#'why does he not just escape?' (he needs to take care of an old dying man and also he's completely given up)

[milfbro]

oh my god my writing is flowing this thing has a plot now

[yanderedrabbles]

I'm thinking about a huge ex-warrior of a yandere. Big and bulky and all too familiar with bloodshed. You'd think years in the king's army would have hardened him, made him callous and cruel. But that's not true at all.

An ex-warrior yandere who cares so much about preserving life because he knows exactly how fragile and easy it is to take. A huge, scarred, mountain of a man who gets soaked to the waist in the dead of winter to save a drowning kitten. Who holds the shivering, mewling, runt of the litter in his hands with a gentleness you've seldom seen.

An ex-warrior yandere who doesn't even eat meat anymore. Who doesn't accept work slaughtering and butchering pigs when the holiday season comes around, even though folk offer him good money for his strength.

A good man, despite it all. Too good for you.

War is a terrible thing and you end up a prisoner almost entirely on accident. Said to be a spy though you're nothing more than an unlucky commoner who angered the wrong people.

He ends up a prisoner too, hauled off the battlefield when he's too injured to put up a fight. Just another prisoner of war, a dime a dozen. He's thrown into the duke's lockup and forgotten.

Whatever fate had in mind, you end up in the same dungeon. Cells next to each other, with nothing to do but tell stories and shiver.

It's miserable there. The gaolers are cruel for the sake of it. The meals are scant, the drinking water not much better. It's the sort of place where dying is considered the lucky option. And maybe you'd have given in, the both of you. Just closed your eyes and let your bodies waste away.

But unlike so many others, you have each other.

You can't see him and he can't see you. All either of you have is a voice in the dark. And somehow, that's enough.

Maybe you manage to escape together or maybe the Duke is defeated and his prisoners liberated. Whatever the case, he's right by your side when you step into the sun again.

How many years has it been? When was the last time you saw the sky?

You were sweet once. Kind, gentle. But years in the lord's prison have changed you. You're sharp and prickly now, slow to trust and even slower to forgive.

An ex-warrior yandere who sees the hurt under all your layers of indifference. Who decides right then and there, that first moment in the sun, that his one goal in life is to keep you safe.

An ex-warrior yandere who says he'll be your guard until you reach your destination, wherever it may be. You're weak, you're unfamiliar with the changes in the world. Anyone can come along and take advantage of you.

An ex-warrior yandere who follows you with a sort of quiet, implacable devotion. It doesn't matter if you're prickly or sharp tongued or so ruined that you fear your heart is forever frozen over. He'll always be there - two steps behind you to guard your back.

You try to send him away. Try to tell him you didn't need a guard dog. He just looks at you and says he's not going anywhere. Not forceful, but gentle and firm. He isn't leaving you, not when you're so scarred from the war that most days you don't speak more than five words to anyone.

It's baffling. Why does he care about forgotten detritus like you? What good will it do? He's still strong, still handsome despite the scars. He can still have a normal life.

But no. He chooses you.

Chooses to walk with you from one village to the next. Chooses to sleep rough even though folk offer him work. Chooses to endure the rain and the cold and the long nights spent sleeping on hard ground. 

"Why?" you ask him time and again. "Why follow me? Why make me your purpose?"

He looks at you over the fire, a small, slanted smile on his face.

"Why do you think?"

You can't quite manage to puzzle it out, though anyone who sees him at your side can almost immediately tell.

Eventually, you settle down. A broken down old cottage at the edge of the woods. A place the villagers are all too glad to hand over. Better you than the vines, even if your eyes do frighten them.

An ex-warrior yandere who fixes the cottage for you, brick by brick. Who cleans out the overgrown garden and trades his labour to buy you seeds. Violets and lilacs and daffodils. Mint and thyme. All the plants you told him you missed the most when you were locked away.

An ex-warrior yandere who spends his evenings sitting next to you at the hearth, not speaking much, just resting his head on your knees and carving wood. Thinking how lucky he is to have this bit of quiet. That all the years of war and captivity were well worth the price if it means having you.

An ex-warrior yandere who slowly heals the broken parts inside you. Who teaches you to watch the sky and the path of the birds. Who teaches you to breathe deep when the nightmares come. Who sits awake with you when you're too afraid of your past to sleep.

An ex-warrior yandere who tells people in the village that you're his wife, even though you've never even kissed. When you ask him about it, he just shrugs his massive shoulders and says it's safer that way. And it's only the trees that know the truth - he calls you his wife because he likes the way it sounds.

For a while, things are good. You tend your herbs and make your tinctures. For a while, he believes he's put his sword behind him for good.

But your past follows you. The angry lover who called you a spy, maybe. Or a lord who isn't satisfied that his secrets are safe with you still around. Whatever the case, they come at night. Watch you, wait for their chance.

You don't notice them, too focused on your brews and potions.

But he does.

When evening comes, he picks up his wood ax and tells you he wants to bring back a few more branches for the night.

"But we've got plenty. And it's dark."

He smiles then, warmed by your concern.

"I won't be gone long, dove. Just a short walk. Keep the food warm for me."

And it is indeed a short walk. He catches them by surprise, awfully quiet for such a big man. They don't even have time to scream or grab their swords before he's cut them all down.

An ex-warrior yandere who wipes the blood off his face and inspects the blade of his ax.

"Ruined," he sighs. "She'll give me hell for it, I hope you know that."

The cooling corpses have no reply.

An ex-warrior yandere who returns home with a stack of firewood and a bunch of wildflowers.

You take them from him and breathe in their perfume.

"Lovely. Thank you."

That makes him smile again. Look at you, saying thank you. Accepting his gifts. It's been a long road to get here. If he closes his eyes he can still see you on that first day, too bitter and angry to even say please.

The flowers fill your whole cottage with their wild mountain smell, and you don't notice the faint trace of blood underneath the perfume. And if he has his way, you never will.

An ex-warrior yandere who swears off his old life. Who swears off violence and death and blood. Unless it comes to you.

He'll burn villages to ash for you. Cut so many throats he can drink the blood like water. He's a good man, but for you he'll throw it all away.

And those who are stupid enough to try it? To hurt the only good thing he's ever had?

Well, they find out awfully quickly exactly what happened to the Butcher of Brostick. They learn awfully fast that a man can change his name, but it's a much harder thing to change his nature.

An ex-warrior yandere who is the kindest, sweetest man you've ever met. Who doesn't raise his voice or pick fights. Who's always at your side when you need a place to lay your head. Who loves you with the deep, immovable devotion of an oak reaching for the sun.

An ex-warrior yandere who always washes the blood off before he comes home.

[silverskyeline]

ੈ♡˳ 'that funny feeling' - logan x gn!reader

summary: no matter how hard he tries, logan can't escape one simple fact. he's falling in love with you. (900 words) tags: fluffy, cutesy, short but sweet, feelings realisation, a lil angsty for logan thoughts, for the 'love' prompt for logan promptober.

logan finds you on his mind more than he'd like to admit. you've taken root inside his brain, infuriatingly made your home there, nestled between every thought and daydream. but he doesn't have the heart to evict you.

a heart, the dangerous thing, something logan thought he'd lost a long time ago. withered away, dying, fulfilling nothing more than its designed purpose - to keep him alive, without really having anything to live for.

until you. and he finds it's always you. you're the reason for so many things these days, he realises. how you've so sneakily, cheekily and annoyingly invaded every part of his life, slipped right under his finely tuned nose.

he doesn't mind cream in his coffee anymore, not since you introduced him, and he finds himself. . . humming? softly. tunes you listen to on your phone while in the shower or while driving. and for a moment you'd believe he's stopped surviving, and almost, just almost, started living.

yes, you're the reason for so many things these days.

logan didn't have a favourite colour before you. it wasn't something that concerned him. why would a two-hundred-year-old man need a favourite colour? it wasn't until the third time he met you, dressed all in yellow, that he realised he may have a favourite colour after all. and in yellow, every sunflower, every marigold, in the sun, he'd see you. and he'd smile.

in bed late at night, separated by distance, he thinks of you. he scolds himself for craving your touch, for growing accustomed to your presence in his life, knowing how easy it would be to lose you. . . but he can't help himself. you're too special, too important, no matter how much it frustrates him to think so.

what's happening to him? perhaps he's sick, maybe this is finally it. it's long overdue. that would explain the fevers, the sweaty palms, the aching in his chest. right? totally. he's just. . . sick.

but sickness doesn't explain his thoughts of you, the way he behaves with you versus all others. his rough, calloused hands trace tenderly across your skin. his eyes, sharp and focused, now soft and vulnerable as they commit every one of your features to memory.

sickness doesn't explain it, so what does?

it's frustrating, you're frustrating. and annoying. and persistent. and gentle. and kind. and sweet. and beautiful. and-

fuck.

this doesn't have to be more than it is, he thinks to himself. logan can keep it simple, as if he's ever had the capacity to keep anything simple in his long, long life. if he just distances himself. . .

no.

he can't. the thought fills him with fear. he couldn't.

what is it about you that has him on his knees, worshipping you, craving you? he wishes he knew, almost wishes he could forget you so he can be free from the worry that he'll have to watch you walk away one day. you'd walk away and he'd never get to tell you that-

he loves you.

what?

fuck.

no!

wait, he loves you? logan sits up in bed, heart racing. no, he can't possibly love you. he'd sworn off that disgusting feeling decades ago. it wasn't worth it, he'd said. no, you're irritating, the way you smile in the face of adversity. you're frustrating, in how you insist he takes care of himself. you're aggravating, because you're everything he's not.

so, why does he feel this way?

it's love. it always has been love. no matter how hard logan has tried and dodged and weaved to avoid that sickly sweet feeling, you're there with a bullet aimed straight at his heart - struck him, dead aim, no mercy.

he's in love.

of course he loves you, how could he not? visions of you flash in his mind and he finds himself smiling, on his bike, in the grocery store picking up that one wine you like, watching your name light up on his phone. you're. . . suddenly everything, everything he wants, everything he didn't know he needed.

it's you, it's always been you. no matter how hard he's tried to suppress it, to push it away, to kill it, strangle those feelings with his bare, tired hands, it always emerges stronger than ever.

he loves you.

god he loves you, so much so that it's overwhelming. it's pouring out of his chest, making a mess of his life, of everything he thought he knew. logan had sworn it off, everything he touches turns to shit. he's a poison, and you're. . . you're the sun.

and yet, you hold him like he's fragile, like he's not the monster he believes himself to be. you know the violence that lies beneath his calloused knuckles, but instead of running, you tenderly place a kiss to his weathered skin. you pull him closer. you welcome the monster into your life with open arms and a smile that brings the monster to his knees.

he really loves you.

logan is tired, tired of running from the feeling, of running from you. with every bone in his body, he loves you, all of you. and you him, monster and all.

yes, logan loves you. and he'll die before someone takes that feeling from him. the fire in his heart beats steady, steadfast, for you. he's alive, for the first time in a long time, he feels alive.

because of the love he feels for you.

[smallestapplin]

Alucard in dbd idea

Hi, castlevania dropped in dbd and I've been feral, please excuse my rambling.

Reader is a Belmont.

-

-

You and Trevor in the fog first and a month or so before Alucard shows up, and when he does he's glad to see his old friend and questions who the other Belmont is(you)

You're delighted to get to know him and Trevor more, as you have read so many books and texts about him from previous Belmonts, it's so nice to finally meet him! However, much like Trevor, there is a bit of a learning curve he has to go through.

Other survivors try to help him, but most aren't really easy on him, which is fair and you don't blame them! After all, in trials it's nerve wrecking, you can't exactly teach him with all the time in the world. But he picks up gens with ease.

It's everything else that trips him up.

Huntress landed one hell of a shot on him, he shouted surprised and pained by the hatchet that came out of nowhere across the map.

His shoulder now slashed, slowly dripping blood and soaking into his shirt and cloak. but ten minutes later as he was helping you on a gen, you noticed he looked to be in far more agony than anyone you've ever met, his skin sweaty, taking shallow breathes, he looked scared.

"Alucard?"

"I'm not healing, why am I not healing? Gods it hurts...what is this?"

You are swift to whip out your med kit and start patching him up, gently shushing his pained whimpers as you focus on healing him.

"There, good as new!"

He still looks so confused, and it makes sense, his own regenerative abilities always came in handy, he's never really need a med kit, and most of his human companions had a mage on hand for healing.

A match against Trapper was much the same.

Alucard didn't even notice the trap, that or he did didn't care, he just walked right into it and his scream was heard across the map, his second scream as he placed on hook sounded like he was right next to you he was so loud.

When you got him off hook and to a safer place, he collapsed on you, his forehead on your shoulder, which was growing wet, either from his sweat or tears you arent sure, but he held onto you as you patched him up, shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Why...why does it hurt so much? I...I shouldn't have gotten hurt from such a weak trap."

He sounds so tired, his voice is weak, small even.

"The entity's abilities it seems, in this realm you're nothing but a human."

"This is what you feel?" He moves, his watery glowing eyes looking up at your focused expression.

"Every match."

He's horrifed, all these matches where you've gritted your teeth and bared through, all these matches where you sacrificed yourself just to make sure everyone else lived, hell even the missions he knew you took as a Belmont- speaking of!

Your family goes on such dangerous missions, gets injured or even killed, and yet you still bare your family crest? His respect for you and your family grew, knowing first hand the pain of your injuries and yet you still choose to be so selfless.

Cue Alucard falling for you, the poor thing didn't even mean to.

It's just you pulled him off the hook, the bell rings louder, warning there isn't much time left, yet you still came back for him.

The second he was touching the ground, he looked at you, despite the pain he looked at you confused.

Your face was stern, filled with sheer determination as you grab his hand and lead him to the door.

"Why did you come back? You could have escaped instead of dying here with me."

You patched him at at the gate, just to be safe.

"Either neither of us die or we both die."

Your eyes locked

"I'm not leaving you here. Come on."

His own eyes widen.

Oh.

Oh.

........so this is how those dames in novels feel being saved.

Oh, Trevor is going to have his head.

He grows more skilled and knowledgeable the longer he's here, and is determined to help you (by proxy the others) he's noticeably closer to you, practically shoulder to shoudler with you by the fire, the first to help you off hook or to heal you.

Even his familar, which followed him here likes to hang off you and get scritches.

He can feel Trevor's side eye, knowing the older Belmont isn't fond of him cozying up to hos descendent.

But he at least knows Alucard would treat you right.

[gryffintheparrotcat]

Rant about Varrics role in Veilguard

[Spoilers for the Ending/point of no return]

Varric serves absolutely no purpose in the story (this is a hyperbole, bear with me here).

Why should Rook care about his death? Let alone enough to hallucinate him not dying for what? Months??

The game tells me Rook and Varric were close and travelled together for half a year, but they never actually show me them being close. They show me fake Varric giving Rook the same advice "to just listen to the team and it'll be fine" like 4 times. That's it. Emmrich says Rook speaks very positively about Varric... but I never see Rook speaking positively about Varric. The quest summary says that by accepting the loss of a great mentor Rook could escape the Fade prison. But was he actually a mentor?? He wasn't a mentor to Rook while alive and he wasn't exactly helpful as a hallucination either.

At no point does this game actually show me that Rook and Varric were as close as it claims they are. The entire time I kept thinking, these interactions would've been far more meaningful if it was Hawke or the Inquisitor not Rook. Or if it was the Inquisitor or Hawke taking on the role of mentor (though it wouldn't have been in character for many of mine tbf).

Varrics death and Varrics narration are utterly meaningless to Rook, they only matter to players. To old players. But this game is clearly a not-so-soft reboot and they keep talking about wanting to attract new fans. And everything else the game is doing is very clearly not for the old players either. So what was the point? Besides nostalgia bait.

Or did they just need a reason why their franchise mascott/dev insert won't be in the next game?

[cosmic-giraffe]

What’s your take on chapter 4? It fucking destroyed me.

Anon do I have THOUGHTS

So, first and foremost, I had to wake up SUPER early to watch the trial unfold and lose TWO MORE of my fave characters - all before breakfast. So that was an excellent start to my day.

Seriously though, I think Chapter 4's case might be my favourite in Tetro. Chapters 1 and 2 were great, Chapter 3 was exhausting but interesting, but Chapter 4 ticked all the boxes for me.

A compelling mystery? Yup.

An unexpected victim? Uh-huh.

An even more unexpected killer? Indeedy.

ABSOLUTELY GUT-WRENCHING??? Depressingly so.

I've seen a few takes regarding Watari's motivations this chapter, saying that she's "evil" and "selfish" and "pulling a Nagito", without taking into consideration her mental state during this chapter.

Imagine being her. You've been adultified and forced to grow up sooner than you should due to your parents and their need to have more kids despite not being fit caregivers, and are forcing that responsibility onto you, their teenage daughter. You've never really known how to be carefree or how to enjoy life.

Now, you're forced into a terrible situation where your classmates are dying left and right, with no telling of who's next on the chopping block. But amid the turmoil, you find you can talk to these teenagers, sympathise with them, make meaningful friendships with them. You're finally letting loose a bit, as much as you can in this situation.

You even grow especially close with a couple of them, namely Okazaki and Hama.

With Okazaki, Watari saw something in them that none of the others did. While everybody else saw them as a weirdo with no redeeming qualities, Watari saw a spark of something more. She was their only real friend in the killing game, and went everywhere with them.

Now, imagine the hollowing pit of betrayal opening up in Watari's gut during the third trial when Okazaki, her friend, GLEEFULLY confesses to killing not one, but two of their friends. Imagine how absolutely devastating that must be for her, to have somebody she knew and trusted be capable of doing such horrific things for no good reason. She would never be able to trust anybody again.

And to add to that, Okazaki insists that they did it for Watari, that she will understand one day. And then they're gone, just as dead as all the other people thus far.

Leaving the trial, Watari must feel miserable. She doesn't know how to go on, if she should even go on. And why would she? There's not much of a life waiting for her here. She gets to live another day living in fear of who will crack next, who will die next, if it will be her on either end.

And if she gets to escape, what's waiting for her on the outside? Is she expected to go back to her old life of being a third parent to her innumerable siblings? To be treated like a free nanny by her own dysfunctional parents?

Watari has hit rock bottom. She sees no way out. But you know who she does see?

Hama, with his imposing figure and heart of gold. She sees how important he is to the people in his life, his mom and his little sister. She sees how much he treasures them, and is treasured in return. She sees somebody WORTH dying for.

Watari is obviously in a very unhealthy state of mind. Depression does that to you. It makes thoughts of suicidal ideation seem like a pleasant, viable option to her situation. In a game of kill or be killed, why not go out on her own terms while granting safety to the one other person she cares about in this situation?

Not to say that Watari didn't care about any of the other students, she very much did. She loved Mai and Wada and Yanagi, but she certainly treasured her friendship with Hama most of all. He was one of the few people to take her commitment to the school staff charade seriously. He was the only person she ever decided to give a front row seat to her firedancing skills.

Hama looked out for her like the big brother he was, and she saw just how much his sister needed that kind of protective presence in her life.

So that's why Watari decided to give her life to save Hama, at the expense of killing everybody else.

As I said, Watari's mind is a very unstable place. She isn't thinking clearly, but she still carried through with her plan of setting up Hama as her killer in order for him to receive the blackened status.

She couldn't outright ask him to kill her as she knew he cared about her too much to have her blood on his hands. So assisted suicide was the next best thing, even if he was completely unaware of his involvement.

Personally, I was blown away (pun unintended) by just how SIMPLE Watari's plan was. Not a slight against the writing; I was definitely overthinking the whole case leading up to the trial when the reality was that it was as simple as opening a door.

THAT was what floored me, how such an innocuous motion could be used to commit manslaughter. It's insane.

And that brings me back to Okazaki promising Watari that she'd understand one day. Maybe Watari took Okazaki's words to heart. She definitely took a leaf out of their book with the whole "rigging a door trap" deal.

But in the end, Watari and Hama were both victims in this chapter. I don't even consider there to be a true killer. Watari was depressed and took her own life (she laid out all the steps except the ignition of the fire) and Hama was completely unaware of his role in her plan. He's completely innocent as far as I'm concerned.

Two chapters with two victims back to back is crazy, huh?? 😭

Finally, this was one of the saddest cases in Tetro, and was definitely my favourite so far. Chapter 5 has a lot to live up to, but trust me when I say that if it's any more chaotic than C3 or C4, then I might not make it to see Tetro Blue 🤣🤣

[crsssie]

oops... i got married || TO THE CUTE DUDE IN CLASS?!

word count: 1.2k || Fic 4 of oops... i got married

summary: ... you do not understand how a man made god wants to marry you but frankly you don't care as long as you aren't dying to his hands

You get married as a joke.

Yes, there are limits to how much you can drink. Yes, there are limits to how insane you can get while drunk— but apparently getting married is not within that limit. You get married to some random guy— NOT SOME RANDOM GUY. SOMEONE YOU KNOW. WELL. KIND OF. You wake up to a legally signed marriage document and him in your kitchen, and you blink at the red booklet in your hands and then at your new lover at the door.

"You're going to be late for class."

"Oh. My. God."

"Yes, I am aware that is an expression of shock." Kamukura catches the mug that you've just hurled at his face.

"HOW ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?"

"We are married."

You blink at Kamukura. "WHY DID YOU EVEN AGREE TO MARRY ME?!"

"Perhaps you will bring a semblance of amusement to my day-to-day life." He pauses. "Also because you would have asked someone else had it not been me, and I would not have trusted you to not ask one of the old men in the bar."

You sigh, throwing your head back into the pillow. He has a point. 

"Shall I let the professor know that you are skipping class?"

"No." You snort. "Tell him my head feels like it's been cracked open from drinking too much yesterday."

"Anything else?"

"Will you divorce me if you get bored?" You turn your head to face him. "I mean, I got drunk, no?"

Kamukura nods, door clicking behind him as you bury your head into the pillow, screaming. You married the class genius. How the hell did he even agree to marrying you? What does it even mean that he married you for some semblance of amusement? What does it even mean that you got him to agree to marrying you? In what world does this happen? You scream back into the pillow, deciding that this would be a problem for you to face after your nap. What a great day to NOT have anything to do.

Except Kamukura comes home and you find that there's an assignment due by the end of the day— which makes you seriously contemplate your existence right then and there. Your new husband refuses to help you, and he watches you struggle in silence, lips pulled into a fraction of a smile, almost as if he were enjoying the way you were fighting for your life. Maybe you will beat him up next time (you would not win). So, you stare at Kamukura from the couch as he stares back, unblinking, unbothered.

"Help me."

"You are simply being lazy."

"Okay and?" You huff. "Is a husband's duty not to help his spouse?"

"Oftentimes, it is used as an excuse to not do something. If I were to do it for you, there will be a second, and then a third, and eventually, I will be the one doing all of it for you. Then, you would—"

"It's an elective." You deadpan.

"Perhaps this is, but who am I to say that you will not abuse your new husband and make him complete your major for you?"

"Izuru fucking Kamukura." You deadpan, voice even. "Will you cosplay as me to take my classes? Will you put on makeup so you can look like your beloved and take my tests for me? Will you take on the task of double life so I don't need to do anything?" 

Kamukura blinks at you, unbothered. "No."

"There you go." You sigh. "Will you at least teach me?"

"That, I will do."

You go through the homework with your husband, brain fried by the end of it, eyes spinning, annoyed as he explains everything with eerie precision catered to you. 

"Next thing you tell me is going to be something like "I attended Hope's Peak High School" or something of equal insane value."

"I shall do you one better." He tilts his head. "I was created by Hope's Peak Academy."

You pause. What.

"They took a talentless kid," Kamukura coughs lightly, "and transformed him into me."

"So they— They basically rewired your past in order to create you? I knew you were suspicious for taking 24 units." You deadpan. "You're an escaped government spy, aren't you."

"Government spy, no. Escaped, yes." His eyes dig past your soul until you are bare before him, but you do not look away. "Hope's Peak can not own a person under the law."

You raise a brow. "So why then did you marry me?"

"That is something for you to find out."

You find that the answer is that people tend to steer clear of you when you are with Kamukura. Perhaps it is some sort of primal urge to mark their territory, or the primal instinct to stay away from predators bigger than you, but Kamukura next to you equates to individualism. You find that even his unofficial fanclub that used to bother you stays away. Kamukura might have just thought of you as some strange trophy... or just someone he would not mind spending the rest of his life with. 

The answer comes at home, perhaps.

You stare at the man at your door, Kamukura not home, and you tilt your head as you start taking your shoes off.

The man speaks up when you start opening the door. "Does a man by the name of Kamukura live here?"

You blink twice. "No? I live alone."

"You have men's shoes at your door."

"They are there for safety."

"What about the two bowls of rice on the table?"

"Rather rude to look inside my place, isn't it?" You start to shut the door. "You can not search my house without a warrant. Besides, you aren't in Japan, you know? Welcome to the land of guns and eagles."

"Duck."

Kamukura holds your head down as the sound of a gun rings out on your floor. You've never been so glad you actually threw your whole life savings into a penthouse. Yet, you try turning around, his hand covering your eyes naturally.

"Is he dead?"

"Leave it to me." He ignores your question.

You listen to him as he has you step into the apartment, door shutting behind you as you start eating, biting the chopstick and blinking at the door absentmindedly.

Kamukura comes home, clean of any sign of what could have been a murder.

You don't know if you want to ask what he was up to. 

He stares at you, almost as if waiting for something to come out of your mouth before he moves to do anything.

You rack your brain for what you could even say to him.

"Good job." You raise a brow, staring at him and then the seat. "Now hurry up and eat. What were they even here for? Was it enough to warrant a gun to their head?"

"Yes." He blinks. "They were here to find me."

"Isn't it more suspicious that they're dead now?"

"I have disguised it as a slip on the stairs."

"With a gun wound?"

"The probability of a bullet bouncing off a wall into your own brain is small but never zero."

Ah.

Well, you suppose at least your husband won't be killing... you.

[thetrialsandtribulationsofeb]

i went on a similar tangent before but i’m gonna do it again

i watched the 5x17 episode (hero complex) with this scene between eddie and his father:

“why don’t you tell them about the time you pulled your 10-year-old son aside and told him it was time to step up and be the man of the house?”

(also, any time i see eddie’s parents, my blood starts boiling inside of me because i hate them, and their toxicity hits too close to home. ramon really doesn’t deserve eddie’s forgiveness, and neither does helena)

and omg it makes so much sense why eddie and buck liked each other so fast

eddie is a hero in buck’s eyes

like, he’s too cool to be true - like no one is allowed to be so composed and professional and smart and handsome and have a silver star. he’s everything buck dreamed to be

that’s why buck was mad at him and jealous when he first saw him, until eddie told him “you’re a badass under pressure” and buck was like, omg, he thinks i’m worthy of his approval? and if he’s so cool and he likes me, then it means i must be cool too, right? i hope so. (and i just know that buck was dying of happiness when eddie suddenly became his best friend just like that after that moment, ’cause he was like, omggg, he likes me back. he’s so fucking amazing and he likes me back, how cool is that? like, if he were a teenage girl, he would text about it so much to his other friends in his group chat (well, actually, he is a teenage girl))

but the way eddie sees buck is where it becomes very precious to me

because eddie sees this stupid golden retriever that acts like a kid or a teen and is unapologetic and expressive with his feelings and thoughts

like, he never holds back, he doesn’t care what people think, he never thinks before he speaks or acts, and he’s just so open and free in his being

and eddie is like, “wow, i could be that too. this is what i want to be, what i could be, if my parents didn’t put the weight of the world on my shoulders and the catholic guilt on me when i was a child”

and that’s why he likes buck back - because he wants to bask in his energy. buck is like a sun that makes eddie’s days brighter and helps him escape his out-of-necessity seriousness, the one he has to perform because he has to take care of everyone and everything and be strong all the time

with buck, he can just be himself. he can let his inner child out. he can have all these experiences he missed out on in his childhood and early adulthood

he’s like finally found a best friend - and the last time he had one, they ended up pregnant, and it just added another layer of responsibility on him

but now, it’s finally easy. and this best friend even makes his “job” as a father easier and helps him and his son and turns all this responsibility into a play and makes everything lighter

but what they don’t understand in the beginning about each other is that these outward personalities they have come with a price

buck doesn’t know that eddie’s “coolness” is actually a cage that he didn’t have a choice but to be put into. and the reason he’s so professional and competent and mature is because his parents, the army, and shannon’s pregnancy forced him to grow up too fast, while he had to ignore his own emotional needs and desires

and eddie doesn’t know that the reason buck is mad at him so much, compares himself to him, and acts like a stupid teenager, is because he never feels like he’s good enough and he feels like he needs to be extraordinary to matter as a human being

they’re both living the lives they wanted to live through each other

buck’s freedom and carelessness helps eddie let loose and tap into his inner child

and eddie always shows buck that actually, he is as cool and mature as eddie - and even if buck doesn’t see it in himself, eddie sees it in him, so it helps buck to have higher self-esteem

they really are two halves of one soul

and even after they get to know each other on a deeper level - that eddie is actually not perfect just because he has a silver star (“they’re all dead. i pulled them out, but i didn’t save them” (not to say it’s his fault, but it’s about how he views himself)), and that buck’s recklessness and sensitivity sometimes lead to very big mistakes - they still like each other, they still think the other is the greatest person in the world

buck is still eddie’s light and joy

eddie is still buck’s north star and the biggest believer/cheerleader (even more than bobby at times)

they give each other exactly what they need, and when they’re together, it feels like everything falls into place. that’s why they want to be around each other so much - because they feel good around each other. they understand each other. they share their own private universe

like, if they met as children -

eddie, 10 years old, too serious for his age, “the man of the house”, invokes respect and quiet admiration from everyone who sees him. he’s friendly and mature, but keeps everyone at a comfortable distance

and buck, 10 years old, this stupid, reckless class clown and daredevil who everyone would refer to as, “oh, that’s just buck / well, you know, it’s buck / buck will be buck, right?”

if they met each other at that age, they would so become best friends even then

eddie would intrigue buck with his stoic and mysterious presence, and buck would earn his attention and friendship by being stupid, clinging, and annoying around him. he would crawl under eddie’s skin so that eddie couldn’t fight it anymore and would be like, “okay, i guess i do have a best friend now, and i kind of like his never-give-up attitude and having him around”

it’s like that phoebe and monica dialogue from “friends”:

monica: i can’t believe you tried to cut me out. why phoebe, why?

phoebe: it was right after we were living together and you were driving me crazy, okay? you were really controlling and compulsive and shrill.

monica: i’m still all those things!

phoebe: you’re also so generous and kind and scrappy!

monica: (*starts smiling*) i am scrappy.

phoebe: exactly! look, no matter what i tried to do, i couldn’t keep you out of my life. of all the people i have cut out, you were the only one who ever clawed her way back in.

monica: it’s because i’m scrappy.

phoebe: yeah, you are. and i’m so glad that you fought your way back in, because i don’t know what i would do without you.

monica: i won’t know what i would do without you.

eddie would sneak from his house to spend time with buck, because that’s the only time he could be free and feel like a normal child

and buck would be so happy that someone as cool as eddie likes him back and wants to spend time with him and deems him important and valuable

they just really work well together. they need each other because they bring the light in each other

and isn’t it so beautiful that they can choose to spend the rest of their lives together?

i mean, obviously, not all best friends need to become a couple and marry each other - you can be platonic soulmates with someone too - but when the chemistry happens, when it’s more than a friendship, it’s just so beautiful

i will never get over them

the sun loves the moon so much that he dies every night to let her breathe. and in return, she reflects his love.

[sharper-than-a-serpents-tooth]

The Imperial Palace is filled with incompetent people. It has a serious security problem because why do the knights who are supposed to guard the palace let unauthorized people in, flirt with the maids and sleep on duty? The only competent knight is constantly overworked and never sees vocation days.

The maids neglect children, they bully guests, they disrespect their master's privacy, they steal. Why do the guards do no bag inspections before the staff enters and after the staff leaves the palace? Especially when Lilian noticed that things went missing. Athy could just go to the pantry and steal chocolates (imagine how easily an assassin could get in and poison the food). Claude only switches Athy's old maids with new ones, he never kicks them out. Even when Athy became a person of importance to the Emperor no one investigated who stole the jewelry from the Ruby Palace and cared enough to punish the culprit and retrieve the treasures.

Athy as a toddler managed to sneak out of the Ruby Palace unnoticed and stumbled into Claude, no knight in sight. During one of Athy's tea parties the same happened to Jennette and she got the blame for it. Lucas reprimanted some guards when they let Ijekiel in Athy's private library but it still keeps happening constantly. No one checked the identity of Roger's attendant. There are no knights positioned in front of Roger and Anastacius's rooms when they were under house arrest, the prison guards only noticed Anastacius' was almost dying when Jennette was visiting them. Lord Redford made it to the place where the Emperor was resting and almost attacked the princess. The knights have no idea what's going on most of the time and are either absent where they should have been, arrive too late or do the wrong things.

The servants' incompetency reflects Claude's incompetency as a ruler. The extras who are servants fall generally in two categories. 1. Those who are neglectful of Athy and harm/endanger her indirectly until she acts cute and they start spoiling her 2. those who are unfit for their position because they were badly instructed (the guards, Athy's nannies who have no experience in child raising).

Claude trusts no one, he does everything himself and relies only on Felix as his right hand man. As a result of this both of them are overworked and the others possibly feel underchallenged and this is why they have the time to seek distraction from their pointless jobs.

The number of guards is evidently too small to cover the whole area of the palace ground. They don't hear or see it when something happens and when they do, they need too much time to arrive on time. Sometimes they even ignore it when they see something suspicious and don't make an effort to find out the cause. A strange blue light appears in the window of the princess but no one is worried that her life might be in danger and checks if she is okay.

The examples of child Athy and Jennette slipping easily through the gaps in security show that they are badly positioned too. It's no wonder Claude faced constantly the threat of assassination in his youth if those people are the ones he picked to guard his life. I suspect they received little to no magical training either (they could not detect an intruder who used magic to turn herself invisible), which is strange considering they live in a world where magic exists. Have they never thought about taking wizard children as knight apprentices? Is Felix an outlier? Were those knights who were also trained wizards wiped out during the dynastic revolution and this is why Claude's knights are not as capable?

Another point of criticism is for me that they receive no information about the situation inside the palace and aren't prepared for who they are against. It doesn't seem like they have tightened the security ever since Anastacius has appeared, which allowed him to escape and even dine with Jennette on Claude's table when he was supposed to be in captivity. But the worst thing is that they are never punished for a mistake that could endanger the lives of multiple people. It's as if Claude doesn't even expect them to do their job. As if they are just decoration. His knights are just another status symbol of the position of the Emperor of Obelia that he inhabits. For someone who loves torturing and murdering people for the crime of getting on his nerves, he seems to turn a blind eye to those who actually break the law and neglect their duty.

Except for the guards who decided to chatter with maids while on duty, nearly everything mentioned has nothing to do with their own personal failure as knights but the failure of their superiors who decided their numbers, groupings, positioning, training and work schedule. Claude does the things he does well, but only if he's alone. Claude is an usurper. He is no ruler. He is no leader. He cannot organize a huge group of people. If he cannot even control the palace, which is basically a miniature version of the outside world, then he can't be expected to lead a nation. Claude makes rules but then he breaks them and lets others break them without facing consequences and yet he punishes others sadistically for breaking rules that were never written.

[just-unknown-works]

~New AU Idea~

(I have a problem lol)

TWST AU -Magical Researcher AU-

Click for best quality (I also got to lazy to fully color it)

Text zoomed in:

Sorry for spelling errors…

Ok so it’s technically not new it’s been a concept that is as old as my Meet in Our Dreams AU it’s just this AU, like my MiOD AU has undergone a big rewrite/revise so it’s new in the sense of being introduced. Plus at the time this Yuu was a different gender. So again big rewrite.

More stuff under the cut ig

Some things I forgot to mention is that

1) it’s unknown in this au if Yukina is actually magicless as when the whole thing of sorting happened instead of the dark mirror saying that Yuu doesn’t fit anywhere it just stays silent. Most assume they don’t have magic tho.

2) Yukina sees Leona like their father because the two are a lot alike in terms of dealing with their depression. Aka they nap a lot to escape reality. Due to this fact Yukina has accidentally called Leona dad a one point and treats Leona the same way she treats her father except slightly less respectfully/restrained.

3) Yukina sees Idia as a kindred spirit because they also tried to create a robot version of their mother (aka a loved one) after she passed away when they were young. Only reason it didn’t work out is because their father committed but lived and they decided instead of focusing on the dead parent they would focus on the living one. (After the commit and seeing how distressed and desperate his daughter was Yukina’s father never committed again because he saw that Yukina needed him just as much as he needed her.)

4) Yukina’s bionic arm can be charged with her phone charger, which she always carries on her. It does have to come off to be charged as the charging port is where the bionic connects to her stub. The battery lasts the whole day so she only has to recharge it when she is asleep.

5) Yukina can’t work well with people in a lab so she can’t have any lab partners. She is incredibly controlling about her space and environment in the lab. This is another reason why Grim isn’t allowed in the lab in Ramshackle.

6) when conducting experiments with the overblot crystals she uses the overbloters’ blood which she got either with permission (Riddle, Vil, Idia, and Malleus) or by sneaking into their rooms when they are asleep (Leona, Azul, and Jamil).

7) as you can probably guess from the last one, Yukina is unhinged af. She’s willing to do a lot of creepy/scary/unhinged/crazy/insane things for her work. (The tweels find her interesting because of this fact. Jade had seen her take a blood sample from Azul but never said anything about it. Also Ace and Deuce are a bit creeped out by her but they still stick around because they do believe she is their friend + they care about her.)

8) her hair was longer before due to her and her father’s work and depressions keeping them from cutting it.

9) her age is unknown as well as she doesn’t like taking about how old she is (cause she doesn’t want to think about how long she has gone without her mom) and nobody ever asks. If they do ask she just stares at them before saying “ya know it’s rude to ask a lady her age.” And walking away. She then ignores that person for a while until they grovel.

10) she’s tall. About 5’ 11” to 6’0” in cm she is 182 in between Trey and Vil/Idia’s heights.

11) she is Japanese she’s just albino. Otherwise she’d have black hair and black eyes.

12) she used to dye her hair a bunch (because her mom liked her natural hair but she didn’t want to think of it) but when she came to Twisted Wonderland Grim burned the part that was dyed and she had to cut it. She has yet to redye it. She doesn’t know if she will ever again…

13) idk if she will get shipped with anyone. I have no clue who would fit with her and her personality tbh. If you wanna suggest who to pair her with go right ahead.

14) also forgot to say that Ortho also knows that she has a bionic arm but doesn’t talk about it. Idia has his suspicions but doesn’t raid Ortho’s mind or anything so he doesn’t actually know.

Some things about Yukina’s lab:

1) it has a bed in there so she can nap if needed.

2) there is a snack drawer and mini fridge cause she sometimes gets so absorbed or obsessed with her work that she doesn’t/can’t eat proper meals.

3) she built it herself from old furniture and old appliances. Took anything she could use to make it.

4) It was the first ever thing in Ramshackle that was put together/safe/clean/usable for the longest time.

Hope you all enjoy :)

[ladylooch]

I was re-reading the part when David and Mack went to the pizzeria, the day he kissed her for the first time. I thought how sweet it would be now with little Nicky—David taking them to the same place after a match. They remember the old days while their baby makes funny sounds because he wants to taste a slice of pizza

The Friday night dinner rush is running over the family pizzeria that Mack and David have been frequenting since their first date. But as regulars, their drinks are continuously refreshed and their meal order was put in the minute they walked in the door. The staff all stops by at various points through the evening, saying hi to the couple as well as swooning over Nicky who is in prime, Gerber baby fashion tonight.

"Those cheeks!"

"His eyes!"

"How does his hair stay that swooped and styled!?"

Sure, he looks like that now, but when he woke up from his afternoon nap it was static central station. Black hair stuck out from his head like a dying dandelion.

"He does look very cute tonight." Mack sighs to her husband as the latest waitress rushes off at the sound of the kitchen bell dinging. "Looks just like you. That's why he is a babe magnet." David snorts, then shakes his head at his wife. He only cares about one babe and it's the one in the booth across from him who gave him the baby they're admiring.

A yawn stretches David's lips apart and he blinks through the tears that form in his eyes from it.

"Tired?"

"Mmmm, yeah." He answers her, collecting her hand on the table top. He hopes their pizza comes soon. Daddy can't hang these days. The team is currently in the grinding days of the season between games 40-60. Simple hockey is what they're trying to play and for David it means a lot more hits and blocking shots. He has a massive bruise on his thigh to ice again later.

"We can take our food to go?" Mack offers, shaking the scrunchie toy book she brought for Nicky as he starts to fuss. He grabs it, flipping through the fabric pages before bringing it to his mouth to suck on.

"It's alright, honey. I like being here with you. Brings me back."

"To a better life?" She jokes.

"No. I was actually just thinking about how lonely it used to be to come here by myself. I'd sit at the bar and watch whatever game was on and keep my head down, hoping no one would notice me. Nothing like it is tonight with you."

"You're so soft when you're tired." Mack grins smugly at him. Their pizza appears as their mutual laughter dies down. It's their regular - pepperoni pizza with fresh basil. For Nicky, they got a kids cheese pizza.

David grabs a slice for Nicky, moving it to a separate plate so it can cool off for him. Nicky eyes the food, much more curious about it since they've been working solid foods into his diet.

"Bah!" He yells, pointing his drool coated finger at it.

"It's too hot." David says simply. "I'll let you know."

Mack and David both eat a bite of pizza, chatting through the next few days since David has two back to back home games at MSG. They also order two more drinks, then ask for the check and boxes so they can sneak out as fast as possible tonight. Looks and whispers about David's presence have started and he wants to be able to make an escape if needed.

"We can probably let him suck on it?" Mack murmurs as David contemplates cutting the slice.

"Sounds good to me." David picks up the slice of cheese pizza and brings it to Nicky's lips. He curls his lips inward, resisting for a moment then slowly opens his mouth. He laps at the very end of it, then starts to bounce excitedly in his seat.

"We got a winner!" Mack giggles as Nicky throws his toy book to the floor. He lets out a delightful squeak then leans forward, taking more pizza into his mouth.

For the next ten minutes, they watch in awe as their baby enjoys his first slice of pizza. Another milestone moment that has the two parents smitten with the little boy who is their whole world.

"He is so cool." David murmurs after another pass of the pizza to Nicky. He has mostly been swallowing the sauce, but it has still been a fun experience.

"I love that we can bring him places like this now. Everything has more meaning, getting to share it with him."

"So right, honey." David muses, eyes sparkling with joy as he watches Nicky closely with the latest nibble. After that bite, Nicky pushes at the pizza slice. "All done?" His little fist comes up, rubbing at his eye before he starts to whine.

"Oh boy." Mack murmurs. Nicky reaches his pudgy hands out for her as he starts to cry.

Mack and David spend the rest of dinner worrying about if they overfed him the pizza. Or if he is having a reaction to something. And everything else that new-ish parents worry about with the baby they love so much it hurts. They hurry to get Nicky home, saying brief goodbyes to the staff and running out with full, to-go boxes of pizza.

Turns out, Nicky was just tired. He passes out with his pacifier in the stroller on the brief walk home. He grumbles and cries as David changes his diaper and gets him into his giraffe footie pajamas. With daddy's big hand stroking up and down his back in the rocking chair, he is lulled back to sleep quickly. Mack comes in to say goodnight with a soft forehead kiss, then Nicky Carlson is tucked away for the night, safe in his baby dreams.

"I never would have imagined this night for us." Mack admits to her husband as she crawls into bed later. David looks up from his book. "Us, with a baby, rushing home because he seemed a little off..." David nods, but says nothing, going back to reading the pages in front of him. "What?" Mack pauses. "Did you?"

"Yeah." He smiles sideways at her. "Since the first night I took you there, I've seen you as part of my future. Nicky is the cherry on top." Mack curls her lips into a press for a moment, then braces her weight with a hand on his thigh to kiss him.

"I love you. Thank you for not giving up on me."

"I'll never give up, baby." He says simply. "I love you."

Mack flips over onto her side, turning out her bedside lamp and tucking her hand under her pillow. David puts a secure hand on her hip as he continues on in his book.

Sometime later, after Mack falls asleep, David ear marks his page then sets the book off to the side. His lamp turns off and he takes one last peek at Nicky sleeping safely on the monitor before he joins his wife in a slumber of his own.

[bestjeanistmonster]

I like your version of Vector being Killer Croc being an ally to the Batfamily while fighting injustice. I can imagine him being the leader of the suicide squad to prevent any troubles, although I'm not familiar on some parts of Suicide Squad. I do recall that the Suicide Squad were force to recruit by Amanda Waller given their abilities and take them to dangerous missions that the heroes shouldn't go since the chance of deaths come and how she doesn't care about criminals dying in the missions and some missions involve government secrets that shouldn't be known to public and needs to be taken out. I feel bad for Vector given he is just a good guy if this is how story takes of criminals being forced to take on deadly missions. Not sure about Whisper since I don't know much what her story in the DC AU, since Deadshot is anti-hero yet has a caring daughter and could be appy to her with her story from the comics in the mixed. I am also looking forward about the rest of the suicide squad like Espio being Katana and knowing who Katana is, she isn't a criminal but more like an anti-hero who takes down injustice despite her methods and only joins in with the government.

If there is Amanda Waller in your au, well hard to express who got the role.

Vector is very dedicated to his undercover villain work so when he’s recruited to Task Force X (or ‘the suicide squad’ as his teammates call it) he’s very much ready to go for it and give it all he’s got even despite the risk of having his head blown up.

being on the wrong side of the law, even despite being deep undercover and working for batman, it does open Vectors eyes to all the flaws in the justice system and how horribly criminal patients are treated in Arkham, and how their ‘treatments’ make them worse. It the kinda things that make you understand why they would be so keen to escape as soon as possible

and now the government wanna use them as expendable weapons which is, frankly, never a good sign

Vector isn’t the leader of the suicide squad cuz they knew better than to let a super criminal leas the mission and keep them all on a tight leash, and to detonate the bombs in their necks if necessary, and that leader of the group is Topaz (who takes the role of rick flag)

besides due to him collectively being more seen terrifying hulking monster, he’s perceived as more being more of a brute force grunt than someone who’d be the brains of the operation. he uses that underestimation of him due to his looks to his advantage to lowkey try to steer them from danger and make sure that no civilians get unnecessarily hurt in the crossfire

but despite he and Topaz’s negative first impressions of his other teammates and vice-versa there is a genuine care and sense of camaraderie that gradually grows between all of these unlikely people

Whisper’s story im still writing but in this plot point, what’s most relevant is her and Mimic’s partnership and how they’re lowkey planning to betray everyone and steal this super weapon they’re supposed to grab for themselves (Long story short Mimic killed the rest of their old mercenary team but Whisper doesn’t know that he’s responsible for)

Whisper has someone else she wants to protect who she had to leave behind when she got arrested so escaping is a top priority for her but then she starts to bond with sonic and the power of friendship prevails

and yh! With Espio’s anti-hero status and him being hired instead of forced into this team, he’s an unlikely ally to Vector and he does work to make Espio see that theres another alternative to working alone and by the end of this arc, they do keep in contact and partner up sometimes! (adoption speedrun lol)

Also! Amanda Waller is Commander Abraham Tower

[nero-vanderwolf]

Mitsuru stands on the rooftop, cold wind whipping her hair away from her face. It’s always peaceful up here- whenever she has free time outside of studying or fencing, she comes up here. Just for a few moments. Up here, she can let go of her responsibilities. Just for a moment. 

For just a moment, she isn’t a member of S.E.E.S. For a moment, she isn’t the heiress to the Kirijo Group. For a moment, she isn’t Kirijo-senpai. 

For a moment, she’s just Mitsuru, an eighteen year old who had lost track of time and her thoughts. For a moment, she’s just another face in a sea of strangers, simply going about her daily life in the face of all her anxieties. For a moment, she’s content to simply be... someone. No one important. Just another face. 

But then Yuki comes up to the rooftop, his footsteps hurried, and all the weight of the world comes crashing back onto her shoulders. She starts towards him, intending to ask him why he’s up so late and fully expecting him to return the question. 

She doesn’t expect the fall. 

It feels as though her soul has been yanked out of her body. Someone is screaming with her voice, someone’s pulling her away from the edge, someone else is puppeteering her legs for her as she flies down the many flights of stairs two at a time to the ground, punching numbers into her phone with trembling hands as she bolts out of the door to the back. 

Akihiko ended up at her side at some point in the run, taking his phone from her to talk to the emergency services while she skids on her knees beside Yuki- never mind the blood that blossoms to the surface of her skin as she does. 

He’s sprawled on his side in the grass, quivering like a wounded animal. His hair looks damp and matted, and she barely bites back a retch at the idea of what it could be. Still, she gently runs her fingers through his hair as she shifts his head into her lap. He’s bleeding all over her uniform. She doesn’t care. 

He curls up into himself, his eyelids fluttering. “Mitsuru-senpai...” He whispers. His voice is weak, tremulous. He turns his head to look up at her- his cold eyes shiny with tears. This is the first time she’s seen him scared, seen him crying. Mitsuru knows he’s just two years younger than her, but he looks so much like a terrified child, hands stained with the blood of an innocent woman he didn’t mean to kill- 

A scared child. That’s what they all are, in the end, isn’t it? They’re all just scared children. 

“Mitsuru-senpai,” Makoto Yuki whispers again, “am I going to die?” 

Mitsuru lifts his body so she’s hugging him close, and presses a kiss to his blood-damp hair. Like she used to do when Akihiko woke up from a nightmare about his sister, or when Shinjiro was having a particular rough day. She hugs him close and kisses his hair, and a single sob escapes her lips. 

Makoto takes her lack of response with all the solemnity of a man at the gallows. He is. 

“I didn’t want you to see... I’m sorry,” he mumbles, and she grips the cloth of his pyjamas as though it could keep him anchored to this life. As though that alone could save him. He’s dying, and his last words are an apology. 

“You don’t need to apologise. You have nothing to be sorry for,” she whispers. She has reason to apologise, to beg forgiveness. She should have tried to be there more, should have asked if he wanted to share the responsibility of being leader, if he even wanted to join S.E.E.S in the first place- 

“I’m tired, Misturu-senpai...” Makoto mumbles, and she cups his cheek with her hand. He looks peaceful, despite everything. She wipes the earth and blood from his face as best she can. He smiles at the effort, and she knows she would do anything to have seen that smile in a different light, in a better situation. 

“Go to sleep, then. We’ll be here when you wake up,” she chokes out, as though she’s speaking to a sleepy child who doesn’t want to miss something with the adults. He nods, resting against her shoulder. 

Mitsuru spends an hour sobbing over his body. 

She jolts awake in the middle of the night, hands grasping for a boy that isn’t there. Her pillow and face are wet with tears, and she covers her mouth with her hands to stifle a sob. She would swear she could still smell the dirt and blood, still feel the tackiness of his hair as she combed her fingers through it. She could still hear laboured breathing, still feel the weight of a head against her shoulder. 

She spends the rest of the night grieving a still-living boy. 

PUNCHING THE WALLS OF MY ENCLOSURE??? this might be my favorite one yet holy moly. love the disorientation, like mitsuru couldnt even control herself, it was just instinct after he jumped. just pure adrenaline. fear. and ohgghh the way she comforts him... like how she would comfort akihiko. THE KISS?? THE HUG?? COMFORTING HIM LIKE A TIRED KID?? GUHHH... and they're just kids. they're kids and they have to go through this shit.

and of course the loop at the end. fuuuckkk...

[dalekofchaos]

Fixing Nolanverse Two-Face

I view Aaron Eckhart's Two-Face as wasted potential.

Harvey has a great character, the problem is that Bruce and Harvey have no friendship and a reason to care. Harvey Dent does not have a split personality and what started out with promise as Two-Face, he is killed off too quick.

I think the easiest solution is for Harvey to have been apart of the trilogy from the beginning and the trilogy should have been based around Bruce and Harvey's friendship.

Harvey Dent essentially takes the place of Rachel as the childhood best friend.

and Batman's ally as the young but determined DA. No need for Rachel as just have Gilda. Showcase Harvey's struggles with his abusive father to contrast that with Bruce's loving father. Show his struggles with his split personality and show he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty to get a conviction and also willing to work with Batman and Gordon to help clean up this city.

You could have Bruce's love interest of the trilogy be Talia. She helps him realize the LOS was wrong in the first place and they help each other. And she helps stop her father in BB. Her role is mostly about stopping the need for Batman, where she works to end the causes of crime and such.

Or Selina. Like Bruce, Selina has a double life. A charitable socialite who gives to the animals and a thief who robs the rich and gives to the downtrodden and sex workers and Selina finally becomes Catwoman in TDKR.

Then the events of the Dark Knight happens where Dent is cleaning up the city, but Joker is there to show Harvey's "true face" and gives Batman the choice to save Harvey or Gilda. Bruce knowing Harvey would want him to save Gilda, the twist happens, Gilda dies and Harvey's face is burnt.

The rest of the movie is about stopping Joker and it ends with Two-Face confronting Wuertz in the bar. "Dent? Jesus, I thought you was dead" "Half" cut to black.

In TDKR, all hell breaks loose. Two-Face reveals himself and everyone he locked up gets overturned and released and Two-Face becomes the undisputed "law" of Gotham. He uses his past as DA to lead his own crime syndicate, dressing in black and white, pure and scarred. Initially saying it’s to be the one in control so he can mitigate damage, but it’s clear as the movie goes on that he’s really just using that as an excuse.

Explore his split personality more. If landing on clean heads, Harvey assumes control and goes after the escaped criminals on the loose. If scarred heads, then Two-Face resumes his war on Gotham.

I’d also basically have Harvey be judge, jury and executioner in Gotham. Holding kangaroo courts and dispensing his twisted sense of justice. He’s basically holding all of Gotham responsible for Gilda’s death and his disfigurement. He wants to bring out the ugliness we all hide out of Gotham.

He holds Gotham responsible for setting Joker loose, the GCPD for selling him and Gilda out, Maroni for Gilda’s death and Batman and Gordon for failing to save Gilda.

Maybe end it in similar fashion to the Telltale game. Bruce comes out to confront Two-Face. Two-Face has a whole host of hostages and plans on executing them, unless Batman and Gordon give themselves up.

Bruce refusing to give up on Harvey and talks him down. Reminds them of their childhood, the promise they made to fix Gotham since they were in college and that Gilda would not want this. Harvey seems like he's about to let everyone go, but then he has to flip for it. One hostage dies and when Harvey flips for it, Bruce grabs it and puts it in his pocket and Harvey can't function without his coin.

The Two-Face within him asks "What's the verdict, counselor?" and Harvey simply says "Guilty".

And Bruce pledges to never stop and promise to get Harvey the help he needs with the newly funded and rebuilt Arkham Asylum.

"Good old Bruce, you'll never give up on me."

"Like my father always told me. Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up again."

And we have a fully developed Two-Face, Bruce not "dying" or pointlessly giving up Batman for almost a decade and a promise for this universe to continue.

[therealdv]

During their third year Hermione keeps disappearing and reappearing at random times, acting like nothing's happened. Harry and Ron are starting to get kind of annoyed, Hermione is obviously keeping a secret and while Harry wants to let it go and respect her privacy, Ron has grown up with 5 brothers and has no intention of letting her get away with it. Everytime Hermione reappears Ron asks "Blimey! Where did you come from?" with the same exact tone. Everytime he does it Harry rolls his eyes.

After the first month Harry is honestly surprised Hermione hasn't caught on, either she's being oblivious on porpouse (Wich she isn't, she couldn't lie for her life) or she's so distracted that she actually hasn't noticed anything.

After the second month, and a week of Hermione's hair being even more impossible than usual and the bags under her eyes begin to show Harry and Ron start to actually worry. Ron starts adding food to Hermione's plate every chance he has (it's lots of chances, Hermione is always eating with her head in a book lately). Harry starts to send her to bed after ten o'clock every day, forcefully taking her away from her books to stop her from falling asleep in the common room. She gets a bit better for a while.

And then they fight over a broom.

Harry can understand where Hermione comes from, but he seriously doubts an escaped convict would have the means to buy a top of the line broom (Harry checked, he'd have to spend over half the money in his trust vault for it). Also he can't help but remember every time the Dursley show him new toys only to take them away and give them all to Dudley. He knows Hermione isn't like them, but those kind of scars are even more pronounced than the one on his forehead.

Ron just feels so angry. He doesn't know why exactly but it's been building up for a while now. Scabbers might not be the best pet ever, but he's still his pet, he's loved by the whole family in that kind of jokey but really strong way the Weasleys love each other. He knows Scabbers is old and his parents have already been open with him about the possibility of him dying. The last thing the poor thing needs is a cat trying to eat him every other day. And Hermione just doesn't care. The fight over the broom feels more like a spark igniting something that was already there. Ron is all too used to the idea of everything he owns belonging to everyone, but he's also fed up of feeling like every single thing could be take away from him by Ginny or the Twins and never seen again.

Hermione gets worse again after that.

Harry goes up to his dormitory every night wanting to first send Hermione to bed, but he's just so angry and hurt, and he deserves a "sorry" at least, doesn't he?

Ron sees her cheeks hollowing in the next few weeks and his hand itch to put some more toast on her plate, he wants to take away her books and tell her to eat, but he takes one look at Scabbers and Harry and he gets angry again.

Once the broom is given back to Harry the tension seems to abate a bit. They tether on the edge for a while: Hermione looks at them sometimes and starts to cry everytime; Harry feels awful about the whole thing but he's still hurt; Ron mostly tries to ignore the whole thing, he's still so angry.

Neville (bless his heart) is the first to take a step. He walks up to Harry one evening and stumbles his way trough what is obviously a reharsed speech about how Hermione is obviously more important than a broom. It misses the point entirely, Harry finds himself incredibly angry about it for a split second. Then her reminds himself that no one but him could know about the Dursleys. He hasn't really told anyone about them. Maybe he could try and explain it to Hermione. The idea of coming clan about the things he suffered sends his heart in a frenzy, but Neville is right about one thing at least: Hermione is important to him, her and Ron are like two pieces of his heart he never knew he was missing.

So Harry takes Hermione and Ron and finds them a secluded place in the castle. Somewhere no teachers or prefect are following him around in that suffocating way. He talks to them about the Dursleys then. He focuses on the way they never give him anything, on the way they taunt him everytime a gift is given.

Hermione and Ron are horrified. Hermione starts crying and sobs her way through an apology, she tells him she loves him and she's sorry about the broom, she just wants him safe. They hug it out and Harry feels a huge weight lift from his shoulders.

Ron is silent at first but Harry and Hermione would never just let him get out of this, so they coax his anger out. He shouts at them and kicks a chair away while he stalks the room. He lays it all out, about Scabbers and how scared he is that his pet might die at any moment. Hermione is crying again by the end of it. She heals the bruise on his shin from the chair and then hugs him too. She promises to keep Crookshanks at bay and apologizes for her callousness.

Then she takes a breath and comes clean too. She takes the Time Turner our of her shirt to show it ti them, explains what she's doing with it, how stressful it all is. How she feels like her head is underwater half the time now. She never gets enough sleep and never has enough time to study no matter how many hours she turn back. She's always so tired.

They work toghether from then on, they watch out for Scabbers, who gets lost over and over. They watch out for Hermione so she studies a bit less and sleeps a but more. They watch out for Harry so that he knows they love him and that he's never a burden.

They become so close that people start to whisper around them, but they don't care. There are more important things in the world.

Like friendship, and bravery, and love.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 9 "terma" thoughts

this day had aspects which i did not care for, which is why i am hoping that the thrilling tale of mulder escaping a gulag will bring light and warmth to my heart.

author’s note, post episode: i need answers i need answers i need those slugs destroyed. this episode vastly improved my day and i remembered the simple joys of being alive, such as watching silly TV shows where the characters have an indescribable bond. truly a pleasure to be alive despite it all. scully and mulder, you have shown me such wisdom.

excellent moments for both scully and mulder in this one, which i treasure deeply, and also their together moments made my heart soar. genuinely a good ep!

let us gather to watch this tale!

we begin with a “previously on the x files”. i really hate that shot of mulder squished under that wire cage; it’s deeply unpleasant and i imagine so was the filming experience.

after that, we journey to a convalescent home in florida. now. the last time we went to a convalescent home, i have tried very purposefully for forget what went down. so my expectations here are low.

someone just waltzed in at night and is looking at the old people sleeping with a flashlight.... is this allowed? it probably shouldn't be. is she looking for someone in particular? 

she finds auntie janet and says it is time, he is waiting. now what does that mean?!?!

so she takes auntie janet out and there is some man that she’s in the car with?? he’s hooking auntie janet up to various chemicals. she says she’s tired of the pain and the doctor-y figure puts the green stuff into her. ah, i see what is going on here, as auntie janet hugs this woman and says she is her angel of mercy. 

so it looks like she died, but instead of just dying and that being it, there are oily slugs coming from her nose and mouth. which…. i mean, it’s better for them to come out in a controlled environment and after her passing, right? that seems ideal, all things considered. except for the fact that the oily slugs will now crawl into these people, so that’s a bummer.

HEY! the changed the text after the intro. “E PUR SI MUOVE” <- is that latin? hold on

i didn’t want to figure out what the whole phrase meant because that was part of the fun!! but in trying to figure out if “muove” was latin or italian or portuguese or something, i learned what the whole phrase meant and that it is significant for being uttered by galileo. darn! well, if i had to learn it before i wanted to, you shall too, i suppose. although i imagine if you read this blog, you’ve seen all this before. hmm.

we are in st. petersburg. FORMERLY LENINGRAD! but no longer at this point. someone is knocking at an old russian guy’s door. a young gentleman tells this old guy that “the cold war isn’t over” 

damn. still rings true in 2024. 

and also he gives the old guy an envelope. 

mulder is sleeping in a jail cell. he’s very tucked into that corner. it's adorable, in a certain way. someone is whispering to him. mystery other prisoner guy who can speak english said that he has been lying there for hours, and that the first time (referring to his alien injection) is “bad, very bad”

he calls this alien injection the “black cancer” that lives in the rock. this mystery man used to be a geologist! he was there when they found the fragments! woah... a rock guy... and look what they have done to him :(

okay, so this black cancer comes from the tunguska rock. got it. i am tracking the lore.

so at least hundreds of people have died here, and they seem to be searching for a cure to the black cancer after they inject it into their test subjects.

well! it is almost comforting that maybe both scully and mulder will die horrific early deaths, but at least together, right? because. the actual cancer that she probably has. and the weird creature in his veins now. they’ll have each other, i guess?

sighs. this is not providing me much comfort.

“i’m not gonna die. i have to live long enough to kill that man krycek” <- YAAAAAS i cheered!!!! his dogged determination has now been set to bloodlust mode!! hey, whatever keeps you alive!!!

mystery man sneaks mulder a shank he made over two weeks. that is a very dedicated thing to do, and even more profound to spend all that time and then give it to someone else. “it is wonderful- the persistence of life” damn…. bro has me thinking…. life really IS a gift, huh

back to the USA, where scully is tending to the mysteriously ill dr. sachs, who if you need a refresher, was the guy who was cutting into the mystery rock before he was mysteriously paralyzed. his blood looks a bit thickened (gag) and also there is something in there. EW!!! EW 

EW NASTY WORMS ATTACHED TO A GLAND IN HIM?!?!?!?!

no no no don’t care for that thank you!!!

in virginia, some people get on a bus, including an old man who is eating an apple. they are going to charlottesville. 

also there are some horses. the apple man snuck onto a farm with horses. IS IT GONNA BE THE WELL-GROOMED MAN’S FARM???

is it the russian guy??? well, he introduces himself as “vassily peskow” which seems to answer that question. 

(in googling this to make sure i spelled his name right, i saw that he has something to do with "the syndicate"- is that the official name of the group i have been referring to as the UN alien people for 3 seasons now?!)

he is speaking to the woman who we earlier saw give that stuff to auntie janet, but he has come to see her! her name is dr. charne-sayre, and while i know nothing about her besides her willingness to euthanize her aunt, she seems to have handled a strange old man showing up and touching her horses quite well, because personally i would be throwing hands.

OH!!! HE STARTS CHOKING HER?? the horses are neighing with fury. 

what… did i just see…

scully! at home!!! so pretty….

skinner is behind her!!! he is MAD! he has been trying to get ahold of her all day! well, she was busy??? cut a girl some slack???

he says she owes him some answers about this mystery pouch. he is maaaad! he has to testify tomorrow!! he harbored a known felon!!! ooo he’s gonna get in troubleeeee

she very calmly explains that the pouch has a rock with some sort of creature in it that she has been trying to figure out all day. she handled his anger quite, well all things considered. never forgetting to say “sir”.

but she doesn’t know where it was supposed to be going. HOWEVER…. skinner does! it was going to dr. charne-sayre!!! 

scully knows who this is!! because she is a nerd. said with heart eyes. dr. charne-sayre is a virologist, who has looked in on presidents and also is an authority on “variola viruses” which means something i’m sure, but it’s a mystery to me

OH! it means smallpox! she has been trying to get people to destroy the last remaining smallpox vials. 

(WAIT IS THAT A THING?? is humanity really keeping some smallpox in some bottles somewhere???? i need to look something up after this and the adjust my levels of panic for biowarfare accordingly.

GOOD NEWS! wikipedia says the last vials were finally destroyed in 2015! that feels like it took too long...

wait. just kidding. it highlighted an irrelevant part of the article. another page says they are still out there, the ones in atlanta and russia that scully refers to in the episode. i feel no relief after all.

the ones that WERE destroyed were 350+ vials of smallpox that had just been lost????? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN???

damn. i need to go down a rabbit hole later that is going to teach me some unsettling things)

anyway, skinner breaks the news that dr. charne-sayre was killed, but blames it on a horse. and i saw what went down and it did not look like any hooves were involved, so idk how tf they came to that conclusion. a choking and hoof marks are not at all comparable??

back to da gulag. a guy kicks mulder and leads him out with a bunch of other men. i find myself wondering about all of the extras there that day, how the filming went. 

UH OH! krycek is up smoking with one of the bigwigs of the gulag!!!! what is he DOING??? the geologist prisoner who gave him the shank says mulder has one chance to kill him, and he pulls out his weapon. OMG HE’S RUNNING FOR IT!!! does he stand a chance?!?

that dude is absurdly fast bro. he gets two solid punches into krycek and steals a truck!!! where is he going!!!

horse vs truck race!!!! who will win??? i hope it’s the truck!!!

so he knocked krycek tf out and took him on the bed of the truck... that is hilarious

i hope all the other prisoners break out too :)

okay, the men on horses are shooting at mulder. krycek wakes up and is slamming the back of the truck. what i want to know is where mulder, who has a famously terrible sense of direction, is driving!!!

he’s trying to hit the brakes but it’s not really working!!! and krycek jumped off!!!! where does he think he’s gonna go 😭😭

no!!! mulder crashes the truck!!! ouch ouch ouch!!

well, instead of resolving that plot line, we jump to the well-groomed man (am i using his name right?) chatting with cancer man in the dark. cancer man bullies him for smoking, as if we don’t only know him as cigarette smoking man or cancer man, but well-groomed man is pissed at cancer man’s various failures!! and wouldn’t you be??

oh!! that person riding the horses- dr. charne-sayre- was well-groomed man’s personal physician! there’s some weird tension between these old men now that he needs the help of cancer man to figure out what went down

“were you sleeping with her?” csm asks, making us all uncomfortable. and well-groomed man doesn’t answer!!!!!!!! EW!!! nasty!!!! he put the mission at risk for his personal pleasure!

damn. hate when cancer man is right about things.

well, i guess they’re both flops at their job. that should unite them rather than pull them apart. 

cancer man asks well-groomed man (and that is definitely going to get confusing quick) to call off "the investigation", which he says he cannot do. but senator sorenson is an honorable man. do we believe him?

i do not. 

somehow, cancer man knows mulder was captured in tunguska and has escaped. i don’t know how this plays into their plan, but cancer man is smirking. suspicious... i hate his creepy smirk.

okay, back to russia. we see the truck that mulder crashed and a bunch of blood on the window, which are not auspicious signs. but no one is in there!!!! the men on horses are baffled!!!

krycek is in the woods, being surrounded by a bunch of people and speaking in russian, claiming to have escaped from the prison camp. they realize from his clothes he is lying about being a prisoner, but they believe that he was accused of spying and take him in?? i guess??

OMG!!! mulder was hiding under a ton of leaves while the men on horses looked for him!!! it was giving a real peeta in the 74th hunger games moment.

so, now we are where we started last episode, with scully swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help her god. and she is reading her prepared statement. people are passing notes as she does so. and then they are rude as hell and cut her off. 

skinner is watching all of this go down, and as she tears into the culture of lawlessness, he does look like he kinda wants to die. but i think she’s serving. 

OMG!!!! they’re taking her to jail!!!! she said idgaf i am NOT giving up mulder’s secrets and that is a REAL ASF FRIEND!!! she’s in jail in her kickass outfit and omggggg what a queen… crossing her arms as she stares out the window…. i love her so deeply 

back to russia, where some guy finds mulder under a ton of leaves, and yells at him for breaking his truck. sorry!! it was an accident. he didn’t mean it :(

the woman he is with is gonna tend to him though, because mulder has that sad puppy dog thing going on. 

she knows some english!!! woah!!! this is convenient for plot reasons and also fuels my determination to keep learning another language so i can be the cool side character that saves the day at least once.

she says that they kill everybody for “the test”, and that her husband makes deliveries, so they spare their lives. but now, no truck…

mulder says we need to get tf out of here, the smallpox scar is tracking you. she says there is an alternative, and gestures to her son with no arms. i do not think this is a good alternative. and the husband comes back in with a knife!!! are we gonna have some hand to hand combat…….

krycek is sleeping by a fire, but then a bunch of people come and get him. one of them has a heated knife!!! are we in amputation mode…

oh. he sure is screaming as that knife is going in… yes, it appears we are in amputation mode

scully is in jail, reading the works of dr. charne-sayre, because she is studious even behind bars!!!! i love that about her. highlighter in hand as she ponders. 

skinner comes to see her! “you holding up?” “i’ve got plenty to read” awwww :( skinner cares about her :( big old softie :( and she is gonna read her way through jail :( she’s just so :(

she clarifies that this is NOT just about mulder!!!! this idiotic commission is wasting time asking about mulder and not about the pouch, the murder, the rock, or anything ACTUALLY RELEVANT at all!!! 

“it is my experience that lawyers ask the wrong questions only when they don’t want the right answer” DAMN what kind of lawyers has she dealt with…? probably plenty in her FBI time. but still. she has seen things.

“it is my natural inclination to believe they are acting in the best interest of the truth” aww… she wants to assume the best of these obviously very shady men

“but i am not inclined to follow my own judgement in this case” <- she said y’all are so god awful not even my natural optimism can salvage this (and i love her for knowing her limits)

skinner makes a remark about following mulder’s judgement instead and i can’t tell if he was trying to be hurtful or not…

back to dr. sachs, dealing with his rock induced injury. NO! the russian guy vassily is here! with a needle!!! what does he need that for??? go away!! i like that rock scientist!!

he’s getting this orange fluid in a syringe and he sticks it into dr. sachs and BLEH i cannot look…………. but the slugs!!! the oil slugs!!!!! 

NO!!! he takes the rock and unplugs the machines dr. sachs was on!!! HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS 💔

cancer man is explaining that vassily was in the KGB… “how could this be? how could the russians know we were working on our own inoculation?” asks well-groomed man, “six of us knew!” 

an anti-alien vaccine! this could be useful,,, maybe? idk.

cancer man is tasked with finding vassily… but he says someone might save him the trouble

cut to scully back in front of the fancy congress slash senator slash corrupt government people…. she has had time to think about the question she was asked.

and she says she cannot answer! she keeps listing off things she can answer instead, but not about this!

OH! MULDER APPEARS!!! “answer the question miss scully!” (mulder voice) “what is the question?”

YEAHHHHH THAT’S MY GUY!!!

HER REACTION TO HIS VOICE… the little orchestral flourish… his beat up face… his stupid smirk. wait i have to rewatch this. LOOK AT HER FACE WHEN SHE SEES HIM!!!

she says that the death of the doctor was connected to the death of the man in skinner’s apartment, and dr. charne-sayre FOR SURE knew information about the virus. and while i am happy for her triumphant moment, skinner walks in and whispers something to her….

dr. sachs has died under suspicious circumstances!!

this is obviously very important, but in the background you can see mulder say something to skinner, and he reacts as if deeply annoyed. lmaoooo we are soooooo back!!

the bigwigs on the council go to recess, and the absolute MILLISECOND that gavel is slammed, these two nerds JUMP UP to see each other, it’s so cute oh my goshhhh it is for sure making my list of favorite moments this season

AWWW AND THEY HUG AND HE SAYS “good to put my arms around you” OHHHHH MY GODDDD OH MY GOOOOD THE WAY HE’S LOOKING AT HER (and the remark about still having both arms she obviously doesn’t understand yet!!!!)

(screaming into my pillow for a solid 30 seconds before composing myself)

skinner jumps in and says “some other time” when she asks how he got back LMAOOO he has had ENOUGH

scully says please skinner let us go to florida for 15 hours please 🙏 it should be quick but if it isn’t please stall for us please sir…. and he’s all “girl just go and be fast about it” (sternly)

okay! so why florida? because that is where one of dr. charne-sayre’s patients at a convalescent home died of a mysterious virus! yes, as we saw in the very beginning!!!!

NO!! vassily is here!!! can he just wander in?? is that allowed? why are people coming and going from this convalescent home…? is there not a sign in process…?

he’s going for the meds. he pockets some meds and replaces them with a decoy. 

“may we come in ma’am?” mulder asks, shoving his way in <- LMAOOOO god that gag gets me every single time 

so they need to look at the elderly, and scully reports that this dude she just walked up to is dead. and he sees another one with the slugs!!!

these people are test subjects, he says!!! and they have to deal this building right now!!

no!!! vassily was laying in a bed and heard all of this!!! what is this mischievous fellow up to???

mulder says all of this can be traced to one man. and scully…. oh my gosh, the side profile, my heart…… 

IS KRYCEK WORKING WITH VASSILY?

scully and mulder go to visit the leader of the militia they busted krycek with at the beginning of last episode. scully looks so good i’m actually going to gnaw my own arm off holy fuck. that blue trench coat and grey suit combo is lethal.

so this criminal is denying finding krycek in a missile silo, and said krycek came to him. looking for help to make “devices”, and talking about this black cancer developed by the soviets, and used in the gulf war. so how did he get out of the silo....

OH! mulder asks where the other “device” (bomb) ended up, and when the militia leader says “i ate it”, he punches this guy in the stomach and puts him in a headlock. and then he says some very out of pocket things i am not going to repeat, but the point is: krycek took the bomb and put it in a storage garage somewhere in terma, north dakota. ah! the name of this episode is finally understandable!

“scully, get on the phone and get the license numbers for any two-ton trucks stolen in north dakota in the last six months, then call canadian border authorities and have them stop any vehicle fitting that description” (said while gazing into her eyes)

(this line killed me for some reason and i can’t even explain it… just such an odd series of commands out of context!)

“someone used krycek, then krycek used us; someone who didn’t want that rock in american hands” ah. so this whole thing has been a set up. you see, i was too busy thinking thoughts like “i hope he gets out of the gulag” and also “man, i hope scully doesn’t go to jail” and “look at how they hugged!” to put that together. sometimes i am a simple viewer making no conclusions about the grander plot at hand! sometimes i am surface level! i am multi-faceted!

vassily is gonna put the rock back in the ground under the guise of fertilizer for his tomatoes 

WOAH!!! agents in a helicopter :0 they look so good….

mulder is trying to scream over the loud noise of the helicopter doing its thing, which i imagine had to be an awful time to film. scully wisely just nods her head instead of attempting to communicate with words.

haha his hair is all messed up from the helicopter… hehehehe…

so he’s looking in the truck for any sort of rocks or bombs or whatnot. he sees some pipes… he is forming conclusions…

scully disembarks from the helicopter, and her hair is all messed up too (my heart!) as she climbs over a fence to get into this refinery. one thing about these two is they are gonna climb some fences!

vassily sees this going down and hides…… mulder is reaching into the pipe…. trying to grab the hidden rock… he is covered in oil!!!!

and it blowed up!!!!!!! 

no!!!! scully sees the explosion,,, and vassily sneaks up behind her and puts her in a chokehold!!! he grabs her gun!!! he says he will kill her but he doesn’t want to? and that his work is done. 

damn, now she’s gotta get a new gun……

she’s RUNNING to mulder who is soaked in oil and has barely escaped the explosion. she is picking him up and then… cutscene to more testimony stuff.

GIRL IS HE OKAY???

i love when they save each other <3 i love when they have to pick each other up and drag each other to safety <3 i love the panicked screaming of the other’s name <3 i love the fast and furious assessment to see if the other is okay <3 i just love these things <3

scully has evidence to present: linking a number of deaths to a biotoxin brought onto US soil! and the man who delivered it also died! and that guy was the man who krycek pushed off skinner’s balcony!

“alex krycek, who is missing and possibly deceased” oh i know better than to believe his ass is dead

the council is whispering… 

they laugh at the idea of extraterrestrials, and mulder also comes to the stand… what is he gonna do…

“why is this so hard to believe?” he asks. hey i know you’ve had a rough go of it man, and there is literally an alien slug in your body, but she was doing so well…

oh! he’s going on and on about how obvious it is that extraterrestrial life forms exist!! and you need to understand this or else you are denying crucial evidence!!!

ah, i see now why the opening text. just as galileo spoke of the earth rotating around the sun but was scorned, so mulder speaks of aliens and is met with disdain. and yet, the earth continues to spin, and the aliens continue to be in his bloodstream.

“this is not why we are here today” “then why ARE we here today?” okay parallels i see you!!!

they recess… and cancer man stands up in the back……..

back to russia, where vassily is returning home, insisting he is retired to someone in his room.

OH! IT’S KRYCEK! WHO IS ADDRESSED AS “COMRAD KRYCEK” bro… he is congratulating vassily on a great job 

and omg… he’s got a prosthetic arm… they really sawed his arm off…

back at DC (home) the senator is reading files and passing them to cancer man, who is tossing them in a bin??? presumably to burn??

HUH! so much for an honorable man.

okay, so much happened here. let me go in order of which thoughts are loudest.

first of all… did they know this was gonna be what they did with krycek from the start? just asking because i want to know if “needs to be fluent in russian” was on the casting call for that role or if they sprung it on him later. because that would be wild.

krycek, working with the soviets… huh. interesting implications.

second. the alien!! there is alien oil slug in krycek AND mulder now!!!! what is that going to do to them? are they gonna turn into living flash bangs like that one lady did in that one episode?? is it gonna slowly kill him? will be and scully slowly die together? i can’t imagine such a horrible thing….

third. their reunion…. damn it, it was so sweet. the way they INSTANTLY got to their feet when the recess was declared… the way he wrapped his arms around her…. oh man. oh man. and the smiles… the smiles……..

so far, s4 has not really been my jam. but this episode was really good and has given me hope that soon we shall be cooking with gas, in terms of both very juicy plot advancement and special agent bonding moments. i mean, come on, lifting him out of that explosion while he was covered in oil??! i cannot get enough of that!!!

is he going to hide that he has an alien slug in him?? is he going to be that guy in the zombie movie who acts like he didn’t get bit?? or is he going to be honest and tell her?? will she try to find a cure? wait, does he even know what happened?? because he was knocked out when all of that went down…

and what about scully’s mystery illness!!!! is she going to be okay?? are they going to be terrified for each other??

okay, okay, one thing at a time.

so, there’s an alien virus in a rock that landed on earth during the tunguska event, and the americans were working on a vaccine to protect against it. but somehow the russians knew about it, and that is likely due to krycek, who was a double agent on like three counts. they killed the leading expert on the virus in order to prevent a vaccine from being developed, and have previously used the virus in biowarfare (so i guess gulf war syndrome is alien slugs in this universe?). the guy that krycek threw off of skinner’s apartment was the one who was meant to receive the rock containing aliens, but was killed, and said virus rock was intercepted by the russians, who are having a sort of cold war 2.0 moment. over alien slug virus. which, if exposed to, will eventually kill you; why it killed dr. sachs and not all of the other men who were at the gulag is a mystery. and to try and protect the americans against this virus, the leading expert, dr. charne-sayre was testing on the elderly. and cancer man wants to cover up all of the evidence which scully and mulder have presented linking all of the deaths to the rock. 

okay. i think i got most of the lore down.

i want to know what happens next!!! but i am no fool!! i know we will be given random monster of the week episodes which are also excellent but tell me nothing about the plot!!! and now that we’re dealing with alien slugs, i’m wondering, what about the actual little green men? where do they come in? is this a third type of alien? because we have the little green men we’ve seen glimpses of, sometimes mixed with human DNA; we’ve got the aliens that were clones from that species with the poison blood and can only be killed with the needle to the neck; and then these alien slugs. and also a few other random non-central to the plot alien life forms, like the ones in firewalker and ice.

where is the common thread?? how can they tie all of these up?? would tying all of these mysteries up even be satisfying?? or is it better to let some things be a mystery?? did chris carter have plans for all of this overarching stuff, or was he making it up as he went?

so many questions! but for me, basking in the warmth of their hug is my highlight