#“ me knowing the premise of this comic is everyone getting taken down one by one : NOOO NOT ZOOBLE ”
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spread-the-influence · 4 months ago
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Shakes you
HOW DARE YOU
puts my arms up Woah Woah Woah didn't i say that everyone's getting taken down in this comic !!
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beware-thecrow · 7 months ago
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I fucking hate BNHA The last panel about "granma is here" in fact further proves my point on another post of how empty and nonsensical BNHA became in the last arc because AfO wanting Tomura from the very beginning made impossible for him to be saved anyway, which means all his beef with the heroes became unjustified and his speech about violence and heroes and villains held no importance in the end. Why?
Because you cannot have a character built over the premise that society was so corrupt and selfish that put a little boy in the bad bad villain's reach for 5 arcs, to then say "oh, wait. He was fucked anyway because the bad bad guy was behind everything all along"
A bad bad guy not even all might in his prime could defeat, so it doesn't matter if people would or wouldn't help others. "It's all bad bad guy's fault anyway and he's practically immortal." Perfect, now we know granma didn't stand a chance against AfO, he planned this.
The whole idea of a society that relies on heroes too much instead of everyone doing their part from kindness falls like a house of cards if you have an evil so corrupt that none of said kindness will mean a thing. The moment Horikoshi went from "Tomura was found by AfO" to "Tomura was planned by AfO" the core theme of his series crumbled down. The league as a device lost its meaning, the characters that composed it became unjustified because whatever motivation they had was in fact a manipulation from the greater evil. And this applies to everyone.
What's the point in Toga and Twice calling out the lack of help for people with mental illness and problematic quirks if the message still is "If you do bad things out of despair no one will help you and you'll get killed." And yes, Toga died loved, Toga wanted to be loved, but she didn't wanted to die?? She was literally an abandoned child who found a family and ended up dying giving blood to the same girl she stabbed. And yeah, it's kinda poetic she died giving blood instead of taking it, but what was the point if she doesn't get to know she's loved? Further more, are we really to believe Ochako loved Toga? A girl she literally didn't know. Sorry, but once I got lost in a mall and a police officer helped me find my mom, that doesn't mean the officer loved me. And yeah, Ochako tried her best to be a good hero, but it's not about what the characters do, it's what the story tells you it happens with what they do. The story just told you the ill and abandoned die in the end before anyone helps them. And they die hunted by the police. What's the point of Touya as a whole? oh, wait. I know, it must be very awful for Endeavor to be such a bad person, his child ended up incapacitated. Very hard on Endeavor. Fuck Dabi being turned into a piece of charcoal, IT'S HARD ON HIS DAD.
What's the point in Spinner pointing out discrimination and people following him if in the end we got that he should have stayed in his lane, in his room, friendless because he only went out to be seen by someone who accepted him, just to have that person tortured in front of him before he was killed. And for what? For a teen to tell him "Yo, bro. I punched your bestie to death, make a comic about it. Btw you'll be staying in jail forever. So so sorry for you guys." Proving once again, murder is okay if you are on the right side of the story. No matter how much compassion, Tomura showed Spinner, or how much he suffered through life. Heroes had the right to kill him, and there was nothing Spinner (who legit loved his friend) could do about it because AfO had taken over. Again, another good character turned pointless, with a pointless point of view, with a pointless conclusion because he can tell the story of Tomura Shigaraki all he wants FROM JAIL, but under the public eye Tomura will go down as an insane mass murderer either way since looking at him in any other light would inevitably make a target of Izuku for killing him and that won't happen. You cannot have "the best hero ever" and "he killed this dude that was kinda right" in the same sentence. It doesn't make sense. Not to mention his case against discrimination went nowhere since everyone who followed him became a villain and the only person who actually makes a point about discrimination ends up being Deku on another, totally different chapter that had nothing to do with Spinner. And...he's a hero so he can say whatever he wants, we go back to "questioning bad, unless a hero says it" and "people are really that horrible in BNHA universe".
Tomura's case it's even more fucked because even when he said he didn't want a future, every single wish he had fell flat. His hatred for not being saved as a child proved to be out of anyone's control, his desire to destroy society didn't land because nothing really changed. There are still schools for child soldiers, and people are still not questioning the violence heroes use to keep the status quo, and certainly no one is wondering how is that a couple of heroes were able to kill a couple of villains (because so far Hawks still has a job). His friends ended up dead or locked away, and the child in him that begged to be saved ended up...being not. In the end, we got a suffering festival for Tomura, from his granma being pushed to drop her kid, his dad being tricked, his parents getting killed in front of him, Mon-chan and Hana's memory squeezed dry and young Tenko asking for help while Tomura was assaulted by his creepy guardian for 200 chapters straight just to tell us that Deku at sixteen was a great hero for putting a twenty one-year-old dissociated guy out of his misery like a euthanized dog. And for what? To finish a guy who was infatuated with his dead brother AND THAT COULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED IN JAIL LIKE...300 CHAPTERS AGO, since the manga already made the point that villains can be executed with little repercussion, and it can be justified if said villain it's a threat. Then...why was AfO alive to begin with? Oh, I guess this is something we can trust to a 16 year old instead of... the government or whatever. And yeah, these are tragic figures, they certainly are, but you can hardly claim that they achieved anything in the end because the first premise of the league, why it was formed and why they joined was
To live as we want/are. And now they are dead, or locked away, or bedridden crispy for something that was planted by someone else from the very beginning. And what they believed didn't change anything in the end because it's not like the public saw them do something meaningful but, again, they are being told what to believe, by whom? BY THE HEROES. Are we really arguing that Iguchi's comic will change society? ARE WE FOR REAL????? Have you ever read the story of Jesus Christ? he died for our sins by Marvel. And on top of that as the last nail in the coffin to prove that NOTHING changed, Hawks really said rebranding + target audience =📈🤙🏼 StOnKS✨ I wish I was joking.
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97keanu · 2 years ago
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"ˣ'ˢ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ᵒᶠ ʰᵉʳ ʰᵃⁿᵈˢ
ʷᵃˢʰ ᵗʰᵉᵐ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᵗʰʳᵒᵒᵐ ˢᵒ ˢʰᵉ ᶜᵃⁿ ᵈʳⁱⁿᵏ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃⁿᵈˢ"
Dave Lizewski x demonic!Reader
Premise: In this chapter, Dave takes Katie to Melody Lane Tavern, along with You and the rest of the group because somehow, he isn't really sure why, this has turned into a group outing. When you see Dave and Katie chatting it up, you decide to get a little revenge by dancing with Todd on the dance floor before the real concert starts. Unfortunately, Dave seems inspired and begins dancing with Katie. You find out how far your heartless mean girl soul is willing to go to get revenge for the jealousy you feel.
Later, you find out what happens to bad girls who decide to double down and get interested in the lead singer.
Tags/CW: Dark Fic, Dark Themes, Morally wrong choices, Nerdy!Dave, Jealous!reader, Jealous!Dave, DRAMA, a lot of miscommunications, semi-sex crazed!reader, reader who is a mean girl who likes to fuck her feelings away, wrong person wrong time, right person is just out of reach, refusal to admit crushes, mutual pining, revenge sex, aggressive, doggy, blowjobs, soul connection, red string of fate, soul connection sex, public orgasm, hidden orgasm, dubious consent on that one, semi-mentions of drugging, blood, gore, canon typical gore, reader is taken advantage of via demonic spell, reader is kidnapped, cliff hanger but there are a lot of dark themes in this one so needed a little break where we stop.
A/N: This chapter is packing a LOT. We are going to start out pretty fun and I'm throwing the Todd Haynes girlies a bone (if you forgot who he is in Kick Ass, he's Evan Peters <3). Later in the chapter we meet the creep, Nikolai, and unfortunately there is horror and angst once again. Our two lovers are in for a long night.
Read part one here, and read this part on ao3 here read part three here
words: 7.2k
Likes/reblogs/comments inspire me to keep going!
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Early spring has a chill in the air that makes Dave's bones shiver. Winter still hasn't unleashed her grasp on the small town of Devil's Kettle, and Dave is pulling his jacket closer to his body for warmth as his breath trails in front of him. He has a strange feeling that the chill isn't just from the cold. No, there's something off about tonight, he just has no idea what.  Besides that, he had horrible dreams all last night. He can't remember much of them, but what he does remember involves blood running down stone, the rushing sound of water, and for some reason, your voice screaming out for him. Speaking of you, Dave is currently following your puffy jacket silhouette in the dark as the two of you walk up to Melody Lane Tavern. He sees you shoot him an interesting look over your shoulder, he wishes he could ever get a real read on what you are feeling. Even though he finds himself knowing you so deeply, anticipating your needs most of the time before you even voice them, he never knows how you truly feel. Which is to say that right now, you're shooting him a look that he can only describe as repressed anger, but he has no idea why you would be so angry with him. He hates when he thinks you’re angry at him the most, he can’t help but feel like everyone else who thought you two made an odd pair might just end up being right about it not working. That's another thing, he has no idea why you of all people would ever give him, world-class nerd, the time of day. Yes, you two have been friends ever since you plucked him off the playground and proclaimed best friends forever in front of all the other five-year-olds there, but this fairytale should have ended a long time ago for him. He was so sure that by the time you two reached middle school, you would see the truth, hear all the mean things the other kids would say about him, and walk away like his mom did his dad.  But no, you actually stayed, and on top of that, you never even made him feel like a loser. You never said anything about him liking comics or being obsessed with superhero movies. Even when Dave told you that he wishes he could be a superhero, like a real-life superhero, you just listened and told him that you 'found him pretty super'. It was one of your rare tender moments with him. Not to say that you two aren't extremely close, but it does feel like half the time he never really knows what you actually think of him, beyond being a best friend and someone you can depend on. 
For a while, especially when puberty hit and his hormones went crazy, he wondered if he could ever actually be with you, in more than a friend way. But Dave also knew that every other boy in school was hounding for you, and you confided in him that you hated how it made you feel like an object. Your adamant denial of boy after boy really made Dave believe he had zero chance with you. In fact, he tried so hard not to see you as a romantic interest so as not to ruin the lifeline friendship he had with you, since at the time you were his only friend. 
No, Dave learned years ago to keep his feelings for you hidden deep, and by now it's as easy as breathing not to act on them. Even if sometimes you drift through his mind while he gets some much-needed release at night, he feels guilty after, knowing to his core that you would never love a guy like him more than a friend. And he was content with that just to be near you, but he also knows if that's the case, then he needs to move on to someone actually in his league. 
That's where Katie Deauxma comes in. Todd and Marty have been hounding Dave for years to find some girl, any girl to talk about with them. While they have been lusting after anything feminine and that walks, he's never chimed in. In fact, they're not as close friends as he wishes he could be because of that. It makes it so awkward. Not to say Dave isn't a man with needs, but he is not a total horn dog the way they are. 
This was a point of contention between the three boys. At first, they actually tried to get Dave to admit to secretly fucking you all these years, or at least being some sort of cuckold to your obviously promiscuous ways. You're one of the most popular girls in school, of course, you're a whore, right? Well, Dave knows for a fact that you've never had sex. You would have told him that, he's your best friend. Even though that information would have hurt him, despite his constant refusal to accept or admit what's under the surface for you, he believes he would know if you had had sex. That's what best friends do, tell each other stuff like that. 
After Dave finally had a break and stopped talking to Todd and Marty for a week, they didn't bring up their suspicions that something had to have transpired sometime between the two of you. Instead, they moved on to trying to get interested in any girl at school that wasn't you. 
That's when Dave finally noticed Katie. She sat next to him in Biology III and for the whole semester, Dave never gave her a second glance. When she and him were partnered on a project last week though, he learned she was actually really nice, and he kind of liked her laugh. She wasn't as beautiful as you, not by far, but she wasn't not pretty. No, she had her own charms, and in fact, she was much more in Dave's league than you would ever be, and that was a more pressing fact. Along with the other fact that Dave was a Certified Virgin, who had never had even a kiss before, Katie seemed like a safe bet. Obtainable. 
And now here he is going with you to see her at this concert tonight, which he still can't quite believe was an accident on your part for turning it into a group outing. He just doesn't get why you would do that to argue anyways. So now the two of you are meeting Todd and Marty here, while Katie brings along her friend Erika. 
Dave feels you grab his hand and pull him into the bar as Marty and Todd have a senseless game of pool in the corner. He allows you to pull him to towards them, and he catches a glimpse of you two in the mirrored backsplash of the bar. For a moment, it almost looks as if you are the one bringing Dave to a date, the way you’re pulling on his hand and biting your glossy, juicy lips with a smile. He can’t help it, his heart flutters around his ribcage, and he has to close his eyes for a moment to make it stop. He knows he can’t think like that, especially when he’s trying to have a date with Katie right now. 
Todd and Marty stop their goofing around to welcome Dave and you, and you can see a twinkle in Todd’s eye as he looks you up and down. That’s something else, Dave knows for a fact that his friends, Todd more so than Marty, are totally obsessed with you. They think it’s awesome they get to actually hang out with a popular girl when it once in a blue moon happens that all of you are put together in an outing such as this. And Todd isn’t even subtle about how badly he wants you, he gets hard just seeing you enter with a low-cut top and mini skirt. Oh yes, Todd is going to have the most wicked thoughts about you tonight when he’s in his bed alone, Dave can practically see the scenes play out in his mind right now. Dave isn’t sure why the idea of Todd having such a hard-on for you angers him so, but it does. If Dave were a different man, he would knock Todd out just for looking at you the way he does. But he doesn’t have that kind of authority, Dave isn’t entitled to worry about who drools over you are not. 
“Dave! You finally made it, are you ready to totally woo Katie tonight?” Dave could audibly groan from how loud Todd is saying it, and as Todd does, Dave notices your eyebrow twitch out of the corner of his eye. 
“Yeah, sure dude, hopefully it goes over well as a group thing…” Dave says half-heartedly, honestly feeling a bit lost right now in the decades-old bar, not really sure why he is here in the first place.
He knows why, of course, but something about tonight just feels totally off. Honestly, his muscles feel so tense, like he needs to run, get out of here. He also has this deep feeling to take you with him, something tells him you’re not safe here tonight, none of you are. He wonders if this is what the unknowing teens of a B-list horror movie feel at the start of the night, this heavy cloud over their heads that they keep denying is going to surely drown them if they don’t take action. Just like those teens, Dave chooses to ignore the feeling and sit down at a table with the group. 
As he does, Katie and her friend Erika come through the doors of the bar, Katie getting up onto her tippy toes to look around for Dave. He immediately jumps up from the table, knocking his knees against it like the dork he is, and trying to not acknowledge the pain, instead waving Katie over the best he can through gritted teeth. God, he hopes he doesn’t look like a complete loser right now. He feels terribly insecure at the moment. 
“Katie! Over here!” Dave calls out, and Katie finally spots him, pulling Erika over with her. 
They fit into the booth with ease, Katie sitting next to Dave, who is sandwiched between her and you. Dave can't see you seething while he chats up Katie. 
No, instead he leaves you next to Todd and Marty who are arguing over which girl in whatever video game of the week is the hottest. You cannot believe how head over heels nerdy Dave is for Katie. Your heart sinks, and the burn it leaves is practically radiating off of you, even Todd notices your reaction. 
"Hey, you alright?" His geeky voice asks nervously. Even though he and Dave were good friends, he hardly ever got to talk to you. You really didn't give him the time of day either, but he couldn't help that he thought you were one of the hottest girls in school. He often wishes that Dave would give up the details between you two, there's no way there's nothing going on between you two, right?
You ignore Todd for a moment, focusing on how Katie just made Dave laugh instead, and that's when a wicked plan began unfolding in your pretty little head. You turn to Todd. 
"Yeah, I'm just peachy, Todd." You put on a fake smile and bat your long lashes at him. "Actually, would you like, totally come dance with me?"
Todd's face goes red, his words unable to come to the surface for a moment, then he nods, excitedly. 
"Y-Yeah, I'd, I'd love to!" He looks back over at Marty who seems in disbelief that Todd is getting to dance with you. 
You turn to Dave who is blushing and asking Katie all about her day, and scooch. 
"Hey, Dave, can you let us out of the booth? Me and Todd are going to go dance." You say it so sweetly, so innocently, and yet Dave's blue eyes go bigger than usual, confused. You continue to move towards him so he and Katie have to get up. 
When you and Todd are out, Dave says something he can't help himself from. 
"Why? Why would you do that?" He knows you don't like Todd, not even really as a friend, why would you ever go dance with him? Todd's face looks at Dave angrily for his comment. 
"Because why not?" You say with a smile and take Todd's arm, leading him more towards the dance floor. Dave is speechless. He sits back down with Katie. 
He has the hardest time keeping his eyes off you and Todd. Katie begins to pick up the conversation from before, but Dave's interest is split. He sees as you rub your body into Todd, Todd at first looking like he might faint, then gripping into your hips and actually helping you! How could he do this to Dave? 
Katie tries to grab Dave's interest again, she was actually having a pretty good time before this. She glances at Erika, who is next to Marty as if to say 'What the hell?' to Dave's reaction. Erika shrugs and now Marty is trying to invest her in a conversation about Star Wars that she's surprisingly not uninterested in. 
"Dave? Do you want to go dance too?" Katie finally asks him, and he has to blink and rethink what she just said to take his attention off of you, where you're grinding your ass into Todd's crotch. 
"What? I mean…" He glances back to where Todd looks like he might just cum in his pants right there and then, and his own anger starts to drift somewhere inside him. He knows he has no right to be angry with you, you're not his girlfriend, and you're way too good for him. But if that's the case then why the fuck are you dancing with Todd? 
Dave looks back into Katie's eyes and nods, his brow furrowed. 
"Actually, I'd love to dance, Katie. Let's go." It's the most confident thing he's spoken all night, and for a moment Katie is wooed by how bad he seems to want to dance with her. 
Dave leaves the booth with Katie and begins to take to the crowd where you and Todd are dancing. He hopes you see him as he puts his hands on Katie's waist, not quite bold enough to dance as provocatively as you are, or sure of if Katie would enough that. 
You're still dancing to the pre-concert music, your eyes closed and feeling weirdly excited that Todd's cock is hard against your ass. You never really wanted to talk to him since he's such a geek and way too much of a loser, but he isn't ugly. No, you always thought it was strange how Todd was actually pretty good-looking, but his personality was never really your cup of tea. It doesn't matter much anyways, you're doing this to make Dave jealous. Speaking of, where was he?
You open up your eyes and spot the seated Erika and Marty with no Dave insight. You scan the crowd immediately, and your eyes land on Dave and Katie dancing, your jaw tightening. Did he really wanna play this game with you? For some reason, tonight you're feeling like you'd risk it all to make a point. You watch Dave until his eyes catch back to you, and you hold his gaze while you bend all the way down and show Todd your ass. You're surprised that some of the crowd goers are even watching, a few cheering when you do your filthiest moves. You can see as Dave's mouth falls open for a moment, and you can't help but smirk. You wonder if that's what set him off because suddenly he's leaning in towards Katie, and it looks like he's going to kiss her. 
You could scream, the only blessing being that if he did kiss her, you missed it as the crowd gets more encircled where you and Todd still dance. You can't see Dave, but you hope he can see you. You flip around and face Todd, where he's totally head over heels for the whole experience. He has a totally goofy grin on his face, and he looks you in the eyes and does something you're surprised by. He brings you in and crushes his lips against yours. 
Now, you know you could have done it to him, as revenge for Dave kissing Katie, but something had stopped you. You're not sure if it's because the switch that made you attracted to Todd hadn't flipped or something else, but when he kisses you, you can't seem to find it unpleasant. In fact, you close your eyes and lean into the kiss. 
You've kissed a few of the few boys at school you every so often found some fun in, but Todd is actually a pretty good kisser in comparison to anyone else you've kissed. You feel like your lips are tingling when they're pressed to his, and somehow your hands are up and twisted in his messy mousy curls. You can almost hear Todd moan if it wasn't for how loud the music was. As you pull away, Todd only becomes more eager for you, kissing down your neck, somehow hitting all the spots that turn you on. You can't help the heat that spreads down your back and between your legs. Maybe you can do something to really get back at Dave, but would it be too much? 
You have no idea if Dave can even see you anymore, but you feel so compelled to drag Todd to the restroom right now. He wouldn't be your first, and your sex drive has never been low. Besides, maybe a good fuck would make this night easier, and make your heart less tender. You know somehow you will regret this later, but here you are, whispering your plan into Todd's ear. He looks at you like he's dreaming, totally into it and dazed by the fact that you actually want to fuck him. It's more of him who's dragging you to the restroom instead of the other way around. 
You quickly find a single-stall bathroom, opening it, and closing it behind you two. Todd already has his hands on you, he wants you so bad. He doesn't even know if he should tell you he has never had sex before, but god he is so lucky that he gets to do it with one of the most popular, sexy girls in school. He is halfway through getting your skirt down when he stops to look you in the eyes, none of this makes sense.
"Are you sure you really want me to…?" He starts, his breath heavy from how much he's been kissing you. You grab him and pull him in. 
"Yes, I know, it's weird for me too how badly I want to fuck your nerdy cock, but can you do me a favor and just bend me over already?" You don't know what's gotten into you, tonight has been so strange, but you oddly feel like it's meant to happen this way. You can't deny how horny you are either. 
Todd doesn't even need to hear anything else, he's ready to take all of your commands. You bend over the sink and look into the mirror with a slightly bitchy smile, and Todd needs to fuck that smug look off your face right now. He drops his jeans and grabs your ass, wrenching your panties down, the moment making him bold. 
His cock is so hard against your ass, and you can't believe he has the audacity to tease it between your ass cheeks. You almost gasp when he does though, surprised at how big he is. You never took him for having that big of a cock, but it's moderately girthy and long. The feeling of it against your bare skin excites you, and you feel his precum painting your ass. You look into the mirror and give him a look that lets him know you're done being played with, you need his cock right now. He obliges happily, spreading your legs and lining himself up, wetting the tip of his cock with your own wetness. 
You jump from how quickly he slams into you, not expecting this energy from such a dork. You gasp from the feeling of being so full so quickly and look at Todd, seeing how satisfied he is with your reaction. God, is this nerd really going to fuck you like this? You were used to being more dominant, but you bite your lip and cry out as Todd continues to move inside of you, his cock is just so hard. 
You hope Dave can tell how much you're enjoying this. Something tells you he can feel it, you don't know why, but it's as if you can almost feel your energy centered on sending itself to him. 
Todd lifts your leg up with ease, again surprising you with his strength. He leans that leg onto the sink countertop, and you cannot believe how deep he's getting in your pussy, the feeling making you forget about Dave for the moment. Todd pushes your body until your face is practically against the mirror's glace, your breath making condensation against it. Todd is totally lost in the feeling of your tight pussy, his breath husky and his muscles tight. 
"Fuck….you like this you little whore?" He says, almost to himself, quietly like it's a kink he's not sure he can have with you. For some reason, the fact that this loser had you so vulnerable and was fucking you so hard was turning you on. When he called you a 'little whore' you couldn't help but feel your pussy tremble. 
"Oh yeah?" You say, breathy and looking back at him. "Why don't you tell me how you like fucking this slutty cunt?" 
Todd seems emboldened once again and picks up the pace, his thrusts almost hurting but you find the sensation to be amazing. 
"I can't believe you're such a filthy girl that you'd let a loser like me fuck you without a condom." He almost growls out, and you remember that you in fact did forget to use protection. The thought sends a mixture of fear and pleasure through your body. The idea of how dangerous this is somehow makes it better. God, what is with you tonight, you never thought of yourself as someone who would do something like this.
Todd continues you fuck you, and you can clearly feel him getting closer. You decide you do something before he fills you up with his cum. You pull back from him, and he looks confused for a moment before you turn around and drop to your knees. He down at you with a lazy, lust-filled grin like he's won the lottery. 
"Oh my god…" He whispers out, looking down as you look back up at him and take hold of his cock. 
You stroke him gently, placing your perfect lips around it and tasting yourself. You reach down to your own clit between your legs, your knees on the dirty bathroom floor. You can't believe what such a slut you were being, but it didn't matter. What mattered was getting Todd's cock down your throat in a way that turns you on. 
You feel Todd placing a hand on the back of your head as you get into the rhythm of it. You glance up and see how much he's enjoying it, as well as a look on his face that tells you you're never going to live down letting him fuck you. You can also tell by how he starts fucking your face like he's been waiting for this, likely dreaming about the chance to get in your pants. And now he's a bit smug about it, sending his hips thrusting deeply til you're practically choking on it. Something about that makes your pussy clench as you rub tight and fast little circles on your clit. You can taste his precum seeping out onto your tongue. He's getting so close. You close your eyes and enjoy him face fucking you, getting lost in how dirty you feel for doing this. 
"Keep those eyes open for me…" He breathes out, half commanding, the other half letting you know that he needs it to cum. He needs to be able to see those pretty eyes while he drains his cock into your mouth. 
You look back up at him, your eyes almost watering from how he's fucking your throat, your breath so hard to keep. Holding it turns you on more, the asphyxiation of it making your brain and pussy go crazy for it. This nerds cock really has you completely dumb for it right now, you feel like such a whore. You keep eye contact with Todd and feel that as you do, you are getting closer yourself. 
You actually have to back off stimulating your clit, so close to the edge that the littlest movements keep bringing you almost there. You can feel your eyebrows worry and as you look up at Todd he is throwing his head back and slamming his cock down your throat, cum drenching the inside of your throat, it's so hot. You let yourself join him as he does, and you cum, your legs tightening so hard you shake. Your moan is muffled and gurgled by his cock in your throat, and you can feel your own eyes close as you get lost in the sensation. You force yourself to swallow even though it's difficult, and Todd slowly comes out of it. 
He looks down at you, his breathing heavy and his eyelids tired. He slowly pulls his cock from your mouth, and it's like a switch flipped. He's leaning down to help you up, even though he feels like a total king for being able to do what he just did. Todd also feels like he needs to take care of you after something like that, he had no idea he would end up being so aggressive. He gently pulls you up and helps you bring your skirt and panties up to cover your dripping pussy.
“I-I, I can’t believe you let me do that…” Todd is trying to keep his hands on you where ever he can, and it’s already irritating you how clingy this nerdy no longer virgin is. You move your hands to keep him off you. 
“Yeah, it’s not a big deal Todd.” You say snarkily, and turn from him when you think you’re finally ready to leave the tiny bathroom. At the very least, your heart feels better. You feel centered, and ready to enact anymore revenge tactics you need to if it will get to Dave. 
“We, we probably should’t tell Dave about this…” Todd mumbles, messing with his curls with anxiety. You turn back for a moment, and smile widely. 
“No! You should tell him, let him know what he’s missing out on.” You can’t help how energized you feel right now, you give Todd a wink and leave the restroom. As you do you think he mumbles something else about Dave actually having feelings for you, as if. If that were true, he wouldn’t have brought Katie fucking Deaxuma here tonight. He would have already confessed his real feelings…right? 
✧✧✧
Dave stopped dancing with Katie when he noticed you and Todd had gone from the crowd. He tried to keep it up with Katie, but his focus was just totally elsewhere. What really surprised him was when Katie actually stood up for how Dave was treating her. She took Dave’s face right in her hands, and looked him in the eye and asked if he was here with you or her tonight. Dave knew the answer in his heart, but his mouth confirmed that he was here for Katie. She seemed satisfied, and took him deeper into the crowd, her body moving against Dave’s in no way a girl ever has. Maybe Dave can get his mind off you and actually enjoy this if he tries. And he does. He really does try to lean into her soft skin, holding onto her hips as they sway to the music. But as time goes on, and you’re out of sight he suddenly feels so strange.
It’s almost as if he can sense you, but he can’t see you. And what he sense right now really doesn’t make any sense to him, but it is making his cock hard right now. Fuck, and now Katie thinks it’s because of her grinding her ass into Dave, not this weird feeling Dave has about you. It’s almost like he can sense your pleasure, like he can feel how good it feels for you. He has no idea that you and Todd are having an excellent time in the restroom right now, but he can feel it so clearly, it’s almost driving him insane mixed with Katie’s grinding. 
Dave can’t help himself, the feeling of pleasure is washing over him in waves. He is already a horny man, it doesn’t help that he has all the friction of his dance partner and this strange connection with you. The weirdest part is he has felt this before, late at night, when he was alone in his bed. He still doesn’t know that the reason he gets so horny at night for you is because you’re likely touching yourself thinking of him in your own bed. The connection is something he has felt for you for so long it is as easy as breathing, he doesn’t even question why he knows where you are, what you’re feeling, and when you touch yourself at night. It actually makes Dave’s brain melt a bit if he thinks too hard about it, he doesn’t really want to admit to how much he feels for you in all these different ways. 
The other pressing matter right now that he feels is Katie’s ass, which he is getting so excited for he could almost ruin his jeans. He prays that he won’t, he couldn’t handle the embarrassment, but as the feeling builds he starts sweating, breathing heavier and heavier, and trying to come up with a game plan for what he’s going to do if he blows his load right here and now. He can hardly think though, it’s so hard when he can feel you coming closer to climax yourself. He can almost see you as he closes his eyes. 
He imagines you right now, on your knees touching yourself, he can see it, I mean really see it. He has no idea who you are with, or if this is even real, but God does it feel real. It feels so real he can imagine you sucking on his own cock, taking it down your pretty little throat and moaning into it from how much you love the feeling. Dave has completely forgotten about Katie, who is oblivious to the fact that her date is caught up in another woman’s pleasure. Dave grips Katie’s hips and imagines it’s your hair, pulling you deeper into his cock, until he can barely fit anymore. He can sense you coming closer and closer now, and his cock is raging against his jeans, ready to explode at any moment. 
That’s when he feels it, so suddenly, you falling over the edge, and his own cock is twitching, leaking out the longest orgasm he has ever had. Dave tries everything in him to not cum right now, but he can’t stop it, it’s happening and now Katie is getting thrust into his cock. He has to hold his breath to not moan out, but here he is cumming in his pants while you have some kind of spell over him here. Katie turns around when she notices how weird Dave is acting, and Dave’s eyes fly open when she yells his name over the music. 
“Dave?” She looks at him confused, the dim lights in the bar are helping the fact that a wet spot is forming on his jeans, and Dave can hardly speak, his mind still stuck with you, in the afterglow. 
“I…I’m sorry Katie, I have to run to the bathroom real quick.” Dave blurts out, and doesn’t really wait for Katie to respond. Katie is left there feeling totally confused, but has no idea what just happened. 
Dave is working his way through the waves of the crowd, which keeps seeming to get thicker and thicker as everyone waits for tonights band, which Dave has zero interest in really, but he knows you are some what obsessed with the boy band. Right now, he isn’t really worried about that however, right now he needs to clean himself up in the bathroom. 
When he reaches one of the single stalls, he is surprised to bump into you, his voice leaving himself, his eyes looking at how your hair is tousseled and your clothes are dishevled. A sinking feeling starts pouring itself right into Dave’s very soul. You look at him with a smirk and leave to go see the band, not even saying a word to Dave. In fact, he can almost feel you roll your eyes at him when your back is turned to him, which hurts more. 
He goes to open the door and finds Todd in the bathroom, trying to fix his own clothes and hair, extremely surprised to see Dave right now. 
“Dave! Hey…hey man, uh, how–” Todd tries to come up with any words that will make this situation less awkward for him right. Dave cuts him off before he can even continue. 
“Please don’t tell me what I think just happened, happened Todd.” Dave’s possessiveness of you can’t help it, he knows you’re allowed to fuck whoever you want, but he needs to know you did not just fuck Todd fucking Haynes. 
“Um…No man, no, she just asked me for some help with something, it’s not…” Todd is struggling to come up with a lie, it’s almost insanely clear, but Dave’s heart can’t take it. He just nods and leaves the restroom, deciding the let his jacket cover up any spot on his jeans by wrapping it around his waist. 
He leaves and begins walking with no real direction when he spots you again. This time you look like some sort of nymph, or succubus, sitting on the edge of the stage, watching the band set up. Dave can see you chatting with the singer, that raccoon looking fuck. The singer looks up and actually locks eyes with Dave as he parts through the crowd towards the two of you, and Dave immediately feels a cold chill run down his spine. This man is bad news, he has to get you away from him, it’s almost instinctual how badly he knows that this man wants to hurt you. Even if you potentially just fucked one of his buddies, the feeling Dave has right now is more urgent than that. 
Dave finally makes it to the stage, and you turn to him, and Dave knows something is wrong. You have this look in your eyes, it’s unnerving how empty you seem. You don’t even really acknowledge Dave, you are so busy trying to get this weird, older singer’s attention. 
“Hey, what’s going on?” Dave grabs your arm, trying to get your attention, but the singer steps in, dipping down to speak to Dave since he’s so much taller on the stage. 
“I don’t think it’s any of your business, besides, she was just heading out to grab us some drinks at the bar, isn’t that right, sweetheart?” The man stares at you with a viscous, disgusting grin, and Dave can feel all the anger of the night welling up inside of him. Before Dave can speak, it’s like you’ve been commanded by the man, hoping off the stage and getting ready to go grab drinks. 
“Oh yeah…” You say, your voice totally devoid of real thought, almost drunken already, though Dave is sure you haven’t really had anything to drink tonight, not to mention you’re only 18 anyways. “You just have to try one of these 9/11 tribute shooters, but you gotta drink it fast or else it turns kinda brownish!” 
You giggle as if you’ve told one of the funniest jokes, and before Dave can stop you, you’re slipping through the crowd to go get drinks. Dave is totally lost on what to do, but the band members seem to be going about on their own tangent now, and what Dave catches pisses him off even more. 
“So, Nikolai,” One of the bandmates start speaking to the singer. “Do you really think she’s a virgin? I mean she seems kind of…” 
Dave interrupts, slamming his hand onto the wooden stage, a few people besides Nikolai and the bandmates looking at his outburst. 
“Listen to me you fuck.” Dave has no idea where this spirit is coming from, but he rolls with it. “You bet she is a virgin, and a girl like her would never give it away to a loser like you, not to any kind of fucking loser, so just leave her the fuck alone!’
Dave can feel his face go hot, he knows deep down that after seeing how you were with Todd, you probably aren’t even a virgin, but he is projecting his anger onto the men infront of him. Along with the belief that he is saving you from some scummy 23 year olds who don’t deserve to prey on you at all, he feels righteous in his outburst. His shoulders drop when the bandmates almost laugh at him, then continue to ignore him. God, maybe he really is just a loser who is obsessed with you. He isn’t even supposed to be feeling this strongly about you like this, you’re his best friend, why should he care if you hook up with someone? The pit in his stomach still tells him he should protect you from these men, though. 
After a moment, you’re back with a tray of red, white, and blue drinks, totally oblivious to Dave standing right there, still in that strange state Dave doesn’t know what to do about. He feels so helpless right now it hurts. Dave watches as you climb back on stage and gawk, twirling your hair and biting your lip to talk to Nikolai. 
“I think we should go…” Dave says to you, and you look back at him with the cruelest look you’ve ever given him. 
“Don’t you have a date tonight, Dave? Why don’t you go find Katie…” You completely disregard him, and Dave is devastated. The way you speak to him hurts in a way that he didn’t think you would ever do. Dave is speechless, and Nikolai is taking you now, moving you somewhere backstage. Dave is lost in the crowd, his feet somehow moving him and he finds himself back at the table where Erika and Marty have gotten to know each other, Katie sitting totally lonesome with her cheek on her hand. 
✧✧✧
Dave stopped dancing with Katie when he noticed you and Todd had gone from the crowd. He tried to keep it up with Katie, but his focus was just totally elsewhere. What really surprised him was when Katie actually stood up for how Dave was treating her. She took Dave’s face right in her hands, and looked him in the eye and asked if he was here with you or her tonight. Dave knew the answer in his heart, but his mouth confirmed that he was here for Katie. She seemed satisfied, and took him deeper into the crowd, her body moving against Dave’s in no way a girl ever has. Maybe Dave can get his mind off you and actually enjoy this if he tries. And he does. He really does try to lean into her soft skin, holding onto her hips as they sway to the music. But as time goes on, and you’re out of sight he suddenly feels so strange.
It’s almost as if he can sense you, but he can’t see you. And what he sense right now really doesn’t make any sense to him, but it is making his cock hard right now. Fuck, and now Katie thinks it’s because of her grinding her ass into Dave, not this weird feeling Dave has about you. It’s almost like he can sense your pleasure, like he can feel how good it feels for you. He has no idea that you and Todd are having an excellent time in the restroom right now, but he can feel it so clearly, it’s almost driving him insane mixed with Katie’s grinding. 
Dave can’t help himself, the feeling of pleasure is washing over him in waves. He is already a horny man, it doesn’t help that he has all the friction of his dance partner and this strange connection with you. The weirdest part is he has felt this before, late at night, when he was alone in his bed. He still doesn’t know that the reason he gets so horny at night for you is because you’re likely touching yourself thinking of him in your own bed. The connection is something he has felt for you for so long it is as easy as breathing, he doesn’t even question why he knows where you are, what you’re feeling, and when you touch yourself at night. It actually makes Dave’s brain melt a bit if he thinks too hard about it, he doesn’t really want to admit to how much he feels for you in all these different ways. 
The other pressing matter right now that he feels is Katie’s ass, which he is getting so excited for he could almost ruin his jeans. He prays that he won’t, he couldn’t handle the embarrassment, but as the feeling builds he starts sweating, breathing heavier and heavier, and trying to come up with a game plan for what he’s going to do if he blows his load right here and now. He can hardly think though, it’s so hard when he can feel you coming closer to climax yourself. He can almost see you as he closes his eyes. 
He imagines you right now, on your knees touching yourself, he can see it, I mean really see it. He has no idea who you are with, or if this is even real, but God does it feel real. It feels so real he can imagine you sucking on his own cock, taking it down your pretty little throat and moaning into it from how much you love the feeling. Dave has completely forgotten about Katie, who is oblivious to the fact that her date is caught up in another woman’s pleasure. Dave grips Katie’s hips and imagines it’s your hair, pulling you deeper into his cock, until he can barely fit anymore. He can sense you coming closer and closer now, and his cock is raging against his jeans, ready to explode at any moment. 
That’s when he feels it, so suddenly, you falling over the edge, and his own cock is twitching, leaking out the longest orgasm he has ever had. Dave tries everything in him to not cum right now, but he can’t stop it, it’s happening and now Katie is getting thrust into his cock. He has to hold his breath to not moan out, but here he is cumming in his pants while you have some kind of spell over him here. Katie turns around when she notices how weird Dave is acting, and Dave’s eyes fly open when she yells his name over the music. 
“Dave?” She looks at him confused, the dim lights in the bar are helping the fact that a wet spot is forming on his jeans, and Dave can hardly speak, his mind still stuck with you, in the afterglow. 
“I…I’m sorry Katie, I have to run to the bathroom real quick.” Dave blurts out, and doesn’t really wait for Katie to respond. Katie is left there feeling totally confused, but has no idea what just happened. 
Dave is working his way through the waves of the crowd, which keeps seeming to get thicker and thicker as everyone waits for tonights band, which Dave has zero interest in really, but he knows you are some what obsessed with the boy band. Right now, he isn’t really worried about that however, right now he needs to clean himself up in the bathroom. 
When he reaches one of the single stalls, he is surprised to bump into you, his voice leaving himself, his eyes looking at how your hair is tousseled and your clothes are dishevled. A sinking feeling starts pouring itself right into Dave’s very soul. You look at him with a smirk and leave to go see the band, not even saying a word to Dave. In fact, he can almost feel you roll your eyes at him when your back is turned to him, which hurts more. 
He goes to open the door and finds Todd in the bathroom, trying to fix his own clothes and hair, extremely surprised to see Dave right now. 
“Dave! Hey…hey man, uh, how–” Todd tries to come up with any words that will make this situation less awkward for him right. Dave cuts him off before he can even continue. 
“Please don’t tell me what I think just happened, happened Todd.” Dave’s possessiveness of you can’t help it, he knows you’re allowed to fuck whoever you want, but he needs to know you did not just fuck Todd fucking Haynes. 
“Um…No man, no, she just asked me for some help with something, it’s not…” Todd is struggling to come up with a lie, it’s almost insanely clear, but Dave’s heart can’t take it. He just nods and leaves the restroom, deciding the let his jacket cover up any spot on his jeans by wrapping it around his waist. 
He leaves and begins walking with no real direction when he spots you again. This time you look like some sort of nymph, or succubus, sitting on the edge of the stage, watching the band set up. Dave can see you chatting with the singer, that raccoon looking fuck. The singer looks up and actually locks eyes with Dave as he parts through the crowd towards the two of you, and Dave immediately feels a cold chill run down his spine. This man is bad news, he has to get you away from him, it’s almost instinctual how badly he knows that this man wants to hurt you. Even if you potentially just fucked one of his buddies, the feeling Dave has right now is more urgent than that. 
Dave finally makes it to the stage, and you turn to him, and Dave knows something is wrong. You have this look in your eyes, it’s unnerving how empty you seem. You don’t even really acknowledge Dave, you are so busy trying to get this weird, older singer’s attention. 
“Hey, what’s going on?” Dave grabs your arm, trying to get your attention, but the singer steps in, dipping down to speak to Dave since he’s so much taller on the stage. 
“I don’t think it’s any of your business, besides, she was just heading out to grab us some drinks at the bar, isn’t that right, sweetheart?” The man stares at you with a viscous, disgusting grin, and Dave can feel all the anger of the night welling up inside of him. Before Dave can speak, it’s like you’ve been commanded by the man, hoping off the stage and getting ready to go grab drinks. 
“Oh yeah…” You say, your voice totally devoid of real thought, almost drunken already, though Dave is sure you haven’t really had anything to drink tonight, not to mention you’re only 18 anyways. “You just have to try one of these 9/11 tribute shooters, but you gotta drink it fast or else it turns kinda brownish!” 
You giggle as if you’ve told one of the funniest jokes, and before Dave can stop you, you’re slipping through the crowd to go get drinks. Dave is totally lost on what to do, but the band members seem to be going about on their own tangent now, and what Dave catches pisses him off even more. 
“So, Nikolai,” One of the bandmates start speaking to the singer. “Do you really think she’s a virgin? I mean she seems kind of…” 
Dave interrupts, slamming his hand onto the wooden stage, a few people besides Nikolai and the bandmates looking at his outburst. 
“Listen to me you fuck.” Dave has no idea where this spirit is coming from, but he rolls with it. “You bet she is a virgin, and a girl like her would never give it away to a loser like you, not to any kind of fucking loser, so just leave her the fuck alone!’
Dave can feel his face go hot, he knows deep down that after seeing how you were with Todd, you probably aren’t even a virgin, but he is projecting his anger onto the men infront of him. Along with the belief that he is saving you from some scummy 23 year olds who don’t deserve to prey on you at all, he feels righteous in his outburst. His shoulders drop when the bandmates almost laugh at him, then continue to ignore him. God, maybe he really is just a loser who is obsessed with you. He isn’t even supposed to be feeling this strongly about you like this, you’re his best friend, why should he care if you hook up with someone? The pit in his stomach still tells him he should protect you from these men, though. 
After a moment, you’re back with a tray of red, white, and blue drinks, totally oblivious to Dave standing right there, still in that strange state Dave doesn’t know what to do about. He feels so helpless right now it hurts. Dave watches as you climb back on stage and gawk, twirling your hair and biting your lip to talk to Nikolai. 
“I think we should go…” Dave says to you, and you look back at him with the cruelest look you’ve ever given him. 
“Don’t you have a date tonight, Dave? Why don’t you go find Katie…” You completely disregard him, and Dave is devastated. The way you speak to him hurts in a way that he didn’t think you would ever do. Dave is speechless, and Nikolai is taking you now, moving you somewhere backstage. Dave is lost in the crowd, his feet somehow moving him and he finds himself back at the table where Erika and Marty have gotten to know each other, Katie sitting totally lonesome with her cheek on her hand. 
✧✧✧
You have no idea how you got to the back of stage, but here you are, doing rounds of shots with Nikolai, the lead singer of Low Shoulder. The whole in the very center of your being where jealousy and Dave usually housed was fading away after each drink and giggle you had with the band. You feel totally out of it, somehow only a few drinks have you feeling drunker than ever. Everytime Nikolai catches your eyes, the way he looks so deeply into them makes it feel like he is the only man in the whole world. You feel almost proud of yourself for keeping up with these older boys, you don’t feel like they are treating you like a child for still being highschool at all, in fact you feel like they are totally into you. You feel so popular right now, it makes you ecstatic. Dave slowly keeps slipping your mind, more and more. You keep talking with the band, until they finally tell you they have to go on and perform, but you’re their special girl for the night so you can stand off to the side, backstage if you will, and watch where no one else can. The thought sends you over the moon happy, you feel so inclined to do whatever Nikolai says that you can’t do anything else even if you wanted to. 
The band leaves and begins playing, the crowd excited and ready for some real live music after all the recorded ones. You spot Dave and Katie in the crowd for a moment, Dave’s eyes on you, and you surprisingly feel nothing at the sight. Why would you when Nikolai is standing there, so completely better than anyone in this room. You can practically feel the hearts lasering out of your eyes at him, you vision feels like a vignette around him, he seems so bright, you are simply a moth to the flame that is a dirty 20 something boy. The idea that this makes no sense doesn’t even come to your mind at this point. They just continue to play on, their song singing of a lost friendship, and you are sure that Dave’s eyes are boring down on you, that’s the one thing you can feel, that grounds you. 
It isn’t enough though, you are so entranced by the band that you don’t even smell the smoke. The flames are practically licking at your back like the devil himself is trying to get a taste of your tender flesh before you notice. And when you do, you just stare at those orange flames as they begin taking up the curtain of the stage. The band is now dropping their instruments, and the next thing you feel is Nikolai grabbing your body, pulling you away. The crowd is screaming, the horror is hitting everyone who is trying to claw their way out. You don’t even think your heart is beating faster than normal, this is no normal reaction to such a thing. 
You are pulled from the building, the smoke rising and rising, a few people getting out, but you can tell there are many still stuck inside where the flames are engulfing the structure. You look dazed at it, still being taken farther away from the disaster. 
Just before you are pushed into the bands van, you see Dave, he’s sprinting towards you like his life depends on it. He is screaming your name, reaching out for you. He has soot and dirt on his face, like he had to claw his way out. Katie is trailing behind him, and the sight of her makes that pit open up inside of you again. You turn from them, and allow yourself to be pulled into the van, Dave’s hands hitting the metal side of it, his screaming continuing, he is running after the van as it pulls away. 
The last time you see Dave with your own eyes is through the back window of the van while he desperately tries to keep up.
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Author ask tag!
I got tagged by @laufire a uhhhh a while ago lol (check out her talking about her Underground Elysium story)
I'll be chatting about Chained, my big ol JayTim series. My pinned post is a big explanation of it, but I'll go ahead and slap the premise down here too for convenience's sake
Jason is set in front of a contract that will grant near omnipotence over every facet of reality. The catch is that it requires the person who actually gains the power to be permanently bound into the service of someone else. Afraid of what this could do in the wrong hands, Jason asks Tim to be his new Master. After many hours of intense negotiations, they produce a subcontract designed to maintain Jason's basic rights as a person while still granting them enough power to overcome whatever caused the contract to be written in the first place. Now all that's left is to destroy all evidence of the Contract's existance, and start remaking the world in their image...
What is the main lesson of your story? Why did you choose it?
It feels wrong to say that I went out and chose a lesson for this? But at the same time, because I'm handling so many historical and sociological topics I feel that I can't write it without imparting some idea of how the world functions which will operate as a lesson whether I want it to or not.
I suppose the thing that gets closest is the conviction that maintaining the status quo is not the best we can hope for; better is possible and when normality is based upon evil it is a moral imperative to change how our society functions. Also America is evil.
What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?
The real world. I'm reading history, anthropology, religious texts; I'm doing my level best to give this story, with all of its time travel and world spanning consequences, the full depth and breadth of human experience to explore and impact. I have a special interest in the history and development of the religious and the occult so you best believe that when I make my characters into Gods, I'm gonna figure out how people reconcile that with their existing faiths and develop new ones!
Secondly, of course I'm pulling from an enormous amount of DC canon, especially the various 'crisis' events and in particular Dark Nights: Metal, the Justice League Doom War, and Dark Nights: Death Metal. If you've read some of these comics, you'll know who the main villain is far before the reveal :3 I'm honestly trying to stay as canon compliant as possible
What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them?
Tim and Jason's main goals will be the preservation of their own world, the creation of a perfect world, and trying to be good to each other while in a deeply power imbalanced relationship.
At its core, this is still a romance, despite the large scope of the plot. So, there's a really intense focus on exploring the emotions and perspectives of Jason and Tim. It's like half character study by volume. I want to enjoy sitting in their headspaces and watching them collide with the other characters around them and develop and grow and relapse :3
I also want to pose a series of questions about the ways the world works and the nature of power and humanity and present a series of possible answers for the audience to grapple with. Tim's decision to try to make everyone immortal has already lead to some fantastic stuff, as people have instinctively balked at the idea and written comments articulating why it's such a terrible idea (and excitement to see what kind of mess Tim causes with all of it ^w^)
How many chapters is your story going to have?
O_O; ...uhhhhhhh that's a good question!
It's taken me 23 to get here... 27 ish prob to get to the end of arc 1... arc 2 for time travel arc 3 for ___ showing up and fight one, uhhhhh another few arcs likely????
Final vague estimate: approximately 150 chapters?!?!?!
I'm not allowed to die until this fic gets finished, which might just make me immortal idk, don't @ me about the feasibility or length xD
Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?
Fanfic. All my original characters happen in role play contexts and if I were to write professionally, I'd want to write these characters anyways. DC let me have Jason I prommy I'll make good good comics out of him, you let tentatodd happen at least twice surely you can let me have at him too!!! (Seriously tho, I already have have a story arc outlined up, CALL ME)
Anyhow, my AO3 is Tinerian, and here's a link to the series so far :3
When did you start writing?
Ever? Idk, I guess high school??
This particular project? Also vaguelly in high school technically, but that was only the first 18,000 words that I spilled out in three days lol, more realistically I've been working on it for a little over a year now, publishing roughly twice a month for most of that time.
Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers do you follow?
Every project, no matter how failed, propels you forwards. This is my fourth or fifth serious attempt to write something like this and every prior attempt has taught me invaluable lessons that are the reason this series is actually going to work.
We got this :3
Oh heck let's see, whomst to tag... @swamp-spirit, @bestangelofall, @vigilantecore, @lazaruspiss I feel like I'm probably missing like a million people but oh well! If you see this and u wanna then go for it! Would/will be interested to hear about it :3
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kandisheek · 9 months ago
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FIC REC WEEK 24 – MULTIVERSE
Catch Me Through the Looking-Glass by Ylixia
Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 29,452 Tags: Incursions, Civil War, Established Relationship
Summary: It's like a recurring nightmare: Steve Rogers, trapped in a world that is not his own, new love left behind, and nothing to keep him going but questions.
Reasons why I love it: Yeees, Steve, knock some sense into your counterpart! I love the contrast between the two universes, and that talk Steve has with Tony just breaks my heart. The ending as well, it's so fucking good! I love this one, and if you don't know it yet, you should definitely check it out!
A Fistful of Steves: This Town Ain't Big Enough by Raikishi, teaberryblue
Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 30,147 Tags: Action/Adventure, Fix-It, Dimensional Travel
Summary: When Tony Stark takes a bullet intended for Steve Rogers, he wakes up in a world entirely peopled by alternate incarnations of everyone's favorite Star-Spangled Man. Welcome to Stevechester, Population: Steve
Reasons why I love it: As someone who hasn't read a lot of the comics, getting to the end of the fic and realizing that almost all of the Steves mentioned in this fic are canonical was the best thing ever. I really love the entire premise of it, and the plot twist in the end is so fricking good, it made me gasp out loud. Also, Raikishi's art is wonderful. I'm so happy it inspired this story, because this fandom is better for having it, it's that good. Definitely read it if you haven't already!
Incursion by scrtkpr
Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 22,686 Tags: Drama, Hickmanvengers, Hurt/Comfort
Summary: When Steve and Tony are taken down in the heart of Avengers Tower by alternate versions of themselves, their counterparts reveal a threat to both the foundations of the multiverse and to the foundations of Steve and Tony's friendship.
Reasons why I love it: This is the best kind of fix-it for the whole mess that is Hickmanvengers. I adore the main alternate universe Steve and Tony and how much they help 616 Stony find a way to finally get their shit together. Plus, the whole multiverse-incursion-team dynamics are really fun. I love this fic so much, and I hope you check it out for yourself, if you haven't already!
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baejax-the-great · 9 months ago
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Hi! I just wanted to combat that anon (fuck them btw) and say I ADORE your fics.
I’ve plagued everyone to tears in my life over broken oaths and water in the dawn. Your premises never fail to go hard asf. And your prose? It absolutely baffles me how you write so fast when the quality is just next level, and your characterisation of patrochilles? Ugh it scratches such an itch in my brain, you just Get Them.
I recently logged into my ao3 to read sweet victory and realised most of your fics have availability set to logged in users only. Omg I was like a kid on christmas. I have so much reading to do!!!
Your work is incredible, and brings me so much joy. Have a great day!
Hey, thank you! (but also don't worry about that anon. Pretty sure I know who that is and they have a very weak understanding of appropriate behavior (or how to get under my skin for that matter))
Patrochilles crawled into my brain and sleeps there. Prior to them, I can't say I had much interest in Greek myth. I played Hades, someone suggested I read tsoa, I read the Iliad, became obsessed with Ajax somewhere in the middle of that, and two years later, here we are (366k words on the archive???). I like to joke that the muses still wake up every few years and target a random person with "Okay, it's your turn to make sure his glory is eternal like we promised" and then go back to sleep. And possibly the one I got was confused and hit me with the Ajax beam, too.
I also think when Troy (2004) came out, the muses had to work overtime to fix that egregious error
I'm mostly joking. I tend to think of these Greek heroes as the OG comic book characters. Over the years, so many authors have taken a crack at them with their own biases, preferences, and interpretations. Some shit gets retconned. Some new stuff gets canonized. People debate over it. Except those debates end up on jstor instead of reddit or twitter or whatever.
Obviously, though, as one of the current people writing about these guys, I'm right and my cultural biases have no role in influencing my perfect understanding of their characters (/s).
It was interesting going from Hades game, where Patroclus is so snarky and dry, to the Iliad, where when he finally speaks, it's to literally cry with tears streaming down his face to Achilles. I was thinking to myself, well, I'm fine with Supergiant inventing this part of him and I'll keep it for myself. And then he had the best trash talk of all the Achaeans. I had actually put my book down to text a friend "the trash talk in this book absolutely sucks; humans clearly didn't have that down yet" and then the next line was Patroclus telling everyone to shut the fuck up because he was with me on that one. And then he wrecks Hector's shit verbal-style while blind and dying. Love that guy.
Anyway this is all to say many interpretations are good! Except for Troy (2004) and the one where Achilles considered Patroclus his mommy. It's cool to see how people take small details from a 3k yo book and turn it into full characterizations. Less cool to learn just how badly Ajax's original story got warped. I'm super happy these guys inspired me to write so much in the past couple years and that the fandom has honestly been one of the most interesting and engaged that I've come across.
As for the archive-lock, I tend to keep my active WIPs open to guest readers and then lock them after they've been finished for a little while. It's probably not terribly effective, but my hope is this limits some of the constant scraping being done of the archive.
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lovebugmusings · 7 months ago
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Hello! Me again, Isekai mess writer.
I want Ghoap, obviously. I need reader to already know that's a thing based on gameplay, head cannon in their world. Reader immediately clocking their relationship even though they think they're super sneaky.
I adore Daddy Price, Sweet Boy/Feral in bed Gaz, Down bad but won't admit it Ghost and Nasty Dog Soap.
Basically the premise is that reader just appears. The 141 are just immediately like wtf considering their base of operations is highly guarded. Probably some interrogation in which poor reader just spits it all out that a "God" yeeted them into the game. Soap might be a bit touched that reader for so attached and also a bit creeped out about the dedication. Ghost is spiralling thinking of Johnny's death and how reader basically died trying to change it. Price is trying to hold onto reason/simple explanation and Gaz wondering when his life became an anime.
Basically I want reader to be their guide through everything, they've played enough to know exactly when everyone comes in, where everything is.
Makarov will be taken out. No question.
What about after? Reader is essentially a civilian consultant to their taskforce. Do they all get together? Is the taskforce together prior to reader? My brain is on fire.
okay it took me a minute because Work, and also anything I ramble about is based on context clues from this ask because again, only anime I've watched is the first 6 (??) seasons of one piece and the first episode of that volleyball one. but here are my thoughts.
ghoap but they haven't labelled it so they think that they're being sneaky. lingering looks, softened eyes, hands brushing when they wall by each other.
maybe price pushes them behind him when the reader starts rambling about how they're video game characters and she starts giving plot points and details (maybe even bits of ghost's backstory because she's read the comics?)
simon and gaz grabbing johnny's hand when she blurts out "and soap will be shot in the head by makarov" because she sounds desperate but they still Ned the reassurance that their johnny is still there and alive and safe
you say the reader basically died to save him, does that mean like died in "her world" to get put in the video game, or is there going to be a death loop?
"Look I know you don't believe me. I wouldn't either if I were you. I sound like I need to be institutionalised. But I swear, everything I've said is true. I don't know why or how I'm here but while I am I cannot let Johnny die, not when I know how I could save him."
I personally haven't played the game or watched a playthrough, so I don't know the campaign very well, but maybe she tells them about graves and shepherd?
"I doubt you would have included gaz falling out of the helicopter in your report. and i mean if you did, not him saying he's 'hanging from a bloody rope'"
depending on whether you want ghoap to be the only relationship from the start, or have them full subtle poly, little touches and sitting too close are always good. maybe John gives simon a light pat on the arm, or simon gives gaz a tap on the chin with his knuckle. little things too intimate for just team mates.
not sure if any of that helped but if it at least got the gears turning then I count it as a win!!
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ana-benn · 4 years ago
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Guys.... I'm sorry. I just love A/B/O fics so much. I needed to write one, and honestly Star Trek lends itself to the premise.
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Of Alphas and Control
Warnings: A/B/O dynamics, Alpha Leonard McCoy, Omega reader, gratuitous use of sweet girl, smut, injury, Jim and Spock's married couple dynamics, could be construed as violence, possessive alpha male, established couple.
You stood in the med bay watching as crew member after crew member were brought in to be seen to. The entire lower deck had to be evacuated, and the medical unit was all hands. Which was unfortunate because per regulation you should not be here. Your heat was due any day, and as you watch Leonard prowl through the unit you knew exactly why it wasn't allowed.
You didn't need to be able to see yourself to know you were watching him with hungry eyes. You wanted him, and with every barked order you felt yourself becoming more and more aroused. Your thighs clenched involuntarily when his gaze landed on you. It was well established that bonded Alpha's had their ruts triggered by their Omegas, and as soon has Leonard's eyes met yours you knew that this was going to be a difficult situation. Neither of you could leave, and Leonard was going to have to decide what was best. Distance between the two of you, or keeping you close. It wasn't ideal, but you saw the slight indecision in his eyes. As he breathed deeply his eyes steeled.
"You're with me," he growled out.
You nodded quickly and grabbed your nurses kit as you followed him to one of the beds. As you dealt with injuries you hoped biology would hold off. Unfortunately for you being this close to Leonard was making that impossible. His scent was all tobacco with leather and a subtle undercurrent of whiskey and spice. Every breath was like breathing in fire that shot straight to your core, but Leonard kept you in check. Small corrections and orders on what he needed as you worked your way through patients.
As you reached the halfway point in your shift, just s you started to relax a bit, you felt the dam break. Slick covered your panties, and Leonard's steady hands shook as he bandaged the burned arm of an engineering technician. You knew it would hit Leonard first, but being this close to an unmated Alpha was a recipe for disaster.
"Doctor," you started, trying to hand him the gauze, but his hands were occupied.
"We're almost done," he ground out. His movements because rushed and his face hardened in concentration. He was finishing up, as the first cramp of your heat hit you. As you fought the pain, trying to avoid crying out for your Alpha, the engineer took a deep breath.
You knew the moment you scent hit him, because his eyes flickered over your frame as he reached for you and Leonard snarled as the man's hand touched yours. There were mere seconds before your mate had pulled you towards him in a protective embrace, a sure sign you needed to get as far away from the med bay as you could. It was shocking to see the typically reserved Alpha lash out, and almost as if on instinct you cowered into his frame. You didn't fear the other man, but you preened under the protective instincts of your Alpha.
Leonard glared down at the other alpha until he lifted his hands in submission, before grabbing your waist roughly and pulling you towards the lift. You were vaguely aware of him barking out something to the orderly on your way out, but you were too busy trying to burrow into his neck to care. Once he had you out of sight his lips fused to yours with a hand tangled in your hair as he held you there roughly. The other hand was on your body methodically mapping you out.
You tried to participate in the kiss, but it seemed your Alpha wasn't having it. He was all tongue and teeth taking completely control. It was different than you were used to, and to be perfectly honest you were okay with that. Your omega preened under the care of the Alpha. She wanted more, and he was providing it. Pushing you against the wall and he shoved his knee between your legs, and the groan he let out when your ground down onto him left you smirking. His mouth moved to you neck where he sucked a dark bruise into your bonding mark.
Once the lift had stopped you wrapped your legs around the doctor's waist and peppered kisses over his face and neck, as he manuvered you towards your quarters. Normally Leonard wouldn't stand for this kind of action, he was so private, but having you hit your heat in front of another Alpha had made him possessive. His claim felt threatened, even if it was only superficially, and he wanted that rectified immediately.
When you made it inside it was only a moment before you were slammed against the door and your panties became a casualty of war. It was all teeth and tongue as worked you open first on his fingers before slamming his cock into you. The mixture of pleasure and pain the always started a heat was intense, and you groaned out against his shoulder.
"Leonard," you gasped as he began a furious pace. "Please." You begged, unsure what you even wanted.
He growled at you roughly, as he worked your body over. You were all gasps and pleas for some unknown goal, as his lips found new places to mark you. Other omegas came in for dermal rejuvenation after a heat, but Leonard was never one to hide his handiwork. He liked knowing everyone who came to the med bay could see you like that, and as private as he was about most things having you marked as his was never an issue he had a bone with.
"Alpha!" You cried as he hit that spot inside you, and at his designation he sunk his teeth into your bonding mark, triggering your orgasm.
You stayed like that for a moment as you felt his knot swell within you. Typically it would be a while before his knot would pop, but the good doctor was a pro a manuvering around it so that you could both be comfortable. This time he chose the couch where he could sit, and you could rest more comfortably against him. He murmured sweet nothings to you, along with some possessive remarks that only seemed to come with his rut.
-------------------------------------------
You and Leonard had taken a week to sate yourselves, as was the most typical for already bonded pairs. When you'd first mated that first heat had taken over a month to cool, your body craving your Alpha after having never had one before. And so you found yourself back at work, bruises in every shade of healing peppered your neck and chest. Not even mentioning the hand shaped bruises on your thighs, forcing you to wear pants instead of your preferred uniform dresses.
You were wrapping up your charting for the day when you heard men's voices arguing, it was loud enough that even Leonard came out of his office. Before he could ask what was happening Jim and Spock walked into the bay, causing the doctor to roll his eyes and lean against the nurses desk.
"Jim," he drawled. "What's going on?"
"Bones! Just the man I needed," Jim said, cocky attitude in full force. "Tell Spock that Alpha's are the most controlled designation." You couldn't help the snort that escaped at that, the evidence of Leonard's lack of control evident on you skin.
"Doctor, I apologize for the interruption. I was explaining to the Captain that he'd be less prone to injury if he would indulge his designation and find the time to utilize one of the omegas that fawn for his attention," Spock's logical reply came. Honestly the lack of passion in him explained everything you needed to know about betas.
Leonard shook his head at the two of them, "You're both so far off the reservation it's comical."
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sly-merlin · 4 years ago
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S A C R I F I C E
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SACRIFICE - A STORY OF LOVE, BETRAYAL, REVENGE AND BARGAINING
CHARACTERS : prince jaehyun x princess y/n
GENRE : fluff, angst.
WORD COUNT : 7k
TIME PERIOD : OF SHY GLANCES AND BLOOD BATHS. WHERE LOVE IS FORBIDDEN AND HATRED NOT.
WARNINGS : Includes dirt play, revenge. Major character deaths like MAJOR, mentions of blood, murder, killing, assassination and an explicit scene of killing.  Cw : food mentions  SMUT WARNING : kissing! mentions of undressing.
DISCLAIMER : THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. FICTION. FICTION. NO DESCRIPTION REPRESENTS OR GIVE ANY HINTS TO JAEHYUN'S REAL LIFE CHARACTER. 
a/n : part of heartbreakhotel monthly event by precious network @nct-writers
SUMMARY : heart in one hand, a blade in another. Which one goes down under the weight of other? Who is brave enough to sacrifice the other?
The shimmering, colourful, geometrical patterns of the bronze kaleidoscope motivated your heels to exultant jumps, simply sending tingles to your friend's mind who quietly stood beside you wondering what new pattern had caught your eye this time. She was equally excited yet waited for you to be absolutely gratified. After all, a pattern viewed once could never be seen twice or remembered long enough to be claimed to have hit our eyes.
The light hues of the unreachable sun coloured the small market in its natural glow making terrible winter evening walks a little more bearable .You loved it. You loved the scenery, all the more so because it was deemed to be yours. Every corner of this small kingdom had your father's crown engraved on it yet you weren't permitted to move around in a place you dared to call your own. Hence the poorly patched long cotton skirt and lazily stitched full sleeved shirt covered you like you were a fugitive in disguise or maybe belonged to some impoverished village. Same was the case with your pretty friend who, once averse to your youthful shenanigans, found the silver jewellery most fascinating in the whole market and not to omit the street food that turned the palace food to be flavourless.
 You had never been very keen on lying to your parents, popularly called the rulers of the kingdom and your poor attendants who thought you were busy with your evening naps that you had suddenly taken upon a liking towards since the past month. But it was a necessity for you. Roaming in the same humongous rooms no more satiated your travelling mind. You wanted to be out, to be free, to just breach all the restrictions you were placed under as a princess to satisfy the hollow rules. As much as your morals and conscience despised hiding truth, this little game you played harmed no soul. Your safety was their priority and you were safe and secure as long as you didn’t leave her side. And this excuse inadvertently spiralled you in this endless circle of hide and seek taking control over your better judgement, throwing the need to pause this rendezvous in the background. What once done out of curiosity and to experience the fanatic lives of your subjects, was now a sine qua non. From patiently performing and learning new tasks suiting your position to skillfully diverting your maids, you indeed had all the prerequisites to be the best queen of your future kingdom. Even though the praise of achievement always resided only in your head, you found yourself to be impressively regal.
"Let me have a look too, y/n" zara, your dear friend pleaded not so politely.
Reluctantly removing the device from your eyes, you pushed it onto her hands, backing away slightly, allowing her in the space.
"Why don't you go and look at some silver jewellery instead?" Huffing, you suggested to lure her.
“The new ones arrive next monday!” Not paying heed to your tender, she kept smiling, enthralled by the beauty captured between the pieces of mirrors.
You nudged her playfully, the action meant to drive her to the end of her patience but she dogged your efforts with continuous giggles. Relentless you were too and she was always reminded of that in a hard way. What your elbow failed to do, your fingers completed. As soon as your fingers in her ears, she bitterly pulled herself away to face you.
“This is unfair y/n. This hour of freedom is not for your pleasure only” puckering her lips, she said while her eyes squinted at you. 
Suddenly, her forehead was smeared with thoughtful lines, “y/n! It’s been twenty minutes already. Where is your lover?” surprise rained over her whole face, “Do you think he got caught?”
You were almost ready to refute her former statement that he certainly wasn’t your lover yet but her latter question of suspicion appalled you and there was no need for her to ask you any further as she noticed your face shrinking, distorting your pretty lips into a worrisome pout. She immediately left the metal device, focusing on you.
“hey! I am not serious. I was just trying to distract you” as she cupped your face, a pout of her own greeted you.
Her words were not reassuring at all. There was no unlikelihood of what she said. Jaehyun was, without any doubt, illustrious in the fouled game you both played but neither his family resided here nor was he allowed to enter the premises of your kingdom. The said man was corrupted by his youthful glow that granted him enough courage of frisking around the walls of the forbidden territory.
Inhaling sharply, you uncloaked your worry,
“do you think he real-
“no no absolutely not love. He’s too clever for that and he’s been doing since months, way longer than me and you! Let’s wait for a few more minutes.” Cupping your chin, she jested and cooed, “Also won't he perish without seeing your beautiful face. He would be here any minute!”
 Just when you responded to her with a grim nod, a well acquainted shoulder bumped into you, mitigating your distress with a familiar touch. eyes closed in relief, you looked at zara for approval which was given right away with a playful wink.
Giggling like a little child, you skipped to the back of the market where jaehyun waited for you every evening. Hiding your face in the silk grey scarf, you sneaked away avoiding everyone’s sight and waiting for your arrival, Jaehyun stood there with the lower half of his face concealed with a black cotton headcover. 
As soon as he saw you, the hand glueing the cloth to his face fell down and his face lit up with a smile worthy of putting stars to shame if compared. The wrinkles on his face and the dips in the cheeks had you wanting to hide in those spaces, away from everyone who had heralded this union to be forbidden.
 There you stood, staring into his dark eyes like he wasn't someone you were supposed to keep a good distance from. 
But the light in his eyes diminished on seeing your excited face.
"You did that again! Why don’t you follow anything I say to you? At least, look back and confirm my presence. What if someone had followed me?” deeply whispering, he frowned at you.
And fondly, you smiled at him, something that he never found fascinating but it still left him flustered.
"Don't smile at me like that. I won't melt this ti-
"I apologise?"
You blurted out taking him by surprise. His mouth opened and closed several times, body slightly rocking in confusion. Finally, he spoke, 
"I didn't mean it like that." His voice softened, "i just can't - 
Cleaning his muddy hands on his pajamas, he placed them on your cheeks, engulfing your whole face with his long fingers.
"I just can't see you in danger. If any of my uncle’s spies came wandering and recognised you at this hour, they'd not hesitate to slit your throat y/n" the way his face contorted as he recited the known truth,  it was evident how just the mention of it was painful to him. "Don't follow unless you see my face. I know there's no one harming you in your own country but you never know when odds might defeat you" 
"Do you-
You began but his questioning eyes stopped you. His eyes talked only in worry and love. Both for you. But even if you were content with what he showered you with, greed for little more was something you never deemed unnecessary.
"I what?" 
You wanted to continue but the perpetual worry planted on his face disturbed you as well.
"Jaehyun-'' your fingers brushed away the strand of hair on his face, “I mean don’t you find it tedious? Giving me the same instructions every other day, wasting the ten minutes of the limited time we get.”
He left your face and focused on cleaning the remaining dirt from his hand. To avoid suspicions and blend into the environment, he always covered his hands in mud, giving an impression of a forlorn daily worker. Nobody questioned a person who looked homeless and unhappy, even if he meandered near the barbed wires.
“I got in trouble.”
You hadn’t even sat down on the bench and he was already bombarding you apprehensions.
“how?” inaudibly, you asked.
He broke his eyes away before responding,
“they saw me leaving the palace yesterday. From tomorrow, I shall be accompanying my cousin to verify the supplies in the production department.” his chuckle forced you to let out one as well. his irresponsible behaviour had fables of its own, as jaehyun had told you once. the little penalties he was subjected to weren’t discomforting either but this time it involved you as well.
“for how long?”
 “my family’s care agenda would hopefully end within two weeks and then I shall be free again. but we might need a new place and new time too.”
His words were muffled in the back as your eyes remained transfixed on his hand sheepishly rubbing his neck. Under your inappropriate scrutiny, he found himself tinting and your strong gaze posed more problems for his already thumping heart.
He coughed you out of your daze, eyes wavering everywhere. Picking your lip, you suppressed your giggles.
Finger under your chin, you pretended contemplation. Your comical stance earned a groan from him,
“how about you get serious for once and I’ll buy you steamed food.”
Smiling widely, your greedy stomach took the offer immediately.
“not everyone lacks intelligence, prince jaehyun.”
He huffed and crossed his arms, feigning offence at your statement. “Now what are you implying princess y/n.”
“that I might already have a place decided. So hurry up now and feed me food while telling me about your day.”
“You are impressive, my lady! How am I going to live with your notorious self?”
“you plan on living with this notorious princess?” you clowned even though his question showed you more than just a hope.
“the inquiry hour is closed princess and so would be the shops if you choose to delay more. Soooo, shall we leave?”
Responding to your sharp gaze, he took your hand and pressed his plump lips onto them, disrupting the chain of your rational thoughts.
As the atmosphere tuned cooler and he bid adieu, you went back with a new assurance, ready to put your life on hold for the next few weeks.
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lying on your back, you let out muffled giggles to celebrate another successful classified evening. clothes were changed, chess was out. You were prepared for any intrusion.
Zara's laughter soon died down, happy and heavy breaths replacing them. Seated on your bed, she faced you,
"So my courageous y/n, did you confess today?"
Abruptly you raised yourself, looking at her in bewilderment,
“Of course not!”
“What? Why not? What are you waiting for? Time is slipping away love.”
“I know. I just want to be a little more sure before taking this a step further. I do not want to misjudge his momentary affection for a promised future.The detestation our families share for each other has always proven to be deadly. Unless I’m sure that jaehyun’s feelings are indisputable, I shall not be proceeding." Mumbling out the last part, you began playing with the hem of your deep blue skirt to hide the disappointment that settled in within your heart. 
"Okay. I can't force you but do know that saving your heart from misery is better. Oh and does the poor boy have any hint about me." Zara advised lacing her words with a chuckle in the end. 
"Don't worry. You are just a maid friend whom I love and trust the most. He believes each of my pretty lies you know.”
"Oh my love. He truly fancies you. I wish your brother wasn't so incapable of harbouring feelings. How delightful life could have been only if he was like you." She wistfully spoke just like other times. Your heart hurt for her. She never got the love she was capable of giving yet the kindness never withered away. She was just like that. 
Soon your peace was interrupted and you were escorted to the dinner table. 
There sat your parents with their favourite child. You weren't loved any less yet it weakened your heart, watching them walking past your capabilities to applaud his undistinguished skills. His gender screamed for power when his capabilities barely had any knowledge of whispering about them. You abhorred it. Not your brother for he was raised with a rode in his neck but the stars that never aligned in your favour crushing your dream of wearing the crown for your own kingdom, under the grime rules made by those who were dead. Only god and zara knew how much hatred you held for your ruthless ancestors who never favoured women.
Sans any relish, you bit on the food which definitely tasted better for something you were not very fond of. but the almost good meal was ridden of all the salt as you felt conscious of their eyes on your face.
"Is there something you want to say to me?" you asked with a reluctantly polite voice.
That's when you noticed how their attention was divided to both you and zara.  Your brother Donghae’s serious eyes bored into her face as she tried to avoid him while sitting right across him on the dining table.
Finally your mother spoke.
“Donghae was looking for you throughout the whole evening, zara.”
Zara lowered her head, look on her face screaming help which only you understood so you took the charge on her behalf,
“We were in my room.”
“And what is so important in your room that you both chose to ignore constant calls from your maids?”
“After an exhausting and unentertaining day, we both play chess, share all the amusing stories of our respective days, details of which can be given to you if asked with some enthusiasm and then we sleep for an hour, in peace without anyone spitting orders on our faces and since when have my brother changed so much that he actually got some time to look for his wife?”
“May I know from where this disrespectful flow of words is coming through? Is this a way to talk to your elders?”
“I mean no disrespect, mother.”
“This ends today. From tomorrow you shall be spending those two hours with our bakery chef.”
Instead of your mother, you directed your next plead to your father, who was an expert in nodding at household matters
“No! This is the only time I get with zara. within a year or two i’ll be married off to some rude man who won’t even let me put my feet outside the threshold of his palace.” pouting, you said.
Waving his hand, he dismissed the matter that meant whoever got the last sentence was the conqueror of the discussion.
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"Why are you here?" Counting and aligning the stars to form another shape, he interestingly asked.
"I wanted to explore this dead garden. What about you? What brings you here in the enemy land?" You jested.
"to meet a very beautiful enemy."
"a woman?"
"Yes yes. She's a woman. A very pretty one I must say but very feisty and dangerous to be around."
"Oh how so?" You asked now genuinely interested in his description of yours.
"I've heard she has a heart of stone."
"Huh? Have you seen her heart to be so sure of your accusation?"
"I've enough instances to prove that."
"Like?"
"She meets a handsome prince, spends an hour staring at his eyes with all but love and still chooses to stay silent. It's a dangerous game she's playing with him. It almost - it hurts him."his fatalistic expression left you stunned. The ancillary confession beleaguered your heart instead of calming the storm.
Nibbling on your bottom lip, you tried your best to focus on the constellations instead. you pulled the poor blade of grass harder in a futile attempt of breaking it apart but it was snatched from you.
“answer me.” He demanded the answer that was resting on the tip of your tongue.
"I love you."
He blurted out and you felt his fingers finding home in yours as he interlocked them. the moisture of the grass swamped your hands and you finally found your warmth within each other.
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“the whole palace is under your charm y/n” you stopped the stirring at zara’s words.
“how so?”
“they haven’t seen your wrath in the past few weeks. You didn’t shout at minji for throwing your burnt cake either.”
Swatting her hand away from the pot, you replied, “let them enjoy their peace days.”
“may god bless jaehyun! The whole palace is saved until you are happy.” Bumping her shoulders into yours, she took the charge from you. “what about the haunted garden y/n. aren’t you afraid of going there. it’s been weeks and I haven’t heard you screaming about any ghost.”
You scoffed at her naive self, “the only ghost that haunts the garden is in ME!” dragging the last part, you successfully scared her into dropping the ladle in the hot pot. Resultantly, she chases you off in the whole kitchen until you agree to turn the muddle of vegetables into something edible.
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Jaehyun’s presence generated so much happiness within your soul that you were afraid one unfortunate day would snatch him from you yet you never fought against the urge to drown in the love he poured on you. He mirrored the boy you met in your books, just as dreamy, if not more. His princely chiselled face was a sight to die for. He was a typical example of a lotus, a beautiful flower born in mud where it lived and died and you wanted to change that for him.
“What do you fear the most?”
Nestling your face in his neck, you couldn’t help but ask the question. He snuggled you closer to him, the sheet beneath you crumpling making the leaves and the grass it covered rustling under you. He shifted his head only to face your hair. Removing his one hand from your waist, he moved your chin to inspect you. He never understood how you came up with most bizzare and inquiring questions. But he was always more than happy to speak or in this case, express.
“that I will forever remain indebted to you.”
grasping his hand that held your chin, you saw him gulp down the words he hesitated to utter. 
"Love is not a debt jae. Just keep loving me like this, make me hap-
Abruptly your view of him changed as he floated over your figure. Resting your head on the sheet, his fingers traced the path along your face, feeling every inch of the skin he had learned to admire from afar. With adoration filled eyes, he drew nearer.
His lips were delicate against yours. Moving gently, he comforted your vulnerable ones, winning a pleased and dry whine from your throat. Hands dropping to your neck, his lips travelled down to your jaw where he sucked lightly at a candied spot and the little tickle kisses he gave you reaching your collarbones left you squealing in its wake. He hovered over your face again, this time to taste the bliss you felt and courageously, you pulled him closer and like it was designed, Mist of delight clouded your minds as  you forgot your fingers in his nape. If finding stars in his eyes was your expression of love then dancing against your pulsating lips, he perfectly found his interpretation as well. 
He drew back when he was done with bruising your skin. Staring into your eyes, he asked for something. With a blink of the same, you conveyed it. 
Curving your back, you allowed him to unzip the lavender dress you were wearing. As he uncovered your skin, he greeted it with beautiful, praiseworthy kisses, covering you with his undying love.
That night he resuscitated you, sending you into an oblivion. 
The reason being the incantations that he served you with.
I wish to give you a ring!
And the simple words resonated the promise that you could hardly wait for him to fulfill.
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Sympathy combining some unknown feeling washed over you as you heard your father talking about the neighbouring kingdoms and the pitiful state they were in. you had always known about the lack of resources those people lived with but that was the end. It was just a topic of discussion and theory to learn about the blunders of their ancestors and the brutal history of their treason to an old ally, your father and grandfather.
With a contempt laced tongue, once again, your father recited the story of betrayal of the lees and the jungs. The story was religiously told to every child once they were old enough to understand the terms like loyalty, allegiance, infidelity and betrayal.
You had vowed to change that. a seed of hatred planted in a younger mind would only yield a crop of vengeance. you aspired to end it. Jaehyun, too, wanted to wash the stains of treachery from his family name.  
 To your dismay, the army was out to roam the small towns and villages, looking for trespasser enemies. 
One day, you were resting in jaehyun's arms and the next day, you were left to sulk as the guards had suddenly decided to reaffirm the reliability of all the hinges. The doors were smacked, locked and unlocked, leaving you with million suspicions and a heavy heart. 
The only assurance you had, was in Jaehyun's capability of fooling the security forces. Proud as you were, the unsettling feeling of a blurred future did not let you sleep. For three nights.
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Jaehyun wrapped his arms around your waist, hugging you tightly from behind.
“easy jaehyun! it tickles!” you exclaimed while controlling your giggling.
“i thought you won’t be here tonight but yo-
“but i managed to sneak!” you finished, turning in his arms to see his beautiful face glistening in the moonlight. “and i don’t know for how much longer i can fool my attendants, what if one day they got in trouble for negligence. The security is doubled outside all the chambers. If I pulled anything, father would not hesitate to behead them.” your face dimmed with the mere thought of the fate of your precious maids and if anything happened to them, your soul would be forever encumbered with the guilt. 
your worried eyes didn’t escape jaehyun as he leaned forward to give you a small kiss, soothing your nerves. the small peck left you wanting for more as you bit your lower lip in anticipation of his further actions.
“nothing would happen. it’s been 2 months and nobody in the whole kingdom knows where and with whom their gorgeous princess spends her nights! and besides i’m here to ease the worries of your forever wandering mind. "
"Why do you always have to talk in riddles jae!"
He laughed through your smacks before circling your figure twice, leaving you staggered and dumbfounded.
"What are yo-
"I'm serious. I’m just here to fulfil my promise love.” he caught and pulled you again, keeping just a little distance between you both
“what promise? i don’t remember anything!” you asked genuinely perplexed by his words. as far as your memory too you, the only promise he made was-
your eyes widened at the realisation! jaehyun removed his one hand from your waist, putting it inside the pocket of his pants.
at this point, you could hear your own thumping heart whilst looking at him expectantly.
“let’s relieve you of a huge burden my princess!” he said with a smiling face but as you tried to mirror his expression, a sharp pain coursed through your abdomen.
you wobbled as he left your waist, the pain doubling when he pulled the small knife out of your body, a smirk adorning his features instead.
your body felt hotter than ever as the blood slowly oozed out of your abdomen. no scream left your lips as you pressed the wounded area in a try to lessen the ache.
The solemn tears falling down the cheeks were not for the physical damage but for the broken promise Jaehyun had bestowed upon you with.
“wh-why?” was the only word you could form before your other hand went to grab his arm but was only met with air.
jaehyun loomed closer and his knife met your stomach once again, this time a grievous shriek filled the silent garden. 
Your legs lost life, your body finding it harder to withstand the twist of the knife as you fell on the grass, darkness consuming your soul.
“because i couldn’t be on the throne as long as the heir of this kingdom was alive. but your death won’t be worthless love. I shall wear the crown of your sacrifice and reclaim all the lost honour.”
Instead of a deep breath as you had expected, a choked sob left your lips and the whole body convulsed with the painful effort.
Your eyes remained glued to him as he rubbed his face with this sleeve regarding you with the cruelty you never knew he was capable of.
contempt in his orbs served as his last offering towards you as he exited your sight, calling for someone.
After what felt like years, you heard a human voice again but your body gave up before you could comprehend anything. 
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“you did it my boy!”
Jinyoung broke his hateful glare from the throne and patted a demented jaehyun on the back, congratulating his prime pawn for the successful acquisition. The so called disqualified heirs were now the rulers, a dream that was once broken by their backstabbing friend, the now murdered king of this kingdom.
“and you shall be rewarded for you have made your deceased father proud.” Hand caressing Jaehyun's shoulder, he pretended to wipe the few tears that escaped due to the bitter memory. Cleaning his eyes with the sleeve of his dusted robe, he took the gold crown from his younger brother, jinseok and ran his eyes from jaehyun to the majestic chair on the silver podium.
With pride clotted blood, Jaehyun bowed to him before taking his seat.
The crown was set atop his head, fitting him without any doubt.
It weighed more than he thought.
With a sinister smile, his uncle ordered the assassination of all the loyal members of court.
Guards were beheaded and bodies were counted.
The palace was foraged, to find and kill all the runaways.
A manhunt was announced for the one who wasn’t found.
Nobody knew there were more to be found.
The triumphant smile lit Jaehyun's face for he lost nothing.
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Three weeks later.  
Donghae’s hands lost all the strength, the plastic bag filled with potatoes now rolling down the uneven and mud washed floor of the hut.
The day he had been anticipating with broken hope and glistening eyes was not a dream anymore.
Your fingers finally trembled against the hard, rugged and rough mattress.
You had decided to open your eyes after three weeks.
Finally he allowed himself to cry.
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I'm going under and this time I fear there's no one to save me
Crown hanging between his fingers, his gaze pierced the ground.
You were lying there three weeks ago.
Were you taken away?
Were you no more?
There was no probability of inhaling after how perfectly he had spun his knife.
No man had ever survived his knife, not even his own teacher. There was no way you could have. All the odds were in his favour for all the cards being played with accuracy.
Did he hope for your life?
You were an enemy, just a play. Then why the thought of never beholding you again hurt him so much. 
why the weight of the crown crumbled on him with such intensity.
Why did he choose your chamber to stay in?
Yet Why was he unable to sleep?
He grew up seeking answers and  taking orders and this time there was no one to respond to his cries.
Neither did anyone care enough to ask him the reason for his quotidian visits to the garden.
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I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug
It wasn’t home. But the eyes looking back at you undeniably reminded you of it. A day has passed since you saw the light of the world again but all you did was listen to the gut-wrenching fate your family had met with. Half of the family!
Your parents were murdered in the coup premeditated  by none other than the neighbouring jungs. What was equally agonising was the fact that your brother never got to give your parents a respectable farewell. The troops had charged upon their sleepy selves and the mere hanging crown on the naked and bloodied sword of jin young was enough of a proof of the successful attack. Their escape hadn't been easy either but with a little help from the general, they had managed to flee. Zara had led them to you. 
 Unknown fear consumed you as you read your surroundings. But it was time you admitted to your mistakes and faced the consequences. If there were any brutal ones left. There was nothing you would be unable to endure. So you began with the unanswered questions.
“what is this place?” you asked with a sore throat.
“this is jung’s territory. They are too blinded by their victory that this barren land is the last place they would send their troops to.” donghae replied, feeding you spoonfuls of the soup.
“But how did we reach here?"
"Through the underground war doors. They once joined both of our territories before the jungs were disqualified from trading. This end was opened by our general when we lost too much blood. Their bloody nephew is sitting on the throne, uniting this useless kingdome with ours." He seethed. 
You bit your lip to compose yourself. you knew you had to tell them about jaehyun and a broken trust was the last thing you wanted to inject in him but necessity clawed on your heart to reveal everything.
Caressing your face, he acidly began, 
"We'll take back everything. No one shall be spared. We are contacting our alliances. By next month, our kingdom would be in the state of siege. Every drop of blood shall be avenged. Jaehyun would pay for what he did."
At his mention, you withdrew your sight from him. Guilt crept up within you as you tried to affiliate every past event with the current one. It was clear as day you were a mere instrument to find a place for the entry of their troops. You were just a puppet. Unknowingly, you had allowed them to enter your parent's bedroom too. You had blood on your hands. Of countless people.
A single tear slipped and the lack of his expression on your face scared zara. She ran to occupy the other side of the bed and caught your head before you broke down in her arms. Jaehyun's lies and betrayal of your love was left somewhere in an old rusted chest of your mind and the pure anguish shattered you into millions of pieces.
You wailed yourself to sleep. 
Jaehyun visited you that night. In the form of dust. And he continued breaching your peace as if killing you once wasn't enough.
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Now the day bleeds, into nightfall and you are not here, to get me through it all.
Jaehyun woke up in cold sweat. When was the last time he slept with an easy mind? 
Maybe the week before he was ordered to finish off what he had started. 
He changed rooms. 
He changed floors.
But his eyes never closed for even the minor chances of meeting you in the dreamland scared him to death. 
With a trembling hand, he picked up the crown and threw it away.
Amusingly, you were still dead.
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Were you really that foolish?
Perhaps you resembled every other weak hearted person for whom a pinch of affection was a desperate call to sell their soul and rationality.
You had just wanted to walk down the markets without any constraints pulling you back in. Skipping in the shadows while hiding from the sun was the only desire you had. 
Why had he bumped his shoulder into yours? Why had he repeated it again and again until had grown to recognise his touch even through the thick layers of clothing and masked faces?
It's amusing how we end up finding each other in the same place at same time everyday
He had said with a sugary tone when you had questioned him sternly. 
You had believed him.
I'm prince Jaehyun, from the other side. I just came here to see the beauty that our place doesn't possess. It's all barren and discarded. No healthy vegetables. No dry fruits. I just enjoy myself every evening and buy some good food for some poor kids. You won't mention this to anyone right? I’ll leave right away if you want though!
How righteous had he sounded!
We'll propose unification and then everything will come to life again. No bloodshed. No backstabbing. No spy plays. We’ll never let history blemish our future.
How had he managed to contradict each and every word he had spoken. 
he just changed like the patterns in the kaleidoscope as if you had never reflected in the mirrors of his heart. 
Perhaps you never did.
You despised his way of fulfilling his Imperishable love for you! 
You were relieved Zara had been the one to inform your brother of this leading cause.
How ruthless he could have been!
You wanted to give his whole kingdom a new life and all he could give you in return was a knife. 
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I was getting kinda used to being the someone you loved
Jaehyun's fingers turned green for how harshly he picked at the grass. Picking at those innocent blades didn't bring you back. 
His cries thundered in the air. He begged for the time to turn itself. He yearned for the love you had shown him. He missed your warmth. He missed your careless laughs. His heart shrieked for you. The only person he had ever loved. The only being who had ever loved him.
 Why he couldn't have saved himself from being the traitor of the heart he could've ruled!
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You stared at the heavy corset that was made to safeguard you.
You were no expert with a blade but still one was handed over to you as precaution. 
The general read you the instructions, mainly focusing on the need to remain hidden underground until the war was over. You and Zara were to be kept away from the weapons. 
That was what the commandments directed you to follow.
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Today, the wind blew harsher. Maybe he was the only one to feel the strange stillness in the disorder. Everything had been imprudently loud for him lately. Even the riots that shook the doors of the palace. How long could they have held onto something that never belonged to them! 
As he dismissed the servant who called him to take charge against your brother, his mind pressed upon bolting all the heavy doors to ignore the murderous stream. He had led one army before but now lacked the courage to pick up his knife and sword, the ones he buried right in the garden where you once laid.
You.
The broken look on your face was the image he wanted to delete from the depths of his mind so desperately yet your presence never left him alone. Maybe it was the sanction of the heavens that you were always there with him. In his days and in his dreams. He got all of your portraits removed yet here you were, standing in front of him with a smile on your face. A quiet rare sight. The radiant face, if not impossible to find, was still very infrequent even in his dreams. The air smelled of you. The atmosphere was enticing. Suddenly, he wanted to chase his dream, to go after you. 
So he followed his heart. 
Your illusion stayed still, with curved lips making you look ethereal. Even in the darkness, your face illuminated the way for him.
His hand rose, hoping to touch you even though the rational part of his head screamed that it was a lie created by him to save himself from another night of misery but he failed to listen and caved in. Like each time, he expected his hand to pass through you, breaking the charm of his fabrication of you. 
But here he was. 
Instead of passing through the smoke that you were supposed to be, his hand rested upon the gentle skin that your face had. Retracting his fingers immediately, he fell back in fear, eyes widening and chest heaving. 
You were anything but an illusion. 
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His hand grazed against your cheek before he fell down, stumbling upon his own feet. The crown that decorated his head too withdrew its support, lying on the floor like it had recognised its lawful owner.
"My king." Solemnly, you addressed him. "I hope you are enjoying your new home and title."
As you talked, you watched him collecting himself. As he unclogged the blocks of his mind, awe transformed his face momentarily shaping itself into trepidation. To your disbelief, he brightened up once again. Had he not been liable for the ghastly crimes, you’d have sympathised with the deranged state of the always self possessed jaehyun. Alas! You had nothing to offer him.
Shuffling on his knees, with his head bowed lowly, he spoke with dead voice,
"Forgive me, please." He cried into his joined hands.
"Get up jaehyun. A mighty and worthy king like you doesn't look very honourable bowing to a mere woman like me." Your dangerously honeyed voice resembled the ominous dark clouds brooding atop his head. 
But you admired his valor for he kept apologising, burning himself with the false hope of undoing the indelible smudge he had left on you.
"I thought i never loved you y/n but i was utterly wron-
"You are a deceiver King jaehyun. Do not expect me to believe you." 
"Don't call me that please!" 
"Get up jaehyun." you barked. 
"I hate myself for doing that to you y/n." Getting up slowly, he repeated twice. You were yet to see his face and when he rose to his full height, you were met with his bloodshot eyes that could've ached you if your heart hadn't been damaged to the core.
"Don't hate yourself please. You made your family proud. That is what we kids should be aiming for right. I truly admire you for that King jaehyun." The emotionless stress on the end made him close his eyes in pain as he choked out another heart wrenching sob. 
"I'm truly sorry y/n, please. I can't take your hatred. I don't want this crown nor do i want to live here anymore."
Your stomach churned at his cries. You had truly underestimated his capability to surprise you but it only made you grip harder on the knife that was tucked in your waistband.
“How naive of you to think that I'll fall for your lies again, jaehyun.”
Rubbing his face with his palms, he looked heavenward,
"No no. I love you. I really really love you.I never realised this until now. I just can’t live without you” and continued as his glistened eyes met yours, “Why are you not listening to me?"
"Don't you think you are a bit late for a true confession."
"Yours was true right. Your love was conditionless. I swear on your love! Forgive me once please. Love is the strongest, you told me this right. I just need you y/n. not this crown. Not anyone else. Just you, Please." 
A mean scoff left your lips, "Yes, i was the one who told you about love being the most powerful but that was until you taught me the strength of hatred, jaehyun. You knifed me out of the fairytales i dreamt with you and i don't think i can ever thank you enough for that. The love you are so profoundly swearing to is lying under the debris of the hollow pride and the abhorrence you sheltered for my family. You never once heard my pleas of affection and now you expect me to listen to yours?how can you stoop so low?"
You watched him screaming into the air and crumbling down. You saw him going through the pain you would never recover from yourself and you wanted to end it. For him. It was rather painful to watch him so you mumbled his name. 
With newfound belief, he loomed closer with open arms, anticipating a change of heart from you. Maybe you weren't really as unconcerned to him as he had been with you. 
but the long blade mutilated his lungs and silent gasps of pain escaped his throat. His miserable eyes ruined the shield you wore and you screamed at him while repeating the thrusts of the sharp blade. Droplets of vengeance imbued the chilled air, drizzling down your neck in the form of sweat.
Somehow the hall was lit and you were forced to see what you had done to him. His grip on the ground faltered and the blade slipped through your fingers, the clink dangerously reverberating in the hall. 
Before your hand could reach for him, something pointed grazed your shoulder. You wanted to turn around but more and more spikes pierced through you; the heaviness and the pain that seeped through your back launched you forward and you fell down on another body that had been hosted by the marble a few moments ago. The ache of the arrows left you breathless. Once again, you struggled with your eyelids. within a few seconds, relief padded your back and you discontinued your wrestling. 
and perhaps your dead heart was finally at peace.
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jmbringitonworld · 3 years ago
Text
Fransweek 2022, Day 7: Valentine's
This takes place within my Machine Convergence AU, introduced in Why You Shouldn’t Mess With The Machine. Basic premise is that the skelebros from Underfell, Underswap and Swapfell/Fellswap end up in classic Undertale, alongside their girlfriends (Frisk and Chara), as a result of trying to use the broken machine to bring Gaster back. Main pairings are Frans and Papara.
While in-universe, the girls refused to have nicknames, I’ve given them ones, just to distinguish them in my mind, and in the story. The Frisks are named after gemstones and the Charas, after flowers, based on their AU’s colour, with Undertale being yellow (a primary colour, to go with red and blue):
Frisk: Topaz (UT), Ruby (UF), Sapphire (US), Amethyst (SF/FS)
Chara: Buttercup (UT), Rose (UF), Bluebell (US), Violet (SF/FS)
I’ve also given them all jobs, which I’ll elaborate on over time, in future fics.
________________________________________________
Life in the skeleton-human household had settled down over time, inasmuch as was possible within a house filled with wildly different personalities. Arguments between the skeleton monsters remained frequent, particularly amongst the more abrasive characters, but their shared goal of fixing their father’s broken machine, and returning the extradimensional visitors to their home universes, had kept them all focused on their task. Perhaps a little too focused, on occasion, as the girls had found out. As such, they’d decided that on this special day, Valentine’s Day, everyone would take a break from work of any kind, to celebrate the romantic holiday with their respective partner. Some of the males were easier to convince than others, with Blue and Vanilla being especially taken with the idea of a Valentine’s date with their beloved, however not even the most stubborn soul could deny such determined humans for too long.
And so it was that, on the morning of Valentine’s Day, all of the mansion’s residents split off into pairs, to spend the day as a couple, in their own preferred way.
~~~
Comic and Topaz had immediately retreated to the privacy of their shared bedroom, choosing to spend their date at home, enjoying the rare peace and quiet inside their nearly deserted house, though with some hesitation on Sans’s part.
“you sure about this, babe?” he questioned, letting his wife tug him down to lie beside her on their bed. “today’s a special day, after all. you really sure you wanna waste it indoors, doin’ nothing?”
Despite his doubts, he nonetheless made himself comfortable on the bed, wrapping his arms around Frisk and cradling her tenderly to his rib cage. She wrapped her own arms around him in return, resting her forehead against his.
“We are not doing ‘nothing’, Sansy,” she pressed a kiss to the corner of his grin. “We’re relaxing together, in our nice, comfy bed, enjoying each other’s presence. What more could a girl need, than her hus-bone by her side?”
Sans chuckled lightly, rubbing his nasal bone gently against the tip of Frisk’s nose, in the skeleton version of a nose nuzzle.
“heh, well you know how much i love taking breaks, ‘specially with my lovely wifey,” he hugged her close for a moment, relishing the feeling of her soft warmth in his arms, before drawing back slightly, to fix his suddenly serious look on her, his eyelights dimming slightly. “look, i know i’m a lazybones a lotta the time, and things’ve been really hectic ever since our otherworldly copies showed up, but... it’s valentine’s, the most romantic day of the year, an' our very first since getting married. don’t you wanna do something special?”
Frisk withdrew one arm from around Sans, to cup his skull in her hand. She gave him a warm smile, as she affectionately caressed his cheekbone.
“Sans, any time I spend with you is special, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing. And now that our house is so full and our lives are so busy, what with the machine, our housemates and our jobs, our alone time is extra important to me. We rarely get to have any time with just the two of us, so I want to enjoy this moment together.”
Sans sighed, closing his eye sockets. He pulled Frisk close again, carding his phalanges through her hair.
“i feel the same, sweetheart. the machine needs a skele-ton of work to fix it, and it’s kept all us boneheads really busy. not to mention, havin’ red workin’ at the lab, even if he’s in a different department, hasn’t been easy. i get a lotta complaints at work about his crappy attitude. guy sure has a bone to pick with the world.”
Sans let out another, deep sigh, burying his skull in his wife’s hair as he held her tightly. Frisk ran her hand along his skull in a gentle caress, hoping to ease his tension.
“Well, he is from a 'kill or be killed' Underground, after all," she pointed out reasonably. "I guess he still isn't used to having to play nice with others. Have you mentioned this to Edge? Maybe he can do something about Red. They are brothers, after all, and Edge works as a security guard at your lab, right? I’m sure he wants to keep the peace as much as you do.”
At his wife’s suggestion, Sans snorted, shaking his head tiredly.
“nah, he only makes things worse,” he grumbled, a disgruntled, aggrieved look on his skull. “according to alphys, edgelord often interrupts his patrol to come berate red when that jackass is bein’ disruptive, but he always ends up causing an even bigger scene. if the two of ‘em weren’t so good at their jobs, the higher ups at nasa would’ve kicked ‘em out on their coccyx ages ago. and can you believe that they were apparently a lot worse underground? how the hell their girls put up with em’ i’ll never know.”
Frisk gave him a commiserating smile, rubbing soothing, placating circles along his cervical vertebrae, causing Sans to let out a low, satisfied groan, as he pressed his forehead against his wife’s.
“ah, forget about those two numbskulls. this is valentine’s day and i’ve got my warm, wonderful wifey in my arms. i don’t wanna think about anythin’ but you today, babe. our valen-time's precious enough as it is, without wastin’ it on others. and... i’m sorry i’ve left you feelin’ bone-ly. i just wish there was some way to make it up to ya, frisky.”
In response, Frisk drew herself up, to pepper kisses all over her husband’s skull.
“There is,” she whispered between kisses. “All I want is to take a break with you. I know how hard you and the other guys have been working to fix things. And I’m grateful, honestly, and so proud. That’s why us ladies decided that today isn’t just a chance to celebrate our love. It’s also the perfect excuse to give our bone boys a break. You deserve it.”
Sans felt his soul warm up from both Frisk’s words and her loving kisses. His eyelights dilated, growing fuzzy around the edges, as he smiled adoringly at her.
“well, i have been working myself to the bone for a while, now. and, tibia honest? i could really use a nap. i’m bone-tired, heh.”
The two of them shared a laugh, clutching each other tightly.
“Well, come on then, hubby,” Frisk grinned brightly at Sans, mirth shining in her eyes, a finger tapping, teasingly, on his sternum. “Stop overthinking things and relax. Let go of all of your worries, and focus on the here and now. Today is all about us.”
“heh, welp, you don’t have to pa-tell-a me twice.”
With Frisk’s answering giggle ringing in the air, Sans finally allowed himself to fully sink into the mattress of his bed, as all the tension left his body. He hugged Frisk close, entwining their hands and hearing the clink of their wedding rings. Ignoring all else, he focused on the softness of her skin, her familiar warmth, the sweet smell of her favourite shampoo. He listened to her gentle breaths, watched the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, and felt, deep within his soul, the answering beat of her own soul, pulsing in time with his.
“happy valentine’s day, frisk.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Sans.”
~~~
With neither quite sure how best to have a romantic date, given their lack of experience with romance, Red and Ruby decided to have a fun day out at the amusement park. Ebott Cit’s fun fair was large, colourful and loud, boasting a wide variety of attractions, stalls, rides, and games of chance and skill. As such, on a popular holiday like Valentine's Day, it was currently packed full of visitors, both monster and human.
Sans felt exposed and vulnerable in such a large crowd, uncomfortable with being surrounded by so many strangers while in a new location, and stuck close to Frisk, one arm slung around her shoulders, keeping her pinned to his side possessively and protectively. Every time someone happened to bump into him, from distracted couples to excited children, Sans would fix them with his single, burning, crimson eyelight, glaring menacingly at the offender until they ran away in a panic, Frisk’s desperate “sorry!” called out to their retreating backs.
“Sans, please stop frightening the other visitors!” Frisk pleaded with Sans. “This is a peaceful universe, remember? No one’s going to attack us out of the blue here. Everyone just wants to have a good time, same as us. We’re supposed to be on a date, so let’s just enjoy ourselves, please.”
Sans huffed, turning his skull away from his girlfriend’s upset frown.
“yeah, yeah, i know, sweetheart...” he grumbled sulkily. “old habits die hard, but i’ll try ta keep a lid on it. fer your sake.”
Frisk beamed brightly at him and leaned towards him to plant a firm kiss to his blushing cheekbone. Sans ducked his skull, beads of magical sweat rolling down the sides, trying, in vain, to hide his burning face.
“Thank you, Sans!”
“... anythin’ fer you, sweetheart...”
Despite his promise, Sans still kept a vigilant, glowing eyelight on his surroundings, unable to truly lower his guard in such a busy, unfamiliar place, though with everyone giving the intimidating skeleton monster with the violent aura a wide birth, there were no further incidents. At least, not while the couple were walking around the fair.
The two lovers occasionally stopped at the various stalls dotted all over the park, admiring the displayed merchandise, but unable to buy anything, since the vendors seemed too terrified by Sans’s fearsome appearance and gruff demeanour to properly serve him. One young rabbit monster had squeaked upon his approach, ducking underneath their stall to cower out of sight, causing Frisk to hastily drag Sans away, apologising profusely to the hidden stall owner.
Things were much the same wherever they went. Even when Sans used his magic to discreetly (and sometimes not-so-discreetly) cheat at the fair games, winning several prizes for a mortified Frisk, who could only bow her head contritely, none of the attendants or other participants dared to call him out on his underhanded tactics. At every amusement ride the pair chose to try, the seats closest to them remained empty, the other fair-goers preferring to wait for the next go, or avoiding the ride entirely.
Sans’s breaking point came when a small human child accidentally ran into him. Looking up, the youngster’s apology died on their lips once they caught sight of Sans’s wide, sharp-toothed grin, with his one glinting, golden fang, and his sole, brightly blazing, blood-red eyelight, the other eye socket a dark, vacant void. The child promptly burst into tears, and was quickly scooped up and carried off by their worried parents, while Frisk’s own anxious apologies fell on deaf ears.
With a low growl, Sans grabbed Frisk’s arm and took a shortcut straight to a quiet, deserted corner, at the edge of the fair.
“i’m sick o’ this bullshit!” his voice, already deep and gravelly, was little more than a furious snarl. “fer once, i’m actually tryin’ ta play nice, but these spineless cowards keep ruinin’ our date!”
Sans exhaled forcefully, before seeming to wilt, his anger leaving him as he turned his despondent gaze towards Frisk, both of his eyelights back to normal, if noticeably dimmed.
“i’m... i’m really sorry, sweetheart,” he mumbled pitifully, voice soft and repentant. “i didn’t mean ta spoil our date, honest. i really wanted today ta be special, an’... an’ i was really hopin’ ta give ya the kinda valentine’s experience ya deserve. but i keep screwin’ everythin’ up... as usual...”
Frisk gently cupped his skull, turning his downcast eyelights to her kind smile, her eyes warm and full of compassion.
“Oh Sans,” she breathed out in a light sigh, “you haven’t screwed anything up and our date is most certainly not ruined. I don’t blame you for being a little... tense. You’ve had it rough, your whole life, and coming to this strange new universe hasn’t been easy on any of us. We’re all a bit on edge, frankly. But that’s why I wanted us to have fun today! Because you deserve to have a good time, more than anyone I know. So please, forget about everyone else! It’s our special, romantic date, and all I need is you by my side.”
Sans practically melted at her words and her touch, a doting, adoring smile on his bright red skull, his two fuzzy, heart-shaped eyelights fixed on Frisk’s face. There was no hint of the dangerous killer he was Underground, only an infatuated skeleton, harmless as a puppy.
“yeah, ta hell with the rest o’ the world,” he purred, gathering Frisk up in his arms and nuzzling her face affectionately. “yer all i need ta be happy, sweetheart. so long’s i got you, i’m havin’ a great time.”
Frisk gave her besotted boyfriend a deep, tender kiss, causing him to melt further in her embrace. When she pulled back, however, her soft, sweet smile had been replaced by a devilish smirk, a wicked glint in her suddenly sharp eyes.
“There’s my good boy,” she praised, tracing a finger along the edges of Sans’s smile, heedless of his sharp teeth, before lightly scratching at his mandible, causing him to let out a soft groan. “Don’t you worry about anyone else here, okay? You’re safe. I’m with you. No one’s going to hurt you, not here in this alternate world, and not back in our own world. I promise you, love, I won’t let anything or anyone lay so much as a finger on you, got it? And if they try, then I’ll just have to show them the error of their ways. Just like I did back Underground. So, you just concentrate on having fun, because for today, nothing else matters except us.”
“heh, whateva ya say, sweetheart,” Sans agreed easily, obedient as a loyal lapdog, his skull aflame in a bright red blush. Even though Frisk now wore his dog collar, it was obvious that she was the one who held Sans’s leash.
Frisk giggled, a bold smile on her face, showing no trace of her earlier gentleness or meekness. With a confidence she rarely exhibited, she led Sans back into the crowd of eager, excitable park visitors. The rest of the date went by smoothly and without a hitch, as not one soul in the whole amusement park was afraid of the dopey, lovesick skeleton monster, utterly smitten with his seemingly delicate, human girlfriend.
~~~
After much discussion and many rejected ideas, Blue and Sapphire had eventually decided to go to the cinema, to watch the latest sci-fi film Sans had been eager to see, given both his fascination with space, and the film’s many positive reviews. With it being Valentine’s Day, most people had elected to watch romantic movies, therefore the auditorium was almost deserted, save for Sans and Frisk themselves, allowing the excited skeleton monster the luxury of being as noisy and vocal as he pleased.
Throughout the entire runtime of the film, Sans’s gaze remained glued to the screen, his running commentary echoing loudly in the vast, dark, near empty room, his enjoyment of the movie plain to see (and hear). By contrast, Frisk’s own gaze was firmly fixed on her boyfriend’s excited face, more than content to watch the play of emotions on his skull, and listen to his exclamations of amazement, or his complaints regarding the scientific inaccuracies portrayed in the film. She was also more than happy with her caramel-covered popcorn, digging into her large bucket periodically, and pouting sadly when she’d finished it all, to which Sans instantly gave her his own bucket (having gotten the same as her, in anticipation of this moment), much to her delight.
At the end of the movie, as the credits rolled, Sans turned to Frisk, almost bouncing in his seat, and continuing to voice his opinion, whether it was praise for the visuals and the action, or criticism of the pacing and characters. Frisk smiled indulgently at her boyfriend’s impassioned rant, leaning her head on her hand, her elbow propped on her seat’s armrest.
“I’m glad you liked the film, despite its flaws.”
Sans beamed brightly at her, blue, star-shaped eyelights glowing in the dim light of the auditorium.
“MWEH HEH HEH! SO AM I! I SHALL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE TO THE OTHERS, I’M SURE THEY’LL ENJOY IT TOO!” then he paused, frowning lightly, “WELL, MAYBE NOT RED, BLACK AND EDGE. THOSE THREE GRUMPS DON’T SEEM TO ENJOY ANYTHING. OR, AT LEAST NOT ANYTHING GOOD.”
Sans stuck his tongue out, grimacing at his and his brother’s alternate selves’ poor tastes. Frisk giggled lightly. At the sound, Sans perked up again and leaned forward.
“NEVERMIND THOSE GUYS, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE MOVIE, PRINCESS?” Sans asked, his grin wide and enthusiastic.
Caught off guard, Frisk faltered, hesitating as she struggled to come up with an answer.
“Um, uh, well... it... it was all right?... I suppose...? And the popcorn was delicious,” she shrugged helplessly.
Sans blinked at her halting response, an uncertain look crossing his face.
“YOU... SUPPOSE? DID YOU NOT ENJOY THE MOVIE?” his browbones furrowed in worry, his previous excitement dissipating.
“No, it’s not that!” Frisk rushed to reassure him. “It’s just, well... I wasn’t really... paying all that much attention. To the film, that is. I was, uh, more preoccupied with watching your reaction, than anything else. You’re far more interesting than any film.”
Sans blushed brightly, dipping his skull in embarrassment.
“MWEH HEH HEH...” he smiled bashfully. “I’M GLAD TO HEAR THAT, SUNSHINE. BUT STILL! I WANT YOU TO ENJOY YOURSELF JUST AS MUCH AS I DO! SO NEXT TIME, WE’LL WATCH A MOVIE THAT YOU CHOOSE.”
Frisk smiled softly, a fond look on her face as she shook her head.
“No need, Sans. Let’s just go with whatever you want to watch,” she took one of his gloved hands in hers, squeezing it lightly. “All I care about is spending time with you. It really doesn’t matter to me what we do, as long as we do it together.”
Sans got a complicated look on his skull, torn between warring emotions.
“I FEEL THE SAME. I CAN HAVE FUN DOING ANYTHING IF IT’S WITH YOU!” he shot her a brief grin, squeezing her hand in return, before his expression turned serious once more. “BUT, STILL... IT MATTERS TO ME THAT WE DO SOMETHING THAT YOU ENJOY. I DON’T WANT TO BE THE ONLY ONE HAVING A GOOD TIME ON OUR DATES.”
Frisk sighed, an exasperated, yet undeniably charmed smile tugging at her lips.
“I’m serious, Sans,” she assured him, tone firm and insistent. “I really could not care less what we do on our dates. Being with you... that’s enough. It’s more than enough, honestly. Every moment I spend alone with you is... magical. Especially given how rare they are.”
Sans flinched at her last statement, wincing at how casually she’d said it.
“FRISK... I’M SO SORRY,” he gave her a guilty look, eye sockets wide and eyelights unnaturally dim. “EVER SINCE WE ARRIVED IN THIS UNIVERSE, I’VE BEEN WRAPPED UP IN HELPING TO FIX THE MACHINE AND GETTING US HOME. BUT! THAT’S NO EXCUSE FOR NEGLECTING YOU!”
Frisk leaned forward, giving him a tender kiss.
“It’s fine, Sans, I know how important your task is,” she smiled warmly at him. “And I’m not mad or upset or anything; I’m not a child, no matter what my parents say. And you’re a busy monster with a lot of vital work to do. I get it. You do what you have to do, okay? Don’t worry about me, I’m fine, really. I’ll be patient, I understand, just like back home.”
“WAIT, ‘JUST LIKE BACK HOME’?” Sans’s eye sockets widened in alarm. “WERE YOU FEELING LONELY BACK HOME AS WELL?!”
Frisk recoiled with a start, squirming uncomfortably in her seat at her panicking boyfriend’s urgent enquiry.
“Well, I mean, um, a... a little?” she looked away from Sans, hunching her shoulders a little, feeling awkward. Sans’s face fell, and Frisk rushed to console him. “But it’s fine! Really! Look Sans, back home, you’re a very important monster and a lot of people rely on you, all the time. And, you’re so friendly towards everyone, and sociable, and so charming and likeable, always willing and eager to help others... You have so many friends. So, I can’t be selfish and hog all of your attention. I know that it’s wrong to keep you all to myself, when so many others need you, I know that I need to share you with everyone else. So, I’m satisfied with whatever time I get with you. I truly mean it when I say that just being with you is enough for me.”
Despite her words of reassurance and her intent to comfort him, Sans grew more and more disheartened. Frisk bit her lip at his lost, crestfallen look, unsure what to do or say to cheer him up. Dejected, Sans turned his gaze down, frowning to himself, his fists clenching, before looking up, fixing Frisk with a determined a stare.
“WELL, THAT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR ME!” he declared, startling Frisk. “I WANT MORE! LOTS MORE! MORE TIME! MORE SMILES! MORE HUGS! MORE KISSES! MORE EVERYTHING WITH YOU! AND I DON’T CARE IF I’M BEING SELFISH!”
Frisk gaped at him, a fierce blush spreading across her cheeks. Sans breathed heavily after his outburst, and took his girlfriend’s hands into his own to ground himself. After a moment, he gave her a sheepish smile.
“TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH, I WAS ALSO FEELING A LITTLE LONELY,” Frisk blinked in surprise at his confession. “YOU’RE A LOT MORE POPULAR THAN YOU REALISE, FRISK. A LOT OF PEOPLE WANT YOUR ATTENTION, FOR PLENTY OF REASONS, AND YOU DO SO MUCH FOR OTHERS, EVEN IF YOU WON’T ADMIT IT. THAT’S WHY, SOMETIMES, I GET A LITTLE... JEALOUS... I DON’T WANT TO ADMIT TO SOMETHING SO UNCOOL, BUT... THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I WISH YOU WOULD IGNORE EVERYONE ELSE AND JUST FOCUS ON ME...”
“Sans... I had no idea you felt that way,” Frisk laid her hand on Sans’s arm, tone gentle and sympathetic, despite her astonishment. Sans rubbed the back of his skull, letting out a quiet chuckle of embarrassment.
“I KNOW, THAT’S NOT VERY MAGNIFICENT OF ME, HEH... BUT IT’S THE TRUTH. AND IT’S ALSO WHY I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL. AND I’M SORRY I DIDN’T NOTICE IT SOONER,” then Sans drew himself up, placing one hand atop his sternum, his eyelights blazing brightly and his gaze more solemn than Frisk had ever seen him. “THEREFORE I, THE SANS-SATIONAL SANS, HEREBY PROMISE YOU, PRINCESS FRISK DREEMURR, THAT I’LL BE A MUCH MORE ATTENTIVE PARTNER IN THE FUTURE! AND! I’LL MAKE MORE TIME FOR YOU! I DON’T WANT YOU TO EVER FEEL LIKE YOU DON’T DESERVE ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY IF IT’S MY TIME AND ATTENTION! BECAUSE YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY, AT ALL TIMES! YOU’RE MY SUNSHINE, FRISK. MY HEART AND SOUL ARE YOURS ALONE. SO PLEASE, BE AS SELFISH AS YOU WANT, SINCE I’M GOING TO BE MORE SELFISH TOO! BECAUSE, SUNSHINE, WHILE I LIKE SPENDING TIME WITH OTHERS, I’M THE VERY HAPPIEST I CAN BE WHEN I’M SPENDING TIME WITH YOU.”
Sans finished his speech with a bright smile, full of all of the love he felt for his girlfriend. Her face hotter than ever, Frisk threw her arms around him, burying her face in his blue bandana, trying to conceal her tears.
“... Thanks, Sans...” voice thick with emotion and muffled by his kerchief, Frisk barely withheld a sniffle. Sans happily returned her hug, his arms tightening around her as he felt his soul fluttering pleasantly.
“MWEH HEH HEH... MY PLEASURE, SUNSHINE.”
~~~
Black and Amethyst had wasted no time when deciding where to go, both immediately agreeing to visit their favourite café, now that they both finally had some time to spare. It was a small, cosy, out-of-the-way place, that catered to both humans and monsters, owned by an elderly gentleman who had devoted his youth to the pursuit of financial security, to the detriment of his social life, and who, in his twilight years, had found himself without any friends or family, and had, thus, used his pension to open up a café, in the hopes of easing his loneliness by interacting with his customers and his employees. As such, the café had an intimate, welcoming atmosphere, which had attracted many monsters.
Upon entering the establishment, Sans and Frisk were greeted by one of the servers, a spider monster, one of Muffet’s many cousins, who led them to their usual table in the corner, the one with the best vantage point of the rest of the room, and took their orders. He returned soon after, with their chosen drinks and a tray of little cakes, before sauntering off with a sly wink at the couple, promising to give them some privacy.
“THAT ONE IS IMPERTINENT AS ALWAYS,” Sans glowered at the retreating waiter’s back, raising his mug to his face to savour the rich, heady aroma of his coffee.
Frisk hummed noncommittally, peering into her own cup of hot chocolate to examine the little heart-shaped, pink and white marshmallows floating in her drink.
“The old man really went all out for Valentine’s, huh?” she cast a disparaging eye over the various pink and red, heart-shaped decorations festooned all over the café.
“HE CERTAINLY SEEMS RATHER PLEASED WITH HIS HANDIWORK,” Sans agreed, glancing at the café’s proprietor over the rim of his cup. Frisk looked towards the man as well.
“Yeah, though I doubt he’s going to be able to chat with any of his customers. Guy’s too nice and polite to play third wheel to happy couples,” she noted, taking a delicate sip of her hot chocolate. “I’m glad Greater Dog is keeping him company, at least.”
“WELL, IT’S NOT AS IF THE BIG BUFFOON CAN LOITER AROUND THE DOGI RIGHT NOW,” Sans remarked drily.
“Ugh, those two are even more sickeningly sappy than usual,” Frisk made a disgusted grimace at the very public displays of affection of the dog couple seated at a nearby table. “But, speaking of sappy,” Frisk cast a considering glance around the café, “I should take pictures of this place and post them to the Monster Embassy’s social media pages. It’s the perfect opportunity to drum up some excitement for some upcoming events I’ve got planned. Oh, and ‘encourage monster-human integration’ and ‘foster positive sentiments between our two species’, as my two other, soft-hearted selves would put it. Those two are so serious when they’re on the job. I wish they’d at least let me redecorate the office.”
Frisk sighed dramatically, bemoaning her alternate selves, Topaz and Sapphire. Sans raised a browbone at his girlfriend.
“AREN’T YOU THE ONE WHO’S ALWAYS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW MUCH I DISCUSS WORK?” he pointed out with a wry smirk.
“Speaking of work,” Frisk carried on, nonchalantly ignoring Sans’s question, to which he let out an amused snicker. “How’s yours going? Third other me’s mentioned that the school has also gone with the Valentine’s theme, and that loads of the little brats keep trying to give her Valentine’s gifts and cards. Hah, bet Red loves that!”
Frisk giggled wickedly at the thought of a disgruntled, jealous Red. Her own Sans chuckled as well, though he sported an annoyed frown.
“INDEED. THE OAF HAS BEEN GRIPING TO ME ABOUT THIS MATTER FOR A WHILE NOW, DEMANDING THAT I DO SOMETHING TO STOP THE CHILDREN. AS IF I WOULD, EVEN IF I COULD. I AM IN CHARGE OF THE SCHOOL’S SECURITY; IT IS NOT WITHIN MY DUTIES TO POLICE THE STUDENTS’ ACTIONS, SO LONG AS THEY REMAIN HARMLESS. THAT RESPONSIBILTY FALLS TO THE TEACHERS AND SUPERVISORS, SUCH AS RED’S PARAMOUR HERSELF, WHO HAS CHOSEN TO REJECT THE OFFERINGS AND DISMISS THE MATTER ENTIRELY. AS HAVE I, WHENEVER I AM THE RECIPIENT, I ASSURE YOU MY DEAR.”
“You actually have admirers?” Frisk interrupted, barely containing her laughter.
“NUMEROUS,” Sans sniffed, holding his head high. “NOT THAT IT MATTERS. THEY ARE ALL MERELY CHILDREN, EASILY AWED BY SOMEONE AS IMPRESSIVE AS I. BESIDES, MOST OF THE OVERTURES OF AFFECTION WERE MADE TO THE QUEEN. HER MAJESTY IS, WITHOUT QUESTION, HER SCHOOL’S MOST POPULAR TEACHER.”
At the mention of the monster queen, Frisk’s expression grew cold and pained. Sensing the change in his girlfriend’s mood, and all too aware of the old hurts he’d unintentionally dug up, Sans placed a gloved hand over one of her own, squeezing it lightly. Clearing his non-existent throat, he hurriedly tried to change the subject.
“BUT ENOUGH ABOUT WORK, TODAY IS MEANT TO CELEBRATE LOVE! AND, SEEING AS WE HAVE FOUND OURSELVES IN AN... UNUSUALLY PEACEFUL UNIVERSE, WHERE MONSTER-HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS HAVE PROGRESSED TO A TRULY ASTONISHING POINT, I MUST SAY, LET US ENJOY THIS RARE CHANCE AT AN UNDISTURBED DATE.”
Shaking off her melancholy, Frisk tried to dismiss any unpleasant thoughts of the past, and focus on the new topic.
“Yeah, you’re right, this universe is a lot more peaceful and amicable towards monsters. Probably because the monsters here aren’t as violent as ours are. Their ruler didn’t instate a ‘kill or be kill’ law,” her voice became harsh and resentful at that last part, before she shrugged, purposefully casually. “So, we’d best make the most of this unexpected opportunity. Who knows for how long we’ll be able to enjoy a little peace and quiet while on a date. Or when we’ll be able to do so again, once we’re back in our own universe.”
Sans frowned at that last remark, and fell into a pensive silence. Finishing off the last of his coffee, he turned his full attention to Frisk.
“THAT TIME WILL NOT BE FAR OFF, I PROMISE YOU FRISK,” he vowed. Frisk blinked at his solemn tone and expression. “ONCE THE FOUR OF US HAVE RETURNED HOME, I WILL DEDICATE MYSELF EVEN FURTHER TO THE TASK OF BUILDING A PEACEFUL, WELCOMING WORLD FOR BOTH MONSTERS AND HUMANS, JUST LIKE WE’VE FOUND HERE. NO MATTER HOW DIFFICULT THAT GOAL IS, I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THE BOND BETWEEN OUR TWO RACES HAS BEEN MENDED, AND THE TWO OF US CAN GO ON DATES LIKE THIS ONE, WITHOUT FEAR OF VIOLENCE OR HATRED, FROM EITHER MONSTERS OR HUMANS.”
Frisk’s face softened, a rare gentle smile on her lips, as she gazed with fond affection at her boyfriend.
“Then I guess I’d better step up my game as well,” she winked at Sans. “Can’t let you show me up, after all.”
“PERISH THE THOUGHT,” Sans grinned wryly. “HOWEVER! DON’T THINK THIS MEANS THAT I WILL NEGLECT MY OTHER DUTIES, TO YOU. WE ARE, AHEM, LOVERS, AND NOW THAT WE CAN FINALLY BE TOGETHER, AS A... COUPLE, I DON’T INTEND TO SLACK OFF IN THE SLIGHTEST WHEN IT COMES TO BEING AS FLAWLESS A BOYFRIEND AS I AM A SOLDIER. I WILL ENDEAVOUR TO ENSURE THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS AWARE OF MY FEELINGS FOR YOU, AND THAT YOU ARE NEVER LONELY. MY TIME AND ATTENTION ARE YOURS, ABOVE ALL ELSE, AS ARE MY HEART AND SOUL. NEVER DOUBT THAT, FRISK.”
The human ducked her head as a fierce blush blossomed across her cheeks, torn between wanting to tease Sans for his mushy, corny words, and wanting to kiss him for being so charming and flattering her so sincerely.
“... N-Not like you to be so honest and... romantic,” she mumbled, her tone bashful.
“I CAN BE A CONSIDERATE BOYFRIEND WHEN THE TIME CALLS FOR IT!” Sans crossed his arms, posture defensive and arrogant, before deflating slightly and turning his skull away, reluctantly conceding, “THAT AND, WELL... THE MUTT MAY HAVE MENTIONED, ONCE OR TWICE, THAT YOU SEEMED A LITTLE DOWN AS OF LATE, AND THAT I SHOULD BE A BIT MORE ATTENTIVE.”
“Aw, that boy...” Frisk shook her head, a warm smile on her face. Sans definitely did not pout at his girlfriend’s obvious fondness for his little brother, platonic as their relationship was. He was not the slightest bit jealous of how effortlessly the two got along, and how lenient and protective Frisk was towards Papyrus, while she snarked and teased him constantly. Absolutely not. He was above such petty childishness.
“REGARDLESS,” he said out through gritted teeth, “I INTEND TO INCREASE MY EFFORTS TO MAKE YOU HAPPY AND I SWEAR TO TAKE YOU ON MANY MORE DATES IN THE FUTURE.”
“You better,” Frisk tried to smother her delighted smile with a mock pout, but her blush gave away her true feelings. “It’s been a nice change of pace, coming to this alternate universe, where monsters are so friendly, and the other me’s are really cool and all, but... no one can replace you. You’re still the most fun to be around, so... s-so you’d better make more time for us!”
“HEH, YOU REALLY DO SAY THE CUTEST THINGS, SOMETIMES,” Sans felt his soul flutter and, unbeknownst to him, his purple eyelights had turned into little hearts.
“Ack!” Frisk’s face exploded in a bright red blush at the adorable sight, her heart hammering in her chest.
“WHAT? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” Sans raised his browbone in confusion. Frisk tried to cover her burning cheeks with her hands, bowing her head to hide her embarrassment, but she couldn’t help peeking at her boyfriend’s eyelights.
“Y-You’ve got... heart eyes, again, d-dork,” her voice came out, muffled by her hands.
“WHAT?!” Sans took out his phone to confirm that his eyelights were, indeed, heart-shaped. Letting out a strangled shriek, he buried his skull in his arms. “NOT AGAIN! D-DON’T LOOK AT ME!”
With the romantic mood effectively shattered, it took a while for the couple to overcome their embarrassment and resume their date. Despite that, the tender feelings of love the two shared remained with them throughout.
______________________________________________
I know that this ended rather abruptly, but that's because it’s only part 1. Part 2, featuring the Papara couples, will be posted later, once I've got the energy and motivation to write again, after how stressful preparing for Fransweek has been. It'll be a sort of bonus chapter.
Fun fact: I wrote all of Fransweek using Microsoft Word, and my Editor’s Score (which is always displayed, in the top right corner of the page) has remained consistently at 69% the entire time. Every time it went up a percent, I ended up having to write some of Sans’s dialogue and the score dropped back down to 69%. So, as I was struggling to come up with the right words to convey what’s in my head, I kept seeing this big, blue 69 in the corner of my eye, and I couldn’t help but hear Sans’s stupid voice saying “nice”. Godamit Sans.
I can't believe I'm finally done with Fransweek. It has been haunting me for the past two months, and I'm so relieved that I can finally present the results of all the hard work I've done, and put it all behind me at last. I'm definitely taking a bit of break after all of that stress, but I will return to writing again once I'm recharged. Despite how difficult writing with a looming deadline, rules and restrictions, has been, I still had fun. I don't plan on quitting this little hobby quite yet, so there'll definitely be more from me in the future. Whether or not it'll be any good, I can't say.
Thank you @fransweek for giving me this incredible opportunity to take part in such a fun event. It's been wonderful seeing all the great art that others have posted, all to celebrate my OTP. Frans and Undertale are still going strong after all these years, and I couldn't be prouder!
And happy Singles Awareness Day everyone!
Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7
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small-round-and-angry · 4 years ago
Text
My opinions about the Loki (2021) series. Spoilers and all that.
I took some time off the fandom until I felt it was time to make this post, if only to get it out of my system, so I can finally rest. I thought, since I was so pumped for the series to begin with, before it was launched and everything, and how I waited to expectantly for every episode that was airing weekly, that the empty feeling I was experiencing after it was all done was just because, well, it was all done.
I thought maybe it was the normal empty-chested-feeling you get when you finish a movie, series, or book that you really liked / waited a lot for.
It was not it. It didn’t pass. It got worse.
I’m going to put this under a cut, and under the anti-tags, because I know some people liked this show and not everyone has to be miserable with me.
I want to preface this by saying that I respect everyone that was involved in this project, and I know that it may be gut-wrenching to receive criticism on something that you worked in, but I feel cheated. I feel lied to. It’s one thing to work hard and be thoughtful and still receive bad reviews, but I don’t think this is the case at all.
To start it all, I was so excited to see Loki again. He’s the only character that I maintained any attachment to throughout so long, sometimes more, sometimes less, but I always considered myself a fan since I saw The Avengers (2012) with my parents in the theaters, at the ripe age of 12. To be honest, Loki was what got me into superhero movies, and into the marvel fandom at all. And I knew, or at least suspected, that they would do something different with the character. I was ready for that, after reading the comics and realizing that MCU Loki and Comics Loki are two different versions of the same character (more on that later). And I thought it was even going to be for the best, since Tom Hiddleston, bless his heart, was one of the executive producers and, I thought, would have more of a say on Loki’s character arc during the series.
What I watched was, to be completely fair with myself, not Loki. I couldn’t really pinpoint it at the time, but I keep expecting something to happen after he was captured by the TVA to show us his mind at work. A scheme, a plan, anything remotely smart that he cooked up. And yet, nothing. He kept acting…Not Loki. As time passed, I hoped he was biding his time, fooling everyone, that he would reveal his masterplan at the season finale and go back to the main timeline. The series ended and I didn’t see Loki, any of them, act as Loki once.
Maybe it’s because I am a fan of the older version of MCU Loki. The darker, more complicated one. I didn’t want a redeeming arc at all, I don’t think all villains or anti villains need a redeeming arc. That’s boring. And, to my interpretation of his character, shouldn’t be in his future at all. Loki thrives on the gray area. I love not knowing what he is to the other characters, the chaos, the lying and manipulation, the grand schemes. This new content we’ve been getting, since Ragnarok, depict him as a more comedic, campy character (which is …fine? Meh, I don’t care for it).
And of course, that’s not to say Tom Hiddleston didn’t do a good job. Poor man did his best with what was given to him by the writers. It’s hard to keep a character consistent, however, when every director and screenwriter seems to have a different idea of who they are. He kept it together fairly well when Taika attempted to assassinate Loki’s character, but Kate Herron snapped his neck harder than Thanos ever could. And for what?
Sylvie.
Now, hear me out. There’s nothing wrong with the concepts of Sylvie, Lady Loki, and a Love interest. Separately. In trying to bring everything together in one character, the writers not only could not come up with a compelling woman character, but also had to bring down an already well established character, the TITULAR character, no less, so she could look somewhat presentable, which is insulting. And they Still failed. I don’t like the pairing either, but that’s not what I’m talking about (right now). The truth is, I don’t know Sylvie. She just got here, I have no emotional attachment to her whatsoever, so I won’t feel for her the same I feel for Loki, who’ve I watched for almost a decade. And instead of trying to build an emotional connection between Sylvie and the viewer, they chose to spoon-feed us a romance between her and Loki.
Well, more between Loki and Her, and not even that. I felt like Loki was always trailing her like a lost puppy, and big eyes and expectations, and she was giving him…Absolutely nothing. All the sweet moments between them were initiated by him, all the talking about feeling were done by him, all the looks and gestures…And although I understand Sylvie grew up in apocalypses and Loki grew up in a palace, she still claimed to have romantic partners. Multiple, man and women. And still, showed no visible interest in Loki up until the kiss scene, which I suspect was more to shut him up and send him flying that anything.
Excuse me if I want Loki to have a love interest who is actually invested in him too.
And Why make her a Loki variant at all if she is adamant she isn’t Loki? Why go to the extent of dying her hair blonde (where in the apocalypse did she manage to get her hair blonde? WHY?) and then give her horns? If she was taken as a child, where did she get the very Asgardian like leather armor she used? WHERE IS THIS INFORMATION?
If they were going to go so far to alienate her from the identity of being a Loki variant just so they could pair her with Loki and it not be weird (it was), why make her a variant at all? If you’re going to make a selfcest pairing, at least commit to it. Sylvie Lushton, from where they got the name, isn’t a Loki Variant, if anything She’s an Amora Variant. Why name her Sylvie if she has no relation to Amora?
The plot has so many holes and is so disappointing. I was promising Loki playing around and causing havoc with time traveling. When I saw Richard E. Grant had been cast, I imagined the big bad would be King Loki, like in the comics! Something about Loki seeing what he becomes if he let darkness completely consume him, and finding balance in his chaos, after all. The premise of Loki healing though observing himself, or variants of himself, was honestly good. His variants, however, where so underused, poorly used, made Loki look like a fool. Even he was ashamed of their interactions. And Kid Loki apparently Killed Thor, which makes him the leader (???) and that’s never mentioned again. President Loki, who was a big part of the appeal of the trailer, is gone in two minutes. And then there’s the mirror scene from the trailer, that didn’t even make it to the series.
There are other things that bother me a lot about this too, but it’s not my place to discuss them in dept. To list, if anyone is interested in knowing: The underdevelopment of black character, and the reaction of the fandom, to my knowledge, to said black characters, in special Ravonna and Boastful Loki. The misrepresentation of gender fluid people, which if I can recall was one of the points they sold to us as something they would touch into Loki’s characterization. Some people have pointed out that it was biphobic to pair Loki with a woman after he “came out” on screen as bisexual. I am bisexual, and I disagree, but I can see why it’s an issue for a lot of people, as mlm relationships are rare in MCU canon. What I thought was Biphobic, however, was having Loki not show us he was bi, rather than telling us.
In summary, I am very disappointed, and I am mourning. This series managed to do what End Game didn’t, which was kill all hope I had to ever have Loki back. He’s gone.
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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago
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Caesar and the MC should be Best Friends - Hear me out
This sounds really strange at first to hear. But the game did a terrible job of summarizing the story and showing the characters. The MC should be Best Friends with Caesar, check out why, below the cut.
Act One: The Premise (The MC will be referred to as Female because my character is female and I’m too lazy)
The MC has been trained to fight and use her abilities since she was a child. She’s been competing against others for the privilege of being the best as well. By the time she’s arrived at Cassell, she’s seen horrors that not even the Cassell Trio can boast of seeing.
Caesar in the meantime is planning his wedding. But Nono is AWOL. He’s getting no feedback from her and it leaves him just shooting in the dark for what ‘sounds cool’ For all of Caesar’s big talk, he realizes that he’s not really reaching Nono’s heart and he’s feeling a bit lost.
In the game: You save Nono in the game. 
Why you would grow closer to Caesar: This is not easily reconcilable with the novel’s opening scenes, so if we stretch and pretend you arrive before Nono goes on her Walkabout, that would make one HECK of an impression on Caesar. He would have seen immediately that you are a step far above Luminous. Being a self-described ‘maniac’ he would not have been shy about approaching you and telling you you’re 10x what Luminous is.
Caesar is mischaracterized in the game to a great extent. While his misogynstic leanings and need to be ‘tHe LeADer’ is played up probably for laughs, he’s not that over the top. Here’s how he’s portrayed in the Novel.
Anjou put the two of them (Caesar and Chu Zihang) together and actually wanted them to sincerely cooperate? The move was similar to keeping lions and tigers in a cage, with Lu Mingfei stuffed between them like an innocent red panda. But Caesar decided to do his best, because this time he is the team leader. The success or failure of the task related to his honor, and for honor, he can bear anything. Along the way, he repeatedly warned himself to be generous, to have a leadership style, to be a corporal... Take Chu Zihang as a corporal to "victory", Caesar's heart is much more comfortable. This time he is immersed in the pink mood of preparing for the wedding, and he is feeling very charitable, even to Chu Zihang this serial killer looks more appealing.
There’s no way Caesar would ignore you as the MC. You would be of utmost interest to him. Far more interesting than Chu Zihang and Luminous. He takes responsibility for you as part of the team, he owes you one for Nono, and wants to see you succeed, probably more than anyone else there.
Act 2: Your arrival in Japan
The game skips the whole opening sequence introducing you to Chisei and Sakura. In the novel, those fancy Kimonos were given to you by Anjou and yes they all come with umbrellas. The whole scene is supposed to be funny. Chisei is mistaken for a tour guide, Lu Mingfei compliments Chisei’s Chinese in his own broken Japanese and fantasizes about cute maid cafes, Chu Zihang freaks Chisei out with his golden eyes by accident. So I imagine the MC stumbling and falling trying to walk in Geta.
But things get serious when the police show up and you realize that you’ve entered the country illegally and are now about to get arrested. The MC might voice that this make sense “Because I don’t have a passport or any identity. There was no way I’d ever get into the country.”
After Chisei loses the police, you’re taken to your rooms to stay for the night.
I wrote a little piece about this ‘here’
Why the MC and Caesar would grow closer: At the end of this scene, Caesar is completely isolated, drinking in his room and texting a silent Nono. This scene would change with you as the MC there. This would turn into an opportunity for you to bond. Perhaps you would notice him texting, talking about his love of Nono. You could touch on your past with him for the first time, or not, depending. He’d probably say something enthusiastically fiery and confidence building. He wants you to trust him and trust in yourself. For all his flaws, Caesar is very LIKEABLE and easy to understand. You don’t get into positions of power like his without some level of Charisma.
Act 3: The Mission Details
In the Game: This whole scene goes missing. 
In the Novel: You take a whirlwind tour of Genji Heavy Industries. It’s an engineering marvel that is practically embedded in the central infrastructure of Tokyo (The building is seriously impossible and amazing but that’s for a nother post.). 
You sit down with Masamune for tea. Immediately, something jumps out at Caesar.
“Are you Japanese?” Caesar gave Masamune Tachibana an examining look..
"I'm only half Japanese and the other half Russian." Tachibana said.
Caesar frowned, which made him think of the soviet icebreaker Lenin involuntarily.
"I've been in Japan for many years, and a lot of people don't see that I'm half Russian, Mr. Gattuso.” Tachibana said, inquiringly.
"Accents, your accents have Slavic characteristics, and you'll distinguish between hard and soft consonants, which are typical Russian pronunciations." Caesar said, "You're not just Of Russian Descent, You've Lived In Russia." 
This is Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang have no say in the matter since their two mother tongues are Chinese. But Caesar was aware when he heard the first words of Tachibana Masamune. He grew up as a different kind of man who could speak English, French and Spanish fluently in addition to Italian, and he could tell the language characteristics of every language spoken in Europe.
Even the wind demon villain Lang and yuan child in this seat are showing a surprised expression, it is clear that other owners do not know this matter.
Why this would bring you closer to Caesar: Not only would you pick up on the exact same thing, but he would speak with the same Russian accent as the MC. Languages are regional, Russia is a HUGE FREAKING COUNTRY. It would be no mistake that the Russian accent - Tachibana’s Russian accent - would match the MCs regional one.  Depending on how much your MC would have told Caesar, Caesar would have picked up a whole lot. Why you were awakened now, why you were sent on this mission... but that’s not even all!!
Later on, Chisei shows up after Tachibana leaves. He’s given you more information on the Lenin and why its sinking seems suspicious. But then he says this.
"Yes, the Lenin passed through the nameless port of northern Siberia, took a precious dragon embryo, and the port was destroyed in a fire. No one knows where the embryo is going to be shipped, the final destination may be Japan, or it may just pass by, but apparently it failed to reach its destination and the dragon embryo fell into the depths of the trench. Embryos have been hatching slowly over the years, but we haven't been aware of them. ”
Now depending on how much your MC might tell Caesar at this point he may or may not notice more parallels between the story of the Lenin and your story. You’re a hybrid, from Siberia who survived not just a fire but a bombs and getting shot. Heck imagine being the MC listening to this and realizing that this mission is intimately connected with you. In the game this happens way late, but in the novel it’s right at the start!
Why this would bring you closer to Caesar: At this point none of this would have been shared between any of the others. This is something only Caesar and you would know, shared knowlege that would likely mentally bond you two as allies.
The next scene is just more obvious bonding time. They all discuss likes and dislikes, their personal goals, dreams, loves, and ideals. The MC would still have Caesars favor but Caesar would fall more and more for Chisei’s charms. He’s bored and wants to see some ‘real gangster’ stuff. So Chisei obliges and takes Caesar to an operation between two rival gangs fighting over turf. 
This would be the first time you’ve seen Caesar actually get serious for once intimidating some gangsters in a comic store. But after that’s all over, he immediately gets interested in the comics. This is very important to note that Caesar is rarely serious about anything. And if he is it doesn’t last long. He tells a long story about wanting a PS2, staying up all night to play Star Ocean when the housekeeper smashed his console. So he purchased 200 consoles, gave the housekeeper an axe and every time he smashed a console he replaced it immediately and kept playing. Finally, they let him play video games 2hours a day after his riding lessons.
This is important. Caesar is pushy and insistent and confident because he HAS to be to be himself and defy his family.  This is is something even Chu Zihang can respect and he makes up with Caesar after, realizing that Caesar’s way towards him wasn’t personal, good or bad, he’s always acting out towards his family.
With you, Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang closer than ever, it’s time to actually go on the Mission.  So lets recap: Caesar the Leader has pulled the team together, taken you off on entertainment, on adventures, and now just now, on the way to the mission. cooked for everyone while speedreading the the instruction manual for the Lenin.
Why would this bring the MC closer to Caesar? Uh, maybe because he seems pretty freakin’ competent? Almost effortlessly so? As Chu Zihang so succintly puts it:  “Sometimes I admire Caesar. Whenever and wherever there are goals, he’s rarely afraid and never discouraged. In a group of people he will always be the one who inspires fighting spirit. People can choose how they live, Caesar is the kind of man who asks himself to live like a hero." The MC who has never felt so helpless in her life, could have easily been inspired by Caesar. That maybe she CAN get back to the Lenin, figure out who killed her friends and give him exactly what he deserves.
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sepublic · 4 years ago
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WandaVision Finale!
           Okay, that finale was AMAAAAAZING! Everything about it… Particularly, I love that with all of these references to American, black-and-white television shows, we got a bit straight out of what felt like The Twilight Zone! Let me tell you, when Dottie came up to Wanda and started begging to be with her daughter, bargaining, playing with the role and trying to appeal, even offering up her daughter for the antagonistic, demonized role of bully, just to be with her; That was INCREDIBLY messed-up and really shook me up, as did everyone else in that sequence! It was utterly wonderful, and really, the entire premise and set-up DOES seem like a Twilight Zone episode; Perhaps the final homage/allusion by this series?
           The Vision battle was great, some much-needed action and usage of Vision’s powers that we needed. I love how Vision manages to talk down the White counterpart with logic and existential thought… The philosophical, almost deconstructive way Vision deals with stuff and life isn’t cold, but rather appreciative, like someone taking apart a clock and marveling in how its put together; They don’t rage at the clock for no longer upholding the undefinable illusion it used to have… 
          And of course, the idea of ‘illusion’ I feel applies to Westview as well. The difference being that Westview’s mechanisms are inherently immoral, but the way Vision gets down to the basics and fundamentals of things in his almost wondrous, childlike curiosity- It’s great. He’s questioning everything, but in anticipation and acceptance of an answer, he does not view the world with cold disdain the way someone like Ultron would.
           The Theseus Ship paradox was a wonderful discussion, as was the suggested answer that either neither of them are the ship, or they both are! As is Vision’s constantly poetic talk of how the ship is more the experience and memories, so if they’re attached to either, then sure- They’re both the same! I love for a hypothetically cold android, this dude is so poetic and marveling at everything. He should be a writer, a poet… But that’s not happening anytime soon; But it doesn’t mean it won’t EVER happen, either! As Vision realized, they’ve said goodbye before, only to say hello again… I love his little way of looking through and exploring loopholes in apparent certainties, both at the end and with White Vision.
           Not gonna lie though, I half-expected/anticipated for White Vision to emerge with Ultron’s mind, once Vision reawakened those memories, and I have to wonder where he is. I was kind of hoping both Visions would merge together to complete a true one, given how both acknowledge that the other has something that they don’t. White Vision is still out and about though; And I like the clever usage of color, with blue representing the cold and mechanical Ultron side of him, and yellow being the Mind Stone, but most importantly Vision. And I LOVE the idea that Scarlet Witch has the last remainder of an Infinity Stone within her, preserved like her love for Vision; Some things you can’t truly eradicate, Thanos!
           That reference to the Darkhold from Agents of SHIELD was great, and I imagine it’ll come into play now that Wanda’s taken it from Agatha. How Agatha got it, I have to wonder; But that’s a story for another day, I presume. I guess she’s been brainwashed truly as Agnes and is doing her own thing in Westview, without anyone to realize she doesn’t quite belong; Or maybe they will? What a wonderfully poetic, vicious fate for her character- She faked it all, and now she gets to be real! The idea of playing a ‘part’ is just a fascinating motif in this show for me, and I’m sure there’s some philosophical stuff I could dredge up about that term, ‘stories’, from my Philosophy class.
           Wish we got some more resolution with Darcy, and Hayward kind of just left; But I do appreciate how we could’ve gotten a bit of an all-out brawl, with the SWORD agents targeting Agatha and how she alludes to the Salem Witch Trials! Also the allusion to the Sorcerer Supreme, AKA Doctor Strange, was great- And things are still complicated with how Wanda more maturely vouches to save those agents, even if they’re also against her… She knows that people’s dislike and hostility is pretty valid. It’ll be interesting how she’ll own up to the ‘role’ of Scarlet Witch now, as a lot of her vilification came from her own actions, admittedly. I imagine she’s going to try and it do it on her own terms, see what loopholes in the requirements she can exploit- Much like her husband Vision would! Also, Tommy and Billy having to dissipate when Vision at least understands and accepts IS messed up, so I can see why Wanda feels the need to rescue her children, who definitely don’t deserve this.
           I do have to wonder if that last scene is a hint that Wanda hasn’t fully moved on, or if she HAS, but of course Tommy and Billy don’t deserve to die just for her character development! Really that dilemma and sad ending was handled so well, I half-expected Wanda to isolate the Hex to just her house, or maybe focus all of the energy of the Hex into maintaining JUST Vision, Tommy, and Billy. Maybe she’s consulting her chapter in the Darkhold for info on that? Either way, I like how she’s prepared and kept all of her assets in place in case she ever needs them, such as Agatha, now Agnes! There’s a very spiteful and utilitarian way she handles herself now, reminiscent of a villain who keeps tabs on their friends and enemies; Wanda seems to be doing the typical steps of a villain, but hasn’t exactly committed to it; And maybe never will, again, it’ll be interesting how she exploits her role as Scarlet Witch. I love the callback to those runes, how a scene that could’ve been written off as magical world building foreshadowed and came back into play; Such a simple and obvious trick, but one I always fall for because I’m so invested and IN the world!
           Also, I think that lake Wanda lives by, might be the one where Sokovia’s remains landed? If so, then that’s incredibly fitting; A watery grave for her home and memories, huh? I wonder if Pietro, the real one, is buried here- It makes sense, Agatha alludes to Pietro not being buried in North America (nor South America if you want to get into technicalities), so of course their home country, or what’s left of it, is ideal! The site where he died, lowkey; Although that was arguably several miles above, but still. This third-world country that everyone dismissed and ignored has now had a major legacy that is felt across the world… It’s been heard, huh? I’m not sure why Wanda’s maintaining that illusion of herself, is she just practicing, maybe creating a front in case anyone notices activity, checks out, and then assumes it’s ‘just’ some random lady?
           I can only imagine how Doctor Strange will tie into this! Probably with the Nexus of All Realities and the Darkhold, and of course the Scarlet Witch’s role as a potential threat to the Sorcerer Supreme; And hopefully with what we’ve seen of Agatha making note of magic belonging to the ‘deserving’ and being able to take it from others… Baron Mordo, perhaps? Maybe he’ll make his return interrogating Agnes as he tries to track down the Scarlet Witch, seeing her as a threat… Dang, now Mordo’s reminding me of Emperor Belos from The Owl House, with the whole belief that after chaos and bloodshed, magic should instead be isolated to only the deserving who prove themselves, and whatnot! Now I’m even in MORE interested and hopeful for Mordo with this comparison!
           Likewise, the allusion to the Nexus in that commercial made me wonder if New Jersey would be the location for the Nexus of All Realities in the MCU, but now that Wanda’s left, it’s possible she’ll track down its location to Louisiana, just in the comics! Still hoping for Man-Thing in the MCU, maybe we’ll get a setup for him! I’m telling you Feige, this is your chance to make a Frankenstein/Iron Giant type of film, a misunderstood monster story to incorporate into the MCU, what with your exploration of new genres beginning particularly in Wandavision! Also iirc the Darkhold has a corrupting influence on those who read it… But the last people who did were regular humans, is Scarlet Witch above such things? Or will the Darkhold mess with her, too- An external force that disrupts her character development by corrupting her? I’m just in even more anticipation for Multiverse of Madness to be trippy and horrifying.
           Overall, what a WONDERFUL conclusion, and an incredibly satisfying finale to this series, while still paving the way for new stories! It seems Photon’s story has just begun, now that Nick Fury has sent a Skrull to invite her; Maybe for the Captain Marvel sequel? I’d assume the sequel deals with the fall of the Supreme Intelligence, which takes place before 2014; Nine years before Monica gets her powers! Something had to have happened to lead to the Kree’s peace treaties with everyone that angered Ronan…Well, we’ll see!
          And White Vision, we’ll see what happens with him, what existential crisis he’ll get into, poor dude; He’s arguably the original Vision, except traumatized and questioning himself! I’m surprised Wanda didn’t go after him, did she assume he was destroyed? Or has she just moved on, focusing on her sons? We’ll have to see… Vision did allude to him reuniting with Wanda, so perhaps Wanda can use her powers to gather the Mind Stone’s scattered atoms within the fragment she holds, and reform an Infinity Stone to truly resurrect Vision, from his white template! Perhaps that’s how the Nexus will come into play, as a place to draw together such cosmic power that was once scattered by the Mad Titan…
           Wish we got to see more of Darcy and Woo, as well as Fietro; Him being confirmed as Ralph was great, as was that little hilarious man-cave segment of his, fitting into what would’ve been his time period. I’m a bit disappointed he’s just some dude, but at least there’s the meta gag… I LOOOOVE Scarlet Witch’s new outfit, it’s such a stylish red dress/cape and crown, love how it’s repeatedly invoked as a symbol for her; Wanda finally gets to own her classic costume, her tiara! The bit where her ‘shirt’ meets the pants reminds me of fangs and the points on her tiara, I love that sharp and threatening visual cohesion! And with all that in mind, here’s hoping to The Falcon & Winter Soldier as our next installment into the MCU! And one day, we’ll finally get that Black Widow movie released… One day!
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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago
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Ducktales Reviews: The Town Where Everyone Was Nice! or Scrooge Is the Lindburgh Baby
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Saludos Amigos! The Ride of the Three Cablleros has at long last come to the last stop before it’s final phase. It’s been a hell of a ride so far: Our boys have tried to woo some ladies, performed some black magic, had some sort of drug trip, dealt with Donald’s ego, helped goofy ungoofy himself...
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“SEASONS CHANGE, TIMES CHANGE BUT UNGOOFY IS FOREVER AND ALWAYS HE IS ALWAYS THERE” ... I created this magificent stalion.. kinda I think he came out of a styigan hole in the universe from the darkest dark in the dark of the dark... I can’t be sure. Our heroes fought an arrogant prince, found a lost city and helped donald get his smile back. All culminating in our heroes going to Spain for some reason, soundtracking Goofy’s win against Horace in Flamico Dancing, somehow that wasn’t a Covid induced fever dream I had but the actual premise of the episode, and then played some soccer with Daisy’s cousin and Pancho Pete. All in all we’ve had some good times getting here and I feel acomplished having made it this far. While I’ve still got quite a ways to go, getting this far means I really made something.. and not just the 80 something dollars it took to comission all of this. And I genuinely just want to thank all of you for reading these as these have easily been some of my most popular reviews and @weirdkev27​ for comissioning all of this. It’s been easily one of my faviorite projects so far and I look forward to the final leg of it soon. For now though we have one last adventure before the biggest one starts.  But before we can dive into it you probably have a few questions, and since I don’t really need to give Ducktales 2017 a lavish introduction as unlike most stuff so far this show is well and familiar: it’s what got me started reviewing animation on this blog, it’s what got me into the duck community as a full member, and it’s what caught Kev’s attention leading to this entire series. So I have time to answer the questions your probably asking and if your not.. well here’s the answers anyway Wait aren’t you going to cover Louie’s Eleven?: Nope. While I love that episode, I already did a full review of it earlier this year.  I saw no reason to completely and utterly redo the entire thing when my opinions toward the episode haven’t really changed. That being said since I didn’t touch on the boys characterizations in that one too much and since I do want this retrospective to be comprehensive, I will talk about Panchito And Jose’s characterization there briefly during this review at the right time as a compromise. 
Wait why isn’t THIS the last stop since it came out AFTER Legend of the Three Cablleros: Simple.. it felt unsatsfying to both me and kev to end on this one. While their apperance here IS a good one and a big deal... it’s also ANOTHER guest apperance. It’s something I didn’t quite realize for now but outside of the movie.. every apperance after is them guest starring in another series. Their aperances in Don Rosa’s Duck Comics, while awesome and treating them with proper respect, were still them showing up to shake up Donald’s stories and formulas. They were LITERAL guest stars in House of Mouse, and Roadster Racers was entirely just “let’s shove them in there because we can”. Legend.. is their story. Their moment in the sun after too damn long with all three as main characters and while being a lead is normal for donald, Jose and Panchito really HAVEN’T had that shot outside of their home countries. To be the hero of their own fully realized epic adventure. So it just fits best to have the road lead there instead of have all that happen.. then go back to yet another guest appearance. The other major factor.. is that while Legend came out around the same time as ducktales, to the point many compared and contrast both shows treatment of Donald, this episode is what most non-latin american audiences saw first as it took Disney WAY too damn long to air the series over here.. i.e. until Disney Plus launched, finding it somewhere online was the only option despite the series being produced in america with some really big american names voice acting wise. Point is this came first to some people, so i’m using that as a flimsy excuse to put it ahead so we get a better finale. 
Now all that’s settled, let’s dive into “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!” and see what one of the best duck propeties period makes of our boys. 
We open in a remote town in Brazil. It’s the Festival of the Flower.. which is a bit off to me. While it DOES kind of make plot sense.. the problem is the lure was written to Panchito and Jose.. Jose whose a brazil native and could’ve possibly been supscious that a tourist invintation wasn’t in Brazilian Portugese, the countries national language and something I specifically researched just to see what it’d be called. For the record it’d be O Festival da Flor acording to google translate, which still sounds neat, Webby could’ve still said it means festival of the flower. It just feels like a missed opportunity from a creative team that’s taken such pains to make the series feel as authentic as possible and clearly put a lot of hard work and research into making each location feel like it’s real world counterpart.  But it’s a minor thing and we soon get our two plots for the episode: Our B Plot.. is that Dewey can’t stay the fuck off his phone and is taking pictures rather than actually getting experiences with Louie enabling him, while Webby gets increasingly frustrated at Dewey not actually botherting to experince this unique and obscure culture. We’ll get back to this in a bit. 
Our main plot naturally concerns the reason our heroes are here: Donald is reuniting with The Cabs, who in this continuity are his old College friends who Scrooge hates due to having to listen to them practice constnatly and tells the kids they’d hate it worse than his playing the bagpipes. 
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Bagpipes are objectively the worst insterument on earth. They are loud, unharmonic and generally just obnoxious. I do respect how important they are to Scotland, home of David Tennant, Grant Morrision and .. Alan Cumming and James Macavoy? Wait what? that’s awesome! Point is Scotland is great but I do not like the bagpipes except when Bugs Bunnny is murdering them. Honestly Donald’s college band was probably more like this. Nothing bad at all just mildly pathetic and mildly pathetic is what got Donald a girlfriend, so it’s not a  bad look
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That brings me to another point: Scrooge is pretty obnoxious in this episode. It seems like his sole reason for coming was to bitch about Donald’s old college band. He could’ve just sent them a stern letter like the pros at being a cranky old geezer do. 
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I do GET why he’s here as there are some REALLY damn funny bits with him in the a-plot, it just feels like they could’ve justified it better. But on to better things as Jose and Panchito enter the scene after Scrooge claims they “weren’t so cool”.. with Panchito diving from a plane and drifting down on his umbrella
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And Panchito shows up dramatically playing the guitar. A truly awesome and worthy intro to our boys. So let’s talk about them in this series. Honestly the two really aren’t that diffrent from usual, though Jose’s lady chasing is given to Panchito, his footloose world traveling lifestyle remains in tact as does his genuine charm while Panchito remains the peppy one, just with his outbursts gone as his guns are replaced with cell phones.. 
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Yeah while I do get replacing the pistols because let’s face it the mexican of the group being a gun nut was pretty damn unfortunate, though Don Rosa toned it down and justifed it well, and frankly guns are a hard no for family shows these days unless their laser guns so replacing them I get. But instead of I dunno giving him knives or turning his holsters into pouches carrying his stuff.. he just has two Cell Phones. It’s weird. It dosen’t really make sense other than for him putting on a big shot act and even big stars probably don’t have two phones on them at all times. It’s just a VERY weird update that makes not a whole lot of logical sense and I belivie is thankfully gone by the next ep. The only real issue I have is the two just sorta blend together personality wise instead of being distinct like usual, but that’s also happened in other apperances, so it’s not exactly a new or unique problem, and the two’s voice actors do a great job making both feel like they should. 
Speaking of which let’s just go ahead and discuss that elephant in the room: The Cabs were recast for the first time in ages, which didn’t sit well with friends of legend as Eric Bauza, who’d replaced rob Paulsen, was himself replaced by Arturo Del Puerto and Bernado Del Paulo replaced Jamie Camil and Carlos Aquazi as Panchito. And I have mixed opinons on this one: Replacing Eric was a no brainer: while he’s a terrific voice actor.. he’s not brazilian and the crew of Ducktales 2017 perfer to cast actors who match their characters backgrounds, which again adds to the authenicty of it’s globetrotting and scope. They don’t ALWAYS, Cree Summer isn’t, as far as I know, Egyptian and Catherine Tate, while wonderful, isn’t italian. But for the most part it adds a nice flavor to things and frankly I personally prefer it when Jose is voiced by an actual brazilian man. So that change i’m fine with. Not using Camil though... I do not get. Jamie Camil is a throughly talented voice actor, having done TONS of great work lately , vocing Globgor for star vs and not getting nearly enough screen time as the loveable demon dad, and stealing the show as Don Carnage earlier in the series. While that episode is one of the series weakest, he’s still easily the best part of it and I hope Carnage shows up one last time before the finale. 
So it really makes.. no sense to me to replace him. Not only is camil a bigger named actor, but he was already on the show and even the defense of “well they don’t want actors playing multiple rolls” ended up utterly destroyed by the end of the season, as Christ Dimatopolus not only reprised Storkules, but went on to play Drake and Melon, and picked up a FOURTH role in season 3 as Hades. My point is the show has no real issue with doubling up on voice rolls, so I scratch my head as to why Camil wasn’t given this part too despite being the obvious choice. Del Paulo isn’t a bad actor and is great in the role.. I just scratch my head why he was needed when a perfect actor for the part was right there and already had experince with the character. 
I do think Puerto and Paulo are terrific and do the characters justice, issues with Paulo being there at all aside, and they do a great job and more than earned the roles and I don’t think the mass critcisim of this version of the characters is entirely warranted.. for this episode. This episode while they can meld into each other... that happens in most of their apperances anyway, so it’s not unusual or unique to this series. I will say however that the way their written in their next apperance is utter garbage: they aren’t really given any chances to be distinct, are basically written as one person even worse .. and that one person is a greedy asshole who takes advantage of their friend and never apologizes. I do get why people did not like them in that episode. I do think it has no baring on this one and people should stop bashing these versions as a whole for one terrible episode, especially when Louie has been written pretty badly for the bulk of season 3, yet is still not a bad character. It’s unfair to paint the series as painting them soley as selfish jackasses when it didn’t at first and hopefully wont’ again when they presumibly show up for the finale’s big avengers endgame sequence I hope is coming. For now they aren’t bad and the colors are crisp and the animation nice and bouncy on our boys. 
Since we have two plots here, I’m just going to go ahead and split em since honestly, the b plot dosen’t really impact the a-plot until really the last minute and is basically happening right along side it and in concert with it. Sooooo... 
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The Trite B-Plot: As you can probably gather I didn’t really like this one. It’s basically 5-7 minutes of me wanting to punch a child in the face. Or rather Webby wanting to have fun experinces and actually take in the culture while in town, while Dewey just wants to take pictures of everything, make it seem like he did stuff, and generally is obnoxious to webby while Louie supports him wholeheartdly. That last part is really one of the few good parts of the plot as it’s nice for one of the brothers plots to NOT be about them being in conflict or squabbling but just hanging out and having some fun, doubly so since i’ve had to spend a season watching Louie , outside of a few good exceptions be an absolute dick to Huey and also Dewey once. It’s nice to just see him and Dewey bond over a shared intrest: posting shit online and getting good photos. 
And it’s not without GOOD gags: Dewey’s obnoxious captions at one point while Webby continually looses her shit, Louie continually saying “that’s so wise” at Dewey’s bullshit philosphies, Webby’s continued annoyance is delivered great by Kate as always, and the best bit is Webby, utterly pissed at Dewey for refusing to eat Local Cuisine, wolfing down the entire fucking plate, all the dumplings in her mouth at once while Dewey, naturally, takes a picture. Otherwise this is just.. grating. It’s utterly grating to watch Webby GENUINELY try hard to absorb the local culture and really enjoy a once in a life time experince.. while Dewey jackasses about and basically acts like she’s wrong for it and treats his best friend like garbage. Just because i’ts nice it’s not Louie this time doesen’t make one of the kids being a dick without any nuance or character stuff suddenly great. It’s just tiresome. 
And SOMEHOW , despite already not liking it the first time watching the episode.. it’s even WORSE now afterlast years. No not because I watched it while having to put up with Coronoavirus induced Chills, but because another show did this plot 100 times better: Close Enough. One of the best new shows of the year, Close Enough had a plot where exes Bridget and Alex, aka yet aother great set of Kimiko Glenn and Jason Mantzokus characters, went on vacation together, but their attempts to have some ex sex fell flat due to longstanding issues we found about through this plot: Bridget has a bad habit of doing what Dewey did, focusing way more on her social than actually enjoying her vacatoin while Alex has a bad habit of befreinding random weirdos who agree with his worldview. Keep in mind this is the same worldview that spent an afternoon connecting garfield to jesus while pissing in a jug for some reason. Point instead of a character just being a smug dick, it ties into actual character flaws that helped us not only learn more about them but lead to a really heartwarming scene where the two admit they jsut can’t sleep together casually with allt heir baggage, and that they still have a lot to sort out. Before given the show their on having their friends show up from the a plot and all of them getting kidnapped by a robot because Josh skipped a bunch of ads and a 5 year old has to solve some issues and prove she’s not dumb to blow up said robot. What i’m saying is it’s even more insufferable watching this after seeing it done a thousand times better, and fucking watch Close Enough. Thankfully unlike Inifnity Train it’s not reliant on you to get a second season as it’s been renewed proving that even in a cluster fuck like 2020 miracles can happen, but it’d still be nice for it to get more fans during the presumably long wait for Season 2. Let’s move past this, i’ll get to the plot relevant bit for the climax when we get to the climax, and onto the reason your all here. 
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The Main Event: A Life Not Wasted
Okay onto the actual plot. Rewinding quite a bit, the boys meet our boys, and we get some good bits. The boys cool new handshake leaves Huey wanting one only for Louie to simply lick his hand. See this is Louie dickery I can get behind because what did Huey expect? I do take comfort in the fact he has actual friends now who will likely do a handshake, fenton very much included. I’m sure Gyro didn’t want one either so he’s had plenty of time to workshop. We also find out one of the boys was dropped as an egg and well.. given Dewey opens and closes his eyes one at a time for this one moment, the ohter triplets just sorta.. silently agre it’s Dewey. IT does explain why he thought Champ Popular would get over..that and Santa Claus is Going to Highschool being his favorite movie. 
So both Jose and Panchito claim to be sucessful: Jose being a sucessful jetsetter and trendsetter, and Panchito being a world famous pop star, never stop stopping. So Donald being donald panics and runs into a alley where Scrooge and Huey join him.  Donald is fully convinced he’s wasted his life and has nothing to show for it. Huey rightfully points out he raised three wonderful children and isn’t that enough? Naturally given Donald clearly has some issues related to this subject and Scrooge has develoved into old man yells at cloud, he agrees it’s not important as money. So Huey decides to help his uncle because he’s the good son.. and because the two are easily the most alike out of Donald and his Kids. It’s something I haven’t really been able to bring up before so I was delighted to realize i could now: Besides the obvious people bring up constnatly, I.e. Huey having inhereted the most of the family rage out of his brothers, there’s the fact both are kind of obessive, both tend ot spiral into panic when a situation goes wrong, both are awkward with women, both are frequently ignored or taken for granted by those around them, and both are awkward adorable dorks who I will give my life to protect. It’s why I think Huey has the best relationship with his uncle of the bunch: He’s the only one who at least TRIES to empahtize with him and support him. While the other two do love him, and Webby of course likely has an insanne and horrifying shrine of him, and scrooge and probably della now in her closet.. and of course lena but that’s less out of hero worship and more out of her insane, over the top, very webby version of love. Point is, he’s the one who genuinely sees his uncle as a person who needs help and love. This was best demonstrated in the scene at the bank back in “Who Is Gizmoduck” as Huey tries to get his uncle a loan using the guidebook and is there soley to help the guy and taking time out of his day to visit the bank. Let’s face it though this is huey: he probably loves visiting the bank. They just got new pens! So Huey decides to put his improv badge to good use... so far the only use he’s gotten is Louie laughing at the fact he actually earned an improv badge and urges donald to simply ACT like he’s sucessful. Scrooge balks at this, because as Wonder Woman 1984 taught us nothing good comes from lies.. or from  banging your ghost boyfriend while he’s possessing someone’s body without said body’s consent and plan to fully live out the rest of your lives togehter without ever considering how fucked up this is. I will..deal with that movie ... soon. But he soon changes his turn and agrees to go along with it to avoid Jose getting upset and them having to pay for everything. 
So Huey suggest Donald keep the lie small, but belivable. Given the law of sitcoms when it comes to anyone saying that and the fact this is Donald, he instead panics and lies that he’s taken over McDuck industries and scrooge has gone full abe simpson in the other direction. 
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Which is why i’m not enitrely annoyed by Scrooge’s presence: while they don’t even handwave him being here, Scrooge putting on an old man act, and sometimes getting back at donald for it is solid gold the whole damn time and some of David Tennat’s best comedic acting on the show, so it makes up for him being a grumpus.  And while i’m not usually not a fan of liar revealed plots, this one works for me.. mostly because it’s rooted in character. Here Donald is lying.. but because of deep seated neurosis he’s yet to fully tackle. While he loves his boys and is proud of htem every day... it’s very clear Donald hates his life and how it turned out. We got bits of this back in House of the Lucky Gander, with Donald’s first thought upon thinking he’s about to die is “I wasted my life” and feeling entirely like a looser. This episode brillinatly builds on that: it shows a Donald who simply feels.. he acomplished nothing. It’s easy to see why as his parents were happy and sucessful at whatever they did from the looks of it and how well taken care of the kids were, his uncle is the richest duck in the world and it’s greatest hero and explorer, his sister is the only one who could rival that record, and his cousin constnatly gets riches and fame handed to him. Donald.. by comparison.. is just a normal guy whose house is in his rich uncle’s pool, who has no job, no partner, and only really the love of his family. He spent his life on adventures he didn’t want to have living int he shadow of someone he grew to resent before the Spear of Selene incident blew things up for a decade. And then when he was free instead of becoming a big sucess... he blew the rest of it being overprotective of his boys and bouncing from dead end job to dead end job. It’s easy to see why he sees himself as a failure despite having lived a good life: compared to everyone else, even his sister who mooned herself, in his life.. he feelsd far behind. And as someone whose felt they were far behind countless times and only now is realizing they haven’t and it’s a marathoon ot a sprint I naturally relate. So his wanting to play big shot for just ONE day, to be the big hero like scrooge, teo be a sucess for five minutes with his best friends.. it’s understandable and relatable. 
So Donald continues the ruse, leading to a great bit where the cabs all try to avoid picking up the check “WE can’t all keep whistling nonchalantly” before Scrooge is forced to give Donald the money to in the best joke of the episode.. and I mean FORCED. He and donald get into a fight with their hands under the table and Huey eventually gets fed up with that and has to BITE his uncle’s hand just to get him to do what he shoudl’ve done ruse or no given he’s the richest person there. The reason I take special offense to this.. is that my fairly wealthy grandpa and grandma, my mom’s dad and his wife for the record, would buy us dinner EVERY TIME they were near town, a nice steak dinner with whatever we wanted to most of the time. They knew we couldn’t afford such luxury half the time and wanted to treat us and spend time with us. Since my grandpa’s passing, my Grandma and her New Husband have continued the tradition since then, if obviously not this year for damn obvious reasons, thought hey sent us a really nice dinner to cook for christmas in the same spirit. What i’m saying is when you know your relatives arne’t as stacked as you , you pay for the fucking meal especially since i’ts a special occasion, and even for someone as stingy as scrooge, it comes off as a dick move. 
We then get the best scene with the episode, just inching out the climax as the three simply talk, remince on old times, have a good rib like old friends would. It feels natural and wonderful to watch and gets even better when the three hear the radio and end up having an impromptu dance and musical number. Also Jose’s umbrella is also a flute somehow. 
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Point is the boys have a good time and Donald gets carried away, with the boys planning a world tour. Huey, while happy to endulge his uncle in a badly needded ego boost, isn’t happy to endulge this and scrooge is unwilling ot pay, more resonably this time. Huey eventually talks him out of being a moron and tells him he has to tell the honest truth and while that dosen’t work this does. 
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So as Donald goes to face the music, we have come to our climax. Phrasing. 
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The Finale: Ay Carumba
So we come to our finale. Backing up a scene or too to the B-Plot, webby is interviewing a local about the festival when she gets stuck in a loop. So far in the episode we’ve had hints something is up with the people as they go all yellow eyed.. and webby finds out why as she notices the “person” she was interviewing is, in a hilarious and disturbing review.. a horrignly realistic hand puppet.. and upon stealing Louie’s phone, she points out there’s no shots of anyone’s feet.. and the reason why is that the giant flower the feast is about is a mean green mother from outer space and he’s bad. And Webby finding that out’s got him fighting mad.  Webby and the boys naturally run to warn the remaning boy and scrooge and they all run out only to get blocked out of town and captured. Dewey looses his phone inside the plant monster.
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In a great joke, Scrooge ended up actually throwing his back out with the old man act, so our heroes are all captured and it’s up to our stars to save the day.  So while his family is in peril, Donald finally comes clean with Jose and Panchito naturally being upset.. for a second before Jose admits he lied to and an irate panchito.. is forced to admit he also lied. Jose is a flight attendant, hopefully he’ll get his own mini series where he accidently murders a dude on disney plus, which is a nice update of his globe trotting ways, as it’s a resonable way for someone with no money to get around the world these days and Panchito is a birthday party muscian. They all however chuckle over this realizing they haven’t come as far as they thought.. and they still have each other. It’s a nice way of modernizing Rosa’s jobs for them and their hard luck lives he set up and I love this. IJt’s just a sweet emotoinal scene that makes donald, and his friends, realize they aren’t faliures and life isn’t just about reaching some arbitrarity goal.. just like Soul taught me aka the actually great movie I watched on Christmas Day.  But since Donald’s family is in peril Jose suggests theys till play the gig.. just like they did ion acapulco thus we get the second best scene of the episode and another worthy rendition of The Three Caballeros as our heroes beat the shit out of the plant, free the kids and the plant straighens out scrooges back. 
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It’s beautiful, psycadelic, and utterly awesome. Seroiusly the bright boldend colors are awesome and so’s this sequence. Easily one of the show’s best.. and it’s a show that contiains the greatest scene in television history
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So that masterclass concludes with Donald signing.. badly.. and blowing the plant hte fuck up. Our heroes win and head off in the sunchaser. No idea what Launchpad is up to, probably has another ex in the area. Point is our heroes win, Dewey deletes his photos because “If there was no pics it didn’t happen” (So wise) and Donald decides to get the band back together, prompting scrooge to do an animal house on Panchito’s guitar... you.. you know you have to pay for that right? you aren’t a loveable frat man and he wasn’t ‘singing and I gave my love a cherry. Your obligated to get him a new guitar. You know that right?
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So with that the episode wraps. This is a pretty good episode. While the subplot is bad and it should feel bad the main plot is emotional, well done and really adds more depth to Donald’s character while giving us a hell of a show with the cabs. The College Band background gives the boys a unique flavor this time around, not musically but in how they know each other and helps set it apart from the countless other reunions. It’s a truly bright, colorful and fun episode with some great gags and great performances. As I said Puerto and Paulo really knock it out of the park as the boys and while I would’ve preferred Jamie Camil, Paulo was still utterly excellent, though Puerto was the clear standout of the two. While their second apparence would be disapointing characterization wise, overall this was a fun introduction to two of disney’s best into it’s best universe and one of Season 2′s Standouts. 
Next Time on the Ride of the Three Cablleros: we begin our massive finale look at The Legend of the Three Cablleros. Donald gets dumped by a nightmare of a person and finds an inhertance, new friends, and some sort of hot adventure god in his new cabana. Good times. Until then goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 
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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 years ago
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Falling for you; Tom Holland x reader
*Author’s note*
And here we go with another fic this time I’m posting up a Tom Holland fic. So the premise of this is that you reader are the daughter of RDJ and have been chosen to be apart of Spider-man: Far from home. I won’t spoil anything else but that’s basic characteristics for you the reader. And like I said this isn’t the end. I’ll be posting some more fics coming up in the next little while.
Warnings: FLUFF, teasing dad!RDJ, injuries (falling off a wire).  
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Taglist:
@waddles03​
@psychosupernatural​
@plethora-of-things​
@ixchel-9275​
@dancingcoolcat​
@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​
___________________________________________________________
It was like any other day on set. But being the daughter of the one and only Robert Downey Jr. the studio will treat you like royalty, even though I don't want to go to the extreme. And how did I manage to join the cast, well funny story actually for the next Spiderman movie Far from home Director Jon Watts wanted to introduce Peter Parker's new love interest, Carmen Dela Cruz otherwise known as "The Jaguar".
Much like the Black Panther character for speed and stamina, the Snow Leopard was introduced in Spiderman issue 312 number 2, a Latina character from Guatemala, she comes to America hoping to make a better life and save her family from a war that is going on so that they can make a better living in America.
She takes the mantle of "The Jaguar" when she was just 16 years old cause according to the comics, she was beaten and assaulted one night and left for dead but the spirit of the Jaguar warrior came to her and granted her the power and strength of all the jaguar warriors that came before her. She used her powers to get revenge on the gang that assaulted her and has vowed to protect any woman who is threated by assault. She's a protector of women and vows to never let anyone go through from what she went through.
She's teamed up with the Avengers in the past as well as Spiderman but you can see her majorly through the Black Panther comics as being a cat warrior herself, she looks up to T'Challa as a proud mentor and guide.
Now you may be thinking "AHH why another white-washing a character like this?" Well not true, cause you see my mom is actually from Guatemala herself, before my dad met his current wife Susan, after the divorce with his first wife, he met my mom and she ended up pregnant after a one night stand. But even after my birth, I've been constantly taken back and forth between both my parents even though they continued on with their lives and married different people.
But once I became 18, I permanently decided to stay near my dad's while I still visited with my mama. Now I have done acting in school and in college but this was my first breakout and my dad recommended me the part thinking I would be good at it.
So having seen Kevin and growing up with him ever since the beginning he and Jon both gave me a shot and after 2 callbacks, I got the part for Carmen and this would be her big debut onto the screen, as well as my own.
I was currently going over my new lines when I bumped into someone and that someone turned out to be none other than Tom Holland.
"Oh sorry (y/n)." He said.
"No, no it was my fault. Hey, did you get the new re-write of the script?"
"Yeah Jon just gave it to me actually, do you maybe want to go over some lines before we start filming?"
"Sure." We got together along the side and I said, "Can we go over pg.24 I'm having a hard time with that scene."
"Okay pg. 24 it is." We both opened our scripts to pg.24 and Peter first began his line. "What made you change your mind?"
"The same reason why I told you not to get involved with Mysterio in the first place. Maldito you Americans never listen to since or reason, particularly you white boys." I said in Carmen's thicker accent.
"You know, I think it's because you can't resist me. I mean twice in a row we've met you've saved me and always talked to me, even though you said this would be the last time you would."
"Don't be a fool, I'd never fall for someone as reckless as you, Spiderman. Anyone who listens to Stark is automatically a fool to me."
"Don't speak ill of Mr. Stark he is—he was the greatest man to ever live. He—he died a hero."
"I know he did, as did Captain Rogers." For this movie, Carmen always looked up to Steve Rogers as a child because he always knew what was best and he knew to never give up on a fight. He was her hero, even though she never got to meet him.
"Then tell me the real reason why you came and found me?" I turned towards Tom and seeing him so close to me, knowing that our character would eventually be together, but not by the end of this movie, I felt my heart flutter almost chanting out his name as I looked deeply into his eyes. I breathed heavily in character and turned away muttering incoherently in Spanish as it said in the script. "Carmen,"
He took my wrist and a shot of electricity shot up my arm. I turned back towards Tom and seeing him stand so close to me almost made me go weak at the knees. We stared into each other's eyes and just when Tom began to lean forward over a megaphone we both heard my dad's voice.
"Alright you two lovebirds on the set now!" I tensed up and turned towards my dad and flipped him the bird. "Don't you point that finger at me young lady or you're grounded!"
"I'm 20 years old dad you can't tell me nothing!" I cried back out to him. I turned towards Tom and said, "Well we better get to costume and makeup."
"Yeah guess we should." He said solemnly. We stood there in silence before he cried out as he took on ahead, "Race you!"
"Hey no fair you got a head start!"
Filming proceeded as planned, I was now being strapped onto some wires for the last big fight scene with Mysterio.
"You all good?" asked the stunt director.
"Yeah I'm all good. I can do this stunt Erik don't worry about it."
"Okay, but I'll have Stacey on standby should you need her." I nodded and saluted to my stunt double Stacey and Jon then told me how things were gonna go.
"Alright so Tom's already been swung into the crates, you come up from the top of the warehouse and meet up to Jake. All you need to do right now is just grab onto him, don't begin any of the fighting sequences yet, we'll work on that on the levitation bars."
"You got it Jon" I gave him a thumbs up.
"Alright you're all set." Aaron my wire guy said.
"Thanks dude."
"Alright clear the set please!" Jon said into his megaphone. I crouched down on my marker and waited for rolling and then action. "Quiet on the set please!" I took a couple of deep breaths and got into Carmen's mindset as I stared at Jake who was on wires just ahead of me. "And action!" The crates moved around which was my cue to jump out and just before I reached Jake, I let out the Jaguar Warrior cry but on my first take I totally missed Jake by like three feet.
The entire crew was laughing as were me and Jake.
"That was terrible!" I cried out. "Can that please be in the blooper reel!?" I laughed out.
"Reset let's go again!" Jon called out. I was then guided back to my cue point and I set myself down on the catwalk and went back to my marker. "Rolling, take 2! And.....action!" Th crates moved again and this time I jumped from a different angle and let out the Jaguar cry again and this time I managed to grip onto Jake. "Cut! Okay that was great! Let's just get one more for safety!". I released Jake and I was guided back to my catwalk.
But as I got there I noticed that one of the wires seemed a bit loose one me, with Jon starting from the top for a final take, I tried to hurry and tighten the wire as best I could and quickly got to my marker.
"Places please! And.....action!" The scene repeated itself and as I leapt out on cue, suddenly the wire snapped and I was dangling by one wire.
"Okay not good! Not good!"
"Cut! Get the mats under her now! Hang on (y/n)!" I looked towards Jake who was trying to come over towards me and he reached out telling me to take his hand. Just before I could grab it, my second wire snapped and I fell over 10 feet from the air and landed on the mat beneath me.
I let out a groan and soon I heard voices surrounding me and I heard emergency services telling everyone to back up and give them some room. I felt this sudden pain in my arm as I let out a scream of pure agony.
"We know sweetheart, we know but you have to lie still for us" one of them said as they began to examine me. "Broken shoulder, we have to get her to the hospital, get the gurney in here!" I was then set up on a gurney as I screamed and moaned in pain.
I was wheeled across the set and to an ambulance vehicle and I heard one of the men say.
"Now Ms. Downey, I'm gonna give you a sedative, it should help dull the pain and help you sleep. You'll be alright, we're taking you to the hospital now." Next thing I knew my vision was going fuzzy and then I went out like a light.
When I woke up, I found myself in the hospital with a sling over my arm and my shoulder bandaged.
"You're awake," I turned to my right and saw Tom standing before me, as well as Harrison and Zendaya.
"How you feeling chic?" asked Zendaya.
"A little funny, so what do I got?"
"You broke both your shoulder and your wrist in the fall plus a mild concussion. The doctors said you're lucky to be alive, most people falling from that height usually end up in a coma if not dead or multiple broken body parts."
"Gee thanks Harry" I said sarcastically.
"Good to know the Downey sarcasm is still intact." Zendaya praised.
"Hey guys could you give us a moment along please?" Tom asked. Zendaya and Harrison both looked at each other with a know it all grin before Zen said.
"Sure, fine."
"Don't have too much fun you two." I flipped them off as they left my room leaving Tom and I alone.
"How are you feeling?" he asked me.
"A bit in pain, but I've had worse, once I broke my leg when I was just 9 years old doing a risky bicycle stunt that my friends dared me to do. Boy dad was so pissed he never let me ride a bike again for 6 months."
"You serious?"
"Yeah." When I looked back up at Tom, I noticed that his eyes now held such worry and fear as he said.
"When you fell I—I was so worried that you'd....that you were gonna be.... I even tried to ride with you to the hospital but they wouldn't let me. God never before did I wish I really was Spiderman I—"
"Shhh it's okay Tom. It wasn't your fault. I should've spoken up and had the wiring guys tighten my wire before anything. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." I then felt Tom take my free hand in his and I looked right back into his eyes again.
And damn that heartrate monitor because it was starting to spike up and I let out a groan of embarrassment to which Tom softly chuckled and he said.
"If it helps you feel better, my heart would probably be doing the exact same thing." I looked at him and he continued, "When I first met you I—I thought you were the prettiest girl I've ever seen, I know the press always says that it's me and Zendaya but truthfully I hope and pray that once Far from home comes out that they'll start to say you and me. God I hope I didn't freak you out or ruin this friendship because I—" I stopped him with a kiss.
He placed his hands on my cheeks as the kiss got a little deeper before I finally separated from him.
"You're so much like Peter, you ramble on too much." He chuckled nervously and he said.
"So....when you're released do you—wanna go out for coffee or something?"
"Coffee sounds wonderful, Parker." I teased using Carmen's accent as I said Parker.
"Cara mia Carmen." He leaned in and kissed me once more. Just before anything could go further we both heard my dad's voice say.
"Alright you two, don't be sucking each other's faces off!" We separated from each other and we both cleared our throats in embarrassment.
"Really dad?"
"Hey! Be thankful that once you two lovebirds got together I was gonna allow hand holding and little pecks but after my virgin eyes have been tainted with what I had just seen I may not allow any PDA at all." I shook my head at him and I turned my attention back to Tom and he smiled down at me as he took my hand in his and gave my knuckles a kiss.
Man I wish my release would come faster, I really could use that coffee right about now.
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davidmann95 · 4 years ago
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Comics this week (3/10/2021)?
cheerfullynihilistic said: Comics this week (03/10/21)??
adudewholikescomicsandotherstuff said: This week’s comics?
Anonymous said: Comics?
Anonymous said: 3/10 NCBD?
Non-Stop Spider-Man #1: The lead story was fun, the backup was dopey, I’ll give it another issue or two to see where it goes.
The Immortal Hulk #44: While it was too late for this week I’ve taken Hulk off my pull list, so the store won’t order any copies specifically for me and therefore my future purchase of the book won’t support Joe Bennett’s presence, just the store. This issue is typical of some of the books’ weaker installments of the last year or so - feels like well-done regular superhero comics instead of Immortal Hulk - but those last couple pages bring it back around.
Daredevil #28: Holy cow, those King In Black issues actually mattered. God this book is still so fuckin’ good in so many ways, everything every dumbass street-level superhero ‘deconstruction’ wants to be when it grows up.
Children of the Atom #1: Sucks real bad! This weird combo of ‘hip new young Marvel heroes!’ trappings and soulless X-Men lifer comics execution that feels certain to appeal to neither group.
Eternals #3: Of the listed Deviants I imagine I’d relate most to Annoyed Veug.
Commanders in Crisis #6: While I remain without the ability to weigh in on this objectively, this is the issue that to date most feels like it lives up to the promises of the series premiere.
The Wrong Earth: Night & Day #3: Little disappointed personally with the reveal of what the third world is - I assumed it was going to be more of a straight take ‘modern’ version to the other two’s flavors of throwbacks - but this series still rules. And that ending.
Home Sick Pilots #4: Okay, I think I can follow what’s happening at this point, still enjoying it.
Proctor Valley Road #1: I review these books in the order I present them to my dad since he likes DC/Marvel/Other to each be lumped together, but make no mistake: this is the last of the three Morrison books to read this week, because this is what comes next for them. A return to their roots - 70s kids way into music and dealing with the weird, girls adventure stories of the kind they apparently grew up reading - this feels like a refinement of their mid/late-00s Vertigo work in the same way they’ve been iterating on their superhero material for decades. The horror is sold excellently, whether by their own efforts or thanks to cowriter Alex Child this is their most fluid, ‘real’-sounding dialogue perhaps ever, and Franquiz with Bonvillain are instantly among their all-time best collaborators, perfectly capturing the shifting tone and character acting necessary to best put Morrison’s big ideas over in a way a number of their collaborators haven’t lived up to over the years (and speaking of the visuals, Jim Campbell does the lord’s work with that lettering trick near the end). Ritesh Babu and Sean Dillon have a lot more to say about the book and how it already acts as a darker, more honest take on your Stranger Things and the like as a commentary on its times, but I’m already loving to see this particular return down to Earth for Morrison and company and I’m glad to hear this is selling really well compared to their previous indie work.
Dead Dog’s Bite #1: This actually came out last week, but Ritesh recommended it so I figured it might be worth a look. A so far intensely low-key missing persons mystery with a touch of surreality around its edges, this already looks to be the best “look! A nine-panel grid! Fancy!” comic since Mister Miracle, really lived-in and emotional for as little happens in this debut. Very curious where it’s going.
Rorschach #6: I continue to like it.
Batman: Urban Legends #1: Glory be, a good Jason Todd comic - at last, you noble stubborn weirdoes living off of like six nonconsecutive panels all these years, you may lay down your burden. Not all you’d necessarily hope from Zdarsky tackling Gotham after what he’s been doing with Daredevil but rock-solid work regardless; the Harley story is fine, Outsiders is a letdown after Thomas’s shockingly good showing for them in Future State but it’s still fine, and the Grifter stuff is fun.
The Joker #1: I thought the advertised ‘a Joker story from Gordon’s POV’ angle was an interesting one even if I was concerned this book would in practice be pure editorial mandate, but in reality? Tynion has managed to pull the wool over DC’s eyes and do a full-on Jim Gordon book (one predicated with him being off the force to make it reasonably comfortable read in 2021) with Joker as the barest of pretexts to get it out the door and selling for as long as he wants to continue it. He even said in interviews that when the book was first pitched to him that his response was that a Joker solo book was a dumb unworkable idea until he had an idea for a ‘different way to approach it’, he knows exactly what he’s doing and I salute him. And it’s a darn good Gordon book even if the Punchline backup is predictably tepid, I’m in the tank for Gotham’s perpetual whipping boy dealing with weird noir international crime with Joker sort of hanging around in the background menacingly to justify the nominal premise.
Anonymous said: Hey, so I figure one random anon won’t change your mind, but like you I was disappointed by New Frontier’s immortal Wonder Woman, but I still got the new issue of Wonder Woman cause Wonder Woman at Valhalla still sounds great and I actually liked it! I think I’m gonna get at least the next issue, so there’s at least one recommendation for it
Wonder Woman #770: This combined with the store still putting it in my pile prompted me to give it a try after all, and whether because something here clicks better or if they’re simply not trying so hard without the pressure of doing a ‘final’ story for Diana, Cloonan and Conrad do in fact do substantially better on the main book than they did with Immortal Wonder Woman. Some fun, some fights, some mythology and intrigue, gorgeous landscapes and generous servings of beefcake from Travis Moore - this isn’t going to be sweeping the Eisners, but this is as enjoyable as a Wonder Woman comic has been in a good long time. My only concern is that the joyousness on display here might dissipate somewhat once Diana fully returns to herself, but in the meantime this was a very pleasant surprise (especially with the the Young Diana backup by Bellaire, Ganucheau, Goode, and Carey).
Superman #29: PKJ’s Superman thus far has been a story of overcoming initial worries of mine - in this case, my concern that he’d have a bad Scott Snyder-ey case of “if you’ve read the interviews you’ve pretty much already heard the dialogue of the comic verbatim”. In practice here most of what he’s had to say about these issues are distilled down really succinctly and poignantly in the midst of a fun little upper-atmosphere adventure portending something grimmer, and while I know it didn’t click with everyone I thought Phil Hester’s work here was a perfect accompaniment. The Tales of Metropolis backup wasn’t nearly as enjoyable, but hints at some interesting worldbuilding I’m hopeful will pay off in the main run.
The Green Lantern Season Two #12: The final Grant Morrison DC comic. One of two anyway, but if the next story I discuss is their broader final (non-Klaus, hopefully) statement on the superhero subgenre and a bridge to what they’re doing next, this is the one that’s about being The Final Grant Morrison DC Comic. A mélange of pretty much all their other DC finales into a shamelessly self-reflective meditation on the limits of what they can accomplish in shared universe storytelling where Green Lantern saves the universe through collective action and then fucks off to do his own thing elsewhere while the kids take over the ongoings. Weird and kinda perfect, and if nothing else this series took Liam Sharp from “really? This dude is drawing the last ever Morrison DC ongoing?” to “HOLY FUCKING SHIT LIAM SHARP”.
(The panel folks blew up over I think can be read multiple ways, but not in a ‘it’s open to interpretation!’ way so much as the storytelling/framing being unclear. I personally read it as ‘this is what neighbor versus neighbor looks like now’ rather than ‘calling someone a TERF or a Nazi is as bad as anything the other side does’, because oldster and out of touch though they may be I can’t see Morrison seriously saying that, especially after coming out.)
Wonder Woman Earth One Volume 3: At long last, after a hideous misfire kicking the series off and a second installment best described as ‘well, at least it wasn’t the first one’, this while not without elements I want to see femme and nonbinary critics discuss critically lives up to what you want to see out of ‘Grant Morrison’s Wonder Woman’. Big utopian fiction breaking the typical boundaries of superhero stories with aplomb in implicit conversation with a ton of their previous work, a bridge from what they’ve done to what they’re doing next, it’s an imperfect (especially with Paquette’s art, which while gorgeous and majestic in the way this story demands really doesn’t living up to the ‘acting’ necessary here in a way thrown into sharp contrast by Franquiz in PVR) but shockingly passionate statement of intent - if the last two volumes felt like Morrison struggling to have something to say with Wonder Woman in the same way they did with Superman and Batman, this feels at the close like them at last finding in her a way to do everything left with the cape and tights crowd they wanted to but couldn’t manage anywhere else under the Big Two umbrella. Odd and lovely, a fine sendoff.
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