he know what kind of tea I liked? I held the mug in my hands inhaling the steam in an effort to relax. When I look up he's watching me, arms folded across his chest.

"So, how does this thing work. What's the game plan?" I honestly have no real idea. This evening really got away from me, I was still expecting to snap out of it and wake up in my bed at any moment.

"Well I can't say I've ever been in a Sandra Bullock movie before either so this is uncharted territory for me too" I say with a chuckle, trying to ease the tension. Even a little. I can see him crack a small smile but hides it almost instantly, his face hardening again.

"My sister, Margot, she's getting married in like 4 months." I can feel myself tense and I shake out my shoulders, I have to remind myself that he's agreed to this already, "Fuck it, I'm just going to be honest with you. My Mom's mostly freaked out that I'm too attached to this job and that I'll just never find someone again." I shouldn't have said again, fuck. I hope he didn't pick up on that. Who am I kidding. "Even though, I'm not sure I care if I do or don't?" he doesn't say anything, like he's waiting for me to continue. I know I've shared a little too much already but I keep going.

"Margot's 2 years younger than me, I introduced her to her fiancé Philip, we met in college, he's a sweetheart. But since they've gotten engaged Mom's gotten exponentially weirder. I think she's convinced I'm fully going to die alone, as if that would be the worst thing that could ever happen? Anyway, she's been trying to auction me off to all these guys, using this wedding as an excuse. I'm not sure how much of that phone call you actually heard earlier but Mom was trying to sell me on this guy, David, and I just… snapped." I look up at Spencer and he unfolds his arms, leaning in ever so slightly coaxing the story out of me.

"David, he uh, he worked for my father for a while back in high school, filing documents and stuff, busy work mostly. He used to make out with me when he was at our house after school, but then he'd ignore me in the halls the next morning. I know it's because I was a pariah back then or something but I didn't want to think about it today and I just got worked up. I shouldn't have let on that you were my date, I was just going to ask if I could bring Garcia or something, and I'm sorry." I cover my face in my hands, "I'm insane, you can back out if you want to."

I can hear him move from his spot on the opposite side of the sofa, he takes my wrists and gently pulls my hands from my face. He looks into my eyes, "I'm in this now Y/N, what do you need me to do?" he asks, and there's a genuine earnest in his voice that I think I've only ever heard a handful of times. And it's never been directed at me.

"Okay, well we've got a few months before you ha–, wait, fuck!" I throw my head back, there's already a complication, "shit" I curse under my breath. His eyebrows knit together, sitting upright.

"What's the matter?" he asks.

"I forgot about my Mom's 50th, it's next month. They've got this whole huge party planned back home in upstate New York. I've gotta go and they'll probably want to meet you, or they're gonna have a load of questions for me at least. I can try and get you out of it I'm sure"

He gets that cocky look again, he shakes his head "I don't know, I've always liked a bit of competition" he reclines back into his corner of the sofa, taking a satisfied sip from his own mug before speaking again. "You know, if I've got to learn enough to pass as your boyfriend in a month, surely that means you've got to learn enough to pass as my girlfriend within the month, no?"

Oh god. What have I done, why didn't I think this far ahead. "I mean, yeah I guess you're right." I had to remember he was doing me a favor. I had to get over myself. "Okay, if you're sure you're up for that?" I ask, and he nods, and I think he looks excited, or maybe he just finds the whole situation funny.

"If anyone's up for the competition it's you" he says, and I'm not sure if that's a compliment or a dig but I nod in agreement.

He takes another sip of his tea, collected and relaxed. I can't help but notice how at ease he is when he's in his own surroundings. I'm so used to seeing him sitting at a desk surrounded by paperwork, or combing through file after file in the make-shift office in a small-town police station, usually flustered or anxious, or antagonizing me whenever he wasn’t. This was a different Spencer. Completely in control, at ease.

"Alright, shall we get started then, we can't really afford to waste any time can we?" he was actually sort of right, so I nodded. It was only now occurring to me that I'd have to share parts of my personal life with him if I wanted this plan to work. We already knew the basics about each other, I'd read his file when I started at the BAU, I'd read everyones. And I feel like it was safe to presume he'd done the same.

His eyes bore directly into mine as he leaned forward, I think he was enjoying how uncomfortable I must've looked.

"How about I ask you some rapid-fire questions and you have to answer 'em?" he asks, and it's as good of a plan as any, and I can't think of any other suggestions, so I nod.

"Okay, shoot." I say, unsure and nervous, so I brace myself. I'm just grateful that he's making my life easier rather than harder for what feels like the first time since I met him.

I really should've known better.

He leans in, "So Y/N, first question, when did you lose your virginity?"

I almost choke on the mouthful of tea I just took, that can't be what he just asked, and he looks like he's savoring my shocked expression.

"I uh, I don't think you need to know that?" is all I can get out.

"Really? You think that's something your boyfriend wouldn't know about you?" he's right, but I didn't want to admit it outright.

"I feel like I sort of already hinted. It was that same guy David, I was 18, he was 19. We had sex on the couch while my parents went out one evening. I kept my bra on the whole time, he came, I didn't. It was all very standard stuff." I wasn't sure what compelled me to add that last part. I think I was giving in to the open honestly thing. "So what about you Doc?" I challenged.

He didn't seem embarrassed, or even shy. "I must've bloomed little later than you" he admits with a soft chuckle, "Vivian Stewart, I was 21, she was too. It was the last semester of my last PhD and I figured I must be missing out on something. And I sure was" he smirks to himself. "I came, she did too, 3 times. I did a lot of research ahead of time" he mirrored my story and I rolled my eyes. It was hard not to feel a little impressed but I tried with everything I had to stifle it so he couldn't tell. I wish it didn't make me feel something but it did. I gulp down the mouthful of tea that's been sitting in my throat.

I have to shake myself back to reality. I can't give him the satisfaction of throwing me. "My turn." I command, "When was your last relationship Dr. Reid?" I ask, "I mean like, serious one, not like hook-up" I clarify before he can ask. He thinks on it for a moment.

"I'm not sure what you classify as fully serious, but I guess it was this girl, Rebecca, we dated for a while when I first joined the BAU but it didn't work out. What about you?" he flips it back.

"So that was what, like 6-ish years ago?" I ask, he just nods.

"Mine was like 3 years ago now I think. I met this guy Nathan on my first week of college, we dated for like 4 years. He moved here for me when I got accepted by the BAU." I had to stop myself from delving into the detail. It was a long time ago now but it still hurt. "Long story short, the hours were demanding and they got in the way more than I would've liked. We ended up splitting a couple months after I got the job." I tried to play it off like it wasn't one of the more devastating things to happen in my life. But something told me he’d registered that, so he didn't push.

His energy picks up and he looks at me with a grin, but there's something a little sinister behind it. "I've got a more fun question for you." he leans in closer to me, "Y/N, when was the last time you got laid?" I just looked at him in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I can go first if you really need me to?" his voice didn't waver,

"Fuck you Reid, I know when it was!" I snapped back at him. I did have to think back a little farther than I'd like to pull up the memory.

"Met this guy in a bar when I was out with Pen one night, we went back to his place and hooked up." I say as deadpan as I can make it.

"Well that's not very exciting is it?" he jokes, "Did you at least cum that time?" I know he's just trying to rile me up, but I answer anyway.

"As a matter of fact I did" I earn back a little of my confidence.

"I'm so happy for you, but you did manage to avoid my initial question" fuck "when was this exciting night of yours Y/N?" he probes, like I really, really wished he wouldn't. I could lie, but I'm sure he'd be able to tell. I cringe before I can say it.

"About 8 months ago" I mutter, just low enough for him to hear.

"Sorry, did you just say 8 months ago?" He nearly shouts in disbelief, he seems to find it funny.

"Hey fuck you Spencer!" I go on the defensive, "When was the last time you even got laid?"

"Like two and half weeks ago" he says, confident, and still laughing, "Wait wait, when was the last time you got yourself off? I know you're not waiting 8 months!" he giggles and I think I could kill him. I know I kept giving him outs but was it too late for me to just get up and leave?

"I'm not doing this with you if you're just gonna make fun of me Reid, I get enough of that at work" I get out, my voice is serious but I'm trying to hide how awkward all of this is making me feel, and I don't know that I'm doing a very good job.

I can tell that's gotten to him, he relaxes and eases up on the giggling. "Look okay wait Y/N. I'll stop, I'm not actually trying to make fun of you. I was being serious, I think stuff like this is important if we're gonna have to be comfortable around each other enough to seem like a real couple. Plus, it'll just help break the ice?" he shrugs. "But you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

I soften, because I agree, even thought I hate that he's right. "Fine" I collect my thoughts, "2 nights ago I'm pretty sure." I regret it almost instantly, but breaking the ice is supposed to feel awkward.

"Same here actually," he chuckles, "what'd you do?" I'm so startled by the question I almost forget how to answer.

"I, uh, my, my vibrator? I just felt like uh, I watched some..." I still can't force out a whole sentence. It's not like I was always awkward about sex or anything, I could talk to Garcia, or honestly probably any of the other team members about it. But with Spencer it didn't feel as comfortable. He still sat calmly, smiling just a little.

"Same here, 2 nights back, but with my hands I guess. I wonder if we were doing it at the same time?" he mutters the last part gently and my head goes a bit fuzzy. My eyes drift away from his face and settle on his hands, the mug he's holding looks so tiny with his fingers wrapped around it, I wondered how they'd look wrapped around my-

"Okay I think that's enough for one night, don't you think?" I jump up off the sofa and turn, mostly so that he doesn't catch the blush thats creeping from my neck up to my cheeks. And because I don't know what I'll say, or regret saying, if this conversations continues on its current trajectory.

"Sure," he says, standing up next to me, and I want to move further away instantly, "you're probably right, and it's getting a little late now anyway" he glances at his watch. Ushering me back towards his front door and opening it up. Before I can walk out he lightly touches my shoulder to turn me back to face him, and I wonder if he can feel the heat radiating from every part of me.

"So are you free next Friday after work?" he asks, and I'm so flustered I almost forget why, I just nod. "Perfect, how about we come here again and we can dive into preparing? You could also make a start on getting these onto a hard drive?" he gestures to the antique looking hardbacks adorning the shelves.

'Sounds great!" I perk up, feigning enthusiasm, "See you then!"

"Well, see you Monday morning actually Y/N" he smirks as I walk out the door. Fuck, he was right.

I really hadn't thought this through.

——

The weekend was a bit of a blur. I decided to try and put some useful information into a document for Spencer. It felt strange to try and condense my life into as few pages as possible. I knew Reid had an eidetic memory, and nothing would necessarily overwhelm him. But I also knew that he was someone that the team relied on to fill in a lot of the gaps in the rest of the our knowledge. So I felt bad about dumping a load of information on him, especially considering it was a favor he was doing for me.

I'd complied the majority of my life into a 15 page document and printed it out. Hopefully that would address most of what my family could guerrilla attack him with. There was also something unsettling about the imbalance. I was going to give him so many of the intricate details of my life in a little file, whereas all I really knew about Spencer was what I'd taken it upon myself to learn about him throughout the past few years.

I'd read all of his work while I was in college, given how he was the gold standard of getting into the BAU at a young age, I wanted to know who this guy was. I think I'd pictured something different. And I couldn't deny there was something enticing about finally getting to know him after all of these years of working together. Maybe this could actually be fun, or interesting at least.

----

I arrived early on Monday morning. I thought I was first into the office as usual but Garcia was sitting in my desk chair waiting for me. The second she saw me walk in she tensed, she must've known we were the only people in this early.

"What happened! You've been avoiding me all weekend?" she asked, and she was right. I'd drafted enough texts to her, trying to explain what the plan was, mostly without wanting to admit that she was right. Maybe I was stubborn.

"Alright okay, I drove Reid home." I admitted, dropping my bag by my desk. She rolls her eyes at me, dramatic as always.

"Well I knew that already Y/N damn! What happened next?"

"Fine, we went into his apartment and talked for a while. Trying to sort out the details, get a handle on things I guess?" I said, unsure of how much I should actually give away about our conversation.

"What things!?" She shouts, standing up from my desk,

"I don't know Pen, like logistics and stuff, I still haven't decided how I feel about that little stunt you pulled on Friday night!" I let my frustration get the better of me, and maybe that's why I haven't talked to her. It could also be because I know she's able to read me like a book and I'm not even sure how I feel about this whole situation.

"I call bullshit." She counters, "I know you were relived as hell when I sorted that whole thing out. You would've had anxiety tummy all weekend if I hadn't called Spencer!" I just go silent, she was right. I'd gotten so caught up in the whole, 'how to have a fake boyfriend' that I'd almost forgotten about how stressed I was about Spencer hearing my call in the first place.

"Okay, shit" I sigh. "Maybe you were right Pen. We're actually meeting up again this Friday after work to make a plan for the next while, so I guess that's progress?" I shrug, trying to play it off like this whole situation doesn't make my stomach flip.

"Ohhhhh! So like a date?" She probes, her enthusiasm rising drastically.

"Oh my God Pen no! Like an appointment at best" I diffuse the situation

"Ugh that's no fun" she says, not even trying to disguise her disappointment.

As if on cue Dr. Reid walks through the double doors into the bullpen. Both Garcia and I wave, overall awkwardly, but making an attempt pretend like things were completely normal and like nothing had changed since the last time we were all in the office together.

Penelope heads to her office as the bullpen starts to fill up quickly. Less than an hour later though Garcia's back at my desk and there's a new case that needs the teams attention in Boston. I follow her into the conference room and wait for the rest of the team to join. Spencer follows a moment later with 2 cups of coffee in his hands. I can see my mug in his hand and my automatic response is that he's messing with me. But he places my mug in front of me in the circular table before taking the seat next to me, listening to Garcia's briefing. I don't know if he's ever sat next to me in this conference room, at least not by choice.

I barely had any time to finish my coffee before I have to say goodbye to Garcia and hop on the jet to Boston.

----

The case was grueling. More so than usual. It was wrapped up late on Thursday night and the team decided to fly back home first thing on Friday morning. I was exhausted. Even if there was enough time to get sleep each night it wasn't like I got any. Whenever a case got on top of me like this it made it hard to rest, or get it off my mind at all until it was wrapped up. So even though it was over, that didn't mean I wasn't exhausted.

Hotch gave the team the rest of the day off, given that we have until submit our paperwork by Monday. I wasn't sure if Spencer's invitation from the following week still stood. I didn't want to ask, partly because I was so tired, but also because I was scared. I wasn't about to show up at his house in an effort to have a heart to heart, or hand him a condensed version of my life story on a manilla envelope if he was as drained as I was.

Standing by my desk I packed up everything I'd need to get my paperwork done over the weekend, I was just about finished when Spencer snuck up behind me, perching himself on the edge of my desk. "So, you almost ready to go?" he asks, like it's the most obvious question in the world. I couldn't really hide my surprise.

"Oh yeah. That's fine, I mean, if you're still cool with that?" I ask, and I hate how flustered I sound, like he makes me nervous.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" He chuckles, standing up straight.

"Cool, gimme a sec and I'll be good to go."

I pack up the rest of my stuff quickly and we make our way out. There's something that feels a little eerie about the two of us being in an elevator together alone again. It was a different kind of awkward to how it felt a week before hand. It almost felt like a kind of tension rather than a hatred or a rivalry. Either way we rode down in silence.

Once we got to the basement Spencer walks out of the elevator and walks straight to my car without having to ask. I unlock it and he hops into the passenger seat. Like this is a natural interaction. Something we do all the time. And I don't hate it as much as I thought I would.

"So," he says, buckling up his seat belt and breaking the silence, "do you know how to get to my place from here or do you need directions again?"

"Well I've got to turn on the engine first" I tease, hoping he picks up on the reference to our last car ride, he chuckles like he does.

"Are you hungry?" he asks

"Starving."

The delivery guy get's to Spencer's apartment at almost the same time we do.

---

Once the food's been demolished the two of us finally sit on his sofa, the same sides as the week before. "So, shall we get back into this?" He asks, sitting forward slightly to pull a notebook out of his satchel on the floor. It's small and lavender, and it's got a pen clipped into the spine. He cracks it open and flips to a specific page.

"Sorry, what's that?" I ask, pointing to the book, he looks confused,

"They're my notes?" he says, like it should be obvious

"Your notes?" I ask,

"My notes on you." he smirks, again like I'm silly for even asking.

He had notes on me? He had a whole notebook on me? What was even in that thing?

"You've got notes on me?" I ask, my hands reaching out to grab it, but he retreats faster than I can catch him. "What have you got in there that's so serious?"

"Nothing." and his tone's a bit too stern and I don't really want to push it when he's being so uncharacteristically nice to me.

"I've actually got this ready for you" I pull the file out of my own bag and toss it to him. "I'm not sure exactly what you need to know but that should be the majority of it at least."

He opens it up and glances over the the pages. It takes him all of 2 minutes to get through the whole thing. It feels unsettling that he's taking in a boiled down version of my life while I'm just sitting on the opposite side of the sofa. Trying to avoid the attention I pipe up.

"Um, hey, maybe it would be a good time for you to show me where to make a start digitizing your books over here?" I stand up and make my way to the shelf. He jumps up off the sofa and walks toward me, visibly excited.

"That's actually a great idea, I thought that the theses from my degrees could be a good place to start, since I'm pretty sure they're not backed up anywhere." he guides me to a section of the book case by the window. There's a series of leather bound hardbacks, the same gold font embossed on the spines. I recognize all of them, pulling out the first one.

"This is my favorite" I say without thinking about it and he does a double take, clearly thrown.

"You've, uh, you read my work?" he asks, completely puzzled. I'm sort of proud that I've managed to make him this awkward, and I nod.

"Mmhm, back before I joined the BAU actually. Before I really knew you" I regret saying the last part, it comes out a little meaner than I really wanted it to so I back track. "Spencer, I read all of your work while I was in college, you were like the gold standard. I don't think I slept more than 2 hours a night throughout my PHD because I was just trying to get as much done as you." and his face softens at the admission. But it takes him a moment before he responds. Leaving the two of us in silence a little too long.

"I had no idea" is all he says.

"I think this one was best" I say propping up the one in my hand, "you get a bit cockier as you move on” His eyebrows shoot up in surprise, "but I'll start with all of these I guess" I grab the matching books and stack them in my arms. Walking over to his desk and setting up. Glancing at the clock it was only 7pm so I decided to just make a start.

Spencer didn't contest. Letting me just get settled at his desk, I pull out my laptop and begin work on transcribing the first volume. After a few minutes he silently places a cup of tea down beside me and goes to sit on the sofa. The time rolls in quickly after that, each time I look up at Spencer he's carefully combing through the file I'd given him. Re-reading it and making little markings in his lavender notebook. I'm not really sure what I put in there that was worth making a note on but clearly he was reading between the lines on some things. That little notebook was like a profile of me.

When he seemed like he'd finished writing he pulls out his phone, scrolling through it aimlessly like I'd never seen him do before. It made him look so normal. His eyebrows knit together as he's looking at something on his screen and he stands up. Making his way over to me at the desk and shows me what he was looking at.

"Who's this?" he asks, "This guy you're with?"

I recognize the photo instantly. It's from a few years earlier, Nathan and I on the beach, my head resting on his chest. He'd taken it while we were on vacation celebrating our anniversary. That was about a month before I got into the BAU, I had no idea that was going to be our last anniversary. I gulp down the emotions that it stirs. I'm mostly over the whole thing by now, but looking at old photos like that, photos of happier times, it can still sting.

"That's uh, the boyfriend I was telling you about last week. Nathan, we broke up not long after I joined the BAU?" he nods, but he's smart, and I kind of figure he already knew that.

"Ah alright" he takes out the hardback and jots another note down. Maybe he's trying to get a read on me.

"What are you doing?" I gesture to the phone,

"It's research, do you not think that if you and I were really dating that stalking your social media profiles would be on my agenda?" he's smug, and he's right. But I guess I just didn't expect it from him.

"Well that's not really fair now is it? I can't reciprocate, you've got no social media presence whatsoever!" he finds that funny, letting out a deep chuckle and tucking his phone away in his back pocket.

"Maybe so, but that imbalance is hardly my fault. Besides, you've read all my dissertations apparently..."

"Bastard" I joke, slamming my laptop shut and throwing a pen from his desk at him so that it lightly bounces off the top of his head.

"Hey, there's no need for violence Y/N!" he rubs the spot beneath his curls, "Maybe it's time you took a break actually?" he says, sitting himself back down on the sofa.

I was reluctant to admit it but he was right. My eyes were starting to go a little fuzzy after looking at the screen for so long. I stand up and stretch my arms out above my head, feeling my spine stretch out after sitting for so long, letting out a low groan. Spencer waves me over to the sofa and I join him.

"How about we go back to basics?" Spencer asks with a small grin, and I can't help but let out a long sigh.

"I thought I was taking a break, no more questions" he just laughs at me,

"Relax, you're not that interesting, it's just a simple question." he states, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to find it funny or offensive

"Ugh, fine, shoot"

"Well, actually it's two questions" he corrects, "what's your favorite movie, and what's your favorite snack?"

I'm confused mostly by the fact that it actually is a simple question, I was expecting something a lot more contentious, but also because he looks eager to know the answer.

"I'm not really sure what my favorite movie is to be honest, one of them is Night of the Living Dead?"

He nods to himself, and jots it down in the notebook again, "Alright, I can make that work" he stands up off the sofa before turning back to me, "and snack?"

"Peanut butter cups I guess?" I respond and he grins ear to ear, which is a completely new sight, and I like it way more than I thought I would.

"Perfect, gimme 2 minutes!" he leaves the living room and wanders towards the kitchen.

Spencer returns a few minutes later with a DVD, a packet of peanut butter cups , and a thick knitted blanket gathered in his arms. He drapes the blanket over me and gently places the peanut butter cups on top of it before popping the DVD into the player and sitting down beside me. I'm not really sure how to process any of the situation. Am I about to watch a movie on Spencer Reid's sofa? Sitting next to Spencer Reid?

"I... I, uh, thought you were just asking for your notes?" I ask, pointing at the notebook resting in his lap. He picks it up and throws it onto the coffee table.

"Sometimes I find experience is the best teacher, don't you?" he asks before pressing play, “And besides, it should keep you quiet for a whole 96 minutes” of course.

I can only nod in agreement, I'm not really sure what I'll say if I try to speak. I get myself cosy under the warm blanket and we watch the movie in near silence.

Once the credits roll Spencer finally speaks up, "I actually went to see a screening of this last month downtown, there was this little old horror movie fest-" I cut him off without really realizing, I'm just strangely excited that we've genuinely got something in common.

"Holy shit, I was there!" I say, more enthusiastic than the situation calls for.

He laughs at my excitement, "Well, I guess we have more overlap than I thought, that should probably help with the whole charade." he stretches his arms up over his head and let's out a small, gentle yawn. I'd been enjoying myself more than I thought I would, or would ever tell Spencer, that I'd almost forgotten that we'd both been on a case for almost every waking moment of the past week. I really should feel a lot more drained than I do.

I was just after midnight when I suggested that I head back home. I offered to take some of the books home to work on throughout the weekend but Spencer insisted that I just work on them whenever I came over again. I sort of felt like I should thank him for the evening when I was on my way out the door, or give him a quick hug, no that felt wrong. In the end all I could really muster was a lousy, "goodnight" and a meek wave on my way out the door before I drove home. And couldn't get to sleep.

— —

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the-river-person · 3 years

Text

The Eminent Doctor Gaster

Honestly Sans felt he was handling the afternoon rather well so far. He’d gone the castle that morning to speak with the King about plans for the Trial, which was going ahead whether he wanted to do it or not. At the rate things were going, the uneasy feeling Monsters had towards the Human might turn into civil unrest if they let it fester. Then he’d gone to help Alphys, who was having a breakdown, again. She’d been doing so well too. The Solution had given her a boost of confidence and she’d even managed to make some headway on what Sans was referring to as the “Amalgamate Problem”. But not fast enough. Even before everybody could remember the resets, people had begun trying to reach her for news on their family members, who had fallen down and then somehow been miraculously cured, or so the original announcement had said. That was before everything had gone wrong and the Determination proved to be too much for their Monster bodies to handle. Now the Hotland Labs were receiving floods of letters from anxious family members who wanted word of their relatives, especially after recent events. Some were even angry at Alphys’ attempts to evade answering questions. Naturally this had only made her more reclusive than ever. Sans had tried to convince her to make an official report to Asgore about it all. It’s not like she’d intentionally caused the whole mess, and her experiment had been approved by the Crown to begin with. The only thing that could get her in trouble was not reporting it sooner, and the King would understand. But no amount of convincing had been enough to get Alphys to agree, she was so stressed out by the near endless phone calls and letters that she couldn’t even think straight. He’d left her after making her more hot chocolate and getting her to watch some anime he’d plucked off the shelf. Maybe she’d calm down enough to see reason. Paps was not the person he’d been counting on to make the day so much weirder. The clothes were one thing. It wasn’t as if he never wore other things. But the mysterious friend in Waterfall, the creepy grey kid, and the appearing door... those were starting to freak him out. What on earth had Papyrus gotten into here? Sure he trusted his brother, who seemed to know what he was doing for the most part, but he had no idea how to even begin to ask the stream of questions that was flooding through his mind. The grey door creaked open slowly, revealing rooms beyond with a much lighter stone that was almost grey until you got a closer look at it, then it was silvery with veins of black running through it. Sounds of running machinery and the clinking of glass was coming from inside, and Sans hesitated a little at the entrance, not sure he wanted to meet whoever was inside. But Papyrus strode confidently in and after a moment Sans followed him. It was a lab. Not as fancy and well equipped as the Hotland Labs, but still functional enough. A figure was working on something at one of the tables. They wore a black coat and had a face of white, and white hands. Somehow they seemed a little blurry at first, as if they weren’t entirely in sync with everything else. But then that blurriness went away and Sans gaped as the white face solidified into a skull and the hands into familiar bones, though with a hole through the center of each palm. “Ah,” said the person, looking rather surprised. “Welcome. I wasn’t really expecting visitors. Papyrus its good to see you again. And Sans... Hmmm. Yes. It is good to meet you...erm... again.” Again? Had they met before? Something tickled at the back of his mind, like a half forgotten memory. It swam up as he tried to recall it, offering him images of working at the Labs, the back of a tall skeletal figure in a black lab coat, working with Alphys on the DT Extractor. This figure was the same one that he remembered, he was pretty sure. And hadn’t Papyrus mentioned the previous Royal Scientist who nobody seemed to be able to remember? Had started to call him... “Uncle Gaster?” Clearly this was not the response the person had been expecting, for they jerked back in surprise. But still, they didn’t seem displeased about it. “Why yes. I am, or was, your Uncle Gaster. Also Doctor Gaster if you wish. I do prefer the use of an Honorific, it makes me feel important.” The joke was rather dry, but Sans couldn’t help but chuckle a little anyway. The tension in the air eased a little. “Would you care to see what I’m working on? I’d offer you refreshments of some kind, but I’m afraid I have none at the moment.” Sans and Papyrus followed him further into the cave. Clearly it had once been much smaller, but large parts of the walls had been dug into, making more room available for the tables and lab equipment. Gaster led them towards a particular table where bits of the strangely colored stone from the walls was broken into various pieces and some were being subjected to heat or chemicals. “WOWEE!” said Papyrus as he bent to look at the silvery liquid in a vial suspended over a bunsen burner. “NONE OF THIS WAS HERE WHEN I VISITED THE FIRST TIME!” Gaster smiled, “Yes indeed. I’ve begun to feel more like myself and get back into researching and experimentation.” He looked rather proud of himself, and Sans was struck with the intense feeling of familiarity. He knew this Monster. Knew how how he worked and what the tilt of his head meant, knew how he’d pretend to be finishing up work as they all left for home and then stay for several hours more to continue with some project or another. He understood Gaster as if he’d worked alongside him for years, which according to Papyrus, he probably had. “Looks like you’ve had a bit of a rocky start then,” he quipped with a gestured towards the stone fragments. It had been a moment before he’d managed to come up with a pun for it. Somehow it was getting harder and harder to pop out with them on the spot. It hadn’t been too big a deal at first, after all, he’d spent who knows how long doing the same puns over and over. He’d just assumed he was a little rusty at it. But every day it was a little harder for him to throw them out as quickly as he used to. Though of course he could still come up with jokes and puns at night so that he could use them later during the day. It was just when he was on the spot. Nervousness, that was all. Papyrus groaned and facepalmed but Gaster looked first confused, and then his face broke into a gleeful smile. “Of Quartz, but I managed to get back into things quick enough. I just had to be boulder with my ideas.” Sans doubled over laughing and Papyrus gave a shout of rage. “OH MY GOD! YOU TWO ARE JUST THE WORST! WHY ME!?” “Heh, Sorry Bro.” Sans made no attempt to look even remotely sorry. “So Doc, what is this fancy stone of yours?” Picking up one of the fragments, Gaster placed it under a microscope for them to view. “It’s actually quite fascinating. Though normal viewing of it makes it appear smooth, under close examination you can see the crystalline structure of the stone, which I’ve named K︎e︎n︎ó︎n. And of course the black veins are actually micro fractures in the stone, but instead of weakening it they actually make it much stronger than normal. This is because whenever the stone breaks it releases a blackish substance in an attempt to bind itself to the greater whole, resulting in a much stronger piece of stone than a fragment free from flaws.” Sans bent to gaze into the microscope. He could see the ridges and facets of the tiny crystals and the spiderwebbing of tiny cracks that covered the stone. There was also something else there, something he couldn’t quite pin down about the stuff, but it made him feel odd. But he shrugged the feeling away, from what he remembered, Gaster had always been experimenting with weird stuff and nobody ever got hurt... Except...somehow Gaster himself had vanished, not only from the Underground, but also from everyone’s memories. All records of him were gone or altered or unreadable. Only the things that couldn’t be erased were still around, like the Core, and the DT Extractor... Things that involved other people. Had it been some experiment that had landed the scientist here? Or something else? “My apologies, Papyrus!” exclaimed Gaster after about five minutes of happily talking about his experiments and findings. “I’d completely forgotten to ask if there was a reason for your visit! I’m more than happy to see you at any time, but I had thought that you might try to phone ahead or something.” Papyrus shifted, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “AH YES,” he said and hesitated. This caught Sans’ attention and he drew himself back from the pool of memories he was drudging up from the forgotten past. Paps wasn’t usually nervous about things unless it was serious. “I’VE ACTUALLY COME TO ASK YOUR ADVICE. YOU SEE, I HAVE THIS FRIEND. HE... HE ACTUALLY IS A VERY SMALL GOLDEN FLOWER WHO CAN TALK AND-” Both Sans and Gaster reacted in shock. Sans felt his eye sockets go dark, the white light that normally acted as pupils vanishing in his sudden fear and dread. Gaster on the other hand looked like someone had struck him and he stiffened. “A small golden flower?” the scientist asked, very calmly despite how he was acting physically. “What on earth has the Prince done now?” There was a long moment of silence as both brothers took in those words. In unison they turned on Gaster. “WHAT?!”

#gaster #doctor gaster #wing ding gaster #the great papyrus #sans the skeleton #undertale #undertale au #aeontale #flowey the flower #prince asriel

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eagesoldartblog · 3 years

Text

Heyooo I guess im posting fics to tumblr again- I hope you enjoy!!! Warning: detailed impalement, massive injuries, I mean MASSIVE, graphic descriptions of violence and near death experinces

Vivi’s Scar

“Hey Vivi,” She perks up, twisting her head away from her beach bag full of towels to Arthur, who was ... staring at her. He palms the back of his neck awkwardly, before pointing at her stomach, “so... sorry if this is weird but... what’s with the tattoo?”

“Tattoo?” Vivi says, raising an eyebrow, before she looks at her arms curiously, taking note of the small decals she dedicated to her two friends, “Which?”

“The one one your .. chest.”

“Huh?” Bewildered, Vivi looks down, before it hits her, “Ohh... I see what you mean.”

“Yea! I figured I - you know what, uh... what’s with it?” Arthur asks, brushing his hair back lamely and shifting on his feet as he comes closer to get a better look.

Vivi snickers, “it’s not a tattoo. It’s a scar.”

“... What?” Arthur lightly touches his own shoulder, which was scarred to hell and back itself, before looking at hers again.

“Yeah!” Vivi stretches her torso, and traces her finger down it, “don’t get me wrong, I get why you think that!”

It’s a large scar full of texture, appearing like a fat slithering snake was making a large S. The edges appeared white while the rest of the body became discolored, edging on gray. It starts around her belly button and then curves up her right breast. It was more than obvious now that she wore a bikini since it revealed the full extent of it. The thought made her grin a little bit. “I got it when I was a kid. Don’t remember how though, if I’m honest.”

“How do you not remember getting a scar?”

She shrugs, “My mom told me that I went missing one day, and when I came back, I had this wacky scar and some broken limbs. Fun stuff!” She laughs lightly, as if it wasn’t a big deal, before she returns to double checking the bag for the sunscreen.

Arthur appears around her shoulder, craning his neck to look at it. Vivi smirks, and grabs his wrist.

“Wanna touch it?”

“Ah-! I- huh?”

“I mean you keep staring at it! And I’ll tell you what, it does feel kinda weird.”

Arthur jerks his hand away and sputters, blushing lightly, “No-nonono, that’s- uh... it just looks like- I don’t know, a carving? Kinda like when you burn designs into wood.”

”Pyrography?” Lewis offers, peaking into the room with a cooler.

Arthur snaps his fingers and nods, “Yes! That. It looks... like that?”

Vivi snickers again, “well thank you for calling me a piece of art~”

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself.”

“How can I not?” Vivi bites her lip to avoid laughing more than she wanted to, “I know how much you two look at me~”

”Just as much as you look in the mirror?”

“Okay, fuck you, Lewis.”

The three laugh amongst themselves, Mystery couldn’t help but smile himself. Only for that smile to fade as he averts his gaze.

If only she knew.

The trees towered above her head, and the sweet earthy grass beckoned her in. Never willing to miss a chance on adventure, Vivi sprints through the canopy, with her trusty ‘sword’ in hand. It’s wooden bark has long since stripped away, but the stick was as sturdy as can be.

And to prove it, Vivi spots a spindly tree with a burl sticking out, and she wallops its side. The hefty crack vibrating through her arm and sending thrills down her back. How could it not?

Vivi was a strong, powerful warrior, taking after a legacy of even more powerful warriors. A long list of samurai, rōnin, onna-musha, and yokai hunters. At the very highest, one of the most well known and revered, Mushi Yukino.

Vivi’s heart flutters, her stomach twists, as she imagines the woman, surrounded by hundreds of monsters and serpents, in between her and the legendary kitsune who she dominated and harnessed. So strong and powerful, the kitsune had no choice but to submit. They had to join the yukino family and protect her descendants!

Vivi giggles, abandoning the beaten tree and leaping through another bush.

I’m going to be the next! Vivi laughs full heartedly, hooking her sword around a tree branch and swinging her feet as she lands. Taking off in a new direction.

As far away as possible from home. Okkasan and Otousan would be furious if they knew she went out this far. Vivi didn’t particularly care. It was her break from her studies, and her otousan let her have some time to play after a lengthy English lesson.

But why would she just play in the court, when she could train in her natural element?

A few mountains peak through the trees, and Vivi’s eyes crinkle as the scent of the caves and stones called to her. Only for her to dig her heel into the ground.

The mountain stands before her, tall and unyielding... She can’t climb! Not yet... Vivi gulps apprehensively, stomach souring as her hands become clammy around her sword. Baba told her time and time again to be wary in the forests.

Pay respect, and it will respect you. But by all means, don’t go on your own.

Vivi shudders lightly, eyebrows furrowing.

She’ll never become like the greatest monster Hunter of her family if she never learns to climb!

So...! She’ll just have to get over it!

Steeling herself, Vivi turns her head up and stares at the tree beside her.

It’s towering over her, with many branches sticking out from it. Surrounding the tree, was a few considerably smaller ones, with lush greens that nearly made it impossible to see through.

Perfect! She grins, and sets off through the bushes that also surround the tree. One bush was filled with many shiny scarlet berries.

Vivi paid it no mind. She’s seen weirder.

Not far off, a white rabbit watches. The fur along its back prickling, ears straight and alert, and the urge to thump and scream intense. It leaps after her.

Balancing her sword against the bark, Vivi stares at the tree and bites her lip. Beads of sweat were already beginning to trace her forehead, even if it was near freezing. There were a few bumps and ridges that jut out. Looking stable. Then again... it could easily drop her if she puts too much trust in it...

Oh well! Vivi sucks in her breath and grasps one of the ridges. Much to her delight, it’s easy to hold onto, and she hurriedly grabs the next.

It scratches her palms and fingers. They're going to be really mad at her when they see her sore palms. Vivi puffs, shooing the thought away as she hooks her foot along the bark and pushes herself up.

“I-I knew it! This isn’t so hard...!” Vivi hisses through her teeth, biceps trembling as she hangs there and traces her foot for a previous bump to stand on. Then again, and again, and Vivi could see the trees surrounding this one from a brand new angle the higher she got.

The rabbit runs faster. Squeaking now. Thumping their hind legs on the ground and jumping against the trees to leap faster and get to her quicker. Vivi doesn’t notice.

Vivi climbs another few steps, dragging her front against the harsh bark. It scraps against her harshly. Even if her sweater blocked her skin, pins and needles and a red rash undoubtedly began to form. Vivi shifts uncomfortably, eyebrows furrowing together.

Is it a poison tree? Is that a thing? Vivi gulps, the sweat along her forehead dampening her hair and her hands became slick with that same anxiety.

The higher and higher she got, the more the tree felt like it swayed. Vivi took a deep breath, and the tree seemed to breath with her, expanding outward until she was nearly hugging it. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand. A gust of wind pushing past her. Vivi dared a look - and saw that she was now high in the air, above the other surrounding trees and bushes. A sense of terror grew in her stomach as her thoughts filled with the image and sensation of falling-!

“It’s fine... it’s fine...” she hums to herself, forcing her smile to stay put as she reaches for another ridge- one that’s curved and slanted in an odd way that she couldn’t describe at first.

Just keep climbing. Just keep climbing…

She felt... small. Her limbs start to ache. The air around her seemed to thicken and no matter how much she gasped, the air refused to fill her lungs. None was getting in.

Was something watching her?

”VIVI!”

Otousan? Gasping, Vivi’s entire body seizes up. Her grip on the tree began to wane, but Vivi twists her head around to peer at the ground. The… really far ground...

No one was there.. Maybe it was just her imagination...?

Ragged, Vivi slows her breathing, and looks back to her hands and the tree.

Only for the curved ridge she was preparing to latch onto pops open.

Vivi’s heart stops.

An eye. A deep hole like-eye with something red glowing behind the ridges- the eyelids.

Then several more eyes open. All the other bumps above her opening to reveal angry, intense eyes.

Vivi didn’t make a sound.

But that didn’t matter. A creaking, cracking whine fills her ears, all the branches moving like arms. She dares a look as something seems to move in front of her stomach.

The bark expands- bubbles- in front of her body. A branch shoots out.

Stabbing through her feeble skin. Stabbing past her spine and tearing through her torso like a toothpick. It keeps growing. Despite being impaled, it keeps growing. Sending Vivi out to dangle by her ribs around the wooden arm. Her eyes sting, feeling escaping her as she watches it all in shock.

The tree holds her at the branch's length. She could only stare in horror as the new branch’s base splinters and creaks. Cracking.

And it snaps off.

A scream fills the air as she and the branch fall.

It’s her own.

The trees spike past her like streamers and fireworks, and as Vivi suddenly slammed against something, they explode in an eruption of different light. All behind her own eyelids. Where tears stung and her body sat numbly.

Numb. For maybe a second. Before she tried to breathe and her lungs constricted around the branch lodged through her. The narrow, bloodsoaked tip had snapped on impact. Her body sagged down on the broken pieces. Shooting pins and needles in every muscle that wasn’t already screaming.

A slickness soaked her belly. Her arms. Vivi couldn’t move. Stuck with the large branch stabbed into her like a knife.

Her throat strains. Rips. She was still screaming. Even as her mouth filled with copper and blood.

Her vision goes dark. She didn’t stop crying.

The rabbit races over, a growl ripping from it’s too small body as a new form rips out of its fur. Large fluffy paws become vicious claws, and a pointed mouth of teeth snap threateningly as eight tails thrash out.

“You bastard!” Mystery barks, glaring at the tree mimic with fury burning in every part of him.

It’s many eyes blink as it unroots it’s many decoy trees, becoming sharp appendages. The scarlet berry bush shifting to his underbelly.

“What?” It hisses, “Angry because I caught your prey? You should know better than to claim what you haven’t properly snatched. This territory is free for all of us to hun-“

Mystery growls, a scream building in his throat. The mimic’s leaves recoil. Before it has the chance to flare out fully and unleash its storm of pine needles, -Mystery pounces.

Lunging past the barrage of needles, Mystery dives directly into the berry bush with jagged teeth. Digging his teeth in despite the horrified resound of screeching from the mimic. Mystery clamps his jaw on the one part that mattered most.

It’s heart.

Lurching back, mystery tears the heart from its roots. The mimic’s life force began to drain instantly into the soil, enriching it with blood. But Mystery doesn’t stop there. He clenches his teeth shut, and the fruity heart bursts down his throat, coating it in a sickly spicy flavor.

The mimic falls quiet, eyes shutting, and with nothing left to keep it up, the tree whines and creaks.

Crashing down, unrooting the earth where the roots sat.

Spitting, Mystery sends one final curse, before quiet sobbing takes hold of his heart.

Horrified, Mystery holds his breath and rushes to Vivi’s side.

The branch that impaled her was beginning to shrink and curl, but the gaping wound was immeasurable.

Guilt and pain overwhelms his mind. Several apologies drown his mind.

“No! Vivi my dear, can you hear me? Please if you can, hold on as long as possible.” He begs, scanning her small, frail body one more time.

The effects of her lineage were already taking effect. Ice particles flaking off her uncovered skin, and frost attempting to stop the flow of steaming blood. Vivi’s eyes were wide open, blackened and becoming blue. The last line of preserving herself, if she knew it or not.

Mystery grits his teeth, and a flicker of a memory fills his mind.

His only daughter.. It worked for her... Yes. Yes, perhaps this may work!

He swallows back the sickly bile, and Mystery twists his head around, teeth catching on one of his eight tails.

And just like the mimic’s heart- Mystery rips the tail from its socket. Despite the pain that already threatened to crumple him, he drapes it against Vivi’s chest.

Dropping his head low, he presses his muzzle to her head, and whispers.

”My dear, Vivi. I swore an oath to do everything I can to protect you. I know we are forbidden to meet, but I care for you like everyone that came previous. I will ensure your safety. That is a promise.”

Her irises begin to glow, deep icy pits shining with golden light.

”Allow me to grant you a second chance, abilities beyond your own. To heal, to hide, and to live. Allow me this, and I promise I’ll ensure you won’t need any more.”

He kisses her head. And her body glows.

Katsumi sweeps through the house within minutes, annoyance bubbling in her chest as she clenches her hand. In her grasp and tightly held against her chest, was her granddaughter’s scarf. In the process of being lengthened for her upcoming eleventh birthday.

And just like she feared. Vivi was nowhere to be found. Eyes and nose scrunching with a hate filled grimace, she marches back to the main entrance.

“Can’t believe this,” she croaks, imagining her son’s face when she undoubtedly wallops him. “Letting her run outside on her own...! Why do I bother helping him when he throws it so far to the wayside..!”

Her son and his wife, Clara, were out of the house and were searching.

Are they not aware of how she is? Always running amok and getting into trouble with the neighbors and disturbing the guardians and kami who linger.

She nearly growls as the sound of Clara’s wind chimes. The noise breaks her concentration and worsens her growing headache.

Where on earth was Yatamo? Have they really not found her yet-

There’s a knock at the door. Katsumi freezes, her eyes widening as spiritual energy flows into the home. A familiar one too.

You...

Gripping her staff, Katsumi moves quick and steady, and if she willed it, frost would fill the windows to show that he wasn’t welcome.

But the chance that he has Vivi... she can’t risk it.

Swallowing, Katsumi grabs the doorknob and opens it.

Her glare immediately gives way to horror.

An elderly man in a kimono and haori stood before her. With thin arms and even thinner cheeks. Despite the frail appearance, he cradled Vivi close to his chest, with nothing but sorrow in his face.

His tail peaks out from between his feet, and he bows solemnly.

“I apologize for this meeting, Katsumi.”

“What have you done to her?” Katsumi lunges forward and unhooks Vivi from his grasp. Vivi’s entire body was coated in blood, her skin cold and cracking. “What did you do to her-?” Katsumi demands again, tears welling in her eyes as she glares accusingly at him. The kitsune frowns, and stands straight.

“I swore an oath to protect my descendants-“

“She isn’t your descendant!” She says, stomping her foot against the ground and mustering all the hate she could. “I told you to leave, and never bother my family ever again. Now my mago is- why would you hurt her?”

“I didn’t. A mimic in the forests did, next to the mountains of Yamo-no-kami.” Katsumi‘s lips twitch, and she turns away from Mystery, instead examining Vivi’s body. Her torn clothing and her shallow breathing.

“You did something to her.”

“I had to, Katsumi, the mimic tore through her with the intent to kill. It was either this, or her life.”

Katsumi‘s shoulders begin to tremble, bitter tears slipping down her cheeks and onto Vivi’s neck.

“Leave... leave at once!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to come to this.”

”Out!”

“As you wish.”

The wind chimes trill, and the man’s footsteps lightly tap the porch until he vanished from sight.

The chill from the wind seeped in, but Katsumi didn’t tear her eyes away from Vivi as she rushed to the infirmary. The one place she hoped she would never have to utilize. Never this soon.

“Vivi.. why did you let this happen...!” Katsumi asks, but it was more to herself than to Vivi, who slept unconcerned for the sob rising in her grandmother's throat.

Her body... hurts. It hurts a lot. She could hardly feel it, but what she could feel ached.

Vivi’s eyes were shut tightly, and every breath made her shudder. Only for her body to ache more and more.

There's murmuring around her, it’s... somewhat familiar... Okaasan and Otousan...

Maybe she just had a bad dream? Or.. something...

“Vivi, darling?” Okaasan says.

Crap. They caught her... swallowing thickly, Vivi cracks an eye open. It’s easier than she expects, because the only light is a flickering candle that’s.. somewhere around her. Okaasan and otousan are there, whispering to one another. Immediately to her left, baba is lightly stroking her hair.

“How are you feeling Vivi?” Otousan leans close, cupping her cheek. Breath hitching, Vivi recoils from the pain.

“Oh- I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

There’s a moment of silence, Vivi feels herself drifting in and out, laying her head back on the considerably more comfortable pillow than the... the ground.

“Vivi,” Grandma says, voice raspier than usual, “we need you to stay awake. Your Ojisan is coming to visit.”

“...Oji Fumi?”

“Yes.”

“...why?”

The adults pause and share a silent glance, before looking down at her sadly. “You got hurt today, and your arm, leg, and ribs are broken. He’s going to come and patch you up.”

“O...okay...”

It hurts.. a lot. But maybe Fumihito will bring her some candy...?

That would be nice.. the gummies are always nice...

The months have become chillier lately. Mystery sits on a tree branch, taking the form of a small bird, and he stares at the house quietly.

Since he brought Vivi home, almost none of the family members have left the house. Some have come and gone, many whom Mystery recognized, but Vivi hadn’t stepped outside once besides for a visit to a shrine. Where she hobbled around in crutches with her arm bound in bandages.

Mystery remembered wincing, but he knew she was bound to be hurt regardless. It’s fortunate that it was just a few broken bones... It was fortunate that they kept her inside to heal. Who knew what sort of thing she could have done had she had the freedom to leave...

Yip!

Perking up, Mystery hops in place. Tempted to fly and scan the area for any dastardly foxes who may come about...

No. That wouldn’t be the case. Mystery made sure that no creature dared to harass his family... perhaps he’s just imagining things-?

There’s two more yips, and then a howl.

His feathers ruffle as he launches himself into flight. Gliding toward the home urgently as the fox noises continued.

How is it possible- where is it coming from? Surely Katsumi wouldn’t allow a fox into the home, even if she was begged for it! So then-

Mystery lands on the roof, and quickly, he hops to the edge where the court yard was.

It was fairly sized, with a tree standing tall and filled with bird feeders and chimes. Decorations...

“-Yeah, I went to the Inari shrine for a blessing!”

Mystery would have gasped if he could, his eyes honing in on what was before him. Part of him wanted to pray it wasn’t real.

“...Is that really what you think? You’re weird!”

It was Vivi.

She was sitting in a chair, her crutches stacked awkwardly beside her, and her leg wrapped in a cast.

No.. that wasn’t supposed to happen!

Her hands were blackened, the nails sharp.

She had fox ears, and a large puffy tail that was a brilliant white color, much like his own...

And before her, a small spirit that resembles a cat sat. The two making small talk.

She never spoke to spirits before... what is the meaning of this? Mystery hops anxiously, coming closer. The tail- the ears, they had to be fake. Yes. Stage make up put on her so that way she can play even while stuck inside-

Her ear twitches on its own. Mystery’s heart stops. Vivi twists her head and their eyes meet.

For a second she looks surprised, only for a smile to come across her now fox-like face.

Mystery turned and flew away as quickly as he could, just as she started to wave to him.

What has he done?

#mystery skulls animated #Vivi yukino #mystery the dog #vivis family #mystery skulls headcannons #Eage fanfic #eage fic #violence tw #blood tw #near death experience #the horrifying fear ofur computer doing something while u try to format hh

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arpitsrivstva · 3 years

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A late night talk with my father

Tonight, as there is a construction work happening at my house, I got to have a chat with the person whom I dont really like much. It’s such a thing that when you have no choice but to pass the time together, you talk and then you feel good about each other. Well, maybe he felt good about me, coz I was not very much responsive. Though, as I do, I asked him questions and sparked him with a topic on which we could start a talk together. Coz, I know, if the person is elder to you, he would be having a lot of experience that will take years for you to build, so keep on understanding, observing and questioning. That’s why parents are parents, I mean, the ultimate guide of life. Mostly they guide us in the starting phase of our lives and then we think that we then know everything and could take our life further alone and chase our dreams or whatever (which only few people do). But the truth is the truth. You will always be behind them in life experience coz they have seen things more than you. I think there is no generation gap, there is always a conversation gap! I know I know I previously dissed about him in my previous blog but it was not like I hate him or something, I was telling ya the flaws of this old guy and why he can be a pain in the ass sometimes in my life, haha. We have had these types of conversations before, anyways, many a times, okay, at least a few times but, this one made me think about something which I wanted to blog about.

So we were talking about the construction, our neighbours, social stuff. But then we came onto a better and more thoughtful topic, seeing two to three electricity meters in every houses nearby as we were having a walk. We started talking about how nowadays every family was just splitting up, getting nuclear, including my family (It is a disaster). Personally, I love when I imagine being in a joint family but I can only imagine. What there’s not to imagine, is the hatred and jealousy and arguments which takes place often in my home - and again, I can’t do anything about it - messed up minds. The splitting and everything, in my concern and thoughts, causes the children to get very conserved and become introverts and lacking social skills. If you think about it deeply, as I did, I think you would agree with me, and maybe even you come up with more things related to this or the causes of it and the consequences as I am talking about. First of all, you think many times before talking to your own family members and if there’s a child - the biggest loss is of his. He is losing half or more of his family, for god’s sake. And all the fighting and arguments and all are ofcourse complementary. I read a thing, today itself, about why there are age restrictions to many things, it is, because a child’s mind is at developing phase till the age of around 20. And whatever he/she sees, experiences and observes and is taught, they absorb it real quick and apply in their life and become like that in the future, and all of these things take up a big part of his/her thoughts and affects the future life. For me, I see people getting weirder and weirder day by day, especially the younger ones(Or am I getting only those types of... It is a matter of concern then, dont laugh!). But I, as an optimist, think that we will improve, and like me, other people are also realizing things and will implement in their life in such a way that everything will get better and better. I have a big hope for the next and future generation youngsters. I think it will be great:)

I think if I talk about the causes of family splitting - I mean, ofcourse as we all know, splitting means splitting of the kids. The off-springs of the elderly (head of the family). And mostly, they are more than one. The general reason as we all know, is that they dont get to like each other as they grow up (conversation gap). But why? - The thing is, they dont have that mutual understanding nor they want to tolerate each other’s flaws, anymore. They just want no one to interfere and face no issues in the future and live with the ones whom they like. Well, everybody wants that. Some compromise and some don’t. Compromising is pretty rare though. So these things are what my father told me about what he saw in his life and the splitting. He ended up this convo with a question, saying - Why people want solitude over family! I said to myself - parents’ mistake? And I think yes, it is - bad parenting!. It is the duty of the particular parent who is of those children to grow them up in such a manner that they understand the value of UNITY and never lack RESPECT towards each other. They should take action from the first day of them arguing except debating on a particular subject when they are adults. Coz before that, they are just kids. But dont wait for the time to make them understand in such a way, that their age for making them explain something goes away with their attitude. Keepin’ them under control would be becoming strict, but the thing I think they should do is always being the only head of the house taking any decisions with the kids’ agreement too. They should make the children feeling involved TOGETHER in stuff they should be and trigger their thought process together making them realize in which particular field or area the other sibling is lacking or is compatible to be through. I hope I am making sense. They should keep an attitude towards their children and be in a way that they should feel the importance of a parent and why you are one! Arise true love between the children and make them understand to work together and make strong long lasting memories together. The only thing important I am emphasizing which lacks, is respect. The younger sibling never realizes what things the older one has done for them when they were kids (rude and ill-mannered) and on the other hand, the older one can’t find the reason why he/she should do anything for the younger one as he is never credited and respected (ego). And many other things. I am telling it my way whatever I think, but I am also just a 21 year old kid. Sometimes just an incident is enough to break everything apart. But everyone should have that courage and realization to say sorry for their mistake instead of feeling sorry or that big ego on their chest for the rest of their lives living alone. I will be a little biased for the elder siblings coz I am one of them and I think it’s always the younger ones who are the crooked ones. Not payed much attention, you know, because they are always young for our parents as compared to us.

Of all the things, I think even living under the same roof, we should everyone their own space and respect it. Just eating quietly together (without any fucking TV) can make everything enjoyable and let forget the illness of a relationship. Living together has more benefits obviously. And anyway, the kids will have a way better childhood with more people to love them plus the many company he will have which will keep him busy. All my life, until now, I have seen just happiness and joy with a lot of fun when I see the families in which all of them adjust and live together and celebrate everything conjunctively, with fighting every coming problems and situations in their lives among themselves. After all, life is short and there are not many good people we meet outside who will know about us as good as our family members in our entire life. And money and anything, can’t give us that feeling and that pure careless and childish joy which a single family member can, because our past is connected with each other and there are not many things to hide and be ashamed of, coz its our family - they have to be with us anyways, accepting us forever, with our mistakes, coz its our family, and they have no choice:)

It could be so much fun!

And ya there’s one more thing I would like to say - every member is mostly different from other in a family and that uniqueness makes it better. We might not understand the value of family in the present, but there would be a day in our life, later, when we will, but then it might be too late (like we say about the importance of education and studying). So, keep a little patience and chill. The ones who have matured enough to understand life in the prime time, always have a benefit but ones who are not, will always lack something and so, they should always look out and reach out!

#family #nuclear family #joint family #ego #siblings #anger #patience

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travllingbunny · 4 years

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The 100 rewatch: 5x03 Sleeping Giants

Continuing my joint rewatch of season 5 with @jeanie205. After two great episodes where we caught up with our main characters and saw (or did not see, in the case of Spacekru) their experiences during the 6-year time jump, Sleeping Giants is another excellent episode, this time fully about the present day action with the Eligius prisoners moving into Eden, their conflict with and capture and torture of Clarke, and most of all about the Spacekru trying to find a way to deal with the Eligius crew, get to the ground and save their people.

It’s also a great Bellamy episode, just as 5x01 was a great Clarke-centric episode and 5x02 a great Octavia episode. Raven also gets still getting pretty good character moments here (and has maybe more lines than in any other episode, but to be fair, most of it is exposition).

What particularly struck me - especially after quite a few slower episodes in season 7 - is just how fast, intense and full of both action and loads of new information (about Eligius 4 and Diyoza, but also a lot of setup for season 6, and even for the possible prequel). There are also lots and lots of parallels and contrasts to season 1, and callbacks to previous seasons in general; morality debates, fights, and one very epic (and romantic-looking) reunion of the show’s two main characters in the closing scene.

Timeline: 2 days have passed since the present day events of 5x01 - it is 2201 days since Praimfaya.

This episode is full of action and new information - if you don’t pay attention to every second, you may miss some of it:

First mention of Eligius 3: their mission may have been top secret. but the crew of Eligius 4 obviously knew that the corporation was sending Nightbloods and that one of the planet was a binary star system (Shaw males a comment "Two suns, no sunscreen”).

Eligius 4 was a mining ship; one of its engines got busted in the rebellion of the prisoners, which is why the ship needed a hundred years to get back to Earth (as opposed to Eligius 3 - which we later see took just a few years to reach Sanctum from Earth)

Possible prequel info: Raven mentions great-great grandpappy Blake who was an astronaut with multiple PhDs (but it’s unclear if he was an ancestor of both Bellamy and Octavia, in which case he has to be Aurora’s ancestor).

We start getting some of Diyoza backstory here (there’s more in the following episodes), when she mentions to Clarke that she fought when the “fascist government” tried to take her home. (This could’ve been seen as just Diyoza’s bias, but now that we have an idea - from 7x08 - what USA - under a President Wallace - was like just before the apocalypse, her description seems fitting. Callie also considered the government fascist.)

Instead of more exposition, the show follows the Show, Don’t Tell rule and gives the backstory about the rebellion in a more exciting way, by having Spacekru find and watch a video message that the late captain of the ship filmed and was about to send when he was killed. But the show also still intentionally withholds some info: the captain mentions that the prisoners have learned about Order 11 but we don't find out what that was until a few episodes later - that it was an order to kill all the prisoners. This would change our perception of Diyoza and the entire situation to quite an extent, but so far, all you get from this is that the prisoners, and Diyoza in particular, are very dangerous. The captain was about to send the message that Eligius be blown out of the sky, saying that “Diyoza can't be allowed to weaponize the cargo", which first hints at her terrifying reputation. But considering he was just going to do that, I’m not sure you can’t blame Diyoza for letting McCreary kill him. (Even though Shaw just does that, reminding Diyoza that she promised she wouldn’t kill any of the crew - to which she laconically replies she didn’t promise the others wouldn’t.)

There is, however, already some moral ambiguity there because Spacekru learn that prisoners were seen as “expendable” by the people in power - and Murphy says this sounds familiar, pointing out a parallel between the Eligius prisoners and the Delinquents. In general, season 5 plays a lot with the (imperfect) parallels (and contrasts) between season 5 and season 1. Some of the not-so-subtle callbacks include Diyoza saying “We’re not alone” in 5x01, Clarke making notes and drawings of the weaponry that the newcomers have, which is kind of a "parallel" to how Lincoln made notes in his notebook (except Lincoln was mostly making notes of how many people were there, not their weapons - since they didn’t have any), Clarke being captured and refusing to give any info by staying silent, and Clarke getting tortured, like Lincoln was. And just like Octavia argued that Lincoln didn’t speak English, but Bellamy was sure he did, now Shaw tries to argue that Clarke can’t speak English but Diyoza is smart enough to know she does. (It was really obvious in both cases - someone who doesn't speak your language but wants to communicate would say something in another language and make gestures, a mute person would make gestures, but when someone is looking at you silently and with a stone face, they obviously don't WANT to talk. Octavia seems to have actually believed that Lincoln didn’t speak English, since she was later surprised that he did - but she was still naive at the time. I find it hard to believe Shaw really believed that - he was probably just trying to dissuade Diyoza from letting McCreary torture someone.)

But here’s the thing: a parallel doesn’t have to mean two things are really the same - sometimes, as in this case, it’s more like “this is kind of reminiscent of that other thing, but when you compare them, you see that they’re drastically different”, which is pretty obvious, as in one case, we had a hundred kids with no weapons (aside from one gun and one knife), just going around without a plan and trying to have a good time in a rather small area, vs thousands of organized people with at least hundreds of armed warriors in a much wider territory. In this case, we have a bunch of heavily armed (and that’s an understatement, they really have all sorts of incredibly powerful weapons) adult murderers who came in with the express plan to take over the Valley - which was the only habitable area on Earth, vs a sole woman and a child. In other words, the Eligius prisoners are exactly what the Grounders claimed in season 1 that the 100 were, but what the 100 most definitely were not - a real and massive threat. But on the other hand, there is a reason why this parallel exists - and that’s to point out that the prisoners, no matter how scary they are, no matter how good the reasons to be afraid of them, no matter how bad they may be... are still people who were sent as forced labor, deemed expendable, and now are trying to get back home, to Earth. What else could they do - float forever in space, in cryo?

Another callback in this episode was to season 3 - and it’s a particularly important one for Bellamy’s character arc: the dilemma of what to do with the 283 Eligius prisoners in cryo. Murphy is the voice of ruthless pragmatism and suggests that they simply pull the plug and kill them all, before Diyoza could wake them up from the ground and use them as her army. Echo, though she says she understands why this is hard for Bellamy, backs up Murphy’s suggestion, but Bellamy refuses. You can see how awful even the idea is to him, reminding him of one of the things he has been regretting and feeling guilty for years - helping Pike kill Lexa’s army while they were sleeping. There are differences in circumstance, but it is basically the same thing, kill people in their sleep pre-emptively, before they could be potentially used against you, because if they are, they would be a huge threat to your people. (Well, it is the same thing for the purposes of the show - if we believe that experienced Trikru warriors could all sleep at the same time and not wake up and start fighting - which the show really wants us to believe, though it never made any sense. The Eligius prisoners, however, are really helpless here because they are cryo frozen, so this would really be the massacre that season 3 pretended Hakeldama was.) Murphy brings up Clarke, in what is one of the weirder lines in this episode - “If Clarke was here, this wouldn’t even...” I’m not sure what exactly he was trying to say - did he mean to imply Clarke would be in favor of killing them all (which doesn’t make much sense - it’s not like Clarke was the one more in favor of violent solutions than the peaceful and diplomatic ones compared to Bellamy, in fact, it was typically the opposite in seasons 1-4, especially whenever Murphy was around to witness their actions and decisions, On the other hand, the show went on to give Murphy some weird opinions about Clarke in season 6. Or did he mean that Bellamy himself would opt for drastic measures to protect Clarke?

It’s unclear, and it feels like this line just exists to set up Bellamy’s response and show how much the loss and memory of Clarke is still weighing heavy on Bellamy and motivating him. Bellamy has been trying to be better and redeem himself for mistakes of his past that he made when he was more inclined to react violently against enemies - and, since Praimfaya, he has been trying to honor Clarke’s memory, and be the kind of leader she wanted him to be, and the kind of leader she was. "Clarke didn't die for us to go back and make the same mistakes".

Ironically, Clarke has in the meantime become a lot more like season 1a Bellamy: her focus has narrowed to trying to protect a single person, a child she loves and feels responsible for, and in her present situation, she’s a lot more inclined to opt for violent solutions. We’ve already seen that in 5x01 with the “There are no good guys” scene, and in 5x03 she is quite ruthless when she doesn’t want to mercy kill a prisoner stabbed by one of her and Madi’s traps, even when Madi is asking her to do it. Season 5 Clarke characterization is pretty controversial - and I’m not 100% sure how I feel about it. It was clearly meant to show Clarke changed and not like herself after 6 years isolation with just Madi as a companion - but I don’t like the way it seemed to almost reduce Clarke to the “Mama Bear” trope. On the other hand, this is not entirely new - Clarke was always kind of mother to the Delinquents, even though they were her age, and driven by the desire to protect those she loves and/or felt responsible for - especially in season 2, we saw how far she can go when she is cornered and desperate to save her people. And she is certainly cornered here. We could argue whether some of her decisions here - such as to start attacking the prisoners - were smart, but with Eden as the only livable place, there wasn’t much else she could do other than hide, which she and Madi couldn’t do indefinitely.

Bellamy’s. Echo’s and Raven’s fight with Kodiak - a particularly large and dangerous prisoner that Diyoza had woken up because of the alarm Spacekru had set off - is IMO one of the best in the show, very raw and brutal and desperate. It reminds me of the 2x11 fight where Bellamy also ended up strangling a man after a desperate fight, with the help of Echo and someone else who’s mostly a non-combatant - in S2 it was Maya, here it’s Raven. (For someone who isn’t a fighter and in spite of her disability, Raven has the right moves - going straight for the eyes.) Bellamy and Echo work well as a part of the team, the leader and his right hand, but if you just saw this episode, you’d have no idea that they’re a couple. They don’t get the little everyday moments of chemistry and coupley behavior that we see here with Marper (when Raven teases “lovebirds” about Zero G sex, we immediately see that Marper is who she meant) or that we see with Memori in other seasons, whenever they are together. Here, they are on a break, and it’s so weird after seeing them in S7, watching Emori and Murphy snapping at each other with animosity - but there’s a thin line between love and hate.

Sleeping Giants is generally a great showcase for Bellamy: this is arguably him at his best as a leader, not only negotiating and saving his people while also refusing to commit mass murder, but we also see how good he is at instilling confidence in other team members - be it asking Murphy for his opinion, or building up Emori’s confidence as a pilot. The moment where they smile each other after she lands successfully is one of the best scenes in terms of the Spacekru dynamic - and in terms of genuinely platonic m/f friendships in the show (which should get more screentime).

It’s also a good episode for Raven, who insists she stays behind even though she knows there is a huge chance of dying, and lies to Bellamy that there is an escape pod for two, to stop him from insisting on staying instead, with his own self-sacrificial tendencies. In season 7, Raven felt guilty for not putting her life on the line in 7x03, but she did it here. Murphy ends up unintentionally kind of doing the same - fooled by her lie about the escape pod. Would he have stayed behind if he knew there was no escape pod? At this point in his development, probably not, but he is still showing the desire to contribute and do something heroic. He isn’t even sure himself what his motives are - was it just to impress Emori and show he’s not selfish, or if he really wants to be a hero who is ready to sacrifice and/or risk his life, the way the others do?

There are so many callbacks in this episode! Murphy even says the line "See you on the other side" and Raven tells Murphy: “You're right, dying alone would have sucked", referencing their scene in 2x01, back when they were just starting to not be enemies.

But of course, what this episode is mostly remembered by is Bellamy learning that Clarke is alive, and their first meeting in 6 years, in the epic last scene. The show made Bellamy and the rest of the Spacekru a bit incompetent for a moment when they get themselves captured by two prisoners, so Madi would rescue them and deliver the news that Clarke is alive. Clarke has obviously told Madi stories about Bellamy and described him, since Madi immediately recognizes him. We get Bellamy’s Harper and Monty’s reactions (as they are the Delinquents and much closer to Clarke than Echo and Emori). So Madi rescues Bellamy and then Bellamy rescues Clarke, and it feels like a lot of the plot was written in order to set up that last scene. (Incidentally, Bellamy and Clarke are paralleled with the way they both say the same line: “No, Madi”.)

Let’s be honest here - there was no plot reason whatsoever to put this kind of emphasis on Bellamy rescuing Clarke in this scene, other than to emphasize the importance of Bellamy’s and Clarke’s relationship. He was already planning to use the prisoners in cryo as leverage to rescue Octavia and the rest of the people in the bunker - which he will also do. He could have rescued Clarke in a brief scene and then continued negotiating with Diyoza. In plot terms, this is not a cliffhanger or last scene material. But in relationship terms? That’s another story. And there was no reason to make it look so goddamn romantic - other than to portray their relationship as a romantic one, regardless of their actual relationship status.

The entire scene is filmed to look like a dream. We see Clarke looking at him, with a dreamy look in her eyes. From Clarke’s POV, it looks like Bellamy is appearing out of the darkness, bathed in light (and holding the “Best dad in the universe” cup from Eligius 4).

If this was just your run-of-the-mill rescue of some of our protagonists by other ones, there was also no reason for Diyoza to say the line: “283 lives for one. She must be pretty important to you.” In fact, this line used to bug me - because I thought it didn’t make sense for her to ask that. Come on, Diyoza, you know how hostage negotiations and leverage works! You know he is making a smart play here. Release my people and I don’t kill your people - there’s nothing strange about that. But on second thoughts - I can see Diyoza bulls*itting like that in order to try to suss out what exactly Bellamy’s relationship to Clarke is, so she could potentially use it later in dealing with them. In any case, this line clearly exists to set up Bellamy’s answer: “She is”. Set o dramatic music, as the ending line of the episode.

Rating: 8.5/10

#the 100 #the 100 5x03 #sleeping giants #the 100 rewatch #the 100 season 5 #bellamy blake #clarke griffin #raven reyes #charmaine diyoza #john murphy #bellarke #marper #emori #madi griffin #eligius prisoners

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scatterednova · 4 years

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Summary: Asmodeus and Clara discover the truth behind Iruma's parents and decide that it's their responsibility to make up for the love and affection he missed out on growing up. But they somehow miss the fact that Iruma is doing just fine without his previous family, and he's enjoying his new one very much.

“Whoah, Azz-kun! Your bloodline magic is so cool!” Iruma gushed. He had roped himself into helping the janitors clear the cherry blossoms again, but thankfully Azz-kun was there to burn them to a crisp.

“Thank you, Iruma-sama! But my magic pales into comparison to yours!” Azz-kun puffed up in pride with a literal sparkle in his eyes. But that quickly morphed to anger as Clara slammed into his side.

“Iruma-chi! Are you done yet? I wanna play!” she whined as Azz-kun tried to pry her off. Iruma rubbed her head and laughed.

“Yeah, just finished thanks to Azz-kun. What do you want to do?” Clara launched herself off of Azz-kun to latch onto Iruma.

“I wanna play with the fire!” she cheered and lunged for the small traces of soot that Azz-kun’s fire had left behind. She slammed her hands in the ash and spun around. “Look! It’s like chalk! I bet we can draw with it!”

“You idiot! You’re going to get our uniforms dirty!” Azz-kun growled as he hoised Clara up to keep her from touching anything. That backfired, and Clara latched onto the sleeve of Azz-kun’ all-white uniform. He dropped her and started rubbing his sleeve. “See what I mean! You’re lucky class is already over!”

“Don’t worry Azz-azz! I can make another one!” She pulled a nearly identical copy of Azz-kun’ uniform, but in a glaring shade of hot pink and sparkling like a disco ball.

“I’m not wearing that thing!” Azz-kun yelled back. Iruma was left in the background to watch with an awkward smile. He knew that if he let them keep at it they would never get around to leaving.

“Clara! How about we play as we walk home?” He interjected into their little squabble. By this point, Clara had climbed on top of Azz-kun’s head and was cackling madly while waving the uniform around. They both turned to face him at the same time, which looked a little creepy. Clara launched herself off once again, causing Azz-kun to squawk about his hair, and landed next to Iruma.

“Can we play tag?” Clara started bouncing in place while flashing Iruma puppy-dog eyes.

“Sure thing, that sounds like fun!” Iruma gave her another pat to the head and started leading her out the gates. He trusted Azz-kun to follow, and by the time they got to the gate he had reclaimed his usual position by Iruma’s side. Clara started skipping ahead of the pair before screeching to a halt right outside the gate.

“Alright! If you don’t have a ribbon you’re not it!” Clara yelled as she produced two ribbons patterned with some creature that Iruma didn’t recognize. She shoved one in Iruma’s hands before sprinting off. Iruma fumbled with it for another moment before following suit.

“Hey! We didn’t agree on who it would be! Why am I stuck with it!”

Iruma sprawled out across his bed, idly watching Clara build an entire fort out of materials she pulled from her pockets. Azz-kun was yelling at her about ‘disrespecting the sanctity of Iruma-sama’s room!’. Iruma was content to stay there and watch them. He was still unused to having so many people around him, especially people who seemed to have an interest in his happiness. And his friends were so powerful, it still blew his mind whenever he saw them pull off some powerful feat of magic.

“Clara! That’s amazing!” Speaking of magic, Clara had just finished her elaborate three-story fort, complete with a ball pit and balcony. It was easily one of the coolest things Iruma had seen that week, and Clara had just assembled it before his very eyes. “Both of you have the coolest bloodline magic.”

“Iruma-sama, you honor us! But your bloodline magic is surely far superior….” Azz-kun gushed, only to be cut off by Clara.

“Iruma-chi, what’s your bloodline magic?” She jumped up next to him and leaned in until their noses were almost touching.

“Valac! If he wanted us to know he would have let us know by now!” Azz-kun started to scold her in the background, but Iruma laughed.

“Oh, I don’t know either.” Technically, he didn’t have any bloodline magic. But he had Grandpa’s magic, so that might have ended up in his ring as well. But Grandpa had never mentioned it, and Iruma had never thought about it before.

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as both his friends were giving him weird looks.

“How do you not know?” Clara cocked her head and gave him a puzzled look.

“Well, I haven’t spoken to my parents in ages, and Grandpa never mentions it. So I just never figured it out,” Iruma tried to laugh it off, but he just got even weirder looks.

“Valac! You shouldn’t pry! You could be messing with very painful memories!”Azz-kun was fuming in the background and tried to yank Clara away.

“Don’t worry, I’m over it. They didn’t want anything to do with me, and I’ve accepted that.” Iruma had spent hours thinking it over, and it had taken a while for him to realize that he no longer felt an affection for the people who had tossed him aside after he spent his entire life trying to please them. He even felt comfortable enough to open up about it, as he was doing now.

“Iruma-chi…” For once in her life, Clara was shocked speechless. Azz-kun was in a similar boat, but he looked more offended than shocked. “Your parents...just left you?”

“Yeah, but now I live with Grandpa. I’m happier than I’ve ever been!” Iruma tried to appease his friends, but they still looked disturbed. Clara was plastered to his side, and Azz-kun was hovering around the edges of the bed. “Really guys, It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m happier here than I ever was there with them. You don’t need to worry.”

Clara and Azz-kun still seemed deeply disturbed, but they seemed to be willing to drop it. The rest of the afternoon had a tense current to it despite that.

“Do you remember what Iruma-chi said earlier?” Clara would usually use the walk home to mess with Alice, but today she quietly trailed behind him. She’d tried to brush off Iruma’s words when she was playing with him, but it stuck with her.

“About his parents? Vividly,” Alice, on the other hand, was trying not to combust until they were out of Iruma’s line of sight. “Iruma-sama is the pinnacle of ability and compassion! Any respectable demon would kill to have him as an heir, and those idiots just throw him away!”

“I can’t even think about my mom doing that to me.” Clara moped as she thought about her own family. Whenever she tried to think of her mom doing that to her, her mind just blanked.

“I don’t exactly see eye to eye with my mother, but to think that she didn’t even care about me…” Alice had gone from fuming to staring at the ground. Similarly to Clara, he simply couldn’t imagine his parents turning on him. “His grandfather really seems to care about him, though.”

“Yeah! Iruma-chi doesn’t need those losers! He has everything he needs right here!” Clara declared. She was starting to get pumped up. “We can be all the family he needs!”

“Valac, you’re on to something! Iruma-sama seems to be doing fine, but it’s our duty as friends to make sure that he has the love and support he needs in life!” Alice yelled. He was blazing with determination, and in his haste, he forgot that Iruma had clearly told them that he was fine with the whole thing.

“Clara, is something going on?” Iruma was getting a little suspicious. Azz-kun and Clara had seemingly been on the same page all day, which was weird in of itself. But now Clara was dragging him off on an ‘adventure’, and Azz-kun hadn’t yelled at her about it. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be as excited as Clara was about all this.

“Don’t worry Iruma-chi! We’re gonna have fun!” That didn’t calm Iruma down in the slightest, but if Azz-kun seemed okay with it he probably wouldn’t die. He shrugged and let himself be dragged away. Grandpa wasn’t expecting him home for a while, so he could text him once they got to their mystery destination.

“Yes, Iruma-sama! You have nothing to fear?” Well, that sealed it. Iruma was just going to roll with it.

Alice regretted every decision that led him to this personal torture. He should have remembered the festival, but he got swept up in Valac’s enthusiasm and forgot that Valac’s entire family were carbon copies of her.

“Azz-kun, are you okay? You’re looking a little pale,” Iruma asked.

“I am quite alright, Iruma-sama!” Alice gripped his cup tighter as one of the boys plastered his uniform with a supply of stickers that he hadn’t been holding a minute ago. His hair had been yanked into braids and tied with bows. Iruma had half a flower garden in his, and a new manicure that was so blinding it gave him a migraine every time he looked at it.

“If you’re sure, Azz-kun.” Iruma-same gave him a blinding smile and Alice felt better about the whole thing.

“Dinner’s ready! Everyone gather around!” Valac’s mother swooped in with an entire feast. Iruma-sama’s eyes lit up, and he and Valac shared a look across the table. It appeared that Operation: Home Cooked Meal was a success. Mrs. Valac, who had been informed of their plan, seemed to take great pleasure in lovingly piling more on Iruma-sama’s plate. Time for the next phase!

“Alright, kiddos! Have fun while I’m out! Take care of yourselves!” Valac’s mother gave all the kids one last pat on the head before breezing out the door.

“Bye-bye!” The Valac children waved after their mother as she made her way to do whatever it was she was doing. Clara spun around and grabbed Iruma-sama by the sleeves while her siblings attached themselves to his legs. “Iruma-chi! Do you want to play now?”

“Of course! What do you guys usually play when you’re home?” Iruma-sama gave them another beaming smile.

“It’s a surprise!” Iruma-sama was dragged over to one of the many piles of pillows in a corner of the room. Alice trailed behind them while suppressing the urge to lecture them on their treatment of Iruma-sama. But this part of the operation required authentic sibling bonding, so it would be counterproductive to intervene. But he still made sure to nab the cushion next to Iruma-sama. For all he knew, those little demons had more stickers stuck up their sleeves.

“Behold! The ultimate sibling experience!” The boys shouted in unison as they raised what looked like an ordinary board game in the air. Iruma-same clapped his hands together.

“That looks like a lot of fun! How do you play?” Iruma-sama gushed as he praised the little ones.

“Last one to turn pink wins!” Alice should have been concerned about the helmets that were being passed around, but this was just a board game, right? Surely Clara didn’t really need all those balloons filled with a mystery liquid.

The matriarch of the Valac family sighed and put her head in her hands. She wished she could join in on the fun back home, but it was important for kids to have space to express themselves. And it was her duty as a mother to give the kids the enrichment they need! Her heart went out for that poor Iruma boy, but he seemed to be doing just fine. He had some very caring friends and a home to go back to. But it wouldn’t hurt if she ‘accidentally’ made too much food in the morning and sent Clara to school with an extra bento.

Iruma staggered home, covered in paint and glitter but loving it at the same time. He’d always wondered what having siblings would be like, be he never imagined something so explosive. Though, Clara’s family was probably a special case. The only thing that could top it was spending an evening with his new family.

“Opera-san? Are you here?” He called out as he stepped through the doors of his home. The cat demon in question appeared at his side and gave him a critical look-over. Her tail twitched, the only sign of her slight displeasure at his appearance. “Sorry I got the uniform dirty.” He gave her a sheepish look as he took his shoes off.

“Who did this? Do I need to handle them?” She got a slightly dangerous look on her face. “I will inform Lord Sullivan of this if I need to.”

“Oh no, it’s not like that. I just went to Clara’s house to play and it got a little out of hand. It wasn’t a prank or anything.” Iruma waved his hands in front of his face as he tried to calm her down. “And sorry again about the uniform.”

“You don’t need to apologize for something like that. I’ll draw a bath for you. Try and brush some of the glitter off in the meantime,” Opera-san reassured him. Her face was still blank, but her tail had stopped lashing around. He took that as a good sign and followed her upstairs.

“Is grandpa around?”

“He had some business at the school, but he’ll be home shortly. I believe that he has a surprise for you afterward. “ Iruma cringed slightly. Surprises from Grandpa were always a big deal, but they had a tendency to go overboard. Like his entire first day here, for example. And nearly every day after that.

“Well, I’m still looking forward to it.”

“Iruma! My precious grandson!” Iruma found himself in a familiar set of arms.

“Grandpa! How was your day?” He returned the hug with a warm smile.

“Ahh! You get cuter every time I see you!” Sullivan cooed as he squeezed Iruma tighter.

“If you’re done, you have something to tell him.” He could always trust Opera-san to be the voice of reason in this household. His grandpa started sparkling at the reminder and he finally released Iruma from his embrace.

“Your beloved Grandpa has set up a playdate for you! I’ve spoken with their parents and both of your friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow!” Grandpa straightened up and spun around.

“Wow! Azz-kun and Clara are coming over? I’m so excited!” Iruma gushed and got caught in another hug. Even Opera-kun looked pleased with the situation. His friends had been over to his house before, but they had always just kinda ended up here. The few planned social events were usually class-wide, and while he loved his other friends he looked forward to hanging out with Clara and Azz-kun.

“My grandson is so cute!”

“Sir, please let go of Iruma-san so he can eat.”

“Iruma-chi!” Clara sprung forward the instant the door was opened and plastered herself against Iruma’s side. He laughed and patted her head.

‘I’m glad you’re here! Have you seen Azz-kun yet?” Iruma looked back out the door and into the woods, trying to spot a flash of pink and white. He saw him a second later when he came barreling into view.

“Valac! Don’t go running off like that!” He growled at Clara, who was hanging off of Iruma’s arm like a monkey. Clara laughed and ran off farther into Iruma’s house. Azz-kun scowled after her. He bowed deeply. “Iruma-sama, I apologize for her manners. To think that she would disrupt the sanctity of your home,” he growled softly.

“Don’t worry about it! You know how she is.” Iruma waved his hands in front of his face while he assured his friend. Azz-kun raised himself with a sparkle in his eyes.

“Iruma-sama is so gracious!” Azz-kun gushed. Iruma felt the urge to slam his face into his hands in embarrassment, but he’d gotten better at handling Azz-kun and had developed something of an immunity.

“Come on, Azz-kun. The food will get cold.” He shot him a grin while leading his friend down the hall. He was followed by Azz-kun’s fervent compliments.

“Iruma-sama! I will avenge your honor!” Azz-kun shouted as he mashed the buttons on the controller. Clara was perched on the back of the couch like the gremlin she was, and Iruma was enjoying the sight. He’d been knocked out by the boss, so he had a minute or two before he respawned. He took the time to enjoy the atmosphere. Opera-san occasionally popped in with snacks and advice, and Grandpa was lurking in the corner with a camera.

“This blasted creature!” Azz-kun threw his controller down after his character took a fireball to the face and died.

“Don’t worry, Azz-kun! The longer you play the easier it gets.” Iruma comforted his friend while he prepared himself to rejoin the game again.

“You are truly an admirable person to master this blasted device.” And Azz-kun was back to complimenting him. He shot him a quick smile before joining the game again.

“Well, I play them a lot. Opera-san plays with me every day. It’s not as chaotic as Clara’s games, but it’s nice to just hang out with my family.” Iruma was fully focused on the game at this point, so he missed Azz-kun’s revelation.

“I think we miscalculated,” Alice hissed as soon as he and Valac were out of earshot. He had made sure to properly say goodbye to Iruma-sama and his family, but he had to admit that he rushed a bit. He needed to talk this over with Valac.

“About Iruma-chi’s family?” Valac had gone quiet, and the whole situation was very reminiscent of the conversation that had started this whole thing. “I felt bad for him because his parents suck, but he seems to be doing alright.”

“Opera-san and Lord Sullivan gave him everything we thought he was missing,” Alice mussed. Valac latched onto his arm and gave him a look that he assumed was her version of being thoughtful.

“I guess we don’t need to do anything else,” Valac declared as she danced ahead on the path. Alice instinctively lunged forward to grab her.

“Well, that’s obvious! Now stop running around!”

#welcome to demon school iruma-kun #mairimashita! iruma kun #welcome to demon school iruma kun #iruma suzuki #asmodeus alice #clara valac #mairimashita! iruma-kun

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datawyrms · 4 years

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hey so do you think you could write stuff about danny and dani being cousins and maybe him visiting the ghost zone to go see her and nocturn cuz the one that mentioned that was super cool

You bet! Sorry I took awhile, I’ve been juggling things and flicking between ideas and not finishing anything :v It’s short and doesn’t go very far but hey just something to maybe expand on later, yeah? (oh look i slapped it on AO3!)

”I have no idea how you stay over here so long.” Danny shuddered, trying to ignore how green everything was. The sky should be blue, not some endless green expanse.

“Stealing to eat is a pain cuz. I don’t get why you’re always over there!” Dani rolled her eyes as she glanced at her trailing friend. “I know you like flying as much as I do and you spend most of the time pretending you can’t.”

“It’s not that hard to fly if I want to,” his shrug was dismissive, but he couldn’t keep the frown from his face. “I just don't get why you don’t just hang around the Far Frozen if you like being in the Ghost Zone.” Well, it was more ‘why can’t you hang around ghosts that HAVEN’T tried taking over the world’, but the last time he’d phrased it like that, Dani had kicked him.

“Not all of us have ice powers!”

“Uh. You totally do. Or should eventually, I guess.”

She seemed to appreciate he didn’t bother voicing the obvious, slowing down so they didn’t need to keep hollering at one another. “Nope. Frostbite didn’t seem to think so when I asked.”

“Really? Huh. Your ghost sense is like mine though isn’t it?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m just listening to big, smart and fuzzy. Just means I can get something way better than ectoblasts but Blue.”

Well when she made it that easy… “Nothing cooler though!” Ducking the hurled ectoblast was easy enough, she’d aimed a bit high.

“Looks like my power is shooting people who make bad jokes.”

“So saying to chill out would-” he broke off laughing as she tackled him at full speed, sending the two half ghosts in a barely controlled spiral.

Still, the clone had joined in the laughing by the time the two managed to steady themselves again. “You’re awful.”

“I get too much practice.”

“No kidding. You’ve sent how many ghosts back here this week? Eight?”

“Try twenty and you’ll be getting close,” his amusement faded. He really, really should be getting back. Yet he’d promised to at least try visiting sometimes, so he had to at least get to the place. Even if every bit of him was wanting to get back to Amity already now that he was thinking about it.

“Whoops. Sorry cuz, forgot you’re reallll territorial sometimes.” Dani elbowed him, forcing Danny out of his own thoughts.

“I am not!” His denial was a bit more forceful than he’d like to admit. “You just reminded me how many ghosts might hold a grudge this week.”

“Uhhuh. Since you know we’ve been attacked so often today.” the smaller ghost paused as if she needed a moment to count. “ All zero times! The horror.”

“Real funny. Don’t you feel weird over here?” he caught her eyes, a little confused to see a complete lack of understanding. “You know...that feeling? That we don’t belong over here? That little pulsing at the back of your head?”

Her blank stare answered that well enough. “Noooope. I don’t know if that’s a ‘you’re a territorial nutcase’ or a ‘you’re a corpse stuffed with ectoplasm’ thing.”

“One, no I’m not, and two EW? Gross!” he gagged, fighting off the urge to shudder. “Someone call you that as an insult or something?”

“Mhm, Kitty was trying to explain why humans are kinda weird.” she gave a little shrug. “So we’re even weirder. Though I totally melted so I’m probably not lugging a corpse around all the time, but you might be!”

“Yup, that’s it, you spend wayyyy too much time around ghosts.” He had not expected to get a new nightmare from Dani nowadays, she’d given him plenty already. Yet life was apparently full of surprises.

“Or you don’t spend enough time around em.”

“No, pretty sure you crossed from morbid to just disgusting there.”

“Hey, if you really want to creep someone out just crack your knuckles at em. Get a shudder out of any ghost that can’t get over to the human world, guaranteed”

“I’m not really big into the scaring people thing.” The fact Dani was still made part of him twinge in discomfort. She was her own person, obviously. It should be a good thing that they were different in more ways as time passed...

“Pft. You’re such a human cuz” she gave him a nudge before shooting forward “Almost there! Don’t shoot at a sleepwalker if it surprises you!”

“I won’t,” he muttered, already more alert for any movement.

He didn’t really expect Nocturn’s lair to seem so inviting. He’d been expecting the dull wasteland that he’d seen back when they’d fought, dark skies, ominous towers, that sort of thing. A hazy sort of garden lit by gently swilling lights had not gotten on his list of possibilities. Even the clouds seemed to be dotted with stars now that he was close enough to see them. The tower nearby didn’t seem dangerous with the surroundings feeling so peaceful. Though that was probably a trap, all of Nocturn’s power was tied up in sleep. Getting an enemy fired up and wide awake would just make him have a harder time, wouldn’t it?

“Hmmm. I thought he’d be outside.” Dani crossed her arms, glancing at some of the nearby trees.

“I’m mostly here to see you anyway.”

“Which is why you need to see him! Otherwise you’re just gonna keep grumping about how I’m being corrupted or something.”

He’d like to deny that, but the lie would be pretty obvious. “He has better taste in lairs than takeover plans, at least.”

“There’s a place inside that has a way to see the real stars! The ones out here are nice too though.” Dani brightened at his admission, a little more animated as she pointed out the scattered ‘stardust’ clouds.

“Is that why you stay around here then?”

“That, and no nightmares. Noc can just cut them off before they start if I’m nearby.” she paused, kicking her feet. “It’s really, really nice not having to remember him every time I go to sleep.”

Well, Nocturn couldn’t be all bad if he’d help his poor clone with that. He’d be pretty tempted by a ‘no more nightmare reminders’ offer. “I bet.”

“You still think he’s up to something, don’t you.” her frown burrowed into him so he had to glance away.

“I can’t help it! We didn’t really meet on good terms.” Maybe he was being unfair, but the uncomfortable feeling he always had in the ghost zone combined with that bad history was making him jumpy.

“Do you think I’d lead you into a trap?”

“What? No!”

“Well I’m the one who invited you!”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t plan something behind your back.”

Dani let out a frustrated groan. “He won’t! You don’t mess with family cuz.”

Danny’s retort died in his throat as Nocturn seemed to melt into visibility behind the smaller half ghost, struggling with the impulse to shove Dani out of the way to protect her.

“Sorry Dani, I was distracted by a particularly interesting set of dreams, I’ll have to show you. I think you’d enjoy them.” Nocturn seemed to have no such difficulties, speaking easily and giving her a warm smile. “Did you fly far?”

“You bet!” she nodded before glancing back. “Brought someone back while I was at it.”

Danny’s pulse quickened when the lanky ghost finally took notice of him. Had he really just...not noticed he was right there?

“Ah, your wayward cousin.” the dream ghost gave a small nod. “I expect you had an uneventful trip then?”

“Yeah, sorry if you were expecting any gossip.”

“A safe trip is the best news you could deliver regardless.” he messed with her hair, earning a hug before she pulled away.

“Nuh uh, you’re a total snoop Noc.”

Maybe he’d been a bit of a jerk for expecting something worse. They just seemed...happy. Really he just felt like he was intruding at the moment.

“Only while people sleep.” there was a hint of a laugh, but when his red eyes caught Danny again it died out. “Is there an occasion for the visit?”

Dani rolled her eyes, glancing back at Danny and his stiff posture. “Trying to get someone to relax already. Sheesh cuz, your brick wall impression is great.”

“Sorry,” he let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. The first impulse that he had to protect his clone had passed with the two ghosts interacting in a friendly matter, but he couldn’t quite dismiss Nocturn as a potential threat.

“Don’t be. I am aware our previous meeting made an unfavourable impression.” No apology for the attack was in those words. That, and Dani had made it pretty clear he wouldn’t be getting one either. How did ghosts just think that putting people at risk was no big deal?

“That’s an understatement.” Dani’s scowl at his words only earned her one of his own back. “I had to use Dash as a weapon of mass destruction. It wasn’t a good day, okay?”

“Yeah, but we’re not even close to Amity and you’re still being tetchy.”

“Don’t be so hard on your cousin, Dani. He wouldn’t have made it this long without that kind of caution.”

He hadn’t really expected Nocturn to come to his defense. Great, now he felt like even more of a jerk for still wanting to punch the ghost in the face. “Uhh. Thanks?”

“I guess. Should we hold off on exploring more till another time then?” She was looking at both of them now.

“...Yeah. I should be getting back.” Admitting it made the guilt worse, but the itching need to be away and back to his home made the idea of staying any longer sound like torture. Even if there’d be an accurate set of stars to look at.

“You are welcome at any time, though Dani does tend to roam. Safe travels.” There was no judgement from the older ghost, only a sort of understanding look.

This ghost of all people knowing how he felt better than himself was disquieting. He settled for a stiff nod before turning to take flight at his top speed. The sooner all that was behind him the better. Questioning how his feelings towards the whole situation might be more his ghost half than human half talking just wasn’t something he wanted to be thinking about right now. Later maybe, when he wasn’t this on edge.

#Danny Phantom #dani phantom #nocturn #answered ask #my stuff #oh look something that isn't totally cursed #but mostly just goofing off #thinkin about ghost stuff #i still think hiding out in the ghost zone is smart of dani #much less vlad in there :v

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Loud House Reviews: The Purrfect Gig

The Sam/Luna trilogy comes to an end here, as we get to the most recent of their now annual episodes, each so far produced and aired toward the end of the season. That being said like last season Sam had at least one apperance before this as I saw her in the thumbnail to “Deep Cuts”, the OTHER Lunacentric episode this season. And while it sounded bad to me at first looking into it.. no. The writers, for the most part, gave almost every kid two episodes a piece, and last season gave each 3, so to the writers credit they TRY to ballance out who gets episodes.

The exceptions are Lincoln, who has around 5 that don’t also feature the girls as a whole, and 2 of those are with Lana, Lori who has 4, 2 of them shared and justifed as she’s possibly leaving for College next season and thus her episodes outside of one focus ont hat, and Lana and Lola: Lana has 3, and Lola has 2, and both have one together. And really even with those imballances it’s really impressive the show juggles 14 leads, with the parents themselves getting 2 this year too, along with Clyde, not counting his ones with Lincoln. | And that’s WITH the baffling decision this season to have the first 5 episodes be “With THe Cassagrandes”, i.e. 5 episodes of the Casagrandes that are counted as loud house episode that weren’t produced over at the sister show for some reason. And I have nothing against the Cassagrandes, what i’ve seen it’s not a bad show: I already have gone on about how much I love bobby, and I also love CJ and new comer Sam. I love the fact it has plenty of representation and a diffrent kind of big family, I love the theme song and I love the fact Melissa Joan Heart is on it because she’s terrific and spent the last decade really not picking her roles well. She was the lead in Holiday in Handcuffs, aka the movie where she kidnaps Mario Lopez and holds him at gunpoint to pretend to be her fiance until he gets Stockholm syndrome for really flimsy reasons. But I dont’ feel i’ts fair to the show to wedge it into another show’s spot: The Cassagrande-Santiago clan has shown up in 2 half hour loud houses and 2 15 minute eps. The kids watching KNOW these characters, and reception of the loudest mission was positive enough to get a spinoff made. You don’t need to spend a huge amount of another show’s episode order to promote a show kids will likely watch because it has characters from a show that airs all the time and is uber popular and has a similar humor style, and fans of the Loud House will at least try becuase they like the mothership and have known was coming for years now. This show HAD an audience going in. I watched both American Dad and the Clevland Show because it was from the same crew as family guy which I liked at the time. Granted American Dad had a decent stretch and Clevland Show .. had David LYnch as a recurring cast member I guess? Seriously david, this and not gravity falls? The point is it feels insulting that they felt the need to try and promote the show more, and all they did was take up episodes of the loud house and confuse children, and possibly turn viewers off a show they would’ve watched anyways. And if your wondering why I took such a massive detour it’s simple: Other than noticing the fact they’ve been specifically making sure each sibling gets more than one spotlight episode, shared or not, and this dumb decision.. Season 4 isn’t THAT much diffrent than Season 3. It carries on plots started there (Lori heading towards college, Luann and Luna’s relationship), but otherwise it’s basically just more shipping and shenanigans. But really. .that’s far from a bad thing, as I consider season 3 a highwater mark for the show, and it introduced a lot of neat new elements (Lynn’s Table, Stella, Leni having a job) that are still prevelant in season 4. It’s not bad and it’s even more understandable given that next season, every character is growing a year (thank you press releases), meaning they have tons of new plots to explore, and large status quo shifts with Lincoln going to middle school, which out of the four schools shown is so far the most underdeveloped and will need development, and Lori possibly moving out of the house and going to college, among many other things that have me chomping at the bit for next season. But that’s probably a few months away so for now, it’s time to get back on focus and with everything else out of the way, the actual review of this episode starts under the cut.

We open with Luna sitting in bed sighing when her poster of Mick Swagger starts talking to her. Whatever she’s smoking I could really use some. Depression is a bitch. Anyways, her drug induced hallucination of her hero starts talking to her. I haven’t really talked about Mick yet since the show uses him sporadically but he’s exactly what you’d expect; The show’s version of Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger, only slightly younger.. maybe. I dunno. Maybe he’s been around since the 60′s and is just a timelord. Or a groovy robot. Or has a dorian grey thing going on. We haven’t really gotten into Dino Spimoni situation yet where Luna helps her idol and has to help him reunite with a partner or convince him to stop faking his death. Just a reminder that Hey Arnold is great and that if you think it’s odd his crooner dean martin based idol got talked out of faking his death by a 12 year old, keep in mind he also tracked down the daughter his vitamise neighbor gave up so she could go to america and have a better life, helped convince his neighbors not divorce, and had to save his pig from being eaten in a revolutionary war reinactment. Hey Arnold was far weirder than I remembered and i’m here for it. Anyways, Hallucination Mick asks if Luna is coming to his concert this weekend, and she HOPES so she just dosen’t have the money for VIP pass to meet the actual version and do drugs with the actual mick swagger for a change. He says you never know when opportunity will come a knockin and it does in the form of the McBrides! Clyde’s dad’s Howard, the skinny one voiced by national treasure Micheal McDonald and Wayne Brady whose also great.. and i’m not just saying that because i’ve seen this. Don’t be absurddddd....

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Howard and Harold are Clyde’s dads... and while Clarence and Steven Universe beat them to having Gay parents in a children’s cartoon, their still the first interacial gay couple in a children’s cartoon, and on a nicktoon period, and even if they weren’t either of those it’d still be fucking great. Anyways the two are nice characters, while i haven’t seen EVERY ep with them their a loving couple, nice parents, and treat the loud kids as their own.. granted that goes too far in one episode, but still, thems good people. Anyway Howards having a panic attack, respect, and as his husband calms him down, we find out why: the mcbrides are going to pick up nana for the annual family reunion, and their catsitter cancled. Hence Howard’s freakout and Harold worrying about the 20 pounds of amish potato salad in the trunk. So naturally their hoping someone can watch their cats, Cleopawtra and Nefurtiti for the day, and them going to the louds makes sense, both for the obvious of the Louds being their closest friends in the neighborhood, and the not so obvious of a previous episode I haven’t seen having established the older kids as the best babysitters in royal woods, meaning that in addition to knowing them they have skill and this likely isn’t the first time. Luna, not thinking about herself, admits Lori went to hit the golf course early and Leni is at work, a nice way to explaning why it’s Luna that gets the job: She was there and it was implied by the fact she was getting high and talking to her hallucination that Luann isn’t, so most of the other options they’d have without some reservations are gone with no contrivance necessary. Anyways Luna’s Drug Fueld hallucination, points out money can be exchanged for goods and services, such as VIP passes, and also mentions sam already has hers. Either Luna’s forgot or her hallucination can use her phone. Either is probable, and is backed up by Hallucination Sam, before both start playing their guitars and Luna air guitars with them. I”m unsuprsied by all of this. She offers and the McBrides take her up on it immeditley. I do like that it avoids the “I don’t know if your up to this” cliche that always happens in these types of scenarios, the McBrides have no reason not to trust her, so they just.. do. Hell Harold only sets out one rule: don’t invite anyone over.. and it’s not even because he dosen’t trust Luna to have anyone over or anything like that, he just knows the cats get anxious with a crowd, though their therapist is working with them on that. And of course the two rich men with a single child have a cat therapist. I would too if I were rich. Harold and Clyde throw and unconcious Howard into the car and their off, they’ll be back at 6. And TOTALLY won’t be home hours early for hyjinks. Totally. Luna arrives to find a massive binder on feline care. Someone went to the Amy Santiago school of binders. It says to feed the cats at 10 sharp.. and it’s 10:02. Luna tries feeding them but the cats instead attack her in a full on psycotic rage and dump food all over her, so dinners on her.

Anyways, Luna then tries walking the cats which goes as well as you’d expect.. not because she had to put harneses on cats and expect them to do anything at a certain time, but because they pull hard. I can relate to that with my dog.. not my cat. He just goes wherever he wants because he’s old and kind of an asshole. Anyways, with the cats now messy from running over a guy with a cake, because of course, Luna looks up what to do next which is.. give.. them a bath.

Who.. who does that. I know their messy, but use a rag or something. No animal likes being bathed but cats, esepcially one who this episodes shows aren’t declawed (And rightfully so but still), do not LIKE being bathed. Granted they wouldn’t like being cleaned off with a rag or something either, but it still feels less cruel to both them and any prospective babysitter to just hold one down and wipe it off then find the other and repeat. Look witht he walking thing I can see why someone would, in their case because their probably too skittish to let their cats wonder around, and in some cases because said cat is young. But this.. this even for a comedy contrivance is stupid. It’s not the worst uninetional cat abuse i’ve seen in media, Elmyra exists and the mother of the lead of get fuzzy tried putting her cat on a vegetarian diet, which Rob, said lead and a staunch vegetarian himself, not only found concerning but gave said cat the money for takeout.. keep in mind in this strip cats can talk and walk upright. Also I miss when Get Fuzzy was both daily and good. So Luna naturally ends up in the bathtub, soaked and depressed and not sure what to do when her friendly neighborhood sign that the drugs haven’t worn off yet comes by and tells her to shape up if she wants to go to the show with Sam. This gives Luna a great idea. LIke a Zack MOrris great idea it involves breaking the rules.. unlike a Zack Morris idea, it dosen’t involve sexual harassment or a zany scheme. She decides to call Sam, since she’s apparently great with cats and given we saw how she was with chickens last time, not a real stretch. She also pops Mick’s bubble which.. hurts him.. somehow. I dunno. Anyway cut to Sam arriving. She arrived fast because she was picking a new character up from his gamer’s club meeting: Her brother Simon, who’d been mentioned in side materials but makes his first apperance here. I like him, he has a neat design and i’ts nice to give sam a family life of her own, and he’s a nice if glued to his not-nintendo switch kid. Frankly I hope he and LIncoln meet at some point. I mean he has an opening in his friend group starting next season there’s no way Rusty passes 5th grade. And even if he somehow does, it’s not like adding another member is too much of a stretch given, once they got past courting her, the rest of his group warmly welcomed stella in and it’d be an intresting dynamic having his sister’s girlfriend’s brother in the group. Also if your wondering if i’ll ever stop finding ways to bash rusty in these reviews even when he’s entirely absent..

Anyways, Luna slams the door in the kids face, which he takes in stride , and explains the situation, and after fred fliintstonning him is taken off the table, go with “Sneak him past the cats”. It works because cats never look up at the backs of a gay teenage couple sneaking a small child inside. Luna decides to leave Simon in the entertainment room while she and Sam watch the cats and he finds Clyde’s VR gear and asks to try it on, with Luna reluctantly agreeing as long as he’s careful.. which as far as we see.. yeah he entirely is. The Sharpe’s are good people.

Cue a montage! Sam helps luna scrub the cats, with brushes as they should’ve done minute one, put them through spa type pampering which is also a call back to the first time we saw the McBride’s house in the series, take selfies, and then sing the cats to sleep, in a really sweet and really well sung lullaby, notable for being the first time Sam’s sung on the show and Allyson Stoner, who I haven’t mentioned but should’ve before this shame on me, does a terrific job and has done a terrific job as Sam in general. Luna thianks her for the help, Sam says no sweat they get to see the show together, and Sam ducks out... before realizing she forgot something. Her wallet... no wait she has that.. OH SHIT HER BROTHER. And before she can get him DOUBLE OH SHIT THE MCBRIDES ARE BACK. Harold is grumbling about the potato salad... apparenlty Aunt Brenda brought some and wasn’t supposed to. I do like how both McBride dads have their own quirks:While Harold IS the more rational one, he can slip up just like anyone can. Luna prepares to leave.. only to realize oh shit her girlfriend’s brothers in the house still. Her not all complex scheme! She fakes having left something behind to get him out, and once sam calls comes up with a plan: Sneak Simon around back. Sam sneaks around with the bush she ducked into, and we get one of my faviorite tropes: A scooby doo doors sequence! Also the dads speak in unison. Dawww. We also get an adorable bit of Sam gesturing for Luna to hand her the boy. I couldn’t find a gif of it sadly, and I would’ve credited it, but I did find 50 tons of creepy Sam X LIncoln fanart. Just.. why. Why exactly. Why do you do this to me tumblr. And to be clear I have ZERO issue with shipping a character whose sexuality isn’t fully confirmed as just gay in canon with a male character, Bi and Pan representation is important. It’s why I get annoyed at the people who throw a hissy fit any time Della Duck is shipped with Launchpad. Here though I do because it feels like this ship is ENTIRELY a troll, especially since LIncoln has 80 other options, not at all including the icky incest ones, and that I cut and dry have every problem with, and is being done soley to annoy people who ship sam and Luna and are finally enjoying some gay/bi representation on children’s television. If this is a troll then kindly

Thank you John. So anyways Sam does grab the boy and nearly gets him out the door.. only for the mcbrides to run into their bisexual catsitter shoving a small chubby child out their kitchen window only to have a lesbian fall out into their kitchen. Naturally Howard faints again and Harold is displeased... probably because his husband fainted again.. and you know the shenangians in his kitchen. The only time shenanigans are allowed in that kitchen are when Clyde is sleeping at a friends house for the night and only on the table dammit. They got reinforced oak for a reason. We cut to the boys playing, which is a nice touch: Clyde being a nice kid dosen’t mind sharing, Simon has similar intrests, and the only time we’ve seen him be eh on sharing is letting Lincoln borrow his new console.. and he not only felt BAD for not wanting him to borrow it and having to try and get it back, but he only did so because the Loud house is insanley chaotic and understandbly he wasn’t sure it’d get back to him safetly. His dad’s rasied him well, he’s a good boy once he got past his ‘Stalking his friends older sister” phase and got into his “anything besides that “ phase. Luna comes clean to the McBrides and.. Harold appricates the honesty. And both are impressed with how well they took them, with Sam and Luna giving each other credit. So instead of getting upset, especially since Luna was both honest and only called in Sam for help and Simon was an unexpected guest and they both did a fantastic job, they offer to split the money instead. Sam, in a really sweet gesture, then gives Luna her half with no hesitation or prompting from her girlfriend, Luna gives her a cheek smooch and they hug. Then Luna acciently wakes the cats, and we end on the girls singing the cats, Simon and the McBrides all to sleep. Also Luna’s hallucination is alsleep.. those drugs wore off hours ago after all. Final Thoughts: A really fantastic setup. Once again the show shows it’s slowly gained talent for taking stock plots (in this case a babysitting episode) and making them actually intresting, mostly by having the characters behave reasonably. While it didn’t really expand Sam’s character, it didn’t really need to , the previous ep with her having fleshed her out as a sweet, kind girl with a talent for animals, and Simon is a wonderful addition to the series massive cast of side characters that , unlike some additions , will hopefully show up again. Seriously half the reason I bitch about Rusty is that the show is great at making charcters, and improving them after a few bumpy episodes as seen with Clyde, Lori and Luann, but yet still uses him and dosen’t make him any funnier, while I can name handfuls of characters who either need more apperances (Girl Jordan) Or haven’t shown up again at all (Carol Pingery, Rocky, Maggie). And that’s not even all of them obviously, but my point stands. But given he’s the brother of one of the main characters girlfriend and would fit in with the main character well, I have a feeling we’ll see simon again at some point. I also really liked seeing the McBrides, mostly because I haven’t seen many of their episodes, and found them to be delightful, helped by having wonderful va’s behind them as standard for the show and great chemsitry and it was a nice bonus to have the shows two main gay couples interact, without it feeling at all forced, and neither did Sam’s inclusion. And while we haven’t gotten a full on kiss with Sam and Luna, which really they should, CN beat them again on that, the cheek kiss and hug was still very sweet, as is the episode really. It’s funny, heartwarming, and really enjoyable. While itd osen’t have as much emotional weight as the last two eps, I like that it didn’t: For once the conflict was low key but understandable and now Sam and Luna are a full couple, they can just do cute couple shit and get into wacky shenanigans like any other couple on this show without any angst attached. It’s really nice. It also shows that no, a couple being together isn’t boring fuck off will they or won’t they, but i’ve ranted enough about stuff unrelated to this episode. I really liked it and hope to come back to these two someday. For now as I sign off Pride Month is far from over... as next up I have multiple things planned, but one of the biggest is a FIVE PART series on Red Action and Enid from OK KO. Yes FIVE. All 3 of their romantic eps, and Red’s first two for proper context both for the finale, which uses both episodes as part of the plot, and for a proper view of her character arc and to ease readers into the series better. So be there for that, and a donald duck birthday celebration, and until then, later days!

#Sam Sharp #Luna Loud #Saluna #the loud house #howard mcbride #harold mcbride #clide mcbride #simon sharp #the purrfect gig #pride month #lbgtq

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imuybemovoko · 4 years

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I die inside while dissecting Jesus music, part 3

Yep. Doing this shit again. It might take me a hot minute to write this one up, but I’ll get it done sooner or later.

This one gets a bit more fucky than usual, so here’s a few (US) suicide hotline numbers and a rather serious trigger warning. If you’re going to have a hard time with religious trauma, weird indirect forms of suicidality, and that kind of thing, go read something more wholesome. Practice self care better than I do. For the love of all you hold holy, my thoughts are less important than your well-being. Do not read this if it’ll hurt you to do so.

National suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Trevor Project lifeline: 1-866-488-7386 The Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741-741 Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860

I’ve looked through my playlist trying to find a song that I don’t remember as being repetitive as fuck. There are artists out there who don’t make their shit sad and modular for church camps and I was at least somewhat into their stuff. There are also older hymns. The playlist is mostly full of that weird shitty contemporary Christian music, but somewhere nestled in between stacks of almost painfully similar songs from Hillsong (they’re not all samey, but they get pretty repetitive) is Audrey Assad’s Even Unto Death.

At first glance, listening back, it seems to have some of the same formatting elements as the shitty modern-styled songs I’ve gotten tired of, but it gives me a very different vibe for a few reasons. First, Assad’s general body of work as I can find it on Youtube (and is also stored in my playlist) is largely older hymns, and that’s her general style. This song is, as far as I can tell, an original work, but its instrumental and melodic style is heavily influenced by the vibe that older hymns give off. Second, the bridge is more varied and interesting than that of Even So Come or Gracefully Broken. The song does, in the final bridge and in the choruses, engage in some repetition, but at a level that I find far closer to what’s typical in secular music. Third, the melody reminds me somewhat of old hymns in a way I don’t know exactly how to describe. I just imagine it with piano and SATB choir. Most modern Christian music just doesn’t land like that. But for the trauma, I’d say analyzing this song might end up being a breath of fresh air.

But for the trauma...

Anyway. Here are the lyrics, and here is the video again.

The song is formatted in a way that’s nearly typical of a pop song. You have a verse (in this case composed of “Jesus”, two lines of bullshit, “Jesus” again, and two more lines of bullshit), a three line chorus repeated twice, a second verse (same format), the chorus again but this time with a more personal form of address on the second time through, the bridge (which Genius divides into four distinct sections) with some repetitions of the final lines, the chorus again, and an outro that’s basically just some repetitions of lines in the chorus and then “Jesus” and the first line of bullshit from the first verse, twice.

So let’s get into this.

First verse:

Jesus The very thought of You It fills my heart with love Jesus You burn like wildfire And I am overcome

Alright. These lines are (clearly) addressed towards Jesus. (Speaking to him directly is a thing people do.) The song has a bit of a mix of a romantic bent and something a... little bit weirder, and both are starting to become visible in this first verse. The first couplet is like... straightforward. The singer is very in love with Jesus and even thinking of him makes her feel things. She’s not quite doing a John Donne here, I don’t think, but this is a pretty strong thing and this is part of why I say there’s a romantic bent to this. The second stanza contains that “fire” imagery that’s often associated with the Christian god, most often the Holy Spirit, that serves the purpose of showing how believers’ whole beings should be consumed by God. Then she says “I am overcome”. This reads to me like one of those “this makes me feel things to a degree I don’t know what to do with” kind of things, but there’s an element of what I’ll describe as a conquest narrative here. ...Again, not quite doing a John Donne, but not not doing it either.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

Next comes the chorus, and I think it bears mention now rather than somewhere strange like I’d normally do it because this verse flows right into it.

Lover of my soul Even unto death With my every breath I will love You

It plays through this twice.

Gives me the same kind of vibe as Job 13:15 here. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” The difference here is Assad’s song mentions love, which I guess goes beyond trust. So it’s even a bit crazier, and the “with my every breath” thing is the absolute kicker. This means she’s wanting to do literally everything, literally everything, in a way that expresses her love for Jesus. Extreme sentiments like this aren’t uncommon in song, sure, but given that we’re discussing Christianity...

it’s not just hyperbole, they actually think this way and it’s very fucking toxic.

Also the chorus is the main reason I say this has a romantic bent. “Lover of my soul” is a fucking juicy lyric.

Jesus You are my only hope And You, my prize shall be Jesus You are my glory now And in eternity

I think this second verse is mostly straightforward too. Literally just “Jesus is the entire source of my hope and I see him as a prize for whatever I’m doing” and “Jesus is my glory now and forever”. Glory here refers to like... honor and magnificence. In Christian parlance it refers to the condition that believers will be in after the world is overthrown by Jesus and me and all my fellow non-believing sexual deviants get hyucked straight into the eternal fire. It’s just like... shorthand for being “cleansed of sin” or whatever and living with God for eternity. I don’t know what circles Assad is active in; she might have a different take on this than I’m inclined to, but honestly given my understanding of this concept that’s primarily fueled by Protestant views and especially Evangelicalism, I’m inclined to read this as an empty threat.

Oof.

Onto the bridge.

I notice now that the bridge has essentially two main sections. Genius says four; that’s a weird choice to me because each section they label is not doing a separate thing, but the two I see, based more on the repetition of the last two lines of each stanza and the similarity of the sentiment in the first half of each, very much are.The first chunk of it goes like this:

In my darkest hour In humiliation I will wait for You I am not forsaken

The idea here is that even in the darkest hour of their life or humiliating moments, the singer is trusting in God to get them through it and like... idk, remedy their humiliation or make it worthwhile somehow? This serves as a reminder that God hasn’t left even if it looks like he might’ve.

Genius does a bit of a fucky-wucky here in the second section. They replace “though” with “oh”. I’m not sure how they could’ve messed this up, the video they link is literally the same lyric video that I linked, produced by Assad’s literal official artist channel, and the video shows this section the way I do below.

Though I lose my life Though my breath be taken I will wait for You I am not forsaken

This second chunk is more of the same “even if this destroys me I’ll trust you God”. Job 13:15 again, basically. Again, not hyperbole, they actually aspire to this. It’s not healthy at all. This first half of the bridge is basically just “haha I’m devoted to this relationship to the point of self-betrayal and inaction.”

Oof.

Second half:

One thing I desire To see You in Your beauty You are my delight Yeah, You are my glory

So this third section is basically just inserting verse 2 into the bridge in slightly different words, but the role it plays here, juxtaposed so much more directly with the extreme, self-betraying devotion expressed in the first half of the bridge, is more as a declaration that Jesus is the only thing that truly matters to the singer. Like the entire vibe here is “this life doesn’t even matter to me, yeet this body and idgaf, just let me go see Jesus.” I think I mentioned in a previous post, I think another one of these depression-spiking jesus song dissections, that this kind of mindset leads to what I’ll describe as a soft form of suicidality in which someone desires death by way of yelling at people for Jesus in places where that’s dangerous to do. If the singer’s only real desire is to see Jesus, then they’re very much at risk for this. Which prompts the question...

Is Audrey Assad okay?

You my sacrifice Oh, Your love is all consuming You are my delight Yeah, You are my glory Yeah, oh You are my glory God, yeah You are my glory Yeah

So aside from the “sacrifice” line here, which I’ll get to, this whole thing is more of the same. All-consuming love, Jesus is her delight, blah blah. The sacrifice thing refers to the crucifixion and to the framework Christianity posits by which blood needs to be spilled so that God can decide not to fucking yeet someone into an unending fire hole and that Jesus came to be the final perfect sacrifice so that no one needs to stab a goat or whatever the fuck again.

After this there’s the chorus and the outro that’s basically just the end of the chorus and then the first two lines repeated a bit, you know, just as this last little reminder that dying is ok if it’s for Jesus.

Which I guess is the overarching message of this song too. Dying is fun if it’s for Jesus, kids! Also let’s definitely not do a John Donne!

I feel like I reference that poem a lot. But it goddamn fits. Like terrifyingly well. I think the reason I latched onto that poem so hard when I learned about it in my literature survey course last fall is because, minus the borderline sexual nature of Donne’s thoughts here, it maps onto my own experience very goddamn hard. I went far enough into Assad’s self-betraying devotion to God for a while there that I fantasized about dying for Jesus in a country where that’s likely. Suicide by martyrdom, if you will.

On that note, here are the hotlines again.

National suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Trevor Project lifeline: 1-866-488-7386 The Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741-741 Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860

If you read this far, I guess thanks for being interested in my thoughts, and I really hope this didn’t trigger anything too serious.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I should probably go talk to my therapist about this.

#exchristian #religious trauma #christian music

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S2 Ep 46 Part 1: Young Marik Goes to a Craft Fair/Immediately Murders His Own Dad

Ah Yugioh, last episode got pretty weird, and this one, I’m pleased to say, is that much weirder.

We start with Mokuba, who either has a PHD in languages studies, or is just completely full of BS. And, when it comes to the Kaibas, we’ll just never know. It could go either way and I’d absolutely buy it.

Of course, none of this matters since Kaiba is cursed, in case you forgot. His curse is a lot easier than everyone else’s because all he does is vibe with a ancient relic he refuses to think is real and then hallucinate his dead wife he refuses to talk about.

I am still kind of reeling over the fact that Seto’s Previous-Life’s Dead Wife is Blue Eyes is canon. I’m sure they thought turning this card into a person would be simple and fun. It’s still fun, for me, for that room of writers that now has to untangle this mess they just created? Yeah good freakin luck with that.

Also, I forgot something last episode.

Much better. Seto’s catching up, slowly but surely, to Marik.

(read more under the cut)

And I mean...Seto is just low-key unaware that he’s vaguely obsessed with his Great^nth Grandma, right? Like that’s the canon? Nice. I mean there’s a 5000 year difference and she is like a card, so...legally it’s fine, whatever, it’s not like they can ever hook up.

But like...didn’t Seto tear a Blue Eyes completely in half in the first episode? That’s kind of messed up now! Granted, back in Episode 1 the writers probably didn’t know that 1 season later they’d all be sitting around a table and going like “so...what if they were married???”

Like...how weird is it now that Grandpa still has that torn up Blue Eyes?

(I say as if this is a big deal on a show where the canon flagship relationship of Yugi and Tea involves Yugi who is 3 people and Tea who is, as we find out at the end of this episode, also 3 people. Mind you, 2 of those people is just 2 Bakuras, but it’s still an awkward 5-way. Who would they even be kissing if they were kissing? ((JK we all know it would just be Bakura and Bakura)) )

Does Grandpa and Arthur even realize how freakin weird it is that their token of eternal friendship/marriage is literally the dead waifu of that random rich guy over there? That Arthur was like “remember my not-romantic love always, by wifing with this wife who is also my wife. Goodbyyyyyye.”

Was Episode 1 just Kaiba walking in on a three way with his predestined card-ex? Was that how he got so freakin pissed? It actually would make more sense than what actually happened. And like I’m pretty sure that particular Blue Eyes chose Grandpa over Seto so, what even is that? Is that like a divorce or something?

Also, and this is the most important thing about this entire situation, did Pegasus really try like a billion times to resurrect his dead wife unsuccessfully (I hope) but TOTALLY resurrected Kaiba’s dead wife in the process? Like, just by accident he resurrected not just any dead wife’s soul into a playing card but his sworn enemy that Pegasus super tried to murder and destroy that one time? Like damn, that’s some good irony right there.

...it’s a lot to process in a show where like 4 people are also body swapping at the same time.

Anyway, back to this episode, Seto can also read this Ra card. But, I assume he cannot marry it because he and three of the four sides of his Blue Eyes Wife have just changed their status from “It’s complicated” to “It’s still complicated” (the fourth version hanging out with Solomon Muto is still card divorced and living her best life)

Faced with definitive proof that all this is absolutely real, Kaiba never actually graduates from the Denial step to any of the other steps of acceptance.

Neither would I. Neither would I.

Never forget, that him actually accepting any of this makes him a widow to a freakin paper freakin card.

I will say, that my prediction that Kaiba’s relationships, if he ever got into one, wouldn’t last more than 2 minutes apiece came true in the weirdest way possible.

I’m glad we got this lore bomb that will disappear into the Yugioh’s forgotten plot-threads graveyard faster than you can say “and then Bakura put a piece of his soul into the Millennium Puzzle.”

Speaking of,

And so enters our exposition, who decided to actually leave her bedroom and see what else is on this blimp. Took her long enough. If she had come out, I dunno, before Joey dueled, then her brother, Odion would have never been struck by lightning since she could’ve been like “lol guy’s, that’s not Marik” but wtv. Nice to see you, Ishizu. You are late, as usual.

Also, the art team left us a breathtaking still life.

Meanwhile, holed up in this room staring at Mai Valentine for the last 30 minutes on this little aqua cube, Serenity has decided she is done with this BS they keep calling a card game. I guess her vow to be brave and suck it up lasted all of half an hour.

And it was during this complete 12yo meltdown that Ishizu was like “oh, that reminds me, I also have a brother who’s having a complete meltdown” As if this would somehow help Serenity feel any better about being trapped on a blimp with them.

So, Ishizu takes a very long sip of water and starts her very long story about When Marik Truly Went Evil But This Time The Flashback’s For Reals Last Time He Was Kind of Evil But This Time We’re For Serious Telling You Exactly The Moment He Went Cray.

Please admire the nonsense stairs and columns supporting nothing in this image. Nice.

Now before, I knew they lived underground but I kinda figured they left occasionally to get snacks and pick up babies from the side of the road. Apparently it’s only certain people who can do that, so not only has this kid been living underground but he has never seen sunlight.

But here’s my question um--what happened to all the other cultists? Like we’re assuming that we have 5000 years of an underground situation, and if their growth happens geometrically since human beings tend to have multiple children, then there should be like thousands of people down here. Like SO MANY people. Was there some sort of plague? Did all the cultists just keep killing each other as each one went completely mad down here? Like, what’s the story?

I have made so many jokes about Marik being a crafty bastard who knits hats but I kid you not he literally went to the flea market. He has only one hour in the real world and all he wants is to see the Handmade Industry.

Again, Marik would be the hero in any YA dystopian novel, guys. Any of them. Like I’m pretty sure I read three separate books by three separate people in the late 2000′s about underground mole people cults and Marik would have been the hero in every single one of them. Leave it to Yugioh.

Odion decided to stay behind as a lookout rather than go outside in the stinky sunlight, meaning that Marik got to feel a sunburn for the very first time ever as he looked directly into it’s surface.

So I can see the allusion that they wanted to make. That without light you can never see shadow--and that because he literally stepped out into the light, his shadow was finally able to fully manifest itself for the first time.

But...Marik was locked underground, how long could he have realistically lasted before losing his mind just like his Father already has?

And then Marik finds the one relic that truly drives him mad, a discarded magazine. But not that type of magazine. I’m actually not quite sure what type of magazine this would be, TBH. it’s got some REALLY good anime soda on the back, and then pets, and then autos? I don’t know.

This motorcycle had spooky music and everything. Truly the embodiment of evil, a mid-30′s gentleman driving to work with a sensible helmet.

He also saw a TV and confused the hell out of this vase salesman.

And then, no weird episode is truly weird enough without an abrupt visit from Shadi.

So they rush back home to the very obvious cellar door in the middle of the desert that no one except for this cult has ever found.

But, unfortunately, these kids are really, really dumb and so because Shadi told them to go the hell back home, Shadi set in motion the tools needed to send Marik completely off the deep end.

So Shadi is just really really bad at his job or he really wants to watch it burn, I’m thinking probably both.

We get a voice-over from Ishizu that Marik’s father was using the rod on Odion but we don’t actually see much. I think a bunch of this probably got edited out because obviously, abuse is something you can’t really show on kid’s daytime TV, although...they kinda did anyway.

OH.

I mean, he is possessed so like he would act real different but there was absolutely no fighting back on Marik’s part to kill his own Dad. He just straight up went for it. Complete 180 on this character in a matter of time it takes to look at a picture of a motorcycle.

And so, Evil Marik decides it’s time to kill Odion, much like he’s been trying to do in our current timeline, but seeing his older brother snaps Marik out of it, which would have been just real confusing for him. I mean Yugi’s snapped out of his Pharaoh blackouts in strange positions, sure, but this one in particular is like “wow I just killed my Dad.” If he even knows.

Bro was saying he actually didn’t know at this point. Of course my Bro has a lot of spicy Yugioh headcanons and he’s becoming less and less reliable the more we watch. (Bros editorial note: how does one remember what actually happens in this show?)

Why were you even here Shadi!? Just to be judgy and then peace out? Like back in Season Zero it felt like Shadi had a...job. Here he’s just like...watching the show with me. He’s just the most useless millennium item, I swear.

After this sad tale, at least we have Joey to remind us that Marik’s killed 100+ people since then.

So yeah, Marik killed his Dad because he saw a Motorcycle.

Literally killed his Dad because he saw a motorcycle and it awoke a desire in him to leave the nest, and then Odion got beat up because Ishizu was too dumb to ever notice that they had an alarm on the freakin front hole in the ground.

A Motorcycle.

And we can pretty much assume that his Dad’s been threatening to kick out Odion basically forever to get Marik to stay put, right? That this has definately happened before but this time...there was a motorcycle.

Truly evil, motorcycles.

In this show where one guy was literally dueling Yugi while tying him to a bandsaw--those motorcycles though. Pure satan.

Bro just asked me that if Pharaoh’s tomb had free wifi, Would people live there on purpose and I’m just going to leave that there.

Anyway, here’s a link to read these in order from S1 Ep1

#yugioh #yugioh recap #photo recap #s2 ep46 #marik isthar #ishizu isthar #tw abuse #yugi muto #joey wheeler #tristan taylor #seto kaiba #rip seto kaiba's very short and very serious relationship with a paper card #mokuba kaiba #mokuba #serenity wheeler #tea gardner

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imagine-loki · 6 years

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Irked

Title: Irked

Original Imagine: Imagine due to having highly effective telekinesis, Tony Stark seeks you out and hires you. Loki’s been forced to live there by Odin and help on missions when needed, making penance to Midgardians. Prior to moving into the Tower, you learn of his superior and arrogant attitude and upon being introduced, immediately dislike him. Particularly because he looks at you like your his next meal.

Author: lokilover9 Chapter: #15 Rating: Teen

While continuing to grocery shop, Loki was piling things into their cart so quickly, he was able to devise a plan. Each time Shandi tossed in something unhealthy, he’d sneak it out, replacing it with an alternative. To her, it simply appeared he’d shuffled things about. Then once in line, he suggested she wait in the car, while he took care of the rest.

“I can stay and help.” She replied.

“Wouldn’t you rather relax in the air-conditioned car?”

“Its air conditioned in here too, I don’t mind.”

The moment the person ahead finished up, Loki ushered her past the cashier. “We’ve a lot of meat, darling. The cooler the car, the better.”

“It’s not ‘that’ long of a drive.”

“Elizabeth.” His penetrating gaze and kind, yet insistent tone, left no room for further discussion.

“Okay, I’m going. Sheesh.”

Loki came out shortly after, stuffed all the bags into the trunk and they started back to the house.

“What was that about?” She asked.

“I thought you’d prefer being off your feet while making the car cooler.”

“And for the sake of all that meat?”

“Exactly.”

Her brow crinkled. “Then why is everything in the trunk?”

“Well…what’s your point, Lizzy? Is there an actual point to all this?”

Once arriving, she went to use the washroom and when done, Loki was waiting at the door.

“Where’s all the food?” She asked.

“I put it away already.”

“That fast?”

He smiled. “Didn’t I say magic was a wondrous thing?”

On the return ride, they discussed a few things.

“Alice must be using the ovens of a local Bakery to prepare for the fair.” Said Loki. “It makes sense. One home oven could never prepare enough baked goods for a large, three day event.”

Shandi couldn’t help but find his comment rather amusing and it showed on her face.

“Still finding it difficult to comprehend a prince of Asgard, cooks?”

“Yep and bakes.”

“Of which I’m pleased you’re no longer concerned to eat. You still haven’t revealed what all the fuss was about?”

Shandi glanced out the window. “I’m not discussing that with you Loki.”

He stifled a smirk. “As you wish, but I’m not the only Alien Prince that does. Upon returning here, I was a buffoon in the kitchen. Thor took me shopping and once showing me some basics of cooking, left me to myself. After the appliances and I had some..disagreements, which Tony took delight in critiquing following his initial panic, I resorted to a diet similar to yours.”

“Why was he panicked?”

“He was passing by my apartment one morning at the exact moment I set something ablaze in the kitchen, heard the fire alarm and demanded entrance. Fortunately, magic saved the Tower from a visit by the fire department, as I hadn’t learned how to use the extinguisher yet.”

Her brows rose. “What happened with the appliances?”

Loki then mocked Tony’s voice. “So, tell me Cactus. How does one who can teleport and make clones of himself, fuck up two toaster ovens, then a top of the line microwave, a high end coffee maker and today, simultaneously set two pans of bacon and omelet on fire?”

She chuckled. “You did all that?”

“I did. Had he have had some patience, I might’ve dressed before answering, too.”

“Did you answer the door in your underwear?”

“I’m certain he would have preferred that.” Shandis mouth fell open and Loki smirked. “I told you the day we arrived here, I sleep naked.”

“But you were cooking.”

“I had been wearing a robe, but overheated and removed it.”

She chuckled, again. “Poor Tony. What did he say?”

“He was banging away as I casually approached, ignoring his flare for dramatics.”… “What the hell’s going on in there Cactus? Open the…MOTHER OF GOD!!! HAVE YOU NO SCRUPLES?”

That did it. Between envisioning Tony’s expression and the way Loki mocked his mannerisms, Shandi was in stitches. “What happened then?”

“He scurried past me, inspecting things while I sauntered towards my robe and nonchalantly re adorned it. Since then, he has Jarvis inform me when he’s coming to assure I’m ‘decent.’”

“I fully believe that. Didn’t you read any of the instructions for those appliances, or extinguisher?”

“Pshh, whatever for? I came from an advanced realm, a God no less. Certainly without aid, I wouldn’t encounter difficulty operating Midgardian gadgets.”

“Oh. Is that why you put too much liquid into the blender at the staff kitchen, then?”

Loki recalled the incident. “I hadn’t put the lid on tight enough, was all.”

“Well, there’s always duct tape if Mr. Preston has one you’d like to use.” She cackled at his eyes rolling. “So, you were saying about your diet?”

“It was atrocious, much like yours.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Shandi, as a God, I’ve the strength no human could fathom and as you know, a large appetite. The amount of processed foods I was consuming, with all their chemicals, was negatively affecting ‘my’ energy levels. I can’t imagine how it’s affecting you.”

“I guess having eaten like a Prince, you wouldn’t be used to such things. Most average people, are.”

“And in the process, you’re subjecting yourself to a slow poisoning.”

‘Man.’ She thought. ‘He gets weirder by the hour.’ “Loki, what’s with the big interest in my diet all of a sudden?”

“Alright.” He coolly replied. “Seeing you so ill the other day, I was reminded of my own unpleasant plight. If you wish, perhaps I can help you prevent that from reoccurring. It’s up to you.”

Shandi was baffled by his recent behavior and the troublesome wish it were sincere. More than she cared to admit. She recalled Nat revealing his actions towards the family of a boy killed by the Chitauri, along with Thor and Steve’s conversation about how upset he was after an incident with a little girl in a restaurant. Was there a warmer side of himself, purposely kept concealed? Why? Another thought secretly pondered came to mind. One she’d soon get an opportunity to ask.

“Thank you for your concern.” She kindly replied. “I’ll consider it, okay? I was thinking about Laura being so outspoken. If we keep interacting with her, she may inadvertently teach us more about the family.”

Loki noted how quickly the subject was changed and let it go. “Possibly, but regarding Alice. If Nat doesn’t report seeing her at Beth’s shop today and we don’t during lunch hours at the park, I think it unwise to visit that Bakery just yet. It would imply traipsing around town the entire day with a car full of food and one who’s quite pregnant. Not a likely scenario.”

“True.” Shandi replied. “Alice may not be inclined to socialize either, being so busy.”

“She may. According to Laura, we made an impression. If we miss her at both places today and tomorrow, then we’ll go. It’s still another window of opportunity, we hadn’t known existed.”

By the time they re entered town, it was close to lunch and Loki stopped at a small Deli, before heading to the park. Shandi claimed not to be hungry and waited in the car. Upon returning, he plunked a medium sized bag and two large drinks into her lap.

“We may be there a while, so I bought you a veggie Pita and frozen fruit, smoothie.”

Shandi eyed everything. ‘Yep. Definitely getting stranger by the hour.’

After seeking out the same shaded bench as before, they ate while Loki kept a close eye out from behind dark shades. People slowly began entering the park, but there was no sign of the ladies. In case they did appear, he advised Shandi to start enacting the exercises he’d thought of. The idea was, he’d remain on the bench, or follow her from a short distance, while she walked nervously, throughout the park. Should Alice witness this, it would hopefully open an opportunity to explain Shandis actions. He suggested she start by buying more birdseed and after briefly chatting with the kid who sells it, she returned.

“This town gets smaller all the time. His name is Dylan and guess who his grandmother is?”

“Who?” Loki asked.

“Mrs. Carter. He mentioned witnessing our interaction with Beth and Alice and you were right. The two use her ovens every year for the fair.”

“How did you learn that?”

“I mentioned they were nice and hoped to see them around again. Then he recommended Beth’s shop and said Alice is usually at the Bakery every day, from now until the fair.”

“How kind of him.” Loki approvingly remarked. After a brief walk, Shandi began feeding the birds and kept glancing in his direction. “Something on your mind, oh pot bellied one?”

“Very funny, Clifford. I was thinking of how I’m still trying to comprehend, that humans aren’t alone in the universe.”

“That was unexpected, yet I imagine most of your people feel the same. Did 'you’ think you were?” He politely asked.

“I hadn’t any definite proof otherwise, until you and Thor. The universe is a massive place though and I’ve always considered it naive, assuming ourselves it’s only tenants.”

“And to your benefit, you’re not.”

The compliment overshadowed a building knot in her stomach of what response the next question may elicit. ‘It’s only going to keep bugging you. Dammit girl, where’s your gonads? Just ask him!’ “As a race, do you guys think us inferior?” Loki froze, concealing a scrutinizing gaze behind his glasses. Unable to escape the weight of it, Shandi returned to the birds. ‘Great. Of all times to lack the ability to teleport.’

Loki wondered if this related to his previous actions against her realm. “You’re certainly behind in many aspects, but no. Why would you ask such a thing, Shandi?”

It wasn’t really Thor’s opinion she’d grown concerned about, but including him had made the question easier to ask. Confident she could never care for one who thought himself above her own kind, the hope was to gain an inkling into Lokis true opinion, by catching him off guard. The reasons behind not asking them both sooner, were true.

“Curiosity. I would’ve felt awkward asking Thor.”

'Interesting.’ He thought. “Why? I thought you liked him.”

“I do. He’s kind, gentlemanly and funny, but I hardly see him unless it’s work related. I haven’t had a chance to really ‘talk’ with him.”

Loki recalled the times she’d remained in her apartment, after seeing him about the Tower. "Between us both, who have you seen around more?”

“Does it matter?”

“I wouldn’t ask, if it didn’t.”

“Okay, you.” She replied.

“At any point until now, had you wanted to ask me such things?”

She shifted awkwardly, in her seat. “Look, why don’t we forget it Loki? I hadn’t meant for my question to make you feel uncomfortable.”

How she could even consider his feelings about anything, remained astounding to him. “You didn’t. It surprised me, was all. Had you ever wanted to?” He politely, persisted.

“Yes, but…” 'Damn.’ She suddenly thought. 'I shouldn’t have started this.’

Loki asked again. “But what Shandi, I’d really like to know?”

"Whenever possible I, avoided you.”

And Loki thought he felt like a dick, before. She’d really wished to talk to him and he’d senselessly, pushed her away. “Shandi, I…” His sentence was interrupted by a text. “We’re up Lizzy. Alice just parked and took food into Beth’s shop.”

All they discussed on route, was encountering Nat and Clint and upon entering, were greeted by an unsuspecting Beth, pricing items with her mouth half full. “Oh, hello. Please excuse me, it’s normally quiet this time of day and I was indulging. How are you?”

“Good thanks.” Said Shandi. “Don’t let us stop you.”

Beth smiled. “Goodness, if you sampled what I am, you’d understand. Wait, do you like strawberries?”

Shandi was about to respond, when Loki did. “She loves them. Blueberries, even more.” Her brow arched.

“Then you must try something.” Beth headed for the back room and moments later, returned holding open a plastic container. Inside were mini strawberry and blueberry tarts. The fruit sat amidst a rich, creamy custard with just the right sweetness and the pastry, practically melted in their mouths.

“Those are delicious.” They stated.

Alice spoke up from the doorway. “Why, thank you.” After greeting each other with pleasantries, she continued. “Those are only a sample of what will be at the fair. You really must come.”

Shandi lowered her eyes and Loki stroked her hair. “We’re thinking about it, aren’t we Lizzy?”

She nodded and uncertain what to make of their interaction, Beth retreated. “Very good. Let me know if you need any help.” She’d almost reached Alice when Shandi whispered.

“I’m sorry.”

“Lizzy, you’ve nothing to be sorry for.”

Beth then raised her brows at Alice when seeing Nat notice Shandi, through the shop window. Seconds later, she entered and Clint remained near the door. Loki took a double take, then protective stance, towards Shandi and Nat froze, about five feet away.

“I won’t come any closer. I saw you and…” Her shoulders slumped as Loki and Shandi, remained stoic. “We’ve an only daughter. She lives far away and is about to have a baby and…”

“Ella.” Clint, kindly interrupted.

Nat sighed. "It’s no excuse and I shouldn’t have touched you.” She stretched out her arm, holding a small gift bag towards Shandi. “This is for your baby. I hope you like it and I’m sorry.”

Loki and Shandis expressions softened as she slowly took the bag. “Thank you.”

Nat nodded, then headed towards Clint and once outside, they hugged. Shandi pulled a small teddy bear from the bag, that played a lullaby and glanced up at Loki.

“I know what your thinking, darling. You don’t need to consult me, go on.” When Shandi went outside, he turned to see Beth and Alice with their eyes glossed over and winked. “It’s good to see her make a friend. We haven’t any here.” Moments later, she re entered. “I gather that went well?” He asked.

Shandi smiled. “It did. They’re vacationing here for the summer at a nearby cottage and suggested we meet for drinks.”

“Sounds like a plan. Did they say when?”

"No, but I got her number.”

“Perfect, yet you’re prohibited.“ He teased. "If you recall, one too many is how we ended up in this predicament in the first place?”

Shandi looked to see the ladies, smirking. “How thoughtful of you to remind me, Clifford.” ‘Brat.’ She thought.

Alice chuckled. “I’ve seven children, four of whom were conceived under the same circumstances.”

“Speaking of.” Said Loki. “We met your daughters at the grocery store, earlier. Laura, our first day in town. Both are lovely.”

The ladies thanked him.

“We understand you met one who isn’t so lovely, as well.” Beth commented.

“According to Laura, that’s correct.” Said Loki.

"Only Laura?” ‘Shit woman, what’s wrong with you?’

Loki almost cackled. “She was entertaining to say the least, darling. Perhaps you’d like a basket to shop with?”

“Yes, please.”

After retrieving one, he feigned interest in a crib display, hoping the three would talk more. It worked and once the ladies stopped within a respectable distance of Shandi, he heard their whispers, perfectly.

“Laura said Tanya failed at flirting with your husband?” Asked Beth.

Shandi nodded.

“Good, but take heed.“ Said Alice. "The first opportunity that arises, she 'will’ try again.”

Being such strangers, Shandi found their openness amusing, yet wanted to learn more about this woman. "Even though…”

Beth slowly shook her head. “She doesn’t care if your married, pregnant, or both, so keep him close.”

“Clifford’s a good man. He doesn’t get much time away from me.” Shandi solemnly, stated.

“Trust us.” Said Alice. “Whatever his reasons, consider them a blessing. Tanya is well known for her 'slutty’ tactics and has gotten to the best of them.” She smiled at Shandis widened eyes. “Bet you never expected to hear that from an old lady.”

Beth offered her another tart. “At least you know one to avoid, if you’re looking to make friends in this town.”

“I am.” Shandi replied. “And we’ll ‘both’ be avoiding her.”

Loki smirked at the sarcasm in her tone.

“Good.” Said Alice. “What about making friends with a couple of seniors? “We’re busy preparing for the fair right now, but once it’s over, you’re welcome to join us for tea. Or coffee, which ever you prefer.”

Beth gave her a look. "If you like referring to yourself as ancient, be my guest. I, for one, am still a spring chicken.”

Alice sighed. “Whose days of laying eggs, have long ceased.”

Shandi chuckled at their teasing banter, while startled by her luck and gave Alice her number. “I look forward to that very much.“ Then she noticed Loki inspecting different boxes of mobiles. "I’d best get over there, before he gets too curious.”

“Would he open something again?” Asked Beth.

“I wouldn’t put it past him, if he liked it enough.”

‘I resent that.’ Thought Loki. Seeing her approach, he purposely held up a model with what appeared to have miniature, hairy Teletubbies on it.

“You can put that back now, Clifford.”

He tisked. "Party pooper.”

#Loki #God of Mischief #Submitted fic #submission #irked #chapter 15 #lokilover9 #tony stark #hire #odin #mission #penance #power #superior #arrogant #introduce #dislike

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fancydunamancy · 5 years

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4, 9, 13, 25, 30 for the DnD ask. :D

4. Your current campaign.

Oh man. Well, obviously I can’t say everything since all of my players are following me, but… :D The campaign started in a hospital where everyone woke one morning, their memory of the previous day rather hazy. After finding out that whatever afflicition they were suffering from was supposed to be treated by a bunch of asshole priests conducting weird rituals and keeping them locked in, the group decided to escape the hospital. Now they’re on their way to find out what exactly this strange malady is, how they got it and how they can get rid of it.

It’s my first “proper” DnD campaign, so I decided not to experiment and rather keep the setting pretty boring, using the races/languages/classes/monsters etc from the official 5e materials. Next time I’d like to come up with something weirder, but this campaign is great fun as well! My players have come up with such cool characters and, as it always it with DnD, they like surprising me and making me panic internally like “holy shit okay, i was not prepared for this crap”. Really though, my players are great and I enjoy creating storylines and NPCs a lot, so. Yeah.

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

DnD has some rules, yes, but other than that you can do pretty much ANYTHING and be ANYONE. It’s not like with video games where you have a few set options that you need to choose from, here you just… have a bunch of nerds who together create a new fucking world and every session is unique and you can never expect what happens next. My favourite part is creating and playing characters and seeing them interact with your friends’ characters. Honestly though, it’s just hard to describe what exactly it is that makes DnD so special, you gotta try it yourself to understand what all the fuss is about. It’s the perfect game for every nerd with a penchant for storytelling.

13. Introduce your current party.

There’s Rony, the pretty half-elf bard who was supposed to be a giant slut, but always rolled nat ones on his seductions, so… Now instead of being a big player, he’s sporting a crush on the dumb trash wizard. Rony can be a bit of a sarcastic fuck at times, but, well, he’s cute and gay and likes kittens and we like him.

Then there’s Rosa. She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll punch you in the face. Seriously, she’ll fuck you up. She’s a tiefling rogue who is slow to trust people but quick to cut off their purses. Also she’s gay.

Pip is a human Good girl and a ranger whose home is the forest, but she’s afraid of the dark. She is badass and soft at the same time and also very gay. We describe her look as a “lesbian Aragorn”.

Gwen is a dwarven lady with the biggest family tree ever and a great ginger beard. She kinda accidentally became a druid because she was drunk and that’s pretty much all you need to know about her. She can turn from vodka aunt to mum friend to dad friend to spider!Gwen within five minutes. Cool, right?

Seth is… who the hell is Seth? We just don’t know. He barely talks. Apparently he has a wife and kids somewhere. His socks never match. He wears a baroque collar. He makes a living by selling porn books. We think he kinda looks like a long-haired Nicolas Cage. Sometimes he randomly turns into a llama. Don’t question it.

Then there’s my two main NPCs, Elora and Valrian. Elora is a tiefling cleric who is very sweet, caring, selfless, likes everyone and finds everything exciting (basically she’s all the things I am not lol). She wouldn’t hurt a fly, unless she really had to. And then she’d be very sad about it for the rest of the day. In the nights, though, she becomes a different person. Literally.

Valrian was fucking supposed to die during session one, but then he didn’t and here he is?? He’s basically an optimistic nihilist who never loses his chill and isn’t bothered by pretty much anything. He’s reckless and gets himself into trouble a lot. He likes to act stupid although he is actually very smart. His familiar is a cute lil magpie called Juliet.

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

All of it. What usually messes with my plans is that they tend to spend forever on sidequests I expected to be short and then they swiftly glide through something I’d consider pretty difficult. Other than that, well, Rosa randomly stole a kitten, Rony probably created the first official contract the town of Erienna has ever seen. Oh and of course, what confused and amused me a lot was how nasty they were all to Val during the first session, although he was just trying to help. Then there’s the fact it took them like five sessions to notice that hey, one of our party members turns into someone else at night.

Then there’s also one thing that surprised me, but I don’t want the others to know that it surprised me, so. That’s it for now :) :)

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

I mean they’re dumbasses, but I think usually they’re more or less diplomatic… If we don’t count that one time they nearly murdered two poor goblin passersby after falsely accusing them of stealing their money :D

Thanks for the questions, mate!

#chickenwithatophat #ask

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mrmidnightblog · 5 years

Text

I am this house

This old home stood outside the town, far off from anyone else from the town. Almost hidden away from the world surrounded by a thick forest. This old home was made with blood, and sweet. The old shingles were beginning to rot, the steps are creaking, with each step. This place had been around from even before the town was built, or when the trees were first planted. The crows made their home in the gutters, and the cold attic, then there was the sky. It was filled with stars and the lack of smog from the city. This made the moon look exceptionally brighter, on those clear nights. In this old home, no living beings lived there. Though I reside in there. I am the spirit who resides in there and have been for over eighty years, but I can not remember my name o even my age, it’s been far too long. Though most nights I lay dormant but that was when I heard- No I could feel. The creaking of my front door, someone was coming into my domain. Then there was the sound of soft footsteps entering, there was a long echo as they moved deeper inside me.

“God this place is so creepy.” It was a feminine voice as far as I could tell as she walked through my doors going deeper within me. I can fully envision her than. The girl is tall, slim, and well kept she seemed prim and proper with long golden locks of hair that went down her back. I find it odd how she seemed to be wearing so little and rather revealing cloths. I would try and describe all she had or rather lacked but, I’m soon distracted when more footsteps walked on in through the doors

“Yeah but come on Sarah isn’t it great!” This voice was male, walking on through where I could finally see him, he had short black hair, while wearing a heavy black coat. He was holding something it looks strange, almost alien like to me, It pointed towards the girl as he laughed; “Just relax, and smile for the camera ok.” So that’s what it was, this seemed strange to me especially remembering how Camera’s had looked back when I was a kid. It makes me wonder what year is it? What has happened with the world since I’d died? These are some questions I know I’ll never truly know. The girl whose name was Sarah, walked towards one of the walls, where she stood before one of the paintings, it was the picture of Richard Leeburgson.

Richard Leeburgson was one of the previous owners of this estate he was here before I had inherited this house. While his portrait was on the wall his eyes were watching them and so I could see through them like they were my eyes; “Is it me or are those eyes following me, Zack?” Sarah muttered before looking over to the one finally identified as Zack… Zack, it’s a strange name but it feels so familiar, yet I couldn’t put my mind to it.

“Maybe it’s one of the ghost’s here, or maybe it’s Old man Richard. They say he used to take kids and chop him up into little pieces before he hung himself one night.” Zack exclaimed his voice was calm and soft but when he was sneaking behind Sarah his voice boomed louder as he groped her bosom. Sarah reacted by snacking him on his cheek. Good for her in my opinion. This home may have a dark history that was written in blood, Richard Leeburgson was not a child killer, he cared for children and loved them with a passion, especially his daughter when she took the mantle before me, he was devastated. That had ultimately caused him to end his life. As for the body roomer, there was none hidden in the walls that some unknown killer placed in there himself.

The only body in this place laid in the basement is my own skeleton. It still laid there waiting till the day someone might find it one day. Oh, I’m deeply sorry readers I seemed to have gotten lost in my train of thoughts. I’ll get back to where I was before. These two Zack and Sarah walked on through the parliament looking at nearly every nook and cranny.

“Sarah I’m telling you we’ll be getting a shit ton of viewers on Youtube!” “Maybe but we’re trespassing, we’ll end up getting in trouble!”

“Oh, come on relax beside no one even knows we’re even here. It’ll be great, trust me.”

Zack would move right next to her bumping his thigh against hers while examining a couch that was molded and on top of a red carpet. It stood before an old black fireplace. This part of the conversation had managed to catch my attention. They would be the only ones here, and no one knew. This is simply perfect, My gaze though another painting whose eyes followed their every move. They were standing before the fireplace which if I wanted to, I could give it life with just a flicker of a small flame. The spectral heat that could fill me with warmth, but I’ll have to wait. I don’t care to scare them this quickly after all if I did, they might run off before I might do the deed. Besides the art of horror, from what I heard takes time as it needed to simmer never boiled.

The first thing I did was lock every door that could lead them outside and making all the windows stick so it would keep them from escaping too soon You might wonder why I would do something like this trapping them, well I’ll explain. My soul is trapped here, like the last resident who haunted this home. A soul is needed to take my place, so I may leave this a cursed place. It’s the only way sadly when I became the spirit of this home, I was given the knowledge of its bloody secrets and dark past.

The spirit before me was a young man who was killed by the only woman he ever loved, she was driven insane by the spirit who came before him making her think that he had cheated on her with someone else. The spirit that did that was a bride who hung herself she had been raped by her father-in-law while her husband watched. That death had been caused by the spirit of a young girl who was beheaded, so many spirits have walked these halls, and death of another can only release the old spirits. So if I’m able to be free another must die for that this is our curse our suffering. Then the fact of what kind of soul it had to be it must be a human soul.

This might be my only chance. I pondered watching the two-plunder free my kitchen, Zack looking on from that camera device. Talking about this place telling some actual history this is surprising. I made the Windows slowly open unnoticed from behind with much glee letting the rasped wind coming in making the sounds of moaning and the iron pans against the wall clinking against each other to give the impressions of chains.

“Did you hear that?” Sarah called out her voice echoing throughout the room while Zach only laughed; “come on it’s clearly the wind, or maybe it’s old man Richard from beyond the grave.” Zack only marked more and soon I felt closer to doing the deed myself, then slightly levitating up and I forced it to the ground causing a loud bang. This makes Sarah scream with right looking around her flashlight being mean towards the direction of the pan her hand shaking I can almost smell her fear.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake Sarah just relax it’s just a pan that fell God you’re such a chicken.” The boy calls out the Sarah just shakes in her shoes, I can feel it and soon makes the room drop-down in temperature making it colder. “Let’s just go we’ve got enough footage was just get home that this place is just getting weirder.” Oh, how little she knew this was just the beginning.

“Oh come on babe, just another hour and we’ll go. I’ll do that saying you lie.” Zack gave a sly grin and Sarah almost giggled a little bit at his begging, but how she looked at him for a minute, just pondering of what to do so she finally gave in and nodded in agreement. “Fine but I’m tying you up.” Before walking off Zack follows sip followed behind checking out her behind.

They walked up the stairs which I’d proceeded to cause him to give a loud Erie Creek that echoed out from the house. If I needed to or even wanted to, I could cause the woods the cave in from their weight alone. But not yet, it was way too soon. They walked on for till he reached the final step in they went to the first bedroom they saw. If the master bedroom which one cell passion and loving embrace, but all that was in there were cold and loneliness with the only lovemaking coming from the rodents in heat while they bred. They walked around examining whatever they could that was still in this room for all there really was a bad without sheets stainless something unidentifiable out in the corner and the table at times sounded like the ravings of Raven’s when the drawers pulled open and closed soon I realized – no I could remember that window still open going in the wind pushing the curtains into the air looking like a phantom whisking away: “You know what Sarah this place is in the unit scary.” Zack mocked before sitting on the molding bad. His smirk getting wider reminding me of a cat. Sarah looked at him leaning on the desk causing the furniture to slide back and I could feel it scrape against my floors.

“So what are you planning there Zack?” Her eyebrows arching out she looked suspicious, but Zack only smirked more. “Come on sweetie, just relax for all alone just the two of us maybe I can thank you right here.”

The way he smiled was driving me nuts but the girl laughter I have a feeling she’ll make it for the night... Maybe. “Zack, I swear you’ve got some balls on you.”

Sarah walked towards him slowly her hips swaying almost suggestively, I’ve seen this movement once or twice, as it happened by others who’ve gone through the house, though at those points I never felt the courage to do the dead, and at most would scare them off in the middle of their lustful wants. She had gotten close to his face to face before laying a small kiss on his nose as his face would turn into a gentler smile. The two seemed so relaxed ready to make the next move, and I took it. The window slammed down hard, as it gave out a very loud bang, catching them the two-off guard, even I was surprised that I didn’t accidentally break the window with how hard I did. Who knows how far the sound went off. As it reminded me of the sound of a rifle going off.

Then it was followed up with a loud scream as poor Sarah jumped into the air exclaiming; “Jesus fucking Christ!” I soon began to hear her heart pounding, hard, the sound was truly sweetening. She would turn around and grab her flashlight and turned off towards the door, saying almost rapidly.

“That’s it! I’m going! Come on Zack I’m sick of this, if you want to fuck bad enough, we’ll do It in the back of your car!” She was rather determined at this point as she grabbed the door handle and walked out. This was a realization to me seeing her walk off, she was going to try and leave the house. It was too soon, There was much to do. Even with the doors locked she could break a window. She could find some way out, even I couldn’t keep place built up for long. Especially if they found one of the secret passages that lead outside. The two would eventually escape if I wasn’t careful enough, and this was something I would not allow.

“I can’t stay in this place a minute longer!” She screamed now walking out of the door, Zack begins to follow her. There I made the rafter creak and making the nails come out of their holes, until it had finally given out. The wood falling, as it slammed right into Zack’s head. It knocked him down onto the floor. He was still breathing and was very much alive. Sarah looked back seeing this which made her scream loud, calling out to him. “Zack are you ok!” She called out but as she stepped towards him going back up the stairs, they finally collapsed under her own weight causing her to fall. I begin watching her going down the stairs, she was groaning and grunting till she made it to the bottom of the floor, She seemed ok but her leg was clearly broken and bending sideways, I think I could see the bone sticking out. She tried moving through her expression was filled with unimaginable pain.

“Oh god Sarah, whats happened.” Zack moaned loudly as he dragged himself over to the end of the stairs his head bleeding, he couldn’t hold the camera, as he looked to her his own vision blurring.

“Zack, I’m not ok my legs broken oh god! It hurts so much, We need help!”

“I-I’ll go-go get help Sarah, just weight here.” He would call out to her, his voice slurring with each syllable, He stumbled down the stairs trying to get down the stairs to her, which he manages to do and heads to the door. “God, why did we leave our phones out in the car!” Sarah said as Zack was reaching over to grab the door to escape and get help but since the door was locked at this point, he would never escape. He’ll try and try but it’s clear he was going to pass out sooner or later, It was only a matter of time; “Wh-Whats going on I know this door wasn’t locked before!” Zack was beginning to scream his hands slamming into the door. The crows in the Attic crowing as they flew off into the night. There I would suddenly cause one of the doors to slowly creak. This manages to catch his attention and would begin to run towards it not paying attention.

Slinging the door open, As he would begin running in without thinking. This makes me wish I knew what he was thinking maybe he thought he was going into the kitchen for the back door, but its hard to tell that’s for sure. But if that was the case, he was surely wrong. He ran into the darkness and found himself falling into it. Zack would tumble down, landing into the basement. There was nothing in there not even stairs as they’d collapsed down on itself a long time ago. The only thing in thee with Zack was one thing a set of bones, my bones to be exact, from over eighty years ago. I could hear his bones cracking I felt his blood flowing through the brick floor.

I say he doesn’t have long left, maybe three days, at the most for Sarah I don’t know maybe she’ll survive, Only the good lord knows. But for Zack he had the pale moonlight rested on him, and I begin to slowly close it for him leaving him in the dark. It doesn’t matter to me who dies first, for I was once this house, and I will not be for long

The end

#Horror #Mr.Midnight #Stories #writers #writting #Ghost stories #Haunting #Houses

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