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the-bar-sinister · 25 days

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In Justice We Trust (88252 words) by thesavagesabretooth

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With Simon Blackquill and Athena Cykes assigned as their psychologists, the Phantom and Fulbright must grapple with their identity, their deeds, their future, and their love for the twisted samurai whom they betrayed.

All the while, Edgeworth and Wright find their relationship tested as they walk the narrow path between pursuing real justice, and the dark age of the law.

December 25, 6:45 am

Miles had requested one of the hotel conference rooms so that he could bring Phoenix up to speed on the case– given the lack of time or appropriate space to do so any earlier. He'd sent Kay to go fetch some bagels and coffee for the meeting, and he flipped through the paperwork from his briefcase, adjusting his reading glasses.

There was a knock on the door, and the man behind it didn't wait for a 'come in' before he invited himself.

Phoenix Wright swaggered in, in his shirt sleeves and suspenders, with his signature blue coat tossed over one shoulder. His hair wasn't gelled back yet, hanging instead in untidy damp locks around his face and over his eyes.

He yawned, clicking the door closed behind him. "Morning, Edgeworth."

"Good morning, Wright." Miles looked up at him rather appreciatively, leaning on his hand and taking in the view. "I see my request caught you just out of the shower."

"Hey, you jump, I ask how high, eh?" Wright walked over and put his arms around Miles' shoulders, leaning over him from behind the chair.

Miles laughed and nuzzled his face against Phoenix's warm, freshly shaved cheek, the gentle scent of his aftershave and shampoo mingling. "You most emphatically do not do that, Phoenix. But you smell nice, so that's something."

"Well, as long as I've got something going for me, huh?" He smiled that big, stupid smile of his, and Miles grabbed his chin and pulled him into a rough, insistent kiss. It was the first one he'd managed to steal in days, and he was determined to enjoy it. Phoenix's tongue tasted of peppermint, and he made a soft noise as Miles bit and sucked at his lips.

When he finally released him, Phoenix took a deep breath, and batted his eyelashes. "Why, Mr. Edgeworth, how terribly scandalous!" he cooed in a falsetto.

Miles rolled his eyes. "Every time, Mr.Wright. And worth the potential scandal every time."

Phoenix leaned on him. "You spoil me, Miles."

"After the way you've behaved lately? I absolutely think I spoil you. You'd better be ready to really earn that badge I got back for you." He traced his fingers over Phoenix's jaw softly. He'd been hurt– terribly hurt– when Phoenix had said he wouldn't go to bat with him on this case, after everything Miles had done for him. But he could never stay angry at Phoenix long. It was that puppy dog look of his.

Phoenix leaned into Miles' touch and nodded, closing his eyes. "Consider me ready, Miles. But you already have the others here, what exactly is the plan?"

"For starters, I'm keeping you on a leash this time. You're going to help me investigate some of the more behind the scenes elements here."

"Oooh, investigating is my favorite part," Phoenix grinned.

"Don't think I don't know it," Miles chuckled. "Really, you would have made a better detective than a lawyer, Phoenix."

"And what about you, Miles? I'd say the same."

Miles adjusted his glasses, and smiled, bashfully. "Yes, well, we all have our roles to play, don't we? What use is playing detective if it's for a corrupt system?"

They'd talked about it before. About washing their hands of the whole thing and doing something like joining interpol, or opening a detective agency. But Miles couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't bring himself to give up trying to piece back together the broken shards of their legal system.

One day. One day he could retire and leave the politics behind, and just do the fun part. Maybe he could even get Phoenix to come with him.

"So you say, Miles," Phoenix murmured. He nuzzled him like a cat– and they both froze when there was another knock at the door.

The door swung open, and in walked Kay Faraday, her arms laden down with a few paper bags and a balanced tray of three coffees in cheap, but sizable, paper cups.

“Gotcha the coffee, boss! And bagels. Hope you like onion, it’s all they had le–” The young woman paused, before flashing a grin. “Knew you’d probably show up, Mr. Phoenix. Got you a coffee too!”

Miles flushed, and pulled away from Phoenix, who did the same, straightening his tie. Kay knew about him and Wright of course, but that was no excuse for such unprofessional behavior.

Miles cleared his throat and smoothed his hair. "Ah, yes, thank you, Kay. I appreciate the effort. We're just about to go over the facts of the case."

Phoenix grinned, tugging at his cuffs. "Hey, Kay. Been a while."

“Been a long time, Phoenix. How’s the office? Still run in the tyrannical grip of your daughter?” Kay asked with a snicker as she dropped the bags on the table along with the coffee.

She’d changed over the years…even if she was still ever the playful thief, she’d still grown up in a lot of ways. She had her hair in a loose bun today, pinned down with a pair of ornate sticks..

“I didn’t miss the brief?”

"Not at all," Miles said, spreading his hands. "It was just… smalltalk. Have a seat."

"The smallest," Phoenix chuckled. He pulled out a chair for Kay on Miles' right side before sitting down at his left.

Kay Faraday took a seat, leaning onto her hands as some of her dark hair fell across her eye “Guess it’s time to get down to business, eh? So you can have some more time for smalltalk later~..”

December 25, 7:00 am

Miles coughed as Kay teased him.. "Yes, ah, anyway… the best place to start is with the dead agents."

She watched as he pulled a folder out of his briefcase.

Kay Faraday glanced at the folder with a low sigh. She’d gotten long used to bodies, they’d always seemed to crop up wherever she and Miles had gone together. They never got any easier to deal with, or any less sad to see…but she was used to them.

“Got any names for us, boss? Or is Lang keeping them hush?”

"That'd be pretty inconvenient if so," Phoenix mused, leaning on his hand.

"Hardly," Miles rolled his eyes and presented to glossy photos– one of a tan skinned man with glossy ringlets of black hair, the other blond, blue eyed and clean cut. "Agent Angelo St. John, and Agent Layton Fish. They were the closest agents here in Cauli when Lang sent word to watch the airport."

“Bad luck. Guys are sleeping with the fishes and running with the angels at the same time. One bad job, ” Kay murmured. She leaned over to look at the pictures thoughtfully. “what’s the scene look like?”

"Not good." Miles set his jaw and showed another picture. Two vehicles, both burned and twisted almost to unrecognizability.

Phoenix whistled. "I'll say. Did they find any bodies?"

"Two. Interpol has their forensics working on dental records. I'm planning to have Ema lend us her expertise at the scene."

"So we don't even know if these are our guys," Phoenix said.

"Not one hundred percent, no. But Agent Kelso has confirmed that one of the vehicles matches– well, matched– the car that the agents left in."

Kay’s eyes lingered on the damage from the fire. “So it’s pretty likely, unless someone’s playing one heck of a trick on us. “

Phoenix weaved his fingers together. "We've seen some pretty good tricks. But there's always evidence."

"There's always evidence," Miles agreed. "I'm sending most of our people to the scene to look in person today, while some of us take a different tactic. I'd like to do some investigating at the airport itself and see if we can get anything from the security people."

Kay nodded seriously, leaning on her hands with a grin. “Might turn up something. Might turn up more if you let me slip in there and dig around their security files.”

"Kay, don't even suggest anything illegal to me today," Miles said firmly. "We're here by the grace of interpol. We do things by the book– that goes double for you, Phoenix."

He held his hands up and grinned. "What, me? Do something unethical? Never."

“And who from Interpol’s here?” Kay puffed out her cheeks. “I mean…Agent Lang always let me do my thing. And it’s not like either of his subordinates are gonna give me crap for unconventional tactics.”

Miles crossed his arms. "if you clear it with Lang you can do whatever you want, Kay. If you clear it with Lang. His favorite agents are with him too, if you'd like to give wheedling them a shot. Meanwhile, Phoenix and I are also going to be following up on our main target."

“Ooof.” Kay grimaced. “I mean, Badd’s a pushover when it comes to me, but…” the other one…she had some complicated history with. Besides, she’d probably just laugh the request off.

“Yessir. “ She sighed, and grabbed a bagel “sounds like you got a day chock full of adventure.”

"Adventure is one way to put it," Miles murmured. He pulled out another picture. It was a wide shot of the airport's baggage claim, the same one they'd been in last night. "This is the picture that Agent Kelso sent back before the disappearance of her fellow agents. It was just enough to make a positive ID."

"A positive ID, huh?" Phoenix rubbed his chin, and squinted at the picture. There was a pair of figures circled in red marker. A blond, bespectacled older man meeting with a slim, dark haired figure in large sunglasses. The older man's face was turned toward the camera, and his features were visible.

“So that’s the guy, huh?” Kay whistled low under her breath “...and the person in the shades, that’s the one Kelso had been tailing?”

Miles nodded. "The one in the shades is the one Kelso followed from LA to Cauli, yes. The bomber at Fulbright's apartment. And the other– the blond– we think that's the one that the Phantom referred to as 'specs' during questioning."

"Specs, huh?" Phoenix asked. "You said you got a positive ID from this picture?"

"Interpol ran the data for hours," Miles nodded. "It came up with a man named Gaius Lovelace. Dual British and Zheng-Fa citizenship. He runs a consultancy business and manages a hedge fund."

“Bet he’s hedging his bets that we aren’t going to find him and kick his ass six ways from Sunday.” Kay grumbled, before quickly adding. “with the law, I mean!”

"With the law," Miles agreed. "We're going to see if we can pick up his trail here in Cauli somehow, while Interpol is investigating his residence in England."

"Sounds like a hell of a case, Edgeworth," Phoenix said with a little smile.

Edgeworth smirked back. "I knew I could get you interested, Wright."

Kay stretched as she stuffed her bagel into her mouth. A moment later, she dared to ask the question. “So what should I do, boss? Given it’s date night for you two.”

The noise Edgeworth made was hilarious.

December 25, 7:30 am

Halblicht caught his breath as he watched Apollo's receding figure leave the cafeteria. Everyone was staring at them. The staff were staring at them.

That was a disaster.

Simon's hands were on his shoulders, and he looked up to see the prosecutor's gaze following Apollo as well. And Athena was still interposed between himself, and the world.

It could have gone worse, I suppose.

"Still with us, Half Bright?" Simon demanded, glancing down at him.

"For the moment." He fixed his sunglasses. "Ms. Cykes, you didn't need to do that."

“No, Robert.” Athena’s voice carried a tremor that was hard to identify the root of, but she stayed standing between him and the retreating Apollo.

“I did. You’re my patient. I promised to help you, right? Part of that’s not letting my friend beat you to a pulp because he’s lost control of his emotions.” her voice dropped into a quiet murmur “...it wouldn’t be right.”

Bobby reached out, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Cykes, I accept your commitment as a staunch fellow ally of justice– but he could have hurt you."

Their eyes watered and Robert almost staggered under the weight of Bobby's wave of concern and gratitude.

When Athena turned towards him, there were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face that didn’t quite reach them.

“He already did, Bobby. Didn’t even have to land a punch.” She shook her head, and her shoulder shook under his hand “...it was a risk I was ready to take. I’m stronger than I look, I could have taken it. I didn’t want him to hurt you anymore…or to hurt himself doing something he’d regret..”

They rubbed their chest. It ached. Apollo had hit them right in the same place that the bullet had.

"I appreciate it, Athena, but…"

Simon scoffed. "What's done is done. Athena threw herself into harm's way for, perhaps no good reason. But who among us can say we've never done the same."

"I suppose," Bobby murmured.

Is he including us in that?

I have no idea.

They glanced across the table. Investigator Skye had been there when this began– was she still?

Ema had shot up in the confusion, and was halfway across the cafeteria as Apollo vanished. The last sounds of her calling out to him died in a low growl as she ran her hands through her hair.

“Great, fan fucking tastic. Great. Awesome.”

Simon frowned deeply, as he followed Halblicht's gaze."Well. I suppose we have the table to ourselves now. And Mr. Justice is aware of the situation. So whatever else may be the case– mission accomplished."

“Yeah..” Athena’s voice was hollow as she pressed her hand to her face. “Mission accomplished.”

“...” Ema tugged at her hair just a little bit ahead, hissing under her breath. Eventually she stormed off to a table, where she grabbed a bag of complimentary chips “I’m getting ready for the damned investigation.”

"I guess we all should…" Bobby sighed heavily and finally seated himself as well– noticing that only now did Simon take his hands off him. The prosecutor didn't acknowledge it, merely sitting down next to him. "I'm sorry about the scene…"

It was inevitable, really.

Maybe, but I'm still sorry. I hope Mr. Justice can… calm down, at least.Ema vanished out the door, and Athena dropped into a chair.

“...it’s my fault," Athena sighed,"I should have explained it better…or just bitten the bullet and dealt with Miles being angry with me and told him sooner.”

Robert pushed their glasses up. "Frankly, Ms. Athena, we probably should have gone to Mr. Edgeworth and let him handle it. but what's done is done."

“What’s done is done,” she echoed, looking at the door. “But I think I’m out an investigation partner for the day.”

"Well, it's irregular," Simon said, leaning on one hand and starting to pick at his breakfast again. "But this is an irregular situation. Why don't you just investigate with us?"

Athena looked up at them with a blink “...the defense and the prosecution working together, huh? Not a bad idea…”

Bobby smiles. "You two do make quite the impressive team. And anyway, we don't even know who you'll be representing yet, Ms. Athena. I'm sure there's no harm in it."

“That’s true.” Athena finally smiled again, rubbing the back of her neck. “no harm at all…and anyway, the prosecution needs to start learning to share anyway.”

"True enough," Simon agreed with a smirk. "Much as I enjoy mysterious ways, now that the dark age of the law has started to crack, things might change."

Bobby stood to get himself some coffee. It already felt like things were changing.

Charging in had definitely been the right thing to do.

"Where are you going, Half Bright?"

They stopped frozen and turned toward Simon.

We should probably have asked permission…

"Ah, just to get some coffee, sir."

They waited for the rebuke.

"Good, get me another cup."

Bobby wasn't the only one who felt a small sting of relief.

December 25, 7:30 am

Trucy and Pearl had slept in a bit compared to everyone else. Trucy had woken up to a message on her phone from her Daddy to go and have breakfast without him, because he was in a meeting with Mr. Edgeworth.

“Looks like we’ve gotta go it alone this morning, Pearl.” she’d said as she tied her hair into its usual low ponytail. “Daddy’s busy with Mr. Edgeworth, so we’re gonna have to scrounge for ourselves.”

Pearl had put her own hair back up in it's complicated coiffure the night before after it had dried, and she was sitting on the end of the bed, kicking her feet, and watching as Trucy finished getting ready.

"You say scrounge as if there isn't a whole hotel restaurant, Trucy," she giggled.

Trucy fluffed her hair, letting the cluster of locks fall down to frame her face in a curl on one side, before she turned with a sweep of her cape as she fastened it over her shoulders.

“A whole hotel restaurant for us to scrounge and forage in…only us, our wits, and daddy’s hotel tab between us and a good balanced breakfast.”

Pearl giggled and hopped up to her feet. "I think it might actually be Mr. Miles' hotel tab in this case. Or maybe even Klavier's!"

“You know what that means, Pearl.” Trucy offered her hand with a grin “...we don’t have to worry about going ham. Daddy’s broke, but Mr. Edgeworth is loaded.”

Pearl giggled and took her hand. "Let's go ham then! Or at least get ham. I don't want to be stuffed to the gills when we go meet Klavier, after all!"

She giggled and tugged her toward the door.

Trucy followed her with a laugh. “That's true, that’s true. Alright, we’ll make sure to at least get ham and maybe something sweet on the go, and then get going to see Klavier. I’d like to be able to dance, at the very least.”

"Dance huh?" Pearl asked as they hurried down the hall. "You think he'll invite us to?"

Trucy squeezed her hand. “I mean he’s a musician, I think he’d be offended if we didn’t wanna!”

"Truuue, but I didn't know if he was gonna do anything actually musical in this commercial," she mused. She paused waiting for the elevator. "You said it was for a brand of soft drink, right?"

“You…” Trucy rubbed her chin. “you think he’d agree to do it if he wasn’t gonna get to rock out? What? Is he gonna prosecute someone in it?”

Pearl stepped into the elevator. She mirrored Trucy's gesture, rubbing her own chin. "Well I mean I kind of just thought he was going to open a soft drink 80 different times in 80 different takes and go 'ahhh, so refreshing!' or something."

Trucy stuck out her tongue. "Blehhh… First of all, he’d get a stomachache. Second of all, that’d be lame. There’s no pizzazz in that. Where’s the magic? Where’s the light and sound? Nobody’s gonna wanna drink their stupid soda if it’s just a guy opening it, looking sick because it’s his hundredth soda and going ‘yum, it’s good, buy it, dummy’, you know?”

Pearl rubbed her neck as the elevator descended. "Um, I super agree with you Trucy, but I'm not sure that's how commercials work. I'm also not sure why I know more about commercials than you…"

Trucy flushed a brilliant red, huffing. “I…I…every commercial I’ve ever been in’s been exciting! That’s all! Geeze!”

The elevator stopped at the first floor.

"Have you been in a bunch?"

“I’ve been in one.” Trucy waved her hand back and forth in the air, still holding Pearl’s. “It was for the Wright Anything Agency!”

"Ooooooh. Well, then it's no surprise it was exciting!"

The door opened and she tugged Trucy out and toward the dining hall.

Trucy followed close behind, grinning as she went .

“We didn't have food, either, but if we did I wouldn’t have wanted to waste it, you know? So obviously someone’s gotta drink the sodas that Klavier doesn’t….maybe he actually gives them to the crew so he doesn’t get sick? I dunno.”

"Ooooh, maybe. That'd be nice, right?" She pushed the door to the dining room open. "After you!"

Trucy dipped into a curtsy with a grin.

“why thank you, Pearl.” she winked “you know how to make a girl feel special…” With that and tip of her hat, she slipped into the dining hall.

Slipping into the dining room, Trucy realized there was almost nobody in there. A couple of people off to one side Trucy didn't recognize, and Athena sitting with Simon Blackquill and some other guy.

And that was basically it. No Kay, no Gumshoe. No Apollo.

“Uh…..” Trucy stopped short with a raise of her eyebrow under the brim of her hat. “...where the heck is everyone? Polly shoulda been here by now. He never misses breakfast.”

Pearl rubbed her neck. "More breakfast for us I guess? Maybe he already ate and got going?"

Trucy watched her look around the dining hall, and her gaze come to rest on the mystery man sitting with Athena and Simon.

She leaned on Pearl’s shoulder, staring along with her with a puzzled tilt of her head. “Who's that guy?”

Pearl chewed on her thumb, and looked distracted. "Gosh, um… that's a good question..."

“He kinda looks familiar…like I saw him somewhere recently.” Trucy mused with her chin against Pearl’s shoulder. “..what’s up, Pearl? Do you recognize him?”

"Um…." Pearl chewed on her thumb again. "Why don't we get some breakfast."

Trucy glanced between Pearl’s expression and the mystery man tugging at the edge of her memory.

“...Yeah uh.” She eased Pearl towards the breakfast buffet tables, “let’s maybe do that and we’ll sort it out together.”

December 25, 7:45 am

As they were finishing up with breakfast, Athena noticed Trucy and Pearl pause in the doorway, before they headed over to the buffet area.

“Hmmm,” Athena’s brow knit as she nibbled down a piece of bacon. “Why…are Trucy and Pearl here?”

Simon looked up. "I'm sorry, what?"

Athena pointed to them at the buffet table with her slice of bacon. “...Trucy and Pearl. They’re over there. They were staring right at us for like….3 minutes before they wandered over there. Why…why are they here in Cauli?”

Halblicht looked over his shoulder curiously as well. "Trucy Wright, yes? And the other girl… wasn't she involved in the orca case?"

“Yeah, that’s right! She was the penguin whisperer…because she fell down in a bunch of fish.” She laughed into her hand. “She’s a spirit medium from Kurain , I’m pretty sure. She’s really great.”

"A… spirit medium?" Halblicht's expression was unreadable, but Athena felt a brief flicker of odd, twisted emotions from him anyway. "How unusual."

“Yeah…her cousin was part of that whole case back in the day that proved the existence of ghosts, you know.” Athena mused , leaning on her hand. “She was possessed by the vengeful spirit of a multiple murderer..”

The restaurant’s door slammed open, carrying with it a cheerful, if very sleepy sounding, salutation.

“G’morning, fellas!” Agent Kelso called out, as she adjusted her sunglasses in her hair. “Can the Edgeworth party come with me?”

#narumitsu #wrightworth #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #athena cykes #bobby fulbright #simon blackquill #trucy wright #pearl fey #blackbright #phantomquill #ace attorney #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #archive of our own #ao3 #fic: in justice we trust

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possession1981 · 4 months

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i was tagged by my beloved angelic @xiaojuun @baekhyunnybyun @yeofi @ye-xiu and @byunbaekhyunie to make a giffing recap/review of my 2023 creations which is always such a good time to be honest thank you all for tagging me 💞

tagging @sunghanbin @yunwooz @souladies

rules: link your favorite and/or most popular post from each month this year <3 (it’s totally fine to skip months!) and tag some CCs you love!

JANUARY top post: this xiaojun phantom bts set which... i can't blame anyone for it's so gorgeous. favourites: taeyang on the cross is probably one of my fave creations of ever. however, i made a lot of stuff i'm obsessed with in january apparently so i'm gonna give a list of other faves. my other xiaojun phantom jacket shooting set, this sf9 leo-line set (🥲), my taemin armpit set lmfao, kai kokobop set and jongtae not included are just all so beloved to me.

FEBRUARY top post: fuckboy keeho in the leopard jacket favourites: this jacob simply kpop mc set because the colouring is CRAZY... also this jongin set like I AM GONNA CRY.

MARCH top post: MR ROVER favourites: my doyoung in shades of blue set for roloved's birthday <3 i really love the way it came out like the textures and the colours just so sexy. also this cutie jonginie and tbz relay dance pile 💝

APRIL top post: taemin military freedom set which honestly makes all the sense in the world. favourites: my gorgeous princess sheon and this chorong set from dnd which is one of my faves possibly ever actually.

MAY top post: jiwoo icky mv set. my followers are gay women. it's also my fave from may. favourites: aside from the above set, juyeon in red for vianey's bday, shinee tell me what to do mv and jacob's bday set were all exceptional exercises in colouring.

JUNE top post: taekey reunion really blew up. favourites: i love the composition of my fromis menow mv set. keeho in jump is a fave colouring-wise and then there's this set of chanhee just being the prettiest ever.

JULY top post: junhui psycho mv set A WIN! favourites: this other set from psycho. also this taemin stage set from hard is INSANE, ksoo in electric kiss is so fucking sexy, and my edit of changmin from maps july issue goes so hard.

AUGUST top post: this set from the end of possession favourites: my brave girls' mv, jihoon fancam 😵‍💫, everglow slay mv, and also this jacob that i'm normal about. there were a lot of good creations in august i could have added more sorry.

SEPTEMBER top post: this goth ass coppola dracula set favourites: gemma arterton from byzantium and chanmina b-list mv.

OCTOBER top post: queen of the damned rose petal scene for the horny people favourites: sunmi stranger mv, the handmaiden love set and a tale of two sisters

NOVEMBER top post: seulgi chill kill fancam! favourites: zhang yimou's hero, sunmi stranger dykey outfit fancam and dawon last sequence fancam <3

DECEMBER top post: gong li in raise the red lantern, coincidentally also one of my faves of all time. favourites: other faves were tvxq rebel mv and woodz amnesia mv

#*mine #*mywork #tag game

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night-unfurls-its-splendour · 9 months

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Susan Kay's 'Phantom' Read: Part VI (Erik-Christine Counterpoint)

Dear God.

I can now unequivocally say I hate this book. Some of you may have caught my vent post from earlier which I wrote in one of the many moments I had to put the book down and walk away for the good of my own health and sanity.

The badness of this book has now ceased to be amusing and is now just... bad. So bad in fact that I think it triggered my bronchial asthma and I had to get out of the bathtub and find my inhaler before I could finish this portion.

To sum up it really seems like Kay lost any and all interest in exploring Leroux's characters once she finished Erik’s back-story. Yes there were differences from Canon even there, but the story was still following Leroux's timeline and was by-and-large canon compliant.

This section, barring a few superficially similar details is virtually unrecognizable from the source material.

Yes Erik begins to teach Christine under the guise of the Angel of Music, and yes he takes her down under the Opera house for two weeks. And yes they go up for the masquerade and yes Christine and Raoul plan to run away on the rooftop, leading to Erik planning to blow up the Opera house out of desperation.

Carlotta croaks like a toad and the chandelier does indeed crash.

Yet all of these details seem like perfunctory afterthoughts. The intervening material is so wholly divorced from Leroux's story that when events from the canon are included, it felt almost jarring to me.

I hate the way Kay characterizes Christine, and Erik is just as bad if not worse.

Christine’s descent into the lair is clearly modeled off of the Musical/1925 movie, with Erik drawing her down into the tunnels in a trance. And Christine asks for the Angel to take her away! How convenient for Erik!

I would have been far more interested in seeing the abduction from the book as told from Erik's perspective.

This launches a self-indulgent two weeks of Christine essentially worshipping at Erik's feet, which is shattered only by a frankly ineffective unmasking scene (again based on the musical/1925 movie and less affecting than either).

This is no torrid, passionate, innately horrifying yet also emotionally heart-wrenching unmasking of Leroux. Christine simply snatches the mask and Erik has a heart attack(?) before he can fully choke her out.

Christine’s shock at discovering that her Angel is actually a man, and then her horror of his face is lacklustre, and completely insufficient to convince me that this is really a big enough stumbling block to prevent her from marrying him. She puts him on such a high pedestal and Erik does absolutely nothing to contradict her. He says he worships her, but in action, she is always deferential to him. He never prostrates himself before her, never treats her like a queen, like a goddess. He never follows her around like a faithful dog, as he does in Leroux. On the contrary, she follows him.

She's so obviously in love with Erik that her claims of confusion regarding her feelings for him come off as flaccid and disingenuous, and her obvious preference for Erik and her complacency with her situation sap any tension from the love story.

Don't misunderstand me, I like when a Christine has a preference for Erik. My problem is that Kay has completely lain all her cards on the table. Christine speaks freely and almost easily of Erik to Raoul who is basically a cardboard cut out. Kay's attempt at "exploring" whether Raoul's doubts in Christine's love for him are really founded in Christine secretly holding a candle for Erik is ultimately pointless because the READER already knows that she finds Raoul's love a pale comparison to what she feels with Erik! There's no mystery here!

(Its unfortunate that Kay wrote this before having access to Lowell Bair's translation, which provided us for the first time with Leroux's own answer to that Question: Why tempt fate, Raoul! Why ask me about things which I keep hidden in the back of my heart like a sin?"

It makes it feel even more incomprehensibly perfunctory when Christine decides to run away with Raoul when she knows that she could simply marry Erik for however long he has left (he's apparently not long for this world anyway) and then go on with her life. Gah!!

And then there's how Kay infantilizes Christine. While Leroux's Christine is eccentric and dreamy and credulous, she is not ignorant or "unstable". She's aware of the ways of the world

You would say that to me, Raoul? You, an old playfellow of my own! A friend of my father! You have changed since those days, Raoul. What can you be thinking of? I am an honest girl, M. le Vicomte de Chagny, and I don't lock myself in my dressing room with mens voices!"

Christine very clearly understands the implications here, and she's outraged and offended that Raoul would even imply that she would conduct herself with impropriety.

And it's not only Kay who infantilizes Christine, but Erik as well:

I'm beginning to realize just how much of a child she really is, how terrifyingly immature and vulnerable--even unstable. There's a fatal flaw running through her, like a hairline crack in a Ming dynasty vase, but that imperfection makes me love her with even greater tenderness. I don't suppose for one moment that that boy is aware of the never-ending care she'll need. Whoever marries Christine is going to have to play the father as well as the lover; if she lives to be eighty she may never be more than a child at heart, a lost and frightened little girl, bewildered by the demands of reality.

This is infuriating to me, because, as M. Grant Kellermeyer so astutely points out in his footnotes of the 2018 Old Style Tales Edition of the book:

"He confesses his cheat. He loves me! He lays an immense and tragic love at my feet... he has carried me off for love! He has imprisoned me with him underground, for love! But he respects me!*"

* - This, indeed, seems to be a unique experience in Christine's life: she is surrounded by people who despise her (Carlotta), dismiss her (the managers), idolize her (Raoul), infantilize her (Mama Valerius), and pity her (the opera workers)--Erik alone respects her. Erik alone sees in her the power and artistry that becomes increasingly obvious as her character grows in confidence and assertiveness. Erik fears her to an extent, and [...] it is likely that Christine is simply touched by Erik's belief in her, his confidence in her, and his devotion to her success.

And Kellermeyer's point about Christine growing in assertiveness is very very important. She wields power over both Erik and Raoul.

But Kay's Christine doesn't. Erik's treatment of her, both his actual treatment and his internal monologue is absolutely horrible, so again NOT AT ALL how Leroux's Erik treats her.

Let's start with the stretch where he's playing the Angel (Alexa play album "Playing the Angel" by Depeche Mode)

Christine says:

He's so stern and exacting in his demand for perfection; he never praises me, even when I know I have done well. He remains aloof and cold in his timeless imperishable wisdom, and I know that the worship of a mortal heart can mean nothing to him.

Kayrik said he wanted to be her angel who would make her feel confidence in herself at last, and yet none of his behaviour exhibits any desire to do that. I hate interpretations of Erik that take "stern" to mean cold or outright verbally abusive. That is terrible teaching method and never produces good results. Furthermore, in Leroux, Christine never mentions the Angel withholding praise, and when he is aloof following Raoul's reappearance in Christine's life, it even seems as though this is a departure from the norm.

Arguably one of the most iconic moments of the original novel is the scene where Christine is left alone in her dressing room after recovering from a fainting spell that saw her carried off the stage immediately after her triumph. Raoul, outside her room, hears Christine and Man's voice conversing and we are given some of the most iconic lines in the novel:

He had heard a man's voice in the dressing room, saying, in a curiously masterful tone:

"Christine, you must love me!"

And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling as though accompanied by tears, replied:

"How can you say that to me? To me, when I sing only for you!"

[...]

The man's voice spoke again: "Are you very tired?"

"Oh, tonight I gave you my soul, and I am dead!"

"Your soul is a very beautiful thing, child," replied the grave man's voice, "and I thank you. No emperor ever recieved so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight."

Raoul heard nothing after that.

This important scene, deeply layered with romantic and sexual subtext, is completely absent from Phantom. Not only that Kay explicitly says that when Christine returned to her dressing room after her triumph, the voice wasn't there at all. He never congratulates her, never praises her. He's simply. Not. There. For her.

It's not just this that I hate though.

It's the number of times Erik calls her a "stupid child".

Funnily enough, Erik treats Christine with the exact same supercilious condescension that makes me hate Raoul in the musical.

Both Kayrik and Musical Raoul look at Christine and regard her as potentially mentally unstable, unable to trust her own senses or handle reality. To both of them she is a "scared little girl" and will never be anything more. Both of them look at that and say "No matter, let me wife that."

Interesting thing: Leroux Erik only calls Christine "Child" when he is in his guise as the Angel. Never does Erik, as Erik, refer to her that way.

Now I'll pause to say, there is one part of this episode I enjoyed and that is when Christine masturbates to Don Juan Triumphant.

And yet even this I have a problem with.

I've already covered the fact that though Leroux's Christine is innocent, she is not ignorant. She is very aware of the potential sexual danger Erik poses to her when he abducts her (though this, again was not a portion of the book available in English when Kay was writing). Nevertheless I still find it hateful and irritating that Kay's Christine is so ignorant that when Erik's music arouses her, she says she touched herself in a place "I had never known existed."

And the fact that Christine has remained insensible to her sexuality this far into her relationship with Erik is another thing that chaps my hide.

Both Leroux's Christine and Andrew Lloyd Webber's admit to fearing the effect that the Angel of Music and his tutelage have had on her. Leroux's Christine says "I hardly knew myself when I sang. I was even frightened." And Andrew Lloyd Webbers also says "He's with me even now, all around me--it frightens me" and in a short-lived alternative lyric used on the West End "I'm changing, Meg!"

And indeed, Erik's tutelage has changed Christine. Her singing under Erik's influence is not simply that of innocent euphoria. It referred to in deliberately orgasmic terms such as "Ecstasy" and "Rapture". And this so frightens her, because she is aware of what exactly these ecstasies are awakening in her. But Kay's Christine doesn't seem to be undergoing the same change. Instead of Erik's voice awakening her, Kay rather describes him as shrouding her in the fantastic, even shielding her from the very awareness and maturity that Leroux's Erik seems to be drawing out in her. Her final step into adult awareness is Erik revealing himself to her as a man, which seems to be something of a non-event here, not even of importance independent of the Unmasking. To Kay's Christine it simply is, while that simple fact is reacted to by ALW's Christine with undisguised attraction and by Leroux's with indignation.

Further sullying what is otherwise a very engaging (if somewhat short) scene of... self... discovery(?) Is Erik's perspective on the proceedings, an excerpt which prejudiced me against this book long before I undertook to read it:

I dared not think how near I had been to losing control, how terrifyingly easy it would have been in that moment to rape her. I'd raped her with music instead, and perhaps that crime was almost as bad as the one it had so narrowly prevented. Either way I'd violated her trust and destroyed a rare and precious innocence--soiled the delicate ambience that had lain between us all these weeks.

When I first ran afoul of this quote I had still been under the impression that this section of the book would be following Leroux's story and took this to be Kay's interpretation of the moment after the Unmasking when Erik, having lashed out in horrific fashion at Christine for exposing him, retreats to his room to express his anguish through music, and that music actually prevents Christine from taking her own life. In another travesty of censorship, though, the salient details of this moment (Christine's description of Erik's music) is yet another portion of the book Kay would have had no knowledge of or access to, yet is one of the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful pieces of prose ever put to print:

Troubled at the idea of the fate now awaiting me, and terrified of seeing the monster's uncovered face peering from the doorway to the room with the coffin, I had run to my own room and snatched up the scissors that could bring me freedom from this loathsome fate when I heard the sound of the organ.

At that instant I began to comprehend to Erik's strange rejection of what he termed "opera music". What I was now hearing was completely different from the music that had thrilled me up to that point. His "Don Juan Triumphant" (for I had no doubt that he was now losing himself in his Masterpiece to forget the horror of the moment) at first struck me as one long, dreadful, glorious lament into which he was pouring all of his bitter misery.

I visualized the manuscript with the blood red notes and easily imagined that they had been written in blood. His music carried me on a gut-wrenching journey through martyrdom and into the most hidden recesses of the pit which this hideous monster called home; it showed me Erik banging his poor, ugly head against the dreary walls of the hell where he took refuge from those whom he would otherwise frighten. I, listening, gulping for breath, besieged and pathetically broken by the Titanic cords which turned suffering divine: rising from the pit they suddenly rallied into a remarkable, menacing swarms, soaring up to heaven circling ever higher Like an Eagle toward the Sun. Listening to that Triumphant Symphony as it as it set the world of fire, I now understood that the work had achieved its apotheosis, and that the Beast soaring on the wings of love had dared to countenance Beauty.

Yet another iconic moment which Kay saw fit to axe from her work is Christine's visit to her father's grave at Perro-Guirec, where Erik plays for Christine unseen in the snowy graveyard at midnight, and after which Raoul comes face to face with Erik for the first time.

Kay weaves a frankly incoherent and disjointed tale that confounds in the original scenes and rushes through the ones that touch on canon.

But by far the most unforgivable omission

She cut out César, the White Horse from The Profeta.

See I was all set, back in part III to praise Kay's foreshadowing, because CLEARLY she put so much focus on Erik's affinity with his horses, having him tell Giovanni that he has no need to train them--they follow him because they want to, etc CLEARLY that was set-up for him carrying César off to transport Christine. RIGHT?

RIGHT?

Wrong.

As lovely as Erik's description of Christine's kiss is, by this point its so overshadowed by a cloud of shit, I couldn't really enjoy it.

Nearly finished now. I can't wait for this to be over...

Masterpost

#phantom of the opera #poto #commentary on 'phantom'#susan kay phantom #phantom susan kay

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flowery-laser-blasts · 8 months

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Headcanon: is Shego actually 'goth'?

my short answer: no, but it depends really.

I often see people talking about Shego as a 'cartoon goth girl' and I'm pretty sure that everyone is only basing it on her looks and 'attitude'.

The stereotype of gothic and any other type of alternative 'dark' subculture, is wearing black clothes, black lipstick and having a pissed or 'whatever' attitude.

Basic rule for goth: if you listen to goth music, you're goth. That's it. You can dress in 'normal'clothes and still be 'goth' at heart. It's your choice to express it.

Shego's appearance:

I've heard some people say her look and all screams goth but, it's just her ex-superhero suit??? That would make all of the Go siblings (or anyone who has black work clothes) 'goth'.

In 'stop team go' we find out that Shego's casual clothes are actually fairly 'ordinary' and match with Kim's tastes. Actually, Kim and Shego are REALLY close to one another when it comes to what they like and is Kim a goth? Most definetely not. (And that's OK).

"But in that episode, all of Shego's evilness got taken away" yeah, so? Does that mean being goth is evil? Heck no! It took away 'evil' not interests!

'Regular' people can wear black lipstick. Because doy, it's just make up!

If I put on pink lipstick, it doesn't mean that I am no longer goth or anything. It's always odd to me that if someone doesn't dress 100% goth 24/7 that (most of the time normal) people say "oh you're not a 'real'goth".

'Kay by that logic; where are Shego's platform boots, chains and spikes at ?

Also the stereotype that goths don't go into the sun? I've got news for you buddy; we kind of have to. I despise it because of my sun allergy and getting blinded by it but you can't go around it...

But for a stereotypical gothy cartoon character, Shego really does enjoy sunbathing huh? (And pft ofc goths can sunbathe but look at Sam Manson from Danny Phantom for example, she's covered from head to toe during the pool episode).

Shego's attitude:

I'm honestly puzzled because so often in media you see that the 'goth' is mopey, evil, depressed, dramatic, sarcastic or down right rude when that's the furthest from the truth!!!

Heck if you give Shego a blonde wig, pink lipstick and pink clothes, not only would you get evil 'Barbie', but you'd get a mean girls type-a girl. Think of it as Bonnie2.0. Except with a go-getter attitude and a larger range of skills.

Shego is an antagonist with a strong character with even stronger opinions. But that doesn't make her goth.

Shego's music tastes:

In the show, it's only ever established that she enjoys listening to MC Honey.

She seems to be kind of 'eh' about Oh Boyz, but perhaps it's because of Drakken who sings it.

I doubt she'd listen to 'goth' (or alternative) music because to hear it might be too... moopy.

The gothic scene is heavily based (started with) the gothic music genre, so if you don't listen to it then chances are: you're not goth.

Does that mean that goths can never listen to any other music genre? Heck no! You can listen to whatever you want, but you've got to know the roots and origins from a subculture.

My conclusion:

In terms of looks, Shego could be considered a 'goth'. But is she actually goth? I think noth.

And unless a cartoon character shows actual participation in the goth culture or states "yeah I'm goth", they're probably not goth.

But that's just my take on it and I'm also not going to be a gatekeeper of what is goth and what's not.

if you consider her 100% goth, that's a-ok!

MIGHT update this in the future but this is it for now.

Bonus:

Dr Drakken however, the man DEFINITELY had an angsty goth teen phase in his life and 100% listens to some punk, rock and new wave when working on his projects along with country, rap and poppy boyband songs.

+ that dark themed Victorian labcoat that he wears? and headcanon eyeliner to hide his eyebags? Sheeeeeesh! 😫👌

#kim possible headcanon #Shego #dr drakken #Headcanon #Gothic #Goth

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lupinedreaming · 9 months

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Eclipse writes a … book review?

Yes, that’s right! I decided to review a Phantom-based book I read earlier this year.

Basic summary of the book: A modern paranormal romance reimagining/sequel to Phantom of the Opera. In this novel, Christine Gray is sent on a ghost hunting investigation to the Paris Opera House.

You can either read my review below here on Tumblr or on Goodreads. This review contains spoilers. The first part is generally spoiler free, however.

Review:

Rating: 3.25

Oh man, this book was such a mixed bag! I really enjoyed the first half, but then it started to lose me in the second half.

What I liked:

— The main characters were good. I found the FMC enjoyable. While Erik’s characterization feels more based on the Susan Kay version of the character than on the original Leroux version, that didn’t bother me. I liked his characterization in the first half, but not so much in the second half (I’ll get to that).

— The writing is good! It’s not particularly flashy or flowery or anything, but the writing style is solid and engaging.

— Good side character in the form of Balt. He wasn’t super deep or anything, but he was fun. I’d like to read more about him.

Stuff that didn’t work for me:

— Erik being written as very proficient in sex. I could buy him /maybe/ having slept with one or two other people, or having a lot of knowledge from books, but him being so experienced and excellent at it didn’t really make sense for his character and background. But, eh, it’s not really too surprising for this sort of book.

— There’s a dub-con scene I wasn’t a fan of. I don’t usually like dub-con (though it can occasionally work) even in villain romances, but I know other villain fans feel differently, so your mileage may vary.

Stuff I didn’t like:

— Like I said, I got annoyed with Erik’s characterization around the halfway point and particularly at the end. It was frustrating to see him repeating the same mistakes he made in the original novel. Now, he’s a very damaged character, so I wouldn’t expect him to make entirely healthy or rational decisions. But a /huge/ point in the original novel is that at the end he learns to be selfless and lets Christine go.

While Forgotten Phantom is sort of a reimagining of the original book, it’s also a sequel. So it’s frustrating from a characterization perspective to see him make the same mistakes in general and then doing the whole torture chamber and ultimatum bit again. There’s no real growth.

— The other thing is that I wished the author had explained the reason for events and names repeating. It was clearly stated that it’s not a reincarnation thing, so what’s actually going on? There’s never any explanation. I don’t expect everything to necessarily be explained, but it’s such a big point that’s brought up throughout the story that I feel there should have been a bit more of an explanation.

Overall, I do think this is worth reading, but with my caveats stated above.

#phantom of the opera #the phantom of the opera #POTO #erik x christine #poto e/c

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glassprism · 1 year

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It's been said that Webber Christine shows the most strength and fierceness, more than other any other versions. But when watching 2004 movie Webber Christine that same feel isn't there. Why did they insist to have her be a bit more weaker than the stage? Did that look better to do for movie purposes?

Oh, I don't know about being the strongest and fiercest, plus it really depends on the actress. (Meghan Picerno? Very fierce. Sarah Brightman? More dreamy than fierce.) Like, I think Leroux's Christine, who slams a door in Erik's face, wields a pair of scissors in case Erik should "stop acting like a gentleman", lies to Erik's face for two weeks, bashes her own head against a wall - that's pretty strong. Not to mention Claude Rains's Christine, who ditches both men in favor of her own career, or Robert Englund's Christine, who literally sets his lair on fire, both badass in different ways.

I think the best way to say it is that ALW's Christine experiences the most growth and change, since she starts off naive and passive but becomes independent over the course of the show, while others, like Leroux's Christine, are quite strong to begin with but do display less growth as a consequence. (And then there's Kay's Christine who just doesn't mature at all. Just a flat line of character development.)

But anyway, one thing about the movie is that they cut off scenes that show more of Christine's defiance. The big one for me is 'Notes II', a scene in the musical where Christine 1) yells at Carlotta, 2) yells at the managers, 3) yells at Raoul, and 4) yells at everyone before running off. The movie, however, removes most of the scene, leaving only Raoul's plan and 'Twisted Every Way'. This is part of the adaptation process, of course, where scenes get shortened or removed to bring the runtime down, and it makes some sense because 'Twisted Every Way' is moved to after the graveyard scene, not before as in the musical, but it does mean that a moment of Christine actually speaking out for herself is excised.

Another aspect is just the direction given to Emmy Rossum and her acting, such as in 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again'. In the musical, most actresses use this scene as Christine's big growth moment - Christine is finally moving on from her grief, she's ready to stand on her own feet, etc. In the 2004 movie, though, Emmy Rossum is just... sad. She's sad. It's honestly a bit funny because it seems like nobody actually listened to the lyrics of the song ("No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years!"), as if the director was just like, "Oh, 'Wishing'? It's the sad song, right? Just tell Emmy to play it sad, that's all we need."

And a third factor is the blocking of some scenes. 'Final Lair' is the big stand-out to me, because in the musical Christine is everywhere in that scene: she's trying to free Raoul, she blocks him from the Phantom, she is sometimes actively fighting the Phantom or making him back down or yelling at him, and it really shows how active and defiant Christine has become. But in the movie's 'Final Lair', Christine just stands there, again looking sad ("about as useful as a mannequin" went one review). Maybe she didn't want to get her dress wet, I don't know. The overall effect is that Christine comes off like an observer, not an active participant in the scene.

As for why they did this, there are some possible reasons. I think a big part of is that the movie was made to appeal to a younger, more mainstream crowd, teenagers to very young adults, and one way to do that is to strip the audience surrogate (the character that people will project themselves onto, in this case Christine for young women) of her personality traits. This is something that Stephenie Meyer did with her Twilight series, where Bella was written "so that the reader could more easily step into her shoes", to the point of leaving out even a description of her appearance.

That being said, this isn't necessarily confined to movies for teenagers; it's a fairly common thing to do in romances too, and one thing about the 2004 movie is that it really upped the romantic aesthetic, humanizing the Phantom, making him much more an object of sympathy, and so on.

And of course... maybe that's just how the filmmakers see Christine! Maybe that's just how they see the story overall, as a love triangle with a passive girl being fought over by two men; unfortunately, I think love triangles in pop culture in general come off that way. Heck, women in media are still being written that way, and Phantom is far from the first or the last to have that happen. After all, stripped of blocking and staging and actresses, the story can be seen in that sense. It wouldn't be the first time someone has misinterpreted the musical (ahem restaged tour).

So there you have it.

#GP gets asks #anonymous #as I wrote this I had flashbacks to frigging Piers Anthony #who could not write women at all #but anyway

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dgknightblue · 8 months

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RVB fic idea:

Donut is casting characters for Phantom of the Opera for the theater he works at.

Simmons really wanted to be the Phantom but he didn’t get the part as his voice just didn’t go deep enough.

Donut decided on either Tucker or Locus.

Christine is either Donut himself, Caboose, or Kai.

Those are the only names I remember. Sorry.

Anyways, Simmons sulks that he didn’t get a big role because his voice wasn’t right for it. Grif’s voice could be a big role, but he didn’t put in the effort or tried out for it. He’s stuck in the back with Simmons.

Simmons and Grif are backstage with Doc and Carolina. Simmons is an understudy for a minor role and is a background singer. Grif is the phantom’s understudy since it’s decent enough.

Wait. Caboose gets a deep singing voice so he’s the phantom’s other understudy. Tucker got a major role, just not the one he wanted.

Behind the scenes as the production goes (there are problems as they are the reds and blues) Simmons still memorizes everyone’s lines in case they need help. Sarge is in charge or props and costumes.

Of course everyone gets to choose what their costume looks like because there would be too much arguing if any of them were forced to wear an outfit they hated (and weren’t in their colors). Jensen venomously denied wearing a dress because she wanted a suit.

Caboose wanted a dress, and Donut put on a amazing suit.

Sarge for some reason decided to wear a half dress/ half suit to one up everyone even though he wasn’t one of the actors.

Time passes and accidents happen, Simmons still doesn’t get to shine in the end. He gets so frustrated, he would have even accepted being Christine’s friend for a day!

As everyone parties, Simmons is in the bathroom (with an unbroken mirror) crying.

Grif, who had to watch this disaster and trying to keep it from blowing up (bow chica- shut up Tucker), sits with him on the floor and eat cake with tears in it.

“You know you would have hated the attention.”

“I know….I just…. It was important to me. Being the phantom was really important to me…. At least it wasn’t ripped away from me instead of not having it in the first place. It would of hurt more.”

“Why did you want to be the phantom so badly?”

“Back when I was a kid, I was desperate for something to hold on to. I wasn’t… always a man…. And well… even now I feel like a stranger in my body and it’s been years.”

“So you wanted to feel like a man? Are you on a low period right now?”

“It’s not just that, I can’t explain it well but I didn’t tell you guys everything about my accident. The phantom is this mysterious and luring figure that’s shunned a way and disfigured… like me. I honestly never considered acting or music since I was more into science and math, not to mention sports and music were something my father forced me to do.”

“Did you hate it?”

“Oh I hated it, though some things weren’t so bad. I never dared to say anything since I… well I didn’t want to get hit again, but I guess it would have happen either way.”

“Dude.”

“Don’t, you didn’t hear that.”

“Sigh…fine.”

Grif places his hand on Simmons’ for a moment and squeezed. Simmons leaned on his shoulder.

“I’ve always tried to hard and gave everything I had…. But no one wanted it. Wanted me. Too antisocial yet talked way too much… too much personality yet nothing worth talking about…. Always so dull and not good enough.”

“I want you, you know. To be your friend and all.”

“The only person that compulsively cleans up after you no matter what? Of course you want that.”

“No, I mean it. I like being your friend. I think the others like you too.”

“I don’t believe you. Last time I thought I had friends, they humiliated me in public.”

“We aren’t like that, I promise if you asked any one they’d wonder why you were asking because of course you are.”

“Right, and I didn’t slash the breaks of those xssholes cars.”

“Uh….did you really?”

“Yeah, not that hard- I even rewired their radios to broadcast their screaming to everyone else’s radios. Sigh… good times.”

“Bull shxt.”

“No really, one time I was sick of this one girl making fun of me for being a “teacher’s pet”, so I stole her phone and did some shxt. She thought she was haunted and the only way to get rid of it was to cleanse herself by swimming in the river near the park. It was mid winter and cold as fxck, she got sick for weeks.”

“I still don’t believe that.”

“When my ex hit me, I stabbed him like five or was it fourth five? Times. Anyways, he wasn’t getting up so kicked him to check if he was alive. Luckily he was, so I asked one of my aunts to deal with him and I never did find out what happened.”

“….uh….”

“I’m just fxcking with you.”

“Oh thank fxck!”

“I just walked home crying until my cousin drove by and took me to their house. My grandma made me cookies while they dealt with him. Still don’t know what happened, but I only got a letter saying he’s sorry and that I can have his black Porsche.”

“What the fxck? He actually hit you?”

“And kicked me and I’m surprised I made it that far down the road with a limp and blurry eyes. I did get better after spending time with Aunt Trudy on one of her tours around the world.”

Grif frowned at him until he noticed how close Simmons was leaning towards him. He swallowed down a stutter.

“Thanks Grif, for trying to cheer me up.”

“It’s no big deal…”

“Of course it is! I have to pay you back.”

“Nah, it’s fine!”

“I prefer actions over words, so I tend to give gifts like a batch of cookies or pie.”

“Well if you insist, I’m not going to stop you.”

Simmons leans in to give him a sweet kiss on the lips with one of his hands on Grif’s cheek. Grif was too shocked to respond, it was over before he realized it.

“Thank you, I’ll be sure to make you something you’ll enjoy.”

Simmons smile melted him as the burning from the kiss grew and showed on his face.

“Cough… okay…”

Simmons stood up and walked out of the bathroom. He opened the door to see the confusing sight of everyone else in the hall looking like they weren’t suspicious at all.

“Uh… Maine, can you please move?”

Maine moved and Simmons slowly made his way through the hallway looking at everyone. No one met his eyes.

Funny thing is, Simmons didn’t even think about where he kissed Grif. It was a thank you kiss after all. He’s European and has a large, mostly female, clan that smothered him with affection. He was the only baby of his mother and the youngest at the time. They couldn’t be near him, so he still felt lonely.

He missed his big sister, but she’s dead now.

It’s his fault, he shouldn’t have survived.

Anyways that’s it, bye!

#fanfiction #au #cute #red vs blue #phantom of the opera #poto au #phantom of the opera au #rvb au #grimmons #RVB Simmons #rvb grif #rvb sarge #rvb donut #rvb Kai #rvb Tucker #rvb caboose #broadway au #theater au

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emeritus-fuckers · 6 months

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••match up event!!••

1. Your identity!

charlie! xe/he/they! transgender male, bisexual, panromantic, polyamorous.

2. Who do you like? (pick from these ones)

EVERYONE!! :)

3. What do you look like?

i’m 5’6”. i have black hair with blonde bangs, kinda curvy, i wear glasses and i have blue/grey eyes. i have many freckles and stretch marks galore.

4. What's your personality?

i’m a huge mess, i cry over really small things. i’m really super sensitive and i don’t really get many social cues. i’m my own autism creature. i have really bad adhd and im also autistic.

5. Tell us about your interests!

I like painting, listening to music, reading, writing, playing my instruments. i like to think that music is one of my greatest passions but it could just be the need to always have noise in my ears. my music taste ranges from anywhere to taylor swift to ghost to scene queen to sara kays and so on forth. my current favorite song is ‘Below The Belt’ by Point North and Set It Off.

~~thanks!!!!~~

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries (asks) for the event close on 23rd October.

Your match is... Phantom!

If anything ever happens to your headphones, Phantom gladly provides noises, music and distractions.

Very open to try out whatever music you listen to. Even Taylor Swift.

He can absolutely keep up with your ADHD if you're hyper and chill with you when you need to recharge.

Never pushes you to do things if you get ADHD paralysis.

Notices the changes in your behavior if you misunderstand anything and tries his best to cheer you up.

He will clarify everything a couple times with you and never get annoyed with it. It's even somewhat exciting to him, actually. He feels super important thanks to it.

Absolutely prepared to throw hands for you.

Also informs right away if something's wrong. He does communicate sorta like a cat, but you figure it out.

Wants to try your glasses on. Whines about his vision being all weird if you let him.

Our boy loves all sorts of marks. Stretch marks and freckles? You're gonna be covered in kisses.

You better love affection, because you'll be drowning in it.

Written by Jez.

#ghost band #ghost bc #ghost #ask #charlie is a menace #phantom ghoul #phantom #match up event #match up

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kikiwikienigma · 1 year

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spitballing ideas for a narumitsu fic that I'm considering writing that is based on steins;gate (because I deleted twitter and need a new space to hurl my thoughts)

• set shortly before aa5

• one never-ending summer day at the agency, apollo walks in to athena setting up a dingy microwave that she had seen her neighbor attempting to throw out ("but polly, look at it! it's in perfect condition, of course I couldn't let her just toss it in the trash! and besides, now we don't have to eat cold leftovers for lunch anymore. it's about time we got an upgrade!" apollo sighs. she had a point.)

• phoenix comes in to the two of them fawning over the new microwave. he had just returned from attending a seminar about new research into tech that allows the user to go back in time to see what a crime scene looked like at an earlier point (similar to kay's little thief, but with a time travel aspect). "if only we could go back and actually prevent the crime from happening!" he jokes. "then again, I guess we'd be out of a job huh?"

• phoenix stays late that afternoon catching up on paperwork. he takes a break because something about the seminar nags at him. one of the audience members had objected furiously at the idea of twisting the fabric of time itself to force the truth out. even if it was heavily theoretical, it was dangerous. he fiddles with his magatama in his hands. he wants to call miles to talk about it.

• he stands up to stretch and figures he should try out the new microwave. he pops one of the cup of noodles into it that athena had bought earlier and eagerly stacked in a tower on the counter. as soon as he does, though, an acrid odor immediately fills the room. he opens the door and sees the cup of noodles halfway melted. he figures he just managed to do something wrong somehow, considering his poorer-than-average culinary skills, and lets out a defeated sigh. he leans against the counter and phones miles. they get to talking about the seminar and the topic slowly shifts to what he would've done differently over the years had he been given a second chance... the conversation is loaded with pining and sentiment

• phoenix is fiddling with his magatama again as they speak. he parrots the question back at miles, what he would've done differently. miles begins to tell him he doesn't think he would've changed anything, but before he can finish he lets out a shout. at the same time, the magatama shocks phoenix's hand. he swears he sees a bolt of green electricity between the microwave and the magatama. the colors in his vision invert for a moment and he suddenly feels sick. it's similar to when psyche locks would appear, but none do and it throws him off balance.

• when the pounding in his head recedes, he asks if miles is still there. when he doesn't get a response, he checks his phone and the screen is off. his call history claims he had never been on a call with him at all. he's confused but writes it off as his phone being crap.

• he looks up, though, and realizes the time of day is different. the sun is rising out of his window? he checks his phone again and has to do a double-take. for some reason, the screen tells him it's twelve hours earlier than he remembers it being. it's the morning of the same day. now he knows something is very, very wrong.

- end chapter one. -

• my concept for this fic is that phoenix is hurled across timelines as he desperately attempts to prevent miles' death from happening, meanwhile unraveling the dark age of the law and fighting against the phantom.

• something about seeing what a character as self-sacrificing as phoenix is would do for the ones he loves is incredibly fun to write about. desperation is agonizing to capture

• even if you don't know shit about steins;gate, I think this still reads fine because I only kept the premise of a microwave time machine pretty much. then I decided to connect the magatama to it and have its spiritual energy be the reason why phoenix can travel across world lines instead of using cell phones.

• so! this idea has been giving me brain worms for the last day or so. this is entirely steins;gate propaganda to all of the ace attorney fans out there

#ace attorney #steins;gate #narumitsu #phoenix wright #fic #miles edgeworth #apollo justice #athena cykes #time travel #au #fic ideas #dual destinies

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baronmpontmercy · 3 months

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Ooo how about Erik the phantom for the ask meme? Or Marius?

Thanks! I'll go for Erik

My first impression So my first exposure to Phantom was the musical and I was a hyped up little eleven year old. And I thought he was cool, if very scary.

My impression now

Favorite thing about that character His complete lack of chill

Least favorite thing Also his complete lack of chill. But yknow, manipulating and kidnapping Christine, murdering a whole bunch of people, etc

Favorite line/scene in the book, either the very last bit with Daroga or the scorpion/grasshopper scene. in the musical, why so silent

Favorite interaction that character has with another See above!

A character that I wish that character would interact with more Daroga, and I'm refusing to count the Susan Kay book as canon tbh

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character See there's characters who come to mind who are like, facsimile of the musical's version, but honestly it's quite hard to think of someone much like Leroux Erik

A headcanon about that character He learned the entire paganini caprice 24 in one sitting, and wrote a few extra variations himself with bananas virtuosic stuff like double stopped left hand pizzicato

A song that reminds of that character n/a, I'm very bad at this lol (I know, I'm a musician, you think this'd be easier for me)

An unpopular opinion about that character Luckily in the Phandom spaces I'm in online I agree with most Takes, but every so often I venture into the musical theatre realms of Facebook where there's a big sense of "The Phantom did nothing wrong!!" he kills people, Lauren

Favorite picture n/a

#thanks!

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zaewriteshere · 8 months

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Guardian of the Protocol

Anomaly

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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After that day, your outings with Vincent were more frequent and always a pleasure ; so much so that you were always looking forward to your outing with him.

Though, you’d have to see that later, since as for now you were on a patrol on your earth, the same place where you landed all those weeks ago.

Lynn called out your name, getting your attention.

“I’m detecting an anomaly near, the same one from when we went to check back home,” They explained, their tone worried.

You froze.

What ?

“There’s no way, right ?” You blurted, feeling the panic creep in. “We gotta tell the Protocol,” You announced, already running towards the location where you ended up that one fateful day.

“Lynn to HQ, we have a situation…”

“What’s wrong ?” Liam’s voice echoed in your helmet.

“The Hive, they’re here,” You announced, panicked.

“I am pretty sure they’re not, but do you still want to check it out ?” He replied, dismissive. It didn’t help.

“Sir, trust me when I say that they’re here. I will need back up,” You said, engaging immediately on sight. “Engaging the enemy now.”

“Wait-”

And the voice cut off.

“Comms are jammed,” Explained Lynn.

Great, just great.

You ducked behind cover, already bleeding out as the smaller Hives forced you to switch to hand to hand combat.

You punched some heads, broke some necks, and gutted some others.

Despite being a small group, it seemed unending to you.

You sighed when you noticed that a Hive Light – a hunter, you recognised – was also to be seen on the scene, stomping its way to you.

You were going to have a fun time, weren’t you ?

You changed your grip on your favourite rifle – the phantom – and started shooting as accurately as you could.

Lots of enemies fell, some didn’t.

You were about to fall back when you noticed that there wasn’t any portal and that they were stuck on this planet.

And they were going to die here, you were personally going to make sure of it.

You didn't, couldn't know how much time you spent defeating each Hive one by one, but if you could trust your muscles crying out and your exhaustion, it took you a while.

You were running low on ammo as well, and the Hive Light was still alive and kicking.

Sometimes, you wished you were a hunter. Life seemed way more simple.

You could go in, kill a couple, and then dash out. Out of ammunition ? Take your pick, because lots of special abilities didn't require regular ammo.

You sighed.

Somehow fate decided you'd be a perfect warlock.

You normally wouldn't complain, you wouldn't still be alive if it weren't for your healing well.

As you emptied your last magazine on the enemy, killing a couple more, you sighed as you took out your classic.

You estimated a dozen more of enemies.

Not counting the most dangerous threat.

Could your super ability get them all dead ?

It had to.

You didn't have any choice or other solution.

When you used that ultimate ability, you never really said anything, unlike any other agents with their one liners.

You just used it without saying much, if anything at all.

It killed them all as you launched it. You didn't waste any time crushing the Hive Light's ghost as it screamed, begging you to not kill them.

Much like other times, you didn't listen as you crumbled it into pieces.

Sighing in relief, you turned around only to see a full squad for back up consisting of KAY/O, Ryo, Vincent, Ling and Liam, all of their expressions translating their shock.

Sage was the first to come out of this surprised state, immediately checking up on you.

"Are you alright ?" She questioned, not taking her eyes off your body.

"I'll live," You reassured.

She took out a healing orb and gave it to you, making you already relax as your pain disappeared.

"That's a lot of bodies…" Observed KAY/O, looking around him. You shrugged.

"That was a relatively small squad," You told them nonchalantly. "Probably doing reconnaissance work. Which means that we have a bigger problem at hand than the terrorist attack done by Omega Earth," You explained, very seriously.

Everyone fell silent, as they looked at each other, unsure of how to answer.

"What do you know ?" Questioned Liam, crossing his arms.

"I'll explain everything, but I really need to go back to HQ, I'm exhausted," You said, almost tripping over your feet as you walked up to them. Both Vincent and Ryo did a movement to catch you, but you didn't need their help, catching yourself before falling into their arms.

The look they shared was priceless, though.

You could tell Yoru absolutely hated the new development of your relationship with Chamber, especially since now, the latter was relentless with his flirting.

Speaking of which…

“Careful, my guardian, I wouldn't want you to fall for anybody else but me~” He said, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Tsk, as if anyone would fall for an overpriced piece of trash like you,” Retorted your duelist friend, full of disdain.

“As if anyone would be genuinely delighted to have your sunshine personality around,” Replied the sharpshooter, not missing a beat.

You decided to intervene before it went off the rails.

“Would you two just kiss already ? Honestly with how much you're obsessed with each other you might as well be a couple,” You told them, and they immediately closed their mouths shut.

You tried to hide your smug smile.

It still bled through.

“Alright, the ride is coming in 15,” Announced your boss, and you nodded.

Though with the questioning glance that you received every once in a while, you felt like the first time you arrived here.

You scooted closer towards KAY/O, with whom you couldn't tell his expression anyways.

“That was very impressive,” He praised you, breaking the silence between the two of you.

“What was ?” You questioned, not really knowing what he was referring to.

“That last move that you made to kill your opponents. I've never seen you use it before,” He developed his thoughts further.

“I agree with KAY/O ! It was truly impressionnant. When did you learn how to do that ?” Complimented Chamber as he butted into the conversation.

“Ah, yeah. It demands a lot of energy so this move is only for last resort, that's why you haven't seen me use it before today,” You explained, glad you chose void for the patrol, as you had the most affinity for that element.

“Interesting,” Vincent replied, thoughtful.

KAY/O didn't say anything after that, but you knew him well enough to know that he heard and acknowledged it.

Soon enough, the aircraft that you needed to come back home arrived, and you did much like the first time, transmatting into the vehicle, to the surprise of everyone that didn't already know this trick.

It made you chuckle, ever so slightly.

They were all too easy to impress in your mind.

As you sat down in the only free spot – between Ryo and Vincent – the latter started questioning you.

“What was that ? I've never seen you doing something quite like this before.”

And so you explained what it was, not in great detail since you didn't know yourself how exactly it worked. He seemed to be satisfied with your answer regardless.

“Who were those guys anyways ?” Mumbled Yoru, frustrated.

“The Hive. One of the longest enemies of Humanity back home. They stole the light from the Traveller to use it for themselves to persecute other races. We guardians are the only ones capable of putting an end to their antics,” You narrated, and tried to keep it simple and short to the best of your capabilities.

“‘One of’ ?” Ryo repeated, intrigued. “Who's the biggest ?”

You hesitated, your slight smile falling. You decided to answer regardless, they all deserved to know, and you did promise that you wouldn’t withhold any more secrets from them.

“The Darkness, more specifically the Witness. It’s whom the Traveller has been avoiding for millenias, way before our time… And we are supposed to protect it from whoever – or whatever – the Witness is.”

They both nodded, noticing your state. Your eyes were darting around as you felt your heartbeat quicken, and you exhaled some ragged breath.

Lynn came into your vision, sending you a soothing and reassuring aura.

It helped, ever so slightly.

You had to remind yourself that you weren’t there anymore.

You weren’t amidst an intergalactic war against numerous species.

You were somewhat safe in a new, neutral environment.

Granted, you still had to fight, but that wasn’t the point, because fighting was all that you knew.

All that you could do.

Man, when will you ever learn something other than fighting ?

#ao3 fanfic #fanfic #x reader #gender neutral reader #valorant #yoru x reader #yoru x you #destiny 2 #gotp #long fic #slow burn #chamber x you #chamber x reader

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