#this was not expected at all and is a massive setback | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rustingcat · 8 months

Text

Earth

Lena felt awful. She must've fallen asleep in an awkward position on a chair in one of the main labs. Looking at the clock she found she had dozed off for at least a couple of hours. She let out a groan as she got up and stretched, releasing at least some of the tension in her back. Lena just knew her back was gonna bother her for the rest of the day, week possibly.

Looking around the room, she saw the rest of her team asleep on nearby chairs, or just straight out on the floor. The crisis was averted at the very least, their new lasting energy source did not, in fact, blow up the building, so she'd count it as a win. Despite the massive setback, they might just pull it off, eventually that is. For now she was just glad that everyone was safe. Everyone including–

The embryo! She was clearly not fully woken up if she managed to forget that. Lena grabbed herself a cup of coffee from the nearby machine and headed up to her private lab. She got no messages from Kara, so she hoped that everything went alright.

She felt awful leaving her to do everything by herself, especially with such an important milestone. It was also somewhat disappointing she wasn't there to share the moment with Kara. Lena remembered her being overly enthusiastic about it in one of her visits. Or was it strange? She couldn't recall, then again she was very distracted at the time.

Lena nearly finished her coffee by the time she reached the lab. Disposing the cup on a nearby table, she spared a warm look at the sleeping form of Kara who was draped stiffly on the little couch in the corner, the couch she herself insisted on adding to the room, before heading to the machine to check the progress. The screen seemed to be okay, not indicating any warning signs at the very least, but it was the pods that caught her attention. Brainy's special pod was lit right there at the bottom in a special container, but instead of the one other pod she expected to be lit right above it, she spotted two.

She hurried back to the monitor to check the data, only to discover her own genetic data attached to the embryo in the first pod.

Her and Kara's.

Lena's hand instinctively went to cover her mouth in shock. She had noticed Kara never deleted their PF, of course, but she never imagined she would do anything like that. Especially without her permission, or some discussion at the very least.

Lena thought the reason she left it might be to commemorate their success, a memory from their first test. Did she have some sort of secret plan this entire time? No, it's Kara. Kara would never pull anything like that. Then again, the pod was still active. It was processed before the pod containing Nia and Brainy's data was activated, meaning she must've noticed it, at some point, yet it was still active.

Lena had too many emotions running through her to even begin to process them. She was tired, hungry and very confused. Above all else, she wanted answers. Maybe then she could start to unravel the mess of feelings inside her.

She walked with determination towards her sleeping friend, growing more impatient with each step.

"Kara! Explain! Now!" She demanded, her voice may have come out a bit louder than she expected.

"Mmhhh?" Kara mumbled with a confused half lidded look, she studied Lena’s face with a growing smile. Lena raised a sharp eyebrow, hoping she would wake up sooner rather than later.

Kara blinked a few times, until her happy goofy smile turned into the shock of a deer caught in the headlights, that quickly turned into the shame of a dog that knew they were doing something wrong.

"I'm waiting." She emphasised with a stern voice.

"Oh, yeah." Kara cleared her throat. "I can explain." She jumped to her feet, all trace of her sleep was gone.

"I sure hope so," Lena stepped back and crossed her arms.

"It was an accident." She waved her hands down, a common signal for people asking to calm down, Lena only straightened her back in response.

"An accident that is still very much growing in a pod!" Lena pointed out.

"I…Yes," she recoiled back from Lena's intense gaze. "I was just… thinking…"

"For your sake, I really hope you did." Lena swore that unlike her brother, she never bore any murderous intentions towards any Kryptonian. That is until that moment at least, where she seriously started to consider it.

"Right, well," kara swallowed hard. "We can always choose to… um terminate – the project I mean, of course. That is still very much an option if you want. I just… I remembered the conversation we had about the future and you said that you wanted kids, but were afraid to raise them unless it was with someone you trust. And you know I always wanted kids and don't really have the best luck with my relationships," she chuckled. "So, I just figured, maybe it's a sign, you know? Well, not a sign, more like an opportunity." She finished with a nervous smile.

Lena's mouth opened and closed a few times, unsure how to respond. God, she really believed entering the lab would help clear out her swirls of emotions, how wrong she was. Her best friend was potentially offering her everything she had ever wanted, or at least most of it, and Lena wasn't sure if it made her anger lessen or not.

"Because," Kara nervously continued when she noticed Lena wasn't responding. "It's really hard to know who you can trust, you know, all those stories of people leaving, and just not working out. You and I have been through so much, so I just know that we can survive anything. I trust you with everything. So why not this? I think everyone should just have a child with their best friend! It would probably lead to less relationship troubles and such. Does it sound crazy? Because I'm not sure anymore." She let out a nervous chuckle. "Please say something, Lena. Anything, please." Kara finished her speech full of hand motions and rambling with a pleading look, directed straight at Lena.

The air felt too thick to breathe normally. It did sound crazy. More than crazy. But somehow almost made sense at the same time? Or was it just her wishful thinking? Lena wasn't sure.

"I…" she started, unsure what to say. Her anger from before disappeared completely. "I don't know."

"Lena," Kara moved closer, holding her arms on each side, "I've tried to picture my future several times in my life, never sure of what it would hold or how it may look like, but I realised that the only thing I'm completely sure about is you. I know that I want you to be a big part of my future and the thought of raising a child with you brings me nothing but joy. It's a future I want. It's the clearest future I've seen in a while, and it's so bright, Lena. So bright. Do you see it?"

She did. Oh, she could see everything. Years of denying herself from accessing those kinds of thoughts washed over her. She saw chubby cheeks and deep blue eyes staring at her with wonder and love, family vacations, late nights at home watching movies, their child starting school for the first time, helping them with their homework, Kara bringing them all some takeaway after burning out her latest cooking attempt, and maybe even…

"You don't have to decide now of course we can always–"

"Okay." Lena found herself breathing out. Not louder than a whisper.

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"So...?" Kara asked just as quietly, stepping further into Lena's space.

"Yes." Answered, bridging the gap by putting her forward against Kara's. She closed her eyes in disbelief. "We're gonna be parents." A small chuckle of disbelief escaped her lips.

Lena has done some crazy shit in her life. She went on an insane treasure hunt in the jungle to find a necklace because mother told her about it when she was too small to remember, she tried to rescue her family's company after her brother destroyed its reputation for going genocidal, tried to brainwash the entire world in an attempt to stop violence, survived multiple assassination attempts, risked her own life several times, jumped off a cliff with only hope. Hope that the person in front of her would catch her. She hoped she always would.

Lena felt Kara's thumb wiping away the tears she didn't notice were falling down her face. She opened her eyes and saw similarly teary eyes, filled with love and hope. God she wanted to kiss her. She wanted to kiss her so badly, but feared the rejection she might shatter the dream she somehow found herself in.

She hugged her instead, pulling her as close as she could, searching for proof she was awake, that it was real. Kara didn't pull away so neither did Lena. She let herself breath the sweet scent of Kara's natural perfume, how this woman always smelled so good was beyond her.

"Wanna see our future baby?" Kara whispered in her ear after a while.

"It's barely an embryo at this point," Lena chuckled, not yet ready to pull back.

"Come on." Kara took her hand and pulled her towards the pods. They stayed close, as they stood next to the pod wall. Kara took her other hand as well and lifted it over to their pod. The glass was warm to the touch, which was unsurprising considering everything that went on inside of it. Still, knowing what could potentially come of it, was a lot.

"God," Lena wiped away her tears, "we have so much to discuss." Lena noted.

"Yes, we do. But we can do it later." Kara agreed.

"Kara, I don't even know if you even want to raise the child here." She found it somewhat difficult to say Our child. "I mean, you might want to go to Argo with your parents, and their advanced technology and education. It was your home after all." Lena tried to hold on to a sob.

"I may have been born on Krypton, but I made my family on Earth."

#a bright new future awaits!#supercorp #supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #art #supercorptober #supercorptober2023 #my art #my fic

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obeythebutler · 2 years

Note

anyways before i forget.

coward!MC lesson 16 reactions,,, bro the angst potential there is so real idk even where to start.

i legit imagine,,, you're in such a state of abject terror and shock, like, you literally died, not a game, no joking, it HAPPENED, and no one saved you, belphie didn't stop, there was absolutely nothing you could do

first lucifer rejecting you, and then this. it'd be a massive setback to any kind of bravery you'd been able to muster because seriously, post lesson 16, literally fuck that. you could DIE, this is REAL, and you were stupid for ever forgetting that.

hhh just. satan, lucifer, mammon,, whichever other boys (i love me some dia so maybe him and barb, who probably deserves to feel at least a little responsible), knowing how much you suffer. trying to help.

HNNNNNG YOU WROTE MC'S TERROR SO FUCKING GOOD AND NOW THE ANGST POWER LIVES IN MY BRAIIIIN

strongly worded and more detailed letters to follow, love, elsey,

Coward! MC here

Hellfire tea sits cold in your lap.

The flames in the fireplace burn with vigour, bright and burning as expected of something like Hell. Mammon once threw a broken chair in there, to hide it from the eldest, and it reduced to ashes in front of your eyes within seconds.

The fire devour anything it gets.

Like that black tapir roasted to perfection by Satan. Babylon curry stirred by Asmodeus, with two pink hairclips that he put in place before beginning with the cooking and as he chirped "so that my hair won't be affected by the heat !," and the cheerful chatter in the air. Plans made and some promptly turned away (exploring all Devildom restaurants in a day might just lead to bankruptcy) and smiles which were not seen before.

And Quetzalcoatl brain soup stirred by a tall demon.

For his twin, of course.

Bony fingers that gripped the ladle and lips curling into a smile at the taste. Those same fingers around your throat. Tightening, not letting you breathe even when you begged. Black spots in your vision and a throbbing pain in your chest after having been thrown down the stairs. You must have broken a bone or two in there, but you're not sure.

You're not even sure why you are alive.

Belphegor laughs, and you freeze in your seat, fork with spaghetti twisted around it falling on the table with a plop!

You blame it on clumsy hands. And yet, your heartbeat can be heard by inhumane ears.

You stare at it with detachment, perhaps wondering if the piece of food will jump to life.

"Here," Belphegor says, passing you a plate of sushi. "I thought you would like it, since its from the human world."

You stare but smile, and when his fingers brush against yours you tremble.

"I missed out on a lot, didn't I?" He mentions with gaze half-lidded. "I want to catch up on everything."

You chew on rice and fish but the taste doesn't matter at the moment. The room is gigantic and you already dwarf in comparison. Eyes gaze at you in concern, but you pay no heed.

Did your death even get a mourning?

When Belphegor says your name, you nod and say yes.

Even when you beg yourself to say no and get out, out of the room where he is sitting and eating and you're dining with him and his brothers and you're dining with rejection and death in front of you and oh god you can't say no—

Your fingers dig into your thigh.

"MC, are you alright?" Asmodeus whispers, unable to avoid the way in which your hands tremble when Belphegor is near. You don't hear him, continuing to stare at the half-eaten sushi on your plate. Your heart pounds in your chest, the familiar tendrils of fear clinging to you as the seventhborn draws nearer.

"MC—"

He is barely able to place a hand on your shoulder before you jolt, throwing away your cutlery with a clang. The chair makes a noise that makes everyone else wince, following which you're gone and out of the dining room.

You're gone in a flash, footsteps fading with the door of your room slamming shut.

This is your chance.

Go back in time. Find out what helped Belphegor escape. Come back.

Sounds like a pretty neat plan.

"Thank you, MC." When Lucifer expresses his gratitude for your help, you smile in understanding.

Even after what has happened, you will show everyone that you can be better. That you're not the coward you used to be. After having faced rejection and cried outside the firstborn's door, writing on paper that tore due to how much you erased your work and after Lucifer's demon form towering over you. Teeth bared in a display of aggression, and the sickening thud that was made when Beel collided with the furniture.

And after all that has happened, things are finally looking up for you. You've fallen down many times, but you're learning to brush yourself and get up, persevere, and not shrink when faced with the slightest threat.

This is your chance, you affirm, clenching your fist. You can finally prove that you're worthy of respect, a value that you want to be admired for.

"Remember, you must not tell anyone that you are from the future, as well as me. That might end up warping history. Return after finding out the reason for Belphegor's escape."

The butler instructs, finger under his chin. You nod, flashing the demon a smile to let him know that you are prepared. Barbatos's warning echoes clear in your head as you approach the door, and open it, revealing a purple mist.

When you look back at the demon, his expression reveals nothing. Bidding him bye, you step forward.

You can't wait to return.

As soon as the haze clears, you find yourself in the hallway of the House of Lamentation. You pace around, trying to ascertain as to during which event you are here.

The sound of bickering catches your ears, and you step forward into Mammon's room.

"When you're silencing yourself, ensure to quieten that stomach too!"

"Hey! Don't ask me to do the impossible!"

"Lucifer and MC should have opened up to each other by now."

Your breath hitches in your throat as you take in Asmo's words. So the whole game with the firstborn was planned...

A smile forms on your face at the realisation, but it drops as soon as you remember that they don't know what will happen. Screaming and shouting. Bristled wings and snarls. Threats on your life. Careful to not make noise, you step forward to listen better.

And the sound of the empty can crushing beneath your feet is enough to attract attention.

Mammon's head whips around. "I didn't know you were in here the whole time!" He says in disbelief, and the others look on. You gulp, having the urge to get out of the room without explaining yourself, but you stop.

"Yeah, I followed Satan around.." You mutter, embarrassed, and the fourthborn frowns.

"See! I told you to be careful" Asmo complains, pointing a finger accusingly at his brother. "Now look what you've done."

The idea to make Lucifer and you talk again has not worked out, and the demon pouts.

Levi furrows his brows."You should see him." He says, and you nod, glad to get out and solve the mission. Back in the hallway, you hear faint voices, and on inspecting closely you discover that they're coming from the top of the stairs.

Where Belphegor is held prisoner.

"The old Lucifer wasn't like this! The old Lucifer didn't care what others thought of him!"

You don't hear a retort.

Perhaps this was one of the many reasons why you fell in love with Lucifer. Brave and confident of himself, willing to sacrifice himself for those who loves.

Something you wouldn't have been able to muster the courage for.

But you're growing. You're making progress, as small that might be. You no longer tolerate lower-level demons stepping up and stealing your lunch or bothering you in class. Grades are improving, and so are your relations in the house.

You don't want it all to shatter.

You don't want to pick yourself up again like that night.

Descending footsteps alert you, and so you hide.

And Belphegor's pleading voice for help is something you are unable to resist.

And so you step forward and open the door.

And so Belphegor embraces you.

And then he transforms.

"What—What the hell are you doing?!" You stammer, fear creeping in your veins at the sudden reveal of his demon form. "Belphegor, what exactly are you planning?"

When his hand curl around your neck, you scream.

He pushes you against the wall of the attic, your head colliding with the stone, further adding to your agony. The demon laughs, and you wonder if this is his genuine smile, finally revealed in a moment of cruelty.

"Don't blame me for tricking you, blame yourself for falling for it," He snarls, teeth too sharp and eyes too bright in the dim light. You struggle to breathe, your clawing and kicking of no use.

"Please," You beg, barely able to rasp out words when he squeezes your neck so tightly you fear he might just wrung it and kill you. "I don't want to—I—please d-don't—"

His smile is cruel.

"It's rather unpleasant, in't it? Being choked like this." Belphegor laughs, the sound throaty and cruel, and you feel your heart breaking further at the betrayal. You thought you were friends. You trusted him. You freed him.

All that courage you had gathered, all gone to waste. Your mission—failed. What you feared during your time in the Devildom is happening, and you can't even do anything to stop it.

You are about to die.

Your vision blurs with tears, and you struggle to breathe in his grasp.

Not this time. Not this. Anything but this. Please don't kill me.

His laugh still rings in your ears as your eyes close.

"Not my breakfast!"

Leviathan protests, unable to do anything but watch as Beel downs the rest of his food, miffed at his ignorance. He slams his hand on the table, and Lucifer frowns.

"Beel and Levi—"

The delicate normalcy in the room has been broken, and now it lies shattered like a thousand glass pieces that will be hard to pick up and will pierce skin.

If not of demons, than of a human.

The demon straightens his posture, realising that his presence has stopped the chatter that he had anticipated. Belphegor gazes around the room, and when he turns to look his brothers in the eye they don't meet his gaze.

"Come on," He drawls, pulling back the chair to sit down, the sound making everyone wince. "Continue."

He grabs his portion of bread and soup, but no one resumes their actions.

Indifferent, the demon takes a bite of the bread.

"So...are you going along with Belphie to school?" Asmo questions, hand resting under his chin.

Besides him, Leviathan announces that he will grab something to eat at the cafeteria, and the fading footsteps create a sound no one wants to hear.

Belphegor takes a sip of the soup. "MC doesn't have to go along if they don't want to." His expression reveals nothing; and your shoulders sag with relief.

You don't go with Belphegor to school that day.

But that doesn't spare you from his presence next to yours in the class.

Neither does the fact that you're sitting next to the demon that killed you once.

Has he brushed aside what happened so easily? And have the others done the same? You ask yourself as the professor demonstrates how to manifest magic circles. And rejection still sits bitter within you.

After that class is over, you have to go shopping for Diavolo's birthday. You're not sure if you'll be able to do that with Belphegor around.

Every step you take will have to be done with caution. Because you, foolish human, had forgotten that you were defenseless, with or without the pacts.

They knew what would happen when you would step into the portal.

Neither did you find someone who loved you.

Neither was your love returned.

The pain of rejection dulls in comparison to death, and even then you find yourself in shambles.

You were, after all, sent to your demise instead. You laugh at the fact, a low chuckle that breaks off into a crack at the end, and it doesn't help that Mammon winces noticing your expression of happiness is a bitter one. Nor is it true.

After running into the residents of Purgatory hall, you find that nothing escapes Simeon's gaze.

When he advices you to serve as a bridge for the brothers, you are tempted to cackle.

The angel quietens when he sees the dark circles under your eyes, and the way your eyes dart around the stairs, waiting for someone to strike. Instead Simeon breathes out, murmuring that you are welcome to come to Purgatory Hall whenever you wish. The angel doesn't know what took place, but he knows you're in turmoil.

"If you want someone to talk to, I'm right here." He departs with those words.

He leads Luke back home.

He doesn't know what to say.

And your vision blurs as they walk away.

Nothing can be said of this moment, nothing is left to say. Its silence silences.

Game night is not a peace-building activity.

Rather, it leads to chaos.

"Wrong decision Mammon! You could have had Ruri work as an idol and instead you've sent her to the casino!"

"She'll make more money and then you'll get more! Stop shoutin at me!"

"This was my videogame—"

The door slams open.

And then it begins.

"So you're telling me that Beel is feelin guilty because he didn't know you were being held..prisoner?"

"What else," Belphegor rolls his eyes, and when his gaze meets yours his expression is unreadable. He settles away from you, swiping a pillow from Levi's lap who gazes around the room, and placing it on his own. Although he's not touching you, his presence is enough to inspire fear. Your nerves stay on edge, body stiffening as you attempt to stay still and not shrivel besides him.

You want to go back to your room.

"Should we go and see Beel?" Mammon mutters in your ear, not wanting to let Belphie hear, but the action has you nearly jolting in your place.

Your eyes are downcast. "S-Sure," You whisper, voice low. "We should see him." You play with your thumb, refusing to meet either brother's gaze. The audio from the game stops playing, and the silence that follows starts to envelope the room in a heavy blanket.

The secondborn frowns.

"Ya alright?" He questions, eyes travelling over your form, inspecting for any injuries you might have been trying to hide or any signs of illness, but when he sees the way your hands tremble and breath runs ragged Mammon bends down.

"Let's go to your room MC, how about that?"

You nod, and let him lead the way.

When the door closes again, it is Levi's turn to gape at Belphegor.

"They're scared of you," He blurts out, unable to bear the silence. "MC doesn't want to be near you."

Belphegor stares at the tank in resignation.

Back in your room, Mammon dims the lights with a simple incantation that he heard Lucifer recite countless times. "Thanks," You say, voice muffled under the blanket. The demon smiles, his eyes looking unusually bright in the dark, but you brush it aside as a demon quirk.

"Anything for ya."

He turns to leave, ready to walk out the door and close it, then walk straight towards the end of the hallway where—

"Mammon?"

His name comes out in a whisper, and he stills.

"Could you stay?"

A smile. "Of course."

"Are you alright?"

Lucifer questions, and you tremble.

"I'm fine," You mumble, unable to meet his gaze. You don't have the courage to even look the demon in the eye, and so you stare at your notebook. "Just doing some assignments," You blurt, picking up a pencil in hopes of making yourself look busy. "We've got a test tomorrow in Hexes and Curses."

The demon eyes you, lips turned downwards and brows furrowed.

The man can see you trembling. The way your eyes flicker nervously over lines of text, or the way you keep fidgeting with the pencil.

You're scared.

And who's fault is it?

Who is responsible for your death?

Who is responsible for locking Belphegor?

Who is responsible for the fall from the Celestial Realm?

Who is responsible for destroying any courage you had gathered?

All these questions are screamed at him, and the war comes to mind. When others had believed in him, and he failed them.

He failed you.

Lucifer knows that it is him, and no other being. All that had happened to you are the consequences of his own actions. That after having finally gathered yourself from the pain of rejection, the pain of dying had finally torn down any remnants of your happiness and peace here.

And...would you even trust him?

The firstborn asks himself this question as he ogles your form; desperately trying to find a way for you or him to leave. Because he can't be trusted, not anymore.

And he can't even believe you when you say that you're fine.

"You should rest," He says, voice raspy. "The past few days have been....."

The demon winces, stopping himself before he goes and says something that will tear the manufactured normalcy you've been desperately trying to present.

You nod in return, muttering out a 'good night,' before gathering your notebook and scurrying out from the room. You can feel eyes burning holes in the back of your head; you can feel Lucifer staring at you, but you don't want to look back.

And as your footsteps retreat, Lucifer replaces the vacant spot you had left, on the chair.

He inspects the wood, eyes gazing over the material before he rests his head on it—too exhausted to do anything else. Too tired to try right now.

He's worsened your agony.

Gloves fingers pick up the pencil lying abandoned, and the firstborn stares at it. Your departure sets something in his chest throbbing with pain, and he knows it is love that he cannot speak about.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

He loves you. But it is an affection he does not have the courage to speak about, for his actions say something else.

Does he even deserve you?

Lucifer's throat tightens, and he refuses to acknowledge it.

His mind drifts back to the time when his brothers were creating a fuss about that Devilgram photo with you and Satan. How you both looked so happy and it was someone else who'd made you smile. How hard you had cried that night when he had rejected you and how scared you were after. How you avoided him after and how you must have cried and how scared you must have been when Belphegor killed you—

A garbled cry spills from his throat.

The sound Lucifer makes is something he's mortified to hear from himself. The man's vision blurs and all he can feel is the agony in his chest. His face is wet. And upon realising that the library isn't soundproof he casts an enchantment, through a tone that cracks in the end.

No one will be able to hear his cries now.

Your spirits have been crushed, and the MC he once knew is gone, replaced by one that had their spirits defeated.

Lucifer is witness to that. From watching you run away, leaving behind Beel and Luke in the underground tomb to standing in front of Diavolo, going back in time....and being rejected and yet bouncing back...there's no greater testimony than it.

He calls you to his room the night before you're supposed to leave for the human world.

You walk into the room to see Lucifer by the fireplace. The flames frame his features in a way which takes away your breath. It is in this moment that you're reminded that you are in a room with the Avatar of Pride and fallen angel, Lucifer himself.

You suppose there's no better time to be wary than now.

In hindsight, you should have never trusted them from the start. For who knew smiles and laughter would get you killed? So when the demon asks for you, it takes fifteen minutes itself to muster up courage to move.

And even more to stand in front of him.

"Come, sit down," He murmurs, gesturing to an empty couch across him. "Please make yourself comfortable."

The man attempts to make yourself feel relaxed in his presence, but you can't help the racing of your heart when you sit down on the plush couch, darting your gaze around the room, looking everywhere but in his eyes. When you finally do, look in his direction, you find that Lucifer is not scrutinizing you.

Rather, he's focused on the fire.

"I chose you as the exchange student for this programe." Lucifer declares, voice somber.

You fidget in your seat, not knowing what to make of his words. When he looks at you, your guts tell you to flee, yet you remain like a deer frozen in headlights.

"There were times when I regretted my choice."

Your heart sinks. You know Lucifer doesn't have the best opinion of you, you are pretty sure you are nothing more than a coward in his eyes, just a human to take care of for a year. A responsibility.

"But I made the right choice in choosing you." Lucifer smiles, and it is an expression full of warmth, unlike anything you've seen before.

"H-How?" You question, utterly bewildered and confused. "I thought you—that you—"

"That you had no value in my eyes." The man cuts you off, and you flinch. "That I had no respect for you." Your hands tremble, not knowing where this conversation is leading to. The door is right in front of you, maybe if you just excused yourself—

Yet another part wants to stay. Remain and listen to the demon. Lucifer's voice is soft. "I was wrong about you," He admits, smiling softly. "For you are someone to be respected."

"Ever since the day I saw you in the Devildom, I assumed that you would be another hassle, another responsibility to take care of. And observing you during your first week here, didn't exactly put a decent impression of you in my mind."

You gape at the man, waiting for him to continue.

"You ran away from me in the underground tomb, and yet you went up the stairs that I stated were forbidden. I have seen you struggling with coursework, thrust into a new environment which you did not consent to have been put into..." He places a hand under his chin. "In hindsight, I should have been more understanding of your situation. I was the one to bring you here and you even got killed because of my mistake.."

"Don't say that."

He sighs, his shoulders sagging, and you've never seen Lucifer look more defeated.

"I have seen you grow. I assumed you were weak, a coward, and yet you grew and overcame your fears. You have helped me and my family immensely, and all I did was get in your way." He says, and your heart aches. "I've been cruel."

A sob chokes your throat.

"I am proud of you for what you have done and achieved, and I can never make enough reparations for what you had to suffer. But I swear I will prevent anything like this from occurring again." He gets up, suddenly, startling you. "And I offer you my pact as promise and as gratitude."

And as you watch, the Morningstar gets on his knees in front of you.

"Control over me as your demon, and you my Master," He mumbles. "Will you allow me the honour of making a pact with you?"

When Lucifer gazes at you with nothing but sincerity in his eyes, you have to blink back tears.

"Y-Yes."

The firstborn bows his head. "You will never have to fear me again." He swears. "And I will give you a reason to believe." And with that, you feel infernal magic flowing through your veins. A burst of energy so intense that it raises your heartbeat and makes you close your eyes momentarily.

When you open them again, you feel powerful.

For you have command over the Morningstar himself.

"Thank you," You whisper, placing your hand atop his own.

Satan has seen the way you carry yourselves now at RAD, an invisible presence amongst the crowd of chattering demons. Withdrawn and downcast. Despite the pacts, you were murdered.

He's seen you fall and rise, unwavering determination as you gathered courage and spoke up for yourself. Improved yourself and went against Diavolo, the literal Prince who few dared to oppose. You went back in time for all of them, and what did that get you?

Death.

But now you can barely muster any courage to even look him in the eye. Lucifer and Belphegor have made their pacts with you too in penance and forgiveness, but that is not enough to help the trauma inflicted upon you.

Satan doesn't know what to say now, seeing your downcast gaze and the way you tremble when Belphegor is near. He's seen you rise and fall, and seeing you destroyed makes Satan realise that he and his brother are all responsible for what happened to you. He loves you too; for seeing you strive to improve and overcome the fear that is justifiably humane, and observing you grow reminds Satan of himself.

But you've fallen down and been killed.

Therapy, he concludes one week before you're supposed to leave. It is perhaps the best option for you.

And all that on Diavolo's dime.

Lucifer and Satan had worked it out all together, and the Prince had readily agreed. He knew what would happen, and yet he allowed it.

One life in exchange for peace and order.

It sounds simple, but when you realise the weight it carries you can't bring yourself to do it. The man is a Prince, and with that title comes responsibilities and power more than anyone could fathom.

But did it give him the right to put you in a completely different realm and place an unwanted burden on your shoulders?

He muses, late at night when the moon is at its brightest. When he can't sleep, and the dark circles in the morning will surely concern Barbatos who won't hold back on a lecture.

But some questions won't stop bothering him.

Do you hate him?

Would you have hated him?

For what he's done to you?

Was he making the right choices?

Was he trying enough?

But he's still learning, still observing, still growing. He never lies.

And Diavolo doesn't ever want such a circumstance to occur. When he felt infernal magic radiating from you, so intense and of a magnitude that only the firstborn could muster, the Prince knew what had happened.

Pacts with the seven avatars.

Command over them.

Could....would you have forged one with him, if possible? Would you want to? He wants to ask, and yet Diavolo knows he can't make one even if you were willing.

Not yet.

But he'll work towards ensuring a world where he can.

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malereadermaniac · 11 months

Text

Bug-a-boy ~ Luka & Adrien x Male Reader

College Au:

Luka - 19 / Adrien - 18 / Reader - 18

Idk about this one... but I wanted to write it. Basically a miraculous holder reader x adrien and luka - very short

Your college class is huge

But it's to be expected, you do go to the most popular college in Paris

You share the class with a group of friends that came from Francoise Dupont

Luckily, the groups appointed leader befriended you pretty early into the year

Marrientte Dupain-cheng was the kindest girl you knew

And her friends: Alya, Nino, Adrien and Sabrina weren't too bad either

Actually, you liked them a lot, and you were glad that they wanted to be friends with you

There was also this other guy from the year above, Luka

You didn't talk to him much, but the others were fond of him

But the few times you two did talk, he was nothing but calm and welcoming

All in all, you love your college and your friends

However...

The one setback to coming to Paris for school, was the Akuma's

After Hawk-moth's fall, a new owner of the Butterfly miraculous came to power

But to counteract that, Paris has its own team of Miraculous bearers

The only problem was, currently, Paris has no ladybug...

During a massive fight against a very powerful, akumatized villain, Ladybug was hit, and her powers disappeared

Well, not literally, she remained transformed, however the villains power made it as if she were a regular adult wearing a superhero costume...

After sending Chat Noir, Rena Rouge and Viperion off to distract the villain, a now powerless Ladybug was running over to your college

After swapping out her miraculous from the Ladybug to another one, "Ladybug" finds you, hidden inside of a locker

"AHHHH! ANOTHER VILLAIN!" You shout, not recognising Ladybug with a new miraculous

"Not quite, (y/n)" she chuckles

"It's me, Ladybug. But my miraculous has been rendered useless..."

"Oh... I'm so sorry, Ladybug, wish I could help you somehow" you sympathise

"There is." Ladybug looks into your eyes with determination

"(Y/n) (L/n), here is the miraculous of the Ladybug, it offers the power of creation. I entrust you with this miraculous to fulfill my role while I can't, after that, you're to return these earrings to me - understood?" Ladybug explains with a grin

"Yes, Ladybug! I won't disappoint you"

After putting on the earrings the kwamii appears, explains the whole shtick and you get going

"Tikki, Spots on!" You shout and then you're set

"Once I'm fixed by the miraculous ladybugs, I'll use the horse miraculous to teleport you back to me, okay?"

"Of course Ladybug!"

And you were off, using your yo-yo to swing around the streets of Paris until you reached the action

A now powerless Rena Rouge trying to distract the villain as Chat Noir and Viperion try to figure out a plan while fighting the thing

"What the fuck..." Chat mumbles when you catch his eye, waving at him in a coy manner from a roof top

Both men watch you, confused as you jump down to them

"Who are you? Where's Ladybug??" Viperion questions frantically

"She decided to pass her miraculous onto me for a little while until we solve this little issue"

"Fine by me as long as you know what you're doing, bug-a-boy" Chat noir slyly remarks as he leans on his pole

"Bug-a-boy... I like that" you giggle and then get to business

Immediately you call on your lucky charm

"Yep, defiantly a real Ladybug holder haha! What you gonna do with that bugg-a-boy" Chat noir laughs as you hold onto a seemingly useless looking lucky charm

"I do, actually!" You say with a smile

"Just follow my lead boys, if you can keep up" you chuckle as you use your yo-yo to swing into action

"Damn, that boy has more charisma than you Chat Noir" viperion chuckles

"He does, doesn't he..."

The two of them follow you quickly

"Rena! I'm gonna need you to get that thing under the arc-de-triumph!" You shout as you wizz past

"I'm on it"

"Viperion, once that villain" is under the Arc, use your second chance immediately please"

"Of course bug-a-boy" viperion smirks

Chat Noir looks at you smugly

You start to mark X's on the Arc using the bucket of paint your lucky-charm gave you

"I can see where this is going" the black cat chuckles

"Then you know when and where to use your cataclysm, kitty noir" you tease and spring into action when you see Rena Rouge and the villain coming your way

Once the villain is under the Arc, you use shout for Chat noir

He heads to one of the marks but before Chat can call his power, Viperion shouts

"Not that one! Try the one below it"

And so, once Chat Noir cataclysm's the Arc, it crumbles to pieces and buries the villain, one of the pieces crushing his akumatized item

"Bye bye little butterfly" you say with a chuckle, as the 3 other hero's watch you

The 2 men chuckling as a faint blush cover their faces

"Not a bad job for your first time, bug-a-boy"

"Do you really need to flirt with every Ladybug holder, Chat?" Rena jokes

"Yeah! Look at him, he's creeped out by you, he'd much prefer a snake over a cat" Viperion joins in

"What is up with you two"

"Haha, I like this team.... Miraculous Bug-a-boy!" You shout as you throw up the lucky-charm

5 seconds later, a portal appears next to you

"Good work, everyone!" A horse miraculous bearing Ladybug pops out

"Ladybug?!" Everyone questions

"Good job picking this one, Ladybug" Viperion chuckles as he puts an arm on your shoulder

"I look forward to seeing you soon again, mi'lord~" Chat Noir teases as he kisses your hand

"That's enough Chat Noir, you'll see him soon enough!" Ladybug chuckles as she brings you through the portal after your goodbyes

After handing back the miraculous, life went back to normal, except that Ladybug started to call on you more often, but with a different miraculous this time

Life at school was normal as always

However when you were out with the hero gang, you'd noticed Chat Noir and Viperion becoming cosier to you than they were to the others...

Like when Chat Noir started bringing you roses every time you were called on

Or one time, Viperion used his second chance to have "a perfect conversation" with you during patrol with you

You were flattered, but a little worried that the two were taking it too far

It had gotten to the point where the two of them were fighting, passive aggressive remarks and even disrupting fights against villains with their arguing

That was until Ladybug struck then a deal

"I will tell you his identity if you both stop this bickering, its becoming a problem. If you don't, I will take your miraculous"

Of course they both agreed

And that's when your school life changed as well

Because Adrien and Luka started bombarding you during your school day

Adrien already sat next to you in class, but during lunch Luka was on you like a snake to a rat

You were getting overwhelmed, but then again you loved the attention you were getting from them

After all, you hadn't ever had a boyfriend, this could be a nice change

Soon, the two of them started noticing that the other liked you

So they decided to combine their efforts

"Which one of us do you like the most!?!?" The two of them shout at you in frustration after weeks of trying to win you over

"I... I don't know! Okay?! I like you both... I don't wanna hurt one of you by rejecting you for the other"

"Then.... date us both?" Luka suggests with a smile

It took some convincing but the two of them managed to convince you

And life has been so much better since

#gay #male reader #fanfic #x male reader #fluff #cute gay #miraculous x male reader #adrien miraculous #miraculous fanfic #luka miraculous #luka x male reader #male reader insert #miraculous au #polyamory

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soundofseclusion · 2 months

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mutual aid post for my cat jupiter

just learned that my cat Jupiter has diabetes and his recent treatment has been very expensive, so i'm accepting donations/comissions on a pay-what-you-want basis. mostly this is mutual aid but i want to offer something back if you send me money. details and sample art in replies

you can send me an art request and a donation through paypal, ko-fi, or cashapp. i'll provide art for any donation higher than $5. you can DM me (with proof of donation) if you need to provide references

Paypal link Ko-fi link $soundoff95

this is roughly the level of effort/quality you can expect, but i'll definitely try to put in more effort for higher donations. again, i just want to give back to those who are willing/able to help

Jupiter is about seven years old and very dependent on me due to severe separation anxiety. his recent treatment--including medicine for pain and diabetes--ran me almost 1k dollars. i was able to afford it, but i'm hoping to recoup some of the cost.

i'm a trans woman with very low income, so every unexpected expense is a massive setback in terms of my plans to save for an eventual move to a safer state with my partner. Jupiter takes precedent over everything else in my life, so I'm willing to spend whatever i need to in order to ensure he is healthy and safe.

that being said, it's at the point where i turn to asking for help on the internet, and while i can't offer much in return, any small donation of $5 or more will receive a drawing of whatever you request. turnaround time will depend on how many donations i get, but i'll try to get something done asap!

if you have any questions at all please feel free to DM me. if this gains a lot of traction i might have to increase the minimum d0nation for an art piece, but i don't anticipate that will happen. Thank you for any help you can provide or even just for reading/sharing!

#mutual aid #sound thoughts #mutual aid request #queer mutual aid #fundraising #pet illness #pet care

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schrijverr · 2 years

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The Eddie

Steve’s a teacher and constantly talking about his sweet and caring partner, Eddie. When they finally meet him, they are confronted with the fact that sweet Eddie is a metal band leader, who is very intimidating.

This is very much based off this post by @harringtonisms

On AO3.

Ships: Steve x Eddie

Warnings: none really.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Harrington, or Steve as he begs his students to call him, is an oddity at the local public high school. He is still young, muscled but slender, with most girls fawning over him and his hair. He dresses sporty (expected of a PE teacher) but also soft for his hours as guidance counselor. Most importantly he is openly queer, which is very rare in 90s Indiana.

And Steve probably wouldn’t have gotten far in his career if he didn’t have the biggest ‘I don’t give a fuck’-attitude out there. Whenever parents complain or student comment, he’ll just raise his brow, like their opinion is so far out of the ballpark of his worries that caring about it seems plainly ridiculous.

So, he still works as a teacher and guidance counselor, and despite the setbacks he is massively popular under the students.

His PE classes aren’t like most. He has a rigorous stretching and warming up routine as well as a cooling down period, which everyone is required to follow to a t, though he doesn’t care much about how well they participate with the actual lesson. And he always talks while they go through the routine, either about self care or something he saw or anything random.

Those talks are the reason everyone is aware Steve is not straight, because he always – always – mentions his partner Eddie at least once. It’s like he won’t survive if he doesn’t mention the man every hour.

Jessie absolutely adores Steve. She is currently a Senior and has had Steve for PE throughout her entire school career, a fact she can’t be more glad about. She hates PE and Steve has never cared that she always sat on the bench as long as she participated with stretching, warming up and cooling down. And as a closeted lesbian, Steve is quite a comfort about her own future.

She loves hearing Steve talk about whatever Eddie did that day, because from what she has heard he is the sweetest guy out there. The way Steve talks about him is almost enough for her to go straight at this point.

Today is such a day. They’re stretching, following Steve’s lead as he says: “It is good to stretch. You are all too young to know, but there will come a moment in your life when sleeping wrong will affect you for a whole day. I fell asleep with Eddie on the couch last night. Don’t recommend that at all.”

He changes pose and everyone follows: “Luckily Eddie woke up in the middle of the night and carried me to bed. I guess hauling around his stuff has been good for his muscles. And I have been roping him into regular exercise, because it’s good for you. That’s why I think PE is so important, regular movement is important for everyone. It doesn’t have to be intense, you just have to keep moving every now and then. So, up, up, people, some laps, please.”

There is groaning, but everyone gets ready for laps. They all know there is no set limit or speed, you just need to keep moving for the seven minutes Steve sets. That’s all.

And the next class it is: “A pet is a good way to keep exercising when you’re a professional, since they need love and attention. What I won’t recommend is adopting three kittens.”

“Why did you adopt three then?” Johnny, one of the jocks, asks.

Steve rolls his eyes and says: “Because Eddie didn’t want to separate any of them from their siblings,” in a tone that is too fond for the annoyance he’s trying to convey.

“That’s kinda sweet,” Amanda comments and Jessie can’t help but agree with the cheerleader.

“It is, but he isn’t the one that got woken up at 5:00 AM by multiple kittens on his face,” Steve rolls his eyes, finishing the cooling down. “Anyway, my point is, think of things you enjoy that bring movement into your life. It’s not really homework, more something to consider.”

After that they all file out of the gym to get changed in the musty changing room that has seen the sweat of too many teenagers.

And the talk of Eddie doesn’t stick to his classes. Jessie goes to counseling with him, appreciating how he takes her seriously, how he never presumes to know her better and his suggestions are actually helpful, like he has been through something himself.

But that doesn’t stop him from coming in with a rumpled sweater as he says: “Sorry, I look a mess. Eddie is away right now and he usually irons my clothes in the morning.”

“Eddie irons your clothes every morning?” Jessie asks, unable to help herself, craving to know more about her teacher’s domestic life, even though it’s a bit strange.

However, going off Steve’s soft look, he doesn’t mind one bit to talk about his partner. “Yeah, he’s really sweet. He has looser hours, but he gets up with me anyway. Always says that since he doesn’t have to get dressed that it’s the least he can do.”

“That’s really sweet,” Jessie smiles.

“It is,” Steve agrees, before shuffling through his notes, glasses perched on his face. “Now, you said last time you’ve been sleeping a little better, that still the case?” And with that they move back to Jessie and her problems.

Still, even without guidance counselor sessions the Senior class has a pretty good idea of who Eddie is. He is a sweetheart and a softy, but overall an average caring dude, who has managed to capture the heart of their PE teacher.

But when they actually meet the man, no one recognizes him.

They’re in PE class, doing the cooling down when Jessie notices a man at the doorway, who instantly makes her uncomfortable with the way they are all bend over. He is dressed in black ripped jeans, a dark gray shirt with red letters reading ‘The Devil Was an Angel Too’ and has a leather jacket on. His neck is full of chains and his hands adorned by rings, hints of tattoos peaking out everywhere.

Yet, he does nothing but stand there for a moment, leaning against the door frame. His long dark, curly hair hides his expression, so Jessie doesn’t know what he’s staring at exactly. Though he seems relaxed, one leg crossed over the other, heavy boot resting on its tip.

Obliviously Steve continues on, moving into another stretch as he continues: “This is very good for you back, important for you all since you’re carrying a heavy bag around. I try to get Eddie to do this every night, but he’s so stubborn.”

“You shouldn’t be spreading lies like that, sweetheart,” the man speaks up, immediately getting the attention of everyone.

A hushed whispers go to the group of students as everyone notices the man, who at least sounds much nicer than he looks like, despite the words. However, more notable is how Steve lights up at the sudden appearance as he loudly exclaims: “Eddie! What are you doing here?”

That gets even more attention as multiple people repeat the name in surprise. Everyone giving up the pretense of cooling down in favor of gawking at The Eddie.

The Eddie in question looses a bit of his confidence under the students, before puffing himself up and grinning, revealing a sweet face. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” before turning to Steve and asking: “Have you been talking about me, princess?”

Steve has finally made his way through the crowd and is hugging the man closely. His soft colorful work out clothes contrast heavily against the metal look of Eddie. He is beaming as he shrugs: “I can’t help that you’re my favorite topic.”

“You flatter me,” Eddie smiles and his face and voice speaks to how much he adores the man in his arms.

“Not that I don’t love to see you, but you were supposed to come home tonight. Did something happen on tour?” Steve asks, brow furrowing as he tucks a bit of hair behind Eddie’s ear.

“Nah, all good,” Eddie assures him. “We got home early, because I drove for a bit so our driver could rest.”

Steve snorts: “Probably not that restful with you behind the wheel.”

“Uhm, excuse you,” Eddie guffaws, faux offended. “I distinctly remember one very eventful drive in that stolen RV.”

“Special circumstances and we gave that back,” Steve protests as the class raises their eyebrows to each other at the information they’re learning about their nice teacher.

“Sure, sweetheart,” Eddie smirks, before procuring a bag. “I was planning on crashing, but saw you forgot your lunch, so, you know, two birds on stone. You need the food and I was starved off your face, pretty boy.”

Suddenly the caring softie they’ve come to know through the stories. Because no matter how intimidating Eddie looks, that all falls away in how he looks at Steve. Not to mention how he came here, despite the fact that he was tired, just to see Steve and make sure he’s okay.

Jessie is near tears at the thought of someone caring so much, before she starts to think closer. Her little brother had mentioned one of his bands to her, shown her pictures too. And this man before her seemed very familiar for some reason.

“Oh my god,” she’s suddenly loudly yelling, despite hating attention, “you’re Eddie Munson! You’re the lead singer of Corroded Coffin. My brother loves you.”

Everyone is looking at her, but she’s looking at Eddie, who first looks surprised then a big smile breaks out on his face. “Your brother has great taste,” Eddie tells her.

“Wait he’s famous?” Amanda asks.

Now Eddie looks bashful as he explains: “I won’t say famous-famous. We can get a crowd, but we’re not doing world tours exactly. It’s a metal band.”

“I’m glad you don’t,” Steve interjects. “I don’t think I could miss you for that long.”

“If I ever get that famous, you can quit your job and travel with me,” Eddie promises, kissing Steve’s temple. Before he teases: “You can finally embrace your trophy wife tendencies.”

Steve playfully slaps his chests and protests: “I don’t have trophy wife tendencies.”

“Tell that to the mayor after they cleared my name.” Eddie hip bumps him.

“He deserved that,” Steve replies, face darkening.

“Alright, lets not get into that now,” Eddie placates him. “You obviously have a class to teach and I’ve distracted you enough. I should go and let you get back to teaching.”

And Jessie swears she’s seen her little cousins pull similar faces to Steve’s as he pleads: “My break is right after. You can wait for a little, right?” Eddie looks on the fence, so Steve pulls out the big guns. “I haven’t seen you in a month, Eds. Please.”

“Alright, alright, sweetheart,” Eddie gives in. “I’ll wait in your office.”

“Great,” Steve smiles in that smug way that one smiles after winning an argument or getting their way. Then he turns to the class and says: “Come on, walking people. No running. This is to cool down, not to get you pumped up again.”

As they walk, Jessie suddenly has more friends than before as everyone comes to question her what she knows about Eddie. She doesn’t know much, often tuning her little brother out, but she knows more than most.

So, they spend the last minutes of class gossiping about how different Eddie is to what they though he’d be like. At first Jessie can talk along, until they start mention how hot he is. To save herself, she mumbles something about him having a nice voice, before quickly making her way to the changing rooms.

Once she’s done, she hesitates. If she tells her brother about this and she didn’t get Eddie’s autograph, he’ll kill her, but she also doesn’t want to interrupt the recent reunion of the two. In the end, she swings by at the end of her lunch period.

Tentatively she knocks on the door until she gets permission to enter. Then she opens the door, popping in her head. Eddie is sitting on the usual talking chair, though he’s sprawled over it, while Steve sits in his own chair, leaning heavily on the table to be closer to Eddie. When he sees her, he smiles: “Ah, Jessie, anything I can help you with?”

“Oh, uhm,” she stumbles. “This is a bit embarrassing, but my little brother will murder me, if I didn’t ask for your autograph, Mr. Munson.”

Eddie snorts. “Mr. Munson, did ya hear that, princess? They have some respect for me, unlike your rascals.”

“My rascals are also yours and I had nothing to do with their manners,” Steve protests.

“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie waves him away, before focusing back on Jessie and giving her a disarming and sweet smile. “And it’s no problem, I’m glad your brother likes our music so much. You have anything particular to sign?”

“Uhm, not really and thanks so much,” she tells him.

“Here,” Steve hands him a piece of paper alongside a pen.

Eddie raises a brow at him and asks: “Do you have always our merch just lying around in your office like that?” before signing and handing Jessie a card with the full band on it.

Steve shrugs: “Of course.”

“God, your perfect, I love you,” Eddie breathes as if he’s in awe of Steve. It makes Jessie feel a bit like she’s intruding on a special moment, but she can’t bring herself to look away either. Because Steve is blushing and having a soft smile in turn and they just look so goddamn happy.

Unable to stop herself, she says: “Thanks again. I hope you get to catch up properly, you’re an adorable couple.”

Both of them send her a knowing smile, before thanking her and sending her on her merry way. She doesn’t know what she feels exactly, but she feels mostly seen and happy. Maybe hopeful for the future.

With lighter spirit she walks through the hallways, she can’t wait for next PE class.

A/N:

I considered making Steve a History teacher, because it would make the story easier to get him talking and he does seem like someone who could become a History teacher, but actually cool PE teacher!Steve lives in my brain rent free XP

#rr writing #eddie lives au #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things fic #stranger things #steddie #st #st post season 4 #OCs

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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Since Ruby took like, ten second of self-doubt and some major (but overall shor) torture before just committing suicide, I can't help but think she must have had these feelings for years, buried deep down. It's eitehr that or the Ever After massively amplifies feelings. Or the writers are just hacks who cannot hack it. Thoughts?

I'm 95% "The writers don't know how to tackle a subject this sensitive and gave us such an extreme reaction for the drama" and 5% "There's a little evidence to suggest that this has been plaguing Ruby for at least a couple of days, but that still requires the audience to basically headcanon a conflict that never truly existed on screen." I say there's a little because Ruby was obviously stressed during Volume 8 too (which, again, only covered about 48 hours), however, I don't think that serves our Volume 9 arc well because:

Ruby is concerned with totally different stuff now. In Volume 8 she was upset over the confirmation that Salem knew Summer and the theory that she killed her as a result of her grimm experiments. Ruby is also frustrated that they rejected Ironwood's plan, but for two-ish days no one was able to come up with something better: "Then nothing has changed! We’re in the exact same spot we were yesterday. Arguing what to do while the Kingdom waits to die." While certainly connected to the overall repetition of Ruby throwing herself into situations that she then can't easily resolve, it's notable that she's not upset that she hasn't come up with a solution, but that the group hasn't. This is not presented as Ruby buckling under leadership because, frankly, no one is expecting her to lead. She chooses to make choices like starting the Ace Ops fight, but beyond that she's looking to others to problem solve, as Jaune, Oscar, and Ozpin do by Volume's end. So Volume 8 gives us "I'm crumbling under the knowledge that Salem killed my mom and I'm annoyed that we, as a group, haven't solved this horrific, time-sensitive problem." Then Volume 9 gives us, "I'm not thinking at all about Mom - look at me give up a keepsake of hers without a second thought! - and I'm crumbling under this sudden belief that everyone has always demanded that I solve all our problems." It's hard to say this has been building for a long time when what Ruby is stressed about keeps changing from Volume to Volume, even episode to episode. We start Volume 9 with her faltering due to Penny's death, but her breakdown comes about due to leadership. It's all too muddled to say this has been a years long problem in the making.

Much more simply, my second issue is that Ruby (like many other characters) doesn't keep consistent in her emotions either. Not just about what she's upset over, but her actually being upset. Volume 8 presented her mini-breakdown as something Ruby overcame - she gets upset on the staircase, but then they do come up with a plan and save "all" of the Kingdom, acting confident in their execution of this rescue - and though there's a major setback in regards to them falling/losing the Relics, Ruby only takes a second to cry about that then she becomes a part of Volume 9's early gags. Yes, her depression increases as the Volume goes on, getting more extreme the closer we get to her drinking that tea, but considering how much she's fluctuated and that her time in the Ever After has only been a day or so... that's too much too fast to justify her suddenly attempting suicide. All told, the content with ANY evidence from Ruby's depression covers about 4 days, maximum.

So yeah, I think RT massively dropped the ball on this one, though as always this is an easy situation for fans to project on. Anyone happy with RWBY's writing can easily headcanon that yeah, she's been feeling these emotions for an age - she must have because otherwise the suicide attempt doesn't make sense and RT wouldn't write something that doesn't make sense. See how that logic works? - and every moment that's even somewhat relavent can be re-read as a supposed buildup, regardless of what Ruby was upset about or whether she was presented as bouncing back almost immediately.

Plus, the nature of mental health means that ANY characterization technically fits. Ruby is bubbly all the time? Well, people with depression learn to hide it and overcompensate. Ruby appears to immediately bounce back? Again, she's playing a part. She was upset about thing A and then that changed to thing B and now we're on thing J? Don't you understand how all of this compounds and it's the sheer, overwhelming nature of everything she's been through that resulted in this? Because we understand that in real life depression is a complicated, often silent beast, people are tempted to map that onto the story, thereby justifying any version of the arc that we end up with. There's technically no wrong way to write it because there's no "right" way to be depressed. My problem is that this isn't real life. It's a story and we have expectations for how stories will differ from reality in order to serve their function as compelling entertainment. I don't want to go, "Oh, well Ruby was obviously grappling with depression this whole time and it was just hidden from us because that's one realistic means of depicting it. How many times has someone said, 'I had no idea' after learning about a suicide attempt?" But Ruby is our protagonist, the perspective through which we experience the entirety of the show, so keeping this hidden from the audience doesn't do anything except make it come across as a badly written, arguably insensitive arc. This is not real life. Ruby is not a real person with real feelings she may consciously or unconsciously be keeping from others. Ruby is a fiction whose purpose is to convey something to us, the audience, which means that outside of deliberate twists, a story that goes, "This was always occurring, you just never got to see it on screen" is rarely going to have that come across well.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas #suicide tw

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truly-glasixx · 9 months

Text

✹ Kirishima with a Gym Girl Gf ✹

SLEEPER BUILDS sorry I just had to get that one off my chest

There is absolutely NOTHING you can do to convince me that he's not a simp for sleeper builds. Mans loves a good surprise and sleeper builds take the cake (see what I did there??)

He's happy to lend you a hoodie anytime. Especially if he gets to see you pull it off and flex your muscles.

Makes you a protein shake every morning when he works out

He's soaring the rest of the day if you join him in the morning before class and sleeping comfortably on cloud nine if you join him in the evening before dinner.

We all know gym dates are a MUST, it doesn't even need to be that often (he'd be in heaven if you make it a regular thing, but won't be mad if you'd rather work out alone or with friends.) Every once in a while is enough to keep this man SWOONING over you.

Most definitely puts an extra 2.5-5 on the machine when he thinks knows that you can hit a new pr. (You can literally see him in the mirror, so he realizes he's not slick)

Encouragement as he spots you.

"Your lifting that much on shoulder press? Damn, my babes is good."

"Keep it up and I'll give you a kiss, okay?" If you fail to finish a rep, he'll still give you a kiss and some water to use as motivation so that you'll keep pushing.

Loves doing pullups on the same bar with you, because then you can kiss each other at the top

Indecisive about whether Arm Days or Leg Days with you are better.

You might not enjoy Arm Days, but he's happy he gets to show off and flex his biceps. You bet your ass he'll push you during your sets.

He's not the biggest fan of Leg Days, but he's so proud of you when he sees the weights you use to deadlift, squat, etc.

Trust me, he would shout "That's my baby!" with zero hesitation if you'd let him.

Goes to Protective BF Mode whenever you squat. If he's not there and you're with the Bakusquad, Mina's got your back, and Bakugou's close by for backup.

Used to think yoga was light work, but found out the hard way that some moves were light years out of his flexibility league, (Anything not in the realm of butterfly and downward dog is impossible for this man)

If you're able to achieve those difficult yoga positions, he'll forever be mindblown by how you make it look so easy. You'll never hear the end of his praise, lol

Obviously a golden retriever bf

He's literally your biggest hypeman on anything.

Be it from trying to reach a PR to studying hard asf in order to ace a test. Whatever you do, Kirishima's got full faith that you'll accomplish your goals, even if you face setbacks along the way. That's what being a hero is about, right?

Enjoys shopping and getting boba with you (but only expect him to stay attentive the entire time if you're shopping for sports clothing lmao)

Chances are, you're better than him at most subjects, so if you're not busy, he'll come to you for study help. And the two of you resort to Bakugou when you're both suffering in a subject (Math, anyone?)

This man's spirit animal is a bear for sure Also a non-debatable topic.

Before you two started dating, his name in your phone was either #HypeBeast or ViagraWho?? There is no in-between. (I'm going somewhere with this, I promise-)

When you two started dating, it was either #HypeBeast He'd make you change the other one bc it gave him the ick or it'd change to EjiBear w/ the bear emoji (It's adorable to me, alright??)

Cuddles are EVERYTHING for this man. He'll wrap his arms around you and rest his chin on your head or in the crook of your neck.

If you struggle with body image issues, he'll take this time, with your consent ofc, to pepper kisses on your body. Mostly on your face, arms, and clavicle area, but he's more than willing to place kisses on any scars, tiger stripes, or areas you deem 'imperfect'.

He has also lived with the struggle of body dysmorphia since middle school, so he's always quick to erase any negative thoughts you have of your body.

He still has his days too, so he massively appreciates it when you do the same for him.

Somedays, training will drain the two of you so much, that naps turn into full nights of rest

And then you're left to come up with an excuse when Aizawa catches wind that you two slept in the same dorm room again.

He doesn't gaf that you two are third years who haven't done anything frisky, rules are rules.

#mha x reader #bnha x reader fluff #kirishima x reader #kirishima eijirou #mha kirishima #bnha kirishima #kirishima x you #bakusquad #eijirou kirishima #kirishima x y/n #bnha headcannons #mha headcanons #bnha x reader #bnha fanfiction

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hms-tardimpala · 7 months

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Goldsickness collection: the recs!

Dragonsickness is a theme I love, it resonates with me with very much, and I had a great time reading fics to make this collection. Here are the eight I love the most and that make up this 376-pages-book.

As Befits a King by Ladysisyphus (explicit, 4,7k)

It was all too much to think about, so he thought about Thorin's hands.

This fic strikes a good balance between angst, hope and hot possessive sex. Thorin is teetering on the edge of madness here, despite Bilbo's best efforts.

Chains of Gold by Plooby (explicit, 4k)

He had not been in the king's chambers since their arrival, not since his youth, and the massive gilt doors opened only with groaning reluctance under his hands.

This is actually a sequel to the fic above, the authors worked on a series together. It's just as brilliant, hot and well-written. You can see the old Thorin under the madness.

What was promised by Paranoid_fridge (unrated, 6,9k)

Perhaps Bilbo is being selfish. But even though he knows that Thorin's mind has grown clouded from cursed gold, he is unwilling to give up on the intimacy they share. And when Thorin - with his mind still bespelled - asks for his hand, Bilbo does not decline either. With armies before the gate and a battle to come, things must come to a head.

Interesting concept: Thorin and Bilbo get married while Thorin is dragonsick. It raises the question of consent. The battles scenes are great and Bilbo is a badass.

Lay your troubles down by Avelera (explicit, 24k)

An extended version of "the acorn scene." Bilbo sees his chance to snap Thorin out of his madness, and takes it.

This fic is a great, slow deconstruction of Thorin's illness by Bilbo. The author goes all the way to the bedrock of the character to start healing him, and there are setbacks and false starts (which is what I prefer in fics where Thorin heals).

Covet by Pomgore (explicit, 33,3k)

"How is he?” Bilbo asked softly, trying to keep the worry from his voice. Balin’s face went dark, and he sipped thoughtfully on his tea. “... It’s slow, but his fever has begun to break,” he said. “Still, it’s the worst I’ve seen him. I think it’s the worst he’s ever had.” ~~~ Thorin recovers from both physical and mental afflictions. As with all recovery, the path of healing is non-linear and agonizingly difficult.

This is also a fantastic healing fic (this one post-canon) that treats dragonsickness as a mental illness, with relapses in the recovery. I loved that portrayal, I recognized myself in it. And the fic scratches some specific itches of mine.

Red Lines in Dark Stone by Elenothar (mature, 4,3k)

After BOFA Thorin is wrecked by guilt, convinced that most of the bloodshed is his fault (see: the arkenstone debacle). As king and responsible for Erebor, he decides that he will do anything to stop himself from succumbing to the gold sickness again, even if it means hurting himself. When his family and friends find out, they don't react as he'd expected them to.

Self-harm is another theme that's dear to me. This is an excellent portrayal of self-harm, the author got it perfectly right. It's good to read a post-canon fic where, even when he's past the goldsickness, Thorin still suffers its consequences.

Of Monsters and Men by MsThunderFrost (mature, 1,3k)

Thorin will protect Bilbo from everything. Even if that includes himself.

Look, I love dark and twisted stuff, so this fic was an absolute bitter candy for me, I dig it. Heed the warnings!

Burning with a magnificent madness by EmilianaDarling (mature, 7,3k)

Thorin’s madness had been like a dam bursting; fast and brutal and incomprehensible, like water rushing out and devastating everything in its path. For Bilbo, it’s more like a slow trickle over the course of a lifetime. Out of sight and out of mind - and almost imperceptible until he’s already drowning.

This is an incredibly moving study of madness in Thorin's and Bilbo's lives, caused by the gold and the One ring. Bilbo's life is really tragic and it's heartbreaking to see him sink into addiction to the ring. Prepare tissues.

#ficbinding #fic rec #the hobbit fanfic #bagginshield

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xb-squaredx · 1 year

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How Monolith Soft’s Future Was Redeemed

Whether you’ve heard of game developer Monolith Soft before or not, if you’re into the gaming landscape they’re definitely a name worth remembering, and they’ve had quite the history over their 23 years in the business. Founded by Tetsuya Takahashi and Hirohide Sugiura, themselves veterans of Square from the 1990s, the company has undergone many trials and tribulations and worked with a variety of different companies from 1999 to the present day. With their latest release wrapping up the current trilogy in the Xenoblade series, I figured there was no better time than to look back and reflect on the journey the company and the founders of that company have gone through, so let’s get right to it!

TAKAHASHI’S PERFECT WORKS

Looking at Takahashi’s resume alone will show that he had a hand in a variety of beloved games during his time at Square. Working on Final Fantasy IV, V and VI among a few other titles such as Romancing Saga, Takahashi and his wife, Soraya Saga, would pitch an idea for the seventh Final Fantasy game. While rejected for being considered too dark for the brand, they were eventually given permission to develop it into their own title, which would become known as Xenogears. Takahashi and Saga had ambitious plans for the title, believing it could become a massive franchise in its own right, though the actual game’s development was fraught with issues.

Xenogears was composed of two discs, and the first disc set up lofty expectations for the rest of the game, balancing a story steeped in religious and philosophical themes alongside turn-based battles that would utilize giant robots, or “Gears.” However, the second disc was mostly comprised of narration from characters with hardly any gameplay or cinematics. This was allegedly done as a result of both the development team’s inexperience and inability to extend the two year development deadline, and thus was done as a compromise of sorts, or else the game would have shipped half-complete. The game’s English localization almost didn’t happen, with several translators quitting the project, both due to the difficulty of translating a game loaded up with references to various scientific and philosophical concepts, on top of controversy surrounding its religious themes. Despite these setbacks, the game was still critically acclaimed and it was clear that Takahashi and Saga were keen on developing the game’s world more. Alongside development of Xenogears they had also crafted “Perfect Works,” their plans for other installments in the setting that would span a much larger story. Xenogears itself was considered, chronologically, to be the fifth part of what would have eventually been six entries.

However, Takahashi and company had routinely faced issues with Square both before and during development of this title. Growing frustrated with their prioritizing of the Final Fantasy brand above all else, they would eventually found Monolith Soft, taking with them a number of other staff they worked with. They found themselves in bed with Namco, who would publish their games for much of the 2000s. Monolith Soft would then decide to start over and craft a new franchise that would follow Perfect Works…and that game would become the Xenosaga series.

A more explicitly sci-fi series from the get go, Xenosaga was conceived as a six game series, with possible plans for it branching out into multimedia, with an animated series and manga series produced, alongside a few spinoffs titles that would end up staying Japan exclusive. A spiritual successor through and through, Xenosaga contained a number of references to the Xenogears series, alongside a continued focus on mech battles, religious and philosophical themes and turn-based combat. While the first game was a strong debut for this new franchise, each subsequent entry would sell less and less, eventually trimming the series down to three games out of its originally planned six. History repeated with regards to development issues, particularly with Xenosaga: Episode II, as Takahashi had taken on a supervising role, and the team itself was composed of newer staff that wasn’t prepared for such an ambitious title. Takahashi would admit the series underperformed on the whole, part of the reason for the sudden halving of the planned story. Despite a clean start, it seemed as if Perfect Works was anything but a perfect project, with now two failed franchises behind them. However, the winds of fate would wind up changing.

FINDING THEIR FOOTING WITH NINTENDO

Monolith Soft ended up cozying up with Nintendo as the years went on, eventually being purchased by the company and becoming a first-party studio in the late 2000s. Morale at the studio was low after Xenosaga’s abrupt ending, but Takahashi was ready to move onto a new project as a way to boost employee spirits. Coming from an image that appeared in his head of two gigantic gods locked in fierce battle, the idea would develop into a game originally titled Monado: Beginning of the World. However, at the behest of former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the title would be changed to Xenoblade, to honor the struggles Monolith Soft had undergone over the years and serve as a slight connecting thread to past projects. And the rest is history…to a point.

The original Xenoblade Chronicles debuted on the Wii in 2010, a massive near open-world RPG with a deep MMO-inspired combat system and an ambitious story. Compared to past efforts, Xenoblade was a game that Takahashi and company were able to realize with a comparatively smooth development, with few compromises to the original vision of the game at that. Releasing to relatively high critical acclaim, the game was initially not localized outside of Japan. Eventually Nintendo of Europe showed interest and would localize it, but Nintendo of America wouldn’t budge. This game, alongside a few others, actually inspired the “Operation Rainfall” fan movement to give them more attention and see localization (and I’ve even written about it before LINK HERE), and while Nintendo might not publically acknowledge the campaign as a deciding factor the game would eventually be brought to North America…exclusively in Gamestop stores. A low initial print, combined with Gamestop selling “used” copies at high prices, insured it became one of the harder to find Wii games, and while it was somewhat better known outside of Japan, it was still rather niche.

That began to change in the Wii U era, however. In a 2013 Nintendo Direct showcasing early looks at various Wii U games, a mysterious title from Monolith Soft was shown. Codenamed X, it was yet another massive RPG with a decidedly more sci-fi look…that sure seemed familiar. Eventually releasing as Xenoblade Chronicles X in 2015, this title would also see acclaim for its massive world and complex combat, though being a Wii U release it didn’t exactly reach many players. A year prior however, Shulk was revealed to be included in the base roster for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, being the last character announced before launch. This helped to put Xenoblade as a series on the map, and gave some momentum that Monolith Soft would continue into the Nintendo Switch era.

Since their acquisition, Monolith Soft would also work as a support studio for Nintendo, particular with their Kyoto office comprised mainly of artists, creating assets for a variety of projects. Over the years, they’ve worked on the Super Smash. Bros. series (Brawl), the Legend of Zelda series (from Skyward Sword all the way to Tears of the Kingdom), the Animal Crossing series from New Leaf onward as well as the Splatoon series. Their help was greatly appreciated with the more recent console Zelda titles in particular, as they were instrumental in creating the vast expanses that would help make Breath of the Wild a smash hit. Considering they’ve lent their talents to a variety of games that have gone on to sell like hotcakes and break past previous franchise records, I think that really helped them prove their worth as an asset for Nintendo, and as such they are given license to continue their own ambitious projects.

At the tail end of 2017, the Switch’s debut year, we would get Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which would go on to become the best-selling entry in the series and experience a boon of new players. More in-line with the fantasy aesthetics of the Wii game, 2 also continued exploring similar themes and further developing the battle system shared across both previous games in the series. Despite its success, the game itself still ran into problems though. With much of Monolith staff working on BOTW it was mostly a skeleton crew on Xenoblade 2, resulting in a number of third-party artists being brought on to ensure the game could be completed, though that also led to complaints about the inconsistent art style and character designs. Technically, the game had issues at launch that were slowly patched out, and being the first simultaneous worldwide launch of the series, it was clear that the English localization was not given as much care as previous games. Despite this, it was clear that this title was what helped to establish Xenoblade as a core Nintendo IP moving forward, and the franchise continues to do well.

A BRIGHT FUTURE AHEAD

Following Xenoblade 2’s release, it would receive a prequel game as part of its expansion pass, Torna: The Golden Country, which fleshed out events happening in that game’s distant past, alongside polishing up gameplay to relative acclaim. In 2020, an enhanced port of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 would release on the Switch, with updated visuals (in particular polishing up the character models), and a new epilogue story, Future Connected. The heroines of Xenoblade 2, Pyra and Mythra, would be announced as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s second Fighters Pass as well.

In 2022, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 would see a surprise reveal at the start of the year, releasing just a few months later. After the somewhat mixed reception of the previous game, 3 received rave reviews and several Game of the Year nominations. Many felt it to be an emotionally charged journey, once again spanning a massive world and containing complex combat to wrap it all together. In just a few years, the entire trilogy was now available all on one system. Not too shabby for a series initially struggling to get localized.

The major thing to remember with the Xenoblade series is that it was yet another fresh start for Takahashi and company. While still clearly its own thing, as the years went on many eagle-eyed fans would spot various references to past Xeno games. These often were seen as knowing winks and nods, but little else. When it came to various characters and story beats, there were also some connecting threads indicating that Takahashi, after all of these years, might finally be dusting off “Perfect Works” and starting anew again, after he had previously sworn it off and considered the ideas scrapped. One major change this time around however seemed to be based around making sure each individual game in the Xenoblade series would be a standalone tale that wouldn’t require playing previous entries. There were some connecting threads, yes, but ultimately each entry could stand on its own and fully realize a given theme or story idea without having to overtly connect into a larger narrative. And then Xenoblade 3’s story DLC happened.

Released at the tail-end of April 2023, Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed was yet another prequel campaign in a similar vein to Torna. Future Redeemed would cover events that occurred in the backstory for the base game, however this time around it became clear VERY quickly that this was where it would all come together. Without getting into the details of things, on top of being wary of spoiling this expansion after it just released, Future Redeemed ends up being the means to tie the trilogy together and end it on a satisfying note, with a conclusion that gave fans a lot of closure. Various theories were finally put to rest, though just as many have sprung up in the wake of that game’s ending.

It isn’t immediately clear just where this franchise, or Monolith Soft as a company, will be going next, but my gut tells me we have some great things in store. The core Xenoblade trilogy may be done, but Takahashi has gone on record stating he wants the series to continue for as long as he can do so. There’s still a lot of clear affection for their previous efforts as well. Xenosaga’s KOS-MOS and T-ELOS were guest characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s expansion pass, and there have been more…overt nods to the series in general as time has gone on. There are rumors here and there that the series might return in some form. At the very least, I’m sure many a fan would be happy with simple ports to current systems, but we’ll have to wait and see just where Takahashi’s Wild Ride takes us.

In the end, I’m just happy to see that Monolith Soft has managed to turn out alright after all these years. I first became aware of them when, on a lark, I picked up a copy of the original Xenoblade. I was struck by that game’s scope and ambition and I’ve been a diehard fan ever since. Seeing just how much they’ve been carrying Nintendo into the Switch era, I think it’s only fair that they get the respect they deserve. On top of it all, it sounds like the company promotes a fairly healthy work/life balance, and their time with Nintendo has enabled them to see their visions through with few compromises. A win-win for all involved, really. Their own original entries might always be a bit niche and definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m glad their ambitions are becoming more and more realized as time goes on. From humble beginnings in the trenches at Square, to now being a pillar of one of the Big Three game publishers, I can’t wait to see the heights that Monolith Soft can climb.

-B

#xenoblade #xenoblade chronicles #xenogears #xenosaga #perfect works #KOS-MOS #rex #shulk #elma #noah #mio #monolith soft #tetsuya takahashi #wii u #switch #videogames #blog #xb-squaredx

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campoverlook-if · 27 days

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The Horror Corner #1: Bad Ben

Hey all, welcome to the first post of The Horror Corner, a special type of post where I talk about horror media that has either inspried me to write Camp Overlook, or is just something I really like and want to highlight.

Of course, people's opinons of what type of stuff I post for the page matters to me. Personally I believe this series will really highlight the fact that CO is a horror game, and the blog should be open to discussing horror related things that may not fully relate to the game.

I can post whatever I want on a blog, but it isn't fun if people think it's clogging up their feed. Especially if it's something they aren't into. So while this may be the first THC post, it could also be the last, depending on how people feel about it.

With that little disclaimer out the way, let's start the post.

(I forgot I had this queued up, please enjoy it anyways haha...)

Above is the image of the man, the myth, the legend himself; Nigel Bach AKA, Tom Riley. The main lead of the Bad Ben franchise.

It all starts when Tom Riley decides to buy a house out on Steelmanville Road during a sheriff's sale. Thinking a house for that price is a steal, he takes it in the hopes of flipping the place and selling it for a massive profit. But he soon learns that things aren't quite as what they seem in this house in the woods. The previous owners disappeared with a word to no one. All their funiture and personal belongings filling the rooms like they never left at all. And strangest of all? The house is completely covered in cameras, watching Tom's every move.

Contrary to what my intro might tell you, this film is a straight horror comedy found footage film (my favorite genre of horror film). Not because they try to be funny, but Nigel Bach is just not an actor and he's never claimed to be. The original actors he had hired never showed up to the filming, so he decided to act it all out by himself, how hard can it be?

Nigel really is the star of this film series, his plots are all over the place and yet they can still be pretty easy to understand. His future films deal with the likes of multiverses, forced loops, colorful casts of characters, and even better(yet worse?) special effects. But its this first film that really started it all for Nigel and I'm very happy for him. I discovered the series back when it was just a trilogy and never thought it would lead into having a 12th film.

Bad Ben isn't one of my inspirations for Camp Overlook, but it has always given me thoughts of 'expect the unexpected.' Just when you think you know what's going on in the story it just drags you right back, throwing stuff at you, you just wouldn't expect. It also showcases what can be achieved when you fight for your dream no matter what setbacks you may be given.

Currently, the series is no longer available for free on any platforms. Previously, Nigel had worked with a company to get his films put on Tubi, however they ended up tricking him where he recieved no residuals for films of his creation. For now, they can only be rented or bought from his Roku channel or on Prime.

I believe it's worth it to at least rent the first film for the 2.99 it's currently offered under. Everyone deserves to get at least one little taste of this man and his imaginative world of Bad Ben.

Also check out the game, it's really funny (and free)!

#camp overlook #Horror Recs

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spiralcass · 1 year

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NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 1, EPISODE 11

We open in the school’s gymnasium, where Dani, Karma, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Northstar are decorating for the school’s winter dance, while Dazzler and her band are getting set up on the stage. The boys are all using their powers to speed things up, while Dani is hanging streamers with her bow and arrows. Karma thinks they’re all just showing off.

Dani just hopes the kids all have fun tonight. What the kids have been undertaking these past three months has been experimental and so different from when they were students (Northstar quick to butt in and mention he got a REAL education and was never a student here), and it can’t have been an easy adjustment for a lot of them. She knows adjusting to becoming a teacher hasn’t been easy for her.

Xuan mentions she was already working as a librarian before she got Jean’s call, so it wasn’t too much of a change for her, but the others are inclined to agree. It’s been more fun than they’ve thought though, Kurt and Beast by virtue of having found kids they can share their passions with, Nightcrawler mentioning a girl named Pixie as someone with a great deal of enthusiasm for the thespian arts, while Beast think Ms. Washington has the potential to be the next great Mutant scientist. They turn their attention to Northstar, who just says he’s been happy to help a kid in a way he wasn’t expecting to.

Dazzler then calls over to them, double-checking how much time they’ll have after the dance’s king and queen are announced.

Beast gives them an answer, while Xuan and Jean-Paul note how outdated this tradition is.

NORTHSTAR: “It could be a king and a king.”

KARMA: “Or a queen and a queen.”

Dani agrees with them in concept, but come on, they’ve been paying attention to the kids. Are they really gonna act like they don’t already know who’s gonna win?

The others laugh, unable to argue.

BEAST: “Well, I suppose they’ll be having a more fun night than everyone else then.” He smiles wistfully. “Oh, to be a boy again.”

We cut to a little boy sitting in a modest kitchen, wheeling a toy truck back and forth across a table. We then see his mother, a conservatively dressed woman with a cross around her neck, preparing dinner.

After a few moments of peace, both of them turn in horror as a gun clocks.

WOMAN: “W…William?”

Stryker, several years younger than he is in the present, stands before his wife and child with a gun raised, his hands shaking, and his eyes bulging and vomiting tears.

STRYKER: “Marcy…Jason…God rest your souls.”

Stryker repeatedly shoots his wife and child, killing them. He drops the gun before he himself drops to his knees. He looks down, away from the site he just made, and screams.

But eventually, he breaths.

STRYKER: “Be gone, demons.”

In the present, Stryker stands tall, entirely cold and composed, dressed in ornate robes as opposed to his usual suit. He has faced many setbacks, but he has persisted. And now, with the new tools God has blessed him with, it is finally time to end his war with the X-Men.

As we pan out, we see he stands in a massive factory - one packed with Sentinels.

In the Institute, Julian, (wearing a fancy shirt with an especially douchey collar) and Sofia are playing ping-pong, using their powers to maneuver their paddles instead of their hands.

JULIAN: “It’s a shame this school doesn’t have a ping-pong team. You’d kill at it and I’d get to see you moving around in a cute uniform.”

SOFIA: “Are my leotards and training costume not enough for you?”

JULIAN: “With you beautiful, enough is never enough.”

As Sofia blushes, more sheepishly than usual, Julian grabs his paddle with his hand to catch Sofia off guard and score a point.

SOFIA: “You lousy cheater!”

JULIAN: “Oh come on, you know I’d never cheat on you.”

Sofia clenches her fists.

As Sofia’s winds retrieve the ball, a panicked Brian runs in, shouting that the two of them need to get outside immediately. Something’s happening to Mercury and Dust and he’s not sure what.

The three rush outside to find Cessily and Sooraya congealed in their liquid and sand forms, stretching out and expanding. Students all around them are watching with concern.

They’re horrified, with Sofia asking why Brian got them instead of the X-Men. They need real help!

Julian tells her not to worry, and says he’s got this. He lights up and begins using his telekinesis on the girls…and starts using them to spell out letters, the amorphous blob of the girls not only gaining definition, but becoming beautiful as the metal coasts the sand to create a metallic sand print, as Cessily and Sooraya’s faces appear on them, giggling. As Sofia questions what the Hell’s going on, Julian says they can finish the rest.

Sofia’s jaw drops as the girls reach their final form, their merged bodies spelling out, “Sofia, will you go to the dance with me?”

As Sofia stands speechless, Brian rests an arm on Julian’s shoulder as he faces her, and the crowd lets out an echo of “Awww”s. Julian tells her he’s tired of all the flirting. They both obviously like each other, so they should just be together. And the dance is the perfect place to make it official.

Sofia questions why he’s asking her like THIS.

JULIAN: “What? Too much? We were talking it over, thinking I should ask you out in a “Mutant” way, and this was what we came up with.”

Cessily and Sooraya untangle themselves and retake their humanoid forms. Honestly, they just wanted to see if they COULD pull that off. Cessily scratches the back of her head, admitting she was the one who needed Julian’s help, while Soo could do it all on her own.

Brian then enthusiastically reminds Sofia she still hasn’t answered.

JULIAN: “Don’t rush her, man. But you will go with me, right?”

Sofia struggles to answer. Everyone’s faces, especially Julian’s, fall, as Sofia starts tearing up.

SOFIA: “I’m sorry!”

Sofia blows her friends away with a single, powerful wind, before flying off.

Everyone is concerned and, for once in his life, Julian is speechless.

Cyclops is working in his office when there’s a knock on the door. When he doesn’t respond and just keeps working, Emma walks in anyway. Without even looking up from his computer, Scott tells her this better be about business.

EMMA: “Actually, I was going to ask you and Jean to skip the dance so your dreariness didn’t bring down the children’s mood, but it seems you’ve already taken it upon yourself to stay preoccupied.”

Scott ignores her.

EMMA: “Fine, yes, if you’re going to keep being a baby, I have intel.”

As Scott may recall, in her less noble days, she and Shaw were two of the main bankrollers of companies producing Sentinels, death machines designed only for killing Mutants. Of course, this is one of her many regrets, but she didn’t burn every bridge she had there. She just received a tip that a Chinese manufacturer recently fulfilled an order for over two dozen Sentinels. And, of course, a quick look into this revealed that Cassandra Nova was the recipient.

Scott slams his fist down. It's bad enough they’ve let the Purifier situation drag on as long as they have, but for this mad woman to go around thinking she’s Xavier’s twin sister as she’s causing all this pain is just insulting. Emma questions his disbelief regarding the info Jean picked up from Nova’s mind, but Scott tells her flatly that if Xavier had a sister, he’d know.

In any case, Scott has another reason to be frustrated: they’re understaffed. Kitty’s off visiting her dad on Genosha, Jean and Storm are providing relief in Kenya, Sunspot is doing "something" about rebuilding his family business, and Laura may be part of the team now, but she's still a student first, and he doesn't want to deny her her first dance.

Emma thinks it's no problem. The two of them will handle things themselves. Scott can obliterate the Sentinels before they go online, and, even if Nova happens to be present, with the knowledge Nova had removed it from them previously, Emma was able to forge new mental defenses.

EMMA: "Who knows? Maybe we can even talk about what's really on your mind on the way."

Emma walks out, saying she'll meet him in the hangar bay in 20 minutes, before Scott can even respond.

In the weight room, Brian tries talking to Julian as he works out his anger on a punching bag. None of Brian's attempts to change the subject work. Julian just doesn't get it! What's Sofia's problem?!

As Julian takes a moment to stop and breathe, Brian tells him he's really sorry it didn't work out, but maybe this is for the best. He has other people who care about him. Maybe he could go with one of them.

BRIAN: "Maybe you'd wanna go with me."

Julian's eyes widen before he punches the bag again, this time using his TK to knock it off its chain and smash it.

JULIAN: "Get real, Brian."

Julian grabs his towel, leaving behind a heartbroken Brian as he sulks off.

In Sofia and Noriko's room, Sofia is buried under her blankets and Nori is trying to get her out of there.

NORIKO: "Come on, Princess, I saw how much you paid for your dress, and I'm not letting that be a waste just because you made the best decision of your life and said no to Keller. What's up?"

Sofia blows the covers partially off herself, still crying. She likes Julian. She likes him a lot. But she's also scared. Back at the Massachusetts Academy, she nearly killed a man in her rage. And on Halloween, she saw, she felt, her worst fear: becoming like her father.

NORIKO: "Please don't tell me you're scared you'll hurt the jerk."

SOFIA: "No. I would never hurt him. I fear that the less kind parts of him would bring out the worst in myself. A boyfriend is different from a friend. I cannot risk him influencing me in that way."

Noriko sits down next to her. She's sorry she's dealing with this. For what it's worth, she was the one who talked her down from killing Shaw, and she still can't even imagine her turning out like her dick of a dad. And if Keller isn't the biggest dick of all time, he'll understand if she tells him this. Either way, she owes herself the fun of going to the dance, date or no. Do it for her. Do it for her followers.

Sofia cracks a small smile as she wipes her eyes.

SOFIA: "I'm trying not to call them "followers" anymore. The perfect cute nickname could boost engagement by multiples."

NORIKO: "There's my ridiculous girl!"

In the Blackbird, Scott is piloting, while Emma is filing her nails. With Scott clearly not listening, Emma is yammering on about some of the most debacherous times she had back in the Hellfire Club, clearly intentionally trying to get a reaction out of the stone faced hero. Eventually, she’s successful, with Scott shouting at her that even if she doesn’t respect him or his wishes, she should at least be mentally preparing herself for battle.

Emma stops filing her nails and looks at Scott.

EMMA: “Where do you see yourself in ten years?”

SCOTT: “I’m sorry?”

EMMA: “Ten years. Where do you see yourself? I envision myself laying on a stunning beach, mojito in hand, reading the trashiest romance novel I can get my hands on as I look out at the sea with the knowledge that I’ve eliminated all threats to Mutantkind.”

Scott, ignoring the absurdity of what she just said, asks what this has to do with anything. Emma tells him that if he knows where he’s going to wind up, with complete faith it will happen, then he has nothing to worry about going into a battle, because he can be sure he’ll make it through alive.

SCOTT: “That’s not how that works.”

EMMA: “For normal people, maybe. You’re a soldier who’s been fighting all forms of monsters, gods, and otherwise evil beings, yours truly included, since you were 16. You’ve faced endless hardships. You’re not about to die breaking toys you’ve smashed a million times.”

There’s a pause.

SCOTT: “Tell you what: I’ll say where I see myself in ten years if you tell me a single hardship you’ve faced since you were 16. And things that happened while you were a supervillain don’t count.”

EMMA: “How dare you.”

SCOTT: “How dare YOU imply I should think like you as if we’re in any way the same. You’re right about everything I’ve been through. And you’ve seen even more firsthand. You were a rich Boston girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth, the most privileged life imaginable, and you joined Hellfire less than a year after finishing college. All of your struggles have been of your own making. Unless you want to tell me I’m wrong.”

Emma finally shuts up, facing forward with an icy stare.

SCOTT: “That’s what I thought.”

Laura stands in her room, dressed in a black button-down shirt and black pants, nervously looking in a mirror. James tells her to breathe. She has nothing to worry about.

That doesn’t help Laura though. She turns around and asks what if Sofia says no.

JAMES: “Allow me to rephrase: You’re Wolverine. You’re not allowed to be afraid anymore.”

While Laura remains anxious, James tells her he’s seen the two getting closer through their sessions with him and Scott, Laura’s saved and/or tried to avenge Sofia on multiple occasions, and he heard she already said no to Julian. With how all-over each other those two are, what other reason could there be besides her heart belonging elsewhere?

Laura finally stands tall and confident. On her way out, James tells her not to forget the rose he got for her to give.

JAMES: “It’s classic. Trust me. Sure I can’t convince you to comb your hair?”

Laura just blows a strand of it out of her face before walking off.

Laura knocks on Sofia and Noriko’s door. Sofia answers, dressed in a slinky black ballgown and elbow legnth gloves. Laura is in awe. Sofia tells Laura that she looks simple, but still extremely handsome, to which Laura blurts out a proposal about the two of them maybe going to the dance together, sticking the rose in Sofia’s face.

LAURA: “Oh, um, you look beautiful.”

Sofia is taken completely off guard.

SOFIA: “Laura…this is very sweet, but I’m not…”

Sofia trails off as she looks into Laura’s big green eyes and rapidly flashes back to her in Mojo’s prison with Julian, her being shot, her nearly killing Shaw, and the end of her nightmare.

Sofia smiles.

SOFIA: “I’d love to go with you, Laura.”

Sofia takes the rose. The two just stand there awkwardly.

LAURA: “Um…what do we do now?”

SOFIA: “You could tell me what time you’ll drop by to escort me to the gym.”

LAURA: “Right. Good idea.”

While she’s being stoic and awkward, Laura’s hands are flapping.

We cut to the inside of the sentinel factory, the interior guarded by Purfiers. Emma telepathically informs Scott of how many there are and where they’re positioned.

Cyclops proceeds to blast down the factory’s entrance, running in and taking down every single guard through a combination of quick, efficient, and well-times optic blasts, and martial arts.

Emma gives Scott a slow clap as she casually struts in and teases him by saying how sexy that was, stomping down on a barely concious Purifier’s head with her high-heel to knock him out. Before Scott can refute this, Stryker makes his presence known, stepping down a staircase toward the two, acknowledging that the strength given to them by Satan is indeed impressive. And that is what makes them as frightening as they are, beyond merely those who consort with him.

Scott readies himself to attack as he tells Stryker the only ones they’re a threat to are those who’d try to kill them. Stryker sighs and pulls his hand out of his pocket, revealing he’s holding a dead man’s switch. If he lets go of the button he’s holding down, bombs inside the Sentinels will go off, kill them all, and wipe out everything else in a 15-mile radius. Scott questions what he wants.

STRYKER: “I did not have the chance to truly engage with Mrs. Summers. The lord spoke with her, personally. A greater honor than she deserved. Still, I wish to speak to you, Cyclops. Man to man. Before the end times for Mutantkind arrive, I want to make you see that I am not a monster, but a righteous servant. I want you to admit that I am doing what is best for you all.”

Scott scowls at him, not having any other option for the moment but to listen.

In the cafeteria, Noriko, Cessily, and Sooraya are eating together. Nori and Cess are commiserating over the fact that no one's asked either of them out. Nori tells Soo she's lucky: she might not have a date because she'll only date other Muslims, while they KNOW they don't have dates because they're losers. Sooraya rolls her eyes at this, while Surge and Mercury curse their gauntlets and mercury form, respectively.

MERCURY: "Have you had dates before?"

SURGE: "A couple. You're Ms. Cheerleader though, so I'm guessing you've got a lot more experience with, well…"

Noriko sticks her thumb in her mouth and pushes it in and out rapidly, laughing after a couple seconds.

SOORAYA: "What is wrong with you?"

Nori kicks her feet up on the table.

NORIKO: "Absolutely nothing."

"Hey, Cessily!"

The girls' attention is drawn to Roxy as she jogs over to their table. Cessily instantly shrinks as she approaches, becoming slightly more liquid than usual.

CESSILY: "Roxy. Hi. You…know who I am?"

ROXY: "Girl, you're part of the squad that has half its members constantly getting into trouble with the X-Men. Everyone knows who you are. Some of us also think you're cursed."

Roxy goes on to say that's not why she's here. She's been watching Cessily, not in a creepy way, she thinks she's really cool, and she wants to take her to the dance.

Cessily is excitedly and wiggly over the fact that Roxy Freaking Washington wants to go out with her and instantly says yes.

CESSILY: "Bye, Surge!"

Cess leaps up, hooks her arm around Roxy's, and walks off with her.

Noriko sighs.

NORIKO: "Well Soo, just you and me."

Dust proceeds to fly off without another word.

SURGE "You guys suck."

Noriko falls out of her chair.

Cyclops walks deeper into the factor with Stryker, who desired privacy away from Emma. He tells him that he wasn’t always a reverend. He has raised to be a man of God, but after an unpleasant childhood, he lost his faith. He became a soldier, serving his country instead of his lord. A childish mistake, but he doesn’t regret the “good” he did.

STRYKER: “And when I was finished serving overseas…I fell in love.”

We flashback to the events Stryker describes, as he tells Scott how he met his beloved Marcy after moving into the apartment across the hall from her, and they instantly fell in love. She was a good, Christian woman, she was brilliant, and she could make him smile. They were inseparable and, for the first time in his life, he was truly happy.

It wasn’t long before they were married and had their first child, Jason. Marcy had helped him regain his faith, and he’d found a new purpose in working at his local church. Things should have been perfect.

STRYKER: “But then…they fell victim to the same curse you have.”

Back at the school, the dance has begun! Laura is extremely stiff and uncomfortable as she walks Sofia, who’s hanging off her arm, into the gym. Sofia tells her to relax and that tonight is just about having fun.

LAURA: “Right. Yes. Fun. I can have that now.”

Bling!, dressed in a full tuxedo, is cool as a cucumber as she twirls Cessily around on the dance floor, the infatuated Mercury being metaphorical and somewhat literal putty in her hands.

Brian is sulking in a corner drinking punch. A poorly dressed kid with glasses and short brown hair walks up to him and asks if he’s got room for one more in the loser corner. Brian shrugs.

Julian looks like he’s having the time of his life as he dances with a recurring background girl.

Noriko is working the punch table with Dani, venting about how she expects it from humans, but how could everyone here be so shallow as to not ask her out just because of her gauntlets? What other reason could there POSSIBLY be for her to not get asked out?!

DANI, smiling knowingly: “No idea, Surge. No idea.”

Dust, who isn’t dressed up at all, is welcoming Kitty, Storm, and Jean home. Storm picks up on how uncomfortable Sooraya already is here, and offers to take her outside, while Kitty heads out onto the dance floor to show these kids what real dancing looks like, and Jean contacts Scott telepathically to ask him how the mission is going. Being stuck alone with Emma can’t be fun.

In the factory, Scott responds to her that Emma would be preferable to who he’s stuck with right now.

Stryker continues to spin Scott his story. He was just living his ideal, suburban life, happily removed from the violence of his past, when something horrible happened: his son’s hands turned purple. They immediately took him to the doctor, only for their tests to reveal that he had a “so-called X-gene”. The doctor prattled on upon the fake science he knew, but Stryker as a clergyman knew better; he knew that “Mutants” were just humans who’d been touched by the devil and tainted with his evil.

STRYKER: “I wasn’t sure what to do, Cyclops. I was terrified. Not for myself, but for my poor boy, and the danger his existence now put my beloved wife in. I prayed for him, oh, how I prayed for him, but that didn’t let me sleep better each night. On the rare occasion I actually could fall asleep, my dreams were haunted by the terrors of what my son, my Jason, could one day do.”

Stryker clenches his fists and tears up.

STRYKER: “And then, a couple weeks later, my wife sneezed. And bubbles came out. Bubbles, Cyclops! Human beings do not sneeze bubbles!” He slams his fist down on a safety railing. “Before then, she’d agreed with all my words. She’d agreed with my concern for our son. But now that she was one of them, one of you, she told me that I was wrong, and that she felt completely normal; she said that nothing was wrong with her or Jason. That…that was when I knew my wife was gone. That was when I knew how being a Mutant twisted the mind.”

Stryker grins manically as tears stream down his face.

STRYKER: “Don’t you see, Cyclops? I had no choice!”

CYCLOPS: “No choice to do what?”

STRYKER: “To save them! To grant them salvation, and keep them from spreading sin everywhere they went! Marcy was a holy woman! It’s what she would have wanted!”

This is enough to even mildly surprise Scott.

CYCLOPS: “You killed them.”

We flashback quickly to the murders.

STRYKER: “Yes. And if their souls managed to reach Heaven, I know that they are grateful. I know that they are looking down on me, rooting for me to do the same to all of you. And I know that, soon, all of you will be grateful to me as well.”

Scott scowls at Stryker as the reverend nods.

At the dance, Kitty and Kurt are engaged in an intense dance battle, the two taunting each other as Kitty phases through Kurt and Kurt teleports onto her shoulders. They’re arguing over who’s the best dancer here, but all the kids watching them find them both to be extremely cringe.

PIXIE: “So not tidy.”

Sofia and Laura are dancing together, and it’s by far the happiest and most at ease Laura we’ve ever seen. Sofia smiles at her and tells her she likes this side of her.

LAURA: “Being here…being with you…I’m not miserable all the time.”

Sofia giggles, apologizing again for that past interaction. She really is glad she said yes to coming with her tonight; she’s having a lot of fun.

SOFIA: “Would you mind getting me some punch?”

Laura eagerly gets right to it, but, thanks to her hearing, she picks up on Sofia sighing. Turning her head around, she catches Sofia witsfully watching Julian and his date.

NORI: “You alright, Laura?”

Laura crushes the cup of punch she’d just gotten in her hand. It doesn’t take long for Noriko to notice why.

NORIKO: “Oh, that son of a…”

Noriko super speeds off, causing the punchbowl to spill all over Danielle.

All Laura says is “Sorry” in a gravely tone before walking off, Dani cursing under her breath.

In the corner, Brian and the other kid are on their phones. Cessily, in a panic, comes running up to them, asking if they’ve seen Roxy. She said she was going to the bathroom 20 minutes ago and hasn’t come back.

BRIAN: “Uh, have you tried looking in the bathroom, Cess?”

CESSILY: “Obviously! Oh god, you don’t think she’d ditch me, do you?”

NERDY KID: “Of course she would. It’s what “cool girls” like her are best at.”

Cessily runs off in a panic.

Brian tells him that wasn’t cool, but the kid just tells him it’s the way it is. The primitive social ladders which define high school, which define life, haven’t changed in over a hundred years.

Brian tells him this school isn’t like that, but the nerdy kid then questions why Julian didn’t agree to go out with him.

BRIAN: “How do you–”

“You’re the freak squad. People talk.”

BRIAN, even more depressed: “Maybe he’s just straight.”

“Or maybe he sees you as a convenient friend and follower, even if he doesn’t acknowledge you as the same species.”

The nerdy kid pulls up something on his phone.

“You should check out my blog. It’s all about this. Quentinquire.org.”

Scott asks Stryker what exactly it is he wants here. The leader of the X-Men’s approval to genocide his race? Stryker shakes his head. No, no, no. That’s not it. He knows he’ll never “approve”. He just wants him to understand. He wants him to see that, at the end of the day, he’s helping them. He knows he is.

We flashback one final time to right after the Stryker killed his family. Traumatized and on the floor, Stryker’s hands shook, but that didn’t stop him from putting his gun to head, intent on shooting himself. But then, God spoke to him. He thanked him for his selfless deed. He had proven himself worthy of leading his crusade on Earth.

In the present, as sweat drips down Stryker’s face, Scott smirks.

SCOTT: “No. That’s not what you want. You’ve already tried to hurt and kill countless Mutants. You don’t care what I think about that.” Scott steps toward Stryker, reverend holding up the dead man’s switch as he cringes and backs away. “You murdered your wife and child based on your faith. And you’re only alive now because you heard God’s voice. But my wife kicked your god’s ass. And now you’re wondering if you’ve been played.”

STRYKER: “No! No, you’re wrong! I know the God I serve!”

SCOTT: “No. You don’t. That’s why you want to hear me approve of your crimes. Because if I don’t? Then you may just be a crazy man who killed his family and got played by a telepath.”

STRYKER: “Quiet!!!”

SCOTT: “Or what? You’ll kill us both? Not doing anything to change my mind.”

Stryker shouts at Scott again, holding up the dead man’s switch. Scott tells him it’s time to end this, but not by blowing himself up. He can’t speak for any god, but he’s sure if they could ask Marcy and Jason what they’d want him to do, they’d say to turn himself in.

Scott slowly moves closer to Stryker, hoping to disarm him…but Stryker’s grin returns as he catches Scott off guard, dropping the dead man’s switch and striking him across the face with the hand which had been holding it.

Scott panics as Stryker cackles. Scott sighs that it wasn’t real, but Stryker corrects him: it wasn’t set to blow up any bombs in the Sentinels; it was set to activate the Sentinels.

The factory starts rumbling, Scott and Stryker grabbing the railing to keep their balance, and the booming sounds of the sentinels turning on echo through the whole building.

EMMA, telepathically: “Mr. Summers, we have a little problem.”

SCOTT, telepathically: “I know. I’m on my way.”

Scott turns around to run off to help Emma, but, out of the corner of his eye, he notices Stryker pulling out a gun, reacting just in time to blast it out of his hands. Even still Stryker makes it clear that if Cyclops won’t give him what he wants, then he will kill him personally, while his sentinels kill his white witch.

At the school, Dazzler finishes a song. As everyone applauds, Jean gets up on stage, hyping her up, and telling everyone the night isn’t over yet, but it is almost time to announce the dance’s king and queen. First though, she wants to make a quick speech. Jean’s speech primarily takes place in the background as we cut to other events, but we do hear enough clearly to get that the general idea of the speech is about how everyone here may come from different walks of life, but they’re united in the thing that makes them special and, in spite of their differences, she’s gotten to see them all come together as friends and classmates this semester.

JEAN: “As long as we all stick together, we have nothing to fear.”

While this speech is going on, Sofia finds Laura, having been worried where she went. Laura tells her not to act like she cares. She knows who Sofia really wishes she were here with.

Sofia hangs her head.

SOFIA: “I’m sorry.”

Elsewhere in the gym, Noriko shoves Julian, asking his date, Preview , to give them some privacy. Julian asks what Ashida’s problem is, with her getting in his face and shouting at him that he’s such an idiot. He’s been chasing after Sofia all semester, and now he’s just giving up?

Julian shoves her away. Sofia said no, and, yeah, he hates that, but he’s not gonna dwell on it. It is what it is. She wanted to go with Laura, not him, and he’s happy for her. Besides, what does Noriko care? Shouldn’t she be happy they aren’t getting together?

Noriko swears in Japanese before slamming her hands on the sides of Julian’s head.

NORIKO: “Julian Keller, read my lips: Sofia doesn’t like girls!”

JULIAN: “Wh…what?”

NORIKO: “She wanted to go with you, you dumbass. She’s only here with Laura because she’s afraid you may bring out the worst in her, and because she’s too sweet to say “No” to Laura’s puppy eyes.”

JULIAN: “They are pretty big.”

Noriko slaps him, and points over at Sofia and Laura.

NORIKO: “Do they look like they’re having a good time? Are you having a good time? No. So now that you know what her problem is, fix it!”

Julian knocks Nori back with his TK, growling at her to stay out of this, before hanging his head and sighing. He’s just not sure what he’s supposed to do.

“Whatever you have to.”

Brian walks up to the two.

BRIAN: “That’s what Ms. Frost is always telling us about getting what we want, right?”

JULIAN: “Brian…”

BRIAN: “Hey, don’t worry about earlier. It’s chill. People like you and Sofia? You deserve each other. So go get her.”

Julian continues to hang his head, before finally picking it up and donning his cocky shithead smirk.

JULIAN: “Okay. I have an idea. Where’s Cess? She’s not gonna want to miss this.”

We cut to Cessily, alone, crying in her room.

In the factory, Scott and Emma struggle against Stryker and the sentinels, respectively, as Stryker proves to be more than a match for Cyclops in hand-to-hand combat, while Emma, despite her multiple, incredible powers, is overwhelmed by the murder machines thanks to their great number and refusal to stay down.

STRYKER: “Do you think I want to be doing this?! I was happy! I was at peace! But then your ilk came into my life, and when God called upon me, I had no choice but to answer!”

Eventually, Stryker manages to remove Scott’s visor, and without his optic blasts, the fight completely turns in Stryker’s favor. He gets Cyclops pinned on the floor, and just starts whaling on him, bloodying his fists with each strike across Scott’s face. He tried to make him see reason! He tried to respect him as the leader of his people and offer him peace in death! But just like Marcy, he’s too far gone for that.

Unable to open his eyes without killing Stryker, and unable to get the reverand off of him, Scott is seemingly helpless. He’s too weak.

STRYKER: “Come on, Cyclops! Stop holding back! Show me the demon inside you! Confess your sins before the Representative of God!”

Scott only clenches his eyes shut further. No matter what, he cannot open them.

EMMA, telepathically: “My father was a monster and my mother was a drunk.”

SCOTT, telepathically: “Huh?”

EMMA: “You wanted to know what hardships I’ve faced since I was 16. My horrid parents plagued me until I was 17 and broke away from them. Likewise my older sister, who was born without a heart, my younger sister, who’s never been anything but trouble, and my high school tormentors, all of whom sought to make sure each and every day of my life was a living Hell. The only bright spots in my life before I left that house were my brother, and the knowledge which came only after my X-gene developed fully that it was why, if nothing else, I’d been able to live as my true self. Winston Frost hated Mutants, but there were people he hated more.”

As this conversation goes on, Scott continues to get beaten, and Emma continues her hopeless battle against the sentinels, doing everything she can to survive and keep them at bay. Interspersed with this, we flashback to what Emma is describing.

EMMA: “I was offered inheritance of the entire family fortune after finishing high school, but I refused to be tied to that man any longer. It was freeing, but the end result was four years of scrubbing toilets and taking any other menial, backbreaking jobs I could get to pay my way through college. And even after graduation, with my family having disowned me, I was nothing but another girl with a business degree and no connections. So I had to get creative…”

The flashback we see is one of a 21 year-old Emma stripping beautifully before an audiance.

EMMA: “I’d tried my hand at stripping before and I’d failed miserably. But with how I’d trained my telepathy, tricking drooling men into believing I was the most incredible performer they’d ever seen was hardly a challenge. Of course, one man was able to see through my illusion.

Backstage, Emma is smashed face first into a mirror.

We cut back to the present.

EMMA: “But that’s a story for another time.”

Scott questions why she’s telling him all of this. She answers that she was simply doing what he requested in exchange for answering her question.

Now, where does he see himself in ten years? Is he going to die here? Can he see himself leading Mutantkind to a brighter tomorrow? And is he willing to do whatever it takes to make that a reality?

EMMA: “I’m already doing everything I can. Our fates, all our fates, are in your hands now, Mr. Summers. What are you going to–?”

Emma is cut off, finally being shot down and neutralized.

Panic and rage takeover Scott’s bloody mess of a face. Stryker cackles.

STRYKER: “This is pathetic! You are a monster! Quit acting so self-righteous and act like one! Show me your true eyes, show me the eyes of the beast, and let me face their evil head on before I finish this, and move on to exterminating your entire damned–”

Stryker is cut off as the sound cuts off, a tear drips down Scott’s cheek, Stryker’s malicious smirk shifts toward peaceful relief, and while we can’t hear him, Scott screams, and red consumes the screen.

Emma is about to be finished off as the sound of Cyclops’ full power echoes through the factory, before the man himself arrives on the scene, a wave of red energy eviserating every last sentinel.

Emma is in absolute awe as she watches this display of power. And for another reason.

When all that’s left of the walking death camps is scrap metal, Scott closes his eyes, takes deep breaths, and puts his visor back on.

He hops down to the lower level to offer Emma a hand.

EMMA: “Thank you…Mr. Summers. That was something I wasn’t aware you had inside you. Where is Stryker?”

Scott hangs his head and clenches his fists.

Emma smirks.

EMMA: “Please, darling, don’t tell me you feel bad about this. If there was any man who deserved this fate, it was him.”

CYCLOPS: “That’s the thing.”

Scott looks up and scowls at Emma.

CYCLOPS: “I feel great.”

Emma’s smirk becomes a more gentle smile as she places a hand on the side of his face.

CYCLOPS: “We should get home.”

EMMA: “We should. My hero needs his reward after all.”

Scott brushes her off and stomps away.

Back in her room, Cessily is still crying. She’s still alone, until someone knocks on her door. She goes to answer, and on the other side is Bling!. Cessily questions if laughing at her with her friends wasn’t enough and now she wants to laugh at her face to face…before Roxy steps aside so she doesn’t vomit all over Cessily.

Cessily asks if she’s okay, and Roxy nervously laughs. Turns out she got food poisoning earlier, and when she realized she wasn’t gonna be alright for a while, she ran off on her own so Cessily didn’t find out.

ROXY: “I…didn’t want you to think I wasn’t cool.”

But, Cessily had been texting Dust, Roxy ran into her, and, when she found out Cessily was crying, she knew she had to apologize. She’s so sorry she left. This was stupid.

Cessily laughs. Yes. It was. And a massive bitch move. But the dumbest part is thinking she wouldn’t think she’s cool just because she ate a bad egg or something. She’s Roxy freaking Washington! Did she not notice how she was all over her all night?

CESSILY: “I just was so worried, even before you ditched me, that you wouldn’t like me. No one’s like me that way since, you know…”

Roxy smirks, taking Cessily’s hands.

ROXY: “Since you became a girl of metal? Cessily Kincaid, I’ve been looking for another one of those since I was nine years-old.”

CESSILY: “R…really?”

ROXY: “Really. And if you’ll let me take you back to the gym for the last couple dances, I’d love to show you how sorry I am, and how much I’ve been waiting for you.”

Cessily’s face squirms with uncertainty, before she ultimately squees, running off with Roxy.

CESSILY: “Never ditch me again!”

ROXY: “Count on it.”

As Jean finishes her speech and is about to announce the king and queen of the dance, Julian flies onto the stage and takes the mic.

JULIAN: “Everyone listen up!”

JEAN, telepathically: “Mr. Keller, what do you think you’re doing?”

JULIAN, telepathically: “Come on, you’re about to crown me king, aren’t you? Call it starting my speech early.”

Jean sighs and shakes her head.

JEAN, telepathically: “Proceed.”

While Noriko and Brian are looking at him hoping he pulls this off, Sofia and Laura are concerned and confused.

Julian tells everyone that knows they’ve been watching him and his squad these past few months. And why wouldn’t they? They’re obviously the best Mutants here! Their kickass TA is already an X-Man, and there’s no one scarier - in a good way.

Laura snort laughs.

Sooraya doesn’t even like fighting, but she could take anyone here! Cessily has more spirit than anyone he’s ever met!

Cessily and Roxy walk in as he’s saying this.

ROXY: “Uh, what’s going on here?”

CESSILY, smiling: “Julian being Julian.”

And Brian? Brian is the best friend a guy could ever ask for.

Brian smiles with acceptance, as Julian then says that Noriko may be a loser, but they care about her anyway, prompting Nori to flip him off.

JULIAN: “And Sofia? Well, we ALL love her, right? Let’s hear it!”

Sofia is bashful as the whole gym cheers her on.

JULIAN: “That’s right! You know all who the best of the best are! That’s why you’re about to put crowns on our heads! And that’s why, before we graduate, the two of us are going to be X-Men!”

The whole gym continues to cheer as Sofia starts to both soak it in, and realize what Julian is doing.

Julian says he knows Sofia has doubts about herself, about him, but the only future he sees for them is kicking ass together and saving the day as the best heroes this world’s ever seen. He knows he’s a jerk, but she knows he’s more than that. And he’s seen her at worst, and can still only see her as perfection.

JULIAN: “Come on, Beautiful. Give it a chance. Please.”

Everyone is cheering on Sofia to get up there, and the look on Sofia’s face makes it clear Julian’s words have reached her. Even still…

LAURA: “Go.” Sofia turns to her with remorse. “I’ve been hurt worse before.”

As Laura hangs her head, Sofia gives her a big hug.

SOFIA: “I am sorry I cannot feel how you want me to feel, but I do care about you Laura. A lot.” Sofia pulls back. “I’m taking you shopping over break. You need less black in your closet.”

LAURA: “That…sounds awful. But okay.”

With Laura at peace, Sofia flies toward the stage. Julian is holding his arms out open for her, but she slaps him.

SOFIA, smirking: “No more big, public displays of affection like this. They’re already tiring.”

JULIAN laughs. “Deal.”

The two take hold of each other and share their first kiss, the cheers reaching their peak, as Jean seizes the moment to properly announce them as the dance’s king and queen.

Inspired by the moment, Mercury kisses Bling! Both girls are sufficiently awkward about it and giggle.

As the dancing resumes, Julian and Sofia finally get to dance, and Mercury and Bling! pick up where they left off.

Laura is left all alone, watching Julian and Sofia, but…

BRIAN: “Who needs the hets, right?”

Brian, smirking, offers a hand to Laura.

Laura shrugs with a smirk of her own.

Brian and Laura take the dance floor together.

Noriko sighs, happy she was at least able to help her friend, but she’s still got no one.

Then, a short, porcupine looking kid named Quill walks up to her and asks if she’d want to dance.

Nori takes the kid’s hand and makes clear she’s leading.

We pan away from the dance with everyone at peace.

In the middle of the night, Scott and Emma arrive back at the institute, having missed the dance, with everyone having gone to sleep. Scott told Jean they were on their way home, and the mission was completed, but he didn’t give the important details.

Emma asks if he’ll be taking credit for his noble deed tonight, or if he’d like her to “take the blame”, so “pure, holy Jean” doesn’t get mad at him.

Scott says there was nothing “noble” about what he did. He’s going to make clear to Jean that he knows that, and hope she forgives him given the circumstances. The fact that it made him feel so good, making sure that monster would never hurt anyone again, is wrong.

EMMA: “Feelings are never “wrong”, Mr. Summers. They’re who we are. Good or bad, you can embrace those feelings, or you can repress them because an old man who groomed you to be his weapon told you how to feel.”

SCOTT: “I’ve told you not to insult Xavier.”

EMMA: “And I’ve told you I can see right through you. I’ve told you I know there’s someone so much more real underneath that stiff facade of yours. Tonight, I got a glimpse of that man. And I’ll be damned if I don’t get to thank him.”

SCOTT: “Emma, you–”

Emma cuts Scott off, grabbing the sides of his head and kissing him. Just like when Mystique kissed him disguised as Emma, he kisses back for a moment before pushing her away. Only this time, he’s not falling over, he has Emma excitedly grinning at him and tossing off her cape…and he knows what he needs.

Scott pulls Emma into his arms and passionately makes out with her.

We cut to the next morning. Scott and Emma are in Emma’s bed, passed out, naked and tied up in silk sheets.

Out in the hall, Jean is looking for Scott. She can sense him somewhere around here.

JEAN: “Are you making me breakfast again you big sweetie?”

Jean knocks on Emma’s door, asking what happened last night and if she knows why Scott didn’t come to bed after getting home.

As she asks, Scott and Emma wake up, the former in horror at what he’s done, and Emma moaning and squirming around in pleasure.

JEAN: “...Scott?”

Jean forces Emma’s door open and sees the two in bed together.

EMMA: “Oh! Hello Jean, darling. Care to join us?”

SCOTT: “Jean…I…let me explain. I…”

As Scott struggles to find the right words, Jean sheds a tear. And as the tear goes down her cheek, it becomes a flame.

Jean screams at the top of her lungs as the full Phoenix aura emerges around her, and she psychically shuts down Scott and Emma’s brains, rendering them both catatonic.

Outside the school, a small group of the remaining Purifers burst onto the front lawn, determined to avenge their fallen leader.

As they charge forward, the door is opened by Jean.

PURIFER: “Die, demon!”

Every Purifer present tries to shoot her down with their machine guns, but Jean stops every single bullet, dropping them to the ground.

Jean tilts her head to the left. In an instant, all of the present Purifers explode, leaving only blood and gore behind. Jean flies off as she screeches like the Phoenix.

#new x-men: the animated series #new x-men #academy x #scott summers #jean grey #Emma Frost #Ororo Munroe #Kitty Pryde #Roberto Da Costa #Laura Kinney #Sofia Mantega #Julian Keller #Noriko Ashida #Sooraya Qadir #Cessily Kincaid #Brian Cruz

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